A Busy Week

Wow! It's only been a week since I last posted but it seems like it's been forever because we've had a very busy house this week.

On Monday Mara decided that she was ready to start potty training and she has been doing great!! She only had 2 accidents on Monday and has been accident free since!!! We have had the little potty chair in the kitchen to make it easier, but now she is liking the big potty :) She has even gone at other houses too!! She will go back and forth between underwear and pull ups, but is doing a great job. It's been a lot easier then I thought it would be. And it all started because my mom put her in underwear on Monday and she loved it! We have a sticker chart for her and she loves to pick them out and put them in the boxes.

Tuesday night I was able to go to see 'Twilight" for a girls night out with Tammy (mom in law), Lana, Liza, Gwen (all sisters in law) and Ashley (cousin in law). I really liked the movie and am going to see it again tomorrow!! Ashley took a quick picture after the movie, but Gwen had already left :(

It was great to get together with the girls. Thanks again!!

On Wednesday Pat put up the lights on the house. The kids loved seeing him on the roof :)

While he was doing that, Mara and I ran an errand and she insisted sitting in Xander's booster seat!! She is totally big enough to have one of her own, but she still fits in our 5-point harness seat, so we haven't upgraded her (because we really don't need to yet). She is just getting so big this week. Where did my baby go???

Then it was Thanksgiving, as you all know. My assignment was homemade rolls (my grandma's recipe, which I love) So I spent Wednesday afternoon making the dough and getting them ready. When we put the first batch in the oven to bake, about 10 minutes in, the heating element burnt out!! We still had another batch to bake and my mom had to cook a turkey too! Pat and I were heading to his parents house anyway, so we took the half baked rolls with us and were able to finish baking them there. I was so worried that they would be ruined, but they were fine :) But now we have to wait until next week to have the new element delivered. So we will be having a lot of crock pot dinners for a while.

Anyway, we ate with Pat's family this year and all went to his sister Gwen's house. It was great to have everyone there, even Ben & his family came from Boise!!
Here is a third of the grandkids: Addi, Bryton, Aubrey, Xander, & Mara.

We got a little group picture of the girls: Me, Amber, Tammy, Lana, Gwen. & Liza.

Then a pic of the boys: Morri, Roger, Pat, Ben, Doug & JR.

Then some of the kids wanted to get in the pic, so we got ALL of them in it :)

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving. It's always nice to have family so close that we can get together for the holidays.

Then this morning my mom and I went to Walmart in the CHAOS of Black Friday to get this:

They had it for $200 (which is half price if you get it at a craft store) My mom and sister both have one, but it's always nice to have your own, and when I saw that price I couldn't pass it up. So this is an early Christmas present for me (and whatever cash I get for Christmas is going towards this) It was a little crazy trying to get it. We got there about 4 am (the sale started at 5 am) and there were only about 14 machines with that many people standing around them saying that they were already claimed. One woman actually told me to try another Walmart!! (Like it would be different there) We decided to stay and it's a good thing too. The machine that was in the add had 2 cartridges with it for $200. Like I said, they only had 14 of them. But they had about 18 of the same machine, but with only 1 cartridge, but they weren't on the sale. Luckily there was an Assistant Manager that made the smart decision to price match the other machines to the $200 price. So that is what I got :) I really didn't care about the cartridges because Karri has them already. I'm just glad that it wasn't a bust. My mom was so cool and ran to get a register. Which was awesome because we got in our car at 5:03!! I'm so glad that it was an easy morning and we were able to get what we came for and get out of there fast!! It's officially the holiday season!! So where's the snow??? (just kidding, I don't want it to snow)

Fall Leaves Fall

These are some pictures that I took yesterday while we were raking leaves. Mara had a great time making trails through my piles :)

Fall is just so fun (but alot of hard work)

I made a pile at the bottom of the slide and the kids LOVED sliding into it!

Thankful...

I just want to express how thankful I am for everything in my life.
I am thankful for... my usually happy children and the love that they show me and the challenges that they give me on a daily basis.
For a furnace that works (our isn't working today but should be fixed sometime soon).
For a fireplace that does work.
For the ability to work with my hands and the body aches that go along with it (I raked the leaves in our backyard).
For my friends that are always there to listen to me vent and truly care about me and what is going on in my life.
For my extended family and the love that they show me and my little family.
For my mom and the 3 1/2 years that she has let us share her home (and the upcoming year also), she had done so much for me and I don't think I'll ever be able to repay her for it all.
But I am especially thankful for my husband. He has had alot of stress and frustration with school lately. He will be doing his student teaching (He will be teaching History) in January and has to wait an extra 2 weeks to find out where that will be happening. We have been praying that it will be local so he can keep his job, and at a point it seemed hopeless. But today our prayers have been answered. He is going to AF Junior High, and we are so excited about it! This has been another testimony builder for me. We were supposed to find out 2 weeks ago, but he hadn't been placed, so we have been exercising alot of patience and faith. It's so hard to be in limbo and not know what the next step is going to be, but I know that my Heavenly Father is looking out for us and knows what's best. If we only have the faith to trust Him and the patience to wait for an answer, we will be blessed for it. I know that we are where we need to be and doing what we are supposed to be doing. I am so grateful for the Gospel in my life and the security that I feel when I read the scriptures and listen to and follow the only true and living Prophet on this earth. I am so relieved to know what the next step is, and excited to take that step and to be able to move forward. I know that life is going to be much harder once January comes, and that I won't see my husband much, but I know that it's worth it and then he will be done with school in April. I can't believe that it's finally happening! I love you Pat. You are such a great example to me of perseverance. You're almost done, Wahoo!!!!

NKOTB

We had a great time at the concert!! We all went out to dinner before hand, then Pat, Brent & Chris went home while Me, Karri, JD and Lisa all went to party! When we got there we heard about people switching tickets. We had tickets for the upper bowl area and they had closed that part, so we were able to switch our tickets and get better seats! It was fun! Natasha Bedingfield was the opening act, which was so cool because I love her song "Unwritten" (it's in my playlist). NKOTB did such a great job, considering that it's been almost 20 years. (We were at their concert 18 years ago, It was my first one and I was 9. We have pictures from that one too, but I still need to scan them in my computer) Anywho, we had a great time and they played all the good songs "The Right Stuff", "Tonight", "Step by Step", "Hangin' Tough" among others. I took some videos of it too, so I will be posting those later :) Enjoy the slide show!

Don't Be Jealous!!

Because I get to see these guys tonight!!

La, la, la, la, la, la, Tonight!!

I have to say that they look much better now then they did 20 years ago!

Tribute to John Williams

I just found this on the MSN home page!! It is so awesome! The only drawback is that the guy doesn't sing the Star Wars theme.

Enjoy!

(just make sure to turn off my music before you play it)

The Utah Jazz!!!

Pat & I were able to go to the Jazz game last night! All thanks to a couple in our ward that sell tickets and had some on discount for the game!

Thanks again Karl & Beth!!

The Jazz have started something new this season. When they announce the starting line up, they turn down the lights and make it fancy :)

They lit off fireworks for each player!! (Here's Mehmet Okur - who scored his first 3 point shot of the season during the game!!)
Pat got a new hat!! He has been looking for a Jazz hat for awhile and we found a really great one. It has the classic symbol but the new colors! We both love it! Now I just need a Jazz shirt or something.

The Celebration at the end of the game!

We beat the Portland Blazers 103 to 96!

It was a great game and we hope to be able to go to more this season!

Snow Fun!!

We woke up to snow this morning!! (I am so not ready for this weather, even though I LOVE my coat). The kids wanted to go outside and play in the snow, but we didn't have any boots, hat, or gloves that would fit Mara. So after a trip to Target, we played in the snow!! Mara was loving it, but didn't want to keep her gloves on the whole time! Silly girl! Here are my favorite pics.

Making trails in the snow.

Mara's snowball!

She would pick up this much snow, then walk to the end of the driveway and throw it in the street!!! That kept her entertained for about 10 minutes.

I have this fun feature on my camera that will take a picture in B&W but keep out one color! It's always fun to play around with it. I picked the dark pink of her boots and it recognized the pink of her coat, hat & gloves!!

The beginnings of a Snowman!!!!

The snow was sticking really well, so it was easy to make balls.

Another snowball

The snowman's head (at least the beginning of it)

Adding a little more snow

Rolling the body

ALL DONE!!!!

We even grabbed some rocks from the garden for his face!We did pretty good for the first snowman of the winter!! :)

HaPpY HaLlOwEeN

We had a very fun filled Hallween Day. I was good to get a picture before we left the house.

Belle & Ash Ketchum

We first went to see Red Riding Hood (Mana) at work.Then we went to see Grandma Joan. I got this cute picture of Mara sitting on her steps!
My kids just love their Grandma Joan!!
We then ventured over to RC Willey to see Pat. Our friend Susan was there to see her husband also!! So I was able to get a cute picture of Belle & Tinker Bell (Livvy) together!! What cute girls! Susan was 'Wendy' and her boy Micah was 'Peter Pan', they were so cute all together. And it was dumb of me not to get a picture :(
Livvy was so cute and wanted to have Mara come over and play right then and have a Halloween party with her!! It's time to plan play dates with these girls. They love to play together!
We then went to FYE to see Santa (my brother JD) and Cinderella (my sister Karri, she works there part-time).

Pat was able to get off work when we were there. It was nice to have him home :) We then went home so Mara could take a little nap. Then we went over to Pat's parents house for Chili, Carmel Apples and family!!

Chewbacca (Maddox) & Anakin Skywalker (Noah)

Punk Girl (Lana) & Chewbacca (Maddox)

I love this Chewbacca costume and will have to use it in the future!

I even got a picture of them Trick or Treating this year!

When we got back to Tolman's there were more cousins there!

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Carter) & Anakin Skywalker (Alex)

Pink Cat (Addi) & Belle

Mara had a fun time eating the carmel off of Pat's apple! (Thanks Gwen for making them) I didn't get a picture of Gwen's kids (dumb me), Jacob was 'Death' (with a really gross mask that scared Mara & Addi), Jeremy was an Army guy, and Cody was a Scarecrow!

When we got home we did some Trick or Treating on our street. Mara was such a slow walker that we got the wagon out and used it!

This is my cousin Scott! He looked awesome as the Nurse Joker!! He has been growing out his hair for over a year and it worked great for the costume! He is going into the Army soon and said that he was going to cut his hair after this! He is such a great guy and I'm proud of him.

We had a great Halloween! Xander got a TON of candy and was very excited about it :) And the wonderful thing is that he is willing to share with me.

During the night Xander woke up a few times and threw up :( He hasn't been able to keep anything down all day either. I think it's just the flu bug, but I hate that I can't really do anything to make him feel better. We even moved some furniture around so he could lay on the couch and watch TV. (The main TV that the kids use is in the kitchen and they have to sit on stools) I just hope that he is feeling better soon. It's no fun to have a sick child.