Trees and Lights

Tuesday Night my mom watched my nephew and nieces while Brent & Lisa did some Christmas shopping. We had already planned on going to my grandma's to put up her Christmas tree that night, so my mom swapped cars with them and after dinner we got all 5 grandkids in B&L's car (it's a Pilot, I so want one) and we headed to Provo to meet Karri, JD & Chris at Grandma Joan's house! The kids had a great time being in the same car together!

The girls wanted to play in the tree tote.
And then hide in it too!
They had to make a train of chairs behind Grandma Joan, because trains are always great fun!

The final product with Chris getting the vacuum ready.

Grandma Joan with Conli, Xander & Max.

Mara & Sawyer didn't want to be in the picture.

On Wednesday night we went out to Thanksgiving Point and rode on a horse drawn wagon to see their Holiday Lights. It was better then looking at the lights from inside our car. Definetly worth the few extra dollars.

Chris, JD, Mara, Mom, Me, Xander, Pat, & Karri

We missed you Ramey family. Hopefully we can do it with you next year!

This is what we rode on.

It was a really fun night! Thanks for the idea Mom :)

What We've Been Up To

Another week has gone by and we are getting closer to Christmas! And there still isn't snow to be seen on the ground. (So weird) Last Monday we put up the Christmas Tree for FHE, but it took us almost all week to get all the ornaments on it :) We are such slow pokes this year.On Wednesday we went to the Provo Mall to see Santa! This is our 3rd year to see the same guy and I love it! He does such a great job! What's even better is that there was no line when we got there :) Xander was able to run right up to talk to him.
But Mara had her usual case of Claus-trophobia After seeing Santa, we went to see 'Bolt'. It's really cute and funny and the kids loved it. And we also had the whole theater to ourselves, so I didn't feel bad talking to my kids during the movie. It has been a long time since we spend the day as a family and took the kids to a movie.

In the Fall of 2004 I saw these way cute Christmas stockings in the Pottery Barn Catalog. But they were 25 bucks each, and at the time I only had Xander and knew that it was too expensive to buy them and that I probably wouldn't be able to match the stockings in the future. So after looking at them I knew that I could make them :)
Here's the picture from the catalog: So that Fall I bought all the material for 6 stockings and it was less then 3o bucks!! I made the stockings for the 3 of us, but have never really used them since we live at my mom's and she has stockings for us to use. And for that very reason I have never made one for Mara and this is her 3rd Christmas! I was also having a hard time deciding on how to make it, but I finally bit the bullet and made it on Saturday!! I feel so much better now that it's done. We still won't be using it, but at least it's done. All I really need to do now is get the names on them. I think they turned out great! It's always fun to have hand made stuff.
Here's a picture of the finished stockings:

Dad - Santa

Mom - Mrs. Claus

Xander - Snowman

Mara - Angel

Here is a few cute pics of Mara and the tree.
I love this one, even though it's dark.
On Saturday Night we had our Ward Christmas Party and Santa came there too!! Before he came out I made Xander run up to the front, so when Santa got there he was within the first 10 kids! I walked up there with Mara, but she kept on saying "I don't want to". I hope she gets over this phobia by next year.Last night we had family over and my mom had bought Rock Band for the Wii (my sister convinced her too). So we got it out and played for a few hours. Times like this it's hard that we have the Wii hooked up to the kitchen TV, but we worked it out.

The first set Mana -Vocals, Pat - Drums, and JD - Guitar

Karri & Xander -Vocals, Mana - Drums, Pat - Guitar

A better shot of Mom on the drums

Xander & Karri rockin it!

A good shot of my Iron Man on the guitar.

Xander even got a turn on the drums, and was excited that he got 34 %. He's so funny.

After we got the kids to bed I finally got to play. I sang a few songs, played the drums and the guitar. I think I like the guitar best. The drums are harder then I thought they would be, but still fun. I found that I was having Rock Band dreams all night. It must mean that I need to play more :) Maybe after the kids go to bed tonight!

I got a video of the first song played by our band.

It's 'Roxanne' by The Police.

I don't know if my mom really knew the song, so it's funny to hear her sing. And it's a little loud so don't turn up the volume too much.

I forgot to mention that Mara has been doing great at potty training. It's been 2 weeks and only 2 or 3 accidents. She is even starting to be dry at night :) I love that I don't have to buy diapers, and my checkbook loves it too.

It's that time of year...

I am getting ready to send out my Christmas cards and I need addresses. So if you want one, please leave me a comment with your address. (I moderate comments, so don't worry, your address won't be published in the comments, it's just for my info)
Thanks!!

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!