LoNG TiMe No BLoG

I haven't blogged in forever! There has been a lot going on with us. A few months ago, my cute niece Ali and her cute kids moved in with us and going from a family of 4 to a family of 8 keeps you busy and you find that it's much more fun to play with the kids than to blog. I love the opportunity I've had to get closer to them all. I told Ali from the begining that I was going to get attached to her kidlets and then she was going to up and move on me.... and believe it or not... she is. I'm way excited for her and the kids but I'm going to miss their lil faces.

Ben is such a lil gentleman. He is so polite and loves kindergarten and primary and his friends. My boys tease and tease and tease him and he still loves to hang out and be with them. He loves it when the girls go to bed and then we let him sneak up and stay up later with the big boys!

Joey is such a princess. She looooves to do stickers. She can sit for 2 hours just playing with stickers. I love to watch her play and (secretly) listen to the stories she makes up. And her tiny lil voice.

Lily summed up in a word is... Snuggler! She is my lil snuggle bunny. When her mom puts her to bed, she asks if she can come sit on my lap for 2 minutes. Then her mom lets her come find me and we snuggle. She loooves to be tickeled! Just like her mommy and Grandma and Auntie!

This is the cute lil house they are moving into. Ali is so talented and is going to make it so homey and cute. I can't wait to see what she does with it.

My house is going to be so quiet and I'm going to miss the toys and shoes and kid plates and cups and bedtime and snuggling... I loooove you guys!

NeW YeaRS, CHRiSTMaS, FuN & FaMiLY

We didn't really have a plan for New Year's Eve, but it

ended up being a lot of fun. We bought a bunch of junk

food and planned on playing games. Amber called in the

evening and asked if we could watch their kids. Of course

we could... the more the merrier. When they got here, we

ended up playing and talking until about 11:30.

It was so much fun.

The boys playing ROCK BAND

Cutest Brenna eating her toes... We asked Neil and Amber since it was so late and the kids would be asleep, if they could just sleep over. WoHOO, they said yes. It was Brenna's first sleep over ever. That totally makes a great beginning for the year.

Here are the boys banging pots and pans
when the clock struck 12!

Steve got the game "call of duty" for
Christmas from his boys...
He loves it. For those of you who
know Steve... He hates the TV.
Well guess what words were
uttered out of his mouth after
getting his game???
"We need a bigger TV."
I never thought I would hear those words
come out of his mouth. Also... I took this
picture at 1am in the morning, another
thing that never happens with Steve,
he likes to be in bed by 10.

I don't have pictures of these events, but we
also had fun over the Christmas break with Jenn.
She came and hung out with us for a few days...
She made us Carmeled Bugles... don't knock them
until you've tried them. They were awesome!
Jenn also gave me an aebleskiver pan... I'm so
excited to make them part of our breakfasts to come.
I love that Jenn just hangs out with us!

We also had dinner with Shane & Sarah over the break.
I had so much fun just chatting and catching up.
Ella & Zach are so cute and fun to play with.
We all had fun rocking out in rock band!

Another great thing about this Christmas season,
My awesome brother Marty is helping us put
the room in our basement, so we've got to hang
out with him and his family more. Sometimes he
brings Georgia with him and sometimes he stays
for dinner. I love being able to talk to him so often.
Now, if I can just get him to bring Heidi and her girls
over with him to visit us. (hint, hint)


Our annual Christmas Eve in our jammies picture.

This Christmas eve was a special one, our Christmas
was much more simple than usual.
(We're putting a room in our basement for our
cute niece Ali and her kids.
They are staying with us for a while and we
want them to have their own space.)

Along with all the awesome homemade candies
and goodies we got from our friends and
neighbors... we had a knock at the door and
no one was there, but a big sack.
Inside there was a box with each of our names
on it. Steve and I got the cutest Jammie's and
the boys each got handsome shirts.
(Which they immediately put on and I don't think
Bridger has taken off since.)
We also got gift certificates for dinner and movies.
Which we enjoyed yesterday and today!

There was the nicest note attached. Up until that
point, I pretty much had NO Christmas Spirit at all.
This single act brought the Spirit of Christmas into
our home and hearts. To know that someone out
there took the time and money to make our Christmas
special, means the world to our family.


Christmas morning brought another SUPER
surprise for us... Patsy and Jerry, who are
Ali's parents sent us a brand new Kirby
vacuum! They thanked us for letting
Ali live with us for while. We want to thank
them for sharing Ali with us. We want to thank them
for the example they are and always
have been to our family. They are some of the
most unselfish people we know. Ali does have
a special place in our hearts and we love having
her with us. And can we just say that WE LOVE
seeing her kids sooo much. They are so adorable.
We miss them when they are not here, in fact, we
haven't seen them for about 10 days and we think
that's about enough!!

Steve's mom always throws a Christmas Party.
This year was no exception... The food was yummy,
it was so much fun to visit with family and catch up,
and the kids are so much fun to watch.

This is Steve's mom blowing us a kiss!

The boys both got gift cards to game stop, and can

I just say how cute they are, they used the gift cards

to buy their dad a Christmas gift. (Call of Duty)

She spoiled her kids... We got a large griddle... YAY!

Taylor, Danial & Peiton!

Britlie, Skyler & Hunter

Another one of our FAVORITE Christmas traditions

is with Bonnie. My sister extraordinaire.

We go to dinner at Tepinyaki and then to

the Voice Male concert. This is our 10th year

for this tradition and our Christmas wouldn't

be complete without it.

The gang at Abravanel Hall!

A FuLL, FuN, CRaZY, BuSY WeeK

Last Saturday, We were in the town of Magna...

and we realized we were close to where Jenn lived...

So... we drove to Tooele and saw Jenn's new home.

It's so cute! Then she showed me her pan she got

for this danish dish called ableskiver. I said...

"Yumo!, I want to try... " She said... "I'll come

cook you breakfast." So, we packed her bag and

we all came back to my house. She made us the

yummy breakfast, which is a cross between a

doughnut, pancake and a ball of YUM.

Seriously, she could barely get them out of the

pan before we had them gobbled up.

Thanks Jenn... You are the bomb! And the

breakfast was amazing. I have a new item

on my Christmas list for Steve. hee, hee, hee

Then on Monday.... We surprised my cute

sister on her BiRTHDaY!

These two cute girls were over and made

the entire night. They were so adorable.

Happy Birthday Bon! Love you!

**At this point in the week, Misty, Ali, Andrea and millions

of other crazy women went to see the midnnight showing

of TWILIGHT.... It was a BLAST! I have pictures, but

they are on Ali's camera... so they will have to be posted at

a later date.... ***

Then it was a
happy (but sad) Day.

My baby is FouRTeeN.

Here he is at 3

Here he is at 14! With his new

drum set. He is pretty dang good.

It's so much fun to listen to him play.

He had a party with 12 of his friends...

That was a ton of shoes at my front door.

I was going to take a pix of those, and

I forgot.....

Make a wish buddy....

Here are 7 of the CRaZY boys @ 11pm

(the others had gone home)

I'm so glad to have great family and friends

that make life the fun journey it was meant

to be.

iNTeReSTiNG

Family and friends...

This is pure trivia.

It's neither here nor there,

but I thought it was so interesting.

Remember this book??

I think it came out in 99ish.

It's totally about a girl in my ward.

When Jack Weyland heard her

story, he thought it was so interesting,

he based his book on it.

I LoVe MY BoYS

Every year we take pictures at the boys school.

These are a couple of the pictures from this year.

Just a few of the reason's I love Hunter:

1. He works harder than most adults I know.

2. He is so compassionate.

3. He is a smooth talker. (just like his daddy)

4. He can put anything together and make it work.

5. He honors his priesthood!

A few reason's I love Bridger:

1. His love and talent for music.

2. He gets attached to things.

3. He is so witty and makes us all laugh.

4. He has no tolerance for foul language and is not afraid to tell you.

5. He makes good decisions even when it's hard.

I'm so glad they are mine!!

HaPPY HaLLoWeeN

I don't have pictures of the boys Halloween costumes yet, but here are a couple from my work party yesterday. Funny thing... They all own MAC's and I actually own and use a PC. So pretty much, I went as my true self.

As each week goes on, I feel myself loosing energy and drive.
I'm always grateful for the Sabbath, when I get to refuel,
renew and refocus. This week my Young Women's lesson
was on Healthy Habits. Every time I prepare a lesson,
I feel it's more for me then the girls. What a great reminder
that we've been given our bodies as a gift and we need to
take care of them. Each week I give the girls what we call
a "glue in". It is a quote by a prophet on vellum paper,
and they glue it into the spine of their scriptures.
This quote is from "For the strength of the Youth".
If you haven't read the pamphlet lately you need to
check it out, it has aWeSoME information in it.

The quote:
"When you observe the Word of Wisdom, and other good
health practices, you remain free and have control over
your life. You gain the blessings of an undefiled body,
an alert mind, and the ability to receive help and support
from your Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost."
I also gave each of them a banana with a reminder to
"Eat Well, Exercise often and Sleep tight."

Meanwhile back at the ranch... Look what we have...
Our TWiLiGHT tickets for the midnight showing on Nov. 21st.
Wohoo... I can't wait. Not only that, but I just ordered a
Twilight Hoodie online that I get to ware that night.
I can't wait!