A lot 'a Love

This is just a small representation of what was happening at our house "on" Christmas. For those who don't already know, we celebrate holidays when we feel like it. Justin worked the 24 AND 25 so Christmas day came 2 days early this year and I wasn't sad about that at all. It was awesome, however next year I should shoot for late festivities... I can shop the 50% off sales. Hmmmm. Anyway, 2 of Justin's brothers came with their families to share calzone's for dinner, Kung Fu Panda for the movie and all the running and screaming they could handle for entertainment.



Aren't these just the cutest little group of kids you ever saw? Look up @ Ian's face. Far left, red shirt.



And here are the moms followed by some horse play.




We're just busting at the seems with love lately. Maybe it's the "Christmas spirit" everyone feels as they enter our home... it just makes you want to smooch someone.



Or give them the tongue! Uncle Jacob has had this one coming for a LONG time.



If he could talk, he might say something insightful, for now we'll have to decipher our own conclusions as to what's going on in that little mind of Grayson's.

The Mail's a Comin'

And now that we get mail (mail lady didn't come when the snow was out), lookie what we got! An armadillo!



LOVE HIM, love him, love him! Couldn't stop laughing when he was opened. Can you guess where he came from?!

Crazy 8's Tag

Alright Megan, I finally did it! She tagged me before Thanksgiving and I kept forgetting to do this. Beware and sorry, I'm a little grouchy still. (4 days not leaving the house for fear of slipping on the snow is making me crazy!)


8 TV shows I like to watch:
1. American Idol
2. Chuck
3. The Office
4. Bones
5. Divine Design
6. Letterman
7. Ellen
8. News

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Red Robin's
2. Claim Jumpers
3. Colima's (Visalia)
4. Amigos (Barstow)
5. Baja Taco (Victorville)
6. In-n-Out
7. Olive Garden
8. Costco

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. Primed cabinets
2. Changed poopy diaper
3. Cleaned the kitchen
4. Watched Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
5. Built the fire
6. Kept the fire going all day
7. Visited with family coming through town
8. Talked to Justin on the phone

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Justin coming home from work
2. Christmas
3. Disneyland
4. Getting my knee looked at (hopefully by a good doctor)
5. Paying off our credit card... again
6. Putting the girls in some kind of sport (soccer, t-ball)
7. Finishing the kids bathroom
8. Payday (I always look forward to that:)


8 Things on my wish list:
1. Swimming pool
2. Lap pool (seeing that one lane is not so much fun to "play" in because it's too narrow) maybe we'll just get a 3 laner lap pool, we all know that's not too pricey right?
3. Snorkeling in the warm part of the ocean (and not from pee, ha!)
4. Reindeer- that's Kennedy's contribution
5. Man this is difficult... I wish my husband would get rid of the bird that makes me sneeze.
6. And the dog that barks
7. Oh I keep wishing up my ideal cul-de-sac... I'll share the neighbors at some other time. The list grows a lot, but always includes babysitters:)
8. Fantastically landscaped front yard. TOTALLY desert friendly!

8 People I tag:
1. Khristie
2. Ben
3. Rebecca
4. Julia
5. Rhonda
6. Kristi
7. Heather
8. Kristen

Good luck with this. It makes you think!

Snowed Out

People it is SOOO snowy here! My husband doesn't believe me when I say we easily have 2 feet of snow on the ground, but guess who was unable to come home from work. That's right no husband last night because the roads between us were COMPLETELY CLOSED. Justin was instructed to get a hotel where he was and get some sleep. Well you know us... we're cheap skates so he roomed with a fellow co-worker who lives up there in the mountains. Ca-ra-zy! The bosses of Justin were starting to think Justin just might be the ONLY worker on duty today. I talked to him this morning and he said a few guys did get through, but the midnight shift had to stay home, they weren't allowed to get to work. I guess there wasn't much to patrol with all roads being closed. What a crazy day.

I Looked Out The Window

And what did I see? SNOW! Take that Khristie. Okay, but really I had no idea until I got a phone call this morning from my friend Abigail. I thought she was out of town when she asked if it was snowing over here. I got up anyway and looked out to see THIS!



Am I back in Salt Lake?! It was beautiful AND it saves me gas. We were planning on taking the kids up to the snow, but decided we'd wait a few days since EVERYONE and their dog went to the first big snow of the year.



The girls jeep is stuck:)



The best part is the fire. We can play outside for a few minutes and then come inside to the nice warm fire. (Thank goodness we got lots of wood yesterday!)

Ha!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanks for the idea Ben.

Why Bother

Didn't I just clean this mess? I mopped the floor today... big deal for many reasons, but the most important being I DON'T LIKE MOPPING. If you want to see me cranky turn the heat up, provide zero air circulation and watch me mop the floor. Even though it's cold today, I was sweating like a pig mopping the floor only to see this within 5 minutes.



I wish I could resolve to "never mop again", but sticky kool-aid mixed with bread crumbs, sugar granules and dried up macaroni noodles starts to feel kind of yucky under my bare feet. As for Grayson's little mess, it's still there. I've got to wait for the noodles to dry before sweeping.

See-ya Later

Buh-bye student loan. We won't miss your monthly payments. Speaking of which, who's gonna pay off ANYTHING @ $50 a month? Seriously. You know what else I could've bought with that money.... geez! (Note my debt free mind. It wasn't how much could I save, but what could I consume, HA! I've got a long way to go.) One little baby step towards "financial independence".

This is LA

We took a little family trip to the LA Zoo and saw tons of animals. Some had fur, others had feathers, but the most entertaining animals were the ones that followed us home in the car seats. Kami (and Jared) moved back from Utah just in time to join in on the fun. Jared will have to "call in sick" next time so he can more fully enjoy the stroller pushing. After a full day, and I'm not kidding that zoo is HUGE, Kami went home with her 2 kids and we went on to the LA temple.

We had originally intended to go to Temple Square this weekend, but decided LA was a lot closer. Maybe next year. Justin has helped take down the Christmas lights in LA as a youth, but never went to see the festivities in all their glory. It was beautiful and way less crowded than the square. As I was trying to take the family pic in front of the temple the girls went rolling down the front lawn. Come on... anyone that's seen the LA temple has had the same thought, "hmmm, do you think the Lord would mind if I just rolled down there for a few minutes? I'll be quiet." Totally not reverent, but I think the Lord understood:)

Why isn't it flushing?

You may not want to look any further if you're eating. This pic is pretty yucky, but such a great resemblance of what happened in nursery today. Just so you know I warned you.

Our church building has its own toddler sized toilet just off the nursery room. I was visiting when Kennedy decided she needed to poop. I was given strict orders to "stand outside the door and don't look at me. I'll tell you when I'm done!" Upon the next command I went in to help wipe. Just as the toilet was "flushing", I looked down to see this (see image below).



That's right... she clogged it! Clogged it AND it overflowed. Where's Roger's poop knife when you need it! Apparently when installing toddler sized toilets, they didn't factor in the size of my 3 year old daughter's poop.

During all this where is Justin? Peacefully enjoying Elders quorum while his wife is mopping up the bathroom floor. Yuck! (Word to the wise: Don't go in the Amethyst building nursery bathroom with your shoes off. I couldn't find any bleach:)

Giddy-up!

That's right, the kids rode a horse today and we SO excited to do so! Justin has some friends from work who have 8 or 9 horses and a daughter who rides dressage and in rodeos (or is dressage in the rodeo? I have no idea). In the pics you will see Faith (the horse), Debbie doing all the horse work and her grandson Noah playing with the girls. Loads of fun and much more hands on than the ponies we rode at the farmer's market a few weeks ago. Justin and Kennedy are already planning the day we buy, "a bigger house with lots of land and some horses". Thanks so much Debbie for letting us come over to play with your horses!

Little Trip to Michael's

So Pennie and I went to Michael's to get a wreath... other things, minus a wreath, later we came home to put up my new stuff that was all 50% off. And we all know what 50% off means right? Means you can buy 4 or 5 of what you weren't going to buy in the first place. To my credit I have been meaning to buy some black and white frames for a few months. Which makes this part of the purchase a procrastinated necessity. Thanks for helping me make the right decision Pennie. What a chore we had trying to hang the last one the right height though... geez!



And then I needed a garland to go on top of my cabinets that are painted. This is a bad pic, but if you strain you get the idea.



And every garland needs a little birdie... or two. Adds a nice little splash of red.



My reindeer! I have wanted a reindeer for SOOO long. For those who don't know, I have loved decorating for Christmas my whole life. I don't think I was out of high school the first time I purchased my first flocked 8' Douglas Fir Christmas tree from my local rip-you-off-on-the-corner-of-the-street-vendor. Loved it! (Justin hates real trees, "why would you pay money for a dead tree?") Anyway I haven't been stocking up on Christmas decor because we have moved 7 times in 5 years. Now that we're stable... watch out. I'm gettin the whole reindeer clan and anything else on 80% off after Christmas! I can't wait. And now Tai Pan is here too... anyway, I love my lone deer and his big poinsettia.

The Festivities

We were out ALL day yesterday shopping! Ben, Dad, Pennie, Grayson and I drove to Anaheim and went to Ontario Outlets (where we also picked up the girls from their AMAZING time with Mom and Manuel) AND we went to Tai Pan. I mean come on it was across the street from the outlets. So fun, so exhausting. Then Thanksgiving today! And Christmas decor tomorrow!! What a great month.

Craigslist

Alright here's the pic of my bookshelf and note the 2 empty shelves on the bottom. That's a preview to how our Christmas tree will be decorated too. I love it! 9' tall and everything fits out of Grayson reach. I made sure to put Justin's Spanish books in MacKenzie reach:) I've been checking craigslist for a while and finally found the perfect fit with the perfect price. I agree with my other family members... I just can't pay full price for furniture when I know I can find it used on craigslist!

The Boot

Grayson gave his sisters the boot! He's tired of all the eye poking and ear pulling. He kicked them to the curb and hasn't looked back once.



He did have to talk me into dropping them off. On the way he and the girls watched our pop down screen tv... plus a little tape and an ipod.



"Bunny ears".



Here they were left. These people had no idea what they were getting into!

Character of God

"If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves"- Joseph Smith. Looking through my old missionary study guide I was knocked over by some very direct and thought provoking questions.

What are the characteristics of our Heavenly Father?
What experiences have lead you to believe in God?
Name several instances when God appeared to man.



Searching my favorite tools of the scriptures (Topical Guide and Bible Dictionary) I found a ton of references from the Bible indicating God does in fact have a body. Here they are with reference to body part:

Face- Gen 32:30
Feet- Ex 24:10
Fingers- Ex 31:13
Back- Ex 33:32
Mouth- Num 12:8
Voice- Matt 3:17
Flesh & Bones- Luke 24:39
Hands- Acts 7:56
Body- Philip 3:21
Eyes- "His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters..." Doctrine and Covenants 110:3

Empty Boxes

I got that bookshelf from craigslist last week and decided it was time to fill it up. I emptied 6 boxes from the garage and feel great about that. I found a few cd's full of wedding reception pics too:) So I thought I'd add a few of them to the blog starting with my brother Benjamin.



This is Ben and Justin's 3 brothers Jordan, Jacob and Jared. Our girls have LOTS of uncles.



Do you remember being so little Sierra?



And when did Julia & Efren only have one?! Ha!



Laura, my sister-in-law before babies. Man, we look good:)



This is Justin's grandma, we call her Grandma De Anna. I'm pretty sure she doesn't check the blog, so I had to add this one.



Melanie and Luke. I think you were married right before us? I can't remember.



Nedra & Don when they were dating.



Was this a friend Holly?




And Olivia. I should put this one on facebook:)

Is it Spring?

Because we finally did a little something to the front yard by planting flowers. We got some poppies this time (the big tall ones), a few pansies, something tall like a snapdragon but not, and something like a marigold. Note my acute observance of flower names.




I hope they last. The kids help plant them which means a few ever so gently ripped out of the containers before they were thrown into the ground. Might have lost a few roots along the way.

Inspiration

All it took was a good kick in the pants to get me out and into the water I love so much. I'll admit it, my kids are DRIVING ME NUTS... or maybe it's the part where my husband goes to work @ 5am comes home @ 8pm and goes straight to bed to do it all over again the next day. I think the kids have seen Justin once this week. This schedule leaves me exhausted, grouchy and a little bit psycho. I would never make it as a single mom. I also wouldn't have 3 kids as a single mom, ha! So I made my first visit to the gym today! It was wonderful!!! The kids go to the "day care" if you will and I get to swim uninterrupted for 2 hours... There is a little piece of heaven on earth. Who'd'a thought?



PS that's NOT a pic of me swimming topless with goggles and a swim cap.

One Year

Happy Birthday Grayson! Here are some milestones:
1. Climb
2. Crawl
3. Eat dirt
4. Eat dog food
5. Loves baths
6. Loves his sisters
Hope you enjoy the pics!