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!