Christmas 2013

Christmas morning the kids let N8 and I sleep in! The a gift unto itself! We started presents and stockings around 7:45am.

Some highlights include:

A fun kitty shirt for Emma (she loves all things cats).

Puma enjoyed watching everything atop an unopened gift!

I made N8 a board to hang his running medals on!

N8 got me a compound miter saw!! Yes I asked for it and I am super excited to be able to do some wood crafting!

I got N8 a RC plane. It took quite a few crashes but he's getting the hang of it!

Henry got a fancy new trike!

The kids got the new Disney Infinty, Lego, books, etc. We are immensely blessed and had a wonderful day together! The kids are full of sugary treats and watching a movie before heading to bed. 

Christmas Eve...

Christmas Eve started out as a normal everyday day. N8 got up and went to work. The kids and I did chore and ran errands, not feeling Christmasy at all. Then N8 came home and wrapped some presents and we spent time together. It was perfect!

We went out into the desert for some geocaching.

We made sugar cookies for Santa...Well Benjamin and Emma did...

While these two played on the tablets....

Then it was our traditional dinner of tamales!! Yum!

Then everyone helped decorate the sugar cookies!!

Emma has been very excited for Santa to come this year. She wrote him a letter and also wrote a note for him on her chalk board to put by the presents!

Henry was obviously excited about it

We ended the night by looking at Christmas lights around town, reading scripture about the birth of our Savior and waiting for Santa to come!

Pre-Christmas Sunday Pics...

Christmas band concert

Last night was Benjamin's first concert (besides an in class one back in October). We had him practice over the summer buzzing and learning the scale but other than that he had no prior musical knowledge.

 Yesterday I asked him what "chair" he was in the trumpet section. He didn't know what I meant, so I asked "Are you the best or the worst trumpet player, or somewhere in between?" His reply "Oh, I'm the best!". He seems to enjoy playing and has caught on pretty well. It helps that N8 can help him practice when needed as well!

It's hard to tell, but he's in the back row just right of center. 

I posted the pictures on facebook and Benjamin's friends mother posted this "S tells me that all of the kids in his class think that Benjamin could move up to concert band because he is so good!"

Pretty Proud!!

Cookie share and swap!

I wanted to have a Christmas party. I wanted it to be for anyone and everyone. So we did and it was awesome!
I basically invited everyone I was friends with on Facebook that lived here and then we hand delivered invites not a few as well.
I spent the week cleaning and baking. Minty pretzel bites, chocolate chex mix, chocolate chip cookies and peppermint fudge we what I made!

We had about 60 or so people come, visit,  taste and enjoy some great Christmas spirit! 

A highlight Emma and MO was having their teachers come! 

I think this is going to become an annual event!

Six is Super! Happy birthday Mo!

Today Matthew turns six! He has been counting down the days in excitement. He took Christmas tree rice crispy treats to school to share with his friends. We will be getting Subway for dinner and watching Despicable Me 2 and having lemon cupcakes.

Mo is my low- kid

He got to have his Grandma there when he was born

He always has wanted to do what his big brother and sister are doing

He always wants to help and is loving school!

Happy 6th birthday!

Ward Christmas Fiesta

Last night was our ward Christmas party. It took a while to get going and kids were ready to eat! Emma maybe ate a little too much or too fast because I just barely finished when she started complaining about a tummy ache and I took her home.
Since I wasn't there for the rest of the night I have pictures from N8 and my wonderful friend Megan!

6th grade science fair project....

There are 2 6th grade science teachers as Benjamin's middle school. One requires a science fair project but does not assign homework. The other give homework but no science fair project. Benjamin got the science fair teacher. We've been working on it bit by bit but it's due this coming Friday and knew this coming week was crazy so today was the day to put the board together.

His question: Which citrus has the most vitamin C?

His hypothesis: Oranges will have the most vitamin C.

The process to finding the solution: use freshly squeezed juice and a starch solution combined with drop of iodine until a reaction is seen. The longer it takes to see a reaction the more vitamin C.

So in the end Oranges won and limes lost!

Keep eating your oranges!!

Happy Thanksgiving Vacation!

On Monday we left before the crack of dawn (we got up at 4:30am and were out the door by 5am!!). We made one stop for gas and no potty stops. We made it to Vacaville in a record 6 hours and 10 minutes!

As soon as we unloaded N8 went for a quick run (it's an addiction I tell you!) and then it was off to the mall. We're not normally mall people but it was necessary. We all picked our favorite placed to eat at the food court and then headed to Men's Wearhouse. N8's suit was a good 2 to 3 inches too big and wearing. He picked a suit and they altered it there on the spot. We did a little more shopping and then the runners picked up their bib numbers and tshirts for the turkey trot.

Then is was to Costco and Sonic!

Later that evening we headed to the outlets and got N8 new dress shoes and work shoes. We were off to a good shopping start!!

My dad arrived late that night (after a 3 hour delay!).

Tuesday we headed off to San Francisco!!

It was a CRAZY drive, including an extremely steep road that we had to lean forward just to see over the hood of the van!!

We ate lunch (most people getting clam chowder, I opted for a pulled pork)

We took some great pictures over the bay

and the sea lions

And then we headed to the Golden Gate Park. It was awesome! A carousel,  a great cement slide and awesome rope climb!

Wednesday was full of shopping and cooking for Karen and I. The men took the kids on a hike!

Then we headed to dinner to celebrate Ray's birthday!

Thanksgiving morning we had a group of 6 running the turkey trot! 5 ran the 5k and 1 (N8) ran the 10K. They all did awesome and PRed and/or made their goal!

Then it was off to cook the turkey and all of the fixings! It was a great Thanksgiving dinner!

The kids taught grandpa how to play Mario Kart!

Some of us headed on a bike/walk to the park to work off the dinner before having presents and pie for Ray's birthday!

Karen and I headed to Old Navy for some quick black Friday shopping and then called it a day! On Friday we did a bit more shopping, went and saw Frozen (awesome!), N8 picked up his brother and we got frozen yogurt!

On our way home we dropped Brent off and then took a different route which took us past Lake Tahoe!

A

And luckily there was a Costco in Carson City!

All in all a great Thanksgiving trip!

Now the craziness of December has begun. All of our decorations are up and ready. As I pulled everything out I found myself steering away from the Santa stuff and making special spots for all of my nativities. The reason for the season. At church we have 2 lovely ladies that are investigating and learning more about the church with their family. It has been inspiring for me to see them yearn to learn and question the Gospel. I know my Savior lived and died for me and am grateful for this time of year when we celebrate his birth!