Christmas, Christmas Time is Here.

"Christmas, Christmas time is here. Time for joy and time for cheer...." I have felt that way this year even though it is a truly busy season. Do I still have Christmas shopping left to do...yes. Do I still have a few Christmas cards to send...yes. Am I leaving this week for AZ and still have ALL of packing, delivering and cleaning to do...yes. BUT despite this and more I have felt joy in the Savior and his humble birth.

I have loved reviewing the Christmas story with our kids. What would it have been like to be there? I hope that I can always be thankful for the Savior and all that he has done for me. I hope that I can be an instrument in His hands to help those in need. I hope that our family's flame of service and giving can burn throughout the whole year...not JUST Christmas.

I hope that I can treasure and capture the moments of my kids looking at Christmas lights, singing Feliz Navidad as loud as they can, putting money in our jar to help a couple of families in need, watching the 1st Presidency's Christmas Devotional...it was so quiet I could hear a pin drop as my kids absorbed the stories and felt the spirit, making a gingerbread house ALL by themselves!, throwing marshmallows through a snowman poster with Grammy, Pappaw, and Heather, petting REAL reindeer, wearing hats/gloves/scarfs when it's cold, and seeing family and cousins!

What a great year 2008 has been! A year that has made history in many ways. I look forward to 2009 and all of the potential it brings. I'm not sure if I will be blogging for the next couple of weeks, so...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!









PS...We have LOVED everyone's Christmas cards. It is one of my favorite parts about Christmas since we have moved to Texas. We love hearing about how everyone is doing. Thank you!

The Great Wolf Lodge

We surprised our kids one day during the Thanksgiving Break. We told them we were going to see a movie and then pulled up in front of the Great Wolf Lodge. It was so fun to watch their faces get so excited!

For anyone that is looking for great "family time" you've got to go to this place. (I don't think they have one in AZ). It is a beautiful hotel with a huge indoor water park with tons of fun waterslides, etc. Plus they have activities going on during the day, including "Magiquest" that my kids really wanted to do. Lots of fun memories!

Black Friday...would we do it again?

OK...for the first time my great sis-in-laws (Heather and Kristen) and I decided to do the early morning shopping after Thanksgiving. I've never had the desire to get up in the wee hours of the morning to do this, but instead of getting up early we stayed up ALL NIGHT! Yep, we pulled an "all-nighter"...call us crazy.

We found out that the outlet mall by Kristen's house opened at midnight, so there we were with a million other people shopping. There was even a band playing "Let it snow" (in Texas?). Around 2:00am I could feel my eyes closing as I waited in line at Banana Republic. By 2:30am Kristen pooped out :(, so we dropped her off at home. Heather and I knew that if we sat down for a minute we'd be asleep, so we stayed strong and went to IHOP. After a "not-needed" 3am meal and hot chocolate, we made it to Kohl's by 4:00am. (I've never seen so many people waiting in line to get into a store). By 6:15am we were done with a successful shopping trip to Kohl's. Heather, you are a trooper...even though "Lola" led us astray for a bit we did it and had a GREAT time! Do you think this can top Cantan???

We got home at 6:30am. I layed down and literally 5 minutes later Matthew was saying "Mama" and tapping on me. At 7:30am Sean woke up and took over. He is wonderful! I slept for a couple of hours and paid for lack of sleep the rest of the day. Would I do it again? Hmmm, skip the outlet mall and wake up early. That's what I would do.

Kristen, Kelly, Heather, Grammy and Pappaw...thanks for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

DC Trip

I first want to say thank you to everyone that helped to watch our kids while I was gone. Sean had a very busy time at work and I felt so relieved knowing that my kids were in good hands.



Last week I had the privilege of flying to Washington DC for 5 days on my own to be with my sis. Her sweet husband came up with the idea and what a great trip! I definitely had the better end of the stick because the real reason I went was to help "take care" of Belle after her PRK surgery. The surgery is amazing and the recovery was better than expected. So...by the end of the trip B & J were "taking care and waiting on" me. They are great hosts!

It started out with a rough flight. It was the most turbulant flight I have ever been on with people letting out screams, the man in front of me throwing up, and the woman next to me clutching the hand rest and doing "Lamaz-type" breathing. She told me, "if you need to put your hand on mine, it's OK." I declined her offer. Once I was on the ground I loved every minute! Some highlights...watching the actual surgery, long talks, eating healthy, being inspired, having Zilch tournaments (and winning :), subbing an interesting Primary class, being in on a missionary discussion, movies, Pilates...ha ha, Thai food and watching Belle recover and see better...yay! Thank you Jon and Belle for an unforgettable trip!

Right before surgery.

Right after surgery.
Recovery. My favorite glasses ever!







Not only did I get to see my "bestest" sister, but I also got to see Bridget! We've known each other and been "bestest" friends since we were 2 yrs. old. She was the one to cut off one of ponytails when we were playing barber shop at age 4, the one that went skateboarding with me on her driveway and B...you know what, the one that was there during the "BB gun shootings", the one that roomed with me at BYU, and the one that was one of my bridesmaids and I was one of hers. I was even there on her first date with her now husband. The list goes on, but she is now living in VA, so she drove up one night (even leaving her 9 month old baby)and we talked until the late hours of the night...so fun! I can't believe we're both grown with 4 kids! The next day Noelle slept, so we did some sight-seeing. We packed in the Washington Monument, the Capitol (well CVC as they told us :) Library of Congress and the Museum of Natural History. All along the way we were able to talk and reminisce. I treasure that time we had. I don't know if we'll ever have that kind of time without kids again. Thanks Bridget.


At the Washington Monument with George. Sweaty day.




Library of Congress.

Fun Times!

Well I'm trying to feel back to real life. Within a week... the stomach flu went through ALL SIX of us! It started with Taylor and ended with Sean, with the rest of us somewhere in between. I was reminded again how much I don't like cleaning up throw up. The next week I got sick again, but with the yucky cold stuff. I'm hoping these sick days are not to be repeated anytime soon! Fun times!

Besides the stomach bug and cold we have truly had some fun times in the last month. A few Saturdays ago Sean and his dad took Tay and Jake to an Air Show in Ft. Worth. I was sorry to miss out on this one, but Austin REALLY wanted to go to his soccer game. Tay and Jake got to do this!













The next week was the BYU/TCU game. Reed White is on the BYU team and Sean was excited to see him. The night before the game the BYU team put on a fireside at our stake center. Sean was able to go to Reed's hotel after and reminisce about "old times". The next night we took our kids to the game in Ft. Worth. They loved everything about it, except for the score :( We also got to see Reed again before they had to fly out. Thanks for the tickets Reed and our kids think you are famous!












Last week we had a visitor in our house. It was late and Sean saw something move in our ficus tree. He realized it was a baby bird! It was the sweetest little bird and it probably flew in as we were going in and out on Saturday. It was flying upstairs and down, so we ended up turning off all of the lights except one outside. We opened the front door and it eventually flew out. Too funny.












Our special Jakey boy had his 7th birthday! We love you! I can't believe he's so old...he'll be in Senior Primary next year...wow! I'll never forget having him the month after 9/11 and when the Diamondbacks were in the World Series. When I got to the hospital I was at a "7" and had Jake about an hour later. The doctor didn't make it for the delivery. Jake came so fast that his little face was purple from broken blood vessels. That is our Jakey today...still movin' in the fast lane. A friend from his football team made this video of Jake as he was playing quarterback this season! (He's #48)


Jake had a family party this year with Grammy, Pappaw, Uncle Bill and Aunt Gloria. I think Jake got everything he wanted AND more. It was great to spend time with family. The kids sang a song for them as we ended the night. Fun times!













Here is Matthew's new "pull toy", yep...the beaters.












Lastly, Halloween is always a treat! Taylor was a cute witch, Jake was a Clone Trooper, Austin was a Power Ranger, and Matthew was Pooh Bear. They loved every minute of it. The boys were done early and Taylor stayed out as long as she could with Joy and Justin. This was the 1st year I stayed and handed out candy (cuz I was feeling yuck), while Sean went with the kids. Fun times!

Nastia Luikin

Oops, sorry Jake :(








O.K. we loved the Olympics over at our house this summer...every party of it! It seemed like some nights we were glued to the TV and couldn't get away! A bit cheesy, but we felt so much love for our great country and each of us wanted to achieve our dreams. Anyway, if I were to choose, I think swimming and gymnastics were our favorites. We cheered on Nastia Luikin because she lives in Plano and because she's so darn talented. We were excited to hear she was going to be at a Kroger 8 minutes from our house today.

I took my kids out of school (questionable...I know, but the school receptionist approved & said her lips were sealed. Just for that we brought her back an autograph :) The 5 of us got lunch and waited in line. After an hour we left with 2 signed Wheaties boxes, 4 signed papers, 10 pictures and 5 smiling faces. Fun times! It was memorable for the kids AND me.

Waiting anxiously in line.

Financial Bailout

I love this post that my sister Noelle just posted! It is a must read!

Never A Dull Moment

Each day has been packed full, so I decided I needed a "creative outlet" :) So... I decided to redecorate Matthew's room. It has been the guest bedroom/M's room since he was born, so we decided to make it Matthew's "own" room.

This morning I tried another shade of green on the wall (which also DID NOT look good), so I put the lid on, pounded a little, and left the room. I was getting ready to watch Natalie's little Mia when Matthew walked into the kitchen and this is what I saw.












I couldn't tell what was all over Matthew, but then it hit me! I slowly walked up the stairs finding green paint all along the way...on the stairs, railing, toys. This is what I saw when I walked in the bedroom. Yes, a whole gallon of green paint on the carpet!













The first thing I did was call Sean and he started laughing. The 2nd thing I did was call the carpet cleaners and they said they can't do anything. Paint always leaves the carpet crusted and discolored. Although, they can patch the carpet. I'm not sure what we'll do, but for now the door is shut and hopefully I can laugh about it soon.