Merry Thankfulness

I don't normally post something without a picture, but I have to share my thanks. Thanks to wonderful family, friends, and unknown elves, we have had a wonderful Christmas holiday. We knew that we would have to make a lot of sacrifices when Byron took his dream job. What we didn't know, was that we would be so well taken care of. I am overwhelmed by the generosity of such great people. Words never really will express what I feel, but thank you still the same. The Lord does bless us and we are truly grateful.

Blizzard Christmas Party

Byron and I had a night out (which is rare) for his work Christmas party. It was held at the Disneyland Hotel Grand Ballroom. It was lots of fun to get dressed up and have great food. There was karaoke, gambling, Guitar Hero, and dancing. We watched people do some really great karaoke and others that were really bad. There were awards given out and lots of good things happening for his company. We have had to make a lot of sacrifices, but have been really blessed for him to have gotten this job and enjoy it so much.

Christmas Tree

Decorating the tree is always an adventure with little ones. Most of the ornaments end up in one spot, but Byron says it doesn't matter because I'll just rearrange it anyway. That's only partly true. I don't move all the ornaments... just the ones that need to be moved. The hardest thing is teaching Corbin that he can't touch the ornaments anymore. We've had 3 broken ones already. I hope we can make it the rest of the month with out any others being put to an early grave.

Book Fair Family Night

We went to the book fair family night at Kallie's school. They had popcorn, face painting, dancing, and a safari guy had brought lots of animals to show the kids. It was a lot of fun. It was just too bad that we had to wash the girls faces as soon as we got home because it was late at night.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving morning was great. We relaxed and cooked our little meal. This is how the kids spent the morning. The girls were great helpers. It was a great little meal. Only the things that we really liked and would eat. Although, Corbin was not a fan of much and really just wished he had been left to nap. This is after lunch exercise. Then we packed the car and the kids and I left for Arizona. Byron had to work so was not able to come with us. We really missed him but had lots of fun...after we got out of yucky traffic and made it there. Gretchen, her family, and the kids and I, stayed with my sister Tanya. We had another awesome Thanksgiving dinner on Fri. Friday night, we went to the Phoenix Zoo to see Zoolights with Koby (Ward) Glasgow and her clan. It was so much fun. I might have enjoyed it more then the kids. Seeing the lights and and all the kids together was great. Sat we played volleyball, hung out and had an awesome bbq at the Glasgow house. We were sad to leave and hope to make it back soon. Coming home on Sunday during the day was a bad idea though. It took us 10 hours to go what should have taken closer to 7. There was a stretch were we went only 20 miles an hour for probably 3 hours. And when we started watching for some place to stop for lunch, every town exit was packed. Even the rest areas were packed. It took us and hour and a half to have lunch at McD. The kids were really pretty great. We are glad we aren't traveling too far for Christmas.

Happy B-day Jenna

Jenna turned 4 this week. We had a great day with lots of special things. She is such a ball of energy. She is very stubborn, but we love her very much!! Jenna has been asking to go to Chuck E. Cheese for a long time. Saturday, because Daddy was home, we went with my sister and her family. We had a blast! All the kids loved the rides and games. We even saw Chuck. I think Corbin burned through like 10 tokens just on the Bob the Builder ride. Jenna spent her tickets on cotton candy and ate the whole thing.

One Year Older

Happy b-day to me! It was an ok day. I had a bit of reflection, which is sometimes difficult to stomach, but my family made it a great day. We had Olive Garden for dinner with my sister and her kids, and yummy red velvet cake for dessert.

Halloween Fun

Our cute fam at the ward Halloween party and checking out the loot afterward. The kids had tons of fun. There were games and RockBand and even a miniature horse. And I would have to say, it was nice that it was like 80 degrees outside.

My Big Little Man

This is Corbin's handy work in the kitchen. The sad part is that he is fast enough to do this while I was standing right next to him. He wanted to help cook. I had no idea he knew how the toaster oven worked. And this is the little man trying to stay awake for lunch. Some days it's all I can do to keep him awake and happy until 11:00 am. He won't take two naps anymore, so it's a job to keep him awake and happy in the mornings and in the late afternoons. Aww, the joys of motherhood.

Tagged

I really have to say, it's not fair to tag the newbie. Now I feel obligated to do at least one tag. By the way, this is difficult for me. 8 T.V. Shows I love to watch: We only get maybe 3 channels (and one of them is PBS), so....on the odd days that I do watch something it might be... 1. Dancing with the Stars 2. Brothers and Sisters 8 of my favorite restaurants are: Haven't been to one in a very long time, but if I could go anywhere... 1. Wingers (not in CA though) 2. Olive Garden 3. Bajios (not in CA either) 4. Applebee's 5. The Tea Room 6. Mongolian Grill 7. Did I say Wingers? 8. Oh, probably Wingers? I'm really not that great at this, but I guess I'd better keep going. 8 things that happened yesterday: 1. Kallie to School 2. Laundry 3. Grocery store with the little ones 4. Kallie ENT appointment 5. Went to my sister's (about 45 min away) 6. Saw lots of good friends 7. Went to Enrichment with my sis in my old ward 8. Ate really yummy soups 8 things I am looking forward to: 1. Start running again 2. My parents coming to visit 3. Feeling like I have a schedule again 4. Going to Phoenix at Thanksgiving 5. Thanksgiving food and smells (mmmmm) 6. My kids B-days 7. Cooler weather 8. Putting up a Christmas tree 8 things on my wish list: 1. A date with my husband (don't even remember the last one we had) 2. My kitchen floor to magically sweep itself 3. A trip to ID/UT/WY to see family and friends 4. More time with my hubby 5. Jenna to not be so shy in public 6. For everyone to see the good in their lives 7. More visits from family 8. A thunderstorm Now 8 people that I tag: Anyone that reads and wants to do it.

Reading Time

Aren't they cute? Jenna loves to be his "great big sister."

Firsts

Kallie's first day at her new school. We just moved to a new city, so she missed her first week, but she caught up really fast. She loves to read and play with friends. She is excited to make new friends, because she misses living by her cousins and misses her friends from Idaho & Utah. Jenna & Corbin having alone time. They are learning to play together really well, the unfortunate thing is that they make great partners in crime. They do things that I could never imagine that they were capable of. (And if you look really closely, you can see Corbin saying "cheeeeeze."

Hot? Hot! Hott!!

So it's the first day of Oct and it's 100 degrees outside. Not really the part of California that I like. We can't even go to the beach because it's a school day. I won't miss snow, but I'd love to have a nice thunderstorm, not just a few drops of rain that just makes my car dirtier then it already is.

The munchkins

My three munchkins: Kallie (6), Jenna (3), and Corbin(21 months). It's not the most recent photo but it's hard to get them all still at the same time. Well it's hard to get the younger two to be still at all!

A new hobby?

Well, I think it's time for me to add my family to the blog world. I enjoy reading other people's blogs, and now that we are farther away from more family, I knew that Grandma and Grandpa would especially appreciate it. Don't laugh at the newbie!:)