How much is my time worth???

Have you ever made a decision thinking you were being smart, saving money and it turns around and backfires on you? Well, that’s been my day today. It actually started early last night…. I called the airlines to see if I could catch an earlier flight home and they said I could fly standby, but it would cost $25. So, being the money conscious person that I am, feeling that I had spent enough money this weekend, decided I should wait to fly out at 11:00am and go home via San Francisco and get home at 4:30 as planned. (the earlier flight was a direct flight at 8am and I would have been home by 10:30) Everything went smooth in Seattle… got through security fast, had enough time to grab a snack for the flight and got on the plane and landed in San Fran on time. I get off the plane to see that my flight that was supposed to leave at 2:50 is now leaving at 4:00…. I was a little upset, knowing that I have a camp meeting tonight at 6:00 that I was planning to go to and I would be pushing it. So I walk around a bit and did some people watching and got back to my gate to find out that it is now leaving at 4:30… hmmm now I am going to miss my camp meeting. Dang it. I really wanted to go to the first meeting to visit with all of our newly called level directors. But I know that they are in good hands with my camp director and I was really just going for moral support. Back to my story, the little man behind the counter asks if anyone wants to wait for the 5:29 flight and get a free United ticket for sacrificing an hour of their time. I decide that an hour of my time would be worth a free ticket…. The kids would survive one more hour without me? Right?? I call John (who left for Atlanta this morning) to tell him that I just got us a free ticket and thought he would be excited… (Especially since I just spent a lot of miles to go to the funeral in Seattle) then he reminded me it was Mutual tonight and what would Tanner do? Oops. I made a few calls and got something figured out for him. Thanks Abby! Then I got some dinner and ate it too fast and ate too much (nothing new), so now I have heartburn and feel like a whale. Once again I get back to my gate to find out that the 5:29 flight is now leaving at 7:10!!!! Ugh!!! I was so mad!! I went up to the counter and complained (the whole time thinking about the RS lesson in my sisters ward Sunday that was on controlling your anger, so needless to say, I was too nice and they did nothing for me) I would not have given up my seat for a free ticket to get home this late…… so now I am sitting here in the airport contemplating my day… I think 10+ hours of my time would have been worth the $25 dollars that I chose not to spend on the flight that left this morning. And I have now spent $5 for my snack in Seattle, $10 for dinner and $4 on candy and water, the car that John left at the airport when he left this morning is adding up by the hour, so it looks like I should have spent the $25 this morning and I could have been home hours ago and spent less money. But, trying to be positive I will look on the bright side and think about somewhere fun to go with my free ticket! I am now rambling,... (I do that when I am bored) I will post this when I get home, since I am too cheap to pay for the airports wireless internet : ) and hopefully I will have nothing more to add when I get home!

Edited at 7:38 Notice the time, my flight was supposed to leave at 7:10… I am on the plane and they just announced that there is a flat tire and they have to change it…. So another 45 minutes they say! I might get home tonight??

10:47pm…. Just climbed in bed… It took me 12 1/2 to get home today. I left my sisters house at 10:00am…. Long day… good night

Aunt Dorothy

I was waiting to write this post until I found a picture to go with it, but decided I better hurry and write it without it. One of my favorite Aunt's died on Wednesday... I am so sad. It was totally unexpected. My sweet Aunt Dorothy was serving on jury duty in downtown Seattle on Tuesday and she was on a break and took a walk outside and had what they call a "brain bleed".  She had been taking a lot of  asprin to thin her blood because of her arthritis, and I guess her blood was too thin. They say that the brain will bleed from time to time, but because her blood was so thin, it couldn't clot. So she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital and she was brain dead by the time they got there. She was 75. Technically she isn't my Aunt, but we always called her one. She is my dad's cousins wife. She was my mom's best friend and our families were very close. Her daughter Krisse was right between Julie and I in age and we were the best of "cousin" friends growing up. Slumber parties at their house and many many days swimming at their house. Dorothy was one of the kindest, sweetest people you could ever meet. She always made you feel so important and special. I have so many wonderful memories of her. She will be missed. The last time I saw her was about 2 1/2 years ago when I was in Seattle for my class reunion and I went to the temple while I was here and she was there! It was a great experience to sit by her at the temple that day. A memory I will cherish.

So, I flew to Seattle with Scott yesterday for the funeral on Monday. All of my sibling will be here for the funeral! So fun. It's been 4 years since all my brothers and sisters have been together. My parents were able to sneak away from their mission for a few days... sh... don't tell anyone! Mark gets here tonight and everyone else got here yesterday. We had so much fun together yesterday. We went to the boys favorite hamburger joint downtown called "Dicks" and had greasy hamburgers. Yum! Then we had great teriyaki for dinner and went to visit my Aunt Doreen. After we got back we played a killer game of Hearts! That's our family game.... it's a sad occasion, but so fun to see all my family. I love them!

Happy Easter! I feel so bad that I am away from my kids and husband today! I miss them! 

I will write more late.... got to go eat Easter dinner!

Spring Break!

I'm in Utah... The boys and I drove up to Utah on Friday afternoon. We are staying with my sister Cindy and we are having a great time. Saturday I got to go with Cindy to their Stake Relief Society conference. It was great. Then My parents came down from Salt Lake and we went to the dollar theatre. We saw Enchanted and the older boys saw I am Legend. Enchanted is such cute movie! We wish we had dollar theaters in Vegas!! Only in Utah...

Sunday morning we got up VERY early and drove up to Salt Lake to go to my parents ward. church starts at 7:30am... so we got up at 5:45 to leave at 6:30 and this is all Utah time, so it was an hour earlier for us! yuck... but worth it! They meet in the Joseph Smith Building with all the Temple Square missionaries. It was pretty amazing. There were about 200 sister missionaries from all over the world and 100 senior couples. It was an amazing sight and the spirit was very strong. I can see why my parents are loving their mission so much! It is always fun to hear them talk about all the sisters, they love them so much! All the asian sisters sang "I am a child of God", a verse in Korean, Japanese and Chinese then the first verse again in english. It was so sweet. After the meeting we walked over to the tabernacle and watched the "Spoken Word". It was great. The boys weren't real excited about it, but I enjoyed it.

Then last night Todd and his family came over and so did Katherine and the kids. It was fun to visit with the family! We are sad that John and Ashley couldn't make it with us! The kids had fun together.

We are off shopping today and then up to Heber to see Todd's family and play in the snow! Tanner is dyeing to play in the snow. happy spring break!

Best and Worst..

Every night at dinner we go around the table and tell each-other the "best" thing that happened that day and the "worst" thing that happened that day. So I thought I would share a few of those things with you all from time to time....

Here is my best and worst from yesterday...

Best: It's spring here in Vegas! Look at what I jogged through yesterday. I had to stop and look up and enjoy the beauty! It was breathtaking.

Worst: I looked down at my wedding ring and one of my little diamonds was gone! So sad... I love my ring! John picked it out all by himself 20 years ago on the 18th of this month. John proposed to me with this ring almost exactly 20 years ago! The "worst " for today is that it's going to cost $400 to get it fixed!

Spokane getaway!

John and I spent the weekend in Spokane, WA. A few weeks ago John won 2 round trip tickets on a radio station anywhere Southwest airlines flies. We thought about going to New York, Florida and many other cities.... but decided it would be a blast to go visit friends in Spokane. John hadn't been back since the summer after we moved. So, it was a big change for him. Our little city of Liberty Lake, Wa. has changed a lot in 4 years! We flew in on Thursday night and spent the night at our good friends the Julians. It was so fun to see Stacy & Geof and their cute kids. Stacy had just gotten back from Simple Scrapbook magazine meetings in SLC and they had taken personality tests (click on this link to take it)... so she had us take it and then we spent the evening evaluating what the answers meant! It was fun. Mine was right on, Johns was a little off, but pretty close.

Friday morning we went up to Mt. Spokane and went skiing. It was a Beautiful day! They've had a yucky winter, so we got lucky with a blue sky day and lots of snow. There was hardly anyone up there, so we got on every chair lift without waiting for one person! Some hills we went down, we didn't see a person! It was so peaceful and fun. I can't tell you how many times we said "it's so pretty". We miss the mountains and green. My digital camera ran out of batteries after 4 pictures and the little store didn't have any batteries, so we had to settle with a disposable camera!

We got home from skiing and spent some time at Stacy's and she made us some yummy salsa! Then we went to dinner with our good friends Dave and Sheryl Demars. It was fun to catch up with them.

Saturday I got up and went with Stacy and Donna Downey to a scrapbook class. For my non-scrapbook friends.... Donna and Stacy are huge celebrities in the scrapbook world! They both fly all over the world teaching classes. I remember when Stacy first called Donna to publish her work in Simple Scrapbooks... that was the beginning of a big career for Donna. It was a great class and I realized it was the first time I ever had to pay for a class.... I usually went as Stacy's assistant and got in free! It worth the money and I made a fun album.

Saturday afternoon we went to see Sheryl and Dave's new house out in the country. It was so pretty out there. They have deer and moose that roam their property! crazy...

We went to dinner with the Gummersall's Saturday night. We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and had had delicious Carne Asada. No one makes it like them in Vegas... we miss it!

Then that night our friends the Guinns had a little party for us. It was so fun to catch up with so many of our old friends! Thanks Megan for hosting it!

I made a little video of our weekend... enjoy. I made it in iPhoto and the titles weren't so big there... now they are huge and you can barely see the pictures... I will try to redo it later...

It was so great to getaway with John and spend some quality time together! We love & miss our dear friends in Spokane, but as we flew into Vegas, we knew we were home! The kids survived us being gone... they even cleaned the house before we got home!

Good Company!

Two of John's sisters were able to come to visit this weekend. It was so fun to catch up with them and see our new nephew Caden. Cathi came up from Mesa to go to The Phantom of the Opera with our niece's Sam and Stephanie from Idaho. John's sister, Barbara's daughters. Since they were going to be in town for the show, John's sister Edie and Husband Luke came up from CA with their 2 boys, Carter and Caden. They just adopted cute little Caden a month ago. So it was our first time seeing him. What a cute little boy! We fought over who was going to hold him. Tanner begged all weekend for a little brother or sister. He kept telling me that we needed one more! I told him I am way too old!

We were happy that Sam and Stephanie were able to come over for a few hours to visit. They have another aunt on the other side of their family that they stayed with. We begged them to come over on their way out of town because some of us were at Youth Conference all weekend and didn't get to see them, when they all went our to dinner on Saturday night.

I love having family visit! Late nights playing games, catching up on what everyone is up too and lots of food and fun!

Wow...

Youth Conference is over.... I am feeling very overwhelmed today. I feel so full with happiness that it went so well. I just got home from testimony meeting and WOW. We are in good hands, the youth that will lead the church someday are amazing. They are so strong, they have such a strong understanding of the gospel at such a young age. It blows me away. I am so grateful that my kids have such strong friends and good examples in our stake. It is such a privilege to work with such amazing kids. I am lucky. Yes, it's a lot of work, but so worth it. Sometimes I feel guilty that I have this calling and others are missing out on so many wonderful experiences that I get to have. 

Friday night we had Brandon Doman speak to the kids. He is the quarter-back coach at BYU and a great speaker. He spoke about being Steadfast and Immovable in the gospel.  He told some great stories about his football career and how important it is be "good mormons" and to follow the real "sports stars". He pointed to the posters hanging of all the bishops and stake leaders and told them that they are the ones to follow, not the people who are usually on the sports illustrated covers.

It was great. Then we had a dance and the kids had a good time. I realized that I am getting old, the music was so loud!

Saturday morning things didn't go completely as planned and we had a little stress and drama, but it all worked out. We had invited over 4000 foster families to bring the foster kids to a "Field day" put on by our youth. We only had 2 families respond to our invitation. It was so sad. The committee was very disappointed. But it turned out to be ok. We still met at the school that had a big field and we spent the morning picking up trash around the school and making sack lunches. (we had planned on feeding all the little kids lunch, so we had bread, chips, water, and fruit to make them sandwiches.) So we used all the lunch makings and made lunches and sent a group of kids downtown to feed the homeless. They said it went well. It felt good to do some service. Then we split the kids into 4 groups and played all the field games that we had planned to play with the kids. It was a blast. Many of the kids brought friends, so it was a good missionary opportunity. We got all the leaders out to play with them and the kids enjoyed just playing with each other and their leaders. It was fun for the kids to see the stake president and his counselors out playing kickball with them. The kids got to see that they are fun, great men and they don't live in their suits. We actually had one foster family show up for the field day. The youth saw them walking up and quickly got name tags on the two boys and had them out playing games before the leaders could do anything!!! it was so cool. Then the leaders had a great conversation with the man that brought them, he stayed all day and he was so impressed with the youth. We said he would like to go to church today... i hope he does.

Then last night we had "stadium food" for dinner. Hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos, chips and cookies. It didn't sound real healthy to me, but it was sure easy to clean up and the kids planned it and loved it. After dinner we had a talent show and it was great. Some amazing talent in our stake. 

Overall, it was a great experience. I learned a lot from my leaders, both the youth and the adults.  My leaders have been teaching me that we need to let the youth do the leading and we are there to help and advise them. Not take over... that is a hard one. It's so hard to let go and see them make mistakes.  But that is how they learn and become great leaders. I guess that is how we all grow, by learning from our mistakes and learning from others. Sorry, I don't mean to be preaching today, just feeling the spirit and feel like I need to write down my thoughts.

swimsuit edition....

So, youth conference is this weekend and the theme is SI (Steadfast and Immovable) and the SI is the abbreviation for Sports Illustrated. The whole conference has a sports theme to it. So, Jan Hodson (the wonderful wife of our Stake YM pres.) is making some posters to hang in the gym during the conference. She is making a SI magazine cover of each of the Bishops doing a sport. They totally look like a real magazine cover, she has the right font and it says Steadfast and Immovable across the top, it looks just like a sports illustrated magazine. So, she emailed me yesterday and said that the Stake YW presidency needs to be the swimsuit issue! There is no way we were going to put on swimsuits, so we made it funny! I have the best presidency! Nathell was cracking us up! She wanted to wear the coconut bra and we told her we would get fired! and she said "good, then we don't have to go to girls camp this summer!" So, you can see in the pictures that she wore it, but it was hidden a bit! It was a fun afternoon! here are some pictures of it. I will take some pictures of the posters this weekend and post them next week.

Trying not to laugh to hard!

Nathell trying to act like a real swimsuit model.
Heather with goggles marks on her head!
I have the best counselors ever!! Love them!

Presidents day, family day?? & snow day...

John and I had high hopes for a fun "family day" on Monday. We thought that with no school and no work that we should do some fun family things, since John had been gone for almost 2 weeks. So we thought we would get up and go to breakfast and then head up to Mt. Charleston to play in the snow..... well, we should have known by 10:00 am that things weren't going as planned. We couldn't get Ashley out of bed (thanks to early morning seminary) then when she did get up she was really happy (not! see the look on her face in the picture).





We went to I-Hop and everyone else in Vegas decided to go to breakfast for Presidents day... so there was a 20 minute wait. Then Ashley informs us that she has her personal trainer at 2:00 (that's another story) then Mitchell said he is suppose to go to Guitar Center with the drummer in the school band at 1:00. So it is now 11:30 and we are finally getting our food... then it took forever to get our check, so now there is no way to get to Mt. Charleston and back by 2:00.... hmmm... Dad is sad, he really wanted to spend the day with the whole family. I guess we could have just gone and they could have missed their things, but then you have major grumpy kids to deal with. So we decided to just take Tanner up to the snow. He really wanted to go and we thought he could use some mom and dad attention. We got up there and found a fun place and had a great day!! Ashley and Mitchell missed out! The sky was blue and it was about 50 degrees out! Perfect sledding weather for us Vegas wimps. The snow was a little old and crunchy, but it was very slick for sledding. It didn't turn out how we had planned, but that's how life is sometimes.... especially with teenagers!

Happy Valentines Day!

John is in Orlando at the National Home Builders Show.... bummer. So it hasn't been a normal valentines day. That's why we went away last weekend and we will have to go out to a nice dinner when he gets home.... But I have still been thinking about how much I love him today! He is the best husband. I came downstairs this morning and there was a card on the counter and a dozen roses. He had Ashley go out and buy roses last night and she hid them. I had no idea that she got them. It was a nice surprise. He is one romantic guy. He has never forgotten an anniversary, b-day or valentines day. He always goes above and beyond. I wont go into detail or you will get mad at your husbands. Lets just say that being raised with 5 sisters, he learned how to treat a girl right. He writes poetry, picks a theme for all my Christmas presents to revolve around and all sorts of stuff. I am one lucky lady. It's been a long week and I can't wait for him to get home! I miss you and love you John!

A surprise weekend!

This is John. My turn to write. Work has been exceptionally busy for me lately. After spending 5 days at our store in New Orleans (including Superbowl Sunday), I got home Thursday night late. Friday was crazy at work, not only because it was my first day back in the office all week, but it was the only day I'd be in the office for 2 weeks. On Monday, I'm going to Orlando for 6 days for a trade show and some marketing help for our 9 Florida stores.

So, back to Friday. I wanted to spend time with Allison, but I didn't have time to plan a hot date. Never fear... Allison planned a surprise getaway for us. When I got home, she threw me in the car and we hurried off. I was not told where we were going. Even during dinner, she wouldn't give me clues. I like figuring things out--that's what I do. After dinner she just told me where to drive--north on I-15. The suspense ended when she told me she got us a hotel room in St. George, UT and we were just going to relax for the weekend. What a perfect surprise. I needed alone time with her and we needed a break. It was a wonderful time. Peaceful with nothing scheduled. Let's just say Allison knows me so well and makes me so happy. What a wonderful weekend. JB

Bad Mother Award....

I feel awful! Ashley had the flu real bad about 3 weeks ago... After about a week, she got better as it ran its course. Except for her cough. It has been lingering. She often has allergies and has this obnoxious cough, so the good mother that I am, had her take some old allergy medicine that she got prescribed to her last year. It didn't help any and did I think to take her to the doctor?? NO. The old allergy medicine ran out a few days ago, so I figured that she needed more, so I finally took her in today. I told her in the waiting room "I bet ya 100 bucks that it's just allergies". The doctor comes in as she is coughing and looks concerned. I said it was much worse and it sounds a bit better and she looked at me and said, "she's really had this for 3 weeks? Most people bring their kids in after a few days with a cough like this". oops. I knew I was the bad mom, by the look on the doctors face. Who by the way had to be only about 25 years old... I swear, she was young! Ashley liked her, she was hip. Anyway, after examining her, she told us that she has bronchitis! And has had it for a few weeks and IS contagious. SO if any of you out there have been sick, it could have been passed along by Ashley. The doctor asked if she needed any kind of Dr.'s note for the school that she has missed, she looked a little surprised when I told her that she hasn't missed any.... because the bad mom made her go! good thing I didn't tell her that she was way worse the week of finals! Maybe she could write a Dr.'s note saying she was sick the week of finals and she could retake a few of them! I swear, when I take them in right away, it's just a virus and needs run its course, but when I think it's just a virus and I should save time and money by not going to the Doctor, it is something bad!!! Parenting is tough... we need a medical degree, a psychology degree, teaching degree and so many more!

3rd Place!

This week was spent working on Tanner's pinewood derby car. Growing up, pinewood derby races were a HUGE thing. I think they were more important to my Dad than the boys. He had six boys to get them perfected. The cars were truly pieces of art. I remember the shiny metallic paint, the sanding and hours of work put into it. John gets into the cars, but not like my dad.... probably a good thing. John helped Tanner cut it out and then made Tanner do all the sanding and painting. He worked really hard on it. I took him to the craft store to pick out his paint. I saw the little bottles of model paint and got those... so it was nice and shiny, just like I remember! John ended up having to work late on Thursday, so I had to put the wheels on. I guess I did a good job because he won 3rd place!! Yah Tanner. I think that is the best we have ever done. It was a nice pinewood derby race, very under control. Kids were calm and quiet. Very enjoyable. Our primary is shrinking, we have combined with the Monte Cristo ward. It's fun for Tanner to get to know more boys!

I just got done watching President Hinkley's funeral. It was so nice! I am going to miss him. He has been such and amazing Prophet. I was a bit emotional at the end when they showed a little video of him. What a great example he has been! I hope we can always remember the things he has taught us and stay strong and do a little better!

Tried and failed, big time!

The family talked me into trying the Guitar Hero tonight..... Good thing I never had the intentions of being in a band! I will leave that to Mitchell and my brother Mark. After getting booed off the stage 4 times, I gave up. I've never been very coordinated with musical rhythm... kind of like doing aerobics...I will stick to the Cars racing game on the Wii. Not that I'm real good at that, but it's fun.
I am amazed at how much Ashley and her friends like this game. She was deathly sick this week and I came home to her playing it, and then the next day all the girlfriends were here playing for hours. I expected it from the boys, but not her. John even loves it. Mitchell is an expert and he stands there and makes it look so easy! Since I am becoming my mother, I am having a hard time having hard rock songs being played constantly! We need a basement for this thing!! I can't see! (family joke) My mom always had a fit in the car when the music was too loud, she would say that she couldn't see!

The facts of life...

Tanner is our fainter.... any sight of blood or anything close to it, he turns white as a ghost and faints. Well, he often sees the box of tampons in the bathroom and random tampons around the house and asks what they are for. So, we have been putting off telling him what they are because we know he will pass-out.... but he keeps asking. So today John and Tanner were driving home and Tanner found one in the glove box and insisted on getting an explanation. So John gave him a brief explanation and looked at Tanner and he was White as a ghost and we think he passed-out for a brief minute. They got home and he was still white and he fell asleep on the couch for about an hour. It wore him out. I feel for his wife someday!

Happy Birthday Tanner!!

I can't believe my baby is 10!! How could that be? So crazy how time flies. He had a few friends over on Saturday for a little party. They went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. I told John it might be a good idea if he took the boys to the movie while I stayed home and got pizza and stuff.... good idea on my part. John says I owe him big time for sitting through that movie! But the boys enjoyed it.

Sunday was his actual birthday, so we made pizza bread and had Scott, Jenn and Joanna over for dinner. It was a fun evening. He was SOO excited to get Guitar Hero for the Wii. The kids have been playing it nonstop! I haven't attempted it yet. I don't want them to see how uncoordinated I am! I was thinking I could practice while they are at school, but I don't even know how to turn the thing on! Oh well, I have better things to do with my time, like laundry and dishes! Fun stuff.

Happy Birthday Tanner!!

Happy New Year, Happy Birthday Ashley

I am sorry I have been away for a while! I got busy with the holidays. We had a great Christmas! We all got some fun things. I would say the highlight of the morning was watching Ashley and Mitchell be so excited for John to open their present. John got a new road bike, so the kids went to target and bought him a little kids bike horn and bell to put on his bike! It was so cute. We spent the morning playing with all the new stuff and then Scott and Jenn came over for dinner and to celebrate Ashley's 17th birthday. Wow... I can't believe she is that old! We had a yummy turkey dinner and her favorite dessert. Her favorite gift was a new curfew. She was sure that she was the only one with a 11:30 curfew. So we broke down and told her she could stay out till midnight. I know, we are wimpy parents. We enjoyed talking to so many family members on Christmas and wish we could have been all together!

Here are some photo's of the day....yes, Tanner is shedding a tear in that picture of him opening the Wii.
Ok, my computer is being a little slow and it is taking forever to upload the pictures. I will add more later.

Westra's visit.... Go BYU!

My brother Todd and his sweet wife Sharolyn and 4 cute kids came to visit this week. They came down to watch the BYU game last night. I feel bad, things were a little crazy while they were here! We had a train party here on Friday night and some friends for breakfast on Saturday morning... so it was nonstop entertaining! Crazy but fun! Ashley and I got to babysit the little girls Saturday night while everyone else went to the BYU game. We were brave and took them out shopping. I am not used to car seats and diaper bags! And we didn't have a stroller. So I let little Emily walk while we were in The Gap and she was reaching for some lotion on a glass shelf and totally fell, sending all the lotions and body sprays to the floor and since the shelf was glass, it sounded awful and she bonked her head on the shelf as she fell!! It was quite the scene!! Not a very good babysitter. I felt SO bad. She was a tough little girl and only cried for a minute. I envisioned us running to the emergency room for stitches! So after that we took them to Jason's Deli for dinner and had some ice cream. That always makes things better! In all of our shopping, we did find a new comforter for Ashley's bed. She wants her room redone for her birthday.

It was so fun to have family here! I miss them all so much, especially this time of year.

3 tired girls after a long night of shopping... watching Finding Nemo.














Cute family!



















(Notice the TP hanging from the tree in the background.... John caught 4 teenage girls tp-ing our house on Friday night. he scared them to death! It was pretty funny, then he invited them in for cookies and to see the train set. the mother who drove them was mortified! Such is the life with a good looking teenaged son!)

Mitchell couldn't stay on his feet!

Mitchell finished up his fall soccer season today. I always enjoy soccer season, but I must admit that I am always happy when it is over. It was pretty cold out there today. Mitchell played good today... he was a bit tired though, 8:00 am is a little early for him. He was become a great soccer player over the years. He is excited to be in high school next year and try out for the school team.


Down he goes one more time!

We are off to the Sunburst Shutters Christmas party. It is a bowling party! We will let you know who wins.
**update** I beat John by one point! Not sure what the kids scored?? But it was fun.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

I took the kids to see Santa for the 17th time yesterday. I just hung the new picture along with the other 16 Santa photo's on the wall. I just stood there and looked at them for like 10 minutes. It is amazing how time flies. It seems like yesterday that I celebrated Christmas by giving birth to our little Ashley. That was an amazing day, one I will never forget. It was snowing like crazy and she was early and I was so scared! But all went well, and I remember so clearly holding my new baby, looking out the hospital window watching the snow fall! Beautiful!!!

I must say that seeing Santa these days isn't quite as exciting as the days where they "believed". No fun! All they want is real expensive things now! I miss the days where they were thrilled with the little Barbie and toy cars.... I guess now it's a new kind of fun! Merry Christmas!