A perfect, perfect Christmas eve

On Tuesday we had a wonderful Christmas eve. It was the most beautiful snowy day, just inspiring. Our friends the Hewlett's came over for sledding. We went to the empty lot just up the street from our house. It's a good hill, and close so the little one's can go inside while the big kids can keep having fun. Phoebe and her friend Becka didn't enjoy the sledding so much. It's not a suprise for the kids to start crying after getting cold, or crashing. But I took this picture of Phoebe literally one minute after we got out there. I couln't figure out what her problem was.So DRAMATIC! Christoper was a great sledder! He and Jason getting ready to race!

I went down with Payton, racing against Parker. We caught some serious air, wo-hoo!

After sledding we had hot chocolate, and a fondue dinner! Later in the evening we opened pajamas with kids, and watched Mr Krugger's Christmas. It was a perfect day!

Where's the ice cream?

I came home late from shopping the other night. I opened the freezer to put away some groceries and asked Jason

" Did you guys eat all the ice cream while I was gone?"

"No, I had a big bowl, but there was still come left."

"Well it's not in here."

We spent the next ten minutes looking for the melting ice cream. Jason very often puts things in odd places while his attention is focused elsewhere. He constantly looses his keys and wallet. It would not suprise me at all if we found the ice cream in the cubord where he got the bowl out, or in the bathroom where he had to go and help a kid out. So we searched all over the whole house. It was driving me nuts to not know where this mess was melting. I went to recheck the boys room, I pulled back the covers on Paxton's bed, and found this. He was covered in chocolate peanut butter ice cream. I also found an apple between his bed and the wall. Evidently he likes to dine in bed

Penny the Killer

Penny killed a quail today. Our funny little baby girl puppy is a hunter. She suprises us everyday.

Fifth ward Christmas Party

Last night we had our ward Christmas party. It was so much fun. We did a skit of the Twelve Days of Christmas with some other couples in our ward. Suzanne put it together, it was hillarious! We had all sorts of fun activities, singing, and good food. It was a great turnout, and everyone had a wonderful time.

I like how excited Scott and Tiffany are during the "Eight maids a milking"!

I think Tiffany really got into this:-).

We were "Six geese a layin".


The young women dressed up as Elves, they are all so cute, and they were so helpful!

We only got Phoebe on Santa's lap. Ken and Judy Coffman were our Santa's. They're so great! Merry Christmas!

Phoebe had her class party today. There were two very important things that she was looking forward to about it. One was getting to finally ride the bus. The other was that she would get to see Santa Clause. She was pretty mesmerized by him and told him what she would like for Christmas. He had a gift for all the kids there, which was very cool. Phoebe liked the bubbles in the gift bag most of all I think.

When we got home from the party she grabbed her bubbles and went outside to blow them "Bubbles and Snowflakes are just beautiful" is what she said. It was very pretty. We had a wonderful day!

Paxton

Phoebe's class party was Thursday the 18th at the fairgrounds arena. It was so neat. There were these two clydesdales wearing jinglebells pulling a big wagon giving rides for the kids. Paxton loved the horses. He looks like a little cowboy in these pictures, I love them. Finally some decent pics of my little guy.

Payton's Christmas concert was on Wednesday December 17th. It was a great concert with really great music. I really love going to these, it's so much fun! We took some pictures with her and her friends. This little boy Andrew kept jumping in all the pictures, pretty sure he has a little crush on her. So funny.

House For Sale!!!

We've been in this house for 3 1/2 years. It's a wonderful house and we are so happy here. But we've decided to put it up for sale. We found a house down off of Pacific Terrace just blocks from the school that is for sale. It is a forclosure, and if all went as planned we could get an amazing deal on it. It is in horrible disrepair, so we would need to redo the entire house. We are in a situation where we are perfectly happy with where we are at so were not in any particular need to sell our house. We just want to explore the options of a potentially interesting opportunity. So we have decided to put our house up for sale at the worst time ever. During Christmas, snow (on our hill it's an issue), and a horrible seller's market. With all of these things stacked against us, it would take a miracle on Laguna St for anything to happen. So if anyone you know has $199,999.00 and needs a great family home, send them our way! Paxton's little room.

Playroom upstairs.

Payton's room.

Phoebe's room. Butterflies.

Downstairs/Master bathroom. Jason built this whole thing. He's amazing!

It's a really pretty bathroom, with lovely heated floors.

Our bedroom.

My dining room.

House pics part 2

Love this kitchen!

Living room, with wonderful wood stove.

Parker's room.

Main floor bathroom.

Eight is Great!

Payton Glee was baptised on December 6th. We had a really wonderful couple of days. My parents came down with my sister Bonnie from Salem for the weekend. Payton's baptism was really nice. There were lots of friends and family there to support her. I gave a talk on baptisim, and Camille Duckworth gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. I am so proud of Payton. She is an amazing strong, and beautiful girl. She was so ready to be baptized. I am grateful for her decision to do this. She is an incredible example to her family. She is growing up so incredibly fast. It's really a pleasure to to parent her.

We all went out to dinner afterwards to Sizzler, which was really fun. We were able to spend some time together with all the extended family on my mom's side and have an early Christmas dinner celebration. My Grandparents, Aunt Becky, and the Garcia's joined us at our house. My Anut Becky is a hoot, she shared with us her recipe for rice-a-roni, and bar-b-que cornuts stuffing. She's too funny. All in all it was a really great weekend. What an incredible blessing to have two of my children baptized into the Lords church. It brings me such peace, comfort, and joy.

Kid Tree -V/S- Mommy Tree

For Family Home Evening we decorated a kid tree. This is the first year I've done this. It was really fun to do together, and the kids get to have a tree upstairs for their playroom. My whole plan was so that I could finally have a "Mommy Tree". I put my tree together a few days later, and it looks just the way I wanted it to. It's really pretty, and fancy. Then this last Monday Payton came home from school with an ornament with her picture on it. It was so darn cute that I had to break my own rule of "what ornaments go where". I put it on my fancy pretty mommy tree. I don't know if I'm cut out for a fancy tree, I really miss all the kitchy, homemade, ornaments. It's funny how I finally got what I've been wanting for years, and now I'm not so sure I want it.

Parker had his Christmas Program on December 8th. It was in the evening this year, which was new to our school. Parker is in his first year of band, he plays the trombone. The fifth grade band sounded pretty good! Can't wait to hear them again in the spring. It's so fun to see how much the kids improve.

His class also sang "Jingle Bell Rock". Parker was one of the kids who came down off the risers, and danced throughout the song. He was right in front of the microphone, and it was like he had a solo. He was so loud, it was funny! They also did a song with the bells. I just love the bells, they are so beautiful. It was a really lovely program.

Thanksgiving

My family had a nice low key Thanksgiving day. We went out to Jason's parents cabin and had a nice dinner with just our family and his parents. No other siblings could make it this year so it was really quiet around the house. The weather was beautiful, and Penny and Chya (their 170 lb Samoyed) had fun playing together. We left after dinner for our friends the Jensen's in Medford to stay the night there. It was great to see them, and the kids were so happy to visit. Phoebe had been talking about her sleepover with Addie for a couple of weeks!

As I sit and reflect on the blessings in my life many things come to mind. I am thankful for the privileged life that I live. I am thankful for the rights that are afforded me in this great nation. The freedom of religion, equal rights, safety, the ability to better myself with education, and information. I am grateful for those who have sacrificed so much to see that I enjoy this life. I am thankful for a God that knows and loves me. That knows and loves my husband and children. I am so grateful for the fullness of the gospel, the knowledge that I have and the faith that I am able to exercise. I am grateful for a husband who is an amazing partner, who loves me unconditionally. I am thankful for four amazing, beautiful children. I am thankful for wonderful friends who inspire and surprise me. I am thankful for our parents, and for the love and guidance they extend to us. I know that I am very blessed, and am thankful that my heart is full.

Siblings

For about ten days this last month we had Penny's litter-mate brother Tucker stay with us. Our friends Eric and Holly Jensen were going to adopt him, so we fostered him until he could be placed with them. It was a very interesting journey for me in particular. Tucker was the reason we got Penny in the first place. We met him, and Phoebe went nuts for that puppy. He had such an awesome disposition, and was so cute that we all loved the idea of having a puppy just like him. We have had Penny for about 3 months now, and love her to pieces. Taking in Tucker for a while, didn't seem like it would be a big deal so we were happy to do it. It ended up being a big adjustment for him. He was not used to sleeping by himself, so the first few nights were pretty rocky. Two not completely house broken puppies was some work also. All in all though it was a really great experience. The first three days were low key, the middle four days were..."would you please hurry up and come get your dog", and the last three days were, "maybe they'll change their mind and we can just keep him".

I have never been a big animal person, but that little guy had a big impact on me. He is such a love bug, and really melted my heart. He and Penny had so much fun together, I was terribly worried for her when he left. She was a little depressed for a couple of days, but we spoiled her back into happiness. They came over and took him home on Monday. I was so sad, I had to call Monday evening and see how he was doing. On Thursday (Thanksgiving) we got to go over to the Jensen's. The puppies were reunited, and so happy. They are so cute and funny together. Tucker has completely settled in, and is even allowed on the couch. He's a lucky dog. We miss him, but it's nice to have things back to normal and know he's with a family who loves him.

My sick birthday girl.

Payton had her eighth birthday on the twenty first. We had alot of things planned for this momentous event, including her first sleepover birthday party. The morning of her party she woke up at 5am, and threw up. A few days before the rest of the kids, and I had a stomach virus. I was pretty sure that's what she had. She really wanted to try to go to school and continue with the day. I took them all to school at 8:30, and was back down there to get her at 9:30. She had thrown up in the office. So we had to call all her friends and cancel her party. Poor girl was so sick on her birthday that she couldn't even have cake:(. I rented her four movies, and bought lots of apple juice and sprite. We told her no big deal, in four days her best friend Eva would have her sleepover birthday party with the exact same friends. It would be just like hers would have been. That consoled her through the weekend. Come Tuesday and we were all ready for her to go to Eva's birthday. Tuesday she came downstairs around 4am complaining of a sore throat, and an ear ache. She was running a fever, so we gave her some Motrin and sent her back to sleep. Around 2pm the school secretary calls me again,I swear I talk to her twice a day. She says Payton is running a fever of 103', and really in sad shape. I pick her up from school, and take her right to the Dr's office. Sure enough she has strep throat. This little gal just can't catch a break. She misses the party, and is in pain for the next 24 hours. Yucky medicine, headache, chills, fever. I felt so sorry for her. Such a sad birthday week. Good news is she is doing much better, and had her health to be thankful for on thanksgiving.

Family Pics

We went out yesterday with Sarah and Matt Teeples to take some pictures. It was a beautiful day. The little one's and I had a stomach virus, and Jason had a "little trailer accident" about ten minutes before we were supposed to be there. I look like a hot mess in these, and Parker is making beaver teeth in almost every picture( I will kill him later). Paxton was not in the mood for sitting and smiling, which is why there are no single shots of him. We were horrible subjects to say the least. Sarah and Matt were really patient, and did a great job. Thanks for spending your time and talents with us.

Happy Halloween 2008

This year Halloween was great! Thursday evening we had our ward party at church put on by the primary. It was great! Fun games and yummy food. Friday night we had our friends the Hewlett's over for dinner, and then went trick or treating around the neighborhood. It was wonderful weather, which is rare here in Klamath. We got to see loads of friends out on Pacific Terrace in their costumes. Everyone had a great time. Later when we got home the kiddo's watched the "Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", and the adults watched "The Hulk". Tiffany and I agreed not such a great movie. Good times, and good friends, and loads of candy. It was a successful evening. No picture of Paxton, he's not letting me get any latley:(.