Unfortunately, I did not get Christmas Cards send out this year.

I even thought about sending out email Christmas Cards....

but that didn't happen either.

So, I am taking this moment right now to send out this very special Video Christmas Card to all of my family and friends.

I wont bore you all with all the trivial things that have happened to us over the last year,(other then our new grandbaby!! who's brought such a ray of sunshine into our lives)

but will instead ask that you watch the video in its entirety...

In the hustle and Bustle of this crazy Christmas season, let us all stop and really remember the reason for the season....

we love you all...

Have a Wonderful Christmas, a happy New Year and a Bright 2010~

Sending this Shout out to our Son in Law James and the rest of the troops out there tonight who will not be home with their families for Christmas...we miss you....we love you and we will be thinking of you. Thank you for what you do and the sacrifices you are making by being away from your families this Christmas season. We will see you soon, just not soon enough.

Treats...

We had a ton of fun Sunday afternoon, spending time together making treats...

Each kid took an assignment...and we made them all at once...

took us just a couple hours to throw out

Carmel Corn

Snicker doodles

Cut out cookies

Carmel's

Chocolate Chip Cookies

and then we let each family member pick two families to deliver too....

so off we went to deliver our treats to our friends....

Exchange Party....

We had our fun exchange student party this last Thursday! it was soo fun to get together with all the kids in our group. We played the white elephant game and they each brought a dessert from their country...that is always very interesting. This year each and every treat was exceptionally good!!

Chandler, Yosi, Cooper, Kevin, Guillermo, Max and Lina
Kevin, Guillermo, Max, Lina, Irene, Lisa and Renan

Naomi and Karianne
Kevin from Peru
Rich with his comfy blanket he scored.....but, unfortunately he did not keep it.

Guillermo went home with it!
Lina, Irene, Lisa and Naomi digging into the treats
Everyone enjoying the treats!

Guillermo, Lisa, Irene, Lina, Kevin, Renan, Max, Naomi and Karianne

Thank you.....

Becky Montoya...

for bringing

peace and harmony

to our home

(with your individual Snack box idea)

that is until the pilfering begins......

in my house its inevitable....

the only question to be answered is WHO will do it first!

Rich told Noah just this morning that he had 30 seconds to get his chore done (unloading and loading the dishwasher)

or he(Rich) gets to pick from his(Noah's) snack box!

So I'm not so sure that the pilfering I will be worrying about will be between the kids!!!!

Now if you will notice...one box is missing

she is a smart girl that one...

she is keeping her box in her room!!

in

Hiding!!!

For Sale

Women's DC Snowboarding boots

Size 9
Only worn 4 times before she out grew them
$75

Well....Since it's Midnight and I'm still up...

I will go ahead and take this opportunity to wish myself a

HAPPY 15th ANNIVERSARY

of my 29th Birthday

(because that's how we older Gal's roll)

Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow....

We got at least 12 inches of new snow last night....

here is what it looked like at about 10pm

this was taken at about 8pm
and then in the middle of the night we had high high winds that blew alot of the snow..
there were trees and power lines down around town...
luckily we only had a few flickers ...
down the street a neighbor lost a BIG pine tree
it snapped about 3 feet up from the bottom
and fell over and broke their fence and landed across the road...


Rich Digging out to go to work...

This is our weird dog....Pepper, catching snow balls!

This baby....

Is growing up WAY too fast....

she just turned 6 months on the 2nd of December and she is already...

Sitting up...

Crawling...

and pulling herself up...

She is gonna be like her mom ...

and will probably be walking by 9 months...

Birthday wishes...

Well, I was going to write this tomorrow since tomorrow (the 8th) is officially his birthday but I was just informed that in Iraq (where he is) it's actually his birthday today...

sooo.....

Happy Birthday To my Son in Law

James

We hope you have a wonderful birthday

(as wonderful as it can be thousands of miles from home)

We love and miss you and are VERY VERY proud of you and the work that you do!

Thank you!

James is a great guy, wonderful father and husband and

we cant wait for him to return home to his family!

until then James.....

stay safe!

Help a girl out....

Hey there....

if you are in need of a Gold Canyon Candle or two for the holidays please order from Brittnee...

She has been selling them for a little while now but has not had much luck and she has to sell about $400 this month to make her quota to continue being a demonstrator.

SOOO .....think about who on your list might like one and then you can either email Britt, Call her, post a comment here or go to her candle website HERE to order.

If you would be willing to host a party that would be awesome!!

If you don't live here locally you can order from her website and it will be shipped directly to you.

They make GREAT Teacher gifts, Visiting teacher gifts, friend and neighbor gifts...the ideas are endless!

Christmas TAG!!!

1.WRAPPING PAPER or GIFT BAGS? Wrapping Paper!!! (Unless I"m outta tape!)

2.REAL or ARTIFICIAL TREE? Love a real one BUT......Artificial is WAY Easier, so that is what we do.

3.WHEN DO YOU PUT UP THE TREE? Usually the first Saturday in December

4.DO YOU LIKE EGGNOG? YUCK!

5.FAVORITE GIFT AS A CHILD? Hmmm. I really cant remember many presents from back then. The only one I really remember was a baby doll I got when I was 3, so i will go with that one.

6.DO YOU HAVE A NATIVITY SCENE? I did! but several pieces have broken over the years so now I don't! It was on my Christmas list last year but I did not receive one.

7.HARDEST PERSON TO BUY FOR? Rich's Parents

8.EASIEST PERSON TO BUY FOR? Sawyer...he always has a list a mile long and has several "Favorite things" like, ANYTHING monkey!

9.EMAIL OR CARDS? I WANT CARDS! I haven't gotten any, but I hope to! hint hint

10.FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE? hummm used to love The Santa Claus with Tim Allen but I have seen it so many times that its not a favorite anymore...probably Elf!

11.WHEN DO YOU START SHOPPING FOR CHRISTMAS? I am usually putting it off until December but this year I started shopping on line several weeks ago since I knew I would not be in any shape to be walking the malls.

12.FAVORITE THINGS TO EAT DURING CHRISTMAS? All the sweet goodies!

13.WHITE LIGHTS OR COLORED LIGHTS? White Lights!

14.FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONG?All the songs from the Forgotten Carols.

15.TRAVEL FOR CHRISTMAS OR STAY HOME? Stay at home for sure! Unless I could pull off a cool vacation for the family....one of these days!

16.CAN YOU NAME ALL OF SANTA'S REINDEER? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen, and don't forget RUDOLPH!! (thanks Kacie!! LOL)

17.ANGEL OR STAR ON TOP OF THE TREE? Star...always a star

18.DO YOU OPEN PRESENTS CHRISTMAS EVE OR CHRISTMAS MORNING? We all open one (preplanned) present on Christmas eve and all the rest on Christmas morning...around 6am.

19.MOST ANNOYING THING ABOUT THIS TIME OF YEAR? The Crowds!

20.UP EARLY OR SLEEP IN? Up early on Christmas day...sleep in all Christmas Break.

21.ARE YOUR GIFTS FROM SANTA OR MRS.CLAUS? Santa. But Mrs. Claus definitely does all the work. Santa just brings in the bacon!

22.DO YOU TELL THE CHRISTMAS STORY? We have made it a new tradition these last few years to do this.

23.DO YOU LEAVE COOKIES OUT FOR SANTA? Yes, Usually Frosted cut out cookies

24.FAVORITE CHRISTMAS TRADITION? Opening a present on Christmas eve (Usually new Jammie's) and the kids all sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve. In the morning they come out when we go to get them and they line up from youngest to oldest.

This was so fun! Try it out everyone!!! And let me know so I can check your answers out!

On the Mend...

Well its FINALLY almost over.....

I am officially crutch free!

This foot has healed WAY faster then the first.

Boy am I happy about that!

I was on crutches with the first foot for nearly 5 weeks.

This time around I shed the crutches after just 3 weeks

I started walking again on my own yesterday

My first foot nearly feels back to normal...

a few twinges of pain in my ankle from time to time.

So glad this foot is coming along faster then the first

its still slow going....

but at least I'm FINALLY

on my way!!!

This has been the longest 10 weeks of my life!

Great Idea....

Ok I just think this is the coolest thing ever.....

Brittnee saw and got this at the Hallmark store.

It is a recordable book

(they also have "The Night Before Christmas")

She Bought this book and sent it to James who will record himself reading it and then he will send it home to Brynlee for Christmas so she can have a book that her Daddy can read to her every night!

Isn't that amazing???

I also saw this on extreme home makeover last night....

Wouldn't it be cool if Hallmark would find away to donate like a gazillion of these books to the troops to record and send home to their children???

If you are interested in buying one of these books this Christmas season HERE is a link to get you $10 off

Yellow Jacket Football...

Blue Ridge wins the 3A State Championship over Show Low 41-21

Thanks for Bringing it back home boys!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

WOW!!!!

These are my cute little twins nearly 15 years ago.....

And these are my twins today...

How did this happen? he is nearly double her size!!

she is 5'4" 105 lbs

he is 5' 11 205 lbs

Twins??? Really??

Made a trek to the valley to watch the Football semi finals.......

Blue Ridge won over Florence

and
Show Low won over Fountain Hills

so....

Next Saturday at 5pm we will meet each other for the

STATE CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!

GO BR!

Getting something accomplished....

Ok...so like it occurred to me about a week ago that I would be Out of commission (not walking) till mid December....hum, that kind of causes a problem that I had not anticipated.....like

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!!!!

So today I sat at my computer....in my jammies(with snowflakes on them), with my foot up (to conquer that ugly swelling) and did something that I have not done alot of in the past...

I shopped, And I shopped and I think I made a little dent in my Christmas Shopping!

This is NOT something Im used to, nor is it something I like, It keeps me from getting in the Christmas Spirit by not being in the hustle and bustle but whattya gonna do right?

hummm wonder who is gonna put the Christmas tree up???

I heard a secret today....

That is not really a secret anymore....

Congrats to Jeff and Jessica

on your new little project!!

All is well?

For any of you that were following along....

Hayden's tests all came back normal (which is great!)

this tells us he has no underlying conditions and just has hypertension.

We don't know why he has hypertension. Especially because he is so young and in such good shape. But it is what it is, so he will just be on medication and continue to be monitored.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers

Thank you....

Christmas Baby.....

Our Sweet Grandbaby Brynlee

Isn't she adorable!

Thanks ,,,,

To everyone who voted for Heidi to win the stroller.....voting is over and she is the "unofficial" winner. They have to check everything out to make sure all votes were legit (we know Heidi's were) but they will officially announce the winner once they are done with their checking!!!

again..thanks to everyone who voted!

Catch up....

4 new posts today to get ya all caught up!

and now.....

After all that fun in Boston.....I had to come home to face foot surgery #2

which I had the pleasure of having yesterday....

Had alot of pain with this one that I did not have with the first one

but its feeling alittle better today
so if all goes as planned my footprints should look more like these above when Im done healing

then like the flinstone feet I used to have

Brynlee's gifts....

While I was in Salem, Mass. I was able to do alittle shopping at the street vender's....several were selling hats. So I brought each of the kids a new hat. I will try to post pictures of the cool "Mohawk" knitted hats I found when I get Noah or Sawyer to hold still long enough for me to get a picture. But I was able to snap a few of my favorite baby in the cute little hats I found for her

(I could not buy just one! LOL)

this first one comes with the cutest little mittens you ever did see

And this one was my favorite! and it only cost me $8...can't beat that deal!!

I was just telling Brittnee that we needed to find her some hats and mittens when we were at a football game recently and it was sooo cold! so these should keep her little head warn for the winter!

Oh! and I LOVE being a grandma and getting to buy baby things again!!!

My Trip to Boston...

So...alittle over a week ago I had to go to Boston for Meetings for the exchange student organization I work with. I got there on Thursday and our meetings did not start until Friday night so on Friday morning they took us over to Salem (as in Witch trials) to see the sights. It was a happening place considering Halloween was the next day.

This was the cemetery where alot of the people were buried who were hung over the whole Witch thing....The gravestones were very thin from all the weather over the last 300 or so years

This was the witch museum...very interesting place to have a witch museum wouldn't ya say?

Inside they go through the whole story of the witch trials and how and why they happened

This was a statue outside in the intersection. Cant remember who this dude was but it was kinda creepy

This is the emblem on the police cars in Salem

(you can click on it to make it bigger to see it better)

We were also able to visit the house of the seven gables which is believed to have been the inspiration for the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorn of the same name, he also wrote the scarlet letter.

This is not the house of the seven Gables but just a small modest house that was move to the property.