Our little menace.

How can such an ADORABLE boy (yes he's in his Knight costume)...

Be SUCH a menace?!!

Changes.

So I've come to realize that my posts have been too long and detailed and that no one is really interested in reading my day to day life.  So I decided to make my own personal blog/daily journal for myself and my posterity and use this blog as a condensed version of my life.  I'm not sure how exactly to do that quite yet but I'm sure I'll get a groove on how I want this blog to be.  So there ya' go;)

Blessings For 11.23

11.29- facing my fears and trying to have faith, going to church, how adorable my cute B looked, The Proclamation on the family, my ward family, an awesome lesson by our Bishop and getting to sit and hold hands with my husband I love so much, an awesome Bishop, first Sunday family dinner of many to come with dad & fam at our house, great food (home-made breadsticks, spaghetti and chocolate & banana cream pies), great conversation & a full happy home, new Christmas decorations, watching The Santa Clause with my kiddos, glow of the Christmas tree

11.28- hubby home from work and spending time together all day as a family, having fun watching Christmas youtube vids with kids and with elfyourself vids, HOT shower;);), Joaquin's adorable toes and cheekies, putting up Christmas lights with hubby and our awesome teamwork, a beautiful sunny day, decorating Christmas tree, BK for family dinner, BK onion rings, decorating house, Christmas nativities, house feels very Christmasey, aroz con chocolate (first time making it and it was dee-licious!), my hubby and his love!

11.27- first time and very successful black Friday shopping- kids are all done-whew!, amazing deals, our sweet lil' Christmas tree, brother Jensen watchin' my kids in the morning for me, leftover turkey sandwich for lunch!, naps and snuggles with my kiddos, Jensen comin' and playing with my kids and being such a great Uncle, kids were great today, cute new pj's for kiddies, picked up home and now nice & tidy, Biggest Loser, watching Grinch with kiddos, adorable cards from momma and lovin' her so much

11.26- Thanksgiving!, thinking of and being grateful for the countless blessings in my life from on High, deviled eggs & turkey, good times with Aunt Misty, lovin' on my nephew, making Christmas plans and shopping ideas with hubby, working heater

11.25- feelin' better, clean house, Patty baby-sittin' for me & living right around the corner, SYTYCD, phone call with friend Britney, great job interview with Olive Garden, inspiration & Divine guidance, yummy dinner (stuffed shells with cheese & fave breadsticks!) & great conversation with the missionaries, feeling very inspired by the Biggest Loser special, first snow- so peaceful and beautiful!

11.24- grapefruit (sorry but I just love 'em!), the sound of rain, my awesome step-mom Patty for taking Baily for a while so I could rest during Joaquin's nap and bringing over yummy chicken noodle casserole for dinner, Broadway music, new Ensign and Friend are here, reading most of Friend with Baily, Pres. Eyring's First Pres. message in Dec. Ensign, Donny won DWTS!!, hubby home from work earlier than usual, Baily cracking us up, rocky road ice cream, hubby's buff arms

11.23- hubby's big fluffy pancakes he made just for me, realizing how grateful I am for being taught integrity and values during my background interview, fridge is not broken!, looking for Christmas ideas at Target with my kids and their excitement for the day!, good advice from Patty, kids behaving so I could get my walking workout in, having access to my dad's treadmill whenever I want, being showered with kisses from my kids, baked potatoe soup and breadsticks for dinner!!, that the markers ate while I was cleaning the kitchen were non-toxic, dancing the Paso Doble with my kids during DWTS

New Sunday Traditions

Sunday November 29, 2009
Yesterday was a good, good day. After taking too long to get going and working hard to let faith overcome fear on my part we got to church an hour late. I'm going to make it a point to not be late to church anymore. It's really a weakness I have and need to overcome. I'm so glad we made it to church because Robert and I got to sit together in Sunday School and since it was the 5th Sunday we got to sit together for the combined RS/Priesthood meeting taught by the Bishop. Both were so awesome. We have such an awesome Bishop and I'm so grateful for him and his family. After we got home I got dinner ready and then my Dad & Patty & Eyan came over and we started our new tradition of having Sunday family dinners together. We are going to rotate it between each other's houses. I'm so excited to start this tradition. Even though we live so close together, the days get away from us and we don't get to see each other very often. So yeah, I'm excited for this new tradition. I made spaghetti and homemade breadsticks (can you tell these are our new favorite as we've had them 3 times in the past week?!) and salad and then we had chocolate & banana cream pies. After dinner me, Eyan and the kids played Uno Attack and it was so much fun. Baily had a blast and was so excited that she actually got to play with us and Joaquin cracked up every time the machine shot out cards. It was so funny to see him cracking up. After they left Joaquin found his sisters pie and you can bet that that was the end of that. He thought he was so sneaky. So funny! The rest of the night we watched movies and ended up all going to bed pretty early. I guess all the weekend festivities caught up with us. It was an awesome day and awesome week as you can tell from my sweet girl's face in this pic!

Discussion Question:
What do you love about Sundays?

'Tis the Season!

Saturday November 28, 2009
Saturday was pretty much awesome. We spent the whole day as a family which is my favorite. I got the house picked up, we had lunch and then we went to Wal-Mart to get our first outdoor Christmas lights. It wasn't much but we were excited to get started on our Christmas light collection. When we got home we were blessed to have an absolutely beautiful sunny day where it wasn't cold to put up the lights. Robert did a great job even though it was so high and scary putting them up. He and I worked together and I must say we have great teamwork. Like I said, it's not a lot of lights but we think the house looks great! After we finished with the outside we decorated our tree and it ended up looking lovely. Baily had fun helping and Joaquin wasn't really sure what to think. When we finished with the tree we went and ate at Burger King and made a quick stop at Wal-Mart then headed home to finish decorating the house and watching Christmas movies. It was really a wonderful day and now that our house is all Christmasey we are all feeling the Spirit and looking forward to this Christmas season. 'Tis the season to be jolly!!

Discussion Question:

What's your favorite Christmas decoration?

Baily & Joaquin Updates

Baily 3 1/2 years old:
~ Always says the food prayers
~ Loves swimming
~ Loves riding as fast as she can on her bike
~ Loves Primary
~ Loves her family
~ Can throw a pretty mean tantrum!
~ Loves strawberries
~ Loves to help mom in the kitchen
~ Can't wait to start school
~ Wears 3T-4T
~ Loves living in her own house and having her own room
~ Loves Dora and Max and Ruby and Kailan and Spongebob and icarly
~ Still ends up in mom and dad's bed by the morning
~ LOVES her daddy and hates when he has to go to work
~ Loves her baby brother and loves to share with him (most of the time)
~ Love animals- especially her dogs
~ Loves to be outside
~ Loves to play all sports
~ Loves popcorn with salt on it (garlic parmesan flavor)
~ Loves to watch movies- Spiderman, Enchanted, Signs, ET, Matilda, Titanic, Monster House, Home Alone

Joaquin 18 months:
~ LOVES his daddy
~ Adores his sister
~ Can run freaky fast
~ Loves to eat paper, mud and dog food
~ Is happy and smiling and laughing 90% of the time
~ Takes a nap right after lunch for an 1-2 hours
~ Goes to bed by 8 pm on the dot and is usually up by 7 or 8 am
~ Doesn't like milk or pasta
~ Wears 18 Months - 2T
~ Does not like to share
~ Loves popcorn
~ Loves Dora
~ Is so tough
~ Drinks a lot of liquids!
~ Loves baths and water
~ Loves playing outside
~ Loves balls
~ Never cries when he gets hurt
~ Loves meat and cheese
~ Hates when his meals aren't on time

According to Baily & Joaquin

Baily-
*Joseph Smith = Taylor Swift
*Tinkerbells = Fireflys
*Mee-Tenzie = Mackenzie
*Squishy Hug = Bear Hug
*Horm = Warm
*Scrippers = Scriptures
*Hanna Montanic = Hanna Montana
*Corn Aliens = The movie Signs
*Stinky Beans = Flatulence
*Stirsty = Thirsty
*Yellow Circle in a White Circle = Fried Eggs
*Roundies = Roundabouts
*Deener = Dinner

Joaquin-
*Ah Meen = Aw Man!
*Pah-yee = Potty
*Jus = Any kind of drink
*Cookie = Any kind of finger food
*Nigh nigh = Sleep time (Night night)
*Thuuh = Pizza or any other Food
*Chet-ter = Dog (my dad's dog's name is Chester and he thinks that's what all dogs are called)
*B = Baily
*Ba ba ball = Basketball
*Ba- ball = Football

Reflections of Christ Slideshow

Happy Sabbath! I love this so much. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Lights Gone Wild

LOVE it!!

Christmas Light Show - Amazing Grace Techno

This never gets old and it ignites the Christmas Spirit in me like fire!!

Black Friday Success!

Friday November 27, 2009

4 am is when my alarm clock went off this morning. The plan was for Robert and I to leave at 4:30 to go to Wal-Mart and Target and my brother Jensen was going to come crash on our couch and watch our kids for us. We made our list, mapped out our routes and were all set and ready to go the previous night. Here's what actually happened. I finally got up at around 4:45 and Joaquin then woke up and apparently knew something was up because he would not go back to sleep. Drat. We thought about bringing him along but quickly realized that was dumb. So sadly and to my dismay Robert stayed with the kiddos and I headed off to face the madness that is Black Friday. I have gone once before this but had no money so it was pointless. Well we still didn't have much but somehow it worked out that we had a little extra this week so I got to have my first reall Black Friday shopping experience. Wal-Mart was my first stop. I got there about 20 after 5, 20 minutes after it opened and it was a madhouse. I managed to find everything on my list though and was stoked. After waiting about 30 minutes in line and going through the checkout I realized I didn't have my Visa. Great. So I had to wait there by the register while my husband got to bring me my card and Jensen got to stay with my kids after all. Ha ha... that's what he gets for thinking he got to sleep. After that stop and after Robert went home I headed to Target next. There were people there and it was busy but not crowded or crazy at all. The things I were looking for were gone at first but then after chasing some poor workers down I found a few of the "extras" of the items I wanted as was so excited. I headed home, changed my mind about some things, went back to the two stores a couple of times because I couldn't make up my mind and finally made it home, dragging (I was one tired momma!), around 10:30. I am so grateful for the awesome deals that they had this year. I got some rockin' deals and am so excited about Christmas. I am all done with my kids (except for stockings) and even got some other things we needed like snow boots and pajamas and a Christmas tree as well. It was a very successful trip and since most of my shopping's done already I think I will be able to enjoy the Christmas season much more this year and not be so stressed all the time. So you can say I am now a big fan of Black Friday shopping and plan on making it a yearly tradition;) I was pretty much dead for most of the rest of today. Jensen came by and brought us a Mr. & Mrs. Clause decoration for outside and ended up staying and hanging out for a bit. My kids adore their Uncle Jensen. He's so much fun for them and I just have to say that I adore my brother too. After he left I got a little more motivated and picked up my house and got it nice and tidy. We had an easy dinner, the kids got into their new Christmas jammies ($3 at Walmart thank you very much) and then we watched Christmas movies. On the list was the Grinch, Dennis the Menace Christmas (pretty cute actually) and now The Santa Clause. We are decorating our tree and house tomorrow and plan on making cookies and cocoa and possibly decorating a gingerbread house. Now all I need is snow! I'm so excited for Christmas season and plan on really enjoying it and focusing on the true Reason for the Season this year. Merry Christmas Season everyone!

Discussion Question:

How do you go about your Christmas shopping?

A Feast of Thanksgiving!!

Thursday November 26, 2009

Yesterday I had a fabulous Thanksgiving. It was simple and great. I slept in since I couldn't sleep the night before and woke up and got to cooking. We were going to my dad's for dinner and Patty made most of the dinner so I just made deviled eggs, sweet potatoes, spinach & artichoke dip and cherry & blueberry cheesecakes. After that was ready Baily and I picked up Patty and Jensen and then we went to pick up my Aunt Misty at her care home and then to pick up Cadie and Nolan (Jensen's girlfriend and son). After that we dropped them off at my dad's then I picked up Robert and Joaquin and we joined the rest of the gang at my dad's. The house smelled so good and the food tasted even better. We had a nice blessing and then enjoyed a truly grand feast. As we sat and ate and enjoyed each other's company I couldn't help but think of how blessed my life is and I think that's why I love Thanksgiving so much- it helps us remember (see link at bottom for one of my favorite General Conference talks on this subject) how truly our lives are blessed. After we ate we just sat and visited. Then we took our visitors home and my sweet family and I went to our home. It was a wonderful day indeed.And as cliche as this may be, I would like to share my top 10 blessings that I'm grateful for in my life. Please share yours with me too;)

1- First and foremost is my Savior Jesus Christ and His gospel that I am blessed to be a part of and all that comes with it (The Book of Mormon, Priesthood, the Prophet, etc.). My life would be nothing without Him and His sweet gospel.

2- My family. This includes my sweet kids and hubby, my parents, grandparents and siblings, in-laws and extended family. I truly love each one of them and they have all blessed my life in their own special way. I love you all!

3- My freedom and residence in this wonderful country that I love. And this includes all those that are fighting and have fought for this freedom.

4- The beautiful earth and all the seasons and glorious creations.

5- Mine and my family's health and well-being.

6- All my awesome friends who make my life so enjoyable and bearable.

7- Music!

8- My beautiful home sweet home and all the luxuries we enjoy in it (heat, cool, water, electricity, warm beds, etc.).

9- True love in it's purest form- the kind that brings that joy and peace which passeth all understanding.

10- It may sound weird, but technology which would include cars, computer, internet, tv, movies, cell phones, dishwashers, dryers. I was definitely meant to live in this day and age and am so grateful that I do!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying all your blessings to the fullest!!

Discussion Question:

What are your top 10 blessings you're grateful for?

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Swell

Wednesday November 25, 2009

Today was a swell day indeed. I had a nice calm morning with the kiddos and was able to get my house clean and orderly and watch last night's episode of SYTYCD. I think it was the best episode-the best dancing of this season so far. Both of Sonya's routines were amazing and really moved me. After Joaquin woke up from his nap and I got ready they went to Grandma's and I went to a job interview at Olive Garden. I feel like it went really well and left feeling good vibes and excitement to work there. I think it will work very well to my advantage. After my interview I rushed home to get my kiddos and went home and prepared a lovely dinner for the missionaries. A new friend and investigator was supposed to come but she was sick and couldn't make it which was a bummer. But we had a nice dinner (stuffed shells and cheese and breadsticks and yellow cake with choc. frosting for dessert- yum!) and nice conversation anyway. Those missionaries are sure nice fellows. After dinner and the kids and hubby were out I've enjoyed catching up on some of my shows. I watched the SYTYCD results show first and was pretty pleased with the results and I loved Shakira's performance, the ballet performance and the group performance. I so love dance talent!! Glee's episode tonight was awesome. I totally cried when they sang with the deaf kids- so touching! I love that show more and more each week. And finally I watched the Biggest Loser special "Where are they now?" and talk about the water works flowing and being motivated to make a change. I felt invigorated and you better believe I will be working on some major fitness and life goals this weekend after watching that inspiring episode. It's been a swell day and I cannot wait for Turkey Day tomorrow- it's gonna be great!

Discussion Question:

What are your favorite shows and why?

I feel like poo and my little tag-along.

Tuesday November 24, 2009

So as you might have figured out from my title, I felt like poo yesterday. It's nothing major- either a common cold or allergies. Either way though it feels like poo. I felt so drained and weak and achey. Blegh. So yesterday was spent with a lot of watching tv and vegging on the couch and catching up on some magazine reading. I got my December Ensign and Friend yesterday and I was stoked. It was good reading. And thankfully my kids were pretty chill so I was able to get some rest. They even dressed up. Baily loves the movie Titanic (thanks to her dad) and she decided that she was going to be a Princess and Joaquin would be "her Jack." That girl- her imagination's on fire these days. Well the closest thing we could come up with for a Jack outfit was this Knight costume that Patty got him a year or two ago that I thought would be too big but apparently I was wrong. He wore it for about 3 minutes and then was done with it. Sorry Baily- apparently Joaquin's not into the whole dressup gig like you:/ They did look pretty cute for those 3 minutes as Princess and Jack though;)I was also very blessed by some charity from my sweet Step-mom Patty. I don't think I mention her enough but I have to say that she's one of my very best friends and I'm so grateful to be living so close to her now and for how close we've become. She's always there for me and my family when I need her- whether it be for baby-sitting, advice, food, conversation... anything. I love her so much. Yesterday she must have sensed that I was feeling like poo so she came over to drop off some Christmas lights (since we don't have any) and ended up taking Baily with her to the store and then to her house while I put Joaquin down for a nap so I could get some much needed R&R. Then she brought over a casserole for dinner because she knew I didn't feel like cooking. Like I said, she's awesome. What a blessing to me! I was also blessed to have my little tag-along by my side for the whole day except when she was with Grandma. It doesn't matter where I was, Baily was by my side. She definitely loves and adores her daddy, but when it comes down to it, she's still a Momma's girl. Sometimes it bugs the heck out of me but yesterday I quite enjoyed her constant companionship. She's always making me laugh with her wits and sillyness and is usually willing to help me out when I need something. Love this girl!And I must also say that I was sooo excited that Donny won Dancing With The Stars. Wahoo! And even better, my husband didn't have to work until 10 and get home at 11- he was home by 9 so I actually got to see him for a little while before I crashed. I love that man. I miss him- he's been working so much lately. I'm excited for Thanksgiving day when we get him to have him home all day. I may feel like poo but life is great:)

Discussion Question:

Who has been a blessing in your life lately and why?

Musing over my background...

Monday November 23, 2009

This morning I had my background interview for the Twin Lakes Dispatch job. This is the job (Dispatcher) that I've wanted ever since I was in HS. I must say- it was pretty intense. It delved pretty deep into my past. I've always known and expected this background searching in pursuit of this job but have never experienced it until today. During the process and as I left I realized how grateful I am for having been taught so many important values like integrity and honesty. And even though I've made mistakes, it felt good to be able to answer no to all the drug questions, the stealing questions and yes to most of the questions about having integrity. I have not always had integrity in my life and have made some poor choices that were dishonest. But I feel like I've learned from those mistakes, and like I said in my interview, I really value my integrity and will never give it up for anything. There have been many people who have helped teach me these values but I want to say thank you to all my parents (momma, pops, Patty, Gerald, Rachelle) for teaching me the invaluable value of integrity. Thanks!! The rest of my day went pretty smoothly and without anything extraordinary. I'm trying to decide how I want to proceed with my fitness training right now. I have mixed feelings about it and will get back to you on my decision. I did do a partial running/walking (mostly walking) workout at my dad's which felt good considering I'm still not feeling well (almost certain it's yucky allergies). My kids seem to be feeling a little better too and I think it's allergies they're suffering from as well. For dinner I made my new favorite meal these days- baked potatoe soup and garlic parmesan breadsticks. I tell you- talk about comfort food! It was seriously euphoric to me. SOOO good! Thanks again so much Jae for the recipe. I owe you!As you might be able to tell I'm on a total soup kick right now. One of the reasons I love colder weather. My kids aren't as big of fans as I am so they enjoyed the bacon along with toast and oranges. Whatev! After dinner we all chillaxed and goofed around and laughed. Simple but good times. The kids watched a little of Dancing With the Stars with me (this season isn't my fave- I'm going for Donny to win though) and we had fun trying to do our own Paso Doble. I love dancing! And I love watching my kids dance! And I love dancing with my kids! And that's all. I'd say it's a pretty good start to the week. I'm really trying to stop being so hard on myself and just enjoy every little moment and boy does that feel good;)

Discussion Question:

What are you grateful you were taught as a child and youth?