1/28/10

McDonalds in Victorville

We met Tiffany and her kids at the 1/2 way point between L.A. and Vegas so that Hailey could go to their house and Tanner could come to ours for a few days! It was so much fun to see them and hang out at one of our favorite places ! MCDONALDS! Juliet in the slide! I loved this picture cause, well, these are my kids! It struck me that they look so old and so complete! This is our family!
Hailey, Tanner and Trey! They are all so old too! I can't believe how fast the time goes! Our girls will be in YW before we know it and the boys will be in scouts! (If I let them...we all know how I feel about scouts!:)

Christmas Morning!

Here is Max AFTER we opened all our gifts! I love it! This is how we all feel I think on Christmas Morning! Coming down the hall to see what Santa brought!
Juliet got a new rocking chair! She LOVES it! She sits in it and slouches down and rocks herself with her tip toes. She doesn't like to share her chair!
It goes along with her thinking she is so big and important! Santa knew her too well!
She got another book on Animals that she is very serious about! (Someone should comb that babies hairy!)
She also got a baby doll that she loves to hug and hit!
Max did get a DSi. I think it was the letter he wrote to Santa in his best penmanship that he would take really good care of it!
Darby got a DSi and an art kit! She was very excited because she couldn't decide if she wanted a DSi or a camera. The DSi has a camera in it! Too much fun! (Mrs Santa was saying maybe next year. Santa is a sucker for both of them!)
Dash finally got his pink DS! The case looks black but that is what you get when Santa gets things on ebay! (Santa knew that one day Pink would not be his favorite color any more but he is very wise to know that he has a little sister!)
Oh the glories of Christmas morning! Nothing to do but play play play! (you can see all the toys in the back of Max, they came from the Thomas'! They were getting rid of baby toys so Juliet got Christmas early! Santa only brought her books and her chair!)
Daddy helping with the new Ds.
Everyone was in spread out all over connected to the plugs so they could play their new toys!
Juliet had to relax a bit and watch her new animal dvd from her sister!
Brandon wishing his mom a Merry Christmas and apologizing that her gift was found under our tree! (oops)
Christmas day before we went to the Cannon's for dinner!
We had a great Christmas and felt very blessed! It is one of our favorite times of the year. It is steeped in traditions and filled with the Spirit! We love it!

Christmas Eve

The kids were sooooo excited to get home from dinner to open Christmas eve gifts and homemade pajamas from Nana! This year all the pj bottoms were made out of fleece! SO cozy! Dash's were monkey jammies. Max were G.I. Joe (camo, or Gee Jy Joe if you say it like Dash). Darby's were pink with frogs all over and Juliet's matched hers. Brandon got 2 pair because we know he is my mom's favorite. I got a pair of Footie p.j.'s. NOT PRETTY! They were not long enough for my tall body and that is all we are going to say about that!

Juliet in her cute p.j.s! She is looking at the book Darby got her! It came with a dvd about animals and she watches it all the time now! Dash got Max a millennium falcon galactic heroes star wars thing! Max freaked out because it was AMAZING! (Dash had help picking that out) Juliet got Daddy teeth whitening strips. (B and I always wanted to try them but could never justify 20$....so Juliet sprung for it this time....they were pretty cool and they work!) I got Darby the 2009 Ripley's Book. (She collects them.) Brandon got Dash a puppet making kit! Too much fun! And Max got me vibrating foot massaging slippers! The Best gift ever! I love this new Tradition. Everyone had so much fun buying for each other and feeling like they had found the most special gift! It saved me buying a bunch of trash at the dollar store so that every one has a gift from each other! We will for sure keep this tradition!

1/27/10

Santa!

We visited Santa this year before Thanksgiving when my brother was here! It was tons of fun and NO lines because it was so early. It always disturbs me a little when my kids sit on Santa's lap in summer clothes. There is just something not quite right about that! :) I love the progression of the years too in seeing who loves Santa and who doesn't. Juliet has hated him the most! :) Maybe next year she will like him more!

Christmas Eve dinner!

One of our Christmas Traditions is to go to Cracker Barrel for Christmas Eve Breakfast. They don't have any in L.A.! Grrrrrr! SO we borrowed the Thomas' family tradition and went to dinner at Red Lobster! We had a great time looking at lights, doing our last "knock and run", then going to dinner. The kids were super ready to get home though because they wanted to open their p.j.'s from Nana and their gifts from each other. This year we drew names and they were sooooo excited to show what everyone had gotten each other! Max had me, Dash had Max, Darby had Juliet, Juliet had daddy, Daddy had Dash, and I had Darby! It was so much fun because they had ONE person to shop for and they really put a lot of thought into it. I never thought my family would be big enough to draw names for each other! Again with the faces! Jefford's are famous for face making. (There is usually a noise that goes with the face so you have to take the picture quick if you are in a public place!) They learn at a very young age!

Jefford's family Christmas Party

We had a Christmas party on the 23rd with all our Jefford's family that lived near us. Everyone was going out of town for the holiday and so we celebrated early with them! We had a great dinner. Steaks, twice baked potatoes, salad, stuffed mushrooms, rolls and shrimp! Yummy! We exchanged gifts and after we went caroling and gave out treats to friends.

The girls with Jamie!


Brandon, Jamie and Tim!


A Jefford's party isn't a Jefford's party with out a little face making! As wives of Jefford's you have to be able to hang with the big dogs! I think these pretty ladies can hang!

Brandon and Sue!
Again with the faces! It really is non-stop, it's a wonder we ever get any serious shots!
Brandon's sister Wendy sent gifts for each family! She sent us movie packages with popcorn and treats! We got Fiddler on the Roof! SO much fun! (I sent their gift to the mailing place she sent her gifts from....good one! It was the address on the box, who knew? Her gift is still on my counter with my mom's Birthday gift and B's mom's Christmas gift that was under our tree...then lost and repurchased.....I am not the best at mailing things!)
Jamie modeled a pair of sunglasses they gave to Chance! I actually liked them....on me!

Ward Christmas Party

Our ward in L.A. had a great Christmas Party! It was catered by one of the member's husband who owns a restaurant! Holy Good Food Bat Man! Bbq ranch is one of my new favorites and it is at almost all the ward functions! Santa came and all the kids got a chance to let him know what they wanted. Max was very clear this time because the first time he sat on Santa's lap he told him he wanted a ds, a playstation game, and an electric toothbrush. (Santa only brings 3 gifts to our house so you have to be particular!) This time he corrected himself and said DSI! That could have been a close one! Dash wanted a remote control car like Curtis got for his birthday, and a pink DS and a camera.
Juliet wanted off this old dude's lap!
They primary did a program and the achievement day girls sang Silent Night with bells!
I don't remember what the boys sang but it was super cute to see Max reach for the high notes!
Dash usually stands there and makes faces or tries to distract others but this time he actually sang!
We never take pictures of the 2 of us. I am getting better at taking them myself though!
She is such a daddies girl! When she is with him she pretends to be WAY bigger than she is! You can tell that she thinks she is sooooo big here!
Family photo!
If I did Christmas cards this would be our picture! (Even though Darby has total "tude" cause she wants to go play with her friends!

Achievement Days

At Christmas time the Achievement day girls at church painted pine cones. Towards the end they painted each other's noses! Darby LOVES achievement days and her friends at church! (Chanelle, Mckaylla, Hailee, Nicole, Darby, Clarissa, and Olivia in front.)

Diaper trash can?

So I was on the computer one morning and Juliet crawled in to play at my feet. I picked her up to snuggle her and patted her cute little diaper butt! It felt a little crunchy? I opened it to find an empty capri sun juice in her pants! .......Dash....cartoons......trash can to far away......sister's diaper right there......

The Boyer's come to visit!

I would hate to FORGET that our good friends the Boyer's came to visit at Christmas! I would post pictures but we didn't take any! DORKS! We had a great time hanging out with them and letting the kids play! They were so excited to see Cara and Jordyn! It was like we never left Tx. The only sad part was when they had to leave! Thanks for stopping in Boyer's! We love you guys!

1/26/10

Trying to finish!

I am trying soooo hard to finish up 2009 blogging by the end of this month so when we publish next year it is only through Jan! My list to finish in the next 4 days: Juice Box Butt, Ward Christmas party, Jefford's Christmas party, Christmas Eve, Christmas day, Santa, McDonald's with the Thomas', Elenor Piggies and New Years Eve! That is only 9 more! I can do it! Then I can start with January.... Tanner visits, Sour candies, Mary Poppins, Papa Keith, school projects, misc pictures! Wow! Then I will be all caught up! :)

Nick's farewell!

This is my cousin Nick! He is going to Paraguay on his mission! He is amazing and I just adore him! I can't believe he is old enough to go on a mission! I remember when he was tiny...making me old! His farewell was really great! His talk was about having a Mary or a Martha Christmas. Enjoying your family and the things you have and not doing to much! He and a group (a lot) of his friends, in matching ties sang "Armies of Helamen". Nick didn't make it through the song with out crying and a couple of his buddies teared then put their arm around him and finished strong! They had sung at another friends farewell that morning too! It really was beautiful! Right then I vowed that I would live somewhere that my kids could grow up with friends that would encourage them to reach their goals! Nick is a great example! I have a goal to write him every month for his whole mission! (Hopefully I can stick to it!)
This is my amazing Mother in law, Myrna (B's step mom) and one of my brother in laws Tyson! They came up for Nick's farewell and to see me! My uncle Spike (Nick's dad) sand at Jeremy's funeral, making us all connected like one big happy family! It was sooooo good to see them! I hadn't seen her since dad's funeral! She is amazing! Grandpa Carter reading to one of Nick's nieces! My grandpa is soooo patient and LOVES his grandkids and great grandkids. I love when they are just starting to walk he holds their hands and will walk with them forever! He taught me how to snap and whistle! (I think I was under 4!)
Granny and Gramps! I got to live with them before I married B! They were really patient with me and I will never forget it! My granny is strong and smart! She can crochet like a mad woman and she taught me how! I don't think I will ever be as good as her though. She makes the best Christmas candy and when ever I call I feel like I am the person she was dying to hear from! I am sure she sounds like that to everyone but I love the way she makes me feel!
Ryeley and Malorie! (Mal is Nick's sister!)
Nick and Rye!
It's exhausting being his sister!
I know Nick will be a GREAT missionary! Can't wait to post pictures of his homecoming!