Showing posts with label Holiday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holiday. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas is over…

I love Christmas and the month leading up to it.

I love spending time with family and friends.

I love all the decorations.

I love the music.

I love the Christmas movies on Hallmark & Lifetime channels.

I love all the treats.

I love hot cocoa with marshmallow crème and cinnamon and nutmeg.

I love sending and receiving Christmas cards.

I love all the lights on houses and the Mesa Temple.

I love when we find the “perfect” gift for each kid.

I love the big family dinner on Christmas Eve at our house.

I love the looks on the kids’ faces when they unwrap their gifts.

I love seeing the kids happily play with their new toys.

I loved the beautiful musical program at church on Christmas Day.

I love all sharing and giving.

I don’t love all the cleanup.

Christmas is OVER and now I want everything cleaned up. Who wants to come do it for me? Although, as much as I want someone else to do it, I’m a little OCD about how things are done, so ultimately, it’s up to me. UGH!! How soon do YOU put all the decorations away?

Also, I’ve completely derailed my diet and workout. I found 101 Healthy Things You Can Start TODAY! (<--click to see them)

I only skimmed thru the list but I’m pretty sure I need to do ALL of them! Starting TODAY!

What are you going to start doing in 2012? I also starting thinking about MY WORD for the new year. Have you?

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

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MERRY CHRISTMAS from my family to yours!

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Gift Ideas

Are you looking for a few Christmas gift ideas for that special someone? Or someone who is hard to shop for or seems to already have everything they want? Watch these short videos to give you inspiration… (turn off my awesome Christmas music first so you can hear the good info)

The Forever Lazy
The PooTrap
Booty Pillows
Handerpants

Nathaniel wants the Forever Lazy. And Felicia keeps telling me that we need the PooTrap for our dogs! HAHAHA

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas!
We did! It was simple but nice!
I'm so grateful for my family and friends {real & online}!

I can't believe that this year is ending and 2011 is approaching so FAST! It's been a strange, hard, changing and wonderful year! I've also started thinking about my new word of the year. Have you picked a word yet? I'm still thinking. I'll reveal mine when I finally settle on one.
*Need some ideas - look HERE and HERE

Saturday, May 15, 2010

I’m still here…

I’ve been mostly posting updates on facebook recently.

Seriously, I can’t believe it’s been over 2 months since I last posted here!

Here’s a few updates:

Ashley was baptized as a new member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! We’re so proud of her! I also found a beautiful white dress for her to wear so she would feel extra special!DSC_0938DSC_0972   

My Dad got married over spring break. He’s been going back ‘n forth between here and California and wherever his new wife needs to be. She just graduated with her Masters degree and is looking for a job in several states. So, we’re not sure where they will end up.DSC_0058

My Sister is moving to Colorado in a week. :( She needs some fresh new scenery and will be staying with one of her best friends, so I’m not too worried about her. Although I will miss her terribly.DSC_0959crop

We had a wonderful Easter and Ashley even learned to ride her bike (without training wheels)! That was a HUGE accomplishment for her. She has been terrified to get on her bike even though Ben was always holding on. We’re so proud of her!DSC_0412DSC_0419DSC_0423  DSC_0420DSC_0422 DSC_0458 DSCN2467

Ben has been in Taiwan for the past 3 weeks (for work). He’s coming home tonight! I’m so excited!!! We’ve been using skype for the first time to talk to each other. It was fun being able to see him while we talked. I think it kind of made it seem like he wasn’t so far away. He could also show me his hotel room and the view from his window. I took snapshots nearly every time we talked, which really wasn’t that much because of the 15 hour time difference. Sometimes he was being silly, so of course, I snapped those moments, usually without him knowing. haha Sorry babe, I just couldn’t resist sharing some of these pics. *Can you tell what was on the tv one night?

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While he was gone, my friend from TX, Karyn, visited me for almost 2 weeks! We had so much fun together! We went to the gym nearly every day, visited the kids’ P.E. classes at school (it was parent P.E. week), shopped, went to bunko, rollerbladed, and swam lots! DSC_0778

We also had a relaxing Mother’s Day {considering Ben wasn’t here, Karyn’s kids were back in TX, and my Mom wasn’t here}! Here’s what we made for breakfast – Belgian waffles with strawberries & cool whip!

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And the kids made some cute gifts at school for me!

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M-Marvelous, O-Oh’ So Nice, T-Terrific, H-Heart, E-Extra, R-Reads to me (that last one took a minute to figure out) By Anson

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“Dear Mom, Happy Mother’s Day! I love you and thank you for helping me with my homework. Thank you for making all these yummy meals. I also wish that every day was no school so that I can spend time with you everyday. I love you very much. Love, Ashley”DSC_0046

M-My Special Hero!, O-Often makes me Happy!, T-The very best Mom!, H-Hugs from you makes me feel loved!, E-Everlasting love!, R-Really amazing mother! by Felicia

Awww they just melt my heart ♥

Karyn also introduced me to a new food – Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah). It’s really good and good for you! I got a small package in the health food section at Fry’s (a grocery store). I made just one cup of dry Quinoa, it pretty much doubles in size when you cook it. When it was done cooking, we mixed in sautee’d onions & green peppers, then added some frozen peas and corn – you let it sit covered for a minute or two and they get cooked from the heat of the Quinoa. I had some leftover grilled chicken, so I threw that in there too. That was our dinner the other night. Nathaniel & Felicia love it, so do I! Since I posted about it on facebook, here’s a pic:DSC_0049

With everything that has been going on, I decided to take a little break from digital scrapbook designing. Hopefully, I can get some mojo and get back into it soon. I really love it, but I’ve needed a little break.

I can’t believe that school is almost over for my kids! Less than 2 weeks are left!!! Next week, Nathaniel & Felicia have an orchestra concert, history fair (they’ve been working hard on a history report and presentation), and their hip hop dance recital. Felicia also has to write a short speech and make a poster because she’s running for student council President! Elections are Wednesday! Way to shoot for the stars! Yearbooks have arrived and I’ll be busy handing out preordered ones next week and selling the rest of them before and after school. Then the last week, the kids will all have their class parties! They are so excited!

Ok, so that’s a little bit of what we’ve been up to, of course there’s more but then this post would never end. haa haa A couple more busy weeks, then SUMMER VACATION!!!!! YAY!!!

Ok, this has taken way toooooo long to type this up plus add all the pics (my comp kept freezing and wouldn’t let me add the pics for a while). I need to help get the house cleaned before Ben gets home tonight! :)

Friday, February 12, 2010

Valentine Parties

The kids are so excited for their class parties today! Which basically means lots of candy & treats! What better way to celebrate a holiday? hahaha It’s ALL about the candy! LOL

The kids assembled their Valentine goodie bags Wednesday night. It got kind of late, so Anson had already fallen asleep and wouldn’t wake up. Oh well, he was excited to see everything all done when he woke up.

Here’s the candy that went into the bags – candy ♥s and kisses!

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Ashley started making the bags by herself.

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Then Nathaniel joined in.

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Once Felicia finished her homework, she helped too.

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YAY! All 108 bags are assembled and ready to go!

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Here’s what went into each teacher bag. A goodie bag plus a 3-pack of delicious milk chocolate covered caramels plus a card!

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They all took their Valentine goodies to school yesterday. Nathaniel and Felicia already handed theirs out. All their friends were excited to receive cute treats!

Nathaniel & Felicia’s classes are also having a gift exchange (it was supposed to be instead of cards for everyone, but we opted to do both). Everyone filled out a little questionnaire and then exchanged them. Here’s what Felicia is giving away to a girl in her class.

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Here’s what Nathaniel is giving away to a boy in his class.

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By the way, this is supposedly Nathaniel’s *girlfriend*. Aren’t they cute? They were sitting together at lunch yesterday. I also got one of those huge Hershey kisses, so Nathaniel’s giving it to her today. He’s happy he has a little gift for her! :)

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Felicia has a boy who likes her and keeps giving her treats this week. She was out sick Monday & Tuesday, so when he came to our house for cub scouts Tuesday night, he gave her some Pop Rocks. (yep he’s in our ward and is one of Ben’s scouts) Then he gave her a sucker and a little toy (from Sonic) yesterday. Isn’t that sweet? You know what’s funny? Felicia had a crush on him for the longest time (like a couple years), then recently he started being mean to her at church and school. Hmmmm I told Felicia he probably thought she was cute and no longer knew how to behave *normal* around her. haha Then suddenly she’s sick and he tells a few people (well the word gets around quickly – u remember those days right?) that he wanted to give her a treat since he felt bad she was sick, and a friend told her when I was picking up the kids from school (she was in the car with me). She is no longer hating on him. Oh yes, I totally remember the grade school drama. LOL

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{This was taken at Skateland last night & the boy who’s been giving Felicia treats is in this picture – far right. I was trying to get them in a pic together but not make it obvious to embarrass her too much. heee heeee}

Back in January, Ashley’s class was reading & talking about Flat Stanley. So each kid made one of their own. Here’s Ashley’s Flat Stanley. Isn’t he cute?

 

Everyone got to send Flat Stanley on an adventure to a friend/family in another state. Ashley chose to send him to my brother’s family in TN. They had so much fun with him! They took lots of pictures and sent him back to Ashley’s class, so they could find out about his adventure. Ashley was thrilled to hear all about Flat Stanley and her aunt & uncle & cousins in TN. She got to leave the letter and some pictures at school. So she brought the rest of the pics home and Flat Stanley. She liked them so much she hung them all by her bed.

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Thank you Spencer, Merrianne, Libby & Jacob for taking such great care of Flat Stanely & returning him home safely!

Alrighty, I’m off to get some things done today. Have a wonderful Valentine’s weekend! ♥

Monday, February 8, 2010

Valentine Cards & a FREEBIE

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I made these Valentine cards for my kids for school. I will print them and add a little bag with candy for each student and teacher. {just like we did last year} The kids are so excited!

I made these cards using my new kit Sweet Valentine 1 & 2 that is only available as a posting bonus for my DSO Challenges for the month of February.

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I’m trying to show some L♥VE, so I am giving you BOTH of these Valentine Cards FREE, if you want to use them! Just plop a picture {or anything you want} in the empty space and you’re done!

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You can GRAB these HERE!

What kind of Valentine cards do your kids use? Do they make them or use store cards? Do you add candy to them?