Christmas comes and goes faster each year. With the months of prep and all the excitement for a day of pure bliss. And then the weeks of clean up after. I'm exhausted.
We started off the season with going to Bethlehem. Not the real Bethlehem. Just Georgetown a neighboring town to Round rock. They turn their down town into Bethlehem for two days. It's really cute. They have Hay all over the street, little booths for the kids to go to and see how things were made back then, they also get to see a re-enactment of Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus.
Waiting for the play.
Gavin making bread.
He and Josh also made Perfume, coins and other fun things they had back in the day. The weather was so warm it was such a perfect night.
Then we had two parties. Our Church Breakfast and Ryan's work family party. It never fails every year it's on the SAME day. So we get pretty partied out that day. The kids love it though. The Church breakfast was fun as usual but wow has our Ward grown. We couldn't find a table because we were a tad late. Ryan just got back from Houston that night and we had to drop off his rental. I don't even recognize most of the people in our ward anymore. The kids ran around like crazy as usual and they all had a great time. I tried to get Gavin to sit on Santa's lap. But again he refused. He said. "that Santa is a little creepy, I like the one at Dad's work better." So I reminded him of that at Dad's work. But again he said. This Santa's creepy to. It was so funny Gavin was decorating a cookie when he saw Mrs. Clause come by him in the corner of his eye. He stopped dead in his tracks looked at her and said so politely. "could you please move away from me." He knew where she was Santa was close by. I'm not sure why Gavin is so scared of Santa. Someday he may grow out of it.
I had to take a picture of the picture they took of us. See we finally got Gavin on Santa's lap I had to bride him with a activity after but he did it. I was proud.
Josh has such a tender heart. He felt so bad for Santa setting all by himself in a hot hot suit. So he made him a cookie and gave it to him with some punch.
Then is was my birthday. I have the sweetest friends who took me out to lunch on 12/12. It was fun to celebrate my birthday and that special day at 12/12/12 @12:12 with some of the people I really love being around. Then some of the other girls that couldn't come took me our to breakfast on Friday. I always get so depressed around my birthday time. Not sure why but I always have. So it was nice having so many sweet people make me feel loved.
The day before on the 14th was the horrific shooting in Newtown Connecticut. I was at Breakfast with my friends then went to the mall when I heard the news. I came home and turned on the t.v. and couldn't stop sobbing. I couldn't wait to go pick up my babies from school and just hug them as tight as I could. I thought the news was right when they said. "Evil showed up today." I couldn't sleep or eat for two days. All I wanted to do on my Birthday was be with my Husband and Boys. So we spent the day hanging out together. We gave Sadie a bath, got the boys hair cuts, played games, finished school projects and went to our favorite PHO place. We also made Ginger bread men.
Gavins cookie
Josh's cookie
My cookie
Trevor's cookie
Then came the school holiday parties. It was going to be perfect they staggered the parties so I could go to Gavin's 1st then to Joshua's. So I volunteered to help in Gavin's. Only problem was when the shooting happened they changed the check in policy and put all the parties at the same time. While I was happy they are making our children as safe as possible I was sad I had to pick between the parties and since I had offered to help in Gavin's it meant I had to miss Joshua's. Poor Josh that's usually the case. He's so sweet and understanding. What would I do with out my Josh.
They got the kids nice and hyper and then sent them home. Trevor was so mad he had a bunch of finals he had to take that day. No parties in middle school. It stinks getting older.
I love helping these little cuties.
We did our usual traditions of going and seeing Christmas lights, we went for a long walk/bike ride with the perfect beautiful weather.Then had our Costa Vita pork tacos and chocolate fountain for Christmas Eve. The kids were begging to go to bed because they knew Santa would come faster. They went to bed like a dream only problem is the excitement was to strong and they didn't stay down. Well one didn't. Surprisingly it was our oldest. He just couldn't settle down.
Yummy dinner.
Trevor wouldn't leave a gift alone. The one he thought was a PS VITA that's all he kept talking about for weeks. So when I saw this gift had a little tear in it I asked him what happened and he said. "it accidentally ripped all by itself." YA that's what happens when you tell a little fib and snoop. You get your gift Duct taped. I told him he wasn't allowed to use scissors either. It sure made present opening a lot longer.
Chocolate "messy" fountain
Christmas Morning started nice and EARLY!!! 6:00 was all we could get to hold them off. And they came down the stairs sounding like a herd of Elephants.
Trevor's beloved gift. He was bummed I wouldn't get him the game he wanted with it though. This kid thinks he's 14.
Gavin asked for a Starlacc. What is that you may ask? I had no idea either. Luckily and thankfully for Amazon I found one. He hasn't put the creepy thing down for days.
Some of the explosion
And more explosions.
Poor Sadie didn't know what to think. She just hid in her bed.
Josh took over the guest room and hooked up his new game. He was in Heaven. Not to sure I was considering I don't want kids stuff in the guest room.
And Josh said. This is the best Christmas yet.
Gavin's Starlacc.
Funniest kid ever. Who else would ask for a hole that eats people?
I have a few little pranksters in my house so Santa thought he would give them a prank of their own. Gavin said. " I never knew Santa was a little bit RUDE." He wasn't please at all.
Waiting to come down stairs.
Gavin also got a gift from his Primary teacher it had this tag on it. The day before I had him write Christmas cards and I was showing him how when you close a letter you say Love and then your name. So when he came home he had a big smile on his face and said "Look mom I got a gift from Never Melts" I couldn't help but laugh. He's so cute.
I learned I'll now be teaching the 6 year olds in Primary instead of the 9/10 year olds. This has been a challenging year for me. I have a few kids that are well just less then well behaved. But also have some kids that are the sweetest most loving children ever. I wanted to give them a fun treat so I made them a sleigh. It was a Kit Kat, candy canes, and mini chocolates. I wrote them a letter of the things I loved about them and bore my testimony of the book of Mormon. Then gave them a scripture reference card of trials they may have, I wanted to make them a perfect size to fit in their scriptures and something they could keep for ever so I had to laminate them.. Those darn things were such a pain.. But I hope the kid know I loved them and enjoyed being their teacher.
It's sad to see it all end. I wish the magic of Christmas could last all year.
The last few months I've had 4 announcements from my Nieces and Nephews of weddings. 4. I guess that's what you get when they are all so close in age.
1st my Brother Mikes oldest and only son got married to a darling girl. Kaleb was so young when I got married and I have the BEST video of him throwing a awesome tantrum that I can't wait to show Stephanie. Kaleb was always so calm and such a obedient child so it makes this tantrum so so funny it's very out of his character. I can't wait to meet her this summer. They make such a darling couple.
I stold this picture from his facebook.
Then my other Brother Shon is going to have one big busy expensive year. 3 of his kids are getting married. And my poor nephew Taylor is going to come home from his mission to a whole new family.
1st up was McKenzie's on December 14th. She is so spunky and full of life. I call her bendy girl, She is an amazing gymnasts. And is on the Weber state cheer squad.
Then her sister Candice is getting married in Janurary. Candice will be an amazing Mom. She's been a nanny for years now and always has had a nurturing nature about her. My boys just love her. Her husband to be in the military and is getting deployed right after they are married.
As well as the oldest Brother Tyson in March. Tyson is such a sweet boy. He's very thoughtful of others. He's also very adventurous. When they came to lake Chelan with us I've never seen anyone ride a tube so crazy and stay on. Not to mention he liked to go under the water 1st and then fly up in the air.
Tyson you need to put more pictures on your FB so I can steal a better one :)!!!!
I'm so happy and excited for them int this new stage of life. It's weird to see them all grown up. It was just yesterday they were all 3. I'm so grateful that I have such an amazing family. It's so very very hard living so far away and having to miss these events. IT KILLS ME.. I think I cried most of the day on the 14th just knowing I haven't seen all my family in such a long time. Luckily we are going to UT this summer and hopefully we can all get together. We are quite the big bunch now. My parents have 5 children, 19 grand children 7 are married and 7 great grand children. It makes for a fun, and crazy family reunion.
Love you all so much!!!. Congratulations on everything.
Ah Cancun. A little slice of Heaven. The weather is perfect, the sand is white and the ocean is so blue. We so badly needed this little get away. 2012 has been one hard year. With my sickness and surgery, Ryan's constant travel, Trevor's broken bones, Josh's horrible school year and our baby starting Kindergarten. It's been alot to deal with.
In July Ryan and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary by me getting my disgusting drains removed. While at the time that was the best gift I could of received it was nice to know my sweet Husband booked a trip for us to get to relax and re group later this year. It felt like November would never come. And then the trip went by in a flash. But it was the best 6 days. So relaxing, and nice just spending quality time with my best friend. We have been two ships crossing in the sea the last couple of months. So we shut down all electronics (which is HUGE for Ryan), grabbed a good book and just spent time talking and hanging out together. I couldn't think of a better gift. Knowing our kids were in such good hands and not having to worry about them at all. Our biggest concern was where to eat, and if we should lay out on the beach, or by the pool.
We were treated like royalty at the resort we stayed in. Called the Royal. From the moment we checked in they took care of our every need. We didn't even need to carry our bags up to our room.
It's all inclusive all adult resort. So we had food access 24/7 And we took full advantage. The coconut ice cream was the BOMB so amazing. And the chocolate wasn't to shabby either. Ice cream is my weakness. Huge weakness. I had a little scoop for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a late night snack. I still dream of that ice cream.
We decided not to go on any excursions this time. Everyone got me a little paranoid to go to Mexico And it didn't help that I watched Border wars just before I went. But I knew the Hotel zone would be safe, we just were not to sure about going deep into the city. I really loved that last time though. You don't really understand poverty until you see it. And the people that live there are some of the nicest hardest working people I've ever met. And they go home to dirt floors and no running water. It's very humbling.
We did go on a bike ride. Which was a huge mistake. I feared more for my life with that crazy ride. The roads are Terrible and the cars don't stop. The buses drive crazy and speed and the people don't move out of your way. It was insane. We also had to get on the bus at least once. Because that is a adventure all on it's own. There isn't really any marked stops and they just stop when they feel like it. Not to mention they don't really stop and they drive while you are still getting on the bus. But we loved walking up and down the beach, and along the shopping centers and Hotels. Also we can't go to Mexico with out going to the flea market. (Ryan's favorite) I hate going but I suck it up and watch Ryan barder a good deal.
Some of our room
Part of the bathroom. It was hard to get a picture of everything. We loved laying in bed at night hearing the waves of the ocean.
Our rooms view. This pool was AMAZING. It was so warm and relaxing. Not crowded at all.
The other side of our view.
I could just stair at this all day long. Ryan and I tried to talk each other to go parcelling.
. But when we talked to the guy and he said he could get us High. We were not to sure what the guy was saleing so I didn't trust him anymore. I didn't know if he was talking about us going high in the air or us getting High on something. You never know there.
The resort had a crazy Cert DE Sollie show. These people were amazing they were hanging from this high bar by just their toes. I had to close my eyes a few times.
My favorite place to eat. It was right on the beach. And the food was so so so good.
A crazy candle decoration in one of the restaurants. I for some reason found it fascinating.
This one they were just getting started.
We went to this mall and these were the shopping carts you could use there.
The best dinner was at a Japanese restaurant and we ate at the hibachi. We sat by some people from Tokyo and learned how to really eat with chopsticks. It was so fun and nice of them to teach us. I thought I was pretty good at it until they showed me the real way.
Ryan even tried Sushi. Yes Ryan did. He's come a long long way from his picky not eating anything with flavor days.
Such a fun night.
We ate at this Italian restaurant. And once we got past the language barrier and knew what to order it was pretty good. They gave us appetizer and told me it was Ham Scraps. Hum never heard of that before but I took a bite and it was a crab cake. It's a good thing I don't have a shell fish allergy.
Where we spent most of our time.
The only day we took pictures of us on the beach. I love just standing in the water letting my feet sink into the sand.
The sun sets were so beautiful.
We would wake up and go out on our balcony we even ordered room service and ate there a time or two.
Another beautiful sun set
Ryan looks fake in this picture like I photo shopped him it. I thought it looked funny but it's real. This was my view. Best view on the beach :).
Then the airport. I'm amazed at how clean it is and it's the best shopping place around. The duty free shop is crazy loaded with Larger then life size stuff. If we didn't just have Halloween and my kids were already loaded with candy they would of been in candy heaven. We did have to splurge and get some Kinder Bueno only the best candy bar around. Love those things.
The airport.
It was so fun. And I can't wait to go back for our 20th hopefully. Sadly when I got back Gavin got sick, and we had to get right back into our crazy schedule. So all I have left of the wonderful days of Mexico is Dandruff from when my head fried.
But I'll always have the memories.
Everyone keeps telling me I should write a book with all my crazy events that always seems to happen. So this is my attempt to update everyone about our little adventures.
