Merry Christmas

Christmas was fantastic this year!! I believer everyone received what they wanted because no one was upset about anything.

We kicked our celebration time off by having a yummy ham dinner on Christmas Eve and then we took the kids to see Tangled again. Second time but just as good. However, what do you know but Andrew had to go potty at the exact same time both times we saw the movie. What are the odds. So there is at least 5-7 minutes of that movie that I still have not seen. Oh well. Then that evening, we opened up the Christmas jammies. Andrew was so mad when he saw clothes in his box and not a toy. Which in turn made me a little peeved. I think he's a bit too spoiled. Totally mine and Barry's fault. However after he saw what Brooklyn had he was super excited and insists on wearing his slippers every night.
This was the best picture I could get. Brooklyn doesn't Believe on posing for the camera at the appropriate times.

Christmas morning was great Brooklyn got lots of fun girly toys. And, Andrew got lots of fun boy toys, crayons, and games. Santa brought Barry an electric dill and a weed whacker. No more excuses for not cutting the lawn around the fence or swing set!!! I got the best gifts ever, an elliptical machine and a signed Deron Williams Jersey!!! My brother Craig was soooo jealous and insisted I take it off and have it framed immediately.


We headed over to my parents for dinner and the traditional exchanging of gifts. We got some great things from our family members and personalized beach towels from my parents. We had a great time celebrating their first Christmas in their new house. We had plenty of room for all of us to sit in one large circle plus plenty of room for the young ones to run around. Plus I got an awesome purse from my sister Kris!!

This is a picture of all the grand kids!! 16 Total and 17 by Valentines Day thanks to Wendy and Ryan :)

Finally, the best part of the day was celebrating our Saviors Birthday. How lucky are we that we have such an example to live up too. I am so grateful that this is the purpose for Christmas. It's amazing to know all that he taught, learned, and did for us in his short existence on this Earth. I am so grateful for his sacrifice for me that I can repent, and have an eternal family. What an amazing gift!!

Build A Bear

Years ago I took my first ever trip to Build A Bear in Texas with my dear friends Kasie and Marie. It was long before they had put them here in Utah. Since then I love going there and have been there with Barry a few times. Last year we took Andrew there and today I took, Andrew, Brooklyn, Tayler, Bailee, and my Mom there. It was every ones first time except for Andrew and myself. We had a great time. Andrew picked out a handsome bear and dressed him like Buzz Light Year. Brooklyn got a kitty cat I named Priscilla. Tayler and Bailee picked out twin bears, one a girl and the other a boy. And my Mom picked out a dog that now is equipped with a set of rubber boots, skates and a leash so the grand kids can pull him around the house. It was a great time and lots of fun!!!

Just Me

I don't have any entertaining pictures of the kids to show off or any great stories to tell. I just wanted a place to vent the business and excitement of the week to come.

As many of you know I coach drill team and am the dance company advisor for Pleasant Grove High School. Life is busy being a mom, having a full time job, and directing all of these great dancers. Thank goodness our dance company concert has been completed and now we are in drill mode. The drill season has been in full swing for about two weeks and FINALLY, we are hitting our first competition this Saturday!!! I am super excited and can't believe what a talented group of young ladies I am surrounded with on a daily basis. The best part about it is, I don't have to convince them that they are good at what they do!! They believe in themselves and each other!! What a difference attitude can make in how a team leads, dances, and behaves. I love all the positive attitudes I am blessed to be surrounded by everyday. I full heartedly believe we could be at the top of our region this year. They have the stuff that makes a team achieve greatness!!

On a second note, lately I have felt like a single mom. It pretty much sucks. Barry has been working extra hard to earn some extra Christmas money by working the radio gear for the opposing teams stations. I know he enjoys it and well he's got to stick a microphone in some amazing players faces (LaBron James ring a bell.) I am thankful that I have a hubby that's such a hard worker. It's truly a blessing for as hard as it can get at times.

With that being said, Christmas shopping has been nearly impossible. I have the kids mostly done but that's about it. So much to do and so little time to do it. I also started to coupon this past summer and did great when nothing was going on. But, due to my crazy life, couponing doesn't fit into the schedule and now I am out of my supply of cereal that I had done such a great job at loading up on.

One day I hope I can actually slow down take a breath and have a little me time. In the mean time I am going to spend as many minutes with my adorable children and enjoy them while I can still hug and kiss them and am no longer the coolest person ever in their eyes. I LOVE being a Mom, best gift ever!!!!!

The Past Month

I don't know what has happened to me this month but my blog has gone by the way side. I was doing such a great job updating and then...life happened. After Halloween, I got busy preparing for my dance company concert which was a great concert. The dances looked amazing and we had great audiences both nights.

I took Brooklyn to get her first hair cut! We had to ditch the mullet. Mullets are a little old fashioned so I thought I'd up date her look.


As you can tell, she wasn't very happy about this.



Brooklyn also finally reached the 20lb milestone so she could face the front in her car seat. No worries it only took her 17 months to get there and lots of whole milk!


For Thanksgiving, we went to my mom and dad's and I volunteered to make the pumpkin pie. Never done it before so I was a little worried I screw it up. But, they turned out great and everyone is still alive.
Then we spent the day after Thanksgiving seeing our traditional movie. This years movie was "Tangled." Loved it!! Super cute. After, we went to see the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes at the Maverick Center. It was a blast.

Saturday was spent putting up the Christmas Tree.
We spent that day cheering for BYU in hopes that they'd pull off the win. It's still a sore subject so we'll just leave it at that.


Finally, Barry did his annual hanging of the the lights. He's spent 2 or 3 different Saturdays setting up the grand event. He rents a lift every year from Diamond rental to reach the top of the roof. Our house is very tall and the roof is very steep. And for some reason, every year I seem to miss this blessed event. Fortunately my wonderful niece Tayler took pictures for me this year.

December is a busy month so if I fail at giving any updates for the next two weeks please forgive me. Drill Team competitions have started and between judging and competing, each weekend is full of dancing. I hope you all have a great holiday season!!!

Halloween!!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!! I love all of the fun, costumes and scariness that come with it. We had a great three day celebration weekend. Friday was the wards fall festival, Saturday was trick-or-treating Utah style, and Sunday was a family party at Grandma's house. The kids had a great weekend. I feel as if we got as much candy as we bought. I can't believe I am about to say this but, I am a little tired of chocolate. HaHa!!!

Here are our annual Halloween Pictures we had Chelsea from Pink Fig Photography do. Enjoy!!

I heart NEW YORK!

This past week we headed to New York City with the PGHS Dance Company!! It was a blast!!! We were constantly on the go and rarely sat to rest. So here is the day by day adventure!

Tuesday we flew out at about 8:20 and arrived in NYC at 4pm. We dropped our luggage at the hotel and headed into the city to hit the Empire State Building. It was a beautiful sight. We had the opportunity to get a great evening view of the city. We only stayed up their for about 10 minutes because the wind was blowing so hard it was FREEZING!! I guess that's what happens when you are in the sky 86 floors.

This is at JFK

On Top of the Empire State Building.

The View from on top.

That night we has some FANTASTIC New York Pizza. It was sooo Yummy!

On Day 2 we visited the Statue of Liberty. What a sight to see!! I have to be honest she's a big woman, but, I thought she was bigger. But still a beautiful sight to behold. That afternoon we headed to Steps Dance Center and took dance classes. I was in a Broadway class with some of the girls and it was pretty fun. It was very entertaining. That night we headed to Mars 2012 for dinner it was interesting. And finally to Mary Poppins!! It was amazing!! I loved the choreography and dancing it was awesome!!

Lady Liberty

The view from the ferry boat ride.

Dinner at Mars.

No explanation needed.

On day 3 we headed into Rockefeller Center & NBC studio's for their tour. We had a chance to see the city form the day light. We weren't able to take picture from inside NBC studio's but it was interesting to see how small the studio was. Then off to more dance classes at Broadway Dance Center. We got a culture shock here. Utah hip-hop vs New York hip-hop not even close to the same. Haha!! But it was great I took one class and did an ok job. I am definitely not a hip hopper but had a blast. Then that night we had some free time so we attempted to get into the live taping of 30 Rock but only had stand by tickets. We stood in the rain for about 1 hour all for nothing. But what fun stories we will have from that!! Then we headed to 5 Guys for dinner. I know, it's a chain restaurant. But, the employees were so great and we got a ton of free french fries!!

Top of the Rock!!

NBC Studio's from the outside.

After dance classes in the rain!!

Day 4 we had early morning technique class at Alvin Ailey Dance Studio's!! It was phenomenal!!! I loved every second of it and so did the girls. It was their favorite dance class!!! After wards we meet up with the parents for shopping at Herald Square and Time Square. We rode the wooden elevators at Macy's! It was super cool. Then that evening saw the Lion King.

Outside the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center!!

We saw the "Naked Cowboy" in Time Square and he was GROSS! What a PERV!

Time Square!!

On Day 5 we headed to Radio City Music Hall!! Beautiful building!!! And then to the famous Canal Street where we bought all of our souvenirs and had a great lunch in Little Italy.

Finally on Sunday morning we went to Central Park where we had a tour of a portion of the park. Which included Strawberry Fields, The Carousel, and the Fountain you see in all of the movies.

The building behind us with the two towers is where John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived. Yoko still lives there.
Me on a bench. I know really exciting.

Self Portrait, notice how I capture the sunlight on the stair case. LOL!!

The Famous Carousel!!

All in all it was a fantastic trip! We had a great time. But, were happy to come home to our babies.