Day 18

Once a year we head out to our Christmas party. This is our one time a year to dress up and go out. We laugh, dance, and enjoy each other. These are our dear friends who have been going with us for 8 years!!!!

Day 10

I have always wanted a two story house just so I could wrap lighted garland around the banister. It brings a smile to my face every night!

Day 8

This is one of my favorite paintings in my house. Tonight I couldn't help but notice the stunning image of our tree.

Day 6

I usually shower at night, but didn't happen last night. I usually am freezing in the morning, but was so in love with the wonderful sunlight pouring in my small window in the shower. It was something so small, but something wonderful on a cold morning.

Day 5

Tonight my view was of the kids putting on the last of the decorations. It was wonderful to have it done and knowing they had fun.

Day 4

Hot cocoa is the key to staying warm during the Christmas parade. It really wasn't that cold, but there is just something about cocoa during the holiday season!

Day 3

One of the kids left their sticky hand on the couch. I was so surprised by the heart!

Day 1

I'm so very grateful for this man, my husband!!! We celebrated 10 years of marriage this summer. He likes to joke he rescured me and in a way he's right. I wouldn't be who I am today without him! We've been through so much over the last 11 years we've been together and have come out stronger and more in love than I could ever imagine!

10 Years......

If I could go back in time, I never would have imagined that in 2010 I would be celebrating 10 years of marriage. It's been an amazing 10 years. We've had our ups and downs as every couple does. But I never imagined I would be more in love with my husband now.


We decided that we wanted to take an anniversary trip for 10 years! The kids are old enough to leave for a week and not cause too much stress. So after looking at several places and the budget, we decided on Disneyland!!!


We went during Fall Break. At first I didn't think we would survive a whole week just the two of us. But from the beg of the trip, you could just feel the relaxation we both felt. All we had to worry about was finding our way to the rental car place and getting to the hotel. And after navigating LA, I think we would do just fine on The Amazing Race.


Our first night we saw Fantasmic. What an amazing show, just so much fun and great creativity from Disney. Even Tony said that was his favorite


Everyday brought another surprise and more fun. On our very first day we took a tour A Walk In Walt's Footsteps. It was a lot of fun and we learned so much about the history of the man who created it all. We got to see the lobby of Club 33 which was really neat. I'm glad we did the tour, something we never would have done with the kids. They would have been bored to death.


I got over my fear of the unknown with rides. I got on almost every ride that I didn't last time. And I found some I loved and some I will never go on again. I think the best one is the Matterhorn and the second time we rode it was the best. We were stuffed from dinner and somehow squeezed into the same seat and laughed the whole way down.


The Halloween event night was fun. We got a ton of candy and hit every candy station in the park. The fireworks show and parade were fun. The Halloween tour we did was fun. Best part was getting on rides right away. I skipped many of them only because I couldn't do some of those again lol.


Fantasyland is still my favorite. Peter Pan and Tea Cups are my favorite. And my husband who doesn't like spinning in circles was a big sport and got on and helped spin us faster than I've ever gone.


California Adventure was fun as well. Soaring over California is still a favorite. But River Run we got on several times. The very first time I got soaked from head to toe. The times after that wasn't so bad. Toy Story is always worth the wait!! It's just a fun ride, but hoping there is a fastpass for it one day.


We also hit Universal Studios. The shows were fun and it was neat to see the special effects they do. The Studio Tour was really neat. So many things to see, the King Kong 3D was super neat. Also seeing the set of DH was so cool. I didn't get all the photos I wanted, but that's ok. The rides in the park was what I was super afraid of. The Simpsons ride was super cool, one I could have ridden more than twice. It was a bit scary that I lost my phone on it the first time. Thankfully, someone turned it in. We also hit The Mummy ride which took my breathe away the first time. I did not expect it to go shooting out so fast! But it was super short, unline Space Mountain. We did that ride time and time again and was my favorite by the end. Jurassic Park was last. It was a super neat ride, everything they did to create it. But the drop at the end is one vertical drop. But I did it and survived! lol


We finished off the week with dinner at Wine Country. The food was good and we enjoyed a bottle of Magicale. It was fun and something we wouldn't have done otherwise. We also got tickets to see World of Color. It was really neat to see the amazing effects they do. And so very glad we didn't have to stand in the super long lines that everyone else did.


There isn't one thing that made the week amazing. It was the time for just the two of us with no distractions. It was just a wonderful gift and well worth 10 wonderful years of marriage!!

Emotions

This time of year starts to invoke many emotions in people. I feel like Veteran's Day is the kickoff to the season of gratitude, honor, family, being thankful and then giving way to the holiday season. Veteran's Day was first started as Armistice Day proclaimed by President Wilson in 1919 - a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation (Public Law 380) on June 1, 1954, November 11th became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

Whichever way you look at it, and whichever way your dedication and passion for your country comes from, I feel President Eisenhower said it best during the first Veteran's Day proclamation:

"In order to insure proper and widespread observance of this anniversary, all veterans, all veterans' organizations, and the entire citizenry will wish to join hands in the common purpose.

It's everyone coming together no matter what label you have, and paying your respect to the men and women, past and present who have giving everything to protect us and provide us with a free nation.

That feeling of price and honor seems to carry forward to Thanksgiving where many people focus on family, traditions and being thankful for all that they have been blessed with. And then going further and blessing other people.

This is where I wish that more people would carry this with them all year round. What a better world we would live in if we spent more time helping other people and spending less time focused on ourselves.

I'm not without fault and human like everyone else. I find myself "too busy" to do more of what really would have a lasting effect of values and traditions that will be handed down from my own children. This is a year that I want change in my own heart to really see every person.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Birthday Celebration

My friend Jen and I celebrated our birthdays together. We didn't plan to, but it was a fun surprise!

Baseball

Here are a few photos from the last few games for Lillian and Gabriel.

Water Fun

Victoria had a fun time trying to get Krisco in his small pool.

Spring Break

We decided to not really do anything big for Spring Break this year. I'm glad as I got really sick before it even started. I was sick through most of the week. On Friday we decided to head to Tucson and spend the night and get the kids out of town. It was nice as we had hotel points. We saw two movies, shopping, eating at great places and kids went swimming. Then on Saturday morning we took the kids rock climbing at Rocks & Ropes. They had a great time even though they had never been before. Lillian was afraid at first, but then the instructors were great at building her confidence and before long, she was climbing to the top too!

Reading Week

It was Love of Reading week at the kids school. Each class designed the board outside their classrooms. We found everyone's but Gabriel's. And that was because he didn't put a name on his paper. Gabriel and Victoria's classes also sang.

Kids....

Apparently, my kids weren't using their brain. They decided to roll Lillian's new ball into the drainage pipe. Little did they know, the pipe was pointing back, and were shocked when the ball got stuck. Gabriel ended up crawling in all the way til he reached it. I told them to just leave it because I was already envisioning the fire dept. and policemen rolling up with lights and sirens.

Salt

Why is it that when you run out of something, you can never remember to pick it up the next time you are at the store. Between me and Tony, we've taken more than a dozen trips to the store and yet could not remember to pick up salt. Finally today while grabbing groceries I remembered!! Funny thing is that while Tony stopped at Wal-Mart on his way to work, he remember too. So now we have two giant things of salt so we shouldn't run out anytime soon!

Tryouts

Gabriel had baseball tryouts this past Saturday. This is his first year at the Minor level. Tony has been working with Gabriel since last season on and off. But I had no idea what is expected or what type of drills are done at tryouts. The kids had to bat, run, catch ground balls and catch in the outfield. He did so well, I'm amazed at his hand-eye coordination and his depth of perception. I was joking and told him that I don't think I would be selected for any team as mom is not that good at baseball.

V-Day Banquet

Kim and Jeff invited us again this year to their church's Valentines Day Banquet. Every year we are either gone or have something else going on. This year we were actually able to go. And a nice bonus is that the church provided babysitting too! Here's a couple of photos!

Grams

Today the kids had their Valentine exchanges. This is the first year I haven't gone to take photos. I'm still not feeling the greatest and also didn't have times for when they were doing them. Oh well. They all came home with lots of Valentines and candy!! One thing that I really liked that the PTO did was Carnation Grams.
We all remember Candy Grams when we were in school. It was so fun to send them to our friends and wait with anticipation to see if we would get any. Growing up, my parents weren't huge on these. I remember only being able to send one or two which I should have been grateful for.
Since I remember what a big deal it was to get one, I had sent in the form last week. Each of the kids were so surprised so get a beautiful red carnation. I just couldn't let me kids feel left out and it was a thoughtful way to tell each of them that we love them! Thankfully, they are too young to ask to send one to all their friends. But I know that day is coming! I better start my list of ways for them to earn money lol!