Christmas memories

We still have two Christmas parties left, Here are pics of Christmas eve and morning!

not loving Santa

Jill was smiling and waving to Santa while in line, but as you can see, she wasn't smiling when it came time to sit on his lap!
Merry Christmas!!

Decorating the tree

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Snowball fight!!!!!

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My Gourmet Husband

Since Gary loves to hunt and fish, he has discovered many new ways to prepare and cook his catches. See here for last big catch! So this is what he served us the other night for dinner. It is VENISON CHILI. And it was SO Yummy! I loved the cheese and sour cream as the garnish. He takes such good care of us.

FHE Fun

Jill, Gary and I went to the mall and Costco on Monday afternoon. I love it when we go places just for fun, no time restraints, nothing to buy, just get out of the house. We did buy a gingerbread house kit at Costco. Gary and I have never made one together, so it was so fun to share this with Jill. She sat in her high chair and watched while Gary and I were hard at work. We had a fun evening.

What happened here??

I have spent hours creating cute little bows for my cute little daughter to wear.  I forgot to take her cute little bow out of her hair for her nap and when she work up I found this cute little mess.  Here is a before and after shot!  I love my Jill!

Playtime

My neice and Nephew came to play. Jack, Audrey, and Jill had some fun playtime yesterday.  Jack found my swim goggles and wanted to wear them, so that is what you see on his eyes.  So funny!

a tiny vacation

Gary didn't have to work the weekend and it was his birthday (he is 30!!) so we went to LA.  We saw the sites, went to the Santa Monica pier, and the zoo.  Had such a fun time!!  

New fancy things

Since I now have this new computer I have been spending too much time on it.  I have created some imovies and dvd, downloading free sesame street, and playing with my blog.  It is just too much fun.    Jill loves to watch and wants to play with the mouse.  She loves the music and Sesame Street on itunes.  So look for more fun things ahead.

Jill and Gary are both well, Jill's virus is gone and she is back to her normal happy self.  Gary still has a bit of a cough, but now is sore from his big ride in Tahoe.  I am just plugging along.  As you can see from the pics, Jill is loving the leaves, she doesn't think that they should be on the "bench" in the backyard.  As she walked along, she removed  each leaf and put it on the ground.  So funny.  

My first iMovie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niHAOcOj0JU

It s a little long, but I like it, i have some things that I want to fix, but i did it!

The sick house

It is Sunday morning, We would normally be rushing to get to church.  I would have to keep reminding Gary to hurry up and  then chasing after Jill to put her shoes on, trying to make sure that I have everything in the diaper bag, water, snacks, favorite books etc.  But today the other two members of our household are sick.  Gary has a cough and congestion, Jill has had a fever for 2 days.  So we are home.  Not fun.  Both babies are sleeping right now, so it is very quiet.  We have to go get a prescription for Gary later and Jill is going to the doctor at 1:50.   

We are keeping Uncle Dale in our thoughts and prayers, as well as Joy.  We love you.  And hope all is well.  

A puppy Halloween

Jill and Mommy enjoyed Halloween, while Daddy had to work late. We went to see family and then went home to pass out candy. We had so many trick or treaters, it was amazing! Jill loved standing at the door while passing out candy and seeing all the costumes. She loved seeing her favorite girls, Kennedy, Ashlyn, Madison and McKinlee in their pretty costumes! Here are pics from our Halloween photo shoot! So fun!

Poor Bambi

Gary returned from a week in Colorado hunting deer. He had a great time. And he was successful! Now to find recipes that include venison! Yum!

Thank you Cortney

Cortney was able to get my pictures from my cell phone on to my computer via email! You are amazing Cort! Here are the pics!!!!

I can' t dance, I can't sing......

Seriously I love this group! Mom and Dad and I went to see Genesis last night. It was an amazing show, the lights, the fireworks and THE MUSIC. These guys are amazing musicians! It was so entertaining. This was my mom's and dad's first big concert, and they enjoyed it too! It was hard because you think they are going to be playing Phill Collins songs, but we kept having to remind ourselves, nope that is a Phill collins song, not a Genesis song! But it was so fun. I thought with this band being around since the 70's, that I would be the youngest one there. I think I was close to being the youngest but then a 15 year old kid sat next to me, and dispelled that myth! But it was great! Worth every cent!

Here is one of my favorite songs! The video is weird, but very poignant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MzShg7yXik

Life is fun with this little one!

1. Jill loves to sit at the foot of our bed on our pillows 2. Yummy Spaghetti! 3. Jill and her buddie Allie 4. Another Cindy Lou Who pic! So fun!

Cindy Lou Who

I think that Jill looks like Cindy Lou Who with her hair like this and in this outfit. Cindy Lou has also learned to Dance! So here she is! So funny!

Christy is on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14LT4Z0OXnY

Books

Jill loves her books, I think the part she loves about them is pulling them off the shelf. Also her is her after picture, after taking her hair out of her ponies, so funny. we think she looks like a rooster!

Hair......finally

As Jill's hair is finally taking off, I have been madly making bows to keep up with her outfits. Here is her latest "do"

love his videos

Ponies and necklaces

Jill now has enough hair for ponies! So fun! And she has learned to put things over her head! She also learned how to turn the TV off and on! Lovely!

take the Quiz!!!

You're Bella Swan - You are intelligent and kind but not quite sure what you want out of life yet. You have a feeling there's something more out there for you. You're attracted to those who are real and avoid the fake. Sometimes you're a bit accident prone, but your true friends will always be loyal to you and come to your aid when you need it.


Click here for the test!

Tag you are it!

Once you read it, now you have to do it!

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Graduated from Ricks
2. Starting at BYU
3. Getting used to some weird roommates (Brownstone #10)
4. Trying to decide on a major
5. Writing/waiting for a missionary.....didn't pan out! Thankfully!

Five things on my to-do list today:
1. Watch BYU game :-(
2. Go to the bank
3. Wash the car
4. Take Jill for a bike ride
5. Go through her clothes that she has grown out of


Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Trailmix
2. Chocolate milk
3. string cheese
4. Any chocolate candy...m&m's, Reese's, etc
5. summer fruit

Five Songs I Know the Lyrics to:
1. Twinkle Twinkle
2. Row Row Row your boat (these are the songs I sing now.....)
3. Cry-- Faith Hill
4. Defying Gravity--Wicked
5. Welcome to the 60's-- Hairspray

Five Things I Would do if I was a Millionaire:
1. Buy a house with one more bedroom, a play room, and bigger backyard
2. Travel
3. save for Jill's college
4. Make donations to various schools and charities
5. Buy a big ranch to have horses, cows, chickens etc.

Five Bad Habits:
1. Popping my knuckles
2. watching tv when i have things to do
3. waking up early, so i am sleepy in the afternoons, so i take a nap and then at night....I can't SLEEP!!!!!!!!!
4. Buying too much stuff for Jill
5. Wasting time

Five Things I'd Never Wear Again:
1. My dorky teacher clothes
2. Spandex---you are so right Shelly! What were we thinking? :-)
3. 90's bangs
4. volleyball shorts.....those of you from OHS will understand! It was like wearing underwear!
5. um....can't think of anything else

Five Things I Like to do:
1. sleep in
2. go on dates with Gary
3. play with Jill
4. go swimming
5. Watch movies

Five Favorite Toys:
1. Internet
2. Scrabble computer game
3. my ipod
4. my camera
5. Jill's Disney figurines....they are so fun to set up and watch Jill play!

Five People I Tag:
1. Steph/Doug
2. Katie
3. Shannon
4. Angela
5. Anyone else who may read this.........

Getting into a groove

Jill Cuddling
Jill loves to play in mommy's and Daddy's closet, here she is trying to put on Daddy's beanny


















I am now a stay at home mom since school officially started two weeks ago. It is a weird
feeling, I love not having to grade or plan lessons, but I miss talking to the kids. I miss hearing what is going on in their lives and what is going on at the school, activities and such.
So Jill and I have been working on a schedule. UP and breakfast, cleaning while she plays, then mommy gets ready while she naps, then up and eat lunch, then run errands or play, then nap again. This is mommy time, movie or crafts, perusing the internet, what ever I want, then Jill is up again, get dinner ready and eat and then bath, then daddy play time, books and bed. It is nice to be on a schedule, we didn't really have a summer schedule because I was just enjoying not working!!!!!!! I have started teaching my night class on Tuesdays. It is 4 and 1/2 hours of busy work. But it is easy. Jill goes to Grandma's Daycare on Wednesdays, so I work for Gary and run errands.
Jill is sure coming into her own, walking everywhere, saying ma-ma and da-da-da-da and we are working on ni-night and gra-maa. So fun! She is starting to cuddle her toys! I love that!! And she gives us the best hugs! So fun!

Marital Bliss

I saw this on one of Katie's relatives blogs, so if you read this, then you have to do it yourself, so TAG You are IT!

1. Where did you meet your husband? What was the first thing you said to him?

Since Gary and I offically met when we were two, I don't remember. I do remember when I saw him for the first time, when he got home from his mission. It was at church. He was sitting on the back row reading his scriptures, preparing for his talk. I remember I was wearing this cute outfit and he was in his suit. I walked up to him and said hi, how are you, glad your back, etc, etc. It was a short conversation. Nothing to tp write home about. I had been kind of interested in someone else at the time, but after seeing Gary, I was infatuated.

2. Where was your first date? Kiss?

Our first date was a dare. Two of my guy friends dared me to ask him out. I was nervous because Gary is kind of shy, and I thought he wouldn't talk! But I did. My friends got dates and we all went and saw that movie with Sylvester Stallone called Driven, corny, but memorable. I don't remember if we went out to eat or anything like that.
The first kiss was a funny story, it was a great moment, but it took Gary forever to kiss me. Our first date was in April, and our first kiss was July 14th! I totally remember the date because I had waited so darn long. I was NOT going to make the first move, but he finally kissed me! I house sitted for this older couple and they have an amazing house!!! I asked them if I could make my boyfriend dinner there, so they said sure, we had a great evening and then while we were watching a movie, he finally kissed me! It was great!

3. Long or short courtship?

In the LDS world I would say long, in the real world I would say average-short. We dated from April to December, then got married the following June. And since we have known each other since we were 2, i would say we have had a pretty good foundation. I tell Gary that is why we get along so great, we have been through primary, mutual, backpacking trips and even mr hogwood mechanical drafting class together! Crazy!

4. Where did you get engaged?

After I was done teaching for the semester, Gary asked me to go to San Fran for the day, see the sites there, go to dinner and see the lights at the Oakland temple. We had a great day. It rained off and on. It was pouring by the time we got to the temple, we still got out and looked at the lights. So romantic. There is an area were you can look out over the whole bay area (beautiful!) so there is where he asked me. He started by saying, that he had two early christmas presents for me, I was wondering where he was keeping them, because they weren't in the truck. So he said, the first was Will you marry me and the second was to go pick out a ring. I was so surprised (we hadn't talked about marriage at all yet) so the first words out of my mouth were, "Are you serious?" He says yes and I said yes too! It was great! It was about 6 pm when we were at the temple, so from there to tracy were decided on a date, and then went to the West valley mall and picked out the ring. This was Dec 22, a Saturday. I was so exxcited but he wanted to talk to his parents that night, so we decided not to say anything until he talked to my dad after church. So when I got home at 8:30 and went straight to bed, to avoid confrontation, my family knew something was weird! Sunday was the Christmas sunday in our ward, I was Mary in the program, so saying my lines was a little hard because I was so giddy. He talked to my dad after church. we picked up the ring on Christmas eve. I made him ask me again with the ring. My mom and grandma just got their rings and put them on, no fancy proposals, so I wanted to be asked and given my ring! Gary was amazing, it was what I dreamed of!

5. How did the wedding and reception go?

It was great! Everything went so well! It was an amazing day. We had only one drawback, my brother was fighting the Ojeh fire in So Cal, and couldn't make it. We even brought his tux to the temple, just in case he made it.

6. How was the honeymoon?

Our honeymoon was a trip of a life time. Since we both had jobs we decided to have an expensive honeymoon. We went to Hawaii for 10 days. We did everything, hiked, kayaked, took a helicopter ride, went snorkeling, went on a day cruise, went boogie boarding, took surfing lessons. It was awesome. We spent a week in Kauai and 3 days in Oahu. By the time we got to Oahu, we were tired! We saw the sights, Pearl harbor, PCC and laid on the beach for the rest of the time. But I am so glad we did it. It was the best!

I love you Gary. You are an amazing husband and father. I couldn't ask for more. I am glad I get to spend eternity with you!

Birthday Party!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday Girl

Jill enjoyed her day so much! We got her the Laugh and Learn grand piano, and she LOVES IT! This morning she would have rather played then ate!