Our Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas. We are truly blessed with a wonderful family. We had a huge surprise on Christmas, Gary's brother Scott bought us tickets to Disneyland. We have been saving for several months, so now we can go! What a great guy! Thanks Scott! We love you!



The day after Christmas we went to Monterey to see the "fishies" as Jill said, with Gary's parents and brother. It was beautiful there. It was such a nice day.

Our sad Gingerbread house

Don't tell my creative and artistic sisters about this. Jill, Gary and I tried, but I would rather just get it done, then it look perfect. Jill ate so much of the candy. And Gary was critiquing my building strategies (you can tell he is a boss) Anyways, it was fun and memorable evening.
And another thing...... something cute and frustrating at the same time, with my sister-inlaw out running errands and my brother taking a quick shower, my niece and nephew preceded to open all of their presents this morning. When asked by my brother, "What are you doing?" They said, "Nothing." Priceless.

the new room and a cute kid

I was cleaning my bathroom and came out to find this. She stood all of them up. So funny. These are Jill's favorites. A few go with us everywhere we go. If these were the only toys we had, Jill would be a happy girl.

Well We are finished moving the office and cleaning it up. We have yet to decide where we are putting the pictures that are on the walls. But it is sooo nice in here. As you can see someone didn't want his picture taken

The "new" room

Gary is self employed with his own Lath and Plastering business (you know the cement on the outside of your house?) Since 2004 he has rented a shop to keep his thousands of supplies in, this place had and office. Yet he never bothered to turn on the electricity there, so the office part of the shop was never used. Recently he has purchased a new office and yard area. And yesterday was a day of celebration. He began moving the "office" out of our house! I hear "hallelujah" in the back round right now. So now we have space, actual space in this extra room in our house!!! Can't wait to move things around and use this room!!!
As you can see below, this room was quite packed. The file cabinets will be moving into the closet, one chair is gone, and Gary's desk (a folding table) is GONE!!!

Can you see the clutter behind us??

Below is some of the new space!!!! Yeah!

Crazy weekend

Well Gary and I and our committee got through the ward party. We figured we fed 260 people. We decorated on Friday, then got up early Saturday to go cook for our christmas breakfast. It took longer than expected to cook the food, so that wasn't fun. But everyone said it was a great party. Everyone loved Santa. So over all it was great. During the week prior to the event, I was a bit stressed and didn't sleep much, and came down with a cold. Then it just got worse yesterday after the party was over, thankfully! I slept a little while yesterday, then got up, and with Gary's help, cleaned out my car which was FULL of stuff from the party. I went to bed, gary let me sleep in, and I woke up feeling worse. So we opted to stay home from church today. I am still feeling lousy, but a bit better after some rest and relaxation. We even got some carolers!!! It was wonderful! I just hope that this isn't a trend for ward parties..... you know, stressing out, not sleeping, then getting sick. ;-)

Thanksgiving catch-up

The morning of Thanksgiving, we went out to Knights Ferry to kill sometime. It was so fun. Just to walk around, see the old buildings, see the falling leaves, and look for the salmon. Jill loved running through the covered bridge, Gary kept looking for salmon, and I just loved being outside where it was quiet and peaceful. Here are some pictures of our day:

Tuesdays are the best

I work on Tuesday nights, so Jill and Gary have so much fun. Yesterday I "suggested" they rake the leaves, put them in the trash, and have fun in the meantime. Well they had time. Even after the bath, Jill was ready to put on her boots and go out for more.

Prayers needed

Karlie, Gary's Cousin Kelly's little girl, has been diagnosed with Leukemia. Please remember her and her family in your prayers. http://www.maxfamily4.blogspot.com/