Christmas

We had a fantastic Christmas season so far but we are definitely keeping busy on all our winter sports and things we enjoy doing together so this will be my only post until after the kids are back in school. I have a field trip, band concert, Christmas parties, playing with cousins and Christmas to blog about but that can come later. Here are a few pictures of how cold outside it is right now - 10 degrees!

Would you have ever guessed . . .

That I would one day own a jacket that looked like this:

and that I would mesmerize the riders behind me with it looking kind of like this:



That I would also have a helmet with just as much bling:

Then Cameron and I would be driving down the strip in Vegas on one of these (a rental):

And that I was actually loving it!

Too make a long story short: we went to Vegas with a "biker gang" and followed them to Lake Havasu along the Historic Route 66 for our 12th anniversary (a few weeks early).

It was a bit cold so for our anniversary gift to each other we got outfitted for the ride in Harley gear.Did you know that the actual London Bridge is in Lake Havasu, Arizona? We got there in time to see the Christmas light boat parade.

We even managed to spend a few minutes on the way back to Vegas admiring the Hoover Dam. (Collin was very upset we went without him)

I highly recommend you drive along route 66 on a bike for your anniversary and that you stay in an awesome Marriot like this in Vegas:
I know that if you would have told me even 6 months ago that I'd soon be a "biker babe" I'd say doubtful!! Guess I was wrong about what I really like to do. Of course, I'd like just about anything if I got to do it with my hubby.

Thanksgiving

We made the long drive to St. George, Utah for Thanksgiving. I love that place. And my parents and Cameron's brother Bret both live there (along with lots of aunts, uncles and cousins). We stayed at my parents house along with my brothers, Russell and Ryan and my sister, Melisa and their families. Thanksgiving was filled with lots of fun and food. My parents were kind enough to invite Bret's family to join us for the fiestivities. Collin spent lots of time with his favorite cousins- Corbin and Conner (sadly they were so busy neither Barbara or I got a picture of them together). Cameron went on a 4 wheeler ride with Bret and the boys hunting after deer (not to kill) just for his hunting dogs to practice I think. We also went out to my moms families corral and road horses and 4 wheelers and roasted marshmallows out there. The boys went out to the family ranch in Arizona took do some target practice and shoot clay pigeons. My brother Ryan gets the bragging rights for best shot with all the guns they had - shot gun, pistol and rifle? Of course I managed to get a little shopping in but not much since I would have to get home whatever I bought and keep it hidden. We had a great time down there and enjoyed the warmer weather that they get there! Here are some of the highlights of our time there (backwards since I don't want to rearrange).

My kids with my parents- Bob and Marilynn

Twin cousins- Melia and Chelsea

Morgan and Grandma

Juli, Chelsea holding baby Constantine (he is Melisa's foster baby- she didn't pick the name), Morgan and Gio

The boys at the corral

Andrea, Alyssa, Morgan and Kara being lifted by my cousin, Brad

Ryan, Chelsea and Tatiana

Kelli and Jordan

Melisa, Bob, Cameron, Bret, Barbara (hidden-my Mom and Ryan), Tatiana

The group

The girl table

Morgan feeding Consantine

Morgan playing with the old toys at Grandma's

It's about Time I Blog Again . . .

time to catch up on my blogging. I was truely addicted to blogging and checking up on everyone else's. Then Thanksgiving hit and I just got busy (and I still am) and it just didn't get checked or worked on. I'm working on keeping up with all my favorite blogs and telling you about what FUN things I've been up to the past 3 weeks or so.

Visit

Last Sunday (I'm just getting around to this a week later) I drove over to visit Rebecca with the girls. Melisa (my oldest sister from SLC) was visiting also since she came to Seattle for a business conference. It was fun to get to spend some time with my sisters for a few days. Melisa left the next night. Their was no school on Tuesday so Morgan and Chelsea only had to miss 1 day. Morgan and Logan are only about 6 weeks apart and they really have fun playing together. Chelsea and Mia loved playing with Sydney although Mia and Sydney fought alot over toys. We shopped at IKEA and Aaron brothers while I was there. I got lots of new frames for the family pictures I had taken.

Ready for Winter

Does snowboots make this swimsuit appropriate for winter? This girl was made to be born in a warmer climate. We were cleaning out closets today and going through snow clothes! Fun for me!

Halloween

My Mom told me the other day that she didn't know what my kids were for Halloween. I'd forgotten to post the pictures. I think I tried one day but somehow lost my post. So here is halloween in pictures.

The day before Halloween I tried to get Mia to take a nap. She said she wasn't tired. Probably less than 20 minutes later this is where I found her! Looks like she was tired to me.

This is before the school Halloween carnival the night before. Morgan is a Halloween fairy and Chelsea and Mia are masquerade cats? They loved them and I loved them because they were store bought from Childrens Place at a reasonable price. Chelsea class had a fun party and parade. All the kindergarteners got to dress up and parade through the 1st grade classrooms. Some of the teachers handed out candy as they went by. (Her school is only k-1st) I remember the Halloween parade at Graystone growing up and was sad my older kids never got to experience that. So it was fun to see all the costumes at Chelseas elementary school parade this year.

Collin resurrected his tractor costume again this year! Made it easy for me. It has a fan in it that blows it up and he made sure that worked and the lights before hand. When he got to the primary carnival it broke but he took it apart and had it up and running again.

8 Things About Me

I was tagged by Yasmine

*TV shows I like to watch

1. Desperate Housewives
2. Ugly Betty
3. Life
4. Gary Unmarried
5. Office
6. Project Runway
7. The Hills (ok I admit it- But Debbie watches it too and then we discuss)
8. Survivor (I also like Dancing with the Stars but I could never watch these kind of shows without DVR so I can fast forward the the lame parts and recaps)

*Favorite Restaurants

1. Red Lobster
2. PF Changs
3. Olive Garden
4. Pizza Hut (not that I usually eat in there -just order out)
5. Claim Jumper
6. Chevy's
7. Chili's
8. Fiesta's

*Favorite Places to Shop (is this for myself or my family?- I did both)

1. Target
2. Macy's
3. Old Navy
4. Gap Outlet
5. TJ Maxx
6. JcPenney's
7. Costco
8. The Supermall with my sister

*Things that happened yesterday

1. made the kids breakfast
2. drove to Tri cities
3. shopped at JoAnns, Michaels, the mall, Walmart and Target.
4. got lunch at Sonics
5. picked up pictures
6. Saw Desiree, Ben and Camryn at Walmart
7. went to the girls dance class
8. did homework with the kids

*Things I'm looking forward to

1. our house selling
2. building our new house
3. Thanksgiving in St. George
4. Christmas
5. Skiing in Utah
6. excersizing with out interuption
7. going to visit Rebecca
8. a clean house (how is that going to happen if I'm doing this)

*Things on my wish list

1. Our house selling
2. building our new house (sound familiar)
3. a piano
4. a maid
5. a smaller size (guess I'd have to get that excersize done)
6. shoes, shoes and more shoes
7. more jewelry (not expensive just more accessiories to complet my outfits)
8. some wishes I am not willing to post

*8 people I am tagging

1. any 8 people who have not done this already and want to!

Monkey Dooz

My girls were in desperate need of haircuts. Really since school started they have and I kept putting it off. I tried cutting Chelsea's myself (which I used to do regularly) after her accident and failed miserably! Her thick hair was super crooked. Morgan's was just too long and hard to deal with some days. Mia's was long and thin (although I didn't have them cut enough off). They loved being pampered and Mia love the little french braids they did. Funny thing - 2 days later Mia climbed in the shower with me so I took out her braids and she started screaming and crying to me that I ruined her pretty hair! I told her I could fix it, that I knew how to braid but she cried and screamed and held onto the pink hairbands until I did fix it! Amazing - Mom knows how to french braid baby fine hair too- I just had never attempted it on her.

So Saturday we headed off for our girls day in Tri-cities. We did some shopping then the haircuts at Monkey Dooz. It's a fabulous place to get a girls haircut! Afterwards we went to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year! I loved it and so did the girls. Then girls time was over and we met the boys for dinner at Applebee's before heading for home. Boy do I hate the long drive back to Mattawa when I practically pass my still empty, unsold home there.

I forgot to take a picture of Morgan's finished hairdo. This one I took in the car does not do it justice. She had 4 inches cut off plus I had them long layer it like mine then finished it off with some cute twists and flippy pony hairdo.

Beach Vacation

We resurrected our annual Oregon Coast trip with the Harkers this year after a 3 year break. 2 years in a row back then we went to Seaside, Oregon together with our kids for a long weekend on the beach. This year we decided to try a different location. They found this great beach house in Lincoln City for us to stay in. It was 4 bedrooms plus a bonus play room on 3 levels and a hot tub with great views of the ocean.We drove down on Thursday after school and left on Sunday afternoon. We played on the beach and in the ocean, crabbed, played mini golf, flew kites, ate out lunch and some good meals in, sat in the hot tub, shopping at the outlets, and on the way home we stopped at Tillamok Cheese factory, Jetty fishery, and Indian and Cannon Beach . We just had fun hanging out and enjoying our good friends. Here are too many pictures of the trip.The guys after their swim. Mia (her first time to the beach) and Bruin got knocked down by a wave soon after getting down to the beach the first morning and were ready to head to the hot tub to warm up right away. Mia never ventured so far in after that first morning. Luckily I was quick too rescue them but not before they both rolled a few times across the sand in the water!All but Chelsea (who thought the tub was too hot on her cold toes) and Meredith (who thought it would overflow if one more adult joined the party.crabbing by Moe's. The lazy sea lions sunned themselves across from where we were crabbing. I don't think most of the kids even realized that they weren't just more rocks and drift wood.

The kids did NOT want to leave Indian Beach to head for home. They probably could have played for hours longer if we let them. Too bad the tide was coming in and we missed seeing all the good tide pools by the time we got there. Thanks to the Harkers for planning such a fun trip and inviting us along again. We're working on finding a place for our next adventure.