Are you ready for Christmas?

I am NOT! Nope. Well, presents are all purchased and most wrapping is done, but not ALL of it.

But instead of getting something done, I am playing on the computer. Catching up on BLOGS and Facebook.

Just thought I would let you know.

Well, I work tomorrow...so I better go to bed.

Goodnight.

My Family's Favorite Christmas Song

This is for you Misty. This is my first attempt to try to upload something from youtube, if this doesn't work...search youtube for "Cheech and Chong Santa Claus and His Old Lady". I don't think there is an official video-just ones people have made TO the song...so don't judge the video-listen to the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbw9-uq9sMU

A couple of things ABOUT this song.

1) I had never heard it until a few years ago I paid a girl on my team at work $5 to make me two Christmas CDs full of her favorite songs and snipits from movies. This song was on it and we have all loved it ever since.

2) I have always joked that my dad looks like a cross between Cheech and Chong, so I've always had sort of a fondness for them.

3) One of the lyrics is "The Vato with the boney knees" and hey, that is my name. The kids always get a kick out of that. Another great lyric is "Come on Beto", when Santa is calling out the names of the reindeer....Lauren always yells that line out.

4) I think the "Mexican" accent is so cute, my grandparents sort of talk like that, so I enjoy things like "Chews" for "Shoes" and "Hole" for "Hold" and "Fy" for "Five".

I hope you all enjoy it. Misty-this is my response to your "worst" list. Come on, it is such a happy subject how can any of it be bad LOL. Even the bad is good, although "Christmas Shoes" is a bit sad, I cried a little.

Just ONE of my heros

If you know me, you know that I LOVE reality TV. One of my favorite shows is on the Style network. It is called Giuliana and Bill. I watched the first season of "The Apprentice" so I knew who Bill was...but I didn't know much about Giuliana until this show. Let me just say that she is one of my heros. I just ADORE her. Not only is she tall, beautiful, skinny, with a great fashion sense-she is smart, funny, humble and family-oriented. I love that she is so quick-witted, I wish I could be as funny as her. I love that she seems to let so much just roll off her back, she rolls with the punches. I love how OPEN and HONEST she is, without being hurtful or rude. I love that she is so determined in all that she does. PUT that all together and I especially LOVE how determined she was to get pregnant, how open she was to share it with the WORLD. Every week I watch the show and I laugh, I cry, I sigh at the love that she and Bill share. I have a good friend who is an IVF success story and I was there and watched her start the process, so watching Giuliana go through her journey with IVF just brings back those memories. Sadly, I saw, as the world did-her have a miscarriage and how heart wrenching it was for her. This week's episode showed her break the news of the miscarriage on her OWN E-News show. I admire her bravery to share her journey-including sessions with her therapist. So many people have fertility problems and feel that they are alone and I love that she is out there putting a face on such a common problem. She also decided on this weeks episode to finally go through another round of IVF. I am so excited for them and I hope that they get their wish. I see how IVF has brought happiness to so many of my friends and I wish her the same happiness. I wish I could give her some encouraging words-I believe that things happen for a reason and I think that children would be such a change to her and Bill's lifestyle and I think that the struggle that she has had is just to prove to herself that she REALLY wants kids and that all the sacrifices were worth it. I believe that they are and that is a lesson to all of us.

Thanksgiving/Birthday 2010

This year the kids started bugging me right after Halloween to put up CHRISTMAS decorations! Finally on November 21-I gave in! They viciously slashed through all of my Christmas decorations (notice the mess behind Jamie). BUT when they end up looking as cute as this-it is too hard to be angry.

This is our tree-skirt, which also makes a nice, um, shawl?

I am the WORST taking picture-remember-er! I did not take ANY pictures at Matt's dad's house! We had an excellent dinner there with her son Stephen and his boyfriend Collin AND Tina's niece Kristi. We went to my mom's later to hang out. Here are my two handsome boys.

Here is our little family after eating all of our food for the day.

Just the FOUR of us.

And my cute parents!

And my cute nephew Zander. He is GIANT. He is only 4 months old and is wearing Jamie's 2T jammies!!!

I have no pics of Sarah or Ashley! I was such a bad picture-taker! GRR!

November 26th was my birthday and my mom took the kids overnight so that Matt and I could go and spend some time together in Wendover. Here is Matt and I before heading out. Woo hoo!

Me and the two best kiddos ever on my special day.

Me and my gorgeous sister, Sarah. I just LOVE her!

And then..I took no pictures in Wendover. We had a BLAST. We drove around the pretty much empty town. We lost a lot of money. Ate some good food. Ran into random people (my first boss EVER at Discover Card-circa 15 years ago AND our neighbor kids-they are 8 and 10-WEIRD). We watched the Jazz BEAT the Lakers WOO HOO!! And we got lots of much needed sleep. The best part was being able to spend so much time with my hubby! I really enjoyed our 2 hour drives both ways. It was cool on the way home to see the mountains reflected in the water.
ALMOST home and we drive past a golf course and we see these three deer. Totally cool.

SO, on Sunday night we had invited my parents, Matt's parents, and our brothers and sisters to come over for dinner and cake to celebrate my birthday BUT it snowed SOOO freaking bad-we had to cancel so people wouldn't DIE on the roads on my account. We are re-scheduling for next Sunday-I hope it doesn't snow next week! I will do my best to take pictures at that event!

It was a great day! Thanks everyone for the many wishes!!

The news that made one little boy very happy

I read today in my People magazine that Cars 2 will be coming out in June 2011. The sequel will also be starring Joe Mantegna and Micheal Caine.

Jamie may be more excited for this than for Christmas, well, almost.

Fall Happenings

Let me see if I can remember (and cram) all of the fall festivities into one jumbo post! I love love love Halloween and Fall and all of the smells.

There is a quaint little place called Gardner Village and they get really into Halloween. On September 11, Matt had to work...so I called up my friend Nicky and he hauled the kiddos to the "So You Think You Are a Witch" show. For $5 it couldn't be beat. Dinner from Wendy's topped the night off. It has been so great to reconnect with my bestie from childhood, I hope to continue to see more and more of her. It doesn't hurt that our kids LOVE each other too! When Nicky's mom was in town recently (I hadn't seen her in over 10 years) she said that Lauren and Katelynn were "Mini-Nicky" and "Mini-Rachel"...awww. SO..anyway, here is the winning Witch, I can't remember her name, but she was my favorite!
Casey from the morning show (not sure which one) was a judge. I couldn't get a good shot! He is pretty handsome in real life.

Even more handsome though, is my baby Jamie! No pics from the paparazzi! LOL!

Here is Nicky with our four kiddos!

Here am I with all four kids, Jamie eyes closed, DOH!

Cute Lauren was not afraid of any witch!

Jamie, on the other hand, was a bit afraid, thanks for Hailey for giving him some courage.

On September 15th, my niece Isabella turned 4. Her Aunt Natalie made this awesome castle cake. So yummy!

I have always loved Space and the Planetarium. On September 24th the whole family went to the Planetarium to see Hubble 3D. It was fantastic! I am in awe of the planets!

Despite Lauren's pouty face, she actually had a good time. And Matt smiled despite his embarassment of my flash in a dark theatre.

They were all good sports about pictures from the surface of Mars.

And for a walk on the moon!

We also stopped to see the Witches AGAIN. I love it there! A stop at "Sweet Aftons" for some homemade fudge and a carmel apple make it PERFECT!

Matt and the kids checking out one of the witches.

Okay, it was a bit bright for a picture. BUT everyone looked so cute, just imagine that their eyes are open!

There was a fat, black cat that everyone was fascinated by.

I can't get this picture turned right, but Lauren was so cute with the cat.

They also ventured into the petting zoo, where one goat promptly nibbled on her skirt. Lauren was so scared.

Jamie cautiously rode a pony. Look at this serious face-if you can. (I can't get this picture turned right either-urgh).

Lauren posing on her pony ride.

Lauren was chosen to be student of the week. Lauren helped me with the poster, but I was the one up until 3 a.m. making sure it got completed!

After being in my current department since May of 2009, I found out that I would be moved to a new team on October 1. My old team bought me flowers, made me a card, and a yummy cake (sorry no pics). It was so sweet of them-they were one of my most favorite teams ever!

September had been a busy month for Matt and I and my mom noticed and offered to babysit. SO, I suprised Matt with an overnight stay at Anniversary Inn on October 1. I had the kids in the car and BOTH of our bags packed when he came home from work! A TOTAL surprise!! Here is Lauren on her way to the sleepover at her grandparents house.

Here is Jamie and Pepper on the way!!

I never got into that whole Twilight thing, BUT we stayed in the Twilight room because I thought it was "Halloweeny". It was awesome, I loved it. I want to go back NOW! This was a picture of a towel swan. Cool!

The room was dark, so it was hard to get good pics, but we loved the white and gold, and all of the lighting. They had these flickering LED lights made to look like candles, we both loved them.

I loved the wall mural. It made me feel like I was outdoors.

We tried to get a picture of the two of us, I think that I like this one best.

The lighting was weird, it was hard for us to get it right.

I told Matt, pictures are more flattering taken from above, this is a straight on shot.

Too much of a flash, washes ya out.... but I still just love this man. I was glad I was able to keep it a surprise. He came home from work and I said get in the car, we are leaving! I was proud of myself for keeping such a big secret. It was so nice to get away.

Here was the outside view from our room. I think it inspired the mural just a bit.

We loved this little loveseat. It was so perfect! At home he sits in a chair and I sit on a couch. It was nice to sit next to each other and watch a scary movie, complete with popcorn, soda, candy AND cheesecake. I want one of these for my house!

Matt and I just adored the wall sconce.

The decor was so great.

I think Matt may have talked me into putting wood into our bedroom, with a fuzzy rug like this!

And the breakfast was to die for! Super delicious!

The best part was this note that Matt left. It brought a tear to my eye.

Lauren had spirit week at school. Here she is on crazy hair day! In a purple wig.

It was some crazy hair.

Here are the kids I take to school every day, on crazy hair day. Lauren and her best friend Chrystie and her brother A.J. Jamie blended in nicely. He is sorta mad that he doesn't get to go to school too.

On October 14, we had a work off-site activity. I only snapped one picture and that was when our activity was to dig gummy worms out of a plate of whipped cream. Here is our department trainer Jason who was such a good sport. It was also my sister Sarah's birthday and my camera died for the whole celebration...boo.

I took a week off of work to potty train Jamie...it was a success!! My first day however, we had a round of stomache flu that went through the family, I wasn't as handy with the camera for any of the barfing fun as some of my friends, so lucky for that!!

I did however, have my camera for GIRLS NIGHT OUT with my sisters on October 18th. Just the three of us, no kids, no boys! We had dinner and a movie-chick flick "Life As We Know It". It was nice to just chat and chill with the two coolest gals I know. It is just so nice to have people who know you so well, who you love so much who love you back. I am so lucky to have them as friends.

Here is a picture of us at the theatre. Do we look alike? Some people think so, I don't always see it.

On my week off I volunteered to have my niece Isabella come and sleep over. The three kids get along so well. It was a lot of fun. I spotted this written on our easel, I thought it was sweet.

These three kept me up until 2 am! I could not get them to stay in bed! Exhausting! I don't know how they did it. I snapped some shots when I FINALLY got them to sleep. I think they were just too excited to see each other!

Sleeping children must be the sweetest sight ever....
Especially when it is my Jamie!

Saturday October 23, I had a boutique at my house, it was a lot of work, but I had a blast. I should have taken a picture of how packed my house was and all the goodies we had there, but once again-I was too busy! After the boutique (Matt was at work) so me and the kiddos went to his dad's house and we carved pumpkins, had pizza and treats. It was nice to hang out, just the 5 of us, I think that it is a first. Tina is amazing! This was the pumpkin she helped Jamie with. He is so proud (even if he didn't do any work). Check out his cute hat I got at the boutique.

Here is my cute girl and her cat pumpkin.

My kids are such posers!!!

At work, the day before Halloween, pretty much my entire team dressed up. I should have gotten individual pictures, but I was so busy that day, I was lucky to get this one! My month was so crazy due to me taking a new team AND having 8 days of vacation! WHEW. I was only with this team for one month because as of November 1, I got moved to the day shift. SO-this was my last day with them.

At the last minute, for his birthday, Matt decided that he wanted to go to lunch with his side of his family one day and with my side the next day (our crowd is getting very big!). Here we are at Famous Daves. I am shocked that everyone could make it with ONE hour of notice!

Okay, I have GOT to take some classes about how to make my camera work or maybe a class about lighting! This was an attempt to take a picture of Matt and his brother, sister, and dad.

Okay, that is better. Here is Matt's dad, Matt's brother-Greg, Matt's sister-Kristen and my very handsome husband. What a good lookin' bunch. I am so very lucky to have married into such a great family. I get along with all of them very well!

Lauren decided to make Matt his birthday cake-via Easy Bake Oven. Could we have asked for a cuter, sweeter daughter?! I love that smile!

She wanted to wear an apron. My apron. Never used. I had to take a picture before she got in her Halloween costume.

Lauren's finished product. Yum.

This was the present I got him for his birthday. He hasn't had a personal laptop since way before Lauren was born and our home computer is so dang slow, so again, I kept a good secret and surprised him with this baby.

Here are the 4 muskateers in their Halloween costumes. Jamie as Buzz, Lauren as Leopard-Cat, Chrystie as a Beauty Queen, and AJ as Batman. What troopers! It was cold, and rainy, and windy and they still hit the whole neighborhood.

The coolest kids I know.

Best Friends! Seriously, they are attached at the hip! Chrystie is such a sweet, smart, responsible girl. I am very lucky to have such a good friend for Lauren.

My stylish cat. Me-ow!

Buzz Lightyear! Or "Buzzed on Light Beer" as Matt called him. Jamie wanted boots so bad. I was lucky to find these boots at Kid To Kid for $6! Steal!

The gloves were a bit big, but I found a cool Buzz flashlight, so he was ready to go!

At least he was warmer than Lauren.

Oh, I would do anything for that sweet face!

I love love Halloween and I set up this scary table for when the Trick-Or-Treaters came to the door, I had a little scene for them. BUT...we hardley got ANY kids! I was so sad!

At least my kids made-out. Here is Jamie's stash.

Lauren's haul.

Obviously, I was over-prepared for the traffic I got! DOH!

The day AFTER Matt's birthday, on October 31rst, we met MY side of the family for lunch at another of our family favorites..Tres Hombres. Here is Ashley and Jamie-they approve of the good food.

Thumbs up!

Sarah, Victor and my nephew Zander!

My cute Dad and Mom.

Sarah and our nephew, Zander..a darling baby, a big baby.

Lauren wanted to take a picture. Me and Jamie. Aww.

Victor and giant 3 month old baby Zander.

Power to the GIANT BABIES. LOL. I love his big blue eyes!

What a great way to end the month, the week, and Matt's birthday.

Jamie wanted to take some pictures. Here is Aunt Ashley, from Jamie's point of view.

Another Jamie-taken-pic. Hmmm....the pictures he takes turn out better than mine!

And then Lauren wanted to take more pics too! Awww...love my boy!

Dessert was free! Mmmm...birthday flan!

Here is my sweet daughter, my great hubby and me. I hope this is a birthday that he will always remember!!! He is such a hard-working, determined, honest, smart, handsome, and loving man. I am sure lucky to have him. I hope he knows that.