White Elephant, the Grinch, and a song....

M2B =) days 668 - 672.  Sunday, December 4th - Thursday, December 8th happiness:

Sunday, December 4th happiness:  1st Sunday of the month = FHE.  I love my family.  

My mom gave a lesson

and then...White Elephant!


There were some interesting gifts this year.  I think Michael was happy with his leg lamp.
Joe was honored to receive the Taylor Lautner poster.  This one is a repeat.  If you get the poster, you get to sign the back and bring it back next year!
I think my favorite of the night was.....
It was fun, although I don't think the little ones quite understand the concept of White Elephant.  I think next year they will have their own gift exchange.  

Addy was smart though.  She brought something she knew she would love - a Justin Bieber ornament.  Of course, she was thrilled to go home with it.  Smart girl.

Monday, December 5th happiness:  I was looking for cards for my school kids today, and I found the best cards ever:
Woo hoo!

Also, today I bought what might be the best invention EVER.  It fixes strings of Christmas lights.  FOR REAL!
I have been dealing with Christmas lights for years now.  And the worst part is when you bought new lights the year before, and the next year they don't work.  Or, when they work and then you get them on the tree and they decide not to.

This year, when I did my mom's tree, she had like 15 strands of lights that didn't work.  This little light fixer, fixed 10 of them, and it was soooo easy.  I love it.  I also had a strand on my tree that went out, and instead of having to unstring and replace, it took me like a minute to fix it with this thing.  Love it!

Tuesday, December 6th happiness:  I worked on my mom's tree tonight!

I had a good helper.

Thanks to Adam, she got a new tree topper this year.
Wednesday, December 7th happiness:  I was at my moms working on her tree tonight, and I got to hear Dallin's new Christmas song.  He is supposed to perform a song at their ward Christmas party on Saturday night.  Joe was going to play the guitar while Dallin sang.  They chose a few different Christmas songs and practiced, but Dallin wasn't very happy with any of them.  So, he went downstairs for a bit, and wrote himself a brand new Christmas song to sing.  It took him like 20 min.  and it is amazing!  I got to see him perform it tonight.  Joe is going to play for him still, but here is Dallin doing a quick run through:
Thursday, December 8th happiness:  Aunt Denise sent some of her Krispy Kookies to my mom's house.  I was too busy enjoying their deliciousness to take a photo.  And, my mom had a chocolate peppermint cupcake from Sweet Daddy's, that I got to sample.  Pure deliciousness.

Happy Day!

Christmas traditions

M2B =) days 661 - 667.  Sunday, November 27th - Saturday, December 3rd happiness:

Sunday, November 27th happiness:  Joe and I watched Christmas movies today.  Lots of cheesey Hallmark movie channel Christmas movies.  I loved every minute of it.

Monday, November 28th happiness:  Today we started MY favorite Christmas tradition - The nightly reading of Christmas stories.  Each night we choose one story.  We turn off all of the lights except for the Christmas village and the tree and we cozy up on the couch and read a story.  

It is my favorite tradition because I always feel the spirit.  Most nights I can't get through the story without crying.  And it always reminds me of what Christmas is supposed to be about.  Yes, the lights, and the gifts and the goodies are fun, but that is not what the true meaning of Christmas is all about.  These stories remind me to think of others, and to try to give what service I can, and to try to help out someone who truly needs it.  I love it!

The first story we always read is Joseph's favorite:  Christmas Every Day!

Tuesday, November 29th happiness:  Tonight Brian read HIS favorite Christmas story.   It gets me every time.  I cried, He cried.  It's so good!
Sorry.  I forgot to rotate the photo before I uploaded it.  I'm not going back and changing it now.  You will just have to rotate your head to the side. =)

Wednesday, November 30th happiness:  Today was the first day in weeks that I didn't physically feel just awful.  I may finally be kicking this thing!  Woo Hoo.

Thursday, December 1st:   I spent much of the afternoon/early evening at Sheri's house working on the lights on her tree.  I had a little helper named Evan.  He helped me sort the lights, and test them to see if they were still working.  He wanted to put ornaments on the tree So badly, but I had to keep telling him to wait until the lights were done.  It is so cute how excited he is.

Friday, December 2nd happiness:  Lights on Sheri's tree - done!  My little helper was so excited. 

You may not recognize him though.  He has recently acquired a cheeto 'stache:
Saturday, December 3rd happiness:  Thanks to Joe, we participated in another Christmas tradition tonight - dinner at Serranos on the first Saturday of December, followed by looking at Christmas lights.

A couple of years ago, we happened to go to dinner with the Trezise family on the first Saturday in December.  Joe declared it to be a new tradition and we have been doing it ever since.  We did invite the rest of the family to join in on the fun too.

This year it was a little crazy as times and locations got moved at the last minute so we could make sure everyone could be there.  We made it!  The food was good, and the company was great!

You know what happens when you try to photograph teenage boys?  They make faces at you!
Ro was being a stinker and wouldn't let me take his photo.  Finally I told him that I didn't WANT to take his photo, I just wanted a photo of Josh.  Guess who showed up in the background?
After Serranos it was temple lights.  It was rainy and super cold - just how I like it.  It also meant that there wasn't very many people there.  No crowds.  Yay!

We went with Sheri and Ian's family and Darrel and Trina's family.  


When we got home, Brian made us a cozy fire.  The perfect ending to a fun night.
Happy Day!

Thanksgiving and the Science Project

M2B =) days 655 - 660.  Monday, November 21st - Saturday, November 26th happiness:

Monday, November 21st happiness:  It was a beautiful cloudy day.  Living in Arizona I will always appreciate cloudy days.  They make me the happiest.  I had to do both 3rd and 4th grade lunch today, so I got to be outside a lot today to enjoy it.  Also, during pick up - sprinkles.  I love it!

Tuesday, November 22nd happiness:  I FINALLY slept last night without coughing every 5 minutes.  I actually got some sleep.  I don't feel like such a zombie today.  Yay!

Wednesday, November 23rd happiness:  It was crazy sock day at school today and I totally forgot!  And I LOVE fun socks.  Dang it!  Thankfully many of the kids did not forget.  It was fun to see all of the interesting socks today.

I even had one boy in our math class who wore his sisters rainbow strip socks.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that!  

Also, today was a 1/2 day.  Woo hoo!  

Thursday, November 24th happiness:  HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  Clouds today too!  Much to be thankful for.

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Brian's family.  It was fun.

Brian was happy to be there.  So was Joe, even though he doesn't look like it in this photo:
Joe and D after stuffing their faces with yummy Thanksgiving food.
I think it has probably been a few years since I got a photo of the 3 of these guys together.  I'm glad I made them pose for me.  I had to snap it quick, since with teenagers, they weren't going to stand there for long.
We spent a lot of the afternoon out back.  It was a beautifully cloudy day.  We even saw a few sprinkles.  Joe found ways to entertain himself...and us.
He and D spent a good while playing the "who can balance the cushion on their head longer" game.
I'm sad that I didn't get many photos of the rest of the family.  I didn't want to take shots while everyone was stuffing their faces, and that was the only time that we were all sitting together.  I should have wandered around more, shoving my camera in everyones faces.  I know how people love that.

It was a happy day filled with lots of food and family.  What else can you ask for?

Friday, November 25th happiness:  I don't know if today made me happy, but I was sure relieved that Joe finally got some serious work done on his science project.  He takes after his mom, and saved most of it for the last minute.  It is due on Monday.  We worked on it all day long.  

All I can say is that I am sure grateful to uncle David who helped us out when we couldn't figure out how to read the voltmeter!  Brian and Joe just showed up on his doorstep this afternoon looking sad and needing help, and he totally helped us out!  Thanks SO much!  We could not have figured this out without you.

Saturday, November 26th happiness:  Joe and I worked on more science today.  Yesterday he did all the research, bibliography, experiment conduction and charted all the info.  Today he got to make a board and put all the info on it and make it look awesome.  I seriously cannot believe that I didn't take a photo of the finished product.  He really made it look great.  He did it in yellow and blue and had photos and graphs and info.  It took us ALL day, but it looked great and it is done!  Huge sigh of relief.

While Joe and I were science-ing it up, Brian was being superman today!  He put the Christmas lights up on the house.  Then he replaced the doorbell, finally he went grocery shopping AND he brought me home chocolate amaretto gelato, which I have literally been thinking about and craving for like 3 weeks.  He read my mind!
Tonight to celebrate being DONE with the science project, we went to Cherry street to see the lights.
I love that Joe is not too old to go see lights with his mom and dad.  He loves all things Christmas, just like we do.
He also got to go see a movie with Adam tonight, and I got to sit on the couch and watch t.v. and do nothing for a while.  It was seriously great.

Happy Day!

icky sicky

M2B =) days 648 - 654.  Monday, November 14th  - Sunday November 20th happiness:

Monday, November 14th happiness:  Not so much happiness today as gratefulness.  I was grateful to have a sick day I could use to stay home.  I am grateful for naps and especially for nyquil.

Tuesday, November 15th happiness:  Home sick again today.  I did get out of bed long enough to stop by a friends baby shower.

The sad part was, all the food looked soooo good, and  because of being sick, I can't taste anything right now.  I did bring some things home for Brian though.

Wednesday, November 16th happiness:  No more sick days, so I had to go back to work.  Boo!  To cheer myself up a bit, I had peppermint ice cream tonight.  It felt SO good on my sore throat.  I also hung up the ornaments we bought at Disneyland:

Oogie Boogie:
Lock, Shock, and Barrel:
And, of course, Jack:
All from The Nightmare Before Christmas. (are you surprised?)

Thursday, November 17th happiness:  Finally had enough energy tonight to put up the Christmas Village.
It makes me happy.
Friday, November 18th:  Movie night with the girls!  I was a little concerned because I was still sick - including having a cough, and being prone to coughing fits that go on for 5 minutes at a time.  I didn't want to be the annoying person in the theater driving everyone crazy, but I also was NOT going to miss out on girls night.  Even if it was Breaking Dawn.  The fun is in the waiting in line for an hour and chatting with everyone, and then going out for dessert afterwards =)

So, I came prepared, water, and cough drops on hand.  It worked well for about 3/4 of the movie.  Then Sheri leans over and makes a comment that I am doing well and haven't even really coughed at all.  Well, you know how that works.  No sooner had she said it, then I went into one of my 5 minute non stop coughing spells.  No worries, I did exit the theater and take it into the bathroom.  When I was done, I really wanted to just lie down and take a nap, but as I was in a public bathroom - gross.  I did not go back to my seat.  I just stood in the little hallway of the theater and watched the rest of the movie from there.

Afterwards we went to T.G.I.Friday's for dessert.  Good times.  They would have been better if I hadn't had a second coughing fit and have to get up and leave the table, but I survived.

Saturday, November 19th happiness:  Joe and I had a lazy day of hanging out on the bed and watching Christmas movies.  Yay!  Guess who joined us?

Tonight, we had a  "original McQueen 1st ward" young women get together.  Now that we have been split 4 ways we don't get to see each other as much.  We all got together tonight and hung out and ate delicious food and played games and laughed a lot.  It was awesome!

Sunday, November 20th happiness:  So I finally broke down and went to a care clinic today.  I have acute sinusitis and acute bronchitis.  Sheesh!  I have been sick for about 11 days.  Usually when I get sick, it lasts a couple of days.  I take Nyquil, sleep a lot, and then I'm ok again.  Not so this time.  I kept thinking "this has gone on a long time, I'll feel better tomorrow".  I guess for this one, I needed medication to get over.  I got an inhaler, along with 2 other medications.  sheesh!  

On the happy side, while we were there we found the chocolate covered cherry m&m's that I like so much.  Those things are impossible to find.  I will have to wait to eat them though, as I STILL can't taste anything.

That's it for now.

Happy Day!

Disney!

M2B =) days 641 - 647.  Monday, November 7th - Sunday, November 13th happiness:

Monday, November 7th happiness:  Clouds...Rain...Cool weather...Today was GORGEOUS!  I was lucky!  I got to spend some time outside this afternoon.  I was taking some photos at the temple.  I was worried we might get rained out, but the weather was perfect.  I love days like this, and I love them even more when I get to be outside in it!

Tuesday, November 8th happiness:  Watching shows on the couch with Brian tonight!  We are trying to catch up on some of our shows.  Tonight we watched House.  It was extra funny.  I think it was possibly my favorite episode of House ever!
Wednesday, November 9th happiness:  Finally!  I have waited nearly a year for these.  Brian got them for me!  
Dear Hershey's:  Your extra creamy solid milk chocolate bells are dreamy.  The chocolate is soooo creamy good.  If only you could make your Hershey's kisses taste like this, instead of dry, crumbly,  sub par chocolate, I could enjoy your products year round.  
Thursday, November 10th happiness:  so....to say that Joe LOVES Disneyland would be a bit of an understatement.  Seriously.  

A few days ago Brian and I discussed MAYBE surprising him with a ticket to Disneyland for Christmas.  So, When Brian announced 4 days ago that we would be going - this Thursday, I was a little surprised, to say the least.  I was also a little bit overwhelmed, as I have a lot on my plate right now, and didn't have much free time to prepare for a trip.  So, I've been a little stressed this week.  However, today, I found myself getting a little excited.  All day at school, I kept thinking about it.  I had a little spring of excitement in my step today.  After school, I picked up Joe.  We got home and quickly packed a few things.  By 6:00 we were on the road.  

Best road trip ever.  I think I slept the whole way!  It seemed like it took 5 min.  We got to the hotel late, and it was straight to sleep.

Friday, November 11th happiness:  Ok, so going to Disneyland on a National Holiday (Veteran's Day)  AND the first day of Christmas fireworks maybe was a little crazy.  It was kind of wall to wall bodies.  But we weren't going to let that stop us.  We went straight to Space Mountain, got fast passes for later in the day and then stopped at Buzz Lightyear - one of MY favorites.  The wait was only 15 min.  Woo hoo!


Joe and I also love the Jungle Cruise, although it really does depend on if you get a funny guide or not.  It's also great because there is hardly ever a line.
We were disappointed that Pirates was closed, but the Haunted Mansion Holiday MORE than made up for it.  THIS is why we come to Disneyland in the Fall.  They should leave it this way year round.  
We love The Nightmare Before Christmas.
They have a different gingerbread house each year.  Here is this year's version:
It was awesome.

The weather is another reason we come in the fall.  Not too hot!  I can handle crowds if the weather is nice.

The trees were gorgeous!  So I may be a little obsessed with trees.  Even at Disneyland, I find myself photographing them.
This was my favorite photo of the day, simply because he looks like he is standing in front of a fake backdrop.  
We finally got to use our passes for space mountain.  It was so fun.  I love how our photo turned out, but I am too cheap to buy it!
In order to get a good seat for the fireworks show, we staked out a bench early and Brian and I took turns sitting on it, while the other went on rides with Joe.  It was worth it.  The show was amazing.
Last shot of the day:
I had to take a photo of the giant tree!  We love coming at Christmas time.  Everything is decorated and they play Christmas music in the park all day.  Good times.

Saturday, November 12th happiness:  Today was EXCELLENT.  The weather called for a huge pacific storm today.  It was cloudy and overcast all day long (my favorite)  And the best part was that it kept people away.  And, it never really even rained.  We had some misty sprinkles in the evening, but not much.  There was sooooo many less people here today.  

We spent most of the day at California adventure.  Tower of Terror (my all time favorite ride ever) was a walk on.  We went like 5 times in a row.  I finally had to stop, dang motion sickness.  If it wasn't for that, I could have stayed on it all day.  We got to do everything and almost no waiting.  Also, no pictures today.  I didn't want to lug my camera around all day.  We went back to Disneyland at the end of the day and again, waaaay less people.  Fantastic.

Brian decided that since he hasn't been on It's a Small World since he was a little kid, that it was time to try it again.  The lights on the front are amazing.  And, as a plus, it was the Christmas version instead of the regular one.  However, it was still too much.  Brian and Joe decided that they are probably good for life.  No need to do it again.  We stuck it out until almost midnight, but I am old now and was soooo tired.  Still, it was  a super fun day.

Sunday, November 13th happiness:  We said goodbye to Joe's favorite hotel ever:

The ride home seemed much longer.  I had a hard time sleeping, and I was feeling sick.  Thank goodness for Nyquil.  When we got home I took some and went straight to bed.

It was a fun trip.

Happy Day!