Snow Days, dancing and candy....

M2B =) days 331 - 336.  Saturday, January 1st - Thursday, January 6th.

Saturday, January 1st happiness:  The sun finally came out, so Ian took the boys out to play.  They tied a sled on the back and went for rides.  This meant that I got a lot of peaceful, quiet time to read today.  

Sheri went into town and bought Just dance 2 for the wii.  And we just danced all night.  That game is so so much fun.  I love that the boys even tried it.
To top off a fabulous day, Ian and Brian made us a fabulous dinner.  Steak and potatoes, green beans and garlic bread.  Yum!
Sunday, January 2nd:  The Trezise family went home today =(  So, it was just me, Brian, Joe and Michael.   This afternoon, we decided to go for a ranger ride.  Every time I looked up, this is what I saw:

We went up the forest road a bit, and saw a super ginormous elk.  But, the road soon became too snowy, so we turned around and went to Chocolate River instead.

It was a winter wonderland.

We stayed a while.  We actually couldn't take the ranger all the way in, too much snow.  So, Michael, Joe and I walked in.  

It started to get dark, so we headed back.  It was so so cold.
Monday, January 3rd:  Home today.   I had to take one last picture of Joe at the cabin.  He loves it here so much.  We all do.
The weather was much better on the way home.  No snow storms to drive through.

Tuesday, January 4th happiness:  Back to school today.  As much as I love vacation days, I do miss my school kids.  It was nice to see their cute faces today, and hear all about their winter breaks.

Wednesday, January 5th:  Since my birthday was over winter break, my class decided to throw me a surprise birthday party today.  I have the best class.  I got all kinds of homemade cards and birthday gift cards.  And we had cupcakes and they sang happy birthday to me.  It was great!
Tonight Brian came home with an awesome surprise.  He saw how much we loved playing Just Dance at the cabin, that today he brought home a wii and Just Dance 1 and 2.  Woo hoo!

He killed it on Viva Las Vegas by the way.  I should have taken a picture of that!

Thursday, January 6th happiness:  Today Brian was at Fry's and he saw these:
They are my most favorite Easter Candy.  I wasn't expecting to have any until at least March, but apparently they are already here.  

Woo hoo!  Happy Day!

Finishing December

M2B =) days 324 - 330.  Saturday, December 25th - Friday, December 31st.

Saturday, December 25th happiness:  Merry Christmas!  Joe woke up first, of course, and had to wait patiently in the hallway while Brian and I got ourselves up and awake.

Joe got his phone.  It is a happy day!
After stockings and presents at home, we headed over to my mom's house.  Dad and mom cooked up a wonderful breakfast, and then the gift opening began.  I took lots of photos, but won't overwhelm you with them here.

After mom's, we headed back home.  And then, I don't remember much after that.  I started feeling pretty sick and went back to bed.  I stayed there for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.  I felt really bad for ditching Joe and Brian like that, but I could not get up.  Sorry guys.  

Sunday, December 26th happiness:  I was still pretty sick today.  I blame it on working at a school.  I get sick like every other weekend now.  Those kids are carrying every sickness out there!  Anyway, Joe was very sweet to me today.  He got this awesome, super soft blanket from my mom for Christmas, and he brought it in and let me use it today.  What a sweetie I have.

Monday, December 27th happiness:  Brian did not have to work today.  Woo hoo!  So, even though I was still not feeling great, I got up so we could "have a day".  We went to IKEA.  I got a super awesome pillow.  I know a pillow is not something to be super excited about, but I have had lousy luck with pillows.  Either they go completely flat, for they are too firm, or whatever the reason, I haven't found a pillow I am happy with.  I think I finally did today.  Not to firm, Not too soft.  Just right.

Enough about pillows.  After IKEA, we went to a movie:
I liked it.  It was different than I thought it would be, but still good.

Tuesday, December 28th happiness:  Joe and I did some cleaning today.  I really wanted my picture of the day to be a photo of him scrubbing the toilet, but he refused to let me take it.

So instead, you get this:

The Gonzo boys came over this afternoon to play some rock band.  Good times.

Wednesday, December 29th happiness:  While I love my job, I also love time off from my job.  Lazy days, sleeping in, hanging out with family, it's all good.

Today, Joe and I went to the OG for lunch.  It was a perfect day for Pasta e Fagioli.  It was cloudy and rainy all day.  My favorite kind of day.  This afternoon, my mom and I went and saw a movie.
I thought it was cute.  Paul Rudd really made the movie.  He was kind of adorable.  And, I love hanging out with my mom.  She is the best.

Thursday, December 30th:  Today was bitter sweet.  We were supposed to leave for the cabin today, but because of the snowy weather, we were not able to go up today.  Joe was sorely disappointed, to say the least.

So, instead of going to the cabin.  I invited a couple of cute little monkeys over to watch a movie.  I love these kiddos.  They totally make me laugh.

Addy won't ever let me take a normal picture of her.  She always has to be goofy for the camera.  I love it.
And Ro and Joe were making silly faces as well.
We watched Dinosaur and ate popcorn and m & m's.  Good times.

Also today, Brian let me open one of my birthday presents early.  It was  a massager for my back.  I have major back problems.  So, I was excited to get this.  

Friday, December 31st:  So, we decided to postpone our cabin trip until today because of weather.  We have been checking the weather that shows hour by hour, what the weather will be like up north.  There was a small window of a few hours where the weather was supposed to let up and not be snowing.  So, we borrowed my dads 4 wheel drive truck, and decided we would try.  

We went through Globe (which I hate because I don't like to drive through Salt River Canyon).  We chose this way because Payson had a 100% chance of snow.  That's a pretty big chance.  I checked the weather for the Salt River Canyon area.  It was supposed to be a 0% chance of snow until noon.  So, we decided to leave the house at 7 a.m. so we could make it to the cabin before noon.

Well, the weather channel does not know what it was talking about.  By the time we reached salt river canyon, not only was it snowing, but it was so foggy, we could barely see.  I made Brian promise to drive super slow.  It was not a problem.  We ended up right behind a cop, and he drove super slow through the canyon, so we didn't have much choice.

It pretty much snowed the whole way up.  If we hadn't borrowed my dad's truck, we would NOT have made it.  Thanks dad!

It was a gorgeous winter wonderland.  I loved it.

This is what we drove up in.  The roads were covered in ice.
We finally made it.  Joe couldn't get out into the snow fast enough.
Having fun.
Tonight we had a yummy lemon coconut cake (thanks mom!) for my birthday, we had all kinds of yummy appetizer foods, and we played lots of rock band.  We rocked out until midnight.
Well, most of us did.  Some of us fell asleep:
Max and Ben zonked out too.  At midnight the rest of us went out in the below 0 degree weather and set of fireworks (thanks Trezise family!)  It was so incredibly cold, but the boys loved it.

Then, (no, we are not done yet) those of us who could stand to still be awake, stayed up and watched The A-Team.  

All in all, a great birthday.

More December happiness

M2B =) days 318 - 323.  Sunday, December 19th - Friday, December 24th.

Sunday, December 19th happiness:  I don't know what happened today, but I woke up on the grumpy side of the bed.  It continued (I am sad to admit) during the first 2 hours of church.  I did not want to be there and I was sorely tempted to go home.  But, I had to do part of the lesson in young women's, so responsibility won out.  

Being the Sunday before Christmas, we decided for the lesson today that each one of us in the presidency would read our favorite Christmas story.  I read "A Christmas Prayer" (which is actually Brian's favorite).  I don't know what happened, but after I read that story, my mood did a complete turnaround.  I felt so much better.  I love Christmas stories anyway, but today, the Christmas story truly chased my grouchies away.

Also for today's happiness:

Brian brought this delicious smelling pine bouquet home the other day.  It smells so so good.  It is truly making my house smell like Christmas.  I love it.

Monday, December 20th happiness:  I went for a walk with this kid today, and we ended up at the park.  Good times.
Tonight was our Christmas Family Home Evening.  My mom wanted the grandkids to dress up and act out the nativity.  I thought it was really cute.  
I took lots of pictures, but this one was by far my favorite:

Tuesday, December 21st:  How about this day?  It was gorgeous weather from start to finish.  I had a ton of errands to run today.  If I had to be out and about, at least the weather was wintery and wonderful.

I took this photo at my mom's this afternoon:
It made me happy seeing all of the kids hanging out together.  They love that Jared is back for Christmas.

Wednesday, December 22nd:  Photo shoot with the boys!

I think I took over 200 pictures.  I got some really good individual shots, but I am just posting a few of my favorites of the 4 of them together.

We started to get sprinkled on, so we had to leave.  It was fun while it lasted.

I took a nap this afternoon, and it was awesome.  Naps make me happy. =)

Tonight, Sheri and I went over to Grandmothers to wrap our presents.  This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions.  We get to visit with Grandmother.  She makes gorgeous bows for our presents, and I get all my wrapping done.  No staying up late on Christmas eve.  It's all good.

Thursday, December 23rd:  Joe gave me the best Christmas present ever today.  He cleaned the family room.  So good.  It was a bit of a mess and I was stressing because I did not want a dirty house on Christmas.  He vacuumed, and dusted and fluffed pillows and put things away.  And, he did it all on his own.  I didn't have to threaten him to clean.  It made me so so so happy.

Friday, December 24th happiness:  Merry Christmas Eve.  And what a relaxing Christmas Eve it was.  As per tradition, Joe and I made gingerbread cookies.
Then we watched "How The Grinch Stole Christmas".
Then we stopped by my mom's where he got to open the softest blanket ever.

When Brian got home we went to his parents house to spend Christmas Eve with his family.
His brother Doug and his family came from Utah this year.  We haven't seen them in about 5 years, so that was really cool to have them here.  
We ate, we talked, we ate some more, we unwrapped gifts and hung out and just had a good time.  

When we got home, we did our tradition of opening a gift (pajamas) on Christmas eve.  Joe and I got matching Jack Skellington pj's.  How cool is that?  Brian and Joe got something extra this year.
That is genuine excitement on those faces there.  I got a slanket last year, and Brian and Joe have wanted one ever since.  Slankets are awesome.  Don't even get me started!

That's it for now.

Happy Day!

Two December days

M2B =)  days 316 & 317.  Friday, December 17th - Saturday, December 18th.

Friday, December 17th happiness:  I woke up to this!

It is hardly ever this foggy here.  It was so awesome.  The fog was even heavier by the time I got to Sheri's house to pick up Max and Ben for school.

I wasn't the only one out enjoying it.  Dallin was out riding his bike through the neighborhood.
Today was the last day of school before winter break.  Woo hoo!  I need a break after last week.

It was fun.  I got lots of nice home-made cards and lots of nice Christmas gifts from my kids.  They are the best.

We also had a holiday party this afternoon.  I took tons of photos, they sure love to ham it up for the camera.  I won't be posting them here though.  We had a mug exchange  (think white elephant game, but with hot chocolate mugs).  Once all the kids had their new mugs we had hot chocolate and some treats.  It was fun.  We got the kids all hyped up on sugar and then sent them home. =)

I brought my holiday headbands to wear throughout the day.  Ben and Max wore them on the way home.  When I dropped them off, I made them pose for a silly picture.  
Friday afternoon, I did a little photo shoot with Joe.  I made this one a little purpley and funky.  I thought it was appropriate for Joe =)  It got dark too fast, so we only got to do a few.

Saturday, December 18th:  A day jammed full of happiness!

More photos with the kids this afternoon.  We waited until the last minute to get the calendars ready for mom and grandma this year.  Here are a couple of my favorite shots:

Yesterday, when I stopped off at my mom's after dropping off Max and Ben.  I had the antlers with me.  Joshua got so excited and kept asking "Are those for me?  Did you bring those for me?"  So, I just gave them to him.  He hasn't taken them off since.

After the photo shoot, we left for what is one of my most favorite holiday traditions, even though it really doesn't have anything to do with Christmas.  

We went to Organ Stop to celebrate this kids birthday:

I love that Michael has his birthday at Organ Stop every year.  I look forward to it.  As soon as it hits December I start to get a little excited.  Yes, I am aware that Organ Stop is open year round, and I could go any time, but I don't.  I go once a year, for Michael's birthday, and I love it.

It was a little different this year.  Yes, they had the usual Christmas music, but some things were different too.  We usually get to hear The Star Wars medley and the Phantom of the Opera medley.  We didn't hear either this year.  Come to think of it, we are probably the ones that request those 2 particular medleys.  Maybe no one did this year.

They did do a patriotic medley, that I thought was fun.  That was new.
Adam showing his respect for the flag.
Also this year we saw a couple of celebrities.  Can you believe that the Phantom of the Opera was there?  I had to text my mom and tell her.  I'm sure she was sad she missed it.
Also, Santa was there!
He tried to be inconspicuous by dressing in regular clothes, but he didn't fool me.  I knew it was him right away.  He must be taking a break before the big day.

Afterwards, we went back to mom's for a fun game of white elephant.  This was one of my favorite years.  There was just enough really good stuff and just enough really bad stuff.  A lot of trading went on this year.  Some people went home really happy, others, not so much.

Poor Alex.  I don't think he was happy to open this:
The sad thing is, he went home with something even worse than that.  Courtesy of Brian, he went home with men's adult diapers.  I don't think Alex will ever play white elephant with Brian again.  I have to say, he was a good sport.  Adam ended up taking home the poster, which he brought, by the way.  I'm sure we'll be seeing it again next year.

I won this t-shirt last year at an ugly Christmas sweater party.  
Can you believe that Kaitlin actually stole it from him?  She wanted it bad.

It was a super fun night.  I thought it was appropriate that Michael ended up with the best gift:  a movie cup and movie ticket (that's what I brought.  I had to try and even out Brian's really crappy gift).  It was his birthday and all!  Max stole the gift I wanted.  It was The Nightmare Before Christmas Uno game.  I'm glad he ended up with something good!

Happy Day!