Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Happy Birthday Rooder Roo!

6 yrs ago, a dream came true. My beautiful little daughter Rielly Erin was born! She changed the lives of 3 people forever that day and continues to do so with others now.

Besides being my baby, I love this girl because:

she is kind hearted
wants everyone to be happy- can't stand a frown
not a girly girl at all
loves Jesus
very giving
Very opinionated
Doesn't put up with anyones crap
Loud
spunky
infuriating
beautiful
and out of anyone in the world, she chose us to be her parents!

We are the lucky ones!
Happy Birthday Rielly!


Good grief... my roots!!!!
Perfect in everyway!!!



She truely is the girl of our dreams!



Sunday, December 26, 2010

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas!

And for the first time in my life (and my kids), that's what we got!!!!!
I may have mentioned it before and if I haven't, I probably will again but this has been such an amazing year of ups and sucky year of downs but it has ended with a bang by helping me experience the true meaning of Christmas... and that is LOVE!
I was able to give my love to others through service- seeing a need and doing what I can to fulfill that need. And I've received so much love through the kindness and service of my friends and family. That is what has made this season one of the best!
And nothing could have topped it more than that of the pureness of the white snow we woke up to Christmas morning!! (oh and my new sheets, blanket, cowgirl hat, laminator, zumba wii game, cricut cartridge, and jewelry box...hahahah JUST KIDDING!)






Happy Birthday Jesus!

Too often at Christmas time, we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays that we forget the reason we are celebrating anyways. It took my 5yr old angel to remind me that Jesus should get a party too!
So with the help of the Barkleys, we were able to put together abt 18 plates of cookies and several gifts and drove around and delivered them to people in the ward that we wanted to give an extra smile to! We wished we could have done it for everyone!
I got a cake so when we got back, we let the kids blow out candles and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.
It was the a great ending to a lovely Christmas (that I'll post about soon I'm sure...)
Special thanks to KB for all the hard work baking and putting treats and gifts together even though she felt like pregnant crud! We let her sit the delivering out so she could rest up. And to Rob for doing allllllll the driving and to Jon for risking his life to put the treats on the front porches, ring the bell and RUN, and to the kids for being so good watching movies.




We didn't want to put 2,010 candles on the cake so He got 2.. one for each thousand years!

Happy Birthday Jesus!!!




Saturday, December 25, 2010

Need a Garth fix?

Add in some Will Ferrell and it's a Merry Christmas to me!
Enjoy!

Will Ferrell writes a song for garth brooks - Watch more Funny Videos


Friday, December 24, 2010

Here we go again!

Starting in January, it looks like I'll be back in full-on training mode!
Jon and I both signed up for the:



April 30th!

We'll be doing the half but I'm so excited because it's Jons very first half! And the kids will be running the kids marathon the night before so by the end of that weekend, we'll all have medals!
Karissa and Jeremy will be running it as well coming all the way from Az!
Rob B. will also be running and I'll end up dragging Kristy along since she'll be like 7.5months pregnant! Who am I kidding.. even that far along, she'll probably still kick my arse!



Rielly's first baby tooth gone!

It seems she has started a little late on the teeth falling out game but she finally lost her first one! The permanent tooth was growing in behind it instead of underneath so it didn't push the tooth out sooner.
She was so excited and played with it non stop! Then it just fell out. And she didn't know... and swallowed it!





What a PITA!!!!!!!!!

So I had this bright idea this year of buying the kids a trampoline for Christmas. Figured this is just what they need to keep them outside and busy! So I found a big ol one on Craigslist for about 1/2 of what it is new.. granted it has been used but in great condition. So Jon picked it up and it sat in our garage for a month or two.
Since tomorrow is supposed to be snowy and cold, we gave it to the kids early and started setting it up today. Did I mention that it's HUGE?!?!?! Oh and that we don't have a huge flat spot in our backyard for said HUGE trampoline?
AND no instructions...... joke is on me!
So we stared setting it up. And and had to take it apart. And set it back up. And then realized we put the net on the wrong spot. Okay we can deal with that. Then we put the enclosure poles in the wrong place. Not taking it down again so we had to deal with that too. 5 freaking long cold hours later, we have a trampoline. It's not level but we will deal with that. And the enclosure isn't tied where it should be but it's tied. And it is jumpable. Man I hope the rest of Christmas goes smoother!!!










Friday, December 17, 2010

Let it snow Let it snow Let it snow

It definately was beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Nashville on Sunday!!!

BRRRRRR!!!!!

We've been having quite some crazy cold temps lately but Sunday was nutty! Saturday it had rained so Sunday got so cold that it started freezing the roads. We have a tradition in our family 5yrs running now that we go to the Walk Through Bethlehem at whatever church we can find that is doing it. It's a great reinactment of how Bethlehem was the day Jesus was born. The kids love it as well!

So on our way,the truck hit a patch of black ice on a bridge on the freeway and we started swirving out of control! Back and forth several times of several lanes. All we could do is brace ourselves for the impact of hitting the barrier or even going over the bridge. Somehow though... literally by the grace of God, Jon was able to turn each time just before we hit. Miraculously, there were no cars on either sides of us which isn't normal on the freeway. We made it out of that untouched!!!!
Thank you dad- our own guardian angel!!

So we made it to Bethlehem, got our Jesus on and went straight home safe and sound when the snow started! And it kept falling. The thing about snow here is that after it falls, it's doesn't take long for that beautiful white fluff to turn into ICE!!!
And that's why there's so many accidents here during that time.. and we almost became one of those!

Poor Jon though that night tried to venture out to get us some dinner not realizing just how bad the roads are. And ended up having to leave the van at the bottom of a hill and walk home:( It was a rough day for our west coast family! But the kids love the snow and they enjoyed the freezing temps!!!



A row of cars stuck at the bottom of the hill...



Walking up the hill from checking out the car


Our back yard before the kids got to it





Merry Christmas to mommy!!!!!

Best Christmas present ever began last night and will continue through next week...
Yesterday was opening night of the Garth Brooks shows here in Nashville. I posted on my facebook how Garth and I are in the same town and I can just feel it and only 5more days until we're under the same roof!
5 minutes later I get a message from my friend Teagan asking if I wanted to be under the same roof TONIGHT!!!
SHUT UP!!!!!!!
She had an extra ticket and so how could I deny that?????
Awful seats but come on... I would stand outside behind the door in 20degrees just to be able to hear him so nosebleeds were nothing!
Holy cow people... talk about a dream come true! He sang all his old songs that I grew up to and love so so so so much! I sang the whole time!!!!!!
He's older and chunkier and balder and just as beautiful!! And his voice is timeless!
*sigh*!!!

And what's better? Jon, Kristy, Rob and myself get to go on Tuesday with even closer seats and if that's not enough, I have a single ticket for myself to go on Wednesday!!!

Stay tuned for more....... It's a festivus miracle brought to ME by Garth Brooks!!!







Play me a song Mr Piano Man!

Reese had his first piano recital last week and I couldn't have been more proud. He worked so hard on his 2 songs and he has only been taking lessons from Lacey for a few months. He wasn't nervous at all either which I loved because I am a terrified piano player!!!

He played We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Pop Goes the Weasel.

And a special thanks to Kristy for recording it for us!










Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Remember us??? Pic heavy!

Tis the season... OF CHAOS!!!!!
I feel like all I do lately is get on line to look for bargains for Christmas gifts and then I'm all tuckered out. But seriously..all my gifts this yr have pretty much been bought online. Can I just say I LOVE AMAZON!?!?!?
Anyways here's the rest of November in review...

Jon and I got the coolest opportunity to go to the VIP opening of Margaritaville downtown which was pretty cool. Just one big party full of free food and Margaritas (and cokes of course)..couldn't get in without a pass but thanks to Keena, we got the hookup. Super fun night on the town for us!





I want this hat!!!!


Then because of my BFF Kristy and her being pregnant and too sick to go, we got the tickets to go to our very first NFL game!!! AWESOME!!! Of course Titans lost but it was so exciting and fun just being there. And believe it or not, that was all it took to convert us to the likes of football!!
Had to do some tailgating....apparently you don't just sit in the back of a car like I thought but in camping chairs and eat! But I had to try the real thing!



I just love Nashville!



Thanksgiving also came and went. We were planning on Jeremy and his familia to join us but ended up they caught a winter bug so we enjoyed a nice quiet lunch with all the works. Jon cooked up a turkey and we pigged out!!!
My babies like those drumsticks!!

That was a lot of turkey for just the 4 of us. And that was only like 1/3rd of it!


Then that night we were invited over to Glenn and Terrys (Kristys mom and dad) house for dinner and dessert. They are so loving and inviting and we felt just like part of the family. Probably because I gave them no choice:) My kids even got to earn some extra money (because mamou can't say no!) Great night and I'm so lucky to have such great people in my families lives!


Shes making her Christmas SPREADSHEET!!! Gotta love tis girl!
We are a little bitter here that the boys felt they could go eat first!

And I think that pretty much concludes November my friends. Great month and ready for the holidays!!!! Love to you all!!!