Guess who is coming to town?

No, not Santa. My little bro LEVI!! He arrives thursday night and will be staying with us until the 29th. I'm excited, the kids are excited and Brett is too. He will have a helper to do house stuff with!! Whoo hoo!!

first big snow

This morning Brett woke up for work and looked outside to dumping snow. I took him to the front runner station because that early in the morning no one has had a chance to shovel. I'm grateful we have four-wheel drive. I might just have to get Gage some snow boots so they can play in the snow. I love the snow but not the cold that comes with it. Because our house has no insulation and single paned windows our house is FREEZING! We can't keep the thermostate about 63 because then the furnace would just run all day and night. So we have been using space heaters to keep a little warmer. I think I'm going to cry when I see the gas and power bill for this month.

Happy Birthday to me!

November 21 was my birthday. At first I was not willing to celebrate my birthday because I wanted to be in WA celebrating with my friends. But we bought the house so that was out the window. Don't get me wrong I'm glad I have a house, and there are always other years I can go celebrate with my friends. But I had the biggest surprise this year. We had a triple birthday to do to and Brett's sister's house. Starr's birthday was on the 20th and Austin's was the 23rd so we all celebrated together. I wanted to go early so we could leave early but brett kept watching tv and wasn 't getting ready so finally he starts changing and while I was changing he told me someone was at the door for me. So I walk out into the front room and there is my little bro!! he drove all the way down from WA for my birthday. What a great surprise. We went out to dinner for my birthday and had great sushi at the Last Samuri. Brett made me an even better cheesecake. Then Brett's mom took my shopping on sunday. Even though I didn't want to have a birthday it was a great 30th! Thanks everyone!

Sorry there is no pictures, had the camera on me the whole time, just didn't cross my mind!

Finally able to relax

After the mightmare of remodeling our house we were finally able to move in on halloween. Just this last week we got around to actually getting stuff out of boxes. The kitchen is almost done as well as the bathroom. The front room is pretty much done also. It was a very educational experiance and if we had to do it again I would have to say we would hire someone for the bigger things like, framing and sheetrock. But overall it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It did go a little overbudget and way over the time frame but I have a house and I'm grateful for that. Now we can relax for a little bit until the hecticness (is that a word?) of the hoildays is here. But I'm grateful to be able to spend that with the family!!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Family pumpkin patch. It was a great time the kids loved to look for the perfect pumpkin and loved spending time with the cousins. Thanks Val and Wil!!Only Jason was missing, he was being a great guy and helping mud the kitchen
Grandpa Wil and Jetty

Starr, Trae and Maren who looks extra cute in her glasses

Cambrie, Caylie and Chelbie

Khloe, Trae, Jett and Gage

Can't wait to carve our pumpkins

Goblin Valley 2009

We had our annual family camping trip to Goblin valley. We were able to stay at the campground and it was great. We had a huge pavillion and lots of room for everyone. There were bathrooms and showers (great for washing the kids off after being in the dirt all day) The went to the Valley of the Goblins (sandstone rocks that the wind and water have transformed into these weird shapes. Saturday we went on a hike up Little Wild Horse Canyon. We got really far until there was water that we didn't want to hike through. Brett, Scott, Ali, Tyler and Celeste went up farther. It was crazy to walk thru these super tight slot canyons. The kids did a great job we had to carry them most of the way down but it was a fun time. Saturday night there was a wind storm. I wa already in the tent and had to run out and start throwing stuff in totes so it wouldn't blow away. The tent held up thru the rain though, NO LEAKES!! YEAH! I was super happy about that. Sunday morning it looked like there was going to be another huge storm but it missed us. It was a great trip and can't wait for next year!! Sitting on a Goblin
Kids on the goblins

Hiking thu Little Wild Horse Canyon. There were some points that we had to have adults helping kids and each other to get over the bigger rocks. I'm glad we have such a great family!

Looking down on the slot

We came to some water that was too deep to cross (plus it was freezing) Brett wanted to see how far it went so he straddled the ways and got almost to the end of the water when he fell in. It was a great hike!!

Where's Waldo?

My friend Hailey asked me to do Where's Waldo? for the church. Of course I said YES!! We dressed goth and walked around gateway until the youth in the church found us. We got lots of looks, glares and people trying to be sneaky and take pictures with their camera phones. But we had TONS of fun! Thanks Hailey for inviting me! My friend Paula has better pictures....her blog is www.sheridansix.blogspot.com.