MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. We are again very late in getting out cards so know they will be closer to the New Year, so know that in the meantime you are all in our thoughts and prayers. We are very grateful to have such wonderful family and friends. Everyone we know is so spread out all over the country and yet we consider you to be close in heart. Many of you we consider family and because we can't near you for the holiday season I dedicate to you the song "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams." Thank you all for being such big parts of our lives.

We ended our vacation with a hotel stay at the Days Inn in Flagstaff, AZ on Friday night and then drove through New Mexico to come home. We arrived home at about 9:30pm last night. It was a wonderful vacation! We wouldn't have made it without my sister Jaycine planning the whole thing...you know what I mean. And a big big THANK YOU to Stefani for taking care of our house and animals while we were gone.


Well, we left Disneland with a big smile and then on Friday we went to Hunnington Beach to see a real beach with warm water and BIG sea shells. Cody was young when he was there last and so it was fun to tease him about the warm water and BIG sea shells. Hummmm...maybe he was thinking of another beach. When we were there we pretty much had the beach to ourselves, and it was very nice, just a bit chilly. We found a whole bunch of baby clams, gathered them and then watched as the dug themselves into the sand. The boys especially loved it. For lunch we stopped at an In N Out burger because we have been told so much about them and it seems that you see their shirts all over the place. We enjoyed the food and it was a faily good price. Their In N Out says it all...they were so fast.






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Here are some of our Disneyland highlights. In the picture of the Jedi training is Luke, Jessica and Nikki. Eli really wanted to do it because you could either fight Darth Mal or Darth Vader and he was so excited to try but after 3 attempts to get him selected we had to face the fact that if we spent any more time trying we would miss out on the rest of our Disney experience. He was such a good sport although we felt his disappointment. Then later, we got lost trying to find the High School Musical Performance and the girls were so looking forward to it. I couldn't handle disappointing them too. We finally made it just after it started and were able to get the kids to the front of the crowd. Just after arriving a couple of the HSM performers go into the crowd and pick 2 kids to be a part of the show. Well, Eli was chosen as the boy performer and took his place in the spotlight. So it all worked out in the end. The girls and Luke doing what Eli wanted and Eli doing what the girls wanted. Life sure is funny sometimes.








We stayed in Henderson, NV with our wonderful friends that we truely admire and adore. And should I dare say... Jesica loves (at least one handsome young man). We really miss seeing and spending time with our friends far away, but are so lucky to have you as friends. Thanks for sharing your home with us! We all had a blast and can't wait until the next time we can visit with you again.




We decided to keep a log of our travels by stopping at every state sign we came to. We end up traveling through 6 states by the time our vacation is over. As you can see we started in Colorado, went through Utah, Arizona, and Nevada before taking a rest.

I can't believe it is the season already. This is our first fake Christmas Tree. We finally got one after years of talking about it. And, to tell you the truth it made me a bit sad to not have a real one. This is my first fake tree in my life. It will do for now, but I may have to have two eventually, with one being real. We decorated it Nov. 29, which is way early for us, but we wanted to have it up before our vacation to DISNEYLAND. We are leaving in the morning and can't wait. So, I really should get to bed. Can you say M I C K E Y M O U S E!!!

The Wait is Over

I am sure some of you have been wondering if I was ever going to update my blog. Well, here we go. This is a picture of Cody's pickup being taken off to the truck graveyard. I never liked driving it, but to watch it go was very sad, even I will miss it. The kids were really cute watching it being driven away...they wanted to know if we would see it in the next life.

Now here are some pictures from what happened to our truck and house. It was rammed into the house while we were at church two Sundays ago. In the middle is a picture of Cody and the kids for a last memorable photo opp. with the beloved truck.



Now I couldn't leave out the wonderful BYU/Airforce game picture. We had a lot of fun and the weather wasn't too bad for a Nov. game. The cougars didn't let us down and played a wonderful game. We WON - GO COUGARS!

Computer Problems

Well, I have so much to post and would really like to show pictures, but right now we are in the process of fixing the computer and due to the nature of the beast, we can't upload/download any pictures. So yesterday was my birthday and I had a really nice day. It started out with Jessica and Luke making me breakfast in bed (toast with butter and jam, and some applesauce). It was very nice and I was thinking of how wonderful and thoughtful my kids are when they all start shouting that we have a ton of people in the driveway. So, I am thowing on something besides pj's and rushing out to the front door when standing there with balloons, breakfast muffins,some apple turnovers, and singing Happy Birthday are two of my wonderful friends and their kids to wish me happy birthday. Thank you Stefani and Lisa, you made my day for the 2nd time.(The first was breakfast in bed) Most of the rest of the day was just laid back talking to friends and family. Cody had to work so he could have the day after Thanksgiving off, so I made my favorite Chicken Alfredo Lasagna, salad and bread for dinner. Then Cody took me to see Twilight. It was good, but nothing can compete with the imagination. Thank you to all my family and friends for making this a wonderful birthday. (The kids in my primary class guessed I was 26 I am thinking that is a great age to be.)
Sorry, to make this so long but I have another great story(this one needs pictures and we will get them up as soon as we can). When we got home from church today we had the surprise of our lives. While we were gone, someone decided to take their vehicle and run it into Cody's pickup truck which slammed into our garage and pushed the garage door in about a foot and took off. It cracked the stucco on the side of the house, bent Cody's back bumper, scratched up the side of his truck, and we don't
know about front yet because we can't move it for insurance purposes. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking to the cops and filing reports. Talk about crazy. We have no idea who could have done this or why. We are hoping to get it repaired before we leave to Disneyland.

School Days

I just thought I would show you what we do for school, the kids do so well and really like it most days. It is amazing how much they are learning. I gave Eli a unit test for music and I had to look up the answers...he got them all right. Sometimes the teacher needs to study more. Notice there is no teacher? Hummmm, do you think she absent? She would like to be some days, but most of the time she loves school just as much as the kids.
Luke is learning about how plants grow, here is the sunflower he made

Eli is writing a cure for being mean, just like Mrs. Piggle Wiggle

Nikki was studying her history(maps).

Jessica studying for a spelling test.

Our Denver Field Trip

Our trip to Denver was a lot of fun! And the day was perfect, the sky was blue and it was in the 70's. Cody and I enjoyed our time in the Temple. And I always have to stop at deseret book. After that we headed to downtown Denver to see the State Capital Bldg. and the Art Museum. The museum is huge and would have taken several hours to see all of it. It is 6 levels on one side then you take a skywalk to the other side which has another 4 levels. And on every level there is projects for the kids to make and do. We only had two hours, so we didn't get to even see half of it. Every first saturday is free day, so the next free day we will be there early.





We started our morning out with a trip to the Denver Temple, then headed downtown to see the capital and go to the Denver Art Museum.

Trick or Treat

The girls are showing off their stash of candy from the trunk or treat and trick or treating. Not too bad, but still a lot.

Can you believe that pile? The boys candy weighed about 12lbs together, now I am trying to decide what to do with it all.

The girls at our ward trunk or treat

The boys at our ward trunk or treat

Murder Mystery Party

For the last two years Cody and I have hosted an adult murder mystery party for halloween(the weekend before). We love having everyone dress up and we believe we have some of the most creative friends ever! It is great fun, and it is growing every year. Last year we had 30 people and this year was 44. Thanks to all our friends for making it such a huge success...We love you guys. Oh yeah, don't you just love those Can Can girls! I love the Cowboy next to me, isn't he hot!

Nikki's Birthday

Here she is celebrating with just her family on her "real" birthday. She got 2 new dresses, Hannah Montana shirt, and a Ryan doll(from H.S.M.). We can't believe she is now 10 years old. Nikki we love you and are so lucky to have you in our family!!!

Nikki had a couple of friends over for her birthday, she had invited a lot more but because it was a week off of school a lot of her friends were out of town. She still had fun though.

Here is Nikki at her favorite resturant...Red Robin, having her early birthday dinner. She is eating her special bithday dessert after the workers sang the happy birthday song to her. She really liked all the special attention. Can't say I blame her.