Pure JOY!

It snowed- FOR REALS!

  I am thankful for snow because it brings out so much joy in my children!  

One of my fave pics ever!

Santa Claus

Makenna said she would like a barbie

Jace was not shy at all with Santa (for the first time).  Love how he's holding his hands in this pic

He told Santa he would like a baseball

Side note- Scott told the kids he is tight with Santa and calls him all the time on his cell phone.  He also calls him "Sant" cause they are tight like that.  Well the other day, he let the kids call Santa on his phone (Richie), and they thought it was the coolest thing ever!!!  I love using the Santa leverage to get the kids to do stuff... wahhahahaahahaaaa.

Thanksgiving fesitivities

to all my fans (ha ha):

Sorry I have sucked at blogging.  Truth is, it's not all that exciting around here.

My family came to Albuquerque this year for Thanksgiving!  They were supposed to come Monday night, but instead decided to come early and surprise us at church.  We sat there in sacrament meeting for about 10 minutes before I realized they were sitting a few rows in front of us!  I about peed my pants!  Then I had a heart attack thinking about the condition of my home,  followed by a chill pill because it meant I had an extra 2 days with them!!  We had a grand time.  We hung out at old town, went to Explora, El Pinto, and of course BLACK FRIDAY!!

A few years ago, I never would have gone, but now I think it's the BOMB!  It's so fun, and seriously not that crowded.  Best deals: leapfrog ($25) and cricut ($59) booya

 

 Kara fell in love with a cowboy...

 The leaves were gorgeous!  So thanksgivingy

 with 2 of my sistas, Kara and Stacy

Love this cute pic

nothing much, but want to remember how the house looked on my first thanksgiving.  The hard wood floor came in handy; it became our dining room.

The garland on the mantle has paper leaves on it with things we are thankful for.  Yeah can't take credit for that, but the kids really loved it!

Good times.  Don't be afraid to come on back here now, ya hear?

Halloween

For Halloween this year, Makenna was Dorothy, and Jace was Diego!  We went to our ward trunk or treat a week ago, went to a fun carnival on Saturday, and had a relaxing halloween on Sunday.  We took the kids to see a few of our neighbors that love to see them each year, (our kids are the only kids on our could-a-sac) but other than that it was such a nice relaxing night.  I kind of like having halloween on Sunday!  It switches it up a little.

cutest Diego ever!

There's that smile again from Jace, and Makenna's "Dorothy pose"

Jace was a tired boy

The best neighbors ever!

the loot

Pumpkin patch

We went to the Galloping Grace pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago.  It was great, as usual!

Jace is a natural on those horses.  He has no fear (which is weird for him)

Makenna does great too.  We went to the Galloping Grace ranch a few times this summer and my kids just LOVE to ride the horses.

This was my favorite picture of the kids... until I looked closer...  Jace had chocolate in his mouth and it drooled out when he smiled!  haha

This one is cute too

Scott turned 30!

Scott turned the big 3-0 on Oct. 13th.  I love that he is a simple man.  All he wanted to do for his birthday was go hiking!  I can do that.  So we headed over to the Sandias to do our favorite hike.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day.  

Stacy came with us too.

Oh, and we saw a rattlesnake on the way down.... AAAAHHHH!  I almost stepped on it!  Double AAAHH!

Well that wasn't all we were going to do for his birthday.... a couple days later I had a surprise party for him!  Now let me tell ya just how big of a deal that is.  I think I have surprised him 1, maybe 2 times in our entire marriage and it wasn't nearly as big of a secret as this... but I pulled it off!  Rhett invited him to play tennis at the community center... when they got there we all jumped out of the bushes!  I knew he wouldn't want anything fussy, so I thought it would be fun if we played sand volleyball.  It was probably his dream party.  (again he's a pretty simple dude!)  

Sorry, not playing tennis!

I was surprised.... it was a really good game!  Hopefully we'll play more in the future!

These cupcakes were bomb if I do say so... red velvet cupcakes from allrecipes.com

Happy Birthday to my man of life.  Love you muchas!

politics...

My cousin, Tyler, put this video on his blog.  President Benson said some things that are so relevant to us today.  Politics seem to be a touchy subject these days.  Many of my friends have said they want nothing to do with politics or news because it just makes them sad or angry.  Believe me, I understand that.  But I also think that we need to be strong.  It is our generation that President Benson spoke of that needs to defend the constitution.  It is very clear that the constitution is now "hanging by a thread."  I would like to be one of those that stands up for the constitution, for as President Benson said, “the constitution will not be saved in Washington, but by those in this nation who love freedom.”  

It is now time to choose people to represent us.  I feel, as many others do, that it is very hard to find politicians that feel the same way that I feel.  Politicians that are good, wise, and honest.  Although this may be the case, I think it is ultimately better to go with the person that will uphold the constitution more than the other person, and that will defend the family more than the other person.  So that is what I will keep in mind when I go to vote on Tuesday.
Thank you.
That wasn't too bad, was it?  :)

Balloon Fiesta

This year we decided we were going to do the big mass-ascension thing.  We've just never wanted to wake up that early.  Scott's sister, Michelle, was in town so we knew we had to do it.  We decided we didn't want to miss a THANG, so we woke up before 4:00 AM and got to the park and ride by 4:40... Got to the park around 5:00... WAY TO EARLY PEOPLE!  We sat there in the dark for a good almost 2 hours before anything exciting happened.  The kids were so tired, and sitting in the dark doesn't help!  Let's look at the bright side of things, we didn't sit in any lines!

I loved that we got to see some balloons glow before the sun came up... no need to go to the glodeo this year!  

 The first balloon with an American Flag.  The symbol on there is a Zia.  (hehe mom)

So pretty in the morning sky

Jace was in LOVE, but a wreck at the same time!

This is not even close to how many balloons were there  

ya know... DIY

I'm a DIY kinda gal.  I make my own wall-hangings, cut my boys' hair, try to make homemade food as much as possible... I'm all about doing stuff on my own and it saves a buck along the way... so NATURALLY, it only seems LOGICAL for me to pierce my own daughter's ears!  Right?  My sister provided the gun, I went and grabbed some earrings, and we just did it.  Random huh?  They might be slightly, and I mean slightly crooked, but I think they are super cute!  It really is not as hard as it sounds and I highly recommend just doing it at home!  ($10 too!)  I mean, how much training do those Claire's teenagers get anyway?!

This is right after so her right ear is a little red.  It's fine now!

Another DIY I have been doing lately is highlighting my hair.  Again, not as hard as it sounds and I can do it just how I like it.  Well... I decided to get it done professionally this time.  I went to a new girl, and somehow there was a miscommunication on what color I wanted and so I got...

PLATINUM!  Sorry for the lame pic.  Holy cow it was a shocker at first.  I'm going to try to get used to it, otherwise I might need to DIY some lowlights!

Switchfoot- in the flesh!

Remember this post devoted entirely to my favorite band Switchfoot?  Well... on my way to San Diego I had a layover in Utah.  I went to sit down and who was sitting next to me?  Jon Foreman from Switchfoot!  My parents were meeting me there so I decided to wait till they got there cause I had it all planned out how I was going to have them take a pic for me!  They got there a couple minutes later, and my mom and I went to talk to him!  He was THE nicest guy ever.  We small talked for a couple minutes which I wasn't expecting.  I think he really appreciated that I had been a fan since I was 14 and that I've been to a lot of their concerts.  We took a picture together...

So then after that we were buds!  haha, no but he said hi to me another time and then said bye to me at the end!  It was awesome!  (I sound like a teenager!)  His other band-mates were also on board, but they all sat in different areas which I thought was strange.  It was so awesome to see them in person though and deserved it's own post!