Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Early Christmas Gift

Chloe has started to have a little bit of a complex about her curly locks. While I was brushing through her wet hair this morning, she looked in the mirror and saw how long her hair was when it was brushed straight. She begged for me to make it long today.
She thinks she is a princess. She sort of is.




***During family prayer tonight, Chloe thanked Heavenly Father that "Mommy could straighten my hair today..."

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Blessed

We have lived in our new house for less than a month. Before we received the keys, Jon and I thought that it would be a good idea to have Thanksgiving at the new house this year...as a sort of "house warming"-type event. It's obvious that I didn't think that invitation through. I spent a good part of yesterday and all morning today cooking, baking and cleaning. And although it was so much work, while everyone was sitting around the table, I felt joy. Real joy. For family. For Food. For my life.
I have been so blessed. In the past week or so, I have come to realize the true blessings in my life. I am so blessed that it makes me feel guilty sometimes. If I really sit down and begin a mental list of the blessings I have been given, both temporal and spiritual, I am overwhelmed by how much goodness for which I have to be thankful.
Tonight I opened my refrigerator and it was overflowing with leftovers, while I am aware of so many who didn't have very much to eat today.
I recognized an obvious absence of my parents at the dinner table. They were in Texas at the Air Force Basic Training graduation of my little brother, Weston. I am so grateful for the determination and sacrifice he and so many others give to serve our country for my freedom.
This morning I got to snuggle with my kids in my bed before starting my day. I got to kiss my husband before I sent him on last-minute errands and again when he returned safely. I got to feel my unborn daughter kick and squirm. I got to spend today with the people I love in the comfort of a warm home.
Tonight before I go to sleep I will count my blessings instead of sheep...
Thanks be to my Heavenly Father for giving me life.
A really good life.

(Weston is the really cute one with the glasses!)







Tuesday, November 17, 2009

A Blur

Is Thanksgiving really next week?!!
October was kind of a blur for our family. It was quite possibly one of my favorite months that I have ever had. Jon took almost the entire month off, and after working straight for so long without any type of vacation, he was well deserving. I would like to think that we all were!
We spent the month traveling with both sides of our families, running in our first race together and spent whatever remainder time we had, packing up our old house and moving.
I love October. I love Halloween. I want my kids to love it too.
Every year I buy them Halloween pajamas to help them get into the spirit of the month. Jon thinks that I am ridiculous. I don't care. We whip them out October 1st, and I try to keep them in a quick washing rotation so that we can get as much wear of them in the month as we can! Here are the kids LOVING (I would like to think) their Halloween pajamas and the new house along with a recap of our October...






Las Vegas Ragnar

Jon hates running. When he has had to run in the past, he complains...ALOT. 2 weeks before the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay race, someone on our team dropped out. My sister, Amber, was team captain and as such was in charge of finding a replacement. With 2 weeks notice, she was having a hard time finding someone who was ready to run 12 miles.
That's when Jon comes in. He is very athletic. Good at everything he tries. He must have been feeling over confident the day that I told him we were looking for a replacement runner because without any hesitation he told me he wanted to do it.
I laughed...for a while. I think it hurt his feelings. I called my sister to let her know. She laughed. She then called to her husband and told him and he laughed. It was funny. Everyone thought he was joking. He wasn't.
For the next 2 weeks, Jon trained and trained and trained. He was more diligent than I was.
Race day came and he had all 3 of his inhalers in hand (he kind of has a chronic asthma problem).
The race was so much fun! Jon's sister, Tina, and brother-in-law, Demetras were also on the team. For 2 days we ran and ate and kind of slept. I would have to say that my favorite part of the whole race was laying out a blanket in the parking lot and snuggling up with Jon to try and sleep...so romantic.
Jon did so well. I think everyone was really impressed. And now...well, he is addicted. As soon as the race was over he started researching other races. He's a life timer.












Monday, November 16, 2009

Disneyland

I know that there are some of you who dislike Disneyland (I won't say hate because I don't believe anyone can truly hate Disneyland)...
however, I love it. It really makes me happy. It is magical and now that I have kids old enough to love it, I just watch them believe.
We went the weekend of Halloween with my family and started the trip off by attending Mickey's Trick or Treat Party. Chloe dressed up as Alice in Wonderland and Mr. Beckham was the Mad Hatter. It was hilarious. Chloe was such a cute Alice, but seriously, everyone was going crazy over Beckham's costume...probably because he already looks like a little old man and so the costume was so him. He walked around the park like he owned the place. People actually stopped us and asked if they could take pictures of him. He was eating it up.
The next morning, he looked up at me and the first thing that he said was, "Mom, I was so funny last night." Oh boy. He is so Jon.
We rode rides and trick or treated. We went to the parade and the characters from the parade picked Chloe, Beckham and my niece Sadie from the sidelines to join them to dance in the parade. It was so cute. Beckham whipped out his robot skills. Sadie and Chloe took a few minutes to warm up, but then they really got into it.
The next 2 days were filled with rides and food and stalking Disney characters and going to the 3-D movies...all of which were fine except for the Bug's Life movie that totally freaked Chloe out. She cried during the entire thing. She still talks about it daily as if she has been completely traumatized. Oh boy. She is so me.
Anyway, it was a fun long weekend spent with family and everyone had a really good time. Chloe did get sick, but a quick trip to the Anaheim Quick Care resolved it until we got home.