Game On!

Oh yea, Church Ball has officially begun. And church ball just wouldn't be church ball without Justin getting the big T. I'm so embarrased, but this is the second technical he's gotten in a church ball game. He got one when we lived in SLC and if I'm not mistaken it was for swearing at the ref (yes in a church ball game) And this one.. for intentionally pulling or pushing some guys shoulder while trying to steal the ball or something like that. Which, of course, Jus disputed and said was not true, making even more of a big deal out of it. I cannot say for sure as I spend most of the game socializing and only paying attention to the game every now and again- I didn't even know who had won. I had to ask Jus when we got in the car to leave. Surprise, surprise. Jus always gives me crap because of the lack of interest or understanding I have for sports. I was a cheerleader for 5 years and I still get offense and defense mixed up. Go figure. What? I was busy cheering- who had time to actually watch?

Anyway, since he's the "athletic director" in the ward, you'd think that he'd try to make a better name for himself out on the court. But that's just my take on the matter. By the way, his team won- yay! (But who's keeping score, really?) Let the games begin!

Inspire Me

Okay so.. we've been in our house for nearly 4 months now and I have yet to hang anything on the walls. I don't know what it is- usually I have no trouble with decorating and get things up right away, but I'm stuck here. I think it's that I just don't know what to do yet- we're probably going to switch out our furniture and we have a couple really big walls, which has proven to be a bit intimidating- I'm such a perfectionist that I want it to be just right.

My bare walls are calling to get some attention- and I'm about to the "going nuts" stage of not having anything finished yet, so does anyone out there have any great ideas? Send me pictures of what you've done or what you have on walls or for decor. Inspire me please. And.. is it just me or does this picture look weird- it's like a freakin ring of fire- must be the flash bouncing off the light or something. I promise it's just a normal wall- no weird faux going on.

Sunbeams!

Today is a milestone- it was Jace's first day of Sunbeams! Oh yea! Our handsome little dude is growing up on us. He walked right into the Primary room, sat with his class and really enjoyed himself. Such a far cry from his initiation to nursery- it took us a long 7 months to get him to go happily. It's really unbelievable to me that he's already old enough to be in Primary- he has become quite independent, is developing such a personality and is learning and growing so much each day. I feel like our baby is slipping away from us. It seems just like yesterday that our sensitive little cling-on wouldn't leave my side for anything and now he's registered for preschool in the fall and declared to me yesterday that he's too big for his tricycle now and that he needs a big bike.

Can someone please get me a tissue?

Now What?

Does Anybody else ever feel like this after the holidays are over? Where am I going to put all these toys? Who's going to eat all that candy from the stockings? Under the tree is empty- all the deocorations have served their purpose for yet another year and it's time to put it all away and get on with the new year. It's like now what? Fun to give and get and to celebrate and then you have to deal with all the aftermath. I still have the toys in our living room, added a few more home decor items to my pile stacked against the wall and luckily, I went pretty easy on candy this year, so it's pretty much consumed.

Yet, there's always a piece of it that I don't want to put away yet- I decided to hang all of our picture Christmas cards this year and I just can't bring myself to take them down yet.

Bringing In 2008

Happy New Year! Isn't it crazy that it's already 2008? It seems just like yesterday that everyone was making a big fuss over the Year 2000 and now it's almost been 10 years since. Time just goes too fast these days.

Jus looks thrilled- remember it's wayyyy past his bedtime here.

We celebrated New Year's Eve with my family- a prime rib dinner prepared by my dad, a couple games- Life and Loaded Question, chocolate fountain part deux (also did this on Christmas with Jus's family) and of course, watched the ball drop and made some noise!

Christmas 2007

It was our first Christmas at our own house this year! It was so nice that our kids got to spend the night in their own beds and that we didn't have to haul anything back and forth. It was a nice and relaxing Christmas this year- one that I didn't want to see end. I really enjoyed the Christmas season and was in no rush to get it over with.

Awesome! Jace excited about his new guitar

Rylee gives her stuff a little taste-test

Our kids surprisingly both slept in until 9 a.m. on Christmas morning, which was so nice- no complaints from me on that. Jace actually forgot it was even Christmas- he was a little worried about Santa coming into our house the night before- didn't like the idea of an intruder. However, once Justin reminded him that we needed to go see if Santa came- he was pretty excited. Rylee didn't really get what it was all about. And naturally was more excited about eating the wrapping paper than anything else.

Jace showing off his new fireman outfit and cool slippers

Yummy wrapping paper

After enjoying our Christmas morning as our own little family- we made a quick trip to my parents to open a few gifts and then headed off to Justin's parents for the rest of the night for Christmas dinner and to exchange gifts and hang out. We also enjoyed a little chocolate fountain fun! These are seriously a fun party idea- bring a bunch of different dippers and it can keep you entertained, not to mention, sick for hours.

Rylee lovin the hippo pusher Zach & Shantay's dog, Bently gave her.

Enjoying the delicious chocolate fountain

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2007

We spent Christmas Eve with my family (the Price's). There was a huge snow storm that day, so luckily everyone made it to my parents safely. We kicked off our festivities by decorating sugar cookies to give to those we went caroling to, then we went caroling, had dinner, opened presents (we do a cousins and sibling/husband exchange), had a family talent show and called it a night.

Here we are getting ready to take on the storm to go caroling. Our family is so not the "singing/caroling" type, but somehow this got planned for the party- so we all went along with it. We picked a few people around the neighborhood who we thought might need some holiday cheer and it was actually quite rewarding, not to mention fun. We got all bundled up and treked through the snow-the kids totally enjoyed it. They were singing from the top of their lungs in the car- what good memories.

Rylee and Jace with the gifts from their cousins. This is a tradition that I used to have with my cousins growing up.

Here's Jace and his cousins, Payton and Savanna, doing a couple numbers for the family talent show. This is a tradition we started a few years back and I love to see what everyone does. Only one person per family is required to do something, so we sent Jace up to bat after Justin declined to sing Santa Baby. (J/K) They sang a Frosty song, Guess who wears... and Must Be Santa. So cute!



We usually do the talent show, act out the Nativity and play some carols with the Christmas chimes- this is really a fun and chaotic activity for anyone who hasn't ever seen/heard of this before. But this year we just did the talent show since caroling took longer. Great memories and great fun!

And... did I mention the snow?- we seriously got a down-pour. Here's Justin snow blowing our driveway in the wee hours of the night. Just clearing a way for Santa I guess. And the hat? He either bought that while on his mission or it was a gift from one of his brother's old girlfriends? Pretty snazy.