Christmas 2011

Disneyland 2011

We had annual passes in 2011 and we got our money's worth!

Halloween 2011

Athena, Batgirl and Luigi totally scored major poundage of candy this year. I am trying to get them to sell some of it back to their dentist at $3 per pound, but I don't think I am going to convince anyone.

Girls Night Out/Rachel's 11th Birthday

11 years ago Rachel was born on October 24th. She is such an enthusiastic, friendly, fun, smart, strong girl and has been since the day she was born. We are so happy that she was sent to be ours. This year she decided she wanted to invite a few friends to a "Girls Night Out" to celebrate her birthday. We got pedicures and went out to dinner and then came home for cupcakes and presents. The girls had a great time and felt so grown up. I can't believe that my little Halloween baby is almost in junior high. I made Rachel promise that she will always like me and never be embarrassed to be seen with me and never think I'm lame. She promised, so I guess the next few years will tell if she was sincere or not.....Happy Birthday Rachie-Roo! Thanks for being born.

Vacation during an Economic Downturn

We haven't been immune from the financial downturn as I'm sure you haven't either. Lance's hours were cut significantly when he started working on his new TV show and we've been scrambling ever since. I had wanted to go to Southern Utah and take my kids to see a play at the Tuachan outdoor amphitheater for Fall Break. I figured it was impossible to do it but a few great things happened that allowed us to go. I have a friend in our ward that owns a condo in Mesquite and she offered to let us stay there for free. My parents generously offered to pay for our play tickets and VOILA, vacation on a dime (well, more than a dime.) It was a quick, rainy trip. The drive was long and included me getting pulled over for speeding between Las Vegas and Mesquite (the usual.) Thanks to Jackson's friendly personality, I got off with a warning. We hit all the hot spots, the St. George Outlets, Cafe Rio, Nielson's Custard and Smashburger, and the St. George Temple and visitor's center. We even went to Deseret Industries to buy blankets to keep warm during the play and I found a bunch of great deals on children's clothes. We took the girls to see Grease and they loved it. Thanks to my parents and my friend Yvonne for making it possible. And thanks to Lance for staying home and working so we could go in the first place.

Little Guys Preschool

My friend Tara and I decided to do a co-op preschool with Jackson and her son Trenton for this school year. We did it last year with four boys. It was pretty wild. This year the other two boys are old enough to go to "real preschool" and so it is just the two of them. They are SOOOOOO CUTE together!! On this particular day we talked about Community Helpers and they made Police Hats and badges. They ran around arresting me for the rest of preschool. When Tara came to pick Trenton up, it got really quiet upstairs as we chatted. We came to check on them and they were underneath Rachel's bed playing Candyland. Adorable. We remembered another time last year when it had gotten quiet upstairs and we went to check on them and they were drawing with markers all over Rachel and Allie's dresser. I guess our little guys are growing up.

Creative Endeavors

I'm not sure what it is, but lately I have felt the urge to learn new skills. I took a photography class and learned that f-stops, shutter speeds and depth of field are things that my little brain has a very hard time understanding and that the cost of equipment is something that my checkbook has a hard time funding. So, I decided to give my mind and wallet a break and take a class to learn how to make cake lollipops. This class was MUCH easier and the lollipops turned out pretty cute (at least my kids thought so.) Now, I'm taking a sewing class and learning how to make quilts. I'll keep you posted on how that turns out (seeing as how "sewing" was a four letter word in my house growing up.)