Going on 9 years...

Jon and I have now been married for 8 full years and are starting our 9th. It seems crazy to know that we have been married this long already. Years go by so fast. On the 30th, Jon and I went to the movies, and then picked up dinner at Bombay House our favorite restaurant. It was a nice quiet evening.
It has been a wonderful 8 years, and am looking forward to the next 8 and more. Life is great when you love and when you are loved in return.

Christmas in Vegas

This year we spent Christmas with Jon's family in Las Vegas. It was good to catch up with Branon and Starr whom we hadn't seen for a long time. It was a nice relaxing trip.

While we were in Vegas, we took Julien and Logan to a pond by Jon's parents' house, where we fed the ducks and played with a remote controlled boat. The kids had a lot of fun chasing the ducks out of the water with the boat.

After much anticipation Santa finally came.

We were all spoiled for Christmas. Julien was happy to see that Santa remembered to bring him the Speed Racer car he wanted. I think Oswald was pretty glad about that too. He loved to get inside the box.

Once we got home to our little BYU apartment, we got a phone call from my parents saying that Santa stopped by their house too, and left some presents for us. The next day we rushed over to see what else Santa had brought us.

Logan opened up a nice long satin box, and discovered that he had gotten a real Harry Potter wand. When he saw what was inside, he was so shocked he was afraid to touch it. He believed he could cast real spells. And to this day he is convinced that on his 13th birthday he will go to Hogwarts to study magic.


















Jon was ecstatic to finally open his super cool new toy. A 16G IPOD Touch. I must admit... I wish I had one. He carries it everywhere. He put on the new Batman movie, has a bunch of fun games, pictures, and music on it, has the Internet; he even has the scriptures...it is so fun to play with.

I was so thrilled to get my Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL juicer. It is so beautiful! I love to make juices. So far my favorite is definitely pineapple orange with a hint of strawberry, but I have also ventured off and made a carrot, celery, apple juice, and to my surprise it was not bad at all, it actually tasted rather sweet. Yeah! I feel so healthy.

Day on the Highway!

On a snowy Friday afternoon, the kids and I built a huge race track. It was so much fun to hook all of the pieces together and create something of our own. We then played cars for a couple hours. The track stayed on their bedroom floor for 3 days. They were sad to put it away, but I assured them that we would be able to make a cooler looking one later. They agreed!!

My TWILIGHT obsession

Can you believe it? After fighting it all this time, I finally gave in.

How it started! To be honest I was curious to see what all of the fuss was about. So I started reading the first chapter of "Midnight Sun: Edward's story." That is when I got hooked. In that one chapter there was so many emotions and feelings erupting from the character, that I wanted to know more about him and about his story. The next day, I picked up the first four books, and ten days later, I was through with the series. I literally did not eat or sleep for those ten life sucking days. And when I did sleep, I was dreaming about the Cullen (Vampire family.) I was consumed by the story and by the characters. I could feel myself becoming a part of the Cullen family (pale from not going out into the sunlight, not sleeping, not eating, having visions of the past-aka dreaming Twilight.)
The next Saturday, Jon and I celebrated me finishing the series by going out to eat at "Five Guys Burgers and Fries" and going to the movies to see Twilight of course. I must say Jon was relieved when I was done. He told me that he missed his wife for that week and a half.

Funny coincidence. The day I got done reading the last book, we received a letter from Jon's cousin from Washington, who's last name is Carlisle. I was so freaked out, I stared at the letter without opening it for a minute or two (yes! I was that obsessed). If you are not familliar with the book, the Cullen family is from Washington, and the head of the household of the Cullen family's name is Carlisle. It was just too many coincidences all at once for me.

Thanksgiving maddness...

Julien, Logan, and I had fun making Oreo turkeys before the big turkey day. The boys both agreed that the best part was eating them of course.


Our Thanksgiving day started out with much cooking. My mom got up extra early to start preparing the thanksgiving feast. There was a lot of food...turkey, ham, potatoes, yams, salad, rolls, cheese...deserts, the list could go on and on.



T flew in to spend Thanksgiving with the family, and my aunt Mary, and uncle Paul we able to join us with my cousins. In total there was over 18 people eating and celebrating with us. Jon and invited two of his friends from BYU, and my friend Delly and her two little boys were able to join us also.





After much eating we relaxed, then burned off a couple of calories by playing Dance Dance Revolution, and Ping Pong. Later, we finished our evening by watching a movie.




I cannot speak for everyone, but even though it was a busy day, I believe that Thanksgiving was a definite success.

The Karate Kid

Yes, that's right, we now have a yellow belt on our hands. This summer, Julien started karate at Bobby Lawrence Karate. It is a very good karate studio in Orem. They have branches all over Utah. And this saturday, Julien passed his very first belt test. He was very excited! He has been working hard at memorizing the school's motos and his form. And we are very proud of his accomplishment.




Julien showing his form.

Julien transitioning from his white to his yellow belt.

Holy HalloHalloween!

What a day! I think that this Halloween was probably our busiest Halloween ever. Between all of the school activities, work/ ward parties.... I thought the day would never end.
10:00- School parade
11:30- Halloween party in Logan's classroom, they decorated cookies, made Halloween crafts, played pin the pumpkin with a candy game, and a fun boo whoo bowling game that I was in charge of with an another mom.
1:45- Photo shoot (you all know I can't resist taking pictures of the kids, they are so adorable, the weather wasn't so great, but I still got pretty good shots)
2:30- New Haven party. The girls I teach performed Thriller, it was a lot of fun.
4:15- Trick or Treating at XO. It has become a tradition that every year we go to Jon's job and trick or treat there. The call center always does an amazing job decorating.
5:45- Trick or Treating in the neighborhood.
6:30- Ward party. They had many games for kids, cake walks, pie, chili, and pumpkin decorating contest, as well as a costume contest, and of course the famous Trunk or Treat.
9:30- The night was finally over, and we all went to bed.

Photo Shoot

Logan the Knight of the Dragons

Julien the Dragon Ninja


XO

Jon's team theme for the Halloween decorations was classical horror movies. And Jon could not resist dressing up as Pin Head. He won best costume and received a gift certificate for village baker, a very good sandwich shop. He had done a very good job decorating his row with chains, skulls, smoke, strobe lights. It was so creepy that most kids did not even dare to enter to ask for candy. Julien and Logan don't look to reassured either.

Trunk or Treat

Five little pumpkins spooking in the dark

For our Family Home Evening activity we carved and decorated pumpkins while watching a cute Halloween cartoon and eating muddy buddys. Above is a picture of our spooky creations. Aren't they so cute?

Our trip to India

Today, we went on a cultural field trip. We visited the Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. It was a great activity. Especially on a day like today because it was the festival of lights where Diwali was being celebrated. We had spent the previous week looking on the internet at a map of India, as well as the animals that live there, the clothes people wear, and of course the beautiful scenery. Learning more about he country and the culture got the kids even more excited about visiting the Krishna Temple.






The event included live music, dancing, presentation on the temple and Hinduism, and a ceremony where offerings were brought to a live cow. It was pretty cool to see all of that.
Our evening ended with a delicious Indian meal at our favorite restaurant, the Bombay House.

Happy Happy Birthday!

Is it over yet? That's right, today was my 25th birthday. Clocked at 12:35 pm, I was still in my pajamas; not because I had slept in. Oh! No! Because it was that kind of a day. The no showering type of day. The type of day you eat breakfast and lunch after 3 o' clock. The type of day you go go go.
I celebrated by cleaning the house, going on a field trip, going to karate, doing homework, making dinner, and to finish my evening spending a late night at the laundry mat. What a day!!! It is well known that when you become a mom, birthday's kind of disappear.
I must say. It was really nice to get cards, phone calls, and texts and gifts from all of my friends and family. It made my day seem a little brighter.
My cute neighbor even brought me my very own birthday cake. It was very sweet and thoughtful.
I got a nice bracelet and earings, the first Chronicles of Narnia book, and am awaiting for my Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL juicer, the most beautiful juicer I have ever seen.

Field trip at the Pumpkin Patch

Logan had his very first field trip today. His kindergarten class went to a Pumpkin Patch. It was a lot of fun. I was able to go with him and help his teacher supervise a group of kids. We got to do and see lots of great things: a pumpkin patch, a corn maze, lots of farm animals, as well as a spooky house, and a huge playground. I was freaking out the entire time hoping not to loose any of the children I was assigned to. At the end of the day, Logan got to pick his very own pumpkin to take home.

Fire Safety-School is cool!

Julien and Logan's after school program had invited the fire fighters and paramedic to school today to talk about fire safety. The kids were pretty excited. They even got to go inside the ambulance, walk around the fire truck and see the fire fighters putting on their gear. They thought that the fire truck was the coolest part. And were pretty excited about taking home a red fire fighter hat.

Gardner Village

Today, Jon, the kids, and I took a trip to West Jordan to visit Gardner Village. Gardner Village is a cute, old, little pioneer village that has been turned into a shopping/ dinning center. It is a very fun place to be especially around Halloween, because they display funny witches all over the village. It is relaxing to walk around an soak in the beautiful scenery of the old village.


In October, witch watching is one of the most exciting things about Gardner Village. So we went on a little witch hunt. Finding witches sailing boats, on bikes, hula hooping, dancing, and so many more. Then, after an exhausting witch hunt we stopped in by the candy shop and stocked up on some mighty good fudge: Dulce de Leche, Italian creme, Chocolate, Pumpkin Pie...um.....

It was a great day!

Julien's County Fair

Today, Julien's 2nd grade class presented their Fall County Fair. They sang song, recited stories about falling leaves, spooky ghosts, and funny looking witches on broomsticks. The children then served up to the parents some delicious chili that they had made. Finally, we took a quick tour around the classroom where all the children had brought hand made, baked, our home grown items. Julien presented a scarf that I had knitted a year or two ago. It was a very cute presentation.

Logan- The Soccer Kid

This summer, Logan joined a soccer league. He had a great season. He was glad to play with some friends he knew from church and from school. He averaged about 2 goals per game. He said that because his jersey said the number 2, he had to score two goals per game. Jon and I insisted to tell him that he didn't have to limit himself to that but he was sure that is what he needed to do.

Logan in action, showing off his mad skills, leading the pack!

His team.

Logan showing off his metal.

A wonderful day at Hee Haw Farms

Saturday, Jon, the kids, and I set off to a wonderful afternoon at Hee Haw Farms. It has become a family tradition that we do every fall. There is lots of fun activities for the kids to do, it is very low key and we feel a little closer to nature surrounded by all of the farm animals.




First we ventured off into the corn maze, it didn't take us very long, we must be experts I guess; actually we just tried hard not to go too deep into the maze knowing that the kids get bored of walking after a while.






The kids then enjoyed playing in a pit full of corn kernels. They thought it was fun to make snow angels. And after launched corn, with a corn launcher believe it or not.









We also got to feed and pet several animals including an enormous pig called Leroy who is the biggest pig I have ever seen.


















I even found a little kitten, Julien and I both wanted to take him home. Good thing we live in Wymount otherwise the decision would have been harder to make.

Julien and Logan loved showing off their amazing super hero jumps on the hay jump.














Jon had fun teaching the kids how to lasso, and rope cows. The boys got pretty good at it. Of course, they were standing just a couple of feet away, but they still felt a great sense a accomplishment.










Racing with the pedal tractors. I think Jon enjoyed it a lot!








We did a lot that day, but we ended it the best way possible, a nice hay ride, pulled by a tractor (a little bumpy, but very relaxing), followed by a delicious Italian meal at a very nice restaurant called La Vigna, Julien said it was the best pizza he had ever had, and it really was.