Snow Day!!

This is how it looked at about 1pm today! The kids were so excited they wanted to go out and play in the snow! Kierstyn kept saying she just loves the snow!

I now realize how inadequate their winter clothes are, of course how often do we really need them here.

This is something I never thought I would get to do since moving to the desert, make a snowman with my kids!
This is something Blake thought he would never have to do again. But today he left work at about 3:30pm and didn't make it home until 7:30pm and no he didn't stop to do Christmas shopping. There was so much snow on the roads that cars could not go up the hills by our house. So cars were blocking the road and he had to help 500 up the hill (so he says!).
This was Ben throwing snow balls, thinking it was so much fun!
This is Ben being hit by a snowball in the face!
He didn't like that too much!
This is our 2nd snowman and probably the biggest one I've ever made! It was a great snow day and one to remember as we don't get them much.

Enjoying the Holidays!

O how I miss the days of family Christmas parties, where Santa would come and you get to play all kinds of cheesey games. Since we live far away from family the only way my kinds see Santa is if we take them. So last weekend we went out to the Bass Pro Shop. We wrote a letter to Santa and the kids put it in the mail box. They sat on Santa's lap but weren't too excited about it. I think they liked sitting on the 4wheelers better. This weekend we went to Winterfest in downtown Henderson. My kids love it because there's a parade and they get a pony ride. This year was really windy so we didn't stay too long, but it was still fun. And the last picture is Ben showing off his train he made at joyschool. He's been having an even better time picking the candy off it and eating it. We also had our ward Christmas party this week. It wasn't quite like the parties I remember growing up, but its nice when you know or at least recognize most of the people there. We really love our ward and have made some wonderful friends!!

Our Thanksgiving

Christmas always seems to come so quickly, but we had a great Thanksgiving. We were able to go to Idaho to visit family. We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house and had all of my family there. Amazingly we didn't get a picture of us all but we had a great time. The weather was even good and the kids were able to play outside for part of the day. My kids loved playing with their cousins. Even now anytime we drive in the car they pretend Sydney and Lindsey are in the back seat along with Kierstyn's pretend tiger. Its pretty cute. Ben had a great time playing with Granpa's tractors. But he still thinks tractors are for tipping (thanks to the movie Cars) so here he is tipping over all the tractors. I guess I need to take him to the farm during harvest so he can see more of what tractors really do. So now I'm focusing on Christmas trying to get my shopping done so I can just enjoy it. At least thats my plan.

Happy Thanksgiving!! "Both abundance and lack of abundance exist simultaneiously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend. . . when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present- love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us happiness- the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth" This was a quote shared by President Monson in General Conference last month. For me it brings into focus what I should be doing that is being thankful for what I do have and not dwelling on what I don't. So here is my expression of gratitude for the many blessings I DO have- a hardworking husband, two wonderful children who have taught me more about life than I could have imagined, a home that we can afford to live in, family that is always there for us, the best sisters in the world that are always a phone call away and have always been good examples to me, and great friends that we would not have met if we had not moved away from our family. Happy Thanksgiving!

Pine Valley

Last weekend we went with some friends to their cabin in Pine Valley, near St. George. I have to say that is the latest I have stayed up playing games in a long time. It was alot of fun. On Saturday we went to Snow Canyon and did a little exploring. It reminded me alot of Valley of the Fire. We did get a family picture, amazing. As you can tell I was alittle cold. We had to head home early on Saturday so I could teach my primary class on Sunday, and to catch up on some sleep. Thanks to Amy & Chris for inviting us!!!

So a couple of week ago I went to a grocery smarts class that was suppose to teach me how to use coupons effectively. Well the main point of it was to buy multiples of the weekend paper to get the coupons out of it. Since there are 4 people in my family I should have 4 papers to get all the coupons. This would have cost me over $100 dollars for 6 months and I hate the paper so I wasn't sold on the idea. However, I have been using the grocerysmarts.com website and have found some pretty good results. Today, I went to Albertsons (which is not where I usually shop because I think they are more expensive)and here's what I bought.



The original cost for all the items was $89.02 (See I think thats a bit high)
I paid $41.14 and I received $15.00 good on my next shopping trip at Albertsons

Not bad. Although I have to say I usually don't buy gogurt and trix yogurt but it worked out this time because I have snacks at Kierstyn's preschool next week.

My new smile!!

Hooray!!! I finally got my braces off. I'm so excited to finally be done with them. Now however, I'm getting use to a new retainer which you can't see but is annoying. Yesterday, when Blake came home I didn't have it in and he asked why. I said I couldn't yell at the kids with it in and he LAUGHED. He thought that was just the funniest thing. But its true, its harder to talk with it in and you trip over some of your words. Being frustrated with my kids only made it worse so I had to take it out for a while. At least I have that option now.

Halloween Party

Ben participates in a preschool co-op we call joy school. We host about every 3 weeks or so and he loves it. There are 2 different joy schools in the ward and today we combined for a little Halloween party. So this is the group. They mostly just wanted the prizes instead of playing the games but it was fun.

Trunk or Treating

Here was our trunk or treating party at the church last Friday. I lucked out this year with costumes. Kierstyn wanted to be a ballerina which is pretty easily since she already has a dance leotard. Bentley on the other hand wanted to be a bear, which stressed me out at first because I'd rather make the costume than go buy one. But we found one he could wear (Thanks Ann your a life saver!). They were pretty funny and had a good time, not to mention they now have alot of candy. Happy Halloween!

Our Disneyland Vacation

Decorating

I finally got around to decorating. I'm not a great decorator but I try. So the first picture is above my cupboards in the kitchen. I had been looking for things to put up there and finally found the red vase at Tai Pan the last time I came through Utah. So anyway this is the finished product. The other picture is my foyer. I finally put up my rod that I bought at Tai Pan and painted it black. It turned out pretty darn good and I finally got pictures up. I still want to paint the foyer but since its a 2 story entry its kind of a big job, needless to say its not done yet and probably won't be for a while.

Sense of Accomplishment

Yesterday I spent the morning canning 38lbs of pears. So when I finished I felt like I accomplished something today, unlike those days where your busy all day but not sure what you accomplished (moms you know what I mean). Last month I canned 50lbs of peaches and made raspberry jam. Looks like I'm done for this fall although the way my kids were eating pears yesterday I don't think it will be enough.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Since Robyn's diagnosis just about a month ago this takes on a new meaning for me. Yesterday, Christina Applegate was on Oprah sharing her story and I learned some important facts. So I'm going to share. 1 out of every 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. 81% of those diagnosed are alive after 10 years. And here's the one that really hit me 70% of those diagnosed did not have a family history of it. That's huge, I have ignorantly believed that without a family history of breast cancer I'm at low risk. Another interesting fact is that there is a gene linked to breast cancer known as the BRCA gene. Up to 87% of those that have the gene will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and up to 40% with the gene will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Insurance usually doesn't cover the cost of testing for the gene either. So guidelines they gave were to have a yearly mammogram after age 35 and earlier if you have a family history of breast cancer. Also, ask your doctor about a possible MRI if you test positive for the BRCA gene, have dense breasts, have implants, or had radiation to your chest as a teenager. Okay, I know those are the guidelines but most stories I have heard it was found through self examination. The best advice I heard for prevention is low fat diet and exercise. These are a few websites that have helpful, reliable information: http://www.breastcancer.org/ ; http://www.komen.org/ ; http://www.cancer.org/ ; http://www.cancer.gov/ . So those are a few facts but there is alot more information out there, so don't take my word for it.

Tattoos

I got a good laugh from Kierstyn and Bentley when we put on these temporary tattoos. They got them from the dentist and were so excited. They can't wait to go back. But it was pretty funny watching them show everyone they saw this week "my tattoo". Don't you love the tough guy pose.

Our busy week

This past week was a busy one for me. I hosted Bentley's preschool this week so that kept me busy on Monday & Thursday. We had a potluck with some mom's in our ward on Tuesday afternoon, which the kids loved. On Wednesday we went to playgroup in the morning and in the afternoon our Disneyland tickets came in the mail. the kids went wild. I had to stop them from riping up the package to get to them. Needless to say they are very excited about going to Disneyland. And some good news for me. For those of you who don't know I've had braces for the last year, which is longer than they originally told me I would have them. Anyway, I only have 6 weeks left and then I get them off. I'm excited and will be counting down the days before I can get rid of this mouth full of metal. It's not anything that I thought I would have to deal with at this age but Owell.

Lately, Kierstyn and Ben have been playing really good together. However, its usually doing something they're not suppose to. On this particular day they took all the diapers out of the drawer(a full box of over 100 diapers) and put them under Bentley's bed. I told them to clean them up and that was the look I got from Kierstyn. She also likes to call Bentley "The Big Ben". I'm not sure where she came up with that but Ben hates it and always gets mad and says, "No, I'm Bentley" . It's pretty funny to hear them argue about it.

Giving In

Okay, so I decided to finally start a blog. Mostly to involve your families in our lives since we don't live close to them. Also to push myself to learn how to do all this stuff. So be patient as I figure it all out.

This month has been pretty busy for me. Kierstyn started preschool, which is a change to have to be ready to go early in the morning as opposed to getting dressed whenever I get around to it. Ben is also doing a co-op preschool. I'm hosting on Monday. I'm kind of excited about it, and Ben is loving it. Although he still gets upset everytime he can't go to school with Kierstyn. Here's a picture of Kierstyn on her first day. She has 2 friends from sunbeams that we carpool with.

We're also making plans for a family vacation to Disneyland next month!. Hooray!!!!!!