My new vacuum!

Okay, so I mentioned something about my favorite Christmas present earlier, but here it is! My new green vacuum! I have to admit, I have actually already moved all of the furniture in my house and vacuumed every room! It is awesome! So, I am aware that I have a cleaning problem, but I haven't owned a vacuum for about a year and a half! (I've been using my shop-vac and Gretchen's) About three years ago, I bought a hoover for about $120.00, but it was worthless! It didn't even pick up half of the stuff on the floor, and I don't have a ton of stuff on the floor. It didn't take long for that to get old, so I got rid of it. Then, out of stupidity, I told mom I needed a good vacuum. I really liked hers, and she kindly informed me that it was really expensive. SO, I waited. A long time, and I finally got it for Christmas from mom and dad! Not only did they get the vacuum, but they got me a green one! (my favorite color, just look in the basement and Brooklynn's room! I use it as their accents!) I think Brooklynn likes it about as much as me! She is continually following me around the house while I vacuum to "push" it! Here is my little "Vanna White" herself modeling it for you after we got done vacuuming the living room again this morning!

It's a blizzard out here!

Make a postcard - it's easy! Okay, so I'm not too impressed with this website! If you click on the pictures, you can actually see them! Today was the final blizzard of '07! They cancelled church this morning, and it's been going on all day! You can see that we can't get out of our house very easy, and Dave and Gretchen's suburban isn't going anywhere for awhile! I'm starting to feel closed in, because we can't even see out of any of our windows very well. They closed the freeway around 3:oo p.m. due to white-out conditions, so all of the cars are going in front of our house (since we live on the old highway! Gretchen made the joke that we should start advertising free potties with the purchase of a hot chocolate! It's been crazy! It wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't snowed about 8 inches the previous day! Not that I'm complaining, I didn't do anything constructive today!

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Okay, so I know I'm late here, too, but I've been busy! I didn't get all of the pictures I wanted to, either. Oh, well, at least I'm still learning! Jami, Cauley, and the kids came on Saturday night. We had our Christmas parade in McCammon, so we didn't get to see them that night. We also didn't have our float this year. Luke got called into work, Dave was still snowmobiling, Michelle and Todd's best friend's car broke down in Willard, Utah, so they had to spend the day going to get them, Jake and Elaine had a few more presents to get, so they were late, and I had a stinkin migraine. I finally decided around four to cancel our float, since the parade started at six! Oh, well, there's always next year!








Sunday after church we went into mom's to see the Clarks and have a Christmas party with Mike and Laura. Who would have guessed that Santa Claus himself would show up?! The boys all got Bumblebee Transformers, and the girls got Carebears (that were on sale!) All of the kids loved having Santa there, except for Brooklynn. I went to take her to see him and she let out a shrill that scared even Santa! It was kinda funny! It did take me a while, though, to calm her down.




On Christmas Eve, we all went over to Grandma Ruth's for delicious food and some great caroling. The kids all acted out the Christmas story for us. They are such good actor's! From there we went home and put all the kids in bed. Luke had to work, so he didn't even get to enjoy the night. We missed him a ton, though. He still didn't make it home until around 3:00 p.m. on Christmas Day. I felt like I was a single parent. It wasn't fun.



I was up with Brooklynn at 5:00 a.m. Christmas morning, and just crawled back into bed to hear an innocent "Oh, wow!" from my little Carson. He couldn't stand it any longer, and got up to see if Santa had come or not. I told him to get into bed with me because it was way to early. He only lasted twenty minutes, and then he was up. I made him help me make my bed, I changed and got Brooklynn dressed. Then, I let him go wake up Colton and Grandma and Grandpa. It didn't take long for the rest of the house to get up! We all got so spoiled. I even got a lime green vacuum cleaner! (That's all I really wanted) Thanks mom and dad! Luke got his Wii, and we've been playing it now for two days straight! The kids got everything they asked for and then some!

"And the winner is . . ."

Okay, so I wanted to start a new family tradition with my family, but I felt that we really didn't have a whole lot of time for something huge. I read a lot of magazines and articles on family traditions, and finally found one to fit our family. We love to look at Christmas lights. Mom and dad live in Christmas Lane, so the kids get to see them at least once a week. Well, the huge town on McCammon in which we live (population roughly 803+) is starting to get into the Christmas spirit! So, we would drive around the large town on our way home or out at night and look at all the different decorations. Out goal was to find the best house for Christmas. We looked and looked until we found the winner. There were actually two houses, so the kids got the choose the winner. It is the smaller of the two, a trailer, so it probably looked more decorated than the other one. I still don't know who owns that house, but we took them a plate of fudge, sugar cookies, soda cracker candy, and hot chocolate! It was so much fun. The kid who answered the door was so excited we chose them!

I'm Luke's Princess!

I can't believe what Lukie did for me for Christmas! He totally got me this year! I had no clue. He went in and bought me a day at the spa! I'm not kidding, a day at the spa! I have NEVER gotten a massage before in my life! He told me two days ago that I needed to go with him to town on Friday around ten. That's all. Well, we went to town (we even had the kiddlies with us), and he parked around the corner so I didn't know where we were going. When we walked into the spa, I still didn't know where we were, since I was trying to hurry and stay warm and just running into the building! It took me a couple of minutes for it to sink in. By then, they had me in a robe, and in the first room. That was where I got the hour-long facial. Oh my good gracious. If you have never had a facial before, I would HIGHLY recommend it! It was by far my favorite part. I was so relaxed that my legs, feet, hands, and arms all felt numb. I thought, okay, that was great, only for her to inform me that I needed to go the room accross the hall for my full body massage! Ahh! It was awesome, but not as good as the facial. I was then told that I could get dressed and head upstairs for my manicure! WOW!!! It was so much fun. I have the best husband in the whole wide world! He got me more than I could have ever imagined! I really needed this three-hour break!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Horray! We finally got some snow! Okay, I'll admit, we have gotten skiffs of snow for the past month, but it isn't really snow unless it covers everything. It's finally here! I should go out and make a snowman, but first I have to scrape the sidewalks, do laundry, preschool (today we're making gingerbread houses!), clean my house, and get all of the stuff together for Enrichment tonight. I also have to finish getting the stuff ready for out float on Saturday. It's going to be a blast! We have a float for the McCammon lights parade! More on that later! Horray! Christmas can come now, it snowed!

Mountain View Elementary Christmas Program

It's finally over! Tonight was Carson's Christmas Program. It was held at the high school since the entire community of McCammon comes out to watch. I feel like I've been there all day! (I have!!) They had a dress rehersal this morning, and then at one they had a matinee. Tonight was the grand finalee, and wow, I'm glad it's over! If you've never been to a Mountain View Elementary Christmas Program, again, you're missing out! When I was a little kid, our Elementary Christmas Programs consisted of us all standing on risers and singing a few songs. Some of us even got a speaking part every now and then. I even remember ringing bells in the fifth grade. Not at this school. They go all out for the production! The Kindergarten were all reindeer and played guitars while they rocked out to "Run, Run, Rudolph". Of course there was more. Then the first grade got up. They were so cute! Carson turned down two speaking/singing parts only to end up with the longest speaking part and standing all by himself on the stage! He was supposed to act upset because he wasn't getting anything for Chrismas, but he looked more cocky strutting up to say his line and stuff! The first graders story was about getting nothing for Christmas, with the song, dancing, and much more! Second grade was all about "The Wise men came and traveled far", (my nephew, Mitch's line!). Third grade was about traveling the continent for Christmas, like Hawii and Mexico. Fourth was a "Country Christmas" with line dancing! Fifth and sixth combined for a 50's Christmas with a lot of swing, b-bop, and so forth. Also, through out the play were other Christmas songs. It was so cute!

Okay, so I have to admit, I chickened out! So, since I'm the PTO President, I'm supposed to get up in front of everyone after and say something on the line of "On behalf of the PTO, we'd like to thank out teachers for all of their hard work and all they do. Merry Christmas." Then, Natalie and I got poinsetta's for all of them to hand out. All day I was sick with the thought of getting up on stage (I'm getting weak!) So, at the last minute, I asked Hayle (a good friend of mine) to say it for me. I also got twenty parents to help hand out the poinsetta's so I didn't have to walk around on the stage! I was so weak that I handed mine to Mr. Wheat (the principal) who was holding the door, so I didn't have to go on stage at all! Chicken! Thanks for your help, Hayle!

Sleigh Ride

Okay, so I have to admit, last night's Family Home Evening was a blast! We met up with about seven different families in our ward and went caroling to widows. First, we met at the Hunsaker's house for warm soup, breadsticks, and salad. Then, we all got bundled up (and I mean bundled up! It was about 9* with the wind chill), and got on the trailer and in the back of the truck. We actually sat on straw bales, and sang Christmas songs! That beautiful picture of me and the kiddlies with my mouth wide open is me singing, just after Colton tore off my hat! It was tons of fun. The kids didn't even notice that their noses were about to fall off until we got back to the house. Then, there were yummy treats leftover (we all brought homemade candies to make a plate for the widows and widowers), so we gluttened ourselves with amazing chocolates, caramels, and fudge! I didn't have to fight kids for FHE, so, overall, it turned out to be a fun Monday night!

All he wants for Christmas are his two front teeth!

Okay, so how hilarious is this? Carson actually lost both front teeth just in time for Christmas! It's actually been a few weeks, but he's getting really frustrated not having them. He can't even eat a hamburger or chicken, but what's worse, is he can't bite his fingernails unless he uses his canines! Talk about acting like a retard! I think it's pretty cute, though. The ironic thing is, Brooklynn is getting more teeth as Carson is losing them!

Our First Annual Salt Lake Trip!

We made it! For my birthday, I asked to go to Salt Lake with the family. The kids have never been to Temple Square, and I really wanted to take them. So, for my present from Luke, I asked to go on a trip! We left Thursday morning, and stayed over night in a hotel. We actually could have done it all in one day, but that was half of the fun of the trip, staying in a hotel! The weather was good on the way down. We stopped in Layton at Red Robin for lunch. My hamburger was actually raw in the middle! After sending it back to cook for another five minutes, all was good! Colton just wanted watermelon, but he had to settle for cantaloupe -- it was out of season, go figure!
From Layton, we went to Bountiful to our hotel. The kids were done changing into their swimming suites before we even got all of the suitecases out of the car! We spent a couple hours in the pool and then went to shower.
We left the hotel just as it was time for rush hour. Let me tell you, we're from McCammon, where the rush hour is after church. We weren't quite prepared! We also had a hard time finding a place to park! By this time, it was raining and COLD! Brooklynn liked the "pretties" aka the lights for about three minutes! The kids enjoyed what was inside the buildings more than outside! They were also all starting to get so tired. Back at the room, however, Brooklynn and Carson both didn't sleep all night, so that meant I was up with them!
The next day, we left the hotel around nine since a huge storm was supposed to come, and it was already snowing and raining outside. However, while we were in the car, I suggested we stop at the Hill Air Force Base outside of Ogden. The kids jumped all over that idea, and Luke didn't even argue! Let me tell you, if you've never been to the Hill Air Force Base Museum, I would highly suggest you go. It was amazing! I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I did. Luke looked like a little kid again, and the boys went nuts inside there! There were so many jets and helicopters (all real), and everything else. I truely was impressed!
After two and a half hours in the museum, (yes, it kept my boys attention for that long!), we finally hit the road to come home. The roads were crappy, and Luke and the kids wanted to stop at McDonalds (YUCKY), but we made it home with a little bit of sanity left!
I asked the family what their favorite thing was about the trip:
Luke; "Temple Square", Carson; "Dad throwing me in the pool a ton of times!", Colton; "The food!?", Brooklynn; "Pretties", and me; "The idea of us all going again next year!"