Happy 9th Birthday, Tyler!

My "troll" baby turns 9 today. Where did the time go? Happy Birthday, Tyler! His hair stood up like this from birth until about 4 mos. I tried everything to get it to lie down. I was known at church as the mom with the troll baby. But he sure was cute!This is my favorite picture of Tyler as a baby. He was a happy, content baby. Always smiling and cooing. He's about 6 mos here. Had his first haircut already and finally the hair has started to lie down.

This is from cub scout day camp Oct 2010. Tyler loves cub scouts.

3rd Grade picture.

Sadly, Tyler is getting a big jipped for his birthday this year. I start school tonight & Joe has night conferences. So we set up for his party on Saturday, which is great except that Jacob and I will be in California on the Oceanography field trip. Tyler will just have to party hard with Dad & little brothers. And we've decided the party has to go on for the entire weekend.

Looking Back...& Looking Forward

Wow, I really seemed to have dropped the ball with my blog. December is a very busy month and I really wanted to document all the fun & exciting activities that we have done with our family to end 2010. However, I seemed to have forgotten that we own a camera and did not document one said activity. Therefore, this will be a catch up and move on post for the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011.

My 38th birthday was on December 20th. Not one I was looking forward to. 38 is just that, 38. Nothing exciting or noteworthy. But I do have to say it was celebrated to death. I started my celebrations on Saturday, Dec. 18th with 3 of my best friends...Nancy Gonzales, Rhonda Trone and Nancie Lindblom. We had breakfast at Crackers. After we stuffed ourselves, Nancy and I went back to her house and I went "shopping" in her closet. Nancy has great clothes and although we have different body types, we wear the same size. She was cleaning out her closet and had a wonderful assortment of clothing for me to chose from. I brought home the cutest skirts and tops, plus many "in style" jeans that made me look way skinny....a total plus!

On Sunday I got to have the Primary sing to me and had many well wishers in the halls.

Then Monday, the official day.... I slept in till 8:30! I know that doesn't sound late, but in our house that is late. Once I was up, I was brought a Krispy Kreme donut with a candle in it and got the best "Happy Birthday, Cha, Cha, Cha" ever sung by my 5 boys. I did a little light cleaning during the day, while Joe took our bedroom apart and cleaned every bit of dust and yuck all away. Later Joe got our favorite babysitter, Jessica and we went out to dinner at one of my favorite special occasion restaurants, Brio, at the San Tan Mall. It was soooo delicious! Afterwards we went next door to the Barnes & Noble, where Joe had a gift card, and he let me pick out 2 books. A great way to celebrate my birthday with my best friend.

The following Wednesday, Dec. 22 I got to restart my Birthday celebrations. My good friend Heidi took me out to lunch at Chile's. And then that night I went out with another group of friends to The Cheesecake Factory. We did a little shopping at the mall afterward, well some of the ladies did shopping, I just walked around and enjoyed being out with great women. When I got home Joe asked if I was finally done celebrating my birthday. I told him yes, we can now focus on Christmas.

Thank you to everyone that helped make my uneventful 38th Birthday very eventful and fun!

Christmas! Did I take any pictures? NO. What? Not 1 picture of the great decorations in the house? Not 1. Not 1 picture of the kids with all the fun stuff Santa brought? Not a 1. Then I'll just have to paint a picture of words...HEHEHEHE. Yeah, right!

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house with my family. Dinner of Tamales, rice, beans, enchiladas and all the makings. My brother Galen came from Snowflake with his wife Julia and her son Sheldon. Galen's kids were with their mom this year. Doyle, Jody and their kids were there. Christine, Sean and their 3. Denise, Cole and their 3 and the Macdonald 6 along with Grandma & Papa. It was quite a group all squished into Grandma & Papa's house. Loud the say the least. After dinner we opened gifts from each other. As siblings we rotate families, while Grandma & Papa get something for everyone. It was a nice way to celebrate Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day was all about our family this year. No where to go. The weather was a beautiful 72 degrees. Our boys woke us sometime around 7am. A lego set for Jacob, Bike for Tyler. Aaron got a Leapster 2 with games, Jared a Toy Story race car set that shakes and go's. Many presents including a Laptop for my schooling. We spent a relaxing day playing with new toys.

The day after Christmas, after church we loaded up the truck and headed up to the cabin in Heber. We spent a relaxing 2 1/2 days at the cabin. Fires at night to keep the cold away. I read books and we all played lots of board games. The boys enjoyed football and Frisbee outside with Joe. We took a trip Monday into Show Low and had lunch and went bowling. I had my camera in the car....but didn't take any pictures. Jared in those silly bowling shoes, hopping down the lane to Dad so he could take his turn. A memory burned into my brain. The cutest EVER!

Weather reports on Tuesday night had us worried. A cold front heading into AZ, bringing snow to the high country. We decided we would leave around 10 the next morning hoping to beat the storm. Tyler woke us at 7:30 and when I checked the weather outside it was already snowing. Shift into overdrive! We started getting packed up as fast as we could. No snow tires or 4 wheel drive on the truck could mean we would get stuck or slide off the roads. By 8:30 we were on the way home. Steady snow was falling and by the time we got to Forest Lakes it was already pretty bad. Not much snow but lots of ice. We slipped and slid through Forest Lakes, a near death experience as Joe tells it, and made it down the rim without an accident. It snowed until just past Christopher Creek and then turned to rain. We were happy to get safely home and celebrated with lunch at Fuddruckers.

Last night was New Year's Eve. We range in the New Year with our good friends, the Asay's. Take out from PF Chang's for the adults, with pizza for the kids. A rousing round of Sequence for the adults while the kids destroyed the Asay house. Then we all went outside into the freezing night to set off fireworks. Sparklers, snap caps and small level fireworks while we froze. Jared didn't make it with the sounds. Joe took him inside to be safe. Eventually I couldn't handle the cold and joined them inside along with Aimee and baby Tallin. Once the fireworks were all gone, everyone came in to warm up and enjoy brownies and ice cream. Then a game of Wii Smarty Pants for the adults, with the kids helping here and there. We went home just before 11. Jacob stayed up till Midnight along with me and Joe. We could hear all the neighbors setting off fireworks. It was a great way to celebrate the New Year.

So there you have it, a look back. Now on to looking forward. May this new year bring challenges that strengthen us, and experiences that bring us together. Happy 2011!

Choir & Recorder Concert

Tyler is singing in the school choir this year. His 1st official concert was this past Tuesday, December 14th. He did a great job.Jacob is participating in the Recorder Club again...at least for now...

His concert was also this past Tuesday with the Choir.
The many faces of my boys...I actually took about 5 but didn't want to put all 5 on here.

December Pack Meeting

Tyler received his Wolf Badge at Pack Meeting yesterday.

To get his badge he had to "wolf" down a cupcake/whip cream treat without using his hands. He did a great job and really enjoyed it.

When the time was up, Tyler picked up his plate and smashed it into his face.

For the activity, the cub scouts made gingerbread houses while the siblings decorated cookies.

Once Joe arrived to Pack meeting, we continued with Jacob's awards. He earned his Webelos badge and Arrow of Light back in October, but we haven't been able to make it to Pack Meeting so we held if off until December.

For his Webelos Badge, Joe got to paint his face.

Great job Dad!

Then Jacob got his Arrow of Light.

This is the best family photo we have taken all season, minus the face paint. I'd use it for the Christmas card but Jacob wouldn't be happy, so we will just have to try again.

Congrats to Jacob and Tyler for you Cub Scout Achievements.

Yesterday was also Grandpa Hastings' Birthday. So we invited Grandma and Papa over for pizza before Pack Meeting, went to pack meeting and then treated them to ice cream at Dairy Queen after.

Happy 68th Birthday, Grandpa!

Aunt Jeany & Grandma Phyllis visit

In all the business with the play I failed to document the visit of Joe's sister Jeany and his Mom, Phyllis. They came into town on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Jeany stayed until Monday, Nov 30th and Phyllis stayed until Saturday, December 4th. We all went to the Mesa Temple lights on Saturday, November 27th. Here are a few pictures from that visit.

It was fun having Jeany and Phyllis visit. The boys enjoyed the nightly story time with Aunt Jeany and added attention from both our visitors.

Savior of the World: His Birth Production

This past weekend I was in our Hawes Ward production of Savior of the World: His Birth. We began working on this production in August. It was a lot of time and frustration, but it turned into a great play. My parents and Joe's mom, Phyllis attended the Friday night performance along with Joe and the boys. We then had a Saturday matinee at 3:30pm and then the final performance at 7:30pm on Saturday. Every performance was so different, and yet successful in its own way.

Tyler and Jacob took pictures during the performance. I've included a few of those here. We had a professional photographer take pictures, so I should have some of those in couple of weeks. We also had a performance video taped, and I'm hoping for a copy of that also.

Here are the grandparents waiting for the show to start. Papa, Grandma Hastings & Grandma Phyllis. Aaron, need I say more???
Joe and half of Tyler. I'm not sure who took this picture, but I'd assume Jared.

Jared

The Wedding Scene. I am wearing the blue shoulder wrap. I was one of Mary's cousins and an angel. Here is my cousin costume. My costume was very colorful.

Glory to God Angels, singing to the shepherd. To my right is Carrie Bennett. On my left is Michelle Jimenez and Cindy Spratling.

The final scene.

Momma Angel with my "angel" boys. They were so well behaved for the show. Grandma Phyllis and Dad treated them to sonic afterwards.

My parents.

Myself, Phyllis and Joe

Jacob's 1st Viola Concert

On December 2nd Jacob had his first Strings Concert. He is playing the viola this year. We invited my parents to tag along to see the concert. Bad planning by the strings and band teachers = too many people and no where to sit. We showed up 25 mins early and there were no seats. Tons of people standing around. Joe went and helped the custodian get out chairs and we snagged a few so we wouldn't have to stand the whole time. Needless to say, Jacob's 5th grade strings songs were great. I had to leave after his part to get to my play practice, so my parents took our other 3 boys home and Joe stayed for the rest of the concert with Jacob.

Grandma & Papa Hastings with Jacob back at our house.