This year the Holidays were a bit different for our family and with the craziness of our schedules, sadly not many pictures were taken and those that were are not great. So my final post for the 2011 blog will be written post so I can finally wrap up the year and get on with 2012.
So to start about mid December....my birthday was on Dec 20
th. I turned 39. 39! Where did that come from? I don't feel 39! Hopefully I don't look 39. Anyways, I am a believer in milking my birthday to the fullest. I spent the early part of the day with Jared at his preschool Christmas party. We made gingerbread houses, played with
play dough, made a Santa puppet and watched the kids perform favorite Christmas songs. It was a fun was to spend an afternoon. My baby will enter Kindergarten next year, so I'm trying to soak up every little experience I can with him.
That night Joe spoiled me as usual. He took me to a favorite restaurant, Brio, where we enjoyed delicious
Italian bistro food. This is a special treat because this is not a cheap place. Afterwards we went shopping for my birthday present. I got my iPhone 4s. So fun! It is amazing what can be accomplished by such a small device. I never would have imagined in my lifetime to see such developments. I think back to the early 90's when the
Internet was this new and kinda scary
endeavor and now I carry
Internet with me everywhere I go. Amazing!
I continued the birthday celebrations into next week with a night out with great friends. Dinner and great conversation are always a pick me up. Thank you Aimee
Asay, Nicki Enos, Laura Flores and April Corey for taking some time to celebrate with me.
My work schedule was an added change this year for the Holidays. I currently work Wednesday through Saturday on the 4pm to 2am shift. That meant I worked on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve this year. Both weekends were very busy and crazy at work. Both were learning weekends. I never knew how crazy Mesa can get!
For our family Christmas celebrations....we got together with my family at Grandma and Papa's for a Christmas Eve lunch (because of my schedule, but it worked out great). After lunch we opened presents from cousins and grandparents. On Christmas day, which was on Sunday this year, we attended our shortened ward services where I sang in the choir. That meant we had to delay the opening of presents for our boys until after church. The boys were really great about it and very patient in their waiting. Each boy got something they really wanted. Jacob got an automatic air soft gun, Tyler tons of
Beyblades, Aaron a new bike and Jared power rangers. Joe got some books he had been wanting along with a gun safe. I got an
iPad and accessories for work and play. We all were very blessed this year.
Later that night we went back to Grandma and Papa's to have dinner with them and Galen's family. It was Galen's year to have the kids for Christmas and it was fun to have them all together. Julia's son Sheldon was the only member missing this year.
Another big and exciting, though not in a good way, thing that happened and another reason why I don't have pictures for this post...is our computer contracted a nasty virus and it is kaput. We extracted all the information we could from it and then it took it's last breath and died. Luckily we didn't lose too much, only a bit of
financial records that we kept for 2011. Not a big deal because most of that is online and in the past anyways, but I liked to make reports for our taxes from those records. Just a hiccup, not a big deal. But then I realized we forgot to copy off all our emails and email contacts. Years worth of email contacts. It is almost all recovered now thanks to all our family and friends taking time to send test emails to us so we can update the new programs. I think of it now as an early spring cleaning. A forced spring cleaning. Much needed.
So there you have it...a quick overview of our Holidays. Now time to move into the New Year!
Reindeer on the Roof ....
Then maybe a few at the Temple lights for family night.... better I guess??
Now tasting the pie Jared smashed on his fork...
Singing a few songs...
The Turkey Pokey...put your left wing in...
...Put your left drumstick in...
On Thanksgiving day we went to my mom and dad's house for lunch. I had to work the night before and was due at work that afternoon, so Mom agreed to host a quick lunch for our family. Of course we had to take some family pictures.
Being silly
Dad...carving the turkey
Mom decided to make a chocolate cream pie this year...we had to get proof so she will never try again...let's just say it didn't quite turn out. The boys drank it from their bowls....hence the spoon!
And lastly, Thanksgiving was also Mom's birthday. So we had to have a little celebration. Jared, Aaron and Tyler made cards and we got her a small gift.
Jared was so happy to be there....wearing his special field trip t-shirt.
Learning in the "classroom", all about cows, what they eat and how to milk them.
On our hayride around the farm.
It's kind of hard to see, but the black small animal in the middle is a 2 hour old calf.
Getting ready to feed the goats and sheep. Jared did it with my help. He laughed and laughed while the sheep and goats ate the corn out of his hands.
This was the funniest looking chicken walking around.
Petting calves.
Touching the chicken. Jared did not want to hold it.
Petting the bunny.
After the field trip, class photo.
I was very proud that Jared tried to do everything. He fed a donkey a carrot and even went back later to pet the donkey. He is usually so shy and afraid, but not today. He got right in there and did everything. He was even sad when it was time to go home.
Jared refused to look up at me. He kept telling me he was drinking his juice, no picture.
This was the only way I could get Jared to smile and look in the camera.
.JPG)
