Christmas week!

The kids on Christmas morning. The big three got up at 5, I woke up Jocelyn and Avery at 7:45. They were mad we made them wait so long but I assured them that is part of the spirit of Christmas, the anticipation! The Iverson's came over and brought an entire Turkey dinner! We had so much fun.

The next day we went sledding with the Sloans. The kids were nervous at first and had to go down half the mt. a few times before they would start at the top! :)

The girls loved the snow cave, they spent most the time crawling back and forth. Avery's snow clothes didn't hold up as well as everyone elses so she ended up in the car for the last hour or so.

Eric had fun with Ellie's bendaroo's! Im pretty sure you can't have that mustache on your mission!

This is our new favorites book! Jocelyn couldn't wait to read it when she brought it home from school Friday. It's a hit with all ages! Jocelyn said "What is the authors name? I am a fan of her books, I think I want to meet her".

Avery was asked at church what her favorite present for Christmas was.......chapstick.

Yesterday Gina, Mom, and Patrick came over and we played games all afternoon. It was super fun then it only got better when Jill brought over the popcorn cake!!! :)

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours! Illistrations by Jocelyn

Christmas Eve!

What has my Dad been working on for months and months and months?

Wow Dad, he is amazing! Each one has another mirror inside, and each one is a little different than the other, they are gorgeous! Not to mention each came with jewelry! We had so much fun today at our Dye Christmas party! The excitement is in the air!

Messy Week

Well I have missed many birthdays this year, here are some of the ladies in my life who have had b-days this month. Michelle who is beautiful inside and out, even with a fru fru bow in her hair! :) (Next year I will do better with b-days........what do you mean you have heard this before?)


Mary my soul sister who puts up with me when Im a loser and when I say all the wrong things! :) (happens often)

And Dena who has taken care of me since I moved here. And didn't mind when I made a cake for her and Mary (Mary was at the cabin) and didn't take her a piece and instead sang happy b-day to her on the phone and then ate the cake without her. :)

So after our snow day we had many activities, Ill do a quick run down for my journal;


Wed. Snow day, Ward Party, Eric was one of the 3 wiseman, and a prophet (2 parts, 1 costume change), Joc was an angel, Avery was a cow.


Thurs. went visiting teaching, proud to have gone both months since living here and them being the hardest months to go! :)


Friday; Avery's kinder Christmas program, cutest little reindeer around! Jocelyn got student of the month and was spoiled by Grandma Marty and Aunt Shirley! That night we had the Ashton Co. dinner, had fun playing "things" and rockband.


Sat. went to Moses Lake to Reagans b-day party, kids loved sliding on the frozen lake behind Cathy's house. We got home to get the kids dinner and leave them, to go back to Moses and watch Megan and Cameron unpack a little.


Sunday church was fabulous, then we all went to Mary's house and did the cousin exchange.


Monday didn't wake up until WAY late, wore pj's all day, got spoiled that night with everyone bringing treat plates for FHE. Good stuff! :)


Then today I went to Tricities with Gina and finished all my last minute things, yeah! And had a fun lunch with G, Suzy, and Nicki.


Im done with my running.............it can snow now.

Snow Day!

My favorite words in the winter........No school, snow day! Best day ever!

Austin was flossing his teeth, which he does about once a month...........really great for the braces. His poor gums are a mess! :( He was in the bathroom flossing and said, mmmm nothing like the flavor of bloody mint.

Tis the Season.........

The young women were invited to the RS fancy Christmas dinner. Rin is loving this getting older/getting invited to things. We thought it was at 6, nope, 6:30.

We went to the school book fair. I lead Avery to the sparkly pink high school musical/Tinkerbell section and this is what she HAD to have! Duh, of course Avatar! He IS the last airbender! She can show you his moves.

Austin loves choir concerts! Not embarrassing at all!

Crazy school mornings! Our water froze, missed the bus, my car wouldn't start (too cold, darn diesel) so I took him in late.

(This conversation is all in snotty tones)

Austin: OHHHHH noooooo I forgot my ID badge!

Mom: R U kidding me, Austin you forget it all the time!

Austin: I do not

Mom: Don't talk back to me! Yes you do, your in high school, you have had ID badges for 3 yrs. I think your old enough to remember it!

Austin: I haven't even forgot it once this week!

Mom: ..................... Its Tuesday!!!!

The kids loved making gingerbread houses this year, we had two, boys against the girls.

I have seen calendars that people have been making with activities everyday to do during the 25 days of Dec. we made one, not fancy like the ones I have seen, but it still works. We put on there, driving around to see Christmas lights, drinking hot chocolate and watching a Christmas movie (things we do this month anyway) The kids have had fun turning the paper over to see what activity we are going to do each day. I think it has made it easier to fit it in so far, when you have to do it that day you get it done! :) Anyways this night was sparkling cider with fancy glasses night, kids loved it! They didn't act very fancy though! :) We will work on that!

My Uncle Dub passed away on Wed. from a heart attack. He was my Dad's last sibling alive out of 9 kids. Him and my Dad ran a car repair shop here in Othello until they retired. He will be missed. Hug your loved ones this Christmas and all year round.

Why not to have a girlfriend.

Austin just turned 15 in Sept. so I have all the time in the world to prepare for him to turn 16. Well my Sister-in-law reminded me to prepare now! Of course, we don't prepare our kids for things five minutes before they happen, we are supposed to do it from the beginning so they will have it down by that time. I thought if I just pretend its never going to happen then it won't! :) Happy me in my bubble of cotton candy and pretend land, you can see it right?, its a nice place! I go there a lot!

So I sat down with Austin and I had him write down reasons you shouldn't have a girlfriend. Im very thankful that the Prophet has said, you shouldn't steady date in high school, you should only group date because you are not mature enough to handle a relationship, you have all the time in the world for dating and that later. As much as Austin loves to hear all my Mother lectures, it is nice to have some back up that he will listen to.

My Sister-in-law was going over what she was going to tell her son (who is turning 16 in Feb) and I stole it all from her and told it to Austin! :) I told him if you are dating one girl you get set apart from the group things, and don't get invited, and miss out on a lot of fun. You should never feel a pull when you want to do something, you should always be free to go and do whatever you want to do or hang out with who ever you want to and not worry about one person's feelings getting hurt (unless its your Mother). We talked about how much time and attention girls need and he doesn't have much of that now, he needs to work on his grades and preparing for college.

It was a fun conversation, he seemed to know more about all the drama then I did, I guess a lot of kids at school have been having girlfriends for a long time and he hears the sillyness of it all so I guess we will just have this lesson once a month for the next 9 months and hope it works! :) Eric and Marinda had comments as well, I guess even 5th graders have girlfriend drama so we are starting early and including all the kids in these discussions. Am I really this old? I just graduated high school a few years ago!

Do you see what I see?

It's beginning to look like Christmas!

Okay so its only frost but still its looking a little like Christmas! :) I got the house picked up from the crazy Thanksgiving week and laid on the couch looking at the tree and blinking lights while listening to Shelly Norman's harp music! It was so much fun! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Jocelyn was an Indian at the "First Thanksgiving" feast. They sang songs, did a dance, and some had speaking parts. Afterwards they had snacks and Jocelyn didn't get a piece of pumpkin pie, only pumpkin cake, she was so disappointed and cried and cried so we went home and made some.

Thats better!

For Thanksgiving this year Joel & Mic & kids came from Id. and so the cousins got a lot of play time in. We had adult game night at Stephen and Korbi's house Wed. night.

Thurs. we went to my Mom & Dads for dinner. It was G, Shirl's family, and my family, and Ryan, & my parents. Yum yum! Then the Ashtons rented the theater and they all went, I stayed at my parents house. Then they all went to Dena's, kids played, grown ups watched a movie. At 2 am Scott, Rin, Austin, & Eric all got up and went to Tricities to shop. Then we all (Ashtons) went down at noon for some rollerskating and Eatza Pizza.

Stacy I need the pics! It was a fun busy week, the kids had a blast. And today Scott's parents leave (on their new assignment) for New York City.

I found these two hiding in the garage this weekend, presents already!

Fun Friday

Austin and Marinda had some friends over to play games and eat some junk food. Mark brought Ashton and Tanner down from Tricities. My kids want to have a party with all their friends here and all their friends in Pasco, maybe this summer! They played some games inside and then went out and played scorch.

It was fun to watch the kids play the flour game!

The kids played If you love me smile, your NOT supposed to smile or you loose and have to go in the middle. They made a rule you had to ask someone that wasn't related to you. It was funny because Austin's friends all have little sister's or brothers Rin's age so there were a lot of brother/sister/cousin mixes.

Other things going on:

Jocelyn on the night before before her b-day: It BETTER be SUNNY tomorrow because its MY birthday! (Nov. good luck!)

Rin getting ready for mutual: curl my hair quick Mom because then I have to change. Mom: why? Rin: Because curled hair looks better with certain outfits! (Wow)

Bedtime, Jocelyn was having a melt down and Avery said "STOP crying your making my brain get smaller!"

Happy Birthday Jocelyn!

Seven already! My sweet Jocelyn on her first b-day!


Look how you have grown! Beautiful girl!

This girl came after a four and a half year break after Eric and was LOVED by everyone! The kids doted on her so much, she got the most attention out of all the kids, well, for 21 months. Everyone fought over who got to hold her at church, push her in the cart at the store, and sit by her in the car (Scott and me included). Then when Avery came everyone disappeared and would hide from a fussy 2 year old and new born! :) I loved her curls!

Jocelyn has a piece of turkey meat on her head. EVERY time she had a sandwich she would take it apart and put the meat on her head! ??? It was so funny, we wouldn't even remember she did this and then we would be at a park and get out our sandwiches and she would do it again! For about 2 years she did this, the kids loved it, I would get mad if I had just put gel in her hair and then she would get mayonnaise in it!

Jocelyn has the kindest heart! She cares about everyone and takes care of all of us. She gets her feelings hurt so easily and is affected by what everyone does and says. Its hard with her in school, when kids aren't nice she gets sad, I would like to go into school and take care of her all day, and be her bodyguard. I wish she was a jerk like me so she wouldn't hurt so much, but she is such a light in our home, she teaches us all how to be Christlike!

First week of Nov. we had the Ashton b-day parties, Ariana and Joc were the two stars of the day!

Then yesterday we had a family party and my Mom and Nik came over. Gina had class, Cathy's Reagan is sick with bronchitis and Shirl has the flu! :( Hopefully they will all get better before Thanksgiving!

Jocelyn's cupcakes for school, she loves me to mix and match all the bright colors!

Hurray for "done"!

Here is Austin's Eagle project finished! We just need to take them to the Children's hospital and we are done! I mean Austin is done! :) Man, getting s 15 year old boys motivated to plan, organize, and complete something (without you doing it all for them) is REALLY hard! No wonder it takes most until they are 18! He started, and could have finished when he was 14. It has been quite the learning experience for all of us, and how better prepared we will be for his senior project in 3 years!

Well Sunday, Pasco stake had their stake conference and were blessed to have a member of the quorum of the twelve apostles come visit. Jeffrey R. Holland. Our ward (our old ward) was lucky enough to be one that got invited to the stake center! I have been reading everyone blogs and having phone conversations on how wonderful it was! We debated going down there Sunday but felt bad sneaking in when we weren't really allowed, we even checked to see if our records had been transferred so we could say we were legal. It has been hard not being part of Pasco 8th ward, it would be fun to be both.....but they don't let you do that! I guess its hard because Othello 1st is Scott's childhood ward and our ward for a long time so it is all family and they will always be here for us, we can visit anytime and its always home, but Pasco 8th is going to move on without us! :(

Thank goodness for Nicki! She is keeping me up with my old ward and neighborhood. She has come to see me a few times and my kids love it! And I love it, she is so awesome to drive all the way over here to play with me! Here are the kids in the garage watching a movie! Thanks Nicki, you rock! :)

Big things going on over here!

My nephew Nikolas was in a play. (on the right, with the cane)

Shirley, me, and Gina went, (and Lawrence and Patrick). It was so funny, they did such a good job!

My kids are loving sitting in the hot tub at Grandpa's house! Even more fun when Grandpa joins in! For all those asking, he is doing great and they are waiting for their next assignment.

Jocelyn lost her tooth, she has a huge cold sore right now and it looks terrible in this picture, it takes away from her tooth being gone! Poor girl!

Marinda and Rylee had these girls all dressed up and were running around outside and hiding behind doors and things, I thought, how cute they are playing spy's or something. NO they are famous pop stars and they are running from the paparazzi! NICE Then they showed me these two.......

They were their body guards!

BIGGEST NEWS EVER! OUR FAMILY IS GROWING BY TWO FEET! No, Im not pregnant, Tony and Mary have adopted a new baby girl and will be coming home Saturday with her! WE CAN'T WAIT!!

Scott has been called the assistant scout master in our new ward. He is very happy about it! I am still without a calling and very happy about it! :)

Austin was in the New Era this month! So exciting, page 9!

AND it snowed on Friday! Melted right away but still exciting to watch it come down!

Happy/Sad

Well we signed the papers on our house, it's official. We are now homeless. happy/sad/happy/sad.
All my kids catching the bus, YES ALL my kids. Avery has ALL DAY kindergarten. I am now at home all alone from 8-3. happy/sad/happy/sad/guilty/sad/happy. I LOVE them all being gone, then I feel guilty, then I feel sad, then its happy again. ??? I don't know its not all it was cracked up to be! :) Have I done any of the crafties I always dreamed of, NO. Have I taken a nap, NO. Have I went shopping for hours all alone, NO. Do I go have lunch with friends every day, NO. All the things I thought would be so exciting aren't.

Here is my in-laws beautiful house. Empty, all day. I clean up the breakfast and making lunches mess. AND the Marinda is a teenager and tries on 15 outfits every morning and uses every hair and make up item around, mess. And then I get dinner planned, exercise, shower, and its already almost time for them to get home. I have scrapbooked a little. I got way more done when I had kids home! I don't get it? Im so confused, happy, sad, happy, sad. So for all of you with cute little naughty babies at home dreaming of all that you will do when they go....... don't. Your getting just as much done now that you will then, AND you won't even be tired enough to take a nap. Its pretty lame! :) Anyways on the happy note, Im going to run around the house now singing and doing cartwheels listening to music that I don't let my kids listen to, while in my underwear...... cause I can do that! :)