Our Trip To See The Lights!

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Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

On to the next holiday! I love having my dad here to help the kids and I put up our tree! It's a lot of work so extra hands are nice.

I got a bunch of new decorations last year after they went 90% off so I wasn't really sure how they would all look when they were finally on the tree but Andrea thought the pink beads were really cool!

And Bizzy really liked the pink snowflake things!

Here are Alex and grandpa making sure the branches look just right!

Bizzy doin a little ballet and dad getting the bulbs ready to hang. It was a great night!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought I would take just a moment to share the things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving day. I am so thankful for my family and the joy that they bring into my life. I am also thankful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and what it brings into our lives. I am grateful for the good people who support me and the kids and I am also grateful for this wonderful country that we live in and the freedoms we have. Happy Thanksgiving!!

The Nutcracker

I got to go with Alex and his class today on a field trip to see the Nutcracker. It was fun to be able to hang-out with him and his friends.

Here is Alex and one of his buddies from his class. As you can see, Alex loves the camera and is a cheese ball! ( not sure where he got that from!! ;-)

Here we are on the bus......it's been awhile since I have been on a school bus and it is not as much fun as I remember. Even with the bus ride, I had a great morning with my son!

One more from last night!

I forgot to post this picture and this was one of my favorites! The USU ballroom team danced to The Lion Sleeps Tonight and the kids got their picture with one of the lions!

The Cha-Cha

For the last six weeks the kids have been taking dance lessons from the USU Ballroom team. They have had a lot of fun learning the cha-cha. Tonight they got to perform at the Cache Calley Ballroom Fest.

I didn't get pictures of their performance because I was video-taping but I got a few pictures during the free-dances. Here are Alex and Andrea doing a dance.

Bizzy is still a little worried about "boy-germs" and as you can see was a little nervous but quickly got over that because she loves dancing.

Andrea and her dance partner Angel doing the cha-cha and can I just say how impressed I was. This was during a free-dance but they looked great! They really knew what they were doing.

Andrea getting ready before the show.

A trip up the canyon

The other afternoon the kids I took my dad to show him some of our favorite things about Logan.

We went up the canyon to take a little hike and those of you who know Bizzy, know that she LOVES horses was delighted when she saw "horse shoes" on our walk.

Andrea and I really liked the tall rock

And Alex wanted to show grandpa how well he could skip rocks. It was a beautiful sunny day but still a bit cold. My dad enjoyed the scenery but enjoyed hanging out with his grand kids the most.

Get your game on!

When I was growing up my dad used to play this "hand-slap" game with us. (it would probably be called abuse now) You put your hands in someone else's and wait for them to hit you. It really is a lot more fun than it sounds. I play it with my kids and they LOVE paying with grandpa when he comes. Andrea was the first brave one to step up......

Then came Alex. He is almost 11 so he was sure that he could be Grandpa......Maybe next year Alex

Last but definitely not least was Miss. Bizzy. As you can see from all of their faces, they had a great time!

After loosing to grandpa, the kids wanted to show him a thing or two on the Wii. He is not much of a video-gamer so they patiently showed him how to do it.

Bizzy is a GREAT teacher!

Breakfast in bed

I woke up yesterday to a REALLY quiet house (which is abnormal for a Saturday morning) So i crept out to see what was going on. To my surprise, the kitchen was full of pancake slingers!!

It was my birthday and the kids, with the help of spampa, decided to make me breakfast in bed. The girls quickly rushed me back to my room (spatulas in hand) and made me stay there.

Here is the finished product and it was GREAT! They took care of cooking and cleaning and gave me the day off. It was a very relaxing day.

Our special vistor!

My dad came from Oregon to spend Thanksgiving with us and the kids are soooo excited. I don't know when it started but for as long as I can remember, my dad has made "spam" for us. It's not just spam though, he puts a Mexican twist on it with jalapenos, onions and a tomato sauce then he fries some potatoes up and serves it with flour tortillas. Anyways, it has become his signature thing and anytime my sisters or I visit him, that is the first dish he will make us. It has now passed down to the next generation and Alex couldn't wait for grandpa to get here so we could have spam! For that reason we have decided to call him "spampa"

Here is is Bizzy trying to peel potatoes and learn how spampa does it.

Andrea wanted in on the action too so she got her own peeler and got right to work.

My dad and I make a great team in the kitchen.....he still wouldn't share the secret with me though!

He is an amazing cook. I tried to get him to use my chopper to speed things up a bit but he is a firm believer in makeing all the cuts by hand. Maybe that's the secret.....

Wildcats in the house!

Tis the season.....In preparation for Thanksgiving Andrea is learning about the Native Americans and doing some really cool crafts at school. She is a great little artist.

It just so happens that the mascot for Andreas elementary school is a wildcat(just like Troy and Gabriella HSM3) Each month teachers will choose a student in the class who is doing good job with the behavior expectation and social skill for that month. Andrea was chosen as the wildcat of the month and I am so proud of her! She is such a good girl!

Not another tag.....

Not a tag....go ahead and do it just for fun!
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME (first pet, current car): Feisty Chrysler
2. YOUR GANGSTA STAR NAME (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite type of shoe): Chocolate chip slippers
3. YOUR NATIVE AMERICAN NAME (favorite color, favorite animal):
Red Puppy
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, city where you where born): Michelle Portland
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first three letters of your last name, first two letters of your first name): Eraje
6. SUPERHERO NAME (2nd favorite color, favorite drink): Green Diet Coke
7. NASCAR NAME (the names of your grandfathers): Gilbert Leslie
8. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME (your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Thomas Tillamook
9. SPY NAME (your favorite season/holiday, favorite flower):
Christmas Rose
10. CARTOON NAME (favorite fruit, article of clothing you are wearing right now): Peach Pajamas
11. HIPPIE NAME (what you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree): Muffin Cottonwood

I might even be a rockstar!

It's Saturday morning and we have a routine. We all work on getting our rooms for the upcoming week. The girls like listening to Hannah Montana (they say it helps them work better!) So hearing Hannah coming from their room on Saturday is not unusual and usually means they are cleaning but today as I peeked in to see the progress, This is what I found......

The girls found some pipe cleaners and made themselves microphones so they could put on a concert! I couldn't even be grumpy with them I was totally impressed with their creative minds and it made me laugh. We ended up finishing up the room together.

CRAZY 8'S TAG

This one is a little harder than having to find a picture and post it so here it goes........

8 TV shows I like to watch
1. The Office
2. Criminal Minds
3. Life
4. House
5. ER
6. Law and Order SVU
7. Jon and Kate plus 8
8. Flip this House

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Mandarin Garden
2. Cafe Rio
3. Olive Garden
4. La Hacienda Real
5. Abby's Pizza
6. Home Place Pizza
7. Macaroni Grill
8. Chili's (in Centerville)

8 Things that happened yesterday
1.Got the laundry done
2. cried
3. made dinner
4. washed the dishes
5. made cupcakes
7. washed more dishes
8. did homework

8 Things I am looking forward to
1. My dads visit
2. The semester being over
3. My birthday
4. moving (not anytime soon)
5. The kids dance program
6. making lights for a wedding
7. Thanksgiving
8. Christmas

8 Things on my wish list
1. LOTS of snow this winter
2. Trip to Disneyland with the kids
3. Moving into a house
4. Life would slow down
5. A cruise for spring break with friends
6. 4.0 for the semester
7. To see my sisters
8. A yard ( but that will come with the house!)

8 People I am tagging......This is a hard one so I will tag anyone who wants to play!

Cupcake fun!

Andrea's primary teacher had a birthday today so we thought we would make her a cupcake. Andrea wanted to make special ones so we made "cone-cakes"

The kids had a lot of fun frosting them. All three of them like baking things so it was a good time.

Bizzy likes frosting and eating better than the baking part

Andrea true to her artistic self did a very nice job with her decorating.

Here Andrea is with the cupcakes for her teachers birthday....Never fear Sister Dew, your cupcakes were the first ones frosted and I did them so they should be edible!!

Music for Life

Monday night my daughter Andrea and I had the opportunity to go watch the African Children's Choir perform. It was an amazing show. The children in the choir ranged in age from 7-11 years old who fought daily battles with starvation, war and poverty. Each child in the choir had lost either one or both of their parents to AIDS or other diseases. The children who participate in the choir are guaranteed a college education but they also help raise money so thousands of other children can get educated as well. I had to fight back the tears as I sat next to my daughter who is the same age of some of these children and thinking about all the sadness and pain they have seen in their young lives. It reminded to me to be grateful for all the wonderful blessings in my life and all the conveniences that are available to me and my children living in the United States. For more information you can visit their website at AFRICANCHILDRENSCHOIR.COM

I've been tagged

Rules of the game.....take the 6th picture in the 6th folder and tell the story. I took this picture when we were decorating for Halloween and Bizzy was soooo tired of me taking pictures all the time that she grabbed her camera and decided to "shoot" back.

I will tag.....Jessica A., Elizabeth B., Katie A., and Jean. It is easy so lets see those pictures ladies!!

I love the holidays

I really love every holiday and they are all my FAVORITE! Almost as much as celebrating the holiday, I love sale shopping for new decorations when they are clearing them out after the holiday is over. :-) Here is Andrea with my first exciting purchase a cute glass pumpkin.......candy holder? It was cheap

Next is Bizzy with a really cute welcome sign and a ghost hand-soap dispenser.

Finally we have Alex with a cute little table runner. I don't remember exactly how much I paid for the four things but I think it was less than $8. I think my new decorations are cute but the kids holding them are definitely the cutest!