Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful thanksgiving week! We left early tuesday afternoon to california to beat the "storm" that never came. We spent the next 5 days just hanging out with my sisters and their families, eating and watching sports. I got to spend lots of time playing with my nieces and nephews, mainly reading the dinosaur book to jaren over and over. :) I got to love and snuggle avery to my hearts content, and hang out with my mom and sisters and talk and talk. Me and trish had a great time black friday shopping! We woke up at 2 and hit toys r us. We were going to go to the opening of Target but the line to get into the store was RIDICULOUS!! So we hit old navy, and then the mall, michaels, pier 1,and target(later after it had opened and wasn't so crazy!) we found lots of great deals! trish got almost all her christmas shopping done in one night and I had a blast just being there and found a few good deals myself. We finally got home at 1030, and I did not go to sleep til 1130 that night. So I was up for 21 hours!!! But it was totally worth it. I loved being there with my family and was so glad I got to meet my new little niece. She is just precious beyond words. The drive home was great til we hit uTah, then it took us 2 hours to get from st george to cedar city. the traffic was bad and the roads were super icy. 13 hours of driving and we were finally home. It was a wonderful thanksgiving and now I am super excited for christmas!!!

Thankful

I am leaving tomorrow and pretty much til the end of the month I will be gone. But I couldn't leave without doing a Thankful post, because I am thankful for SO MUCH! Thanksgiving is on the 25th of this month, so I will do 25 things that I am most thankful for right now in my life.

I am thankful for....

1. that we are going to california for thanksgiving, so i can see my sisters and their kids and hubbies, and my newest little niece avery. I can't wait to love her!

2. all my nieces and nephews. besides being a mom, being an aunt is my favorite thing!

3. my husband. for ALL that he is.

4. my three angels, celine tage and aliah. Heavenly father sent the best to me.

5. for my dance class.

6. for my job. so many are without jobs right now, I am grateful for mine. even when i am tired at the end of a shift.

7. for being humbled in a very loving way by our Heavenly Father. He knows what I can do without and be happy. and thats a lot.

8. my family, though each should get their own category. sisters and sister in laws. brothers in laws, mom and dad and in-laws. so blessed.

9. great, wonderful, incredible friends. I don't see how anyone has better friends than me.

10. Bunko! seriously, it is a big blessing.

11. my home. every day I love it more.

12. that i feel GOOD! not physically, but mentally! the past few years my mental state has been less than healthy. but this year I feel I have overcome that obstacle. not permanently, but most days. I feel so good and happy, that is something I will never, ever take for granted again.

13. that christmas is coming. could not be more excited about it.

14. for the gospel. it is such a broad thing to be grateful for, but I am who I am because of it.

15. for music. I love music, and right now I am especially grateful for christmas music!

16. for my love of reading.

17.christmas wrapping paper. what a silly thing to be grateful for, but oh it makes me happy! :)

18. the dollar store. saved my butt more than a few times this past year.

19. sunshine. I miss it when its not around.

20. the utah jazz. some of my favorite nights are spent watching the games with kaleb.

21. my calling in young womans and being able to be in there with celine. that is about to come to an end when celine turns 14 in february. I have loved being in there with her!

22. weekend getaways with my girlfriends.

23. my hot tub. so many peaceful hours spent in there!

24. a warm bed to crawl into at night at the end of a long day.

25. that i get to be me. what a great thing to be!!!

Wishing all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

...we seek after these things....

A few days after the school year started celine tried our for her school play AIDA. She had to sing a solo, scary!!! But we were so happy when we found out that she had made the cast as a handmaiden!! Her best friend Lauren also got the same part so I knew they were going to have so much fun together.

We knew this was going to be a big time commitment, but I also knew it would be worth it for celine. To be part of something like this and to have these kinds of experiences are priceless. There were days and sometimes weeks through sept. oct and the beginning of november where I would only see celine a few minutes a day. But she was loving every minute of it. I was anxious to see what she had been doing!

Finally last thursday was opening night of AIDA. Lots of family and friends were there to support celine. All I can say is my heart was filled with pride when I saw her on stage. She was amazing. She was beautiful and she sparkled, the best one out of the bunch. I was so incredibly proud of her. I actually loved the whole play. I thought it was well done for jr. high kids, and I loved the story of AIDA, which I hadnt known before. Three nights and it was over. I know celine is sad to be done, but I know these are memories that she has created to last forever. My daughter is so grown up, watching her interact with the cast and watching boys HUG her!!! It made me see her in a different light. It was a great experience for all of us. So grateful for everyone who came and supported her!! Celine, you were amazing! Love you to pieces.

Dont Judge :)

I am sorry that my blog is christmas background and christmas music, I know there are those of you out there who are not ready for christmas yet, but I just can't hide it anymore! I am SO excited for christmas!! I am ready for it, bring it on! Last year I did not enjoy christmas at all. There was no joy in the season, no spirit of the holidays for me. It was BLAH! Me, who loves christmas more than any other time of the year, had no christmas feelings last year at all. Well, I am making up for it this year. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not disrespecting Thanksgiving at all, I have so much to be thankful for. But I am just wrapping Thanksgiving up as part of my Christmas season. I spent all day yesterday listening to christmas music, I have begun the reading of christmas stories, both old and loved and new and never read. Christmas shopping is just about done and christmas wrapping will commence at the beginning of december. I don't ever want to experience a christmas like I did last year. So, don't judge, but I am making up for it this year in any way I can! I have so much to look forward to and so much to be grateful for! My little sister is giving birth to my niece on friday, and I get to go spend thanksgiving in california with my family and my two sisters families. I get to enjoy my new niece and all my other nieces and nephews for 5 whole days!!! I have a weekend getaway with my girlfriends coming up, which is always so much fun. I have bunko at the beginning of december. So much to be excited about. So bare with my excitement for christmas, I promise you'll catch it soon too! :)

D-Will rock you

Me and kaleb went to our first jazz game of the season! a good friends husband offered kaleb his tickets which he HAPPILY agreed to take off of his hands. I don't know why, but there is nothing like going to a jazz game. The atmosphere and the crowd and getting to watch the players, its one of my fav things ever. and I love that me and kaleb do it together. we invited his parents along with us so they could truly witness our jazz fanhood. it was a great night, especially since they won! I hope we have many more opportunites to attend games this season!!

Another Halloween...

Me and kaleb were both just saying we swear we just had halloween, and now it has come and gone again. Life is passing by in a blur. Sad. We had a fun filled halloween weekend. The kids got to dress up for school and have a parade and a party. Saturday we went to cornbellys with my family, we had so much fun! We did the maze, watched pig races, went on a hayride. It was a great day with my fam. Then we headed up to kalebs mom and dads for some lunch and just to hang out for a while. Then it was home to trick or treat in the pouring rain, but nothing was gonna stop my kids. Me and kaleb sat in the car and followed them around neighborhood after neighborhood. Three hours later they decided they were done. :) too much candy. Halloween is not my favorite holiday but its always fun to see the kids get so excited about everything. I really love halloween because thats right around the time that the jazz start to play!!!

gettin lost in the maze.

aliah knows that the only prince she needs is her daddy!
the cousins.
bein silly with my mom and sisters.
kaleb fits right in.
this is what happens to naughty teenagers! :)