christmas quickies

We were freezing in southern Utah for Christmas this year -- no it did not snow, and during the day it was actually quite lovely, but as soon as the sun went down, brrrr!

We had a nice time, once the kids calmed down a bit that is.  They get so excited to see Grandma, their favorite person!

Before we even got there with our presents, the tree was loaded with presents for the boys.  Not only that, but my mom had prepared daily presents ON the tree that the boys could hunt down and open.  Can we say spoiled loved?

Dan asked for a bunch of tools this year, I got him a new stereo for his truck, my parents got us mummy bags for camping (so cozy!) and his grandpa built him a bird feeder.  In the middle there, you see him starting us out with the annual reading of Luke II from the Bible, from when Jesus was born.  It's good to remember that Christmas isn't all about presents! :)

 

I got a lot more than this but didn't think to hand the camera over.  Lots of red kitchen supplies!  Toaster, skillet, and blender.  I'm so practical, I know!  Also, a hand-knitted scarf from my mom, a nice new cookie sheet, and lots of other little items.

Sean wanted just money this year because he is saving up for something electronic, but the boys collectively got a Wii.  I think we're the last people in the universe to get one, ha!  The boys have been on it ever since.

Santa brought the boys these fun silly goggle straws!  Cameron also asked for a drafting kit, craft supplies, a computer game, and games for the Wii.

Ethan asked for new pajamas, so all the boys got a new set.  He also got a Book of Mormon Scene It?! Game, some Wii supplies, legos, and other goodies from Grandma.

We got my parents a digital picture frame (love those things)!  They also got a bunch of gift cards and a vacation from my brothers!

  Mom kept us well fed and well entertained.  While there, we went to Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, went out for Chinese food one day, saw the "Puss in Boots" movie, ate pizza, built legos, read books, went for walks, drove around to look at Christmas lights, went after-Christmas shopping, watched movies on the big screen TV, and had an EXCELLENT Christmas Dinner.

It was another great visit.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for everything, and thanks for making it a Merry Christmas!  :)

just a glimpse

Back from our trip.

We're all unpacked.

Laundry is being done.

New presents and toys have found their place.

The Christmas decos are all down (except for the trees and the outside lights, we'll leave those for another week or so).

Will go grocery shopping today.

Kids are living on the new Wii.

Pretty soon I need to start studying again as there are something like 17 new chapters due the first day of school. I shudder to think about it.

Must download 8,000 pictures from my camera.

Have plans to do something crafty today.

It's a lovely day on Christmas Break!

"the three little pigs" as written by shakespeare

I laughed so much watching this.

change for a dollar -- amazing and touching video

Please watch, well worth your time.

our saturday

I kid you not, I did not leave my bed until about 11 a.m.  It was splendid.

Dan's on shift, we all slept in, then the kids came into my room to watch Pokemon movies on my computer.  I just put the pillow over my head and fell back asleep.  Bliss.

Then, Cam lost a tooth and gained a new hole in his head.

He has a really hard time taking pictures, period, but outside, even on a cloudy day, fuggetaboutit.  It took us eighteen tries to get this almost-non-squinty one.

Then, off to the baseball fields for Ethan's last game of the season.  (whoo-hoo!  No more practice and no more Saturday games!)

This favorite moment is what he was waiting for all season, getting his trophy.  Good job, E!

Then, Chitlins and I made a snowflake garland (as per our Advent Calendar Stocking's suggestion) and read The Night the Grinch Stole Christmas.

   

Saw this on Lorie's site this past week, as taken from the Nifty Thrifty Things blog. 

As much as I love it, it does take some time.  We made about 18 snowflakes (well, I made probably a dozen and the kids started their half) in a little over an hour.  We used scratch paper because we didn't have a lot of plain white paper to be wasted.

I think it's cute.

a little bit of christmas happy

First of all, I can't believe that I am half-way done with nursing school! Finished up my semester with an A which is stinking awesome! Very happy about the whole experience. Had one rough day there in the first few weeks when I just couldn't get a skill down correctly, but other than that, pure awesomeness. So now I enjoy 4-5 weeks off. Loving it!

Here is a quick pic of our tree at night without the flash and then using the night settings on my camera.

95% of what's on it was hand-made by my mom or my mother-in-law. We do home-made Christmas around here and love it!

A couple of weeks ago, we lasted just long enough at our ward Christmas party to get pics with Santa--then unfortunately my children's behavior required me to vacate them off the premises and put them to bed STAT so this is all we got:

We were very sad to leave, but I had to follow through on my threat to leave unless they started to behave themselves.

I've made something like 20+ loaves of this orange cranberry bread to hand out to teachers, neighbors, etc. It's so very good (and so easy) and is a definite favorite recipe of ours!

My friend Chris invited us to their ward Christmas party last week--assuming we wanted the chance to try again! I reminded them that if they didn't have good behavior we would leave, and they were pretty darn good! Instead of Santa, their ward had "the three wise men" (which I think were the three members of their Bishopric? kinda cute idea).

We're really enjoying the season, and a big part of that is music. Sean and I are in the ward choir (under the direction of the infamous Mary Lou Klippel) and are learning lots. Yesterday we performed in a really neat program! Our family is again doing our Countdown Advent that my friend Courtney gave us 2 years ago. We've danced and sang to Christmas music, made Christmas cookies, had a picnic for dinner, went out for ice cream, decorated our tree, went out to look at lights, written letters to Santa, and more. The kids have one more week of school and then we're off to Utah for a quick trip over Christmas.

How are you making Christmas meaningful this year?

grrrrr! cameron earns his bear patch

Dan is his den leader now, and he is awarding Cameron his Bear patch and one gold arrow to add to all the ones he got as a Wolf.

                  

Here is Cameron 'pinning' me.    Good work, Cam!

 

free living scriptures dvd

We ordered this last night--got through on the first time, no gimmicks, no tax or shipping, and you get two DVDs, Christmas and Easter. Good luck!

To get your free Animated Nativity DVD call 1-800-574-0050 M–F 9am -8pm MST with offer code FKB. *One per household, must give valid info, while supplies last.

officially half a nurse!

So the big fat final was yesterday, and aside from the computers all slowing down and stopping and kicking us out of our tests (oy the torture!) it went just fine.

I ended up with a 96% on the final and a 95% in the class.

Super excited about that! I got a 91% last semester, which in nursing school is a B, so my entire goal this year was to work just that much harder and get the A, which I did.

Relief! Joy! Excitement! Can't believe it's half over already. Block three starts in a little over a month, so I have a much needed break...and I'm going to enjoy it!

2011 family photo shoot

Here is our latest photo shoot with the wondrous and great Christine Cuglietta! I love them all, can't decide exactly which to put up in the wall and/or send to Grandparents. :) For your own spectacular photoshoot with Christine, contact her by email or visit her blog.

my talented talented boy

Sean performed at the school variety show this past week, participating in a very ill-miked rendition of Bye Bye Birdie's "Telephone Song" and then a short fun monologue.  Check him out!

 

He also played clarinet at his Winter Band Concert last week.  He did a short "Angels We Have Heard on High" with a gal (who I swear he is going to grow up and marry some day, they are so alike) and then did "Jingle Bell Rock" with the band.  A few days later they also performed for the school district governing board.  Kinda cool.  :)

 

 

Thanks for watching!

music video for nursing school project!

I have been very excited to share this!

At school we were assigned partners and topics for a 15 minute presentation--mine was Incident Reporting. My partner, Brandee, and I put together this video to follow our powerpoint. Enjoy!

"I Know What To Do" (Adele cover) Nursing School project for Incident Reporting at Estrella Mountain Community College.

(PS, I wrote the lyrics and sang the vocals, Brandee is the nurse in our video, and music is by Adele)

book butterfly reviews -- november

I have Thanksgiving vacation photos to force upon you share, but the editing of 266 pictures and videos has just not happened.  I swear it is coming, because we did some really fun things I want to show you.  It's just going to take time.

Our schedule right now is insane.  Fortunately, some of the business is coming to a close soon.  I purposefully only allow one of my kiddos to participate in sports at a time (because 1: who can afford more than that? and 2:  I just can't stretch myself that thin, to be at 2+ practices a week plus 2+ games a week on top of everything that goes on), but Ethan's baseball combined with Sean and Cameron in scouts on two different nights--which I thought was going to be a blessing but in turn, really only means we're busy two nights instead of one--as well as Sean doing afterschool practice 2-3 times a week for his upcoming variety show has really kept our weeks and days packed!  I look at my calendar and I sigh!  This is a busy time of year anyway, without all that, but then  you add a couple of doctors and dentist appts, a family baptism, and studying for the HESI in 3 days and the Final (can you believe it?) in 10. . . well you're bound to have a crack here and there.  <----- and that was all within the first week, no lie!

So we all cracked a little bit last night as I had to pull the fam from the ward party early due to bad behavior.  There were some tears and temper tantrums (from me as well as the kids) but hopefully some good learning opportunities came out of the fact that Mom is gonna follow through on her threats!  We all calmed down afterwards and enjoyed a quiet night at home.  did some more Christmas decorating inside.

So books for November?  Not much.  I have high hopes for December.  I'll be done with my semester in  9 days, and then, get this:  I'll be half-way done with Nursing School.  Is that going crazy wicked fast or what??

"The Summoning"  (Darkest Powers Trilogy #1) by Kelley Armstrong

This was a fun paranormal story that was a little bit scary...probably my limit as far as scariness to be honest (I don't much like being scared, even in fun)...but still enjoyable. It's a trilogy and I look forward to the next installment of the story.

 

 

"Finger Lickin' Fifteen" (Stephanie Plum #15) by Janet Evanovich

Lula was the best part of this one. Very funny. :)

 

 

 

 

I have a couple others I've been working on, but {see above schedule} things have been a bit nuts it's taking me some time to get through them.

What have you been reading?