THE LONGEST POST IN THE WORLD...

IN CASE YOU WERE BORED...

Hi Everyone! I know it has been a million years since I have posted and I do apologize, but the holiday season has kicked my rear end and I am happily busy now doing mom and other things. I am ready to catch up and I am going to try really hard to update this at least once a month so that it doesn't disappear completely. Pictures will follow in the next post, but I'm not connected to my hard drive right now which has all my pictures on it.

Halloween was lots of fun. I dressed as a spider lady witch thingy, Trista was a Cheetah (so cute), Alayna was wonder woman, Kael was Snake Eyes, Ethan was Anakin Skywalker, and Rhett was Optimus Prime. We had lots of school parties, the school parade, and then fun trick or treating around the area. The kids got too much candy (like usual) and we spent the night with friends and family visiting. I love Halloween time.

We celebrated our 10th Anniversary in November and took a trip with Mike and Kristine to LA the following week to do some shopping and such. We had a fun time and it was nice to get away and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Kael's B-day was in November and we had a fun time with him at dinner and took him to get some new shoes and pick out a toy. We had a treat with the family and he said it was the best birthday ever because he got a huge thing of Bakugans. I thought it was quite cute!

Thanksgiving we spent with the Hirschi family. My parents came and my two sisters and we had a wonderful dinner. Then we went and saw the Blind Side and it was such a great movie. I will definitely buy that one when it comes out. My kids will love to watch it, especially because it has a basis of football. On that Saturday, we went up to the BYU - Utah Game and that was a lot of fun - lots of energy and a great game!

My dance group has been going strong. They performed at the Hurricane Rehabilitation Center in November. We had a recital the 1st part of December and it went really great. The girls all did a great job and I was so happy to have that part under my belt and get more experience for the next one. This has been a new fun journey running everything on my own and getting to be more creative. It has been so wonderful.

We had a fun surprise party for Richard's 30th birthday in December. I really got him good. We planned it at Stan & Shani's house so we kept everything very secret. Everyone parked in the back of the house. I had taken the food and everything over earlier. I told Richard I was taking him out to dinner, so we planned to leave and when we did, I told him Stan had called and asked him to help move a desk. He didn't think anything of it because we hang out with them quite a bit. So we walked in and Shani was just visiting with Richard and all of a sudden everyone jumped out and was "Surprise!" He was soooo surprised and it was so much fun. He didn't even know what to say. It's fun to really really surprise someone. So most of his brothers and sisters were there and his Dad and a couple of his cousins. We ate and played games and it was so fun.

Christmas was a blast. We spent most of the Christmas vacation up at Bear Lake in a cabin Natalie and Corey had rented. It was 3 stories, had 6 bedrooms and 3 baths and a beautiful view of the lake. It was so great that they invited us up. Neither of us have ever been anywhere other than home for Christmas, so we decided to do something different and travel for Christmas. We packed up all the gifts and all the snow gear we could muster up in this warm community and we headed North. We went swimming at the resort pool, we traveled into MontPelier and saw where they lived and their old furniture store, we went into Logan and played at the Fun Center (even roller skating at our old age!), and we had such a great time. The kids played in the snow and with their cousins and new friends they had met. Christmas Eve we had a wonderful dinner and opened new jammies. Christmas morning there were lots of presents and lots of playing. The kids loved it. We were so thankful to be invited and we had such a wonderful time. I think we will definitely do something like that again in the future. We came home the Sunday after Christmas after attending church up there and the driving weather was perfect. It was even fun to attend church in a crowded snowy tourist-visiting community. Always fun to have a new adventure!

New Years we spent at home with the kids. Matt and Nanette came over and we watched that man who jumped the car onto the barge across the water in Long Beach. That was our excitement! I will say that I was proud of us for making it to midnight because we usually do not. We did have a couple of kids make it to about 11:45 p.m. They gave it an honest effort, though!

That's all I will bore you with in this post...more to come! This year, I promise!

Trista got her braces off! This is before...

Her name was on the board that day...

Ta - Da!!! What a beautiful girl!

My boys who love to read...so sweet...

Alayna's Christmas choir performance for school
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This is our Hirschi family Christmas party this past year. We had a night in Old Bethlehem and everyone had stations where they had a market with their food. You would pay your coin to get the food, we ate on the floor, and we all dressed up. Kristine did a great job organizing it and coming up with this fun time. We all enjoyed it.
Our family had the dairy market

Matt & Nanette had the Fruit Market

Wes & Chelsey had the well

Kristine and Bailey

Some of the family eating on the floor

Dad & Kitty were the tax collectors

David & Dixie had the toy shop

Mike & Kristine had the Confectionary

Toni & Derek had the Farmer's Vegetable Market
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Amanda & Jeff had the Bakery

Steve & Julie at the Hirschi party with the Meat Market

Trista opening a present from Poppy & Nana

Alayna

Boys getting excited over books & footballs from Poppy & Nana

Poppy & Nana with their gift

Malibu beach

Malibu at sunset

An ice hockey league in Long Beach

byu/utah game


Venice Beach



Amazing 5-year-old skater boy

Us in Malibu

More of the beach photos we love...

Trista & Rhett on a Thanksgiving weekend horse ride in Arizona

Rhett riding all by himself...he was so proud! He even fell off the horse right after this picture was taken because he wanted to get down by himself, but he was tough and was okay.

Me & Kael on his field trip to watch the St. George symphony in November

My dear friend Heather's going away party...she moved up to Cedar (We miss you Heather!)

Ethan winning 1st place in Harvest of Talents for his art work! Great job, Ethan!

Attenders at the big Surprise Party for Rich!









My dance recital pics December 2009




More recital pics & snow playing at Bear Lake - Kael & Alayna...





Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Pics...





Fun in Logan...



















Christmas time with Grandma

Kids on Christmas Eve...

Kael with Nana & Poppy on his Bday



Rich's champion fall ball team 2009

Happy Birthday Alayna October 2009 (yes, I am that far behind!)