We went to the range to hit a few balls. Golf can be very exciting and frustrating all at once! Practice, practice, practice…that’s what pays off. After warming up, we all did pretty good! Thomas inherited one of my hybrids and hit the ball 150 yards…I hated that club anyway!
I forgot to take pictures of Thomas, Jeff and myself…oh well. Maybe one day, I’ll remember to photograph everyone!
Christmas was wonderful! Each year, Jeff & I make our kids wait while we get ready for the day before they can go downstairs. I know…we’re mean parents! We told them they had to wait until 7:00am to wake us up. We were listening in our bedroom to see if they were awake. At 7:00 our door flew open and they all jumped on our bed yelling and screaming! I love the excitement of Christmas!
There’s a funny story behind Ashley’s present. After we left Everett, we decided to stop at the outlet’s in Centralia. I gave each of the kids $20 to spend on themselves. Ashley called me to tell me she had found a scarf she loved at Eddie Bauer. I told her I’d be right there to have her show it to me. I was SHOCKED when she showed it to me because I had already bought it for her! I then lied…I told her that she couldn’t buy it because it was THE ugliest scarf I had ever saw! OUCH! When she opened it, she said, “Mom! You hurt my feelings when you told me it was ugly!” I then told her I had to lie, because I had already bought it for her!
More clothes…(sigh)
TOYS!!!
A new Home Theater System!
Merry CHRIST…mas!!!
Christmas Eve was very relaxed. We watched Home Alone 1 & 2, ate way too much junk, went caroling with the Younger family and the Missionaries and then came home to open our pajamas. Yippee!!!
My kids were VERY specific about what “kind” of pajamas they wanted this year. Flannel bottoms and a large, loose top (they like to wear Jeff’s old t-shirts to bed). I decided to “glam” them up a bit and put their nick-names on back. Smalls, Petco & Buddy Roosky. They LOVED them!!!
I had originally planned on making their flannel pants, but I found a screaming deal at Old Navy I couldn’t pass up! I bought men’s bottoms for all of them! I added a few inches to Aylexie’s and hemmed up Thomas’. It worked out beautifully!
I like to call this picture “Tall & Small”. I know Jeff is tall, but I forget HOW tall he is! Dad needed help putting a new mount on his TV and asked Jeff for some help. I looked over and saw the height difference and knew it would make a great picture! :)
After my morning run, I came home and my kids told me I had frost on my hat! It was foggy outside and cold. I didn’t believe them until I saw the picture. Pretty cool!
It is a real treat each child looks forward to…in 5th grade, you get to go to Biztown! They study all about business in school for weeks leading up to this event. If you want to chaperone, they enter you into a lottery to choose who will go. The parents that are chosen have to go to training at Biztown to be able to chaperone. It is BIG! Thomas laid out his work clothes and was too excited to sleep the night before! He was a UPS distributor. He had SOOOO much fun! He came home with stars in his eyes! He couldn’t wait to tell me ALL about his day at work!
Aylexie, Thomas and I went to the Tree Wisemen to pick out our tree this year. We got a HUGE tree! It was almost shocking how much of the family room it took up. It was very beautiful, but definitely TOO big! Next year…a smaller tree!
We had to cut off the top to get it to fit in our room and we have 9 foot ceilings! YIKES!
I woke up the find there was snow on the ground! That’s a pretty big deal here in Vancouver! We hardly ever get snow in December! I sent out a text to make sure my friends were still planning on running. I am SO glad they did! I will never forget the giddy feeling of running through untouched snow! It was magical! Emy walked me home afterwards and she announced that we needed to make snow angels on my driveway! How fun?! What a memorable day!
Jeff’s company throws a pretty amazing Christmas party each year! Everyone gets dressed up. I told Jeff a fib and said I wasn’t feeling up to going to his party. He said he understood, but when he came home, I was all dressed up and ready to go! We had fun. There were a lot of drunk people there, and the music was WAY too loud, but together, we had a good time. I’m just happy he still thinks I’m beautiful, because I totally think he’s the most handsome man in the world! He still makes my heart pitter-patter!
On Thanksgiving morning, Jeff and I decided to go for a little run to Albertson’s to get a newspaper :) He also planned on playing in the Turkey Bowl with his brother, Jared. Boys and men alike were ready to play! I decided to go with him to run a bit longer. The track was terrible! Mud is no fun to run on! I think I only ran about 3 miles before I gave up. I did have a great time watching men behaving like they were still in high school rolling around tackling each other! There were some pretty amazing plays. I was impressed! The weather couldn’t have been better. It was a beautiful day!
We decided to go to Everett to spend Thanksgiving with the Pedigo’s. However…I LOVE TO COOK! So-we decided we needed to eat lots of Thanksgiving this year! It was DIVINE! Jeff smoked the turkey I brined on his new smoker and we all decided this was THE ONLY WAY to cook turkey for as long as we live! The rolls were heavenly, sweet potatoes were fabulous and the pie…was awful! Round two was a disaster…Thomas’ favorite part of Thanksgiving is the pumpkin pie…his eyes were gleaming and his mouth was watering. Ashley took a huge bite and then spit it out promptly announcing that I had forgotten the sugar! UGH!!!!! What’s even funnier is that when Grandma Pedigo made this for Thomas on Thanksgiving, SHE forgot the sugar too! Pumpkin pie was NOT meant to be this year!!!
Jeff is our hero! THE BEST TURKEY SMOKER EVER!!!
After dinner (thankfully before dessert) our kids announced that they were ALWAYS coming home for Thanksgiving dinner-no matter what! I’ll take that any day!!!
Age is inevitable. I remember when I was a lot younger-in high school. One of my favorite people whom I happened to work for asked me what I considered middle age to be. My response was priceless…mainly because of the shocked look on his face! I replied… “I don’t know…I guess-30?!” Rick Osborne’s eyes almost popped out of his head! Years later at his daughters wedding, he asked me how middle age was with THE BIGGEST SMILE on his face ever! I smiled, and said it was great! I don’t think I’m old by any means, but I was worried about this number. I didn’t feel any differently today than I did yesterday. I am proud of my accomplishments in life-my marriage, my children and my love of my Savior, Jesus Christ. These three things are absolutely priceless to me!
Jeff worked on my hutch. My girls and I went to a baptism for my friend, Dong-Mei’s daughter. We then came home, changed clothes and got ready to bake our Thanksgiving feast…but, I decided we needed to go to McDonald’s for a Diet Dr. Pepper first! Ashley made the pumpkin pies (4) while Aylexie and I made stuffing, cranberry relish, potatoes and brined the turkey. After a huge sigh of relief when all was done, I checked on the pies only to find that they looked a little…funny. Ashley had forgotten the eggs, so I whipped up 4 more and threw them in the oven. Thanksgiving was going to be fabulous!
Ashley got me a much needed can opener AND a cute homemade coupon to detail my car with a q-tip! I had mentioned it to her earlier that week :)
Jeff got me my favorite Dove dark chocolate AND is continuing his work on my hutch!
Thomas got me a beautiful scarf!
Aylexie got me THE perfect mug and a coupon to take me to see Catching Fire!
I had such a great day, spending time with my family. I love them to pieces! They are my everything!!!
For this years Evening of Excellence, the Skyview YW decided to have each YW wear a fancy modest prom dress and each of them were escorted by a couple of priests in our ward to their seats. I am so proud of my girls for working on their personal progress and know that this program is truly inspired. They learn how to set & accomplish goals…hard goals. Ashley has completed this program and also earned her honor bee. Aylexie is very close to finishing. What beautiful Daughters of God I have!
Sister Ricks LOVES Ashley! She wanted to make sure she had a picture with her :)
