Getting ready...

Well, I didn't have it in me to reproduce the master piece blog that erased itself the other day.... sorrrrrryyyy.

Oh well, so today we are getting ready for our New Years Eve Party! We went shopping at Costco and Albertsons and got some yummy food. I just finished baking 2 boxes of cupcakes. We are also making rice crispies treats and fried rice and teriyaki meatballs, along with alot of other snacky foods.

This is kind of a special New Years. Since Jeromy got all his parenting plan stuff done, he has more time with Aurora, something he's always wanted and this is his FIRST New Years to celebrate with her!

We are also having 3 other families coming over to help ring in the new year!

So anyway, I've been cleaning, shopping and baking today. I also took down all my Christmas stuff yesterday... always makes the place look bigger...

More pictures to come after tomorrow nights Par-taaay!!!

So bummed....

I just wrote this amazing blog with a ton of pictures and it didn't save.... I am so bummed. It took an hour, there was humor... gut wrenching emotion... all gone... LAME.

Well, If I have the patients I'll maybe rewrite it all tomorrow... but how do you recreate a masterpiece? I crack my self up. Later.

What I have been doing the last couple of days....

I rarely get to do puzzles. I like to do them....

Jeromy wants to get some puzzle glue and hang it like a poster.

Another wonderful Christmas!!

Been pretty busy around here, like everywhere else I'm sure!

Christmas eve was really nice. We actually had no family activities so we were able to go to our church's Christmas eve fellowship. It was so nice and peaceful and relaxing. There weren't many lights on, mostly the lights of the decorated tree, and other lights decorating the place- was real cozy! Tons of goodies to eat (watch out weight watchers here I come- in a couple more days LOL), and alot of people shared how they keep the focus on Jesus during their Christmas celebration. We also sang some classic Christmas songs.

After that we went home and relaxed and went to bed.

The next morning the kids opened presents sent to them by their dad in California. We were waiting on our gifts to open until we got Aurora later that night. (Kent likes wearing that hat from whaling days- don't ask)After getting cleaned up, we headed over to Misty and Dennis' for Christmas dinner.

They put out a pretty good spread- everything was delicious! Prime rib with a ton of other yummy food!

I brought deviled eggs- which by the way Misty, we left our tray there woops! See Kelsey's little face up their in the right hand corner??

Misty's tree- with all the presents Grandma and Grandpa brought over...

Jade opening one of her presents, she got all 3 "Toy Story" movies, she also got seasons one and two of Sponge Bob. Yup, she's 18 folks, a big kid at heart!

Kent with his voice recorder, Xbox 360 controller, and a mountain dew shirt ( Kent loves Mountain dew but can't drink it cause of his braces)...Denny opening his presents...Mason opening his presents..And Kelsey opening presents... okay a few pictures of Kelsey opening presents...Kelsey got 4 pairs of princess shoes...Look at her Kelsey-Misty-Kelsey face!!!Yummy prime rib dinner, yum! Looks like a healthy portion for dinner right? Well, you didn't see the appetizers I was grazing on an hour before we ate, or the several desserts I was munching on after dinner.... FUUUUULLLLLLL!!Jeromy and I... you can't tell that I've gained 30+ pounds since this summer- hence weight watchers!!I can't believe I forgot to get a picture of Misty and Dennis.... well, here's all the boys playing ping pong in the garage...After we left Misty's, we headed out to pick up Aurora. We get her for a week!!!! As soon as we got her, we had the kids open their stockings and presents- Jade and Kent waited for Aurora to come over before they opened their presents.

But before that, I had to show you all their stocking stuffers before I wrapped them, I had so much fun wrapping all the little fun stuff....

Cute kids...Kent wondering why he got coal (chocolate) in his stocking- I couldn't resist!Present time...We also had the kids each take a turn reading the story of Jesus birth, in the book of Luke, out of the Bible.

Later that night, Jeromy had shown Aurora the guitar he had gotten from his mom. He had re-painted part of it gold, he also re-stringed the guitar. He bought her a tuner and some picks as stocking stuffers. She said she was interested in learning how to play so Jeromy is getting her started. Isn't she adorable???

After a long day we were all exhausted. Time for bed.

This morning we woke up 40 minutes late for church cause we were all so tired, but we still made it in time! Couldn't believe it. Another great sermon by our Pastor Kevin. We are studying in the book of Romans. Focusing on government and how Christians are supposed to submit to the authority over them as long as it doesn't conflict with God's commandments- a sticky topic indeed!

After church, we headed over to my mom and dad's so Aurora could open her presents from them. Aurora had alot of opening to do!

She got a soft dog and she named it Angus....I remembered to get a picture of my mom and dad!We finally were able to dig into that last batch of cinnamon rolls my mom made for us... YUM!Good night and God bless!

Christmas Eve's Eve...

This was actually Jeromy's idea. He wanted the kids to open a present tonight instead of waiting for tomorrow night. Both kids were getting a pretty cool present and I think Jeromy was excited (as excited as I was) for them to open it!I think the kids know what it is... it's hard to hide something from an 18 and 16 year old.

Jeromy wanted them to open the present "back to back" so they wouldn't see what the other got... even tho it was the same present lol!

Yaaaayyyyy, it's a Wacom Intuos 4 large Tablet. They were pretty happy!!!

The tablets dwarfs their lap tops which are pretty good size.... I can't wait to see what they draw!They have to set up their tablets thru their laptops, so much technical stuff.

So cute- they are having so much fun!Down loading programs from their laptops to the tablet....I'm glad Jeromy is able to help them figure stuff out cause I am no help in that department!That looks kinda uncomfortable but she needed a number off the back of her tablet to enter into the computer to register it.

Coming soon: some really cool drawing by Jade and Kent!

The Weekend before Christmas...

Was full of parties!

Saturday my mom had her Christmas Tea with all the women (most anyway!) in our family, ranging in ages from 2 years to 92 years! Amazing!

My mom got us all those candles that have a fake flame that 'flickers' and smells like vanilla, and made wraps for them with all our names on them- so cute!

My mom has also been seriously baking over the last few weeks and she had an amazing spread to prove it! (Did I mention I'm starting ((again)) Weight Watchers January 1st?)

Laura with her one and only daughter Hannah (she has 4 other boys) and Misty with her one and only daughter Kelsey (she has 2 other boys)!My sister Misty and I- who are both 35!

Madison and Jade...Cousins Hannah and Kelsey getting reacquainted...Misty- Jeromy said this was Kelsey's "Misty face" cause she looks JUST LIKE YOU!

Cousins, sisters, daughters....

The boys hung out down stairs in Grandpa's "man cave"...

Look mom! Aurora's stocking is right in the middle. It's so cute!So today, we had Jeromy's side of the family's Christmas Party to go to. Here's Jeromy with his nephews: Oscar, Cameron and Jacob...Aurora and Jeromy...8 grand kids at the table...You ever see anyone so cute in braces? (beside Kent of course?)Jeromy's 2 aunts: Diane and Sharon, and step-mom Joanne (or mama-jo as the grand kids call her!)Still trying to figure out my camera. Here's our family... blurry!Patsy and Redd's family... also blurry... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrJeromy's brother Bill, and his 4 adorable kids" Jacob (one of the twins), Cameron, Haley and Kaitlynn (other twin)!I could leave you with this cute picture of Jeromy and I...But why, when I can leave you with this picture???