Christmas Past

Christmas morning Isobel woke up at like 1:30am to go to the bathroom and came running in - "Santa's been here!"  "Too bad, it's too early to be up for the day - go back to bed."

This is what our house looked like Christmas morning.  I woke up at like 6 for some reason and had to wait for the girls to wake up.  I sat in my office waiting to see movement in the girls' room ;)  Ya, Bryce teased me for being a little girl who is too excited to sleep.  (At first he thought I woke up because I heard the girls.)

The girls were happy to be awake and opening presents.

And now I know you are dying to know what I got in that huge box by the couch.  Bryce did another BIG surprise (like my birthday bike last year).  Here's the beauty:

I just had to try it out - and it worked - cranberry white chocolate oatmeal cookies - yum!

Just a few days after Christmas, Mom and Dad came for a visit for their anniversary and some killer burgers at Bobcat Bite :)  See how happy my kids are to see them!

We had fun with G, KT, Hannah, and Will on Christmas evening/night.  They came back up for New Year's and we played games and went sledding.  Overall, it was a lovely holiday and I don't want to admit it's so far gone.  Maybe that's why my tree is still up...

Tragedy!

This morning I was cleaning my glasses and...

NO!!! 

I have had these glasses for 8 years and the prescription is still perfect.  Guess the frames couldn't hold out.  The big bummer is that my insurance won't cover glasses until January...
I'm wearing contacts.  My eyes are dry.  My vision is a bit blurry (like this picture).  My contacts have never been as good as my glasses. 

Isobel was so sad for me when she saw them after school -"It'll be okay, Sweetie --whoa.  I sound like I'm your mother -heh."

Super glue didn't work.  I am seriously considering some masking tape.
Wish I could call Hermione to fix them - repairo!

Happy Halloween! (Day 31)

Isobel decided ages ago to dress as Princess Mononoke and I decided to go with one of my old costumes -Captain Underpants!  Eva was an elephant at school but decided to be Piglet for Halloween.  Aren't we so cute? 

(I had to take the picture myself on the timer because Bryce was driving back from AZ with G.)

Several people seemed quite moved by my costume - one woman had to take a picture with her phone - one feld inclined to give me a wedgie - it was mentioned in Sunday School the next day - and when I taught Relief Society, one of the sisters told me she can't look at me the same way.  Right on!

Apparently the other best costume was Captain Jack Sparrow - I guess the Captain thing was a good idea ;)

It was great - he had the swagger and everything. 

We had ZERO trick-or-treaters - good thing we gave out candy at the trunk-or-treat at the church.  Did I mention there was a carnival at the church?  Anyway - we still have tons of candy.  Dangit!

Hope your Halloween was fun, too! 

Week 4

Ok, so I lied about doing 8 days this week. I decided to do Halloween as it's own post because it's easy. So, here we go. Day 24: We kinda just hung out on Saturday, can you tell?

Day 25: We had the Sheffers and the Jensens over for dinner and games. I love it when we get to use the whole big table. I love this table. (We don't have enough matching chairs - good thing we still have a few nasty gold ones ;)

Day 26: We woke up Monday to snow. This was my first view of it. Beautiful!

Day 27: Bryce and I went to see Built to Spill. It was so fun - and cold. It was a indoor venue so I assumed it would be warm. We left our coats in the car. They had a "no re-entry" policy. Good thing I was wearing long sleeves at least - I was still cold.

Day 28: I love good sweaters. It's hard to take a picutre of yourself in a sweater without looking chubby. Oh, well. I love the bright orange stripes and the long sleeves. It's super fuzzy and warm.

Day 29: Share recommended Bleak House ages ago...I was putting it off because it's very long - but it's split into episodes. Bryce and I started watching and had to keep watching thru 4 episodes until it was 12:30 and we HAD to go to bed. Oh, man. It's good. Check it out on Netflix instant play. You won't be sorry.

Day 30: Last night we carved pumpkins with our friends the Summerfields. Isobel and Eva drew the faces on and Erica and I cut them out. (Isobel's pumpkin has 3 faces - hers is the little one)

We've had a fun week and fun plans for tonight! I'll show you pics of our costumes and such later.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Week 3

This week has 8 days in celebration of the Sheffer's new Beatles Rock band Wii game :D Day 16 - Bryce was so kind to help me load my stuff in the car - but he accidently caught his eye on the corner of the door. Love hurts.

Day 17 - Saturday I got up early with a list of things to do. On the top of the list was to hang a curtain on the front window. The one I bought was too big and too dark. So I found some scraps and sewed this one. I had about 5 inches of thread left on the bobin when I was done. Whew!

Day 18 - Happy Birthday, Kyle! We played games with the Sheffers.

Day 19 - Monday Karen watched the girls while I went to class. Bryce was camping. The girls LOVED Beatles rock band. Isobel got pretty good. Eva loved singing Yellow Submarine ;)

Day 20 - Tuesday I drove to Las Vegas, NM. I am loving the fall colors - tho I miss Sardine Canyon.

Day 21 - I drove north again. I was snowing this morning. This mountain was still getting hit. I can't wait for snow!

Day 22 - Karen won this and shared it with me. Took me 2 hours to get it downloaded. I need to get my computer updated and cleaned up.

Day 23 - Look what Karen did to my hair! It was her first time coloring and it was fun to have a change. I hate the growing out phase.

Next week will be eight days, too. Can you hardly wait? I wonder what I'll have pictures of...road, car, tree, kids...I'm so predictable :)

Week 2

Alright. I have tried twice to post this and blogger was having issues. SO sorry it's late - and not particularly accurate - but here was my second week of picture taking.Day 8 - I had to sneak away Thursay evening to see if they had some super fun running shorts at the Nike outlet - oh yes they did!Day 9 - I stopped by Target with Karen and I found this bag I had been eyeing for a while - now on clearance for $2.50 - wahoo! Bryce asked me, "how many bags do you have?" Don't ask.
Day 10 - we got up super early to warm our breakfast burritos (yum) and head for the ABQ International Balloon Fiesta. It was so packed. I vote not going on Saturday again (unless one of you come to visit and that is the only day you can come). It was a beautiful, cold morning. Perfect for balloons!

Day 11 - Sunday we got up early and drove home to go to church. But isn't sleeping Grant so cute? And I LOVE that chair!

Day 12 - Monday the girls were off so we took Colette and Dathan to Bandelier. Eva drew this great picture in the dirt of her standing next to the ladders. LOVE IT!

Day 13 - Tuesday I took Colette to see my scrapbook stuff at Karen's. She loved this one :D
Day 14 - I drove around for work and looked at the lovely trees. (This pic I actually took at Bandelier - but who cares, right?)

Day 15 - I drove up north for work. I saw many beautiful rocks. (Tho this one was taken a few days before ;)

Another good week. I like this game - even if I forget some of the days :)

Picture-A-Day: Week 1

So I am doing this challenge Share suggested and taking a picture a day for the month of October. I've been slacking at posting them because I thought maybe I wouldn't. Then I thought, "why the heck not." So here is my first week. Day 1: It was so chilly October first that my wool socks were not warm enough to keep my toes toasty on their own - I needed my slippers. (Bryce gave them to my our first Christmas ;)

Day 2: Karen helped me solve my big office problem. I get pop-up sticky notes from my work, but I didn't have a way to help me know which end was sticky. I often wrote on them upside-down. I presented the problem to Karen and she had this ready solution. We made a dispenser. (And I spent lots of time at an office store this day ;)

Day 3: I cleaned my kitchen. It was such a mess I would get ill just walking into the room. You know when it gets to that TOO OVERWHELMING point and you just avoid it. That was me. Bryce left at 6:30am and I couldn't go back to sleep - so I cleaned all morning before conference.

(I ended up spending the rest of the day at Karen's making scrappy stuff - but I couldn't put all those pictures up. I was most proud of my kitchen. I cleaned the girls' bathroom, too.)

Day 4: We went to Albuquerque to watch conference with G's family and Mom. During the break, we walked to the temple and I took this pick with my phone. It was windy but nice.

Day 5: I left at the butt-crack-of-dawn to drive to Clayton - 3 1/2 hours from Santa Fe. Honestly, this is dawn. Lovely.

Day 6: I drove to Maxwell - it's 2 1/2 hours away. It was chilly and I drove a lot. This is the view of Wagon Mound I took while driving. Can you see the covered wagon?

Day 7: I went to Coyote - 2 hours away. Yes, I drive ALOT - incase you didn't already know. On the way I was taking pictures of the beautiful red rocks, yellow trees, and blue sky with big fluffy white clouds. I was taken by how beautiful it was. Then after visiting the family - I drove past their home. It burned down a couple weeks ago. They had been building it for 2 years, moved in all their stuff, and then lost it all. This picture reminds me of all I have to be grateful for.

I am liking this project. Thanks, Share. It is good for me to be on the look out for beauty/blessings everyday (and to document them).