Birthday Surprise!

I feel like I've received so much this year. And since it's my birthday I can do whatever I want right?! Well I want to share with one of you. I know it's not a ton, but everybody loves a freebie. :)
I bet you wondering how you can get your chance to receive. I want you to post what would be your ideal birthday. Like mine would be not having to cook or clean all day... spending it with family who would do anything I asked without complaint... maybe a movie... a nice dinner( my mom's fried chicken, gravy, mashed potatoes and corn )... Cake ice cream and presents... and end my day snuggling with my honey on the couch.
I'll leave it open until Monday morning and draw a name. So get going I want to know your perfect Birthday!

it's been a while

With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays I haven't posted anything for a while. So here's a quick recap of all that's happened in the last few weeks.

• Finally had money for gifts on the 20th and went and did all our Christmas shopping that day. I hate waiting until the last moment.
• Dan, Emma and Elena arrived at my in laws so we headed over there for the day to visit. Elena is so cute!
• Christmas eve we waited until everyone was asleep and then got out the "stuff". I was really thankful there wasn't anything huge to put together. I was up til 2 prepping for the following day.
• Christmas morning... wouldn't ya know it, my camera breaks!!! I didn't even get one picture! the kids all enjoyed their gifts and got to open more throughout the day as more people arrived at our house for Christmas Dinner.
• A nice and nearly quiet day as kids played with their new toys.
• Back to the in laws for family time. Em and Zac stayed overnight to hang out with everybody and play with Elena.
• Friday Dan, Emma and Elena came to spend the night at our house! Lloyd really loves his little niece. He kept stealing her to play with. You could tell she loves her uncle too!
• Pretty low key weekend. found out church moves to 1pm. :P
• New Years Eve we watched movies and ate junk until midnight. Then ran outside to shout and scream and play with a few fireworks.

the rest of this week has been almost normal. Zac, Ally and Kylie are all off track and go back the 22nd. Emily's already back at school and happy about it (just not enough for her to do here) and tomorrow is my birthday! Come back tomorrow and you just might get a surprise!

Train Ride

I've only been on a train once and when Lloyd's uncle told us about scheduling a ride for us on a train in Lindon I was really excited! When Wednesday came I was getting all the kids stuff ready, making sure they all had hats, gloves, boots and handwarmers. I was imagining something close to what I had previously experienced. I knew it wasn't going to be a full scale train because it was privately owned and was on his property, kind of like this.

well with less trees... I mean we do live in a cold desert here. So I pick up the kids from school and head for Lindon. We arrive at the address given to me by my husband and I'm thinking... is this right?... no it must be correct, look at all the cars... where could the train possibly be?

It was there. You wanna see it?

Um, slightly smaller cars than I was expecting.

We rode around the neighborhood, owned mostly by the one family who ran the train. First up to the North Pole to see Santa.

Then through large poster scenes depicting Christ's life from begining to end. It was very touching as I sat holding my youngest child telling him briefly about each scene. Trying to imagine what it would feel like if it were my child in those scenes... thankful that it wasn't. And deeply touched at the sacrifice made by my Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son for me... for us all and even though it wasn't what I expected it was exactly what I wanted to think about this Christmas Season. The true meaning of Christmas.

Ornaments for Kasi

All right Kasi I'm adding pics of my ornaments at your request. I've made all of these using K&Co.'s Brenda Walton Peppermint Twist Ornaments Paper Crafting Pad, odds and ends from my stash, and Christmas picks from various stores. I'm adding them in at a small size and if you want to see the BIG detailed version just click on the picture. Enjoy!!

I've always wanted to be an elf.

Your Elf Name Is...

Pixie Candy Cane Lips

What's" Your Elf Name?

Feeling a lot more like Christmas

Finally got all of my decorating done. Yes I know it's the middle of the month... what can I say? I'm a procrastinator. My mom's visit was short notice so the few days before she came I was cleaning... a lot! I did have the majority of it up but the family tree was decorated by the kids, so it had ornaments only about 2/3 of the way up and all in the front. So yesterday I rearranged the family tree and finished the last of the decorating.

My new pretty garland from Costco. It's hanging out above my entertainment center.

The family tree, nicely rearranged.

My huge pointsetta from Costco.

Random Christmas stuff on my bookshelf.

And my new love. My very own Christmas tree! It's presently set up in the front room a.k.a. my scrap room. I found this tree at Walmart for under $30!! I bought the red lights and a couple of boxes of ornaments and odds and ends to add to it. So far I have made 14 ornaments from the K & Co. paper ornament stack with more in the works.

I hope you are all enjoying this Holiday Season and have a very Merry Christmas!

Have you ever held a tortoise?

Last week I had a blast. My mom came for a visit for the first time in three years. Usually we visit her but she had some time in her very busy life and came to see me and the family for a few days. We had a lot of fun just hanging out and on Friday we went to see a friend of hers that lives about 40 minutes away. My mom thought the little kids would have fun at Rachel's house. Rachel owns a 2 acre lot with tons of animals. the kids got to feed goats, chickens and turkeys. They got to hold cats, kittens, a rat and the family tortoise. His name escapes me but isn't he cute?!?

Now this tortoise is only 2 but can get as old as 100. Needless to say he'll be passing down to the next generation.

While my mom was here our oven went wacko. every time we would try to use the oven we would get error codes and after stressing over it for a day and a half thinking we would need a new oven Lloyd remembered about the home warranty... bless him. Goodness knows we didn't have the money to get a new one. I called and set up the appointment and Monday we got our oven back. Apparently our thermostat in the oven broke making the oven think it was on and hot all the time. Could you imagine that happening during Christmas dinner! Oh, I am so glad it happened when it did.