Winter Fun!

Here are the treats that Sierra made for her class's Christmas party.

James and his brother building a wicked sledding hill for the kids.

Emily taking the maiden voyage.

Jerome had about 15 inches of snow and the kids, young and old alike, had fun playing in it.

All I want for Christmas are...

my FIVE front teeth!

Playing Catch-up!

I hate when I can't think of anything to blog about for weeks on end and then all of a sudden I have tons of things to blog about but don't have the time to get on the computer and blog. James even got on and made the last post. So this is going to be a long one. Feel free to get yourself a snack and enjoy.

Sierra's ninth birthday was on Saturday. She was glad that her Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons were here. Sierra and Brooklyn made these treats out of Oreo's for her class last Tuesday. They had so much fun putting them together.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. James' parents came over and I was thankful for the fact that we did not have the basement torn apart this year remodeling like last year. I made a traditional turkey dinner and am getting pretty good at it, if I don't say so myself.

Sierra and I were feeling very Martha Stewart-ish and decided to decorate the pumpkin pie, but we could not find any Thanksgiving cookie cutters so we made up our own decorations.

I accepted a job with Menard's and started there on Wednesday. The pay and the hours are much better than they were at Bath and Body Works. I am actually having fun working there.

I have totally sucked at the whole "Hot for the Holidays" challenge, so sorry ladies and sorry to those of you who will be seeing the un-hot me at Christmas. Maybe seeing James' cute new puppy will help ease the pain of your burning eyes. I have lost 12 pounds though. I am off to a good start, it just took me three months to get going.

Finally, we went to the mall to get Sierra a birthday present and James got a new puppy. Just what we needed, I know. All it took was the girls saying please, please can we get her, she licked James on the face and he melted like a snowman in July. She is cute. She is an eight week old cocker spaniel. But, she is a handful. An absolute ball of energy. The cat hates her and the dogs are not quite sure yet. I think that they are hoping she will leave soon. Charlie does not like sharing his toys. He even went and took the ones from her that he didn't want her to have and gave her one that he doesn't like. It is just like having three more kids.

Brooklyn in her new Hannah Montana hair that she got for one dollar at Clarie's.

Introducing Peyton

Sorry the photos aren't very good but she won't stay still.

James

Trip to Thermopolis!!

"Tepee Fountain"

This structure, started in 1903, was created by piping hot mineral water through a vertical pipe built into a rock pyramid. As the water exits the top and flows over the structure, it cools and deposits travertine. The algae within the water colors the deposits.

I thought this looked like a face with a really runny nose.

This picture is really bad because I was really scared. I was in the car with the window rolled down when James pulled up next to this guy and he was literally close enough that I could have patted him on the head. I snapped the picture and told James to drive. I really didn't want to make him mad.

Doesn't Brooklyn look like she is having a blast?

Updates...

I found a job! I am going to work for Bath and Body Works part-time through the holidays. I realized that I have not worked anywhere more than a few months at a time for 10 years. Kinda scary that I am that old. James has been traveling all over again. Last week he was in Louisiana for four days. This week he was in Montana and North Dakota and next week he will be in New Mexico. Then we get him home for an entire week before he leaves for California. Tyler is busy with chorale and he is also taking a ham radio operator class. He has also started to enjoy baking. He makes the most wonderful homemade brownies (not from a box, from scratch). Now if I could only get him to understand the importance of cleaning the kitchen as you go, so that you don't end up with one huge mess at the end. Kayla and Sierra are going to start 4-h this week. Brooklyn is my little helper again (er, I mean mess maker). She is so darn stubborn that everything has to seem like a game or that there will be some kind of reward at the end or else she won't even help. She has perfected the fake crying and some one hurt my feelings thing.

Finally...the dinner swap. It has been awesome. I am so glad that I found other families who were interested in giving it a try. I would recommend it to anyone. At first, I thought it might be daunting to have to cook for 24 people all at once. It turns out that it really is no harder than cooking for 6. Plus, you get rewarded the other nights by not having to cook at all. I also love being able to try different foods.

For those of you who are wondering what a dinner swap is, I will tell you. The best way to explain it is to tell what our group does. We have 4 families of 6. We got together to decide which day of the week would be easiest for us to cook on and to put together a menu for the whole month. That way we know what we will be getting each night for dinner. We decided to be in charge of the main dish and one side dish on our night to cook. My nights are Thursdays. I cook for my family and the other 3 families and then deliver their meals before 6pm. They then do the same on their nights. You end up cooking approximately 4 times a month and since you can buy in bulk, it saves money. Also, we are not eating out as much and that was the main reason that I wanted to start this.

I have to explain this picture. Charlie (the dog) found a granola bar and brought it into the family room to hide it. Well Lyra (the cat) decided that it was hers. To protect her new found prize, she decided to take a nap on it. Charlie was not happy, but he knows that she is the boss, so he just sat there and waited patiently for her to lose interest. Which she did...she is a cat after all.

Announcement!

After much deliberation and with a heavy heart, I am announcing that I have chosen to withdraw from the nursing program. I found that I did not enjoy nursing like I thought that I would. I really enjoyed the lecture part but hated the clinical part. When we were in lab and preforming our skills on the dummies, I liked it and thought that it was something that I could do for the rest of my life. It became a whole new story when we got out into the clinical site and actually had to work with real, live, sick people. I feel like I gave it an honest try and I feel that this is the right decision. I do not regret my choice whatsoever. I will continue with my schooling; I just need to find a program that fits. James fully supports my decision. He has just told me that I must find a job until I decide what I want to be when I grow up. As if I could really just sit around the house all day. That would drive me crazy.

More Halloween...

Trick-or treating was awesome this year. It was still light out at 6 and the temperature was 65 degrees. We didn't have to worry about fitting coats and snow pants under the costumes or wear hats, gloves, and snow boots, like we have in years past. Tyler once again decided that he was too old to dress up but not too old to get free candy. James and I had a blast at our murder mystery party. I ended up being the murderer! It was great! We were so rushed to get there after taking the kids out that I completely forgot to get pictures of us. I did, however get pitures of all of the candy the kids got.