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I have been on Hiatus blogging for years... But the urge to start just keeps at me... I have been searching and searching for many new meanings, analogies, etc... Prayer, Faith, hope and searching for what to do... I kept coming across this AD... I watched some videos that were linked to it... Being the nerd and somewhat skepticist I am... I dove full force..prayed some more and it still kept coming back to me to do it! Blog about life, family, things I love, etc... Share with the world me! It's the way the Internet works! I am an 'Angelinaction'! You can be too!
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Jene and her new hobby!

My baby girl is in love with horses! Its exciting for me because I will always love the animal... and one day have many in my back yard! When the passion is in you, it never goes away. A horse can really be a girls best friend! Jene is lucky to have so many family members that are able to make it a lot easier for her to be around them. She loves it, has no fear, and from the second she got on one, she wanted to go "faster" and asked "can you get off so I can do it by myself! She is so small, but yet so brave, fearless, and confident!
Its what she thinks about every single day. "When can I go to riding lessons?" "What day are we going", "When is my horse show"... "can we have one in our back yard?" "Cant a horse just live in our basement?" ... THe questions keep firing! She is so set.. My brother, her "Uncle Barry", has helped this little girls dream come true! I am always texting him and telling him things she says about him and the horses, and I think sometimes he thinks I am making it up... Jene thinks he is God. I think Uncle Barry gets mentioned in our house a minimum of 10 times per day. She has her ways and I think she is getting Uncle Barry wrapped around her finger just like everyone else.
Uncle Barry has been diligently giving her lessons since august or september of 2010. Once per week, and sometimes less often depending on my schedule, I drive her to Bountiful (a 45 minute drive) and she has her riding lessons. Its amazing how quick she has caught on and about how well she is doing and learning. Some may think that when you ride, you get on and ride for fun... when you have a love for the animal its all for fun, right? Jene is learning the proper ways to ride so she will have the ability to become a good rider and handle all situations that may come up. He is also teaching her good horsemanship/showmanship skills so she doesnt look like a rag doll when she rides. Nothing is scarier than to watch someone ride that looks like they are going to fall right out of the saddle as they are going around the arena.. Jene is a natural.. She is going to show with Uncle Barry and has been participating in his open horse shows at his indoor barn through the fall and winter. He is having her practice, practice, and practice to be his leadline student. She is so excited and that is all she talks about. "My big shows mom"..
Uncle Barry even surprised her with a pink cowgirl hat and matching pink boots, and she wants to wear the boots everywhere! For the first few days of having them, she wanted to wear the hat everywhere to.. i finally was able to make her understand that she couldnt wear the hat everywhere, but she could wear the boots. Looks like i am going to have to go invest in some more boots for her.
With all of her lessons, and some amazing horses my brother has, Jene is even able to ride on her own with no help on a few lessons! I love it and I dont even get the least bit nervous, because I have a sneaking feeling if she is anything like I was, if she ever falls off, or gets bucked off, She will get right back on. The newness hasnt wore off and I am not quite sure it ever will now.. but thats okay, because i believe a horse will keep a girl out of trouble. I want to keep her head in the game, because I know the confidence it can help a little girl to have, Not to mention, as Jene says..."Not everyone has an Uncle Barry".. my reply back, "Your right Jene, only our big family is lucky enough to have an Uncle Barry".. We are such an awesome brother/uncle in our lives. I think she is growing on him as much as he has grown on her.. Sorry Barry... your in it forever now.. last riding lesson you should have never told her she could come stay with you in the summer for a few days at a time, because she already wants to pack her bags and come over. I guess the memories come flooding back to you when I was a little girl and wouldnt leave your side! I love you!
We have taken quite a break from riding lessons for a couple months due to time and crazy schedules at home, and the passing of my dad, Jurnee being so sick, start of school..but boy does she ask about it everyday. I guess I know what we will be doing all winter and do a full blown show season next year... She truly wants to do it and she is so dang cute. Uncle Barry told her in the spring if she came to lessons and worked really hard, next year in 2012 she can go to "Texas" with him and that is all she seems to talk about still... I suppose its Jenes turn to focus and excel in an activity. So Uncle Barry! You are our savior! :)

Michael Jackson

All of our kids love Michael Jackson, they love his music and find him fascinating! When he died last summer our kids were so sad... Okay, so I was too... But it was all we listened to for about 3 months.. Over and over again.
Jace recently had to do a biography book report on a famous person that did something to make a change. Jace was adamant about picking Michael Jackson. Everytime he went to the library there was no book in. His teacher even stopped at a library by her house, but to no avail... could not find a book..
She printed Jace off a bunch of information on the internet and told him that would count for his choice! He was so excited to do this poster.
(Keep in mind, that I am the mom that thinks elementary school homework is absolutely absurd. I will assure my kids read and practice spelling or math facts if needed, but book reports and other assignments, I dont enforce.. I am not paid to teach...and its infuriating when they come home and do not understand something or expect me to teach them..So i am up front with their teachers and say if you send it home and it comes back completed, then they did it on their own. We will help with small questions, but I feel that they should be able to sit right down and do it with very little, or no help at all.) So, back to Jace, this was only the 2nd book report he has done. He was so excited, like he was going to get a huge treat or something fun if he did it, but he was just so excited to learn about Michael. For the majority of the project he did all on his own. He used the internet to look up fun and interesting facts, read about his life from the information his teacher printed for him and found pictures that he could put on his poster. I took him to the dollar store and got a poster. For this report he had to fill out an information sheet answering questions on his person, then he had to do a poster, and the last thing was participate in a wax museum for all the parents and the whole school. This was something all the 3rd graders did.
After a little help from Jason and I with putting his poster together, and the ability to borrow his friend Zac's dads "authentic Michael Jackson" Jacket and pants he had bought when he was a kid, and fishing out a black wig in the halloween bucket (Which quite honestly I never thought he would wear!), Jace was ready for the wax museum. He even practiced doing 4 poses.. I have never seen him more excited.
I took off part of work to go see him. I met up with a friend in the parking lot and walked through with her.. I was glad to have found Aimee, because the line was incredibly long, and its always nice to pass the time with some great conversation.
When I saw my little Michael Jackson, his wig was on backwards, so i helped him fix it and he looked awesome! I was so proud of him, and will never forget the look on his proud face! I love that he is still not to embarrassed to hug and kiss his mom in front of all of his friends!

The Picture he wouldnt let me put on his poster because he said Michael looked to much like a girl here...

TO top it all off.. he came home from school the other day with his grading sheet and a picture attached to it that his teacher had taken, and he got 100/100! I am so proud of you Jace! I told you that you could accomplish whatever you put your mind to!

Back to Blogger land...

As I have looked back, I have realized how much facebook has really sucked me in and i have not been blogging as much as I want to. Not only is it fun for our family and friends to keep updated on our family and our adventures, but also as a recollection (journal, so to speak) on something we can look back on. So.. one of my new years goals was to blog more.. The kids say and do so many things that I find myself getting to busy to capture or forget about.

Reflecting on my new goals for 2011.. (I dont look at them as resolutions because I appear I always break them).. I have set goals for myself. I know it is nearing the end of January, but I dont think it's ever to late.
One of my goals for the week is to sit down and finish up my personal goal list, family goals, and have the kids list out their goals and start a journal... and of course i have these elaborate ideas to craft cute covers for the journals and make cute "displayable" lists for the fridge, I am sure hoping i can get it done!

Some of my goals:

Prioritize: I always have so many things to do on my list, it feels sometimes i just cant seem to get it together, so one of my goals is to prioritize..

Workout and Eat Healthier: Workout at least 3 days per week, even if its just for a walk or squats.

Quality family time: I am striving to spend more one on one time and family "quality" time with the hubby and kids. I feel like TV gets old and thats what we turn to when we want to have quality time. I want to do projects, play games, color, read, bake, or whatever it is that we can do together.

Finish my Bachelors: 3 classes left.. I CAN DO IT!

Spend Less: Yes, this is a personal goal for me. Not to use extra money on things we dont need. There is nothing i want more than to be out of debt, and this is STEP 1!

Journal/Blog more: Not only do I want to keep my blog updated on my family happenings and things that come to mind.. but I want to journal in my hardbound journal more. Sometimes my mind feels better after I write things down..sort of like exercise being good for the soul.. writing is very good for the soul!

My list goes on.. so what i have started is a small 3 ring notebook (that of course i am going to bling out) and jot my thoughts, goals, achievements, etc. in. Something I can quickly refer to..reminding myself the sense of direction i need to be going. Most of you know I spend a majority of my time driving in my car from patient house to patient house. There are times I have thoughts in my head that if I dont jot down right away, I get home and think, "now i know there was something i wanted to remember"..

That's all for now.. the next few posts will be catching up for last year - 1010. Primarily so that I can keep record for us, while its still fresh in my mind.
Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Jurnee!

14 years ago today a chubby little baby with lots of dark hair was brought into our family. I am in shock at how fast time has flown and what a wonderful young lady she has grown to be! We are so lucky to be blessed with such an amazing daughter who brings so many smiles, laugh and joy to our family!
Some things about Jurnee:
* She loves to read
* She loves Justin Bieber (or "Beaver" as I call him)
* She is funny
* She is moody
* She is a teen (lol)
* She loves her cell phone and texting
* She likes to hang out with her friends
* She is a great helper around the house
* She is a nice big sister (most of the time)
* She is very responsible
* She gets herself up, ready and out the door in the morning
* She is fun to be around
* She is a great friend to her mom
* She knows when her help is truly needed without being asked
* She likes junk food
* She likes to dance
* She is working really hard to get her back-handspring
* She wants to be a cheerleader in high school
* She is responsible to get her own schoolwork done
* She got a 4.0 in her final term of 7th grade

We love you Jurnee! Hope you have an amazing year!

Spring and Summer has come and gone....

So much has happened since my last posting.. I have vowed to myself to keep up on this blog, even though i have said that time and time again.. I feel like it's important to log our family happenings! With the daily stress that life brings, i find myself more and more overwhelmed and my mind not as sharp as it used to be.
I smile when the kids can remember more vividly than Jason and I, especially Janson.

This summer has been pretty busy. The kids out of school for their first FULL summer off.. They loved that and having Jason home a lot with them was nice to!

Janson had a lot of soccer practice, every morning at 7am. He is such a trooper and would set his alarm and get up and out the door by himself. He will be playing for Saratoga Rage again this year and I cant wait! Its so fun to watch him play and progress each year. Janson also went on his first overnight scout camp this year! We were amazed, but he did great! And LOVED it! He is not really into scouts by means of passing off tasks to earn his badges, but he sure does love to go hang with the boys and socialize! The son that I thought would never come out of his shell! He is amazing!

Jurnee is in Westlake Competitive cheer. She tried out and made the squad. It is also a huge commitment and has been challenging working all the required stuff into our schedules, but she is doing it and loving it. I cant say how many times she has come home begging me to go buy her some Icy Hot. Im really proud of her. Practices and cheer gym were all summer long! Luckily her friend that lives a couple streets over was looking to carpool! That has saved me a lot of headache! Otherwise, jurnees spring and summer has consisted of hanging out with friends, and BOYS! yes, this teen is officially BOY CRAZY! YIKES! ..... we wont forget to mention all the time she put in babysitting her sister and brother, and keeping this house running! Shes a great girl! We are lucky parents! Jurn cant wait to start 8th grade at the new Vista Heights Middle School here in Saratoga! I have never seen a kid more excited to start school than her.

Jace... Mr. Social.. Loves to be with his friends. Loves hanging out and playing outside. He has made so many friends his age right in our neighborhood! He loves it. We got him going to scouts right after he turned 8. At first he didnt want to go, but Kenny and Lorri are the Leaders and he decided he would give it a try. HE LOVES IT! He was even able to go up to the daycamp a the beginning of summer. He is loving passing off his badges and earning new awards! (Opposite his brother). He has also met quite a few new boys he plays with! When Jace is not hanging with his buddies, he is watching TV, playing the Wii, or eating. The kid absolutely loves to eat! He has really enjoyed summer but is looking forward to going back to school!

Jene has had a great spring and Summer.. she was able to spend a lot of time with her daddy, which i am truly grateful for. They both needed that. She has a little friend up the road (Ayva) that she cant get enough of. She loves to play and have little girl time. When she isnt playing she is asking me when she can play, when i can "text bree".. lol... i never thought i would see the day when my 4 year old would be requesting i text someone. Jene was able to stay home with the kids all summer and let me just say, this little girl loves, and i mean Loooooooves to sleep in. 11 or 12 everyday! And she still does. Now that the kids are going back to school she will definetely be hitting an adjustment period. Especially on the days I work, daddy will be getting her up very early to go to Aunt Jules.

As for us.. Jason is working and playing soccer, and I am working and being a mom/wife... taking a short break from school, but will be starting up soon to finish my last 3 classes to get my Bachelors.

Swimming and camping is about the extent of our summer.

Its been a rough 7-8 months for me with a lot of different things on my plate.. a sense of lost.. over stressed. Helping my parents get their house on the market and watching my dad decline has really taken a toll on me emotionally and i am learning how to cope.. Sometimes you cant always stay strong, words and actions end up coming out the wrong way and people perceive you for someone that your really not. Thinking about it, i am not even sure if i know that.. but more on my thought process and feelings later...

I just know that i am very lucky to have such an amazing family. My husband and kiddos were definetely sent from above!

12 Years and Counting...

APRIL 17th, 1998
The knot has been tied for 12 years and counting. The "knot" is not getting any looser! We started dating in September of 1995, so that would mean that September of this year would be 15 years of being together! Wow! I do not feel old enough for that! Yikes!
I love the man I chose to spend the rest of my life with. He completes the other part of me. I still get butterflies when I see him! I love you babe! I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you and making many more memories with you! xoxoxoxoxo

My Little Man is 8!

Our little Jace turned 8 on April 9th! I can hardly believe it. He is such a fun addition in our family! We had such a fun day on the day of his birthday. It happened to be my week off work and Jason was home to. We took the family to the zoo along with Grandpa Beach. We met up with Grandma at Golden Corral for dinner after. All in all, I think Jace had a great day. This is the year for his friend party, however, his birthday fell over spring break.. so we held off.. Now I need to get into the planning stages and do a small party for him.

About Jace:
* He is a free spirit and doesnt require much
* He loves the Wii and Xbox (A LOT)
* He loves to watch TV
* He has become a very good reader
* He loves Math
* He loves to have someone to play with
* He loves to play outside when the weather is nice
* He doesnt really like to ride his bike, but loves his scooter..
* He loves loves loves vegetables
* He loves loves loves Fruit
* He gives a lot of compliments (especially to his mom!)
* He is always hungry
* He wants to take guitar lessons
* He wants to be a rockstar when he grows up
* He is a protective big brother
* He chews the ends of his longsleeve shirts and jackets (nervous habit).. he has for about 4 years
* He is very sensitive and sweet
* He loves sports but doesnt have just one that he likes
* He likes to draw, color and do projects
* He is a caring litte man and wouldnt do anything to hurt anyone else

WE LOVE YOU JACE! You make Mom and Dad proud every single day!

Hoppin' down the bunny trail...

This year was our first Easter in our new house.. It really was no different than any other Easter. Minus the fact that there was no egg hunt outside because of the snow that fell the night before.. Its much to my amazement, that one year we go out and egg hunt outside, the next year we egg hunt indoors...
Needless to say, we still dyed easter eggs! Which is always fun, but oh what a mess.. as always.. We had our good friends and their kids over to join in the festivities with us. We dyed eggs, had yummy dinner, and did an egg hunt for the kiddos! Could not have asked for better company and pre-holiday fun!



Jene really got into dying eggs.. can you guess her favorite color of dye? Jace had fun using the stickers and making his eggs just perfect! As for these two, the teen and pre-teen, they had a lot of fun... well.. you get the idea.. Some of the kids checking out whats in their eggs from our egg hunt! Looks as if the Easter bunny came... I had to work on Easter morning until around noon.. so I snapped a pic of what the kids were getting before I left for work.. First Easter ever that I didnt get to spend with the kids. Poor me.... But Daddy did take a lot of pics and I was able to spend most of the day with them! We went to dinner at Mom and Dads. I had to go do a wound dressing change on a patient. When I got to my parents house, this is what I found. Jason and Dad snacking and watching TV.. Jason said he was living the life. .. Looks like my mom found a new "sitter" for Dad.

Hunter (my nephew) and Jurnee put on another egg hunt for the kids.. THey had a lot of fun doing it for the kids.. there was even a few "Surprise" eggs with Dirt, and veggies from dinner in them.. little turkeys!

This is my mom and I.. We don't have very many pictures together.. and I happen to really like this one! I love you Mom! Thanks for having us for dinner...

It was a nice Holiday.. it was even nicer that my week off work started the next day! The kids are off on spring break, Jason is off work this week! We are loving being together at home.... Sort of like Vacation at home..

"I can do it now, because I am 4"...

4 years ago on March 15th, 2006 a beautiful little girl joined our family..

A pleasant little surprise, that added the finishing touches to make us six!...

JENESEE LEE WALLIN

aka: Jene, Jen, Lees, baby girl, princess, "dawg" (a name exchange between Jene and Janson), lee chaws, lee lee

I cherish this time while she is little. I was so afraid to have 4 kids, but much to my surprise, the hardest thing to deal with was LAUNDRY. Its never ever ending!

The first year was challenging with our baby girl. She was so sick all the time. RSV started the spiral effect, and it took until she turned 3 when it started to slow down a little.

Despite being sick all the time, she was such a fun, happy baby..

Time continued to fly and here she is March 15th, 2007 turning 1 years old!

March 15th, 2008 ... we hit the two year mark.. Cutest little thing... loved, loved, loved Dora the Explorer...

She took a real liking to her sister and brothers. She learned that if mom and dad wont give in, she always had a set of open arms that would.

At 2 years old, (maybe a little before and after ;)..) She was a big time Daddys girl. We took a trip to Disneyland shortly after her 2nd birthday and she had a love/hate relationship with the place. She cried all the time, wouldnt ride in the stroller much, and cried everytime Daddy would go on a ride with the other kids. She screamed so loud, that people thought i was kidnapping her. So EMBARASSING!

As I look at these pictures chronologically, I am in shock and awe how much she grew between each year... .

March 15th, 2009 our little princess turns 3! What an angel.... A nurturing little girl that loves to be "pretty", loves to play baby dolls and loves to play outside. She was very talkative and could make friends with any child, but had some shy aspects at the same time..

Smart as smart! Knows how to work us all, including Jace.. Each one of us is wrapped around her fingers, TIGHT! She has learned how to cry at just the right times to get her siblings in trouble. Her and Jace have started playing so good together.. Jene is a little bossy with him, and Jace takes it.. until a few months ago, he is deliberately mean to her, and makes her cry.

MARCH 15th, 2010 SHE TURNS 4!

• She still loves babies and baby dolls
• She hides from us under her blankets every night when we go to tuck her i
  
• Now that she is 4 she informs us she can do everything
  
• She loves having "private" time with her parents.. this is a word she learned from the show "Little Bill" ... its one on one time with us!


• She is very girly and loves to wear "dresses and skirts"
  
• She entertains herself a lot... sometimes I forget she is here because she is always doing her own thing.
  
• She is a sponge and picks up and repeates EVERYTHING


• She was potty trained at 2 years old by grandma while we were in Lake Powell! (FULLY POTTY TRAINED!)


• She loves princesses (So fun for me.. Jurnee never did)


• She is a night owl and would sleep till 11 a.m. everyday if she coulD
  
• NickJR is her favorite channel on TV.. She loves Dora the Explorer, Olivia, Little Bill, Max & Ruby, Wow Wow Wubzy, Kai Lan, and Little Bear
  
• She goes to bed watching TV (yes, she is our last)
• She loves to play Cooking Mama on the DS or my iphone...


• She plays the Wii all the time, and could play it when she was little...
  
• Food is her favorite.. she loves to eat


• She would eat a whole bag of broccoli at one sitting, if i would let her


• Her favorite saying is "It takes for a long time"...


• She loves loves loves to play with other kids


• She asks me on an almost daily basis when her hands are going to be "big" like mine.. (I want to tell her never ..;) )
  
• I love it when she says, "Its a beautiful sunny day today"
  

WE LOVE YOU JENE LEE!

Missing in Action...

I am BAAAAACK! I have been so busy and absorbed in school, family, work, and ok ok.. facebook.... but I have decided its time to come back to the blogging world! As we were coming up on Jenes birthday I had an AHA moment... I should be writing all of this down.. i should be documenting all of the fun things the kids do and the funny things they say! What in the world is my problem then.. It takes two seconds to record them on my blog... and one day, i can print it out and have a little Journal!

So.... I am back on here for good! I have been wanting to for the past year, but school is really sucking it out of me.. Just ask the family. Quite honestly.. I detest school.. Ok, I HATE school. BUt I am almost done. I think 2 more nursing classes and 2 more general ed classes that they just popped on me. blech! but... i cant quit, (i have thought about it, but i wont do it!).. As a mother, it is so difficult to juggle so many things and stay sane..

I have discovered that exercise (running) really helps my anxiety levels to remain on a lower level.. Its fabulous! I can honestly say I think I may becoming a little addicted. I get mad at myself when I dont make 30 minutes to do it! I know that days of rest are good, but its so beneficial to my "soul"!

Onto a few more posts...

A beautiful day at Grandmas!

Last sunday we went and delivered Christmas to Jasons mom.. We took a nice drive to Heber City... despite the haze, it was a great day. The kids love going to see "Crazy" grandma. All they do is eat.. she feeds them the whole time we are there. I guess that is the fun of going to Grandmas house. We had a great day.

Jasons mom kept telling us about a herd of elk that would come down everyday, but they never came! As we were leaving we saw them! It was a beautiful site. I had to stop and get a picture.

On the way down the canyon, we decided to drive through Park City to witness the "hub bub" of Sundance..

Boys will be boys...

Janson has loved sledding this year! He and his friend, Alex, have been busy making sledding hills in the circle and the backyard! We have been letting them walk to the sledding hill behind our house.. the other day when i got home from work Janson asked if they could walk to the sledding hill, so I said sure! They had gone a dozen times before..
As i was cooking dinner he came in the house with his hands over his mouth.. he saw me and started crying.. uh oh... he had biffed it off his sled face first onto the "Ice"... all the sledding hills are snow packed into ICE..
Thank goodness The Johnsons were over sledding with their family. They came to the rescue! He was bleeding pretty good from his nose and his mouth. His lip kept getting bigger and bigger. A nice deep gash under his upper lip! WE decided to take him to the Emergency Room.

A fun day of sledding gave him some stiffness for a few days, a broken nose, a fat lip and some pretty sweet facial scrapes! This happened Monday afternoon and today is Friday and he is looking back to normal! (except for the scratches).

It's 2009!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

We spent New Years Eve with our "partners in crime" and good friends Jared, Hillary and their 4 Kids! We had a lot of fun, as well as the kids too! Food, games, fun, wii, laughing, camera fun... what more could you ask for! We had a blast..

The kids had a great time playing the wii, toys, games, dress up... you name it.. they were all ready for bed by the end of the night!

Thanks Jared and Hill for hosting yet another Memorable event! Love ya!

Snow Fun!!

Where in the world did 2008 go? I don't have any idea, and can't believe it went so fast. Life grabs you by the horns and whips you in circles and before you know it you have know idea where the time went.
January brings COLD and SNOW! The only good part about living in a place where it snows during the winter is the sledding, skiing, snowmen, and snow forts! Its SNOW FUN! There is a good sized sledding hill behind our house that the kids can go sledding on.. and since Santa finally brought the kids sleds, they have really been taking advantage of it!

Janson catching some air on the jump...

Jace was trying to do what his big brother did..

They had a lot of fun! Enjoy it now kiddos.. someday in the near future we are going to live where it doesn't EVER snow or get below 40 degrees... HA! I do love to ski, but the prices are outrageous!

Christmas Morning...

Christmas morning we awoke to find this outside! This small (so to speak) gift from Mother Nature also came with no power.. we waited to open presents until there was enough light outside to see what we were doing! We didn't have to wait long... the kids woke up just after 7...

I love to try and capture the look on their faces as they are coming down to see the surprises that Santa has left for them!
Santa left a Wii this year! Woo HOO!

Each year we have someone in the family play Santa Christmas morning and pass out presents. We try and have the kids open one at a time.. (in hopes this will help it to last longer!).. This year Janson played Santa! Good Job Janson! Pretty excited with their Christmas...

Jene was a lot of fun this year! Santa brought her a baby doll and that is all she cared about.. of course.. In the pic above Jene is making her baby a bottle.. Julie, I think she learned this from you!

Then there's the part of Christmas morning of undoing all the toys from the packages and seeing how much garbage you can collect off of it. I swear that some of the toys you pay for the time and effort to package the gifts! Its obsurd!
Jace was reallly excited about Christmas this year to! I love the age when kids are into the 'real magic' of christmas.. he was all smiles all day long!

Ever since I was a little girl my favorite part of Christmas is seeing what is in my Stocking.. I just love it.. I don't know why, Santa always just made it fun I guess.. So I try and pass that along to the kids.. They love to see what Santa left for them. Jason is challenged every year to be creative... he does a fabulous job .. I love you Honey! Thanks for making Christmas so special for me!

He even wrapped some of the gifts in my stocking!

Nice early morning look! Thank goodness we have older kids that know how to use a camera now. For many years Jason and I never had a lot of pics together because it is always one of us taking the pictures. Thanks Jurn and Janson..

The weather was so nasty outside all day! I was so glad I had planned christmas dinner in this year. THis is the first year I have made Christmas dinner. Usually we go out to eat... at the only restaraunt in town known to be open on christmas... Yep ... DENNY's .. We spent a nice quiet relaxing day home and didn't do a darn thing! Jason and I napped! The kids played Wii and other stuff... and we did nothing.. With the weather so snowy, we thought Jason might get called into work.. but we were lucky and that didn't happen! Not even 1 visitor..

Jason and I bought a new couch this year with our Christmas money. We are both in heaven.. The first NEW piece of furniture we have boughten since we have been together and married... I guess we deserve it!

That's our Christmas in a nutshell... pretty low key..
I am usually so sick of Christmas by the day after the decorations are usually ripped down.. This year I had to work so much that I left them up through the weekend. Down they came that Sunday.. We had all had enough. Like my father in law says, "Another Christmas Shot to Hell".. So true, so true.. Until Next Year..

Twas the day before Christmas...

And all through the MALL..... everyone was in line...
I was so busy this season that I almost let the visit to sit on Santa's lap pass right by.. To no avail, Jene and Jace did not let me forget. Jene loved Santa this year. I have never seen a little girl so excited to go see Santa.. She could not wait.. when we got to the mall my thinking was that the line was not going to be that long... .... what was I thinking.. ????? 2 HOURS... Yes, I said 2!

I wonder how many times this sign was put up in our long wait?

It all ended up being worth it to see the excitement on the faces of these two~! They were so good in line to!

Jurnee and Janson were sweet enough to stand in line for a little bit while I went to pick up some last minute gifts.. They did make it clear that they were NOT sitting on Santas lap, not even for a picture for their mom.. Jurnee did volunteer to take pics with my camera, because I am way to cheap to pay their prices for pics.. lol. She did a pretty good job..

As we were standing in line and got closer, we kept catching Jene take a peak through a hole in the props that gave her a direct look at Santa.. she just couldn't wait!

When it was our turn, Jene ran right up and jumped right up on Santas couch.. her eyes were big and sparkly.. she would not stop looking at him.. I went up with them because Jace was a little hesitant, even though Jene was not scared at all.. As I look back at these cherished pictures, the look on their faces, and the excitement and chitter chatter of them talking about santa..... IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!