4th Annual Christmas Party (Sort of)

I love my friends! I was so blessed growing up to be surrounded by such a large group of good friends! There was a bunch of us and we were all pretty close! Most of them are married with kids now, but once a year we make it a point to get together. We always have fun catching up and usually some friendly competition! (GO PINK!!!) We had a lot of fun!

Clay & I

DeAnne & Amanda

Amanda, Me, DeAnne & Amanda

Clay, Me, Ken, Amanda, Nazar, DeAnne, David, Amanda, Ryan
and
Little Shane in front

We missed you Julie & Gene, Michael & Shawna, Scotty & Christie (congrats by the way!),
Micah & Anika.

CHRISTMAS IN CALIFORNIA!

You got to love good old California! This picture was taken sometime around Dec. 5th, I think, give or take a few days. We were in bathing suits enjoying the empty beach. Seriously winter is one of the best times to go! There is hardly anybody there, but it is perfect. Warm, not too hot, no wind and nice waves. What more could you ask for!

My childs' OBSESSION!

OK… I have never seen a child SO obsessed with TAPE! The kid loves it! He goes through tape faster than anything I have ever seen. If I go to the bathroom, he is outside the door trying to tape it shut. When I open the door there is tape criss-crossed all the way from one side of the door frame to the other, all the way down. He tapes towels together, he tapes money to parts, to plates to his clothes. If I sit on the ground he tries to tie me up with tape. He borrows tape from all of our neighbors because I can’t keep up with his “tape addiction.” I think Santa might fill his stocking with tape. This is what happened today when I sat on the ground to read the mail, he thought it was so funny, he had to take a picture. So here it is…

Gross picture I know

I love traditions

Ever since Gavin was born, one of our traditions is making a gingerbread house. He loves it! He started asking in October.

THE GOOD OL' DAYS

Do you remember the good old days when jumping and splashing in puddles was the BEST THING EVER! Gavin has been waiting months for some rain so he could bust out his rain boots and his brand new Spiderman umbrella. He was so excited, (it wasn't long lived) but he had fun while it lasted!

DWTS!!!!!

The girls at the judges seatsUp on stage

Kristi, Me, Julianne, Melissa, Helio, Julie and Diana
(Man I look like a giant!)

Donny Osmond

Diana, Kristi, Melissa, Cameron, Me and Julie

Everytime we go to Dancing with the Stars it just gets better and better! So last night we were able to go to a Monday night show, which means we got to see the 5 remaining couples each dance two dances! We had AWESOME seats. We were like the second row back looking straight on at the dancers! It was such a good show! There was so much energy. Our friend Melissa was able to hook us up so we were VIP, meaning we got wristbands and when the show was over we were allowed to stay and mingle with the stars! How great is that?!?!?! Not only that but during the show we got a pink tickets, which means we were interviewed after the show, so we may be on tomorrow night. Who knows if we will make the cut cuz there was like 50 people that were interviewed! Just watched it last night and we did make the cut!!! We split up into two groups and both groups got on, mind you it is like 2 seconds long, but still, that is awesome! I love that out of all the things we said they put the part about taking Cameron home! I LOVE YOU CLAY! YOU KNOW I DIDN"T MEAN IT!!! = ) Clay was a good sport! We got texts from some of his friends saying, "hey we saw your wife on tv saying she wanted to take some guy home with her!!!" You can see it on ABC.com...

It was so much fun! So after the interview we went down to the dance floor and got pictures with Donny Osmond, Julianne and Helio and CAMERON!!!!! He is so sweet! We told Donny we were mormon and he talked to us for awhile about the Oprah show and how awesome it was! Then we talked to Cameron and I told him how much I loved what he said about his wife! He was so nice! I am so sad he got sent home! We all voted for you Cameron!!!! Then we talked to Julianne and Helio, and honestly they are SUCH NICE PEOPLE! They were asking questions about us, and Julianne wants to hang out with us cuz she doesn't have a lot of mormon girlfriends! I don't think she knows we are all married with kids and 8-14 years older than her! Shhh don't tell her! We will break that news to her the first time we hang out! = )

So the night was over and we went to dinner, at dinner we sat next to Corey Maggette and on the way out we saw Mike Tyson. It was quite an eventful night! One I will NOT soon forget!!!

Gavin's first school picture

This is Gavin's 1st school picture! He is in preschool and picture day was a couple weeks ago. I was a little nervous cuz he RARELY (and by rarely I mean NEVER) smiles cute for a picture. I was so excited when I got these because I think they turned out pretty cute!

Halloween!

Elephant and Elephant Trainer

Clay and I went to a Halloween party, it was a ton of fun! They went ALL out for this party. The only entrance to the party was through the Spook alley. They put so much time into it, and I am not gonna lie, I was scared! I hid behind Clay the whole time. They had a costume contest and each couple had to go up and model their costume. Clay and I went up and he brought a stool and we did a whole routine and I ended up balancing on one foot on the stool (like an elephant). We had a good time.

Next year I am hoping for a costume that is a LOT more flattering!!

Saturday night was our ward Trunk or treat. Gavin was counting down the days. It was fun to see all the kids running like crazy. Gav made out pretty well!

This is our cute neighbor Marley
Isn't she adorable?The whole family

This is our neighbors Dave and Caroline, their costume was so gross I had to blog it!
Love it guys!

The "THING" from fantastic four
Little scary, don't ya think?

We got to go again!

We were able to go to the results show for Dancing with the Stars lastnight. Melissa, Diana and I stood in the HOT sun in heels for 2 hours! All the seats were full, but they told us to wait around cuz there was a chance some of the VIP's would not show up. Good thing we made it cuz we scored seats at a table, just to the left of judges! We were sitting next to Mark Ballas dad (Sabrina, the cheetah girls' partner). We LOVE Mark! They were so nice and as soon as the show was done they brought Mark over to meet us and took pictures of us with him and his dad emailed them to us! How nice is that!?!?!?! He also sent a picture of the GORGEOUS Cameron!

If you watch last night's show (on ABC.com) there is a decent shot of Diana and I about 5 minutes before the show is over, then at the very end there is a good shot of Melissa! (I was in a black short-sleeved dress, hair down. Diana was in a black short-sleeved dress as well, with hair pulled back. Melissa was wearing a black shade with a spaghetti strap white dress with black circles.)

So our next goal is to make it to the Monday night show so we can actually see all of the perform.

Dancing with the Stars!

Ok I wish I had a picture, but I don't! Diana got tickets to the taping of JLo for dancing with the stars. She asked me to be her date and we had the BEST time EVER!!!! After standing in line, the guy that was "strategically" placing everyone told them to set us to the side. When he came for us he put us right next to the stage about three rows back. (the three rows were reserved) We were SO close! So, they had a guy entertaining us he was calling people to come up and dance, sing, play the price is right, dating game etc. When they asked for singers I kept grabbing Diana's hand, (she has an amazing voice) but they never called on us for the singing, then they moved on to something else. Well, they then asked for another singer and Diana shot her hand in the air and they picked her!!!! She went down on the "dancing with the stars" floor, turned around and mouthed to me, "I am on the floor!!!!" They asked what she was going to sing and she was SO SMOOTH, she said, "actually I would like to serenade Lynn if that is ok. (he is the head judge, the older guy) He jumps up walks around the desk and gets on top of the desk and waits for Diana to come over. They ask what she is going to sing and she says, whatever Lynn wants to hear. He said, "something sexy!" So Diana busts out this song from Who framed Roger Rabbit, it is like a sexy, sultry song from the 1920's. She sounded SO AMAZING, I was going crazy in the auidience. Bruno was telling the camera guy to record this, so they did and put her on the big screen. They were so close it looked like they were gonna kiss. Lynn was carressing her shoulder and her back, it was hilarious! Then, get this, Diana busts out the sweetest move! She grabs his tie and pulls him in closer! It was the best thing!!! When she was done, the crowd was going nuts! Bruno kept asking her if she could dance too. The judges LOVED her! It was amazing! When we were leaving I felt like I was with a freaking rock star! Everyone was telling her good job and congratulations, I was like yeah, she is with me!!!
Ok, so look for us tonight only when Jennifer Lopez performs, we are to her left right up near the stage!

*MOVIE NIGHT*

Tonight was "MOVIE NIGHT." Gavin has been waiting SO long for this. We decided we would make it a family tradition to have movie night at least once every month or two. We each get to pick out our favorite candies, Gavin usually chooses most of them. We get EVERY pillow and blanket in the house and make a huge bed in front of the TV and turn on a movie, the idea was for all of us to fall asleep together, but Gavin gets too excited and never falls asleep, but he still loves movie night. Tonight's movie choice was Shrek 2. Our treats consisted of sour skittles, swedish fish, jelly bellies, and popcorn. Another fabulous movie night!

Not the most flattering picture of any of us, but oh well!

Looks delicious

Camping

Clay, Gavin and I all went camping this weekend. We went with the Powells and the Wests. We had a lot of fun, but next time we will totally have to stay for 2 days! Gavin's favorite part of camping is obviously the S'mores, but his second favorite is playing in the tent. He actually asked if he could go to bed, soon we heard quite a lot of playing in the tent. It is like the perfect fort!
LOVES THE S'MORES

Just hanging out around the fire
This is our neighbor Diana. Gavin loves Con and Diana! If I would allow it he would spend all day and night at their house. Everyday he asks if he can go up there and tell them something, so I have now started setting a timer and he has to run up there, tell them and be back in two minutes before the timer goes off!

Cute kids

Isaiah, Gavin, Megan & Baylie

This picture is all of our kids (minus the two babies) on the trip to Ikea yesterday. I just thought it was cute. Gav loves his friends.

This may be the death of me

So Clay is the cutest husband/dad ever! Gavin loves to skateboard and ride bikes, I took him to a skate park and he loved it. Clay has been wanting to get Gav his own skate ramp and thought he would get it for christmas, but the little boy inside Clay couldn't wait until then! He came home two nights ago with this ramp. Gav was SO excited! He did really well for the first bit then he got a little too confident and face planted into the "soft" cement. Poor thing has a HUGE goose-egg on his head! I am just gonna post the pre-accident pictures.

Crazy hair day!

FYI!!!!!!! This is what happens when you put the husband in charge of doing the child's hair! Gavin thought he was so cool! He ran around and showed all the neighbors.

It's finally becoming a Home

OK, can I just say I have the best friends in the world! Seriously! They are so caring and giving and totally help each other out! I feel so blessed to have the friends that I have. (sorry Amanda that is probably bad English) I don't just mean these girls, but all of my friends! You each have a special place in my life and heart!

So Julie and Kristi dropped their kids off at school today and headed straight to my house to paint! It looks so good! Once we finished they left to pick up their kids and we are meeting up at Ikea to get curtains and finish my house! YEAH! I am so excited!

Thanks Guys!!!

Bowling with the Family

Last weekend we went bowling and had so much fun. I could be biased since I kicked EVERYBODY's booty! That's right I was the champion!

THE HONEYMOON! = )

Our honeymoon was amazing! (for many reansons!!! ) We were lucky enough to go to Kauai for a week. We didn't spend much time on the beach! Hey don't start thinking dirty!!! We actually spent most of our time hiking! It was SO beautiful. Our first hike you were able to see the whole coast. The second hike was to a BEAUTIFUL waterfall. I was too big of a wuss to jump in, but Clay did. We had so much fun just spending time together and exploring a place where neither one of us had ever been.