This Is Us

A couple days ago, on my way home from taking Brichette to school I got to see the moon in a very pretty setting. Here are a couple pictures: The sun was just rising... oh it was so pretty and it looked so big. Too bad my camera didn't really capture all that I saw.

After another one of the big storms that we've had this year we decided to take the kids sledding. Jake and Alex (Matt and Mieshka's boys) were with us, so they came too. Brichette and Jake would go down by themselves, but Xander, Alex, and Athena would ride down with one of us. Dieter would take Alex, and Nick took Xander and Athena. Sometimes Brichette would want to ride with Nick also. Colleen and I stayed at the top and helped hold the sleds that weren't being used, and take care of the little ones when they weren't going down. Once the kids were starting to get tired Dieter and Nick would pull them back up the hill on the sled. They went down a couple more times, but then Athena had, had enough of the cold and the wind and wanted to leave. So I took her and Xander back to the car and Nick helped bring the sleds and everything back. The kids (except for Jake) climbed in the car and was playing a little bit. So I got some really cute pictures of them waiting f...

A week ago we were going to get something to eat, and got outside and it was foggy. We could only see about 15 feet around us. We couldn't really even see the houses next door. The kids were very curious about it and wondered why it wasn't around the house. We told them that it was, but because we were so close to the house we couldn't see the fog. We climbed in the car and drove down the street a little bit and stopped, so that they could see that the fog was around the house. We got out to the main street and boy did we see some silly people... They were driving around with their brights on, thinking that helps them see better. But it doesn't... all that does is make it harder for them to see and blind the other drivers. We also saw people driving with their wipers on. How silly is that??? It's FOG, not RAIN. Your wipers aren't going to help. Some peoples children. LOL!!! Anyway... Here are a couple pictures of it. It's a little hard to see it, but I got i...

So we are pre-approved for the house. Nick called on it, and they sold it three weeks ago. They wouldn't even take his info in case it fell through. So when I picked up the flyer it was already sold. How dumb is that to still have flyers and the sign up, if it's sold, and they won't even take other people's info just in case. But we found another one. It has 300 more sq. ft. and it's $10,000 less. We just hope it's not like the other one and already sold. We'll keep you posted.

It was around the first part of December when it snowed for what seemed like two days straight. Dieter had gotten rid of his snow blower, and hadn't gotten another one yet. The snow was getting really deep, so Nick, Brichette, Xander, and Colleen went out to shovel the snow. It was still snowing, so what they had just shoveled was covered again with another 3 inches. The kids thought it was so much fun, but Nick and Colleen did not. The kids even threw themselves into the huge piles of snow and laughed so hard, because they were stuck. They also made snow angels. Eventually the snow stopped and so did they. It was a fun, exciting, snowy day! The End.

So for Nick's birthday we went to see Ink Heart, thanks to Lorena... she treated us. Thank You Lorena! Ink Heart was great. We recommend seeing it. Nick worked most of the day, but the kids and I took him Balloons. I was so excited, because for the first time I could take him something to work, because he wasn't outside building a house. He was in a meeting, so hopefully we didn't get him in trouble. When he walked back in everyone was asking him how old he was. He just changed the subject so he didn't have to tell them. Then on Saturday, for his birthday, we went miniature golfing. The kids were so excited. They wanted to keep playing, but we could only play all the holes once. Then we went to Chili's for dinner. After we went home and sang Happy Birthday and had cake. We didn't do that on Friday night because it was to late after the movie. We hope he enjoyed his Birthday!

We had a birthday party for Brichette a couple weeks ago and invited family and friends. So we usually do something just the four of us on their actual birthday. Nick got off early and we took them to lunch and bowling. The bowling place that we went to is where my Aunt JoElla has her bowling league, and she was there. The kids were so excited to see her, and kept trying to get her attention the whole time we were there. We all got our shoes, but they didn't have a size small enough for Xander. The lady said he could do it in his socks, but Xander wanted shoes like the rest of us. So he got some, but they were 2 sizes to big, so he walked like he had clown feet on. It was really cute. The first game Nick and I did okay, and the kids too. They were using a 6 lb. ball, but for the second game we decided to get them a heavier ball, since they were using the ramp, and the 6 lb. ball wasn't knocking over the pins very well. We also had the bumpers up, but I used them more then they ...

Yes, it's a little late, but we thought you would still like to see the pictures and hear about it. On Christmas Eve the four of us went to Temple Square to see the lights. It was so much fun, and wasn't really that cold. We didn't watch the "show" outside of the visitor's center because it was way to crowded, so we just walked around. We have tried to go every year, but never seem to make it. But we have decided that we are going to make it a tradition and go every year. We all wore our matching PJ's that I made for us (I'll post the picture of us in our PJ's as soon as I find it), and we bundled the kids up in the stroller. They had about 4 of 5 blankets on them plus their snow suits. We got some really awesome pictures, but our favorite is this one of the temple. We are going to make it bigger and put it up in a frame, right in our living room... when we get a house. After Temple Square we went to my parent's house for their annual Christmas...

We've posted the two pictures we took at the diner we were at on New Year's Eve.

I was driving home from dropping Brichette off at school, and thought I would stop and get a flyer for this house that I've seen was for sale. We had gotten a flyer for another house in that neighborhood, but they wanted almost $300,000 for it, which is way over priced. I was thinking that house would probably be the same, but I wanted to see. I grabbed the flyer and got back in my car. I looked at it and they only want $159,900 for it. I was so shocked. It's a 5 bedroom, 2 bath house and it's almost 2300 sq. ft. How nice is that?! It would be so nice if we could get it, but with Nick just started at that new job I don't know if we can qualify. It's in really good shape (from what I can see from the pictures), and it's an open floor plan. We would just have to update somethings, but nothing Nick can't do. I'm so excited. We'll keep you posted on what happens.

We had parties galore this past weekend. We had Brodie's on Friday night, Brichette's Saturday morning, and her friends Saturday afternoon. We changed the time for Brichette's to earlier, so she could go to her friend's party. We had Brichette's party and Dieter and Colleen's which I won't be doing that for Xander's. They said it was okay, but I don't think it really was. Colleen was so strung out when it was over, that I am not going to even ask if we can have Xander's here. Nick said that his family never had big parties and invited all of their family to it, so none of them are used to it. Well that's how my family was, and I loved it. We would have HUGE parties, and they were so much fun. I want my children to have that much fun too. So maybe we'll have Xander's at my parent's house, or maybe we will have a house by then. ;)

So on Thursday when I took Brichette to school, I was talking to one of her friend's mother... letting her know that we would be going to her party on Saturday. She started to say something and then said "Did you know that today is an early day and they don't have school on Friday or Monday?" I said no, and asked her if she had gotten a January calendar. She said no, she saw that they had changed the sign and asked her friend in the PTA. I had looked at that stinking sign every day and since the beginning of December it has said Season's Greetings. Then on Wednesday, I was sending out texts letting everyone know that we had changed Brichette's party to 11:00, and didn't check the sign. I am so glad that she said something because I would have felt horrible if Brichette would have been standing out there waiting for me to come. Then they would have taken her into the office and called me. I'm so glad that didn't happen. I wish we would have ...

So on New Year's Eve we went with my Aunt Lorena to a little town East of us, so we could eat in a cool dinner they have there. It's a "50's" dinner and it's so cute. It's made from an old train car. It used to be a dinner in Rhode Island, but they moved it here in 2007. They changed the name to Road Island Dinner. On every table they have mini Jukeboxes, and you can choose songs. Brichette and Xander thought that was so cool, we had to keep choosing songs. The food is really good, and it was a fun ride and not to far for a little fun. We are planning on going there again.

If I can get it to work, I'm going to post some recent pictures, in a slide, of us and some of the things that we've been doing and whats been going on. I know some of you have been looking forward to our posts again, and we are sorry it's been so long with out some. Love You all so much and thanks for all your help and support.

We had a great Thanksgiving and Christmas. For Thanksgiving we traveled between Nick's Parents and My Parents. Which isn't bad, since they live less than a block away. We all were stuffed. I'll do a slide with some of the pictures. For Christmas, we actually had to wake the kids up. I didn't sleep very well... the wind was blowing so hard that it sounded like the roof was going to blow off. So it kept me up. I would finally get to sleep, and then another huge gust would come and wake me back up. Anyway, we watched the kids go through their stuff from Santa, then we did. Then we opened presents from each other, then from Dieter and Colleen. Then we got our shoes on and went over to my parents. We were over there for a while, then came home and showered. Cris, Renee, Kaleb, Allie, Ashton, Mieshka, Matt, Jake, and Alex came over and we had lunch. Then after they all left we went back over to my parent's house and played Killer Bunnies with Zara, Reda, my pa...

Wow... Can you believe it's 2009 already? It's so crazy! It's going to be a great year... Nick got a new job. We are hopefully going to buy a house in 6 months, and I get to be home with my family! We are so blessed... I knew that Heavenly Father would take care of us, and help us find Nick a new job, and he has. I wasn't worried for one minute! And this job is the best one he has ever had. I never lost faith, which has also made my faith stronger. On Saturday Troy, Marchezt, Kaedance, and Landon came over to play. We had so much fun (but silly me... didn't take any pictures. What is wrong with me?)! We had lunch, and then played the Wii. It was hard for us to get Troy to play Guitar Hero, but once we did, he didn't want to stop! :) It was cute... Troy was playing with Xander and he said to him "You're going down Charlie Brown!" Xander looked at him and said "I'm not Charlie Brown, I'm Xander!" We laughed... but then ...

I've changed our layout, and it's not even the middle of the month. :) It's hard to find a nice winter theme that aren't to childish or have winter ladies on it. So silly!!!

So Nick has been out of work for a month now. The company he was working for didn't have any more houses, and probably wouldn't until the spring. We have been worried about money, but have been doing okay so far. Which we know is because Heavenly Father has been helping us. Nick had talked to his friend Chad (they used to work together at Home Depot), just to see how they were doing and that. Well Chad talked to his dad, and he offered him a job at the roofing company. So he started there on Monday. It sounds like a wonderful company to work for. They pay 100% of the insurance for the whole family. Nick just has to drive into the office, then they all pile in a company truck and drive to the site. So he doesn't have to use his gas, or put the mileage on his vehicle. Plus he gets paid for driving to and from the site. Also, if he works hard enough (which Nick works harder than anyone I know) in a couple of months he could be made a foreman, and get a huge raise!!!...