Merry Christmas!!!!

Here we are trimming our little Christmas tree. The kids called it our "Charlie Brown" tree, but it wasn't quite that sad. We decided to do a color theme for our tree this year. We chose blue and silver. It turned out very nice!

Christmas morning amid all the "booty"! We hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!

Crazy Christmas Program

Cameron had his Christmas program yesterday. The 4th graders' theme was "Crazy Christmas". All the songs were familiar Christmas music with different lyrics put to them. So fun!!!

Cousins

We took this at Josh and Jessica's. They are standing in order oldest to youngest (I think). Allie, Garrett, Daniel, and Kayleigh. They first 3 were born in 96, and Kayleigh was born in 97. Allie, Garrett and Daniel are actually my cousins, so Kayleigh would be a 1st cousin, once removed? Does anyone know if that's right?

Ashlan Sings Songs!

Yesterday I went to see all the 1st graders put on a Christmas program! So fun!!! They did a wonderful job!! Ashlan is in the back row and her best friend, Mackenzie, is on the left with the glasses. More pictures to come. I get to go watch the Cameron and the 4th graders today!!!!

Cameron and the Stale Chex

While we were packing up the kitchen, we found a box of stale Chex. Cameron decided that it might be a nice treat for the deer. We thought he'd go out and just dump the bag out. Oh no. He very carefully poured out the cereal on the path that the deer made in the grass. He told me that way the deer can eat while they wailk. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to a "drive-thru"!!!

House Phase 4

This is the front of the house with the garage door gone, wall up and window in.

From the garage/bonus room looking at the new wall and window.

Garage/bonus room looking at the side wall. Hopefully the door will be in soon.

Master bathroom looking at the new closet where the door used to be!

Look!!! There's a tub in my living room!!!

Really? A Job?

Well, it looks like Chris may be starting a new job this week. Crappy timing, since we need to get the house finished so we can move in next week, but so needed!!!! We are so grateful to my Uncle Mark for putting this job into motion. Chris is so excited to get back to work. He will be driving into Sacramento everyday. This is like an early Christmas present for us!! Thank you to every prayer that was uttered for our family. We knew that our Heavenly Father was answering our prayers, we just had to wait for the timing to be right. We will forever be grateful for all the support and love that came our way this year. We are hoping this will be the start great new year!

House Phase 3

Phase 3 is the garage. The General Contractor has jackhammered all the concrete. The kids were very excited that there is only dirt in there now!! Here are some more pics!

Here's the hole where the French door/sliding door will go.

Same hole, from the outside!

They took the garage door off. They are digging so the footer can be poured.

Looking at the garage from the front of the house.

Kayleigh

Wow! I finally got pictures of Kayleigh at gymnastics!!! She is really excited about making team! She isn't competing this season because they brought her in halfway through. She is really progressing fast! I'm so proud of her! Isn't she beautiful?

House Pictures Phase 2

Here's the garage getting started!


Looking from the kitchen into what will be the main bathroom.


Here's what is going to be the main bathroom.


Living room.


Kitchen minus cabinets! (And minus the cockroaches!! YUCK!!)

Beware! It's the house!

Here are the pictures of the house! Beware! Some of these pictures are scary!!!! Gotta love the colors these people used. We are very excited to get started on the remodel!! I'll try to keep everyone updated with pictures of the remodel.


Here is the front of the house!


The backyard! The house sits on a little under a quarter acre!


These are two of the scariest rooms! Lots of work to be done here!


Here are the beautiful bedrooms. We can't wait to paint!


The laundry room is being turned into another bathroom, and the existing bathroom door will be closed off and a door put in through the master bedroom. The laundry will be moved to the garage.

Ward Halloween Party

Our ward had it's Halloween Trunk or Treat on Saturday night. I forgot to get a picture of our trunk. It was sooo cool!! We were a hit!! I did help that even with 2 wards there, there were only about 15 cars doing the trunk or treat. So Sad!


Kayleigh was supposed to be a Princess, but it sort of morphed into this!

Here is Sir Cameron! This knight was super cute!!

Princess Ashlan! She looked beautiful, sprained wrist and all! (She sprained her wrist when she fell off the high beam at gymnastics.)

Here are my 3 beautiful children! We had a blast at the party! It was funny that they all picked costumes that worked with each other. Kayleigh's changed, or else they would have been "Damsels in distress, saved by the brave knight".

Final Papers!

We signed the final papers and wired the money yesterday! The 26th will be a 15 day escrow, but we think it might close sooner than that! As soon as it closes and we can get into the house I will post pictures!

We got it!!!!

We put an offer in on a house here in Oroville on Friday morning. We just heard that our offer was accepted!! We are excited to set out on this adventure we are calling "Operation Redo"!! We are going to have to gut the inside of this house and pretty much start from scratch! This house is truly going to be ours. We will be putting the sweat, tears, and labor into it. We get to put things into it that will be OUR choice. Yeah!!!! Thank You to everyone who has prayed for something to fall into place for us. We are still jobless, but hopefully that will follow shortly. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can get them.

Help!!!!!!!

Okay. I am in dire need of help. I was just called to be the Primary Chorister in our ward. YIKES!!!!! I have no idea how or where to start. The lady that I'm replacing just had twins, so she's going to be a little busy for a while. I don't want to bug her too much. ANY and ALL help will be much appreciated. This is so out of my comfort zone, but I figure that I won't grow if I don't try. Luckily our ward is small, so that helps a little. Our ward's Primary Program is in 4 weeks, so I got a little freaked out. Fortunately, I don't have to jump in and do it. I have about a month to get organized and ready to get busy.
Thanks!!!!

Fun Pictures

On Saturday we went down to look at neighborhoods we might want to move to. As we were leaving Lodi, we stopped at Lodi Lake to stretch our legs. I took a couple of fun pictures while we were there!





Just a side note: Happy Birthday Chris! We were super busy this past weekend so I didn't post anything like I wanted. I'm so blessed to have met and married the love of my life! Chris is an amazing person! He is a wonderful husband, a loving father, and an awesome friend! Happy birthday old man!!!

Praying Mantis

This cute little guy attached himself to our hummingbird feeder all day Tuesday. Needless to say, the hummingbirds were none to pleased with him. By late Tuesday night, Kayleigh decided that he'd died right there, so she proceeded to poke the poor guy with the end of a mixing spoon. She soon realized that he wasn't dead, he just wanted to hang out on the feeder.

Robot Cards

I got a new robot stamp set. I've needed a little boy set. I absolutely love these guys!! Enjoy!

1st Day of School

Ashlan getting ready for 1st grade!!!

Cameron posing with his Star Wars lunch box! I can't believe he's in 4th grade already!!

I love getting the bus stop pose!

Kayleigh getting ready to start her adventure called "Middle School"!!! It amazes me that she is 12 already and starting 7th grade! She has grown up so fast!

Here is Kayleigh ignoring my instructions for her to wait for me to get a picture of her at school. Like its embarrassing for me to take pictures of my little girl on her 1st day of school! Huh!

Here are Cameron and Adam. Unfortunately, Cameron is 2 1/2 years OLDER than Adam! These two boys had lots of fun playing with Legos!

Abby, Kayleigh, and Sara!

Abby, Makayla, and Ashlan. These three girls are little models!

Ashlan and Adam are just about 4 months apart. Ashlan was so proud that she is missing more teeth than Adam! She has 3 missing right now!

Here are some of the girls before we go out shopping!! Thanks Natalie and Reed for coming to visit! We had so much fun while you were here! Emma was the life of the party! We miss you guys already!