Merry Christmas!

Here's to wishing you and your family a basket full of fun, love, and happiness in the new year!

Getting Ready For Christmas . . .

Gingerbread House.... Check.
Telling Santa What We Want For Christmas... Check.

New Christmas Sunday Outfits... Check.
We're just about ready, let the parties begin!

Michelle's Baptism

Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity to attend our dear friend Michelle's Baptism! It was a wonderful event to be a part of and we are so excited for her. We all love her, but Jayne is especially crazy about her and always has been since she met her. She is always so kind to Jayne, and treats her like a friend. Jayne always follows her around whenever we're around her. What a great day!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like . . .

Christmas!!

Which, for me, means lots of sewing! I feel a little like Santa's elf working nights to finish presents! I Love Christmas- everything about it! Enjoy the moment :-)

Family Pictures

It's that time of year again! I think they turned out pretty cute. Maybe you can guess what we picked for our Christmas card.....

btw, we have moved and have a new address. I'm trying to get out whatever I'm doing for a christmas card this year (combo of snail mail, email, and hand delivery) early, but if you beat me to the punch, please email me for my new address. Not sure if my forwarding service is still working. And I hate missing Christmas cards! :-)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone. We had so much fun, and not much time for blogging. So I'll catch up!
Jayne's preschool had an adorable program and Thanksgiving feast. She was an indian princess. She also brought home her pilgrim outfit she made. So cute!

The kids were out of school for the week, so what did we do? . . .

We hit the beach
And Disneyland, of course!

I know we're not original, but we sure did have fun. We also did quite a bit of baking and getting ready for Thanksgiving and family pictures. A great week. Looking forward to Christmas!

Cutest little guy in his new jacket

Jason's mom got Ryan this adorable jacket for his bday but it was very big for him and hasn't been cold. Well, it finally got a little cold so I was quick to bust out his new jacket. It's like a real lettermans jacket (and looks almost like jason's from high school). He also got these styl'in new pants that he finally fits into. Looks like a little stud muffin to me! Thanks Grandma Judy!

New Skirt

I made this skirt for Jayne last night while Jason was at his softball game. Didn't take very long, especially since I didn't know exactly what I was doing. I followed an online tutorial. I have more pics and the link on babyjaynes. Jayne loved it. I think I'm going to make her another today :-)

Free Books!

I LOVE free stuff! Especially books. They are so expensive. A few of these look really awesome and I might buy. Enjoy!

As a part of his doctoral studies, John Hilton III is "studying what happens when books are made available for free." He worked with "Deseret Book and they have made 8 of their books available for free." They can all be downloaded at http://deseretbook.com/free. Several of the books are ones you might be interested in. The books are:

LDS/Deseret book ~ books that you can download for free.

Deseret Book has made 8 of their books available for FREE DOWNLOAD at deseretbook.com/free.

The books are:

1. Please Pass the Scripture (by me).
2. What I Wish I Would Have Known When I Was Single (by John Bytheway).
3. Women at the Well (by Richard and Jeni Holzapfel).
4. Digging Deeper (by Robert Eaton).
5. 10 Secrets Wise Parents Know (by Brent Top and Bruce Chadwick).
6. Growing Up: Gospel Answers About Maturation and Sex (by Brad Wilcox).
7. Saving Kristen (by Jack Weyland). (fiction)
8. The Hidden Path (by C.B. Andersen). (fiction).

Weekend to Scottsdale

We had a quick but fun trip to Scottsdale, AZ for the weekend. Some golf, some USC Football, good food, and great company, it was a wonderful weekend!

Yes, it appears Jayne is destined to be a cheer leader. This was at her 5 year old cousin's soccer game. She wouldn't give up that sign for anything and loved cheering for him. :-)

USC won but it was a little stressful. Kids LOVED going to the game! It was their first away game :-)
This picture was taken by a Sports Illustrated photographer and made it onto the SI website!! We got the notice and I copied the picture here. Pretty fun. Jayne and her cousins do look adorable! Fight on!

Happy Halloween!

Had a little pumpkin carving family night! Pumpkins, hot chocolate, cookies, and a fire in the fireplace! I think we're ready for Halloween! . . .

My not so little Lion

Barbie Island Princess

Almost all the Orange County cousins ready for trick or treating fun!

We had a really fun little gathering at our house. Great food, great company, great trick or treating, not so great USC score, but had fun watching the game together on Tivo after trick or treating. A great night!


I'm posting my decorating pictures and recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes I made for the night on my baby jayne's blog.

30

I don't feel 30. I feel 24 still. And now I realize that even when I'm 50, I"ll probably feel like I'm 30 inside. It's weird. My Grandpa's told me that he still gets surprised when he sees himself and he looks old. I know that's how I"ll feel. And now I know that's how everyone feels.

While I feel 24, I'm really glad I'm not still 24. I've done quite a bit of liv'in in my 30 years, here's a few things I've learned so far ...
1- Life is short. You don't know how long you have. So enjoy it.
2- Don't put off doing something you really want to do. Figure out how to do it.
3- I feel a lot more comfortable in my skin than I did younger and I'm sure I look worse. Now I think, well, not too bad so it works :-)
4- I value authentic people. I try to surround myself with these people and also be totally authentic myself.
5- All the little things don't really matter much, keep the big things in perspective.
6- Marry your best friend and stay best friends. It's the best decision I ever made and I'm thankful for him everyday.
7- If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
8- Nothing in life is fair or free. Take what you get and make the most out of it. We won't be held accountable for talents we never received, but what we did with the talents/gifts/etc we did receive.
9- The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. And in my case, that's a pretty good thing.
10- Hard work is it's own reward. I love to work hard and play hard. One of the greatest things I can teach my kids is how to work hard. That's one of the greatest things my parents taught me.
11- Kids add so much value to life. Motherhood is my greatest joy and my greatest challenge. How I hope I do a good job :-)

I love my life. I love my family. I love my friends. And I'm thankful for my blessings everyday. I feel grounded, loved, at peace, and that I'm fulfilling my life's mission on this earth everyday. I couldn't ask for much more than that! Thanks to everyone for making my Birthday so special! Especially Jason who went above and beyond! I love you!

I took the kids to Disneyland to get my Disney bucks for my bday, then we had our ward Halloween Party and we came home for special cupcakes Jason got me (my favorite!). Very fun day!!

Early Celebrations

I started celebrating my bday about a week early. Leanna, one of my lifelong best friends and I hit the spa! Boy, was that overdue! We've never done that together and known each other 30 years now. It was super fun and we're planning a trip back with our mom's in May :-) It was a nice short respite from our kids and routines! Much needed and enjoyed!
I also got to spend a day at my parents and celebrate my bday with my Grandmommy. Her bday is only a few days before mine so we always have a joint family party and also include my aunt Michelle. It was very fun. I posted a picture of my present on babyjaynes- a designer looking monogrammed pillow to match this amazing quilt my mom made my Grandma. It turned out pretty awesome. I liked how my pillow turned out too. The kids of course had a fantastic time at my parents and always cry when they have to leave. On to more celebrating..... :-)

Field Trip to Tanaka Farms

Ryan and I got to go with Jayne's class to their first field trip! Every mom in the class came! It's such a wonderful group of mom's and kids. We got to do tractor rides, pick veggies from the garden, pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, pet some animals, have some snacks, and go through a corn maze. We had such a wonderful time! Happy Fall!

Big Move

(If you saw our garage even a day before this photo, you know this is amazing! Clean, empty, gone!)

So we had to move our entire house in 3 days! It was INSANE! The house we were leasing got sold and we got horrible new landlords. We tried to negotiate with them down to the end and then they wouldn't budge so we jumped on a chance to move 2 streets over to our same exact house model but lots of wonderful upgrades for the same price. Only problem was having to move our entire house in 3 days or have to pay that horrible landlord more money. We were up till literally 3:30am that last night/morning cleaning stuff out and where back at 7am to drop off the keys. We would be completely dead with out the help of our family and friends! Thank you, thank you!!! My mom and Grandmommy came and helped me 2 days in a row. It literally saved me. I woke up that next morning in our new house surrounded by boxes and felt like bawling my head off. I answer the phone and they say their on their way to help me (for the second straight day). We got my kitchen totally done and the kids rooms done and most of the boxes downstairs emptied. They were my angels helping me this past week!

To top it off, I had my first craft fair on Saturday after this big move during the week. Luckily my mom and I were doing it together and she helped get all the tags and sign made! Luckily I had my products already done. Check out www.babyjaynes.blogspot.com for our pics from the craft fair.

I just couldn't help snapping some adorable pics of Ryan. He's finally starting to like his time when Jayne is gone and just him and I get to play. I just think he's the cutest thing ever! And this week I decided to take the kids to Disneyland since they had been so great with our big move and all the craziness. We had so much fun!

Yes, he has his legs crossed, laid back watching his show.
He wouldn't take his play doctor's stethoscope off and wanted to bring it on our run.

The kids and I on the top of Tom Sawyer's Island

After the Winne the Pooh Ride

Best Friends

Jayne and Ryan are best friends. Jayne is so wonderful with Ryan. She acts like a mix between his mother and his buddy, and he just adores her. He sobs and sobs every time Jayne leaves to go to preschool. He follows her around, even playing barbies and sitting in her beauty parlor chair, and she'll spend countless time throwing balls, and digging in the yard with him. I love that they have so much fun together. To Jayne's credit, she never gets mad or annoyed at having him follow her around or want to be with her. She always acts kind and nice and includes him even when she has friends over. I hope they stay this way as they get older :-)

Climbing on rocks at the park.

"I'm gonna get you!"
If you lay on the ground, Ryan will tackle you. Doesn't matter what or why you are laying on the ground, he will come running to land on you. I fell back on the grass and sure enough here he came! And I actually got a picture mid air :-)