Girls Weekend in Tahoe

I just got back from a wonderful weekend with my friends!! Thank you Kristin for inviting us! We had a great time, but very sore from all the activities. We got up there on Friday, a little later than hoped. I had to go get an ultrasound done because I was having some pain near my ovaries. Now just waiting for the doctor to call back.(hopefully by Tuesday) Ok, back to the weekend. We got settled in and then drove up near Kings Beach and had dinner. The food was yummy! We came back and watched a movie. The next morning we got up early and did Pilates, ate breakfast and then Jenica lead us in a boot camp workout. Wow, that felt great, thanks!! We went back, got our swimsuits on and laid by the pool visiting and eating snacks. After lunch we went on a hike up the mountain, so beautiful, but what a workout!! We relaxed a little before dinner. We came back and played games late into the night. So much fun!! We went to church the next morning, wow great testimonies. I think we were all crying! Afterwards I came back and put aloe all over my sunburn, I got burned pretty bad, ouch! We had a nice lunch together and then I had to leave early because Todd needed to catch a flight for work. It was so nice to get away, even for a short time! Great memories and friendships made! Thanks Todd for taking care of the kids and all the baseball/softball parties. Can't wait for next year!

Mothers Day

Happy Mother's Day out there to all the wonderful moms in my life! I had a very nice day. I received a beautiful plant and cards from my family. We bought some pretty flowers and pots for our moms and grandma. I enjoyed the song the kids sang at church, made me cry. We also had new ward boundaries done, so lots of new faces at church. It will be fun to get to know them all. After church we visited with our moms and grandma. We love you all!

Valentines Day!

"Can't wait to get the wrapper off!!"






Happy Valentine's Day!! It was a fun day giving valentines to each other. I received some pretty flowers and chocolate!! Todd got a fun Clue game"24".

Adult Valentines Party

Todd and I went to my brother and sister-in-laws house tonight for a Valentines party. It was a lot of fun!! They had lots of yummy food and we played some fun games!! It was fun to see friends from high school. Thanks for a fun night and for the great pictures!!

My New Adventure

Kylee sitting in the toy bucket.

Well, I started a new adventure today. This sweet little girl is Kylee, she's 13 months old and walking. My neighbors adopted her in December, from China. They've been waiting for a little one for years. Her mom is going back to work, so I'm going to be watching her 3 days a week. They are very excited to have her close by and not have to drive to pick her up. I'm glad to be making some extra money to help pay the bills. She is a sweetheart and loves to play with the kids. Rusty(dog) is already protective of her too! I hope the transition will go well for the both of us.

Sleepover

Last night we had our girl scout friends over for a sleepover at our house. All the moms and daughters came. We had a great time!! We had different activities through out the day. My boys were on an RV trip, so girls be partying. We made personal pizzas out of biscuits, the girls enjoying rolling them out and putting toppings on them. We started to make our scarfs, but will finish in the morning. The older girls helped the younger girls put on a fashion show with their American Girl dolls. It turned out really cute! And everyone won a prize! They went in the spa and had a good time(so much for relaxing). Then we made brownie sundaes, so yummy!! The girls went upstairs to get ready for bed, sleeping bags all over the floor. Then they watched "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and enjoyed it!
In the morning we cooked breakfast; pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, fruit ans quiche. It was all so good! Then we finished our scarfs and made "Flat Stacie's", to mail to another troop in Florida. Then we got dressed and went for a walk and did exercises. What a fun event!! Thanks to everyone for your help and friendship. *pictures to come!

Bunko

I went to Bunko tonight with my friends and had a great time!! We talked a lot and only got to 3 rounds. I won a prize, for most loses. We usually take a picture about once a year, when all the regulars make it. Thanks for a fun evening!

CPR/First Aid

Well, I'm CPR and first aid certified!! I took an 8 hour class today through girls scouts and got certified. It was a fun and very informative class. The teachers were great, they are a husband and wife team. It's a great comfort to have some training behind me, but also a great responsibility. With working with the girl scouts and also having our swimming pool I knew I needed to do it. In the class, while we were working on our mannequin babies, I blew too hard and popped the lung bag(oops!!) I was a little embarrassed, but I'm sure it was just a defect in the plastic. (right?) Every 2 years, I'll have to get retrained.

Denver trip

Julie & Lisa

Todd gave me airline tickets for Christmas, to go to Denver to visit my friend. Julie and I met in Carmichael when we both lived there. We've been friends for about 8 years. It was great to get away and hang out with her and her family. When I was on the plane going there, the pilot got on the intercom and said that it is -9 degrees there. Wow!! I've never been anywhere that cold before. When we landed he said it warmed up and was 0 degrees now. It got to 12 degrees later that day and actually wasn't too bad. It's a dry cold, so it doesn't hit you like the damp cold does here. We had a great time!! We watched movies (all Amy Adams shows), went to the mall, ate out and cooked at home, she did my hair (she used to be my hair dresser, I miss her!) and visited with her friends. It was very relaxing and just what I needed. Thanks hunny for a wonderful gift. Also, while I was gone, Todd and the kids cleaned and organized the garages. The put shelves in and got rid of junk. It was a nice surprise. Plus, they did dishes, laundry, etc the whole weekend. They continued after I got home too!!! Thanks for the best gift ever!!!

New Years Eve!!!

Cousins playing games.

Girls Dance Performance

Performance over - Encore!

Todd starting his Tom Clancy Series.

Rusty saying "Happy New Year!"

My favorite flavor!

We had most of my family over for New Years Eve. We had a lot of yummy food! (meatballs, little smokies, chicken salad, salami & cream cheese rolls, Queso dip and chips, homemade salsa, veggies, pot stickers, fruit, and of course desserts. Thanks for making all the yummy food you brought! We ate and played games all night. It was so much fun!! Kimberly had been working on a dance performance all day. When her cousins got here, they made programs "invites" for everyone. They worked really hard. They performed 5 or 6 dances. Even the little ones wanted to get in the action. It was cute!! We played ping pong, Wii, Sceneit? 2, Hand & Foot and drank Sparkling Cider while we watched the ball drop. It was neat to say I've been there "Time Square" before. My parents are off to Washington in the morning for my brothers baby's blessing, so they left early. My sisters"twins" are staying the night, my girls are excited!! They wish their cousins could stay too, but they were sick. Happy New Year!!!! I'll wish for a better year, 2010 for everyone!

King's Game!

My brothers & sisters and spouses.

Lisa, Todd & Ryan

Ryan with Grandpa Wallace



My brother Tom and his wife Marci are in town for Christmas from BYU. They wanted to go to a King's game while here. So we all got tickets together, there were about 20 of us including Marci's family. We watched a great game with the King's against Denver Nuggets. They won 106 - 101. It was quite exciting at the end. My sister let Ryan & I borrow her jerseys. Thanks!! Also, the Ruiz's from church were behind us, that was fun! It was great to be together, I'd love to go more often. I don't mind watching sports in person, more exciting. Parking is a rip off though.

Mom & Dad gifts

Lisa's new watch!

Drill

Shoes


Tom Clancy books "Splinter Cell series"

We got some great gifts too!! Thanks for helping to pick things out, kids! You did great! We are very thankful for a wonderful day! Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Morning!!

Stocking Stuffers:






Santa Gifts:
** NOT EXCITED AT ALL!!




We had a wonderful Christmas this year! The kids were so excited to get the Wii from Santa. They danced around and jumped up and down. We also got a new video camera, it's so small. It was a game year for us, thanks Santa! The kids liked their stocking stuffers too; R got some HEX bugs, B a Taylor Swift CD, K a DVD of Angelina Ballerina and Rusty got some new toys. He destroyed his muffin squeaker toy in 20 minutes. We have a busy day, so the kids have to wait to play the Wii. We are first heading over to Todd's parents for brunch and family time. Then we'll go to Lisa's parents for dinner and family time. Unfortuantely I did not get any pictures there, I'm sad. We had a wonderful time and the kids loved their gifts. Also, playing with their cousins.

Christmas Eve

We went to the annual Christmas Eve dinner at my parents house with my extended family tonight. We had yummy food and enjoyed visiting with everyone. We were very sad that my grandparents were not able to join us. This is the first time ever that they were not here. My grandpa fell off his ladder putting Christmas lights up a few weeks ago. He broke a few ribs and punctured his lungs. He is still in a lot of pain. He was hoping to come for dinner, but wasn't feeling well. We missed them so much!! It wasn't the same without them. I borrowed these pictures from my sister-in-law. We had a lot of fun playing games; we played Zilch and the girls played Eye to Eye. Now off to bed before the big day, Santas coming!!!

Holiday Baking

Our Girl Scout Troop and moms

Our girls

We had the girl scouts from our troop over today. We did our holiday baking. Each family brought some dough for a favorite cookie and we baked. We made cute sugar cookies, chocolate mint cookies, peanut butter blossoms, Reese's peanut butter surprises and chocolate crinkles. We had both of my ovens going for several hours. We had pizza for dinner. The girls exchanged ornaments too! Thanks for an enjoyable evening.

Polar Express

By the sleigh of presents.

By the little girl elf on the train.

With the elf dancer.

Mom and girls on the train.

Drinking our Hot Chocolate!

Santa on his sleigh.

His reindeer.

Where's Santa?

Here he is! With the girls!

They got a bell from him!

We went down to Old Sac and meet my sister and some friends to go on the Polar Express. It was a lot of fun! We had fun taking pictures while we waited to board. They had cute props and a very nice elf doing magic tricks. The kids couldn't wait to board. We had yummy cookies and hot chocolate while we were on the train. They told the Polar Express story while we went to meet Santa. He came on board and gave each child(big and small) a bell and asked, "Do you Believe?" It was so neat! I'm glad we got to come again. The excitement wasn't as strong as the first time, but still enjoyed it!! Thanks for inviting us, Alyson.