Me and My Christmas Tree

One of my family traditions I had growing up was buying a real Christmas tree every year. I loved going to the Christmas tree lots as a child. The fresh pine tree smell was amazing and my brother and I had the time of our lives running through all the rows of trees. When we moved to northern San Diego we found a Christmas tree farm where we could cut our own tree. We'd hike all over the mountain until we found the "best" tree ever. My mother LOVES big full Christmas trees and as long as I can remember all of our trees have gone floor to ceiling . This tradition and love of huge trees has rubbed off on me. Every year I take my family now and we go to Lowes and I find the biggest fullest tree possible. This year was no exception. We were looking at trees in the 6-7 ft range but of course I can find the one in the pile that is really 9ft and massive but the price of a 6-7ft tree. : ) What can I say its a gift! So yes this year just like when I was a kid my tree goes floor to cieling and I love it!!!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving I invited my family to come visit us for Thanksgiving. I was nervous to be in charge of the big meal but thankfully my Mom came a day early and I consider her to be the Thanksgiving day expert chef. I managed to not burn anything and everything turned out very yummy. It was a great day filled with laughs and family just the way it should be. Thanks everyone for coming!Most of the adults (My Aunt Connie, cousins: Aaron, Jacob, Deborah and her husband Johann and cutest little guy every Henry, My Dad and that's Alexis laying on the bench with only her feet showing)

Justin did a great job cutting up the 22lb turkey we made!

Ariana fought her nap all day but finally settled down just before dinner watching some movie. She actually was asleep when dinner started and I had to wake her up to eat. Poor thing.

My mom makes the best Apple pie in the whole world. (I am serious!!) Today she made two apple and two pumpkin pies. They were VERY yummy!

Alexis loved Grandma making pies especially since my mom would give her pie dough scraps filled with "sprinkles" a.k.a. sugarAlexis and I had so much fun playing with Henry! This is Alexis playing peek-a-boo with Henry but Alexis favorite game of the night was me "flying" Henry after her. Henry thought that it was all pretty funny. We are an interesting group : ) (thanks for the picture Deborah!)

Twilight - The movie

So as I posted before I got tickets to the Thursday night midnight premier of Twilight. I went with my friend Teniel and her sister Natalie. We had a great time and actually sat in good seats. That said here is my first round opinion of the movie: I was disappointed. I went knowing the book would always be better but I found myself laughing at the acting several times and didn't feel like they developed the story behind the characters very well. It also made it hard to enjoy the movie because sitting behind us where some really LOUD teenage girls who were making some kind of noise throughout the ENTIRE movie! I've been to premiers before so I expect applause and generally more noise but seriously those girls took it to a very annoying level. I left feeling like I had to come back and give the movie a second chance (hopefully without loud girls behind my head) So the next night I amazingly convienced Justin to come with me to it. Second round opinion: I liked it better. I still laughed at some of the chessyness but overall I walked away feeling a lot more satisfied and I really like the direction they took Charlie (Bella's Dad). The book is still better but I always knew it would be so if you haven't read the book READ IT!!!

Where have I been?

Yes it has been a very long time since I posted. I know that some of you see me on a fairly regular basis so you know I am still alive but for those of you who don't... everything is fine I've just been slightly preoccupied with something else in my free time for the last month. What is it that has caught my attention so thoroughly that I haven't blogged or done much of anything else in my free time? Confession time...Twilight, the four book series written by Stephanie Myer and soon to be movie. I am slightly obsessed, that's putting mildly, with the story. This probably sums it up best, I read all four books in four days the first time (they are all 500+ pages each) and am now on my third read through them. I am so excited to go see the movie and while it sounds crazy (it kind of is) me and a couple of my friends are going to the midnight premier Thursday night. Yup 12:01am! Its bringing back fun flash back from college when my roommates and I would all go to the midnight showings of Harry Potter. I guess a little bit of our fun college past stays with us : ) So don't worry I am still alive I've just been reading A LOT!

Halloween

For Halloween this year Alexis decided she wanted to be a kitty and Ariana wanted to be a princess. Alexis has been pretending to be a kitty for several weeks now so actually dressing up as one was very exciting for her. Grandma Gayle came down for a visit the day of trunk-or-treat and it was lots of fun having her visit. My girls love their Grandma so much. Yes I did dress up, I couldn't let my brides maid dress only be worn once so I became a Halloween princess too : )

I know it is hard to see in this picture but isn't Justin soo cute in Ariana's crown!?!

Wedding number 1

This weekend was George and Catrina's big days. I say days because when will George ever do anything normal? George had two jobs to take care of for his wedding. Find a bishop to preform the ceremony and make hotel reservations. He was totally on top of one and completely dropped the ball on the other. Can you guess which one he did take care of? ; ) If you can't than the rest of the story will fill you in. George and Catrina both had really hoped my Dad could preform the ceremony but since he is not an acting bishop he couldn't. Well they needed to be married legally and since George didn't find an acting bishop he came up with a plan B. So here is plan B:
*Friday night after the family dinner go to a local wedding chapel in Reno and get the legal part done
*Don't tell anyone except for the parents and siblings
*Saturday Dad preforms the ceremony that they consider real
It was hilarious!! After dinner Friday night Catrina's Mom, Mike, Catrina's brother, my Mom and Dad, Justin and I all head out with Catrina and George to the wedding chapel. A very strange man preforms a the legal ceremony that none of us can stop laughing through. He was seriously telling old Native American stories and trying to be so serious and the rest of us just couldn't stop laughing. I'm sure the chapel all thought we were nuts.












You may kiss the bride!

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick









Umm need I say more?

Pennies by the Inch

Lately Alexis has been asking how she can earn money and is always hunting for coins. We weren't sure why she all of a sudden became so concerned about having money but offered her little chores to do so she could earn some money. Tuesday night I actually took the time to talk to Alexis while she was cleaning her room and asked her what it was she wanted the money for. I was surprised by her answer:"I need money to help the kids at the hospital feel better Mom." I understood what was going on then. Our primary is helping raise money for the primary children's hospital and Alexis wanted to help. I was impressed that this sweet little girl cared so much for others and that she didn't want the money for herself or a new toy so we talked about ways that I could help her earn more. We came up with the idea that we could make some cupcakes and cookies to sell around the neighborhood. After dinner we went to the store and Alexis picked out two cake mixes (rainbow and "pink"), two frostings (vanilla and chocolate) and the suff we need for chocolate chip cookies. That night she helped me bake all the cupcakes and the next day she helped decorate them and bake the cookies. Alexis set the prices herself for the cupcakes and cookies: "I want 1 quarter for a cupcake and five dimes for a bag of cookies!" With that we set out around the neighborhood with our treats in the back of our wagon. I was once again shocked by our neighbors kindness and genorosity. I thought she would make around $15 but when we got home and all our goodies were gone she had earned $49! She is so happy that she was able to earn money for the "sick kids at the hospital" and I am greatful to her for reminding me that it is good to remember and help others. I let Alexis and Ariana keep a cupcake and cookie to eat but Alexis was much happier with how she was going to help than by the yummy food she got to eat. Joy does come more from helping others than ourself.