Busy December

Wow December is always so full of events, I'm exhausted by Christmas. So far, these are a few of the things we have been up to this month. Jalan had a Christmas concert at school, and here he is singing. He did such a great job singing so loudly and doing an excellent job on the sign language as they sang, "Let There Be Peace On Earth". Here is Brooke at her Christmas concert singing along with the Jr High Choir. We cant believe the amount of support this town is always showing. The schools are PACKED to the rim at least 30 minutes prior to the shows starting. Its really nice to see, but makes it so fun to sit knee to knee to everyone in Centralia to watch our kids! Great job Brooke!!

Also, Jalan won the Hoop Shoot again this year for his class, so he got to go to the city wide Hoop Shoot. Here he is with his group, trying for a shot. He was put in the 10-11 year old group, even though he was still 9. Whatever...so the boys were all way bigger than him of course! He didnt win, but he did good for him. He also had to shoot from the real free throw line...wow!! Congrats to Jalan for making it!

We still have tons more to do this month...including Jalan's birthday tomorrow! I didnt post on everything, since its so boring..but this is some. I will post more later with hopefully better pics...so on to the rest of December!!.....

Our beautiful Brookie!!

Brooke is on the cheer squad again this year for the Jr. High Tigers!! She is loving it again, and is such a cute, outgoing cheery gal! I took her picture the other night before she left to a game, and was just in awe at how beautiful she has gotten lately. I just had to post and show everyone what a beauty this girl is. She is a lovely cheerleader and lots of fun!! Go Tigers!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I have been a procrastinator in posting....we have had my mom and dad here to visit, so it has made it harder to make time to post! So we had quite an eventful week prior the thanksgiving. Last Monday, my dad started to have trouble with a sore leg, so we talked him into going into the ER..and he landed in the hospital with a bloodclot in his leg. He spent the next 3 days there. They finally decided it was the superficial kind, not the dangerous kind, so he was ok as far as that went. But the Dr's were concerned of why he had it in the first place. So...he spent some time getting tests done. On WEdnesday afternoon, the Dr said, all looks fine for an old guy..so he could go home! WE were thrilled he wouldnt be spending Thanksgiving in Centralia Hospital! So we were able to have a nice Thanksgiving dinner here at our house with my mom and dad! Well, now to backtrack to tell of another glitch. While Nic and Casey and Brandon were here visiting the week before, we had a close call with the oven..well, a fire in the oven due to some spilled granola bar remains....anyway..to get the fire out, Disnee had to throw a cup of water into the oven to put out the flames. So....all was fine, and so I cleaned the oven and thought all was well. When Brandon got the deer jerkey ready to put in the oven, the oven wouldnt work...so that was a bummer. I somehow managed to forget about this, until Wednesday morning when I was starting to make the pumpkin pies for thanksgiving. OOps...the oven is broke!! Luckily, we have a double oven..however, the bottom only worked. IT is a very small little oven and usually burns anything that goes in it. So...that was all I had to cook: 4 pumpkin pies, 2 lemon merengue??? pies, 2 batches of rolls, green bean casserole, ham, TURKEY, and I think thats it......Miraculously, somehow the turkey fit!! and the rest of the food turned out well, and we had a wonderful yummy Thanksgiving Dinner! Im grateful for blessings!

Im so grateful for the great parents Troy and I have and for their love and support to our family. Im so grateful for my wonderful kids who are such a blessing to me. Im so grateful for Troy and for the rock he is to me and the wonderful husband, friend, father and person he is. I am so blessed with so many things and I know that all we receive comes from our Father in Heaven. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

What is your opinion of Twilight?

OK, so I LOVED the movie...but I think everyone didnt. So....if you have seen the movie, what do you think??? Oh my goodness it was great!!!

I'm off to the midnight showing!!

YES, I am nuts,..but in a couple of hours I am heading out with friends to the midnight show of TWILIGHT!!! I cant wait to see it....but Brooke is so mad at me. I have to preview it before I let her see it tomorrow:) Cant wait to hear what everyone thinks about it!!!!!

Our guests!

Our new soon to be addition to our kitchen...thanks brandon!!

another view

The whole gang after they finally found the deer

Jalan and Britton and uncle B with the doe...they had a blast!!

The boys

So, last Sunday, Nic, Casey, Halle, Maddi, Ashly, and Brandon flew in to see us for a week! We have had a blast, doing our usual, eating and hanging out. WE have been out to dinner a few times and shopping, but the main highlight was the hunting! Brandon shot a doe two days ago, with Troys bow. He was sooooo excited!! The kids stayed home from school that day, so they got to go with the guys on the hunt to follow the tracks of blood. It was an exciting day for the boys especially! They finally found the deer, and brought it back here to our yard! Then Brandon cleaned it and cut off some of the meat. We are gonna make a bunch of deer jerkey! It was fun. Brandon has been working on our kitchen remodel we are starting as well. He is such a hard worker and has been busting his tail trying to get as much done as he can before he leaves tomorrow...thanks Brandon!! Im glad to have someone to help Troy so I dont have to!!!

Cancun!!

Here we are up in the air parasailing!

Troy loved it!

Us at Chichen-Itza

A beautiful sunset!

Troy in his lush Ritz-Carlton robe, eating our room service dinner! yum..what a vacation! so spoiled!

In Cozumel eating lunch listening to the mariachi's..

On the pier in Cozumel after the ferry ride...ughhhh

This is at Xel-ha(Shell-ha) at the buffet eating...we had several pina coladas and strawberry daquiris...yum...BEERGIN of course ("virgin " being said by a mexican waiter)

Us at Xel-ha, it was so pretty!

Me in my robe relaxing in our room

The view off our balcony..it was so amazingly beautiful!

Ok, so here is the scoop!

Well, on Saturday, Nov 8 Troy and I left St. Louis to head to Cancun for a week. Troy went for a conference, and so we made it our annual trip away from the kids. My mom and dad stayed here with the kids. WE had a blast. Sunday we spent the day hanging out and relaxing, and Troy got started on the conference. Monday we got to go snorkling at Xel-ha..a neat natural aquarium place, it was great. We spent the whole day there, and it was all-inclusive. We got all the food and drinks we wanted..yum... We rode bikes, tubed down the river, snorkled, went in a mayan cave underground, hiked and had a great time. Tuesday we then got to go to Cozumel for a day trip and snorkle and saw tons of fish. Troy and I both got seasick on the ferry from cancun to cozumel..but we survived. We had to ride inside on the bottom, and it was yucky! Then the snorkling boat tour we went on was great, but we were sick there too. We snorkled and even got sick floating on the water. it was pretty rough because of the stinkin hurricane that had just went through. It was great though, there were soooo many fish, we even saw a big barracuda. We spent the rest of the day shopping and hanging out and then rode the ferry back to cancun that evening. We rode up top and it was alot better. A band was playing some music and it was fun. The next day, WEdnesday, we went to Chichen-Itza to see the Myan ruins. It was very interesting and really neat. We couldnt climb up the pyramids anymore, so that was a bummer. i guess some lady died in 2005, so they stopped the touring. We bought some cool souveniers there though. Thursday we spent the day hanging out and relaxing after 3 full crazy days. We swam and layed on the beach. We went parasailing, it was sooooo scary! Troy loved it, but it was terrifying for me. Friday we pretty much got ready to leave and headed home. it was a long day, we left the hotel at 9 am and got home to Centralia at 12:30 am. Long day! We had a 5 hour layover in Miami. It was a great time we got to spend together and celebrate our 16th Anniversary!! Wow we are getting old!! We ate tons of good food, saw tons of neat plaves and got to enjoy each other alone for a few days...what a treat! Thanks to mom and dad for staying here with our brats and taking care of them! WE had one day to get unpacked, do laundry and clean house to prepare for our other guests coming...Nic, CAsey and kids, and Brandon flew in Sunday afternoon. Next post...