House Decorations

This year we were pretty excited to be able to decorate our new house.  We didn't really know where we should put stuff so we just started to see where it took us. 

 Scott was working on the outside while I was doing the pumpkin logs inside.  He hates heights and this picture is really shocking for me because normally he wouldn't get up there. 

 

 Our outside lights look really cool.  We definitely have a long way to go but it's a start for this year.

 

 I love my Christmas Tree.  I was able to put on my brand new ornaments that were blue and silver.  I only had colored lights but next year it is going to have just white lights on it. 

 

 We moved the piano over here and I got to decorate it a little bit. 

 

 I miss totally having my hearth to decorate but this ledge will have to do for now. 

 

The front entrance.  The only thing missing is my Christmas village.  I still haven't found a spot to put it up in and I'm not sure what else to do.  I'm going to keep looking because if I can find a wooden ladder I will use it to put up my village.  

Forgotten Carols 2015

As tradition holds Scott and I had our date night to the Forgotten Carols.  It was in Idaho Falls again this year.  This year though he had a new Connie and they had revamped the production.  I was nervous because the last time he did this I didn't like it at all. 

 Waiting for it to start.

 The new tree and staging.  The lighting was awesome this year. 

The cast getting their applause.  

I really didn't like the Connie Lou that much this year.  She was not like the Connie Lou's in the past.  Everything else though I loved about it. I love this tradition and maybe next year we'll take Rachel.  We might try the free one out in Marsh Valley first to see if she can sit through it before we actually spend this kind of money on her going and then not liking it. 

Thanksgiving 2015

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house.  It was really nice.  Scott's sister Jamie and her family came on Wednesday night along with Scott's parents.  We got to see how it would work with people actually downstairs.  We had lots of room and no one was tripping over each other.  It snowed most the night so we weren't sure if Tyson's family was going to make it. He had said they turned around but then we saw them pull into the driveway.  Grani  called and said she was really sick and not feeling well.  So they didn't end up coming.  The kids played while the adults got the food ready.  We also had football on in the theatre room.

 We had the cute kids table.  They loved sitting by themselves.

 Dad cutting the turkey.

 The spread of food.

 Kids eating pretty good.

 I made gluten free brownie's for Rachel.  She was so happy.

 Our family portrait for Thanksgiving.  We all were pretty comfy looking.

After dinner we got everything cleaned up and then played a game of Scattergories.  Scott's family was then gone by 5:30.  We decided to take Rachel over to my parents house and Scott, my dad, and I headed out to look for things we wanted on the Thanksgiving sale.  We got everything we wanted and didn't even have to wait in any lines.  I think most people were at Walmart and I did all my Walmart shopping online.  I actually did tons of shopping online which gave me extra points for gift cards.  It was a great Thanksgiving.

Mopping floor vs. Putting away clothes

Tonight I wanted to get Rachel to put her clothes away while I was in the process of cleaning the house.  It still needed a good cleaning from Saturday when we had made the pumpkin logs and we were going to have everyone at our house this year for Thanksgiving on Scott's side.  I told Rachel to put her clothes away while I was mopping and she was like do you want to switch.  I'll mop if you put away my clothes.  I said okay that works.  So we swapped chores.  She did do a pretty good job.  I told her she had to do it good like I would do it.  I had to help her a couple times but she is getting the hang of it. 

Pumpkin Log Making

I was able to talk Kristi into coming down to my house to make pumpkin logs for Christmas.  I knew I wanted some for my family events but also to give to my visiting teaching people.  We just started making them.  I ended up researching and finding out that my oven was a convection oven which meant we could put more than one pan in at a time.  We kicked them out after that.  When we were all finished we ended up having 22 logs.

I was super excited we got so many made.  We even got to eat one.  :-)

Breakfast in Bed

So Rachel found our TV trays for eating in bed and decided that she was going to get up and make breakfast in bed for herself.  I thought it was so funny.  She did get up and do it all by herself.  I was laying in bed listening to her in the kitchen.  After I knew she was done I then went to capture these pictures of her.  Breakfast in bed by Rachel.

 She caught me trying to take a picture on the sly.

 She did pretty well.

Close up of her food.  Toast - one with jam one without.  Cereal without any milk. Glass of water.  She at least thought about not putting milk in the cereal because she didn't want to make a mess in her bed.  I was grateful she actually thought through all of this.  I admit she did a good job and she enjoyed it.

1st Grade Thanksgiving Feast 2015

Today I helped out with the 1st grader's Thanksgiving Feast.  There were quite a few parents there willing to help.  I got put in charge of the potatoes.  We ended up making about four huge bowls of potatoes that actually by the end got thrown away.  Oh well.  The kids made themselves hats, place-mats, and silverware holders. 

 Here is the gym all set up for their feast.

 This was Rachel's plate.  She had to have gluten free bread and cookies while everyone else got rolls and pumpkin pie.

 She found her place-mat.  The teachers then said they could actually sit wherever they wanted to so we moved her plate so she could sit next to her best friend.

 Rachel and her best friend Maurianna.  They are two peas in a pod.  They were talking more than eating until I told them they had to eat.

 Showing me her turkey she made.  These held the silverware and napkins.

Rachel and Madilanne (her cousin).  They both got to wear bonnets.  Rachel looks like she is storing food for winter because she shoved her piece of bread  in her mouth just before I took this picture.

Brain Balance Exercises

Rachel got home from school and we did her normal piano practice, reading, homework and exercises.  She was working on her exercises when all the sudden she just crashed and was out.  I thought it was so funny that one minutes she could be doing her lizard exercise and then I heard snoring.  Must have been a hard day at school.

I let her sleep for about 1/2 an hour and then woke her up to finish her exercises.  She wasn't very happy but it was 5:00 and I really want her to sleep tonight.

Dental Cleaning

Rachel loves the Dentist.  She bugged me all day wondering when it was going to be time to go to the dentist.  When we got there she ran out of the truck into the building.

She had this big huge grin on her face the whole time.  Even when they were putting the sealings on her very back teeth.  She got to write her name on the no cavity board so she was happy. 

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Mac N Cheese

This is seriously one of the most happiest girls in the world right now.  Our friend Jackie who's kid Caden is in the Brain Balance Center with Rachel told us they make gluten free, dairy free macaroni and cheese.  While we were in SLC I bought a couple boxes. I wasn't sure if she would really like it.  You can look at this picture and tell me if you think she likes her new macaroni and cheese.

Yep she loves them and asked if she could eat the whole box.  I told her she could have 1/2 and then there would be 1/2 left for the next day.  She had it about four days in a row before she would eat anything else.

Disney on Ice Salt Lake City

I got an email about Disney on Ice in SLC so I talked with Scott and we decided it would be fun to take Rachel down to see it.  We talked with Damian and we hooked up with them for lunch.  We went and ate at Jason's Deli.  We still had an hour before it was time to head to the Vivint center and since we were right by it we went walking around the Gateway Mall.  We got back to our cars and let U'ilani, Rachel and Tyler run around until it was time to go.

 All three at one time trying to climb on this structure.  They were funny.

 I love Rachel's face in this one.

Tyler loves to pretend that he is a running back for football.  He would get in the postion and when you say hut he takes off running.  Scott would try to tackle him.  He got smart and started to hide behind his mom so Scott couldn't get him.  He did this so many times and could have kept going if we didn't have to go to the arena.  We moved our car to the parking garage at the Gateway and then walked across the street to the Arena.  We were there about fifteen minutes early.  All the gifts were extremely over priced so we didn't buy anything. 

 Trying to get a good family picture before the show.

 Princess Tiana

 Wicked witch from Snow White

 Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs

 Snow White getting kissed and waking up.

 Cinderella's Carriage.  Totally awesome

 Dancing with Prince Charming

Flynn fighting Maximus

 Rapunzel hitting Flynn over the head with the frying pan.

 Flynn and Rapunzel flying through the air.  It was so awesome.  That was my favorite part of the show.

All the Princesses and Princes coming out at the end.  Such a cool show.  I was totally sad though because it had nothing Frozen in it.  I thought it would be since everyone posting from Boise about going to Disney on Ice talked about seeing Frozen.  Well I guess it has its own show.  I didn't know that.  It will be in SLC in March.  Afterwards we ran some errands and then hooked up with Ali Ward and her kids.  They went to Disney on Ice also.  We decided to go eat at City Creek Mall.  Everyone of us ate at a different place.  I had Chick-Fil-A, Scott had some Chinese dish and Rachel had Mexican.  When we finished eating and talking we headed back to Pocatello.  It was a fun day.

Passports

Scott had been wanting to go to Whistler for Christmas one of these times.  So we have been talking about getting passports for about three years now.  We just have never done it.  I woke up one day from having a dream where we couldn't get to where we wanted to go because we didn't have our passports.  So I told Scott about it and he said that's it let's just do it.  So we took the plunge and got ourselves passports.  We even got Rachel one.  We have no trips planned but we have passports just in case.

Home Decorating

So I have been so worried about doing any home decorating in my house.  So I asked my friend Kim Hardy to come over and help me.  She has a event planning business so I knew she could help me get all my decorations up and since she volunteered I took her up on it.  She was totally awesome.  We got almost all my pictures up in two hours.  I let her put the holes in the walls because I was to scared to do it.  he he he

 I love my kitchen the most.  I never would have thought about putting my pictures and things where they ended up at.

 We actually have pictures on our wall in our bedroom.  Scott and I have never had pictures on our bedroom walls the last seven years.

This is my command center.  I'm going to do vinyl I just haven't gotten it bought yet.

Snuggle Time

Every once in a while I get to have cuddle time with Rachel.  This time she actually fell asleep.  We were working on her reading but I ended up getting a phone call.  I answered the phone and she curled up on my shoulder and before I was done with the call she was asleep.  I figured since this doesn't happen very often anymore I would just let her sleep.  It is hard being a 1st grader and going to school all day and then coming home to do piano, homework, reading, and brain balance exercises. 

Isn't this sweet.