Christmas Village and more......

I've been trying to decorate for Christmas tonight!!! It has been so much fun - all of my stuff has been boxed up for a few years - so it was just like Christmas morning opening up my boxes and not knowing what was in them!!!

This is the first time I've ever put up my Christmas village!!! I inherited this Dicken's village from my Grandma Nielsen. Every year growing up, my mom would give my Grandma Nielsen a new house. My mom always told her that someday it would go to me - and back then I really didn't care - but now it's like the coolest thing ever!! (Thanks Mom) I love it! I just sit and stare at all the little details! It makes me want to be little and go live in the village!!! Now I just need Porter's help to get all the lights on!

Here are some of the snowman I have collected. I love snowman!!!
Here are our stockings - and no I'm not pregnant - one is for Darby! I still need to add garland, but they are really fun to have up! It really feels like Christmas now! And that's not our big tree, it's just a little one I've had forever, I thought it would be fun to put it up anyway! We will hopefully get a real one from Wyoming this weekend! Okay - these picture are from last week. Jake and Tanner took about a 2 hour bubble bath in my tub! Every time the bubbles would get low - they would turn on the jets and it would fill the tub right back up - which they thought was the coolest! They were being so funny! Jake kept wanting me to take all these pics of him - but I couldn't because the bubbles kept sliding off certain parts (If you know what I mean)!!!

Cute Courtney and Darby asleep on the couch!!! I couldn't pass up this moment!
And here is a picture I took a few weeks ago - I finally got my ottoman and my pillows that I waited almost 4 months for!!! But it was worth the wait!!!
I hope everyone has a good Christmas season!!! I love this time of year!

Since Thanksgiving and Christmas aren't here yet - I thought I would add a few more Halloween and Fall pictures!

My kids got their faces painted at Thanksgiving point at their big Halloween party! I think they look pretty good!

My mom had a Halloween party for me and the kids! She had the cutest things! We had quite a festive meal!
There was witches brew!!!!

And spider cupcakes - although I worked on those and they didn't turn out so hot!
Tanner's spiders looked way better than mine!
And we had monster mouths!!!!
And candy corn pizza's!!!!! And you can't forget the bloody fingers!!!!
We did it the night before Halloween - and hopefully it will become a tradition! My kids loved it! Next year we will have to come up with more gross stuff to eat!

Fall

Cause' I'm leaving on a jet plane........

Don't know when I'll be back again!! Seriously - I was quite an adventure. Porter and Dillon FINALLY (after 3 long months) picked up the plane on Wednesday - from when it exploded at 38,000 feet! So Porter calls me Wednesday night at 5 pm from the SL airport -and tells me they have to turn around and go right back to Colorado because they need a computer fixed - and asks me to come with him and spend the night in Colorado. Sounds like fun right? So I call my mom - and she is such a good mom - and she agrees to tend my kids and get them to school the next morning! So I hurry and shower, get ready ( I was still in my gym clothes), pack for 3 kids, pack for Porter and I and leave by about 6:30!!! I finally make it to the airport - we take off and are in Colorado about 20 minutes later! We had a fun night.....until we tried to leave the next morning!!!!

This is Nicole (Dillon's girlfriend) and I in the plane just before we took off!!! Here is Captain Porter and Captain Dillon -where they are most happy!!!
The Lear at night in Colorado when we landed.
Here is Nicole and I again the next morning before we took off!
Here is a good picture of the Lear - if anyone hasn't ever seen it! It has 2 new engines, a new paint job, new carpet, and I'm sure about ever other part is new because there was so much damage! It's a pretty sweet plane! You feel like a rock star riding in this thing! Notice - you even get a red carpet!
Anyways, It would have been too easy if we just loaded up and flew home! But we took off and at 13,000 feet there was this loud shrieking noise and black hot air was coming in the vents! Nicole and I screamed of course (we were both having flashbacks to Porter and Dillon's near death experience)! So they turned the plane around and were ready to land when all of the sudden they flip the plane sideways and shoot straight up!! Nicole and I scream again - of course!!!

Well - we did land safely, but come to find out some guy in a tiny plane (who was probably an inexperienced weekend warrior) was in Porter and Dillon's cleared airspace for landing! So they saved our lives by turning sideways and shooting up - even though it freaked me out! It's like being on a lagoon ride from H. E. double hockey sticks! You know the ones when your stomach does about ten 360's and you feel very heavy!

So we spent about another hour on the ground while they fixed the problem - we hoped! Then we got back on - we must be crazy - (and I had all ready checked out renting a car) - and we were off for a test flight! As we were on the runway - Dillon said to us, "Now if it does it again, it's not a big deal, we'll just turn around and land - but you don't have to scream." Okay sure Dillon!


Well, the test flight was successful! We did make it home to Salt Lake! Good job Porter and Dillon! This is all new to me, but I fell like somehow - this is just another day in the life of Porter and Dillon! And I need to thank my mom for tending Tanner all day, and Cynde (Port's mom) for up picking Courtney and Jake from school and taking care of them for me until I made it home! It was fun to get to get away with Port and do something different!

I've been tagged!!!

The Rules:

Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags six people and posts their names then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Have fun!


Okay, here I go......

1. I really want to travel the world someday!!! I want to go anywhere out of United States, but these are a few places I really want to go: Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria, Peru, Hong Kong, Russia and Dubai (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it). I hope Porter starts making some serious cash so I can go!

2. I spend almost 2 hours a day cleaning my house and at least 5 hours on Saturday's! I want a cleaning lady ......but until then, I'll just keep cleaning! The thing is, as soon as my kids get home from school it looks like I haven't cleaned one thing all day. I guess I better start training them better.

3. My favorite dessert in the whole world is banana cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. They just opened a Cheesecake Factory this week over by Fashion Place Mall - but since I'm trying to lose wight - It will just have to remain a memory! If you haven't ever tried it - it's something you just can't miss in this lifetime!

4. I drive a minivan around and I really hate it!!! It is about the uncoolest thing I can think of!!! Other drivers on the road are so rude to minivan's too - If you drive one you know what I'm talking about. I know they are really convenient and everything - but I don't care. I can't wait to get something else!!!!

5. I love to hand stitch things. From pillows to wall hangings - I love it!!! I wish I had more time to make things! My next goal is to learn how to quilt!

6. One of my favorite things is being alone! Okay that probably sounds funny and makes me anti-social, but I never get to be alone. With 3 little kids - someone always needs you! I can hardly go to the bathroom without someone walking in! I love when my kids go to bed, or they are with their grandma, and I just get to lay on the couch and think, or read a book, or go shopping by myself! I love the quiet, peaceful moments!

Okay - so there are 6 facts/habits about me! Now I tag ...... Brittany, Jacqui, Lynnie, Lisa, Nicole and Elizabeth!

Enter at your OWN RISK

Here are the Halloween pictures I promised were coming! Courtney was a vet (no surprise there), Jake was black Spiderman and Tanner was Dash! They all looked so cute! Jake loved having his mask on so it didn't matter if he was smiling in the pictures - and his little butt looked so cute in his costume!!! Courtney is so excited to have real scrubs so she can wear them up to Wyoming to work with Grandad! Tanner looked just like Dash with his hair slicked back. It was perfect - he ran really fast between houses and he kept up with the older kids pretty good! Tanner loved it - every house he went to he announced "I'm Dash"!. We had a really fun time Halloween night!

These next pictures were taken at Brent and Brenda's ward trunk-or-treat. Brent was black Spiderman too and Brenda was a spider princess! They looked so cute together - I especially loved Brenda's red eyelashes!
Brent and Jake looked AWESOME together!!! All of us chillin' on the grass!
Porter was there at the trunk-or-treat! I'm glad he made it to some of the Halloween festivities! Nothing like sharing a treat with your grandpa!Well, now that Halloween is over - it feels like life will maybe get back to normal (whatever that is)!!!

And sad but true - we threw all of their candy away tonight!!! (I think the garbage sack weighed like 15 pounds)! It was there idea - I am proud of them - I couldn't have done that when I was 6 or 8. My family and I started a biggest loser contest tonight! My mom and I are team 'Waist Management'; Brent and Brenda are 'The Firm'; Porter and my dad are 'Potbelly Stallions'; and Courtney and Jake - who joined in last minute - are team 'Weight Loss Champions'. We had a big weigh in tonight - and yes it was very depressing - but good motivation. So we will have a weigh in every Sunday and the contest ends Jan 1st!!! GO TEAM 'WAIST MANAGEMENT'!!!!