Santa Claus is coming to town...

Just wanted to wish everyone a Wonderful, Merry Christmas! May everyone be blessed at this joyous time of the year.

Snowboarding at Copper Mountain

This past Thursday, Brad came home for the holidays, he has a month vacation from college!!! That night, we surprised Bristyn with an early Christmas gift, a snowboard!! That is all she has been asking for for months. It is totally Bristyn, it is so cute!! On Friday, we went and spent the night up in Frisco. On Saturday, we went to Copper Mountain for a day of snowboarding, it was a blast. Bristyn and Brenton are getting pretty dang good at it, and Brad is a beast on the mountain, like he says, he is a mountain man!!! Couldn't tell from all that facial hair!!!! Today is our 23rd anniversary!!! We are having our entire family over for dinner this evening to celebrate Christmas, but Mike and I are planning on going to Denver one day this week to spend the night, can't wait!!!

Tougher than he looks!!!

We are so excited for our Brenton. This past season, Brenton decided that he wanted to wrestle, and frankly, the sport grosses me out. As everyone knows, Brenton is our mild, meek and timid child, but, as we learned, get him out on a wrestling mat, and he is a maniac!!! At the beginning of the season, we were VERY worried when we watched him wrestle, but as the weeks went on, we saw a huge change. I guess getting picked on by your older brother all of these years, paid off!! He wrestled in the 80 pound division, and he wrestled varsity for his school. He was so good about keeping to his diet and not putting on any weight. This past weekend was the district championship and Brenton came in 4th place, it was awesome (and very stressful for me to watch!!). He was the only 7th grader from he school to make it into the championship finals. By the end of the season, I was yelling and cheering instead of being grossed out, half the time, I kept thinking he would get ring worm or something!! We are very proud of him and what he accomplished. In January, he will start training for the Regional competition.

December

Sorry this picture is so blurry, it didn't look blurry when I uploaded it!!!

Britnee, Mike, Bristyn and Brenton.....in Estes Park

Seriously, my husband is hot!!!!

I haven't been able to blog for the last couple of weeks because we have been so busy. Our daughter, Britnee and Chris have been here for the last 2 weeks. While here, my family (but not me, I had to work) went up to Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Forest, they had a great time and saw a ton of animals....I have to say, Brenton took all the pictures that day and they are all so good. We also had a little baby shower for Britnee, where she got spoiled again. Mike took Chris fishing, Chris had never gone before...he might not want to go any more since going with Mike!!! Mike loves his fishing.....we did alot of shopping and just hanging out together. Yesterday, my day was filled cleaning and decorating for Christmas. I love how our home looks when it is Christmas time, so cozy!! These pictures of some of the decorations are not the best....I am in desperate need of a new camara...whenever I snap a picture, my camara lets out a little smoke...NOT GOOD!!! Maybe that is what I will ask for for Christmas!!! Oh, and today when we woke up there was about 8 inches of snow outside and it is still snowing!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I am very thankful for all the blessings I have in my life. I am thankful for the wonderful husband I have and the 4 healthy children Heavenly Father has blessed me with. We are so thankful that Britnee has had an "easy" pregnancy so far, only 8 more weeks. We are happy to have Chris in our family, he is awesome. We miss Bradley this Thanksgiving, he stayed in Vancouver for the holiday. We are having dinner at my sister Michelles house, with the whole family here in Colorado!! Have a wonderful day and count your blessings!!

This is what I woke up to this morning.....

A FREAKIN BLIZZARD!!! Now, everyone knows that I am not a lover of snow, however, the first "real" snowfall of the season is always fun, for a day....Nothing is EVER cancelled in Fort Collins for snow, but today, school was cancelled, so was seminary. I love that!!! My kids have been out all day long, I seriously haven't seen them. The news keeps saying that we should be getting about 20 inches of snow by tomorrow. Not sure how long the snow will be here for, but I am enjoying it today. Ask me tomorrow how I feel about it......

These next couple of pictures are just random things that I have recently purchased. I have decided that I am loving Pier 1 Imports. I bought that jar and these 2 Halloween figurines there. I am also loving all of the Christmas dishes that they have. Let me just get through Halloween before I start buying Christmas things....

This Past Weekend

Lisa, Me and Allison...I didn't realize how short I am until I am in the middle of these two girls!! And I am 5 foot 7 inches!! Did you notice that I got 12 inches of my hair cut off? I was shocked that I did it, it was totally on a whim!! This picture was taken at Britnees baby shower.

Mikes mom had this made for baby Caralynn, it is so beautiful. Great-grandma Jessie, really spoiled Britnee at her shower!!!

These were some of the gifts that she received at her baby shower, these were from our neighbor in Vancouver, Paula and Dale Rice. They were the best neighbors EVER!!! Have you ever met people that loved your kids unconditionally, when it is really hard to? That would be Paula and Dale. Our kids (and Mike and I) love them.

Britnees friend, Brittany, gave the shower. She did a wonderful job with everything. We really appreciate all that she did....thank you Brittany!!!

Bristyn with her friends.

This past weekend was Homecoming for Fort Collins High School....I wasn't home to help Bristyn get ready or to take pictures, needless to say, there really isn't any good pictures....She had a great time with her friends, and can you even believe that she picked out a hot pink dress to wear??? I bought her some really cute shoes to wear also, but she ended up wearing her boots, which doesn't surprise me...she could care less about fashion or how she looks, but really, doesn't she look so cute??

While I was away and Mike was supposed to be watching the kids, he did what any other man would do when their wife is gone....FISHING!!! He loves to fish and found a great spot to go to...he did take Brenton out this weekend also to go rifle shooting, but I don't have any pictures of that!!!

While I was in Vancouver, Washington this past weekend, I stayed at my friend, JoDees house. I LOVE her house....I love this collection of old family Bibles that she has, it is beautiful. She needs to do a tour of her home on her blog, it is amazing, she has great taste. JoDee wasn't home, so I missed her, but I got to stay with her boys, who I would kidnap if I could, they are very respectful boys and helpful. I went to Vancouver with my sister, Michelle. We had a great time at Britnees shower and we also had a mini reunion with the girls we grew up with from church, my camara died, so I don't have any pictures from the reunion, I will get one from my sister!!!

Oktoberfest

I am the worse mom because I never want to go to any of the school "functions". Lastnight, at Brentons school, they had the Oktoberfest celebration and Mike "made" me go with him. After about 5 minutes, I really just wanted to leave, I really do not know anybody at his school so I had nobody to talk to. But, we stayed and stayed and stayed to the very end. We bought 3 punch cards that we put into the raffle box, and we put Brentons name on all of them. At the end of the evening, they announced the winners. They had 6 people who won pizzas, then on to the better prizes...Brenton won a gift certificate to a restaurant and the big prize, which was this bike, it is so awesome, he was so surprised and excited, he couldn't believe that he won 2 prizes. We couldn't either, I mean, who wins 2 times in a raffle??? I told Brenton that he is allowed to buy lottery tickets now, because the chances of him winning are big!! On the ride home, he said to me, "Hey Mom, do you know how great it feels to win something?" He is so humble, and such a great kid. I guess it made the whole evening worth attending! I will never complain about going to another school function again.

Happy fall and catching up (as usual...)

Britnee and Chris...we met up in Longview, Washington for breakfast. Britnee is 23 weeks pregnant in this picture.

Bradley and his new car. He was my driver while I was in Vancouver....

My sick little guy....Brenton has missed the last 2 days of school, but more importantly (according to him) is that he missed his football game today.

While in Vancouver, Washington, I went to Monticellos in Portland, Oregon with my friend, JoDee...she has a booth there, it is called Duchess, wonderful stuff!!! I got this clock face at one of the booths there. I just need JoDee to come to my house and decorate it, she has such a beautiful home....I keep threatening her that I am going to take pictures of her house and do a tour on my blog!!!

For my birthday, JoDee ordered me this pillow that I have been wanting for months, I LOVE IT!! On the back side of it, it has the number 4 on it (because I have 4 kids!!).

Some fall decorations around my house....oh, I also got that tiny little clock at Monticellos.

I love this crow!!! When Mike first saw it, it scared the crap out of him, it actually startled him!!! He was on the phone with Britnee and she said that he screamed...what a wuss!!! LOVE HIM!!! Meaning Mike!!!

Some random leaves hanging from the light fixture.

Front hallway....

I have been very bad about blogging lately....actually, I have been very busy. Brad was here in Fort Collins for about 3 weeks. While he was here, we bought him a car. We decided that I should drive back to Vancouver, Washington with him, yes, that is right, Brad and I in a car for 18 hours!!! I am glad that I went with him, because he was tired of driving after 1.5 hours!! It was nice just being with him, I am sure that I drove him nuts....I was only in Vancouver for one day. We drove up to see Chris and Britnee, she looks so cute pregnant, I miss her and Chris alot. I did some shopping with JoDee, and then had to head to the airport. I miss Vancouver so much, but I will be there next month again!!!

My husband, the dumpster diver....

I am always reading blogs about people who find these great deals for free furniture on the side of the road, or in peoples garbage, and when I read it, I have to be honest, it kind of grosses me out!!! But then they show what they do with the furniture that they find, and I always love the end result. The other day, we pulled up to our condo, and I looked over near the dumpsters, and I saw this changing table. I had Mike go over to the garbage and see what kind of condition it was in, it was in perfect condition, so he hauled it home!!! I called Britnee to tell her about the treasure we pulled from the garbage, and her reaction was the same that I usually have when I hear something was from the garbage or side of the street!!! All we have to do is paint it pink!! My husband is an official dumpster diver!!!

The BEST gift of all....

This pillow I got from my sister, Liz. I saw it in the Ballard Design catalog and HAD to have it. So, I called her and begged her to get it for me!! I love it!!

My sweet niece, Jamie, got me this cute iron scroll, it fits perfectly in my kitchen in between two doors that I have in there....she knows her aunt loves anything iron!!!

My sister, Michelle, got me this cute basket that I hung in my kitchen, it looks perfect hanging in there.

My friend, Millie Vanillie, got me this adorable clock...she liked it so much that she even bought herself one!!

Today is my 41st birthday!!! I get spoiled every year by my friends and family. My Bradley came home for a mini vacation in between semesters at college. He is going to be here for two weeks. He wouldn't pose for me, so this is the best picture that I could get of him, I am so happy that he is home, when you only get to see your kids a few times a year, you really need to cherish the times they are with you!!! THE BEST FOR LAST...as some of you may know, our daughter, Britnee, is pregnant and due January 22nd, we are so excited to be grandparents!! Today, she had her ultrasound and found out that she is having a baby girl, WE CAN'T WAIT!!!! That was the best gift to get, now I know what I need to start buying!!!