Night on the Town!

It's not very often that Wes & I have a night on the town. We usually go on dates; dinner, movies, shopping but nothing to extravagant. However this week was a nice change. We got invited to a Formal Holiday Party for one of our producers. It was fun, and if I had the money I would do stuff like that all the time. Before the Dinner our Boss invited us to this new Restaurant in Green Bay called the Republic...It was incredible. Since we sat two tables away from the Packers Head Coach, and across from 2 other players it was pretty cool. The atmosphere was awesome and food unbelievable. I hope one day we'll go back. The nice part is that our Boss is so awesome, I couldn't ask for better. It was fun getting dressed up and I even talked Wes into wearing a Vest....this Wyoming boy has come a long way, fashion wise.

Happy Birthday Karry

Today is my dear Sister's Birthday - since she is glued to the Hospital with my mom (she had both knees replaced yesterday) I thought I would send her a quick laugh to make her smile.

I asked my kids the following questions.

What is your favorite thing about Aunt "Terry" as they call her?

Tye: she's nice

Tate: she took me to Beverly Hills Chawauwa (OK I totally don't know how to spell that) and she takes us swimming

Taylor: going to play at her house.

Kim: She's my best friend

What is the best thing she cooks

Tye: cereal

Tate: French Toast

Taylor: Pancakes

Kim: I haven't sampled too much of her cooking, I'm usually the one cooking! I would be happy to start at any time.

What's your favorite thing to do with her?

Tye: play baseball

Tate: play snorts up and sleep at her House

Taylor: color those eggs (we dyed Easter eggs at her house in the Spring)

Kim: Anything really, just be together.

What's the funnest thing you've done with Aunt Karry?

Tye: going on the roller coasters at Disneyland

Tate: When we went to beach, but she was a little crabby.

Taylor: when hers help me to go sledding

Kim: WAY to many things to list, she did get a good taste of Wisconsin when she witnessed the "coach boots crime" seriously, ask her about it. It's hilarious.

What would you buy Aunt Karry for her birthday?

Tye: I have no clue, maybe fake gold earrings or something.

Tate: A girl Monkey

Taylor: Lipstick

Kim: BMW

What's the funnest sleep over you have ever had?

Tye: In the tent at the camp out.

Tate: At the cabin

Taylor: Friday (I have no idea...are you planning a surprise visit?)

Kim: My funnest sleep overs are when she sleeps with my kids and I get a break.

If you could take Karry on a Vacation where would you take her?

Tye: Hunting (Lucky you Karry)

Tate: Alaska

Taylor: Disneyland (shocker)

Kim: I think it would be fun to take a cruise together.

If you could spend one whole day with Karry what would you do?

Tye: Morning: eat with her Afternoon: play catch Night: board games and go to bed

Tate: Morning, probably pee on her toilet, Afternoon: eat her food, Night, play snorts up and hold her garments.

Taylor: Morning, play volleyball with Ty & Tate, Afternoon, I don't know, Night, go to sleep and watch racing stripes.

Kim: It really wouldn't matter, anything would be great.

We love you Karry and hope you have a great Birthday!

Taylor took this picture of Karry at Wal- Mart! Nice antlers baby!

a VERY Merry Christmas Mega Blog

I hate it when I have 5 fun filled exciting days piled into one blog. I'm seriously going to try and sum up as much as possible - but don't hold your breath!


Our family visit to Santa was hilarious. The best thing of the night...Tate telling Santa that all he wanted for Christmas was a husband for his Aunt Karry, Santa was a little confused, but the camera girls were laughing hysterically. That's Tate for you!



On Christmas Eve afternoon I found these little Nativity sets that the kids painted. They were super cute, Tye's actually turned out pretty good, Taylor had one dark Mary, (if you know what I mean)....she painted her face all black then looked at Karry and said "isn't she bootiful!"

Our Christmas Dinner is a big deal to Wes. I wanted to break out and try doing Chinese, I bought egg rolls, chow mien, fried rice, Teriyaki Chicken....and then he told me we need to do something "Traditional" so out came the old Ham, funeral potatoes, greenbean casserole, Christmas jello...you know the drill. My kids love the fact that we drink "Sparkling Apple Cider" they think there soooo cool walking around with nice glasses.

Pretty soon the elves came and dropped off the Christmas PJ's - I love this tradition, I can practically name every Christmas just by the Pajamas my kids have on....It's a good thing, since we've lived in so many states and 7 different houses, I need some sort of stability.

The after dinner show...anyone who knows our family, can imagine the entertainment my kids can provide....trust me a average game of simon says can make you laugh pretty hard!
The Annual reading of the Night Before Christmas, and waiting to hear Santa's Bells so we can jump into bed!

The Cookies were out for Santa, and this year we made reindeer food for the reindeer as well (no bake cookies that I indulged in) I thought it was so cute that Tye made a card for Santa, he drew a picture of Santa inside coming down the chimney and Tye yelling Thank you to him. He also wrote "Keep It" about 4 times. It was precious.

Santa's Arrival....The first wake up at 2:43, when we told Tye he had to go back to sleep....every half an hour we had more wake up calls...until we finally budged around 5.

The Kids waiting on the staircase while I got all my cameras in order...this about drives them crazy...they just wait there...whining, can we come, what's taking so long, WERE Coming, Wes Yelling to relax...and then finally (after about 2 minutes) we let the action begin!

The after effects...the boys tear through their gifts, while Taylor opens one, plays with it, open another...the boys finally got tired waiting for her to try on every shade of lipstick....they left her in the dust.

Tye's highlights: Snowboard, Cell Phone, I-Pod, Golf Clubs and Wii Games & Legos

Tate: DS, New Sled, tons of horse (junk) Legos & more Legos, I Pod, and every star wars figure you can think of!

Taylor - everything pretty, pink and darling Santa could get his hands on....Girls are so dangerous. I can completely loose control.


They next few hours are dreadful....can I make a request that all Santa's Toys come pre assembled and with a programing mode to teach my kids instantly how to use them. Thank goodness Grandpa was here....I can't tell you how many lego ships, doll houses etc...he put together that day! My kids literally stand in line to get grandpa's help!

With the arrival of 3 inches of new snow (that makes our total snow received in December up to 41 inches-a new record) and the new snowboards and sled -we had to do some time on the sledding hill in town. Sissy got this make up kit - notice the lovely purple eyeshadow she was applying to her forehead and my eyes. But by this point I was starting to not feel so well, I had already had a 3 hour nap, but I just thought it wasn't that big deal, Tate had just got over the flu....not Mom's can't get sick.....wrong!

I spent the next 2 days in bed with flu....yuck, but thanks to a Heavenly Mother and a very entertaining Sister, myself & the family survived...what would I do without my family! It has been the best having my family out for the past week, they left this morning and I miss them already.

It's sad to see the Season come so fast and leave so fast....but one thing is for sure, I Love Christmas!

In our own front yard.....

I found two more things I love about Winters in Wisconsin. Number 1, it was -31 on Sunday and the Bishop called to cancel church, yep, Sunday morning he called and said it was too cold for us to try and make it to town, I was a little relived, due to the fact that I had a Sunday School lesson and a Young Women lesson to give. I immediately stopped preparing my lessons and started making chocolate chip cookies....that's the bad part about winter...I love to bake.

The second thing I love is that we have our own personal tubing hill in the front yard. I went to Target and found these little $5.00 disc things and showed the kids how to make a sledding hill (in my robe and slippers I might add).....it was the BEST thing I have done all winter....they loved it, and I had so much fun watching them! It kept them busy for hours, and everyday after school they immediately start tubing, there currently trying to build some jumps - (for Aunt Karry to try) - but what a fun thing...in our own front yard!

Heritage Hill Christmas

Today we found this great little place called Heritage Hill. It's a little community that was established in the late 1800's. Every year at Christmas they decorate all the houses and at each house they talk about what Christmas & life was like in that time period. Wes made a comment as we were walking down the lanes, he said, "Life use to be so simple." He's right, I have spent the last week running around frantic trying to get the shopping, wrapping, baking, cleaning and everything else done. (If my Mom was not here, I would have never survived. Thank Heaven for Mothers.) But today it was different, listening to the bells on the sleigh ride, enjoying the piano in the church built in 1905, loving the snow, so simple, so pure.

One of the neatest things was looking at the trees that were decorated. The ornaments, popcorn strings, paper and walnuts. They were so frugal, creative. It was neat to see how they hung the candles from the trees, I can just imagine. I take so much for granted, even to the littlest items like Christmas lights.

We stopped at the Bakery, where they were making sugar cookies on a old time stove, it was amazing the effort to even make cookies. They also had a old blacksmith shop, a printing press where the kids made christmas cards and then to a dance hall where Wes & Tye learned how to do the Virginia Reel. They had a violin quartet playing the music, and it was hilarious to see Wes & Tye out there Dancing. It was so fun.

The last stop was a very old log barn, which they made into a stable and had a live nativity. It was so neat to explain to the kids that this was really how Christ was born, in a stable, with animals, and Jesus laying in the straw. For the first time, I think they really understood. What a humbling day....how grateful I am for days like today.How greatful I am for Christmas!

Holiday Baking

We have a little tradition, every Christmas we make Gingerbread Houses. Our kids love it, and Wes & I have fun helping them. They sit on the counter until Christmas Eve, then Santa takes them to the elves to live in until next Christmas. (Tate is sure they lick all the candy off.) I'm not sure how this tradition started, but we've done it the past 5 years. Our kids were so excited, that they woke up at 5:00 on Sunday morning to start....

The finished product. Taylor's is on the far left. Tate's in the middle, and Tye's on the right.

Here are the Gingerbread cookies we made & decorated to eat. The kit was a package that I picked up at Target, it came with the mix, cookie cutter & paint for $3.00 - a steal!
Here's a picture of Taylor painting them.

The kids had fun making & painting them and Mom & I had fun eating them...they were actually so good, which was totally surprising!

I still have a few more baking projects, but I love Holiday baking!

Oh Christmas Tree...

I can honestly say this was such a fun experience! I read this ad in the newspaper that read come pick out your Christmas tree in a horse drawn wagon. We already had our Christmas tree up downstairs, but I thought..what the heck, let's put one upstairs. So off we went....

This was almost as good as the movies, you park your car and this horse wagon comes and picks you up. Then it starts taking you through this path in the woods through all kinds of Christmas trees. Wes kept making fun of me for smiling, but it was so NEAT...I have to admit it was chilly, 14 degrees, but totally worth it. I finally found one thing about Wisconsin that I absolutely LOVE!

Scoping out the Trees!

Tate found a stick, stuff like that keeps him occupied for hours.

Finally Wes wanted to get off and start trekking through the woods to find the perfect one. I love this picture of the kids marching through the snow! Look at Taylor carrying the saw! (Tate with his Stick)

Finally settling on a tree - We found SO many that we could have picked, I would like one, but Wes thought we could do better (Honestly, I was starting to get so cold that I was ready to just hop back on the wagon). Tate found about 16 that were about 2 feet tall, Taylor was just happy to be there. We had to find one tall and skinny, that would fit in the spot I wanted..and finally Wes found the perfect one!

(I know my clothes are hideous..but that ugly Carhart jacket keeps me so warm)

Cutting down the tree and loading it into the Wagon!


In the truck and ready to head home (notice Tye sitting in the backseat, he started pouting when we got there so we made him sit in the truck and wait for us...he felt bad when we came back, but they have to learn....he takes after his Dad!)

The Final Outcome, it's Perfect, and makes the house smell great. It was the best......