Snow Daze!!

Making the snowman ~~~~~~~~~~~~Frostie..and Frotie Jr. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Making snow angels!

Well, we here in Washington decided it was time for a little bit of that cold white stuff. And to say the least it really threw a damper on my plans. Wednesday morning I woke up to a call stating that there would be no school due to extreme weather conditions. So, I looked out the window to find the grass covered in a small blanket of snow. Ok...not bad, I thought. I get to sleep in, and just have fun relaxing day. Plus, I can utilized the kids around the house. We had fun, made a little snowman and enjoyed the little bit that we had. I thought no worries, they can go back to school on Thursday no problem. WRONG!! We traveled out to Lacey so mom could meet with the Stake President for her final signature on her Temple Recommend. That wasn't a fun drive, but we made it safe. The snow was deep in Lacey, there must have been a good 4 inches there. It began to snow as we traveled home and it continued to snow more that evening, so again, I woke up to the principal of Ridgeline informing me that there would be no school. I began to get a little worried when I saw there was a bigger blanket.

We took advantage of the snow again, and added to our puny little snowman and Elisa and I built a rather large snowman in the backyard. The snow was so perfect for snowman building. It packed wonderfully.

The snow just kept coming down, with small intervals of sunshine, I began to realize that my childrens' last day of school before moving to Texas would most likely be cancelled. I feel so bad for them. The call didn't even wait until the morning, we got it that night. Christmas break has started early, and this year it was not a welcomed thing. Tears fell as we realized that we would not be able to say goodbye some of our friends. I kept trying to convince myself, and Elisa, that it might be easier that way...I wasn't buying it and neither was she, but what could we do. We have enjoyed the snow however. . Robby's teacher was so kind, she called concerned about Robby and she drove in to the school today so we could retrieve Robby's and Michael's things from their desks. We exchanged Christmas gifts and a few tears. I will miss her. She was wonderful teacher, as were all of the teachers here. We will meet Michael's teacher tomorrow for lunch, and that should be pretty emotional. This teacher was Robby's for two years, I worked in her classroom last year, and watched her baby at the beginning of this year. It will be tough to say goodbye..The snow is still here, and we are expected to get more. I guess we will just have to make the best of it.. Now here are a few more pictures.

What kind of mom am I, my son, playing in the snow in pajamas, and I reach for the camera?

(Thought this was a super cool photo!) Attack on the snowman soldier! Look at all the white!

Earning their keep!

So, I just have to share these fun pictures. I had Heather's kids for a couple of house while they signed papers on the house and finished packing up. I have been wanting to clean my cupboards for while, and her kids are always so willing to help, that I thought I would put them to work. They had a blast. Gaby kept asking me, "what else we can do?" in her cute little voice, it was priceless. She even wanted to vacuum. My vacuum literally weighs more than she does, but she tried. It was so fun. Gaby and I went shopping at Walmart and she was my little helper there. I would tell her what to grab and she would grab it and put it in the cart. The best part was she tried to get me to buy things by telling me, "your kids will like them!" I just laughed. It was so fun to spend time with her and the other kids. They are a joy to have around...I am going to miss them when they move...Anyway. Just wanted to share!

Short, but very sweet!

This Thanksgiving was too short. But it was very sweet for my family. Robert was able to come home and enjoy a Thankgiving Feast with us. It was turn around trip, but it was so nice to have him home. He flew home on Thanksgiving, and we went straight out to my Aunt Patti and Uncle Kim's house. I is tradititon, to spend Thanksgiving out there. My Uncle Tom and Aunt Judywho live in Oregon come and they bring tons of goodies...it is just a very nice relaxing day. I brought my green bean casserole and there was Ham and Turkey with all the fixings. This year the Allred's joined us, and it was very nice to have them there. I hope they enjoyed their time. They are truely part of our family. Friday we had our little get together for the Allred and our going away...but we were the only ones besides the Roche family that showed up. So again, we had too much food. Saturday, we helped Heather and Kyle pack up some things. And Robert and I were able to do a little shopping, before taking him to the airport. We ate dinner at Denny's and dropped him off at the airport for his midnight flight. Even though it was a short visit, it was very nice to have him home. Just 4 more weeks and he will be back home to move us away! Time sure does fly by.

So, with this Thanksgiving holiday, I will list a few things that I am most thankful for:

~My husband....he loves me unconditionally and he is such a wonderful husband and father

~My children....I am so thankful that Heavenly Father has entrusted me to raise and teach his children. Through the challenges they give me, I learn.

~My parents... Both my dads and my mom. Who have truely made me who I am today.
~My Aunt and Uncle....they are always there for me.

~My wonderful friends...for making me smile, even when I didn't want to. Thanks!
~Most of all....My Heavenly Father. For everything he does. The strength he gives me and always being a companion I can talk with. Never failing me!



I could never put into words how thankful I am for the things that I have in my life. I just can hope and pray that the people around me know how very important they are to me.



I have lots of pictures to share, but I want to put them in a slide show, so I will post them later.. here are just a few of my favorites for now!



Aryana and Tesa.....Uncle Kim, Brooke, Aryana and Gaby....Aryana, my mom and Brooke

Like father, like daughter....Love to show us their see food!


I hope all of my friend and family had a great holiday. I love you all!

Still here...I guess!

I haven't posted for way too long...and I don't even know if there will be any catching up now. I just wanted to let all who read this and are able to attend, we are having a going away party for our family and the Allred Family. They are leaving before us, but it will be our last time togethere for a while so we want to share it with all of our friends. Robert will be home for only 3 days next week. Thanksgiving, the day after and then he leaves Saturday night...late. So, we are going to have a gathering pretty much all day on Friday after Thanksgiving. The 28th from 1200 to whenever!!! It will be a come when you can stay for as long as you want and eat whatever! We will be providing snack food and drinks! So, I hope to get this around to all! Please, pass it to those who you think would like to come and say goodbye. We don't want anyone left out, but I can NOT figure out the Evite thing!
Things have been going pretty smooth around. Not a whole lot going on, but I do have a few things to share..I will give an update soon. and I will post pics of what has been going on later...Probably Sunday! no promises though. I hope all is well with everyone. Please call if you have questions about Friday.

What can I say!

All I can say really is that I really feel strongly that we all need to be on our knees praying that it will work out! Yes, I am unfortunately talking about the elections. With Barrack Obama winning, it is a little scary what might happen. But I keep thinking that maybe it will be okay. As I was talking with E about all of this, she is extremely upset, I told her that I don't want him to fail. Of course this is after she said, well he has 4 years to mess everything up and then we can win next time. I honestly don't want him to fail...where will that leave us? I hope however possible he helps our nation improve. I explained to my children that we have to now be supportive of our President and hope that he does good for our Country and us! I have never been much on elections. I am embarrassed to say, I don't really know much about politics. I really just have gone along with the flow, but this election was different. I feel I began to learn more about it too late in the game to be effective, but I am roaring to go in 2012. I am happy that prop 8 passed in California and 102 passed in Arizona. Preserving the sanctity of marriage! I have a wonderful friend who shared her stories about standing on the corner with a sign for prop 102 in Arizona. She is amazing! And she told of a couple that had a yes on prop 102 sign and a Obama sign. I think that this just shows how much our Nation is scared, and wanting a change...thinking that Obama will be it. I hope, for all of us, it will be!

All gone!

The movers came and removed all our boxes on the 30th. They were so awesome. They were very friendly. It gave me a good feeling to know they were moving my belongings. Kiara did not handle them moving our stuff well at all. She literally did not move from this spot in the grass almost all day, except to check out the truck as they moved the things onto it.

We were able to enjoy our empty house together for two nights. Robert left on Saturday, 1 Nov. The house is pretty empty. We have kept back a few things. My bed, the computer and a desk, a mattress and box spring for Dad, his TV and a TV downstairs and our card table. The Benton's were so kind and let us borrow a couch. That helps a lot. It actually is kind of neat. Our house is not filled with so much business! Almost peaceful, except of course it echos just a little. All is well. Robert will be in Texas tomorrow after a small visit with his family in California. His Dad and him are road tripping it together. I know that is fun for Robert. Basketball for the boys is wrapping up, and then we will prepare for Thanksgiving. Right now we are hoping that Robert will be able to fly home and spend it with us. The tickets are a little pricey, so we will have to see. If not, then Christmas time it is.

Halloween...time to let your true colors shine!

Well, this Halloween was a little strange to me. I really never got into the mood, I almost forgot to post about it. But, I thought I would share pics from our fun nights. On the 30th, we were able to attend the boys' carnival at their school. I wasn't sure I really wanted to go, but Robert wanted to so I threw together a costume at the last minute. Really I wasn't trying to be scary, but Robert said I couldn't paint this on my face, so I had to prove him wrong. Gaby did not like me at all...she tole me, "I don't like you, you're scary!" She didn't even believe it was me.

Looking at it now, that was a little scary, but I was the "Bones Brothers" mom. Robby and Michael got matching skeleton costumes. They were so funny. Robert dressed up as an Iraq, Muslim I guess. He got the official attire from Iraq. I know some people thought that it was not in good taste, but it was all in fun! He even won 3rd place in the costume contest. On actual Halloween, we went to Mom's for her carnival. I decided to go a little more conservative and Robert said he didn't want to offend anyone there so he went as himself. The kids had a great time. I think Robby would do the cake/candy walk all night long. We then went over to Trunk or Treat. After our adventure looking for the hole in the fence behind Sharlene's, we arrived and the kids went trunk to trunk getting their candy. We brought our friends/neighbors with us. I think they had fun. It was a fun evening. We just went home and chilled after. Robert had to finish packing his stuff and the kids watched Iron Man! It was a pretty cool night. The heavy fog really added a lot to the evening!

That really is it I guess. I hope all is well with every ones Families. Love to hear from you if you read this! More later!

I am a Child of God!

The primary program was on Sunday. Robby and Michael sang the 13th Article of Faith and Robby gave a primary talk. He did so well in front of everyone. I was so proud. My Aunt Patti and Uncle Kim came out so they could see it. Grandma and even Grandpa came to church. The kids were pretty stoked. He left right after closing song, and we followed right after so we could go home and visit. Dad made his Chili. YUMMY! Michael told Aunt Patti that on Sunday we go home and take naps. He said that Uncle Kim and her could have the couch. That was pretty cute. It was a nice relaxing Sunday. Michael had a fever and slept a little. I ended up taking him to the ER on Monday for a nice 6 hour visit. He has/had strep throat. He opted to have a shot instead of taking antibiotics for 10 days. He was so brave. He is feeling a lot better and I am thankful for the shot. For parents like me who forget sometimes to give their kids the antibiotic, it is an awesome thing. Especially for me now with the movers and all! It might have been packed!

Boxes, Boxes, Boxes!

The packers came Tuesday! My house is now boxes. Pretty scary. The movers will be here today. It was supposed to be a two day pack, but they were able to complete it all in one day, so here I sit in boxes! I can't complain too much, at least I got my couch for one more day. Robert got the Uhaul trailer so he can pack up his stuff. Elisa said "I thought you were driving your truck?" We told he to go look at the trailer and then rethink what she said. On her way out she said, "Oh, maybe your truck will go in the trailer." Robert said that she is why they have blonde jokes. She realized after really looking at it that he would be towing it. She is so funny.

Robert packed the trailer yesterday. Kiara didn't like it too much, so she crawled up into the trailer. She wanted to make sure that he knew she was here so he didn't leave without her! She is not happy about all these boxes either. She wimpers and whines every time we leave. Poor thing. The cats are wondering what the heck is going on too. It will all be gone soon, and we will be left in the empty house. Should be very interesting! Well, that's all for now!