Christmas Party 2010

Justin sporting his gift.

Best gift of the night, a toasted English muffin!

The guys trying out one of the white elephant gifts - a blood glucose tester, haha!

This was at the end of the night and we were tired, but I had to include it since it was the only picture of us together of the whole night.

This year, we decided to change things up a bit, and go out for our annual Christmas party. It was SO much fun. We dressed up and went out to P. F. Changs downtown, then met back at our house for cheese cake, champagne, and a white elephant gift exchange.

Of course, I forgot my camera on our way out the door so I have no pictures of our dinner. Travis and Amber weren't able to make it for dessert, but did join us for dinner. It was so much fun catching up with them. I tried to make up for the lack of pictures when we got back to our house for dessert :)

Willow-Beano

Willow is SO my daughter. She loves jewelry and accessories. This was her ensemble for the day :)

This is her new "camera" smile. Reminds me of Aspen at about 2 years old.

Willow is at such a fun age right now. I love the 1 to 2 year age span. So much of their personality is emerging, and we are finally past teething and sleeping through the night. Speaking of that, at 16 months, Willow has all her teeth except her two year molars. I am SO happy to be done with the teething. She is so much easier and happier now that we are past that.

Willow is our little clown. She loves to find funny hats, buckets, bowls, whatever to put on her head and clown around to get as many laughs as possible. She loves to be in the middle of any action around the house, and especially loves to wrestle with Daddy. It's tougher for her to get Aspen and Journey to include her in their play, though. She wants to play with them, but they don't love playing with her at this point. Hopefully that will change as she gets a little older and less destructive :)

She's starting to say more words, and really wants to talk. Here are some of the words she knows right now:

Mama, Mommy, Dada, Daddy, Bubba, cheese, all done, all gone, more, nana (banana), Nana, Papa, thank you, please

She "talks" so much, that I'm a little worried for my sanity once she is actually able speak. :)

And one other thing, she's been throwing a lot less fits in the last few weeks. Not sure if this is a permenant thing, but I'm thankful!

Journey has some high aspirations...

Aspen and Journey were having a conversation about what they want to do when they grow up.

Here's what Journey said: "When I grow up, I want to be a potty trainer!"

LOL. I'm so proud :)

Since this is my blog and I have a lot of pictures to post, I've decided to do a series of posts instead of a really, really long one. :)

This was our first time going to Cabo, and I have to say, it was way better than I was expecting. The beaches were clean, the sand was white, and it was just all around beautiful. I think December is the best time to get away. Nothing like going from rainy and cold to sunny and 80 degrees!

This was our first time leaving Willow. I was pretty nervous about it. She's a definite "mama's girl" still, but we couldn't pass up a super cheap trip (our airline miles paid for our plane tickets and hotel stay). With that in mind, we kept the trip short. Just 4 nights, 5 days, but it was amazing to get away and much needed and appreciated.

These pictures were of our resort. It was gorgous, and definitely lived up to the 5 star rating. I would love to go back with the kids.

Just arrived at our room. It was actually a one bedroom, 2 bath condo. So happy to be there!

Exploring the grounds on our way to dinner.

Mark's dream is to someday have his own boat moored in this marina.

It might be a little weird to put two bikini pictures in, but I've been working dang hard to get my body back in shape with P90X! This was after one month working out every other day. It was great having a trip to keep me motivated through the long, HARD workouts.

Our balcony and view from our room.

Cabo 2010 - Fishing

Here's the story behind our fishing day. Well, actually, the story of how Mark got me to go fishing...


Mark had planned our trip to Cabo with the sole intention of getting some winter fishing in. He asked around, and got the name of a good boat captain, and sent his down payment money in a week before we left. I, on the other hand, had planned on a day at the spa and soaking up some sun by the pool while he fished.


A day before the fishing trip, we checked in at the guide service to double check the reservation and details for the trip. We were surprised to find out that Mark had actually reserved a whole boat for himself, and that it would cost no more for me to go along....if I wanted to.



Hmmm, now I had a dilemma. I definitely wasn't going to give up my trip to the spa (although that doesn't take more than 2 or 3 hours), but was I ready to commit to a whole day on the ocean? In the end, I decided to go with Mark and see what the fishing thing was all about.

We met up the the captain around 6:30am. Early for vacation, but we got some coffee, and the energy on the docks was pretty fun.

Heading out!

We were not the only ones heading out for a day of fishing :)

No fish yet, but enjoying the sun.

Our captain getting the pole ready for some live bate fishing.

For a while, I didn't think we were going to catch any fish. Soooo, next best thing, getting a little sun! (Ignore the extra tummy skin. It drives me crazy, but hey, I've had 3 kids and this is the unfortunate reality!)

Mark's first catch of the day, a beautiful yellow fin tuna.

Things are definitely looking up!

There's a BIG one on the other end....

It took a good 20 minutes of fighting the fish to get him in.

What a great catch!

My yellow fin tuna. I was in the middle of saying, "No! Don't make me hold it!" It was slimy and dripping blood on me :)

It was a super fun day, it was fun to do it together, and Mark was really happy to have me out there to get pictures and video of the trip. I had scheduled my massage and facial at the spa for 4pm. We got back to the dock just in time for me to RUN all the way back to our hotel to make it for my appointment. A bit crazy, but a great way to end a fun day.

Cabo 2010

After our fishing day, we had just a day and a half left in Cabo. We spent it RELAXING. Coffee shop in the morning, pool side or on the beach the rest of the day. The trip was way too short, but we tried to enjoy every minute.

Yes, Mark is reading! I've never seen him read a book, and that's saying something considering how many years we've been together :)

A few things I don't want to forget

The next couple posts are really just for me. Just a few snap shots from life right now that I don't want to forget.

Aspen

First, a little background. Mark and I have had some discussions lately about our family, and one part of our discussions has been about recognizing the many great qualities Aspen has, and not being so hard on him. Since Aspen is the oldest and SO MUCH like Mark, he tends to be harder on him, and loses his cool with him more than with the girls.

Last night I went to a jewelry party. I left Willow in bed, and Mark, Aspen and Journey playing flashlight hide-n-go-seek. They were having a blast. At bed time, Mark lifted Journey into Aspen's bed (he has a loft bed) for prayers. This was NOT okay with Aspen. He is very (rediculously, over the top) territorial of his room and bed, and hates it when the girls go in his room. To the point that, I think, Mark instigates things like this to confront the issue.

Since I wasn't home, Aspen wasn't able to pit Mark and I against each other to get his way. In this situation, when I'm home, I'll admit we generally will just divide and conquer. I'll take one kid and Mark will take the other to pray with to avoid the conflict.

Anyways, Aspen proceeded to throw a fit, yelling at Journey to get out, screaming in frustration as Mark wouldn't back down in asking him to give a good reason why Journey couldn't be in his bed for a prayer. Apparently this lasted for a good 20 minutes. Pouting, bad attitudes, yelling, screaming, etc. All the while, Mark kept his cool, didn't raise his voice or freak out on him (something very difficult for him because Aspen knows how to press all his buttons!).

Finally Mark told Aspen that he was hurting Journey's feelings by being so rude (one of the reasons he said he didn't want her in his bed was that sometimes she stinks, not true, but one of his "reasons" nonetheless). All the while he was throwing his fit, she was sitting quietly on his bed, sometimes quietly interjecting that "God wants us to be nice and get along". Eventually they prayed.

Just as Mark was tucking Journey into bed, her nightlight went out. Now she is crying (scared, more about that later). Aspen volunteered that he might have an extra bulb in his room and went to look. Mark said he could see the gears in his head turning, thinking about whether to give her his nightlight, but he didn't say anything. There were no more bulbs, and Mark went to try to appease Journey by propping the door open a little to let some light in.

While Journey was still crying, Aspen came in quietly with his own nightlight. Not only did he give Journey his nightlight, but he apologized for hurting her feelings and not letting her in his room.

Mark said he was overwhelmed with the whole scene as Aspen came in with a true, genuine, heartfelt apology, and Journey responded with forgiveness, saying "I forgive you, Bubba". The whole night ended in hugs and loves, and Journey felt safe knowing that her brother came through for her and felt bad for hurting her feelings.

This morning, Aspen retold the whole story to me, but added that "in the dark, when no one could see, there was water coming down my cheeks" when he thought about what he said and how he made her feel.

Mark ended the night feeling pretty incredible. He made it through the stress and drama without loosing his cool, and he got to witness a beautiful scene of love and forgiveness between Aspen and Journey.

It also opened our eyes to see how Aspen manipulates us by pushing Mark's buttons until he looses it, and then uses that against him by saying things like "you don't love me" or "you are always mad at me".

We love our sweet boy, but man, does he keep us on our toes!

Pumpkin Patch (late)

Okay, so this is SO late in posting. We actually went to the pumpkin patch around the 15th of October. But better late than never. It was such a fun afternoon, and I don't want to forget it.

We started the afternoon by checking out the animals.

Waiting for the rest of the cousins to arrive.

The cousins are here!

Riding the tractor pulled cow train.

Christina and the girls

Journey and I rode the cow train together. So much fun!

The hay pile was a hit with the kids.

In the picture: William, Adam, Brendan, Janie, Shyann & Journey.

Zoe and Willow

William, Aspen and Luke

Janie, Ava & Journey

We took a hay ride to pick out our pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. The hay ride was fun.......but the pumpkin patch....not so much.

The pumpkin field was SO muddy. As in, sink 6 inches in mud and try not to fall down, mudddy.

We got our pumpkins and got out of there as soon as we could!

Showing off their pumpkins

We had so much fun and great weather. Can't wait until next year!