The Best Christmas Ever!

This year Christmas was UNBELIEVABLE! After opening presents in the morning with Rusty and the girls, we went down to his parents house for breakfast with them and his brother Jesse and his family. We started helping in the kitchen when people started to kind of disappear and someone (i can't even remember who) told us to go outside. I figured Jesse and Wendy had gotten a four wheeler for one of their kids or something. So when we walked outside and saw the parked bright and shiny silver minivan, i burst into tears. Because, you see, i KNEW no one else in the family had been wishing for the "mom mobile". I knew it was for us and couldn't believe how wonderfully sweet my family is. So here are a few pictures of my "SWEET RIDE".

The Big Game

Rusty and I went to our first (of hopefully MANY) NFL game earlier this month. I got Rusty the tickets for his birthday back in September and thought that an Arizona Cardinals game would make the most sense because it would be the closest to where we live, and when I saw that they would be playing the Minnesota Vikings on December 6th, I saw it as my chance to finally see my "other boyfriend", Brett Favre, in action. It was sooooooo fun that we've decided to do it every year! Hear are a few pictures from our fun fun fun night!

Sorry it's so dark, but this is the Vikings sideline during the national anthem. I'm also a big fan of number 69, Jared Allen. He's a first class farm boy from southern Idaho. He appreciates the Anthem as much as I do.

This is Larry Fitzgerald. He ruined my night. He was unstoppable and enabled his team to stomp on my Vikings. :(

the big entrance of he cardinals. the cardinals cheerleaders have nothing on our JSA girls!

Here he is with his bullet arm.

These two "old guys" with grey hair chatted it up in he middle of the field for a while before the game started. It was really fun to watch them be so friendly before they become opponents.

We arrived an hour and a half early to watch the boys warm up and take pictures. It was really fun to see how many people had purple Farve jerseys on, myself included.

Our Getaway

we recently had the opportunity to "getaway" for awhile. we had a blast visiting family and friends. here are some pics from our great escape.

uncle alan met his niece, roxie.

uncle rusty met his nephew, adam, and . . .

his nephew, andrew.

cousins, alayna and mercedes got to play together

and play in the snow

we visited with beautiful cousins.

took some time to relax and enjoy some shows with cousins emily and natalie.

and slept in strange places

and then there are these two wonderful people. this is aunt lulu and uncle darron. they live far far away in a remote state called georgia, where they don't get visitors very often. but somehow they still manage to pull off being the best aunt and uncle there ever was. i'm so glad we got to see them and all of our family members. i apologize to aunt janice and uncle brad, and my dad who seemed to get by without a single picture taken of them. don't worry, i'll get you next time.

Thanksgiving

this week, i'm thankful for . . . . thanksgiving! i'm thankful that we get to set aside a special time each year to really think about what we're thankful for and appreciate the people in our lives who are near and dear to us. i'm thankful that i get to spend this special time with my sister and her family and my dad. i wish you all a very happy thanksgiving and hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

~Makes It All Worth It~

Today I'm grateful for her

For those of you who don't know her, her name is Mely. She works for me 6 days a week, for as long as i need, or want her to. She is what makes living in Mexico in the middle of the desert worth it. I'm not trying to sound braggy, but really, how ingrateful would i be if if during this season of thanksgiving, i didn't give a shout out to the woman who does my dishes, laundry, bathrooms, vacumming, dusting, sweeping and mopping, and any other job that i just don't feel like doing. i love her and without her i don't think i could survive this mexico life. (p.s. she obviously did't know i was taking the picture, she would be embarrassed if she knew i was doing this.)

i'm also grateful for baby distractors. this is roxie's new favorite "i'm not happy" distractor. rusty calls it the "chair of cheer"

I Am Thankful For Halloween

Yes you heard me right. I am thankful for Halloween. It gives children a chance to be children, eat candy, dress up, and act silly. It also gives adults a chance to be children, eat candy, dress up and act silly.

isn't she boootiful

scaredy cat!

My little goblins

princess jasmine from alladin

cutest chick i've EVER seen!

our friends threw a "murder mystery" halloween party. we were "Wack Pickleson Beerstin Dunce.

mercedes and her friends at her 2nd annual halloween party!

mama ghost and mercedes at her party. (my favorite is ryder in the background torturing the cat.)

so there you have it. i love halloween and am thankful for halloween.

i love october

i love october. for so many reasons. my birthday. it's finally cooling off and fall has begun. i can wear jeans without sweating to death. pumpkin flavor everything. and most of all HALLOWEEN!!!!

Mercedes loves herself some halloween too!

this is the pumpkin she helped me carve. she did the straight lines.

for those of you who don't know, this is a bumbo seat. made for babies to be able to sit upright and look REALLY cute doing it. this picture is not the greatest example of that.

she liked it!

for about 2 minutes. anyone want a bumbo seat?

September "Happy Haps"

rusty blessed roxie in the beautiful dress that grandma joy made for mercedes when we blessed her. we plan to bless all our girls in it . . . right rusty? (he says we're done, we'll see.)

mercedes was asked to sing "i love to see the temple" in the primary program this year. she did a great job and got to wear her cousin, anna's, beautiful white temple dress. she looked like an angel. of course i couldn't record the song in sacrament meeting but her cousin, melissa filmed her singing it afterward and it's on my facebook page. i couldn't get it to download here. but it's worth watching.

on the way home from el paso it hailed on us . . . yes that is hail. we were terrified that it would bust open the windshield. they hit so hard that it made roxie make this face . . .
i'm not kidding, this is what she did when she heard the hail hitting the truck.

~So Much Has Happened~

Roxie turned 1 month old!

bottling season began.
Nephew Jesse got his mission call to Cuernavaca Mexico!

Roxie turned 2 months old and started smiling.

Another year of school began.



And just some regular old family fun. Sorry about the long blog break. I guess I was busy.