Merry Christmas to All!

Here are a few photos I took of Christmas Eve and Day. We had a great day and we all got very spoiled. I enjoyed talking to most of my family on Christmas Day. We used Skype for most of our calls and it was fun to see all the kids and family while talking to them! Cool service and Free! Mark are you hooked up!

I did not think we had too many traditions on our family, but thinking back about it I guess we do. We always get Santa Photos done, also food from British Pantry. We open presents one at a time all together. Good food is always a part of the day. Getting with family is usually done also. Thanks David for coming over! It was alot of fun to play Wii with you and Rebekah. Other wise we are pretty casual at our house. We go with the flow around here.

Merry Christmas to all! I know 2010 will be a great year. I feel alot of changes coming in the wind. It should be great.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Vincent Tolo at Newport

Vincent got asked to go to Tolo with some friends from Newport High School. The kids did not pair up and it was a very relaxed bunch that wanted to have some fun. They went bowling in the afternoon and then had Pizza and then got dressed up and went to the dance.

The topper was that the next day Vincent and Andrew both gave talks at church. So no sleeping in! They both did a great job and I was very proud of them. They are both such good boys. I got a lot of comments on Vincents accent? I guess he does have one. If he talked more I might hear it. :-)

Christmas Parties and Decorations!

This week end has been very busy. Ok when is it not? We have been cleaning and decorating the house for Christmas. We also were very busy getting ready to host a party for Gary's office at our house. We had a great time, and had a nice crowd. Can you believe I forgot to take photos of the party.

I got a new Christmas tree this year. It is really cute. I wanted a real one, but Gary does not like the smell or the mess. So I opted for a real slim one so it fits nice in the corner. I like it alot. I have all my Swarovski ornaments that I have been collecting for many years. They are so nice and shinny!

Don't you love these huge Candy Canes? We went to our church Ward party and they let us take some home for our party! They come apart in two pieces so you can get it in the car. I think they look so great! There was no missing our house!

The next day after our party Vincent wanted to shoot the Candy Cane balloons with his airsoft gun. The balloons were not blown up real tight so they did not pop when you shot them. He and his buddy Christian then used tacks to pop them. Then Vincent brought out his machete(?) to pop them. That worked really well. But what a mess!

This is Gary's early Christmas present! A really cool smoker....he smoked a bunch of ribs for the party. The turned out really yummy! Sandy our dog really like to sit by it and smell all the meat cooking and trying to get to the drippings that come out of the back. It was so cold it froze as soon as it came out.

I cross stitched these stocking when we were first married. I started to do one for Vincent but did not finish. That will be a good goal to work on this year.

The house in the dark. I would have put more lights up but it got too cold. I think it looks pretty good. We will see how long the last Candy Cane lasts.

This is the back yard. I those cool LED lights on the little trees in the back. Our neighbors the Bennett's really like them from their windows. I also enjoy them from our living room windows.

So photos from our Ward Party. We had all kinds of cool stuff. A photo both was a hit!

Ice sculptors at a Ward Party! Our planners went first class. They even used real china for the dishes! Thanks MaryAnn for washing them all! In the tent we had massive desserts available! It was so good! We got some left overs to use for our party the next night.

A live Jazz Band!

It's cold!

Gary bundled up- you can still see the moon up in the sky! Too early to be up and in the cold!

Saturday we got up early for a soccer game for Vincent. It was 22 degrees! It looked like it had snowed on the ground. But it was just frost. We were all so cold. It was a surprise to us all. Good thing I dressed warm.

It has not really warmed up yet either. Today taking Vincent to seminary it was 19 degrees! Crazy cold! Later it only got up to 29. I am not complaining. Life could be alot worse. But you do start looking around to places that are warm.

Out for Thanksgiving!

Ok -I think everyone knows that I am not that big of a cook. I can usually get by. My kids do not starve and they seem to be well nourished. I would say that my husband is healthy, but that would be a stretch. But I really don't think that my cooking is making him sick. Maybe I should look in to that some more.

But Anyways.....since most of my family moved away from Bellevue, we did not have a big crowd for dinner. David's friend Rebecca was coming into town. We all decided to go out to dinner. We went to the Keg. They had a traditional Turkey meal option. We all got a lot of food and had a good time. I really enjoyed not getting up early and cooking all day, and then doing the dishes. The only down side is no left overs.

We went back to our house and played a game. This is a game that Gary won in a contest when he was a boy. He helped name a new chocolate bar and they picked the name. He does not remember the name any longer.

The boys enjoy playing this game. It is not politically correct with all the symbols on the game. It is all about escaping from a German POW camp. We usually have Gary play the part of the German guards. He loves it. Vincent won this time.

After the game we called some of the family to say Happy thanksgiving. We also used Skype to talk to the Barnes family.It was a fun night! We were really happy David and Rebecca came with us. We really like her and David is nice also.

I do miss not having all the family together. We should really try and plan that some time. Love you all!

Way to go REAL!! MLS Cup Winners!

How cute is he! MLS Cup day! We had unexpected guess come to town this week. One of my cousin's Scott McAllister came to watch the MLS Cup game. He lives in Utah and he and a friend came up for it. They stayed at a friends house, but we got to take them to the game! We had never done the March to the game with the band so we all decided to do it. I think they had the biggest group yet! Alot of the REAL group joined ours for the march to the stadium. Lots of noise and drums.

Andrew got to meet REAL's mascot, a Lion I think.

They had all kinds of booths set up outside the stadium and free stuff to collect. I will scan some of the photos we got from vendors. They turned out really fun.

I think they had over 44,000 in the stadium. I think they could have sold more tickets. Very loud crowd.

Scott had tickets up in the 300 level at the top. We had some empty seats next to us. So during half time they came down to enjoy the second half of the game. Much better view!

They guys enjoying the Win! They won in over time and two sets of Penalty kicks! We stayed to watch them get their trophy. But not too much longer, it was getting really cold! And the boys we tired. It was a long day for everyone!

We were sad that Angela and Shawn could not make it to the game. We texted with her during the game. They will have to come up next year and go to a game with us. Miss you guys!

It was fun to see Beckam play. But I think his hair looked really stupid. Oh well......

It's All My Fault!

It's all my fault for Vincent getting his finger cut in a propeller piston engine! I forced Vincent to go on a Scout outing to get his Aviation Merit Badge. They went to the Museum of Flight to get it done. Sounds great! What a great opportunity! But no, It looked like too much work for Vincent. But he was doing it anyways.

During the outing he saw some other kid touch this engine (it was mostly covered so kids would not touch it). He decided to give it a try and it caught his finger and it took a chunk out of it. Smart thinking Vincent!

He was pretty much in shock when I picked him up and took him to the Hospital. He would not look at it the whole time. All I had was my cell phone camera - so it does not take that great of shots, bummer. I tried to get a before and after shot.

No long term damage was done. His nail bed looks like it was not harmed. He got 4 stitches and they wrapped it up real good. The shot for numbing it up was the worst part. Poor guy. It was pretty painful. The doctor was the same one who fixed him a couple of years ago when he broke his fingers playing basketball.

Sorry you got hurt Vincent. But next time don't touch things that are under plastic and have metal moving parts. :-) I still love you!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving Click on this Link for a Awesome feel good message!

I am thankful for my so many things this time of year. Let me count my blessings and name them one by one. Well at least a few of them

Gary feeling better and back to work!
Vincent and Andrew Healthy and Happy!
I have a job that I have flexible hours at!
Married for over 21 years to a great man!
My parents and family are healthy and happy!
I have a warm house to live in and share!
I am healthy and happy!
Faith in God that he has a plan for us all!
Great friends! Great Ward!
My Brothers and Sisters are my best friends!

It all sounds so basic and boring! But there is really nothing better than Faith-Family-Health!

Sending Happy thoughts out to you all! Love You!

Fall Family Photos

The weather was so Awesome today! I could not believe it. The sun was shining and the leaves on the trees were so beautiful. They are falling fast. I have been trying to figure out a time to take some family photos with the fall colors. But every time we have time to do it, it starts raining or gets dark too fast. So all of a sudden I saw a opening! I quickly threatened the boys to get dressed and shoes on. Then got Gary ready and told them we are going to take photos today. They had 5 minutes to get in the car. I promised them it would only take a few minutes to do this.

We got to the park down the street and I set up the tripod. But then I did not see how to set the timer. A girl playing tennis saw me struggling and she offered to help. So I quickly had her shoot a few shots of us. Yeah! I got lucky! It was very nice of her to help out.

Then I took a few more shots of the boys. Vincent would not smile and Andrew kept smiling too big. But I got a couple of good shots of them. I had to work fast. We were back home in 20 minutes. 15 minutes too long for everyone.