may your days be merry and bright

this week of december

i feel like i sat home in my workout clothes all week, but then i really think about it we have actually been doing a lot...

- we went to the temple lights
- we went and saw santa twice.... when he asks berkeley what she wants she says presents, then he asks what kind, she says toys, then he asks what kind of toys and she says a striped toy.....{no idea}
- we went and saw princess and the frog
- we made a gingerbread house
- we went to our stake christmas concert
- we have watched mickey's twice upon a christmas 18 times
- i managed to lose 5 pounds then quickly gain it back again
- i'm pretty sure i partially tore my acl at my soccer game on monday night. i heard the pop, and i felt the tear and pop. now i have a swollen painful knee that really isn't getting any better considering i have been over dosing on motrin.
- todd finished his semester. he is half way done with law school!!!!!!!
- beckham has managed to cry more now then he did when he was a wee little baby...i really cannot explain why but i have been reminding myself that this is only a phase {i hope}
- i got moved up from nursery to sunbeams. oh how i love my life just a little bit more.
and... i stayed in my workout clothes all day 3 times this week. wow. im not going to lie...i felt like a failure those days.

i love it all though because its part of the christmas season, and i really just cant get enough of it!

my kids make me smile

i love when berkeley says things to me like...

"mom...i love christmas time. thank you so much for christmas time"

or

" im going to get striped presents from santa!"

or

"tomorrow when we wake up we go to disneyland today! oh it be so fun!"

thanks to my sister whitney for taking our 2009 family pictures in

my parents amazing backyard

cold days make for happy kids

i don't know why but we have not been going to the park lately. its like prime

time park going season right now

and i have just not been doing it. so today we had nothing to do {besides boring lame cleaning}

so we decided to go to the park. it was really cold today....55 degrees....i was dying.....

but the kids did not seem to mind. they were both in heaven. berkeley ran around

with so much excitement she didn't know how to handle herself, and beckham

was mr. grins the entire time. i need to do this more often.....just go to the park me and the kids.

it was a nice treat to play with them and push them on the swings and not be distracted

with anything else.

{my happy gems}

2nd annual christmas party

saturday night we had our 2nd annual christmas party that my sis in law brooke and i hosted.

we basically did everything the same as last year....same delicious food, same place, same people, same game, and same fun. if its not broken, don't fix it!

we had a great night with a great turn out. it was really nice just being able to sit down and talk with all of the guests. the night was a hit and we had a great time being with friends

and celebrating the christmas season.

the beverages and candy display

the hostesses

the food table

some of the guests

the guys in a push up contest...good job scott

for showing us your determination

the sibs

here is the latest picture of my siblings, my parents and i that we took thanksgiving

weekend.

i really love these people so much and i am so grateful i have them in my life.

i enjoyed all their company this last week and i really felt like i got to hang out with each sibling in different ways

thanks for the poker games, the movies, the soccer games, the photo sessions, the football watching, the always classic datillo dinner, the cooking, and the company.

{from left to right}

{whitney, ashley, christian, sean, jared, me, danielle, and of course my mom and dad in the middle}

wow....i really love thanksgiving

we went to my parents house this year in california for thanksgiving. every one of my siblings also were with my parents this year so it was extra fun to have everyone there this year. berkeley loved it the entire time because she had cousins around her constantly.

my parents house was a tad bit crowded considering there were 14 people staying there at one

time, but we had fun being with everyone. thanksgiving day we played soccer in the morning, then had some play time in the afternoon, and dinner around 5. our meal was amazing thanks to my mom and my 3 sisters. probably the best thanksgiving meal i have ever had! then that night we played cards then went to a late movie with some of my siblings.

friday we started off with family pictures at the park, then we had my grandmas 90th birthday party. friday afternoon everyone kind of ended up at my parents again, so we played cards again and then went to see the movie new moon with my sisters.

saturday night all of my siblings and spouses got to go out to dinner with no kids which

is always an extra treat. with 22 grandkids it kind of gets exhausting having kids around all the time. then sunday was my cousin katie's mission farewell, with a lovely brunch to follow.

it was a packed weekend with lots of activities and i had so much fun. i was sad to see it end but yet so excited knowing that it is now the christmas season!

everyone hanging out at my parents house

thanksgiving day we always play soccer....so here everyone is after a day of soccer. we only had one injury and then of course i got taken out once by my 11 year old nephew and then again

by my 9 year old niece.

the beautiful thanksgiving table my mom put together.

playing on the tire swing at the neighbors across the street. i grew up playing on this swing so it was fun to take berkeley on it for the first time.

berkeley and clay playing outside in the backyard on the swing while jensen was pushing them. im pretty sure she was having the time of her life.

the kids put together this soccer goal in the back yard for the CONSTANT soccer that was going on the whole weekend.

on friday we celebrated my grandmas 90th birthday. all my 6 siblings were there, as well as some of my out of state cousins and out of state aunts and uncles. it was a really

special day celebrating the most amazing woman. i have such a special place in my heart for my

grandma, and i was so glad i could be there that day for her.

all of her great grandkids minus 5

ummmm......

i think i'm addicted

congrats to beckham boy

congrats to my beckham boy on starting to crawl. it has been a new joy in my life now that he is more independent and less "i need my mom all the time". he is still doing the good ol army crawl but he is getting better, and will be on his hands and knees in no time. thanks beckham for figuring this one out. mom is a lot more happy :)

berkeley girl

i feel like all of the sudden berkeley has grown up so much. her talking surprises me every day. the comments that she comes up with are hysterical. her knowledge and ability to learn things are amazing. i love the stage that she is at right now. she's a somewhat big kid who can do lots of things her self, but she is still only 3 and sometimes needs her mommy.

we go on a walk to the park every day right before dinner and it is her favorite time of day. she gets on her scooter or bike and just rides. she hauls on her scooter and it is a crack up to watch. i love that the weather is nice outside and i love enjoying it with my berkeley girl.

the buster boy

we finally got all 4.....

no more scary teeth

10.31.2009

where fall is really fall

the kids and i just got back from a week long trip to utah to go stay with my sister danielle in highland. i have been planning this trip for months and i was SO excited to go. i had been wanting to go to utah forever! because i was going up, my mom thought it would be fun for her to go up too and kind of make it a party. it was SO cold there. the day we left it was 90 degrees in az and we walk outside in ut and it was about 60. i about died. i have not experienced cold weather at all for about 8 months, so it was a shock. the whole time we were there i really felt like i never fully thawed out. gosh....im such a wimp.

i packed in a lot of things while we were there. we really did not relax like at all. our first day we worked out, then had my mom watch our 4 little kids, and danielle and i went out to lunch, to target, and to the movies in the middle of the day. it was so nice to go to lunch with no kids. i have not done that in a long time. then that night we went to the mall and ate dinner at the mall. thursday we went to thanksgiving point to the farm area where we met my sister in law heidi and her 2 kiddos. the kids absolutely loved it. berkeley rode a horse for the first time too. then we had lunch at thanksgiving point. later that afternoon we went to my nephews soccer game that was FREEZING. the wind was blowing the entire time and i was basically miserable the whole time. on friday my mom offered to watch the kids again, so danielle and i went up to salt lake to go shopping and go out to lunch. we shopped for like 6 hours and i was exhausted at the end of the day. that night danielle had an indoor soccer game, so i joined her team and played with her. i have never played soccer with danielle so it was really fun to actually play on the same team. then all gross and sweaty we went out to eat in orem and then went to jon's alumni byu soccer game. again....freezing the whole time, but it was really fun. we snuck into the smith field house and watched a little byu vs. utah women's volleyball. it was fun to be back in provo on campus. it brought back lots of fun memories.

saturday we went back to thanksgiving point to the pumpkin patch....{if you actually could call it that....the actual pumpkins for sale took up about 1/12 of the whole place} i had heard about how fun this place was so i was really excited to go there. when we walked in berkeley couldn't stand it and was hopping and skipping all over the place. she loved this place.... i enjoyed it as well. then i ran off to orem and met my high school friend and her mom for lunch. i had not seen her in like 6 years so it was so fun to see her in person and spend some time with her. then we went to salt lake to my cousins house who i also had not seen in like 6 years and had dinner with him and his family, and my grandma, aunt and uncle, and cousins. that was really fun to see everyone there as well. and randomly when the kids were all outside jumping on the trampoline it started hailing.

straight from there i went to cheesecake factory and had my mom drop me off {classic} and i met up with my 2 old roommates hollie and chelsey. love them. we had so much fun and it felt like we were never apart. hanging out with them made me wish i sill lived in utah.

i had such a fun trip....im so glad we went. i need to go again soon because i have the utah bug now!

look what i did!!!

so i am basically still freaking out that i actually did this to myself. my hair has NEVER been this dark! todd has been wanting me to go dark forever, and i always brushed him off....but recently i was getting so sick of having blonde hair and constant roots, so i thought that i should finally just do it. im still not even convinced that i love it. i know i dont hate it, and it is still weird to see myself in the mirror....but im thinking i like it enought, so it will stay like this for quite some time!

we're getting ready

we are anxiously waiting for halloween....

settled in

we are finally settled into our house. moving is so exciting, but mostly so exhausting. because i apparently didn't do my research, i didn't know that the gas bill was a separate bill. i didn't figure out until a saturday that we didn't have hot water, so i had to wait until monday to call, and then wait until friday to get it turned on. may i just say that i absolutely hate cold showers, and i had 6 horrible days of cold showers. i took laundry over to neighbors houses, bathed my kids at my brothers, and even heated up water on the stove and put it in the bath. so that was a little rough. we didnt get out internet hooked up for about a week and a half, so that was also painful....for me....but i know, its not a necessity.

now we are enjoying being us 4 again, and it is really fun. the first couple of days berkeley kept saying that she wanted to go home, but she is slowly realizing that this is now home. she also got really excited when we put her bed in her room. she was so shocked that it was here.

i absolutely love my neighborhood. i love the way it looks. the park is about 100 yards away, and we have gone i think every single day at least once. the people are amazingly friendly, and i already feel like i know so many people. there are tons of kids around that are berkeley's age, so i am so excited for that! so i guess what i am trying to say is that we are very content and very happy!

.this week.

• we decided to move


• beckham got his tubes put in


• my mom came to town


• i packed up our things and took them to our new house by myself...back and forth twice a day


• the diamond from my wedding ring fell out and I had no idea where


• we had my sister in law haylie's wedding at the house


• i cleaned and organized my house like crazy


• berkeley had her last week at her preschool


• my mom found my diamond on the driveway while hosing it off....i still cant believe it!


• we made 3 trips to the storage unit


• we moved in!

i'm tired.......

too much

too much of this....

can lead to this...

my weekend

my weekend started with berkeley turning 3. i'm so glad this finally came. i swear she has been 2 forever. we had a 'cousins only' birthday party which was the perfect amount of kids. if there were anymore, it would have turned to just terribleness. we played elephun and the fish catching game, opened presents, and ate cake. she was smiling the whole entire time and got overwhelmed a few times as well. friday night at the last minute i went to the jason mraz/b-52's concert with my niece rilee and her friend mckenzie. i'm not going to lie...i love hanging out with these 15 year olds. it reminds me of how much fun you have with your friends at that age and how carefree life is at that age. the best part of the night was after the concert we decided to go on the light rail considering none of us had ever ridden it. after taking a while to figure out how to buy a ticket we got on it and rode for like 4 miles, then got off, then rode right back to where we started. it was so random and so fun. i am definitely a fan of the light rail system. then saturday morning todd's aunt came over with TONS of peaches and we made lots of peach jam. as well as all of our activities, todd's sister heidi has been in town staying here so we have had a lot of fun playing with her and her 2 boys. i love seeing berkeley play with oscar. they love playing together and they have definitely been getting into mischief together!

the party girl


all the kiddos

the peach jam...we made so many bottles!

mckenzie and rilee, with jason in the backround

the ever amazing light rail station

rilee and her 'antique' i mean 'vintage' bag circa 1994

representing the 'm' for mesa

all the cousins in their jammies having a pajama party