It's been a hard days night

We did at our house! Last year we made graham cracker gingerbread houses. This year we took another step up and bought a kit. All premade gingerbread. All I had to do was add water to make the frosting. My kind of ginderbread house! Can you tell that Emma really enjoyed it!! (we don't normally let her sit on the countertop btw!
Christmas morning with little kids is great! They were so excited to find that Santa had drank the milk and left only crumbs behind from the cookies on the plate. It's fun that we have a fireplace that we can hang our stockings at!
Opening presents, we had to assign Bud and Emma spots that they could sit! That way they couldn't take over someone's present opening! Some of the highlights were Bud's Indiana Jones Legos- Emma's princess scooter- Mo's super bouncy ball- N8 wrist GPS and my copy of Office 2007.
On Friday and Saturday we decided to tackle 2 different home improvement projects that I have wanted to do for quite some time. First we spray painted our brass fireplace insert black! I think it's a huge improvement and it only cost $5 to do it!
Then we painted our fireplace wall a gray/brown. The color matches the grout in our fireplace. I think it looks great, but now I need to refigure my mantle decor!!
On Christmas day I got to talk to all but one of my siblings (we talked to him the next day!) and my parents in the Dominican Republic. N8 got to talk to all of his family as well. That is one thing I love about holidays-getting to talk, or see our families! This week my sisters family is coming to visit. We love having them here. We play lots of game and visit and the kids have a blast! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures.

So, it's that time of year where we send out Christmas cards and let everyone know the in's and out's of this past year. I had fun working out our letter and our "family picture" for the year!
We actually chose 2 different pictures. Some got one and some got the other! I just didn't want to decide!

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Merry Christmas! We've had an exciting 2008!

Each of us is healthy and well
Ready for what the next year will bring
Reading, running, and recreation have kept us busy
Year-round fun with 3 little kids!

Church callings are keeping us busy; Nate is now in the Bishopric and Rachel serves on the activities committee
Hawaii got a visit from Nate, Rachel, and Matthew this year thanks to Nate's business trip to Pearl Harbor
Rachel continues to work on her vinyl lettering business and enjoys keeping up her blog (vinylchitchat.com & n8swife.blogspot.com)
In Nate's spare time he did some hiking, backpacking, and trained for his first 5K race
Sometime in there we made some trips to Idaho and Arizona to visit Rachel's parents before they left on a mission to the Dominican Republic
Time really flew by and we're now coming to the end of another year
Matthew turned one and is now walking!
All of us enjoy the great Ridgecrest weather
Soccer kept Benjamin on his toes this fall

Together we have watched movies, played games, and had lots of fun
Helping Benjamin learn all 13 Articles of Faith has been great (he has them all memorized!)
Emma's in Preschool and learning to write her name

Keeping up with Matthew's love of unloading cupboards has not been easy
Involvement in the "Yes on 8" campaign taught us be politically active & fight for what's right
Many thanks were given once the election was finally done
Benjamin is now in the 1^st grade and loving every minute of it
Laughing, singing, and dancing are some of Emma's favorites!
Every year we give thanks for those blessings we've received
Remembering our Savior's love for us all
So we hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

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This past week has been busy. N8 was on travel and I had a lot of vinyl things to get done. On top of that we had Mo's birthday. We celebrated a little late so that N8 could be there.
Do you see the fear on his face?? It took a few minutes of persuading, but he eventually dug in and loved his first birthday cake!

Opening presents consisted of me, Bud and Emma opening, while Mo walked around playing with the paper.

We also got our Christmas tree decorated. I don't know how long it will stay that way, but at least for now it has decorations!

I've been working on decorating the whole house. This week I'm one of the houses for our RS progressive thing (I'm calling it a thing, because we're not actually having dinner and we could never figure out what to call it!).
I'm almost there with everything, now I just need to clean and make cheesecake!

Since N8 flew back into LA, we decided to drive down and stay at the temple. The LA temple has apartments that you can rent so you can stay right there. They are much cheaper than any hotel nearby and it made it easy for both N8 and I to get a session in. It was also great opportunity for the kids (and us) to see the Temple lights.
I will admit that I am partial to the Mesa temple lights, but they were really nice and it was nice to stay right there at the temple.

The kids are so excited about Christmas. It's fun now that both Bud and Emma understand both the story of the birth of Christ as well as about Santa. Emma got to sit on Santa's lap this week at preschool. She was very precise in what she asked for-Little Ponies. We'll see if Santa can follow through on that one!

So my little guy is 1! A year ago today he came into the world, much more planned than his older sister. Unlike Emma, I was induced the day Mo was born. My mom was here to help take care of the kids (although she was able to make it to the hospital and be there for his birth). Mo's a very happy baby. He's even happier now that he's learned to walk. I expect that by Christmas he'll be running. You can't help but smile when you see his smile and he's a snuggler! Everyday he does something new that just brightens my day. He is a perfect fit for our family and we love him!

Enjoy the slide show. If you want a little background music with it there's a song under it!

Well, we're in full Christmas swing now. The lights are up, the tree is up (not yet decorated though) and the house is starting to look more festive. One of my favorite parts of Christmastime is the music.This year I got a new Christmas album from one of my all time favorite artist- Enya. I'm really enjoying this new one. It isn't purely Christmas, it is more "wintery" (as the title "And Winter Came" states!).

My other favorite Christmas music is Canadian Brass. Maybe it was my days in band, but I love their sound and they do wonderful Christmas music! The Little Drummer Boy is one of my favorites.


Speaking of the little dummer boy, this is my favorite Christmas book. We had it when I was little and I just got it for my kids.

We returned Saturday evening from our Thanksgiving vacation to Phoenix. It was a lot of fun and I will get to that in a bit. Just for a bit of info for those interested, I was released as the 1st councilor in the RS presidency on Sunday. And my new calling... to be determined... so at least for the moment I am callingless. I'm still helping with some of the loose ends that happen when a transition occurs, but am anxiously interested in what my next calling will be....

So, It's hard to put our vacation into a recap but I will try...
We started out our trip with a quick visit with Justin, Kirsten and Naomi-N8's brother, SIL and niece. We hadn't seen Naomi since her baby blessing. We had a picnic and went bowling. It was great to be able to see them.


One day we split up and N8 took the older kids on a hike, we took the younger ones to a play gym and the rest of the men went golfing. Oh how I wish Ridgecrest had a play gym like this!! We would live there all summer long!


Thanksgiving day started off very early. A group, including N8 ran in a 5k. They all did excellent even running through the rain puddles.
This was Mo's first thanksgiving and my brother and sister in law fed him all sorts of stuff. His favorites were pickled beets and frozen fruit salad!!
We did the early morning shopping the day after. We were up and going at 4:45am so we could get to Walmart for the opening. We then hit JC Penny's, Target and Toys r Us. It was fun to find the deals and spend time with my sister, mom and sister in law. It was fun to have more stores to go to, but Ridgecrest is much calmer on the day after. That afternoon we went to my Aunt's home in Buckeye and rode some of her horses. The kids (and adults) loved it!! Emma kept wanting to hug the horses. She is such an animal lover!
Our last evening we spent celebrating my Brother in laws birthday at his favorite fish and chips place. Lucky for me they had great chicken too!
Almost everyday while we were there the kids and adults enjoy the hot tub. It's always fun to see how many people you can fit in.
It's good to be home, but bittersweet. One of the main reasons for us going to Phx for Thanksgiving was my parents mission farewell. They did a great job on their talk. My mom even found a way to incorporate Harry Potter and the Dementors into her talk. They report to the MTC a week from today for the Santo Domingo East Dominican Republic mission. They will be serving for the next 18 months. Bud will almost be 8, Emma will be heading to kindergarten and Mo will be running and talking by the time they return. We couldn't be more excited for them on this new adventure and know that they will be serving the Lord.

So as if life wasn't insane enough, N8 left on travel this morning. Since we're headed to Phx for Thanksgiving I thought it was time for Mo to have a little trim. So, the top 2 are a before and the bottom 2 are after:
I did it last night with scissors and didn't like it so tonight I broke out the clippers. He looks so grown-up. I like it but it will take a bit to get used to.

I'm also trying to get a lot of Christmas stuff put together. We're going to see most of my family on Sunday. It's my parents mission farewell. We also arranged for my dad to be able to ordain N8 a high priest on Sunday evening. Then when we come back he'll be set-apart into the bishopric. So, back to the Christmas stuff, here's some of what I'm working on. If you're a family member-don't look!
The last picture I just have to throw in. Emma loves cats!! We have 2 kitties- Pichi and Paccha. They generally don't let Emma hold them. Paccha lets her brush him and play, but not really hold. Pichi just puts up with the kids, but doesn't even really let the kids touch her. So, here's Emma and Pichi. See the fear in Pichi's eyes and the happiness in Emma's!!

From 2008-11-18

So we're at that time of the year that where the weather is changing, the time just changed and we're experience a very drastic change in our church callings. Well mine hasn't actually changed, but we're assuming!!

This morning at 7:45am we received a call to meet with a member of the stake presidency at 9am. So, of course you go through the list of what kind of thing they could possibly want. But, N8 was just released as the assistant scout master and put in as scout master about 2 months ago. I was released 3 weeks ago as the 2nd councilor in the RS pres and called as the 1st councilor. So were were not expecting any sort of change. But it came anyways!! Today N8 was called to be the 2nd councilor in the Bishopric!!!!!! can I add more!!!!!! Can we all say SHOCK!!!! Not that I am shocked that he can do it, or shocked that he is worthy, but still shocked! It hasn't all quite sunk in. He's on travel this week and we're in Phoenix for the week of Thanksgiving. So, he misses his first bishopric meeting and his first Sunday in the bishopric.

So, here's to a less shocking and changing week for you all!!

When it time for change, you've got to rearrange! Gotta love the Brady Bunch:

Well today a major milestone happened and I didn't have my video camera ready!!! Mo took his first steps today. Kim was hear to witness it and N8 got a phone call right after. It was just a few steps, but still super exciting!! Luckily when N8 got home from work Mo complied and took a few mores steps to daddy. I'm guessing that he'll be running by the time we get to PHX for Thanksgiving! We'll see. This is so early for my kidlets. Bud and Emma were both 15 months when they took their first steps. Mo turned 11 months a couple of days ago. We'll see what tomorrow brings!!

From 2008-10-30

What a night!! But in the end it was all worth it! Proposition 8 passed and marriage in the State of California is now define as marriage between one man and one women!

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/05/voters-decide-hot-button-issues-nationwide/
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-gaymarriage6-2008nov06,0,3317246.story?page=1

What a wonderful experience it was to work so hard with such valiant people by our sides. It was well worth all of the time, money, sleeplessness, etc that so many people put into it.

This entire process has led me to really think about my personal involvement within my community and politics. In fact I taught a lesson on that topic in RS this past Sunday. (BTW for anyone interested. I was released as the HFPE councilor and am now the Education councilor is the RS Pres).

So the following statement by the 1st presidency really makes me step back and think. What am I doing? So to all of you out there- what are you doing to be involved??

The First Presidency

“We wish to reiterate the divine counsel that members ‘should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness’ (D&C 58:27) while using gospel principles as a guide and while cooperating with other like-minded individuals.

“Through such wise participation as citizens, we are then in better compliance with this scripture: ‘Governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and … he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them’ (D&C 134:1).

“Therefore, as in the past, we urge members of the Church to be full participants in political, governmental, and community affairs. Members of the Church are under special obligations to seek out and then uphold those leaders who are wise, good, and honest (see D&C 98:10).

“Thus, we strongly urge men and women to be willing to serve on school boards, city and county councils and commissions, state legislatures, and other high offices of either election or appointment, including involvement in the political party of their choice” (First Presidency letter, 15 Jan. 1998).

So now on a totally different subject! Over the last few months my website had been on the fritz. So, Nate and I have been working so that I will be able to maintain and update a site without having him help me. This weekend we transferred over to the new one and I need input! How does it look? Any problems you see? What would you change or add?

www.vinylchitchat.com

Thanks!!

Well I am!!! I am so ready for Tuesday to be done! The biggest reason I'm ready for it to all be over is so we can stop seeing all of the terrible political ads that have been aired! But there is one that isn't on TV but if it was I wouldn't get tired of. It was made be the CatholicVote.com Now I realize that I am not Catholic, but the message is one that I agree with and I hope many people consider come Tuesday.


Just a quick Halloween highlight as well:

This year we had a Pirate, a Princess and a Pumpkin!! My 3 P's were too cute (just a note, the 3 P thing wasn't even planned!).

Here are some pics for you all to enjoy!



We now have too much candy, but maybe it will help us get through these next couple of days until the election is done. Today N8 and another member of our ward walked through pouring rain hanging Prop 8 material on over 200 doors! We have a "Yes on 8" calling list over the next 2 days and then comes election day! It will be an early start with yard signs going up all over town at 5am! Then last the whole day!

So N8 and I realized this weekend that we own a business that could make large "Yes on 8" decals for cars!! Duh!! So, since Saturday I have be cutting and applying countless "Yes on 8" decals onto vehicles. Some large and some small. Some for people I don't even know. It's really been fun to do. I just wish we would have thought of this sooner. There couldn't be an easier way to donate my means and time to a wonderful cause! Here's our van!

This fight is almost over so here's to the final push. We'll spend Friday do our fun Halloween things- Halloween parade and party at school, Ward Trunk or Treat, and trick or treating here around the neighborhood. But this Saturday it's back to Prop 8. They're going to be hanging signs on doors all weekend. So I don't think I'll get to sign wave. I'll have to write another post sometime about that experience last weekend. Or if you know Loopylou you've already read it. It was an experience that I'll never forget and just made me realize even more why were in the fight for traditional marriage.

So we have been doing some other things in between working on the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. So, without further ado...

Benjamin got a lego boat for his birthday. It has a motor and will float. We tried it out in the bathtub!



Nate loves working in the scouting program. For the last campout they had foil dinners. This was just his, not the whole group! Do you think he was hungry after this??


My sister and one of her kids came for a brief visit a couple weekends ago. She lives in Michigan so we don't see each other very often.


I've also been working on some winter/Christmas crafts. These will be magnets.


And last but not least, I hope you all are getting ready for Halloween!! I just finished Mo's costume last night!


This weekend is our last soccer game and we'll be doing more corner waving for Prop 8.

Here's a new Yes on 8 video for you all: