Merry Christmas to All! I am having a great Christmas. The kids woke up pretty early (7am), we went out and Santa Came! They were so cute running all over with there toys and having so much fun. One of there favorite games is a car track, it has loops. They love to play game cube with dad, but fight over who's turn it is. It's time to get more controllers. Having a nice relaxing day with the family and playing with new toy and watching new movies. I love this. I hope you all are having a great Christmas as well.
We love all of you.
Merry Christmas!

Well I am now 30!! I can't believe it. I turned 30 yesterday and had the joy of sleeping in a little. I had french toast and orange juice for breakfast, YUMMY. Bryan got the day off work, so we took the kids down to Grandma's house and we went out. Did some shopping, went to lunch, and had so much fun talking to a grown up. My sister and niece made my cake and it was yummy.
I don't feel any different, just funny to say that I'm 30. I nice guy at Costco told me that "I'd card you", I guess that mean that I still look young.

Well I've been thinking about it and well I don't know if I want to wrap presents this year. I know this sounds funny but last year they were ripped into before Christmas. I haven't wrapped anything yet and don't know if I want to. Having very grabby kids I know if I put any presents under the tree they will be opened. I'm thinking of putting stick it notes and putting them under the tree Christmas eve. When they come out on Christmas morning Santa gifts will be by the stockings and mom and dad gifts will be under the tree. I don't know if I will actually do this but it does sound tempting and less of a mess.

Well as Family night we put up our Christmas tree. It was fun, Kate and Conner are getting pretty good at hanging up the Christmas ornaments. Music playing, lights sparkling, and hot chocolate to drink. It was a fun night.

We had so much fun this thanksgiving holiday. My brother came from Utah and our kids went swimming at grandma's house. Thanksgiving was very yummy and fun with family. Bry's birthday was the Saturday after thanksgiving, and we spent a nice relaxing day at home. I love this time of year, yummy food and spending time with the family.

Well, I told Kate that I wanted to trim her hair yesterday and then I go and fix her lunch and noticed that something looked a little funny. Yes, she cut her own hair! I didn't take a picture of her cutting because she looked like she had a mullet. Bryan thought I should just leave it and take her to get it cut today by professionals. If any of you really know me then you'll know that I just couldn't let my child look like that for very long. I got the scissors out and cleaned it up a little. It's not perfect of course but at least it's not a mullet. Luckily she didn't cut it too short, unlike me when I was her age. My mom has the best photo of that, let's just say I didn't have bangs for awhile. I didn't get mad I just told her if she really wants a hair cut to come to me, not to try and do it herself again. I also made sure I told her never to cut her siblings hair either, I know that personally too. So begins the "I wanted to do it myself" phase. Oh Boy!

I did my part today and voted. It took 30-40 min. long. It wasn't that bad because I had a friend in line with me. I'm just glad it's over, sick of all the commercials that bash everybody. I wish they were I can do this for you instead of He did this, oh no. If you haven't yet go out and vote! It doesn't take long, and you let your voice be heard.

Halloween was very fun this year. Watching Kate and Conner go up to the doors themselves and say "Trick or Treat" was very cute. When they would leave Conner would say "bye", and Kate would say "Happy Halloween!" I had Sariah in the stroller at the bottom of the driveways, she would squeal at me every time we stopped. It did rain a few times while we were out, but it never downpoured, which made me very happy. We didn't hit a whole lot of houses, but enough for our two kids. All in all, it was a great night.

Kate is a cowgirl.

Conner is a Bad Cop ("He's a loose cannon with a bad attitude.")

Sariah is a Pumpkin.

So, Kate got an award at school for exceptional reading. I was so happy for her. She is a great reader. She loves to pick out books and start reading. She is really good. Her favorites are Dr. Seuss and Goodnight Moon. She can read with almost no help, except for the big words.
We all went to see her get the award at her school and had a lot of fun, but Conner wanted to leave halfway through. Kate got a prize along with her certificate.
Go Katie!!

I never thought I would ever say this to my kids, but for the past 3 days I had to. I went into surgery on Tuesday night to get my gallbladder removed. I was in pain for about a week and finally went in. Of course my mother is out of town so my aunt stepped in. She took me to the emergency room on Tuesday morning and stayed with me until noon when she switched places with Bry. They got me in around 6pm and in recovery around 9pm, I think. Well, the only thing I really remember is my chest hurting like crazy. So of course I'm all drugged out in recovery and the nurse is very nice. The next morning the doctors came in to see how everything was going. Well, he proceeds to tell me that as they were trying to get my gallbladder out it was too big for the incision. They needed to make it bigger, I guess I had a few stones that were the size of quarters. So they made it bigger and got it out, then I started bleeding and they couldn't find the source of the bleeding so they had to make it even bigger. Turns out that when they removed the gallbladder it cut one of my muscle walls and it started bleeding. So now instead of an 1" scar I have an 3 1/2" scar under my chest. It hurts when I laugh, sit up, hold Sariah or hug anyone. So every time one of the kids comes up to me, both Bry and I hold our hand out to make sure they don't hit anything. This is really hard for Sariah because she loves her mommy, I can't hold her right now and it's killing me. It kills me when I do hold her too, can't win. Well hopefully everything will heal fast so I can get back to normal and hold my kids again.

So our family went to San Francisco yesturday to visit with Bry's sister in law. We stayed in the hotel room and talked while the kids watched cartoons. It was so fun to see her. She ran a half marathon. Man, I wish I had the energy to do that. The kids were really good in a small space. We had a good time, it's so nice to see family!