T-Minus Teenager

The Boy. Smelliot. Smells. E. E-boy. Ee-oh-ut. He has many names but he will always be my special little guy. Surrounded by women, this boy is learning how to hold his own. Hard to believe we are in the countdown until he starts Jr. High AND becomes a teenager. I'm hoping to get in as many hugs, snuggles and face time before he officially morphs into a cave-troll...or whatever happens at the strike of midnight on his thirteenth birthday.

This year we celebrated at the nickle arcade. Elliott invited his friends from school and his cousins. I was home sick with bronchitis so Kris had to hold down the fort. He reported back to me that the kids were well behaved and also, that it was strange to see Elliott in his element--joking with friends, being loud, etc, because at home he's pretty quiet. The boys all had a great time. Elliott was in heaven because despite many "no way dude!" responses from me as he begged for the video game "Call Of Duty: Black Ops II", I caved and surprised him with the game. I guess that makes me officially the best/worst mom ever.

Happy birthday to my Smelliott. I'm glad you had a good day. LOVE YOU!

If someone can tell me how to switch the orientation on these photos, I will love you forever!

The crew

All the boys in his crew pass around the Barbie gift bag. We have it now so we have the honor of giving it to the next birthday boy in his group! Haha!

Had to sneak in a pic of miss Norah who had Aunt Lis all to her self!

Holiday Decorating

How is it December? Maybe my brain is having a hard time thinking about Christmas when the weather feels more like September! I can't remember the last time it was over 50 degrees in December. Alas, the year is coming to a close and it was time for me to break down and haul out all the Christmas decorations.

I've been feeling a little "bah humbug" this year. I think it's due to the fact that our "temporary" living conditions have become a little less "temporary" and a little more...well, it is what it is. Every year I pull out the Christmas decor and I think "This is it! The next time I pull these out I will be in my OWN HOUSE!" and here I am again, digging through an over-priced storage unit to track down my box full of stockings and ornaments, trying to decide which ones are "special" enough to bring back to the house because I know we won't have room for everything. Sucks.

I know, I know, I need to be thankful for a roof over my head and that my kids are healthy and that I have in-laws nice enough to let us crash their house for over two years...but it still doesn't stop the tears and the heartbreak during the Holidays from the sheer fact that I am stuck in purgatory.

Fortunately the kids still had a blast trimming the tree, even though I only had the emotional stability to put up the smaller, older, fake tree and only the stockings, none of the other decorations. We ate snacks, I baked cookies, and Norah helped me string popcorn and cranberries. Kris played DJ and dusted off our Christmas albums--Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Cash, Brenda Lee, and Stevie Wonder were our background soundtrack while we reminiced about the ornaments and Christmas years past. Watching the kids faces and seeing how much fun they were having made me realize that I have been focusing on Christmas Future and I need to focus on Christmas Present. It sucks that we're not in our own place for the Holiday, but we've had many wonderful Christmas seasons and this one shouldn't be different. I need to quiet my negativity and try to make this Holiday special no matter what. My kids and my hubby deserve nothing less.

The tree is trimmed! Presents have been wrapped! Now we just need some snow...

Veeve LOVES pomegranates!

The snacks!

The Kids!

A bit o' the bubbly (Martinelli's cider of course!)

CHEERS!

Smelliot Lucas and his side kick

stringing the popcorn and cranberries!

TREE!

Mouth full of cookies!

Stocking Overload

Food Giving '12

I was lucky enough to have work off this Thanksgiving. We made plans with Kris' grandpa and the Rounds family for a traditional turkey dinner on Thursday. I still wanted to spend time with my sister and my nieces and nephew so we planned our first annual "Fakes Giving." A "fake" Thanksgiving done the way we want! We decided to have our Fakes Giving the day before Thanksgiving.

We made a huge Mexican food spread with beans and rice, chips, layered dip and spicy beef. We had all the fixings your could imagine--tomatillo salsa, guacamole, onions, olives and sour cream to top off our food creations how ever we wanted to. Everything was kept on warming plates so the second helping was just as good as the first! We knocked back a few plates of nachos and then started on the games. We played board games like Life and Rummicube and listened to records. I pulled a few from Sarah and I's "childhood" and rocked Radiohead, the Shins, Catherine Wheel, Sunny Day Real Estate and Superdrag. It was so much fun to reminisce about where we'd been when we first loved those bands and our favorite songs. I love how music can transport us to another time and place. It's even more fun when I can share it with my family. Kris had to work but he got home in time to fill up on tacos and help clean up. What a good hubby I have!

It was a wonderful way to spend the "fake" holiday and I hope we do it again next year. My only regret is that with so much food and so many kids running around I hardly took any pictures! In fact, these are the only three on my camera from that day....go figure. Buncha weirdos!

(why this pic won't flip is a mystery to me, but Nate is still cute!)

Thursday I made sure to sleep in a little (I NEVER get to sleep in anymore...and I sure do miss it!) and then started prepping our food for the Rounds Thanksgiving dinner. Kris was sweet enough to peel over eight pounds of potatoes for me (I mentioned that he's my dream guy, right?) for the creamy basil mashed potatoes while I prepped the homemade stuffing (I even cut and dried all my own bread cubes!) and the cheesy artichoke dip for appetizer. I also made Kris his special Field Roast (it's Vegan turkey!) with rosemary, potatoes, carrots and celery. With some planning and and watching the clock, we were able to get everything cooked on time and ready to get to Bapa's. We made sure to pack some more board games so we could play while we digested.

We had a great dinner with family. The food was excellent. Bapa cooked the turkey (his first EVER) and it was melt in your mouth delicious. We had traditional green bean casserole and not so traditional sweet potatoes with carmelized red onions. Everything was so tasty I wish I didn't get full so fast because I wanted seconds of everything.

Kris brought his guitar and he played while me and the kids played board games and just enjoyed the company. It was very relaxing and fun to "pot luck" the meal instead of having to do all the cooking myself.

We hope everyone had a safe and happy Holiday. I'm so thankful for my little family, my friends and all those in my life who help me want to be a better person. Thank You!

Beautiful Genevieve (can't figure out how to flip the picture!)

Thankful for my sweet Hubby

Attack of the sisters!

stoked for a Coke

WINK!

so full!

Doesn't stop with the video games...ever!

Playing Apples to Apples and the subject was "PROFOUND" and my kids threw down Abraham Lincoln AND Bruce Willis. HAHA!

Snow Day

There are many things about Utah I don't like. The housing market is frustrating, the wages are awful and the inversion in the winter months make my lungs scream. What I love about Utah is the mountains, the changing seasons and the beautiful SNOW! We had our first big snow storm of the year and the kids and pup had a blast playing in the extra large drifts all day. It was a pain to shovel the walks every hour but hey, I need the exercise and it only happens a few times a year so I really shouldn't complain.

We spent the afternoon playing in the white stuff and then settled in for some hot chocolate and clam chowder. Norah was at a friends house so she missed the snow day but the way it's coming down, I'm sure she'll have many chances to roll in the drifts.

Archie is the happiest when he's chasing snow flakes!

Veeve and Elliott up to their knees in snow!

Elliott is rocking my pink boots--yeah, we wear the same size shoe!

This dog is in heaven!

Elliott got Genevieve in the face with a snow ball

Snow bed!

Before...

...After

And Archie was so pooped after playing, he put himself to bed! Haha!

Halloween

Halloween is by far, my most favorite holiday. I LOVE watching scary movies, carving pumpkins and watching the leaves change color. I put pumpkin into all my baking and cooking and I love the way it makes the house smell. This year was no different. We carved and painted pumpkins, made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin pancakes. Halloween night we had a pizza party, trick 'o treated, all while enjoying the mild weather. I dressed up as Finn from the Adventure Time cartoon and the costume calls for a short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts. I thought I would have to improvise and wear long sleeve and jeans but there was no need--it was 68 degrees as we walked through the neighborhood. It was wonderful!

Elliott dressed up as Carl from The Walking Dead TV series. Genevieve was a zombie in pajamas and Norah was a purple princess. Their costumes fit their personalities and I'm always amused at what they come up with. Elliott is really into zombies and after his uncle Chris took him to the shooting range for an afternoon, he's convinced he's ready for the zombie apocalypse so of course he'd go as Carl. Genevieve loves to be scary on Halloween and again picked a costume that allows her to squirt herself with fake blood. Norah HAS to be something that allows her to put on massive amounts of lipstick and make-up so she was a princess.

We hope you all enjoyed a fun and safe Halloween!

Pumpkin Painting

She drew a witch face on her pumpkin

Elliott and his BFF Nash get the guts!

Jack-O-Lanters

Zombie, Finn and Purple Princess get some candy!

Stay in the house, Carl!!

Purple Princess

Braiiiiinnnsssss!!

No more kid stuff, Carl.

Decade

Kris and I celebrated our TENTH wedding anniversary on the 24th. We had plans to go camping at Little Mill in the Unitas but our plans fell through so we just decided to drive through the canyon and then get some lunch.

We've always loved driving the Alpine Loop and this time of year, the colors of the leaves are changing and it's so beautiful! I love living in Utah and being just a short drive away from such a gorgeous and peaceful place. We drove slow, hiked a little, saw a few deer and just sat and enjoyed the surroundings. It was so nice to be able to do something we both love on a day that is special to us. We drove back to town and had a yummy lunch at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, La Puente, which we frequented a lot on date nights when we were first together. The food was great but the company was even better.

I'm so proud of us for all the work we've put into our marriage and even though we've had some tough years and undoubtedly we will have even more, I know we will be able to survive. I couldn't imagine my life without my cute hubby. Happy Anniversary, babe! Here's to our next decade as husband and wife!

Safety Patrol

Since Elliott is a sixth grader, he has the option to volunteer to be on the school's SAFETY PATROL. The school is situated near a 4-way stop intersection so the school has parents who are crossing guards and then the older kids who help keep the younger kids from crossing the street before the crossing guards have stopped the traffic. He has to stay after school to help. Genevieve thinks it's pretty cool that her brother is a helper and Norah has to point him out to all her friends and say, "That's my brother over there!" Those girls sure do love their big brother!

Summer Catch Up!

Since my blog was shut down I will attempt to give a quick catch up to what our family has been doing the last few months. Some of this may be old news to those in "the know" but for others this will be a nice way to see what we've been up to!

GRADUATION!
Yep. I did it! I graduated from Western Governors University with my Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. I loved my program and was very satisfied with the process of going to college "on line." I highly recommend the program to anyone who is thinking about getting a college degree. My family came to watch me walk in the big graduation ceremony and I think my face was sore from smiling so much. I was excited that my kids were able to see me walk and I hope that they will remember all the hours I was working on homework and then the big payoff at the end! I feel more confident in my career with a four year degree and I hope that it will help me to have lots of options to grow as a nurse. I'm planning on getting my Master's next year (I promised Kris I would take a year off before going back to school..again...)

WEDDING!
My baby sister Alissa married her sweetheart Blake in August. The wedding was just amazing! Lots of great friends and family and fun. My parents and brother and sister-in-law came from Texas and I was able to spend lots of quality time with them all. Of course, my kidlets LOVED having Grandpa and Grams here for a few weeks. I know we all were sad when it was time for them to go home. I wish there was a way to teleport from Utah to Texas so we could hang out every weekend. My sister looked just gorgeous and I'm so happy to have a new brother who is super amazing! It was a great end to the summer!

 BIRTHDAYS!
Genevieve turned 8 on July 9th! We celebrated at the Drive In and saw "Brave."

Norah turned 6 on August 14th and we also had her party at the Drive In. What can I say, my ladies like movies! We saw the new "Ice Age" movie. Norah has been obsessed with Fraggle Rock so we made sure it was a very Fraggle birthday!

 Whew! That's the greatest hits from the Rounds fam over the summer! Miss you all!