Festival of Trees

Wednesday night was capped off by a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge to see the Festival of Trees. Jesse and I have stayed there before, but no one else has seen it and I wanted to get out and do something so we packed everyone up and went. The lodge was super pretty and festive, so that was not a disappointment, the festival on the other hand... Unfortunately tonight was the only day we could go, but it was family night and they were having a ton of crafts and there were kids everywhere, dang kids. Luckily, we scored a free photo with Santa so lets just hope that turns out (by the way, Peyton hated Santa and cried for dear life. He just clung to Jesse, it was hilarious, I am such a mean mom!) Each tree had a different theme to it and they were really pretty, but probably more boring to some. At least we got out of the house and did something new.
This was right in front of the water park, so gorgeous, Peyton was obsessed with climbing into this "Santa" seat the rest of the evening.


Melia and I with the Gingerbread Tree, it was super cute, but tiny.

Melia and Alesha with Alesha's absolute fave, the log cabin themed one

A few of the other neat ones, including Mom's pick, the beach one.

Holiday Baking & Tree Decorating

Wednesday became our day of activities. We made sugar cookies, decorated our tree, and went out that evening to the Great Wolf Lodge.


In the past, Dad has always made the cookies, and we just helped, but lately he has feared when he dies, no cookies would be made so I have been learning this trade too. It is definitely hard to please everyone, some like thin others like em thick (thanks Dad and Jesse) and I can see how there is a lot of pressure. But I just love holiday baking, it gets you so in the spirit of things.

While some of the girls helped me, Dad put our tree. I know, we have gone fake. That is one of the saddest things, but we just can't get a real tree to last long enough for us. Luckily, Peyton slept during most of this or the house would have been an even bigger mess. It was just the four girls decorating, usually is, but this year it was light out and that made it feel weird. Ours definitely isn't the prettiest tree on the block, it is a whole mish mash of stuff but it is a sentimental tree.




Peyton, did eventually wake up and decided to contribute in is own way, touching every light bulb and pulling off ornaments. He has broken one so far, we tried moving them up higher but his reach is incredible.



Later that evening we decorated the cookies and P helped us with that too. I swear he is so like me, without any encouragement or seeing anyone else do it, he took a cookie with no frosting, started to eat it, decided it needed a lil somethin else and then dunked it into the bowl of frosting. He did this repeatedly until we decided his sugar intake was enough! Our sprinkle girl, Alesha, working in the assembly line and texting!



The steps of a thief- take cookie, dunk cookie, enjoy cookie! He does look pretty adorable in his Christams pjs for a crook!

Alesha is coming, has come, to town!

My long lost sister has arrived. Alesha got here Monday evening and she will be here till Monday morning. I'm always excited when she comes because then it feels like our family is complete again. At the same time it feels like she never left, weird huh? Even though she will be back on the 17th it seems like we have to fit a season's worth of activities into a few days. We started off with a bang today that included a shopping trip with no purchases. We went to Olympia, tried on clothes, decided what we liked and made a mental note, and then will go back and purchase them on Friday when they are a better price. How smart are we. We made sure we weren't too attatched to anything so if they sold out we wouldn't be too sad! It was fun, we had both Isabell and Peyton so that was challenging, but we made some good mental notes. The rest of the week is going to be pretty busy and I will try to keep up with the goings on. If I don't have a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Chocolaty Weekend

This past weekend I spent my time making Christmas chocolates. My grandma always makes them and last year when I lived in Spokane, I decided to learn the trade. It is a lot of work, but at the same time is really fun. Each day I just set up camp at the table with all my work supplies and a TV with some Christmas movies and go to town, for about 7 hrs, yep now you know why I need the TV. It definitely wasn't the same this year, not having my Grams to talk to, but I was proud of how much I got done on my own. Saturday I did have a little helper, Jesse sat down and did some peanut clusters for me. I did those and peanut butter cups, huckleberries (both of which are much harder because you have to paint the molds, yikes time consuming) and chocolate covered pretzels (yuck!) I am pretty worn out after wards, but then luckily I have some chocolate to comfort myself!

Peyton wearing the grandkids Christmas apron, he didn't really help me, but he looked cute!

Girls Twilight Night

For Twilight fans Friday was probably a big day for you. I have a couple of friends who are really into the series, so they were dying to see the movie, and thus a girls night was born. Stacie and Clarissa (the Twilighters) planned it first and then invited Heidi and I (the non-Twilighters) along. Even though neither Heidi or I were dying to see the film, we were dying to get out of the house, so we got on board. The Twilighters actually wore shirts that said "Twilighters" just in case there was any confusion as to how big of fans they were, but it really pointed out that we weren't.


Stacie and Heidi in the car on our ride to the movie.

Our movie started at 8:10 and we couldn't get there very early, but we already bought our tickets so we thought we might be ok, I mean it is Lewis County. Well, while the gracious Clarissa was buying us snacks, Stacie and I went to find seats and were greeted by a group of people also trying to find seats. The place was pretty packed and the only seats left were in ones and a few twos, so we could go to this show if we didn't want to sit together, but that is lame. There was this other lady that was way more pissed about it than us though. luckily, they gave us a refund and we got tickets to the next show at 9:20. Now we just had to wait around. So we stood in line and ate our popcorn and chatted while we waited to get our seats. When we got the go ahead, Stacie and I took off and got us 4 seats together in the middle.

Now to the movie, so here is a spoiler alert, if you haven't seen the movie and plan to or don't want to hear a bad review, I don't encourage you to read on, or at least skip this paragraph. Yeah, so I did not like this movie. I know everyone else probably loved it, but I got really bored. I kept wondering how long it had been and how long we had left, that is never a good sign. Truthfully, I kind of thought I might like it based on the previews because it looked like more action less creepy love story. But nope, it was mostly creepy love story, little bit of action. I really, really enjoyed parts of it, so if they shortened the movie down to about an hour that would great. To me Edward is not at all dreamy and I can't imagine falling hopelessly in love with him. Everything seemed a little to obvious, so there was no mystery to it even. I don't see how it can be compared to Harry Potter. (Which reminds when the previews started some of the women got really excited and let out a scream, so when I saw the preview for Harry Potter I let a little yelp, that's right!) Anyways, I gave it about a 4 or 5. I figured if I got that bored watching it I would definitely get bored reading it. Love stories just aren't my thing. It will be funny to see how each of us thought differently about it.

After the movie, we decided all the kids and husbands were in bed, so we might as well extend the evening and after a quick stop at Wally's for some dog food and milk we headed over to Applebees. Heidi and I were both hungry and we got salads while the other girls just desserts. I think because they were closing, our waitress was busy doing closing stuff, but she was so slow in helping us that it took us a really long time to get out of there. We spent most of our time there with the girls naming a movie and me telling them if I liked it or not, "Fast and the Furious" yes, "The Notebook" no, "She's the Man" yes, "Men in Black" no. Apparently I am a fascinating specimen because I don't like normal girl movies and stuff, I tried telling you!

Even with the unstellar movie, it was a really fun evening and I think it makes us all wish for more no responsibilty or putting the kids to bed girls nights. All the other girls got more pictures than me so I will post more as I steal some from them.

18 month checkup

Oh my, yesterday was such a crazy day! It started off fine with Heidi and Stacie coming over to watch the Next Top Model Finale, but then things took a terrible turn. Heidi's boys and Stacie's daughter were playing hide and seek, somehow Sawyer (the youngest) got his finger caught in our elliptical, then we heard a bloody scream followed by a lot of blood. His finger looked pretty bad and she ended up taking him in to the doctor. Actually, Melia drove them and the other boys stayed here and Erica was nice enough to watch them and Madison and Is because I had to take Peyton to his 18 mo checkup. He is fine, though, and we still don't know who won!

So to the point of this story. Peyton's checkup went better then last time. I got scolded a bit because he wasn't talking at all at his 15 mo checkup, but since he has made progress she said he his back on track (I may have exaggerated by 5 or 10 words as to how many words he knows, I said he knew almost 20, but I didn't want to get yelled at again). Secretly, I still think she thinks I starve him or something because he is so small, but she said at least he isn't shrinking. If only she could really watch him for a while. He never stops moving, he must burn 10,000 calories a day! Anyways, she wants me to start giving him choc. milk to start chunking him up, especially since he won't drink milk, I'm sure he'll love that. So his stats are
Weight 21 lbs 12 oz (5%) Height 33 1/4 in (76%) Head 46.8 cm (24%)

Finally another page!

Even though my scrapbooking girls and I have gotten together a few times the past couple weeks, we have not been very productive in the scrapbooking department (although we have had some quality time with Miss Tyra and the next top models!) Both Heidi and Stacie were here yesterday and we all made some good progress. Stacie is brand new to scrapbooking but she is catching on fast and it so fun to watch her do it. Unfortunately, she still had to pick up her daughter from school so she couldn't stay too long, but Heidi's kids were already done and her husband wasn't coming home so her and the boys stuck around for the evening. We were kind enough to make them a nice home cooked meal, alright we got KFC but someone cooked it, and we watched Rudolph. The boys were quite enamoured with all the lights and figures outside and they loved all the things inside that made noise inside. They were not happy when they had to go home, well her oldest son Drake was, but we told them they could come back Thursday (uh, we have to watch the Next Top Model Finale!)
These are my Bridal Shower pages, so yea they are a few years old but they are done now!

Penny Time

Every child's first trip to Penny Playground is such a momentous occasion. Ok, when you live in the middle of nowhere it seems like a big deal because it is the biggest, well only big, playground around. It just seems like an event that needs to be documented, with a LOT of pictures. We were there for about a half hour while mom was at the dentist, and he loved it. Most of the time he just went up and down all the levels. Jesse was able to come over from work real quick, see it is a big deal, and we were in to making him try out everything. The best part was we had the place to ourselves so I didn't have to worry about the other kids mowing him down, or having to share anything (we don't so that so well!) Enjoy his cuteness.




Well, he doesn't look so cute here but Jesse does! This was really the only thing he didn't enjoy, he just kept trying to slide off.

Wedding and a Show

Saturday one of Jesse's many cousins, Eric, got married. He was actually a groomsmen which was kind of cool because he definitely had a big pool to choose from. Unfortunately, it meant a really early start for us, uh 5:30, in order to get to the Seattle Temple by 9:30. Like pros, we arrived early which gave Peyton some good run around time on the Temple grounds before hand, trying to tire him out, we even ran into to a few Toledo ward members on their way in. This was Jesse and My's first sealing that we would be attending and I think we were both a little nervous because we didn't know exactly where to go or how it worked, these things can be intimidating that way, but we got in just fine, unlike a few of his relatives who had some recommend trouble, he he he, but they got in eventually too! I heard they were supposed to be short and not gonna say a lot, but we lost an Uncle and then lost the people who went to find him and the room was jam packed, Jesse ended up kneeling (and boy did his knees feel it) and I sat in the crack of two chairs (also super comfy), so by the time we had all crammed in there and all the party members were found it ended up being the longest sealing most of these people had ever been to.

Jesse's brother was nice enough, or brave enough, to watch Peyton while we were in there but I was pretty anxious to get back and check on him. Upon entering the room I witnessed him tackling another child, he is just such a sweet boy. We decided to move him outside and got some cute pics while waiting for the bride and groom to come out so we could greet them and take big family shots. Our family, yea we totally weren't ever looking at the right camera!

Casey and his wife Liz with their newer son Blake

Nathan and his wife Raya and their daughter Ilee, who loves to help rangle Peyton

Since we were itching to get out of there, I ditched Jesse and Raya was kind enough to drive the P and I to the church (you know me and that dang Seattle traffic.) Well we were the first ones to the church so we zipped back to a Target we had passed to pick up our wedding gift, hey that's what happens when you live in the sticks! By the time we got back everyone was there and eating and then we just had a few hours to wait around until the reception.

Luckily for the wives we didn't get too bored. Jesse and his two brothers, Nathan and Casey, were asked to sing This Magic Moment at the reception so they were hard at work rehearsing and we were hard at work making fun of them, I mean encouraging them in the most loving way. We thought their act needed a little more pizazz so us girls came up with some VERY simple choreography for them to do and then took an hour to teach it to them. By now it was almost reception time and I think they were getting really nervous. Some were better then others at doing two things at once, I think we were nervous for them too. After chowing down on some desserts and gawking at the milk fountain (yea that was a new one for us) it was time for the program to begin. When it was time for their song the boys were visibly nervous and slightly embarrassed about what they were going to do, expect Jesse, he seems to not care about making a fool of himself. Everyone was laughing and seemed to love it, it was definitely a crowd favorite, but they did mess up a few times. The sight of them dancing will be emblazoned in my memory for quite a while, though. You really can't get the feel from these awful pictures but the boys are putting on some moves!

It was almost 5 by the time they were done and Peyton had reached his breaking point. That long with no nap makes a P a cranky boy and hard to deal with, so we said our good-byes and hit the road. Moments after being put in his car seat, Peyton was out, hard. It was a fun day and I am glad we got to go to our first sealing and see some of the fam. We won't get to see them as much at Thanksgiving so this was good. Ok, this has officially become way too long, I'm out!

Survivor

Ok, I know this is a totally dumb thing to blog about, but Jesse and I are getting more and more into Survivor. I haven't really watched it since the very first season and then Jesse and I happened to watch one season a while ago and were sort of into it but it was a little predictable. Well, with the addition of our DVR, we are back to watching it and the further we get into the season the more entrenched in the game we become. Suddenly, we are strategizing right along with them and trying to decide how we would do in the challenges, it is so addicting. Jesse is now convinced that he could go on and do well. I think he would totally try out if he didn't have to work to support us! I told him he is way to nice to get very far. Just thought I'd let you know about our latest obsession, oh and to make it even better, we follow it up with The Office. Thursday nights are great!

Potty training, sort of

Because we are super ambitious parents and are known to be real go getters we decided to get Peyton a toilet. OK that's not really the reason, we just thought it would be fun to try and make him go pee pee in the potty! We have no grand allusions of getting him potty trained any timed soon, but at least this way we figured he wouldn't be afraid of the dang thing. So far we have tried the "sitting him on it in the living room while watching Sesame Street method", and it has seemed to work OK. The first time we tried it, he did go pee. Since the toilet doesn't do anything special (make music, spout candy, actually throw a parade) we tried to make a big deal, but he just wanted to play in it, yellow water that's cool! Honestly, I am kind of afraid for him to poop in it because the prospect of cleaning it does not excite me. I'll have to suck it up and do it some day though. I took some pictures of him on the potty for the first time but I did not take any pictures of his successful deposit, sorry. Luckily the boy pee guard has graciously censored him so I don't have to.

Girls Outing

On Saturday there was a little, and I stress little, Christmas craft fair going on in Chehalis, so Erica and I decided to go and check it out. I had no I idea if it would be good or not, so I wasn't planning on inviting anyone else, but Heidi heard me talking about and said she would take the risk and wanted to come along. After sitting in her living room for 20 min before she realized I was there, I picked her up and we headed into town to meet Erica and Madison. The fair was small but there was some cute stuff there. We loved playing with this awesome snow stuff that was super soft and fun, but at $15 a box, none of us could fork over the cash. Chehalis mints was there, though, I think we could sat there all day and eaten samples, their mints are so good! I did end up getting myself one of those and few other things but no big scores. After a quick Wal-Mart stop apparently Heidi and I didn't feel like we had done enough shopping damage so we zipped over to Maurices to "look" real quick. After an hour or so later and a dressing room full of clothes, I had a few sweaters and she got a super cute coat. Suffice it to say, we were both on a little shopping high and not quite ready to go home yet so we ran to McDonald's and chowed down while we people watched. Sadly, I then had to take her home (I had gotten Jesse food and it was getting very cold) and we both had to return to our lives as mothers, which we love, but it is always nice to escape for a little while!

Ward Social

On Friday night our church had its monthly ward dinner, this time it was our Thanksgiving dinner. I guess because our family has a little Indian blood in it, Melia and Spencer were originally asked to participate in a skit of sorts, but Spencer couldn't so then they asked Jesse and I. I agreed, knowing very well I might pass out if I actually had to do it, but Melia saved me because she wanted to do it so suddenly her and Jesse became forbidden lovers. They performed to a song "Running Bear" and I think they were definitely the right choice, of course neither look very native and Dad said Jesse obviously had no native blood in him cause his steps were awful, but they both have that actor thing and a lot of courage. I would have been to nervous to move and Melia said Spencer would have been way to over the top. The rest of the evening went fine. Obviously the food wasn't the best, turkey made for mass... yea not so good, however it really made me crave our Thanksgiving food. Jesse then ditched me for his monthly LAN party, yes he is that dorky, and Peyton and I stayed up late watching Don't Forget the Lyrics, he gets more spoiled at night when Jesse isn't there. I've put some pictures on even though they turned out awful, so in case you weren't there you can get the general idea of how Melia and Jesse looked.

The big kiss at the end, it got a ton of laughs, but how scandalous

Papa Pete's

Tuesday night our family, aka Mom, Dad, Melia, Izzy, Jesse, Peyton, and I, headed down to Longview to look at some Christmas decorations and get inspiration and see what we wanted to try and get on sale after Christmas (as if we didn't have enough stuff.) Of course, since we were headed south, we had to stop at Papa Pete's and get some pizza, that's probably the only reason we did go down there! Surprisingly, the best place we went to was Lowe's, a lot of blow up stuff, but a lot of things to look at. Jesse was a trooper even though he is a transplant into this family and therefore doesn't have the "looking at Christmas decorations for hours" gene, he mostly just chased Peyton around, but he pretended to care every once in a while. We had good family evening and came out of it with some good ideas and the wish that we had a lot more money and power!