Real meaning of Christmas

So last night I found out a friend of mine wasn't going to be able to have a good Christmas for her and her kids. After talking with Jake and the kids we decided that we knew what to do with the extra money that we found we had. This year has been very good to us and we wanted the kids to see what the real meaning of Christmas is. Lei has never had a hard time this time of year he is just so caring and wants everyone to be safe and happy Xia on the other hand I felt was getting the wrong idea of what Christmas is all about so we wanted them to be part of this whole process as much as possible. So we took that extra money and at 10:30 last night the kids and us went shopping for some toys for the kids. When we got home the kids were so excited about the presents for the family that they had to wrap them right away. Then this morning I was able to take my friend shopping for cloths for the kids as well as for her and then we went and found shoes and boots for her. She had a hard time finding something for her because she never buys herself anything so it was so nice to see her find something nice. My kids can't get enough of the giving thing now. Lei was commenting as we were cleaning the house that it felt so good to get to give then it does to receive. Xia has also finally gotten the true meaning as well I think.
On another note my mom called me this morning and told me that she ran into a lady that has a down syndrome girl that I babysat and had in my primary class for years. The mom is an only child and has no family and my mom asked if she had a will so that if anything happened to her Maddy would be taken care of. When she said no because she had no family mom said that she and dad would take her or that Jake and I would be willing she was so grateful. Mom then called me and said "I thought I should let you know that I volunteered you." I said that I would love to have that honor. Maddy was such a good girl. At 17 she was finally able to be baptized and she got to be baptized by a down syndrome boy. I am just glad that both my mom and Maddy's mom know that I would have no problem with this it just makes me feel so good because it means that I have shown that it has never bothered me and they know that if there is anyone that needs a home I am willing to do what I can to help out.
That's all for this post "Merry Christmas to All"

School Pictures

I have been very luck in that I get school pictures at a huge discount and for the most part they are wonderful. Well this year we had the company Lifetouch come and do the school picture. I later found out that they are the same company that does the JcPenny portraits. Well like I said I got a huge discount and it was a good thing because I think that all the poses were fantastic.
Here they are.





I think that these ones of Xia make her look so grown up. How ever she is beautiful in all three of them. I love the color of her dress against her skin color.









Now we have Lei. Let me tell you getting him to cooperate was a challenge. I want you to notice the shoes. I it was enough to get him to wear the tie so I gave in with the shoes. However it does fit his personality with the shoes and it could have been worse they could of been ugly shoes and not his nice "Nike". He also has is famous ca-lick that no matter what you do it won't go down and cooperate.

Pictures as promised.

The gang in Idaho on Thanksgiving. Yes we did the 2 1/2 hour drive up the morning of then stayed 2 hours to have dinner and chat then turn around and drive back. Jake had to work in the morning and I went shopping with my mom and sisters at 3 in the morning then went to work. I love that tradition that we started we never really get any wonderful deals but we just enjoy the time together without any kids or husbands, We also get to get to shop for each other in the mean time if we have each others names.

This was the sunset as we were leaving Shelly and we couldn't resist a picture the way you could see the stream of light rising between the trees in the mist was just breathtaking.


Hafey Thanksgiving the Sunday following the real Thanksgiving.






Now for my house at Christmas time. The first thing to come out is my Precious Moments Nativity. This was my first big Christmas presant form Jake 10 years ago. I fell in love with all the dolls the first time I saw them but they were so expensive. Jake saved up and bought my the whole set all and all totaling around $500. Needless to say it has been my favorite presant yet becasue it was the first Christmas that we were married and I hadn't planned on ever owning the set because of the price.


Next is the tree and stockings. Notice I don't theme my tree (its as crazy as me :))




The last is our "story a day until Christmas"

Snow Party

When starting out on his bucket list on this day Jake had decided to make a snowman with the kids. I want you to notice how involved they are. Notice Xia in the background and Leighton is nowhere to be seen until the end.





This next picture is where Leighton comes in this is about 20 minutes into the process.



The finished product wasn't even a snowman Lei called it a snow bull and then proceeded to ride it.



Again if you were paying attention Xia was noticed in the back ground and towards then end her finished project was a couple snow angles. She couldn't be bothered with all the pushing and rolling involved. In her words "that's too much work!"



This next few are of our friend Ladd who is living with us (notice the wonderful snow attire) is teaching Xia how to do a snowball fight. All Xia was doing was running up to people hitting the snow onto them and then she would run. In the meantime she couldn't figure out why everyone was throwing them and hitting her while she is running at them.



In this one you see what I mean once Xia spotted you with a snow ball she would fall on the ground and wait for it to hit her.

All in all Xia's face summed it up!

Thanksgiving 2010

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. First I have had the opportunity to go back to school and it hasn't been a hard as I thought it would be especially since I have had to do two math classed back to back. I also have a wonderful family both immediate and extended.

This year we had the opportunity to travel to Shelly Idaho for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun for the kids to get to play with their cousins. Even if we were only up there for 3 hours then had to turn around and come back home.

We also have had the extra money to get more then enough for the kids for Christmas as well as to spend a little bit more on Ladd and get him a much needed winter coat. I was also able have all of my Christmas finished early. I am officially finished and its not even the end of November yet.

My sisters, mom, and I also got up again on black Friday at 2 am and had so much fun shopping. Even if we never get the huge savings we just enjoy each others company and the laughs that ensue because of how tired we are and how much fun we are having. We always turn a few heads with how loud and energetic we are for it being so early in the morning.

The kids and I have the house all decorated for Christmas and even though I wrapped 50 Christmas books and don't want to wrap for a while we are very excited to start our "Story a day till Christmas."

I will post pictures later of Thanksgiving and the decorated house.

That's my life so far.

update since Halloween

Its been a while since I last updated so here is what has been going on. First I finally was able to take my Trig. final. I thought that after so much studying and having the date change that I did terrible because I kept on second guessing myself. Well I passed and not just that I was able to pass it with a B. Needless to say I was thrilled.

Leighton seems to be getting more done in school. Between Jake, Lei, and me we made the deal that for every spelling test he gets 100% on he gets $5.00 and for everyday of the week that his weekend report has no missing quizzes or assignments he can earn another $5.00 how ever for any assignment or quiz missing he owes me the dollar for that day (hence the 5 days of school for $5.00) So far Lei has made $10. It also works out because I was able to tie this into his chore namely his room. If I have to help get it cleaned up then he has to pay me he has until Wednesday to get his room cleaned up and then I get $3.00 of it back.

Xia is still Xia and sometimes I think that she just might not make it to the ripe age of 6. That child is as stubborn as they come. Her newest thing is yelling at me when she gets mad you would think that the time in her room or the flip of the mouth would deter her but no nothing seems to phase her. I guess its a good thing that she speaks her mind but sometimes I wish she wouldn't.

Today was picture day at Learning Tree. It actually went by pretty smooth and Lei and Xia took some cute pictures hopefully they turn out cute. Tomorrow is Picture day at West so I am sending Lei and Xia in their formal clothes to see which ones I like better the jeans on the Autumn background or the Sunday clothes on the Christmas background.

That all for now. Hopefully I will be able to say that I passed my last math and history by the next post. Fingers crossed.

Twas the Night before Halloween

Twas the night before Halloween and all through the house, Oh what we weren't at the house. My whole family got together at my mom and dads for a BBQ and pumpkin carving night before Halloween. It was so much fun it also made it so that my kids got to go "Trick or Treating" because Halloween fell on a Sunday and here in Utah it was celebrated on Sat. Well back to the story. After dinner we all went out side to carve our pumpkins (everyone had there own) and carved by the light of the moon and a few well placed spot lights I might add.

This is Leighton concentrating on his work. You can tell because his tongue is hanging out.

Here is Xia and Papa carving hers in the shop.

This is my finished product its the one on its side Ryan did the little one.

This is Leighton's and Tav's Lei's is the one without a top.

This is Griffin's and Xia's I'm not sure which one is which! Then we had all the grandkids get a picture in their costumes this is one of the better picture that they have done in a while.
That brings us to Halloween day. We started out our day by getting into costumes. Xia was Fancy Nancy this year, Leighton was a soldier (neither one of my kids like costumes off the rack we have to make them up) So we hunted for a real soldier costume for Leighton. This was no cheap project either it ended but costing me $40 because we had to go to the Army Navy surplus store. The shirt jacket and pins are all from real soldiers which is what Lei really wanted. I was Mad Madame Mim from the "Sword and the Stone". (don't mind the picture I just wanted a photo of the costume that my mom made for me. None of the kids from work knew right away who I was but that's nothing new I too don't like costumes off the rack. Last year I was Miss Viola Swamp from the book "Miss Nelson's Missing"

That brings us to the next part of the day where we started our rounds. We started at my Grandpa Hafey's. He was thrilled with this. First he noticed that Leighton's jacket said "SEABEES" I had no clue what this meant Lei just liked it so we bought it. Turns out that is the section of the Navy that Grandpa wanted to be in so he told Lei stories of being in the Navy and what it was that the "SEABEES" did. Then Mindi and Wilson showed up and so did Daph and her herd. This was nice seeing as how I usually am making the rounds myself. We were able to get a good picture of Grandpa and Mickey with all the kids in Costume.


Finally we made it to the night and the real "trick or treating" but first a stop at Grandma Searles were we pick up Lincoln. This is some of the grandkids and great grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa Searles.

And that was our Halloween in a nut shell.

Can I "GIVE UP" yet?

It has been a long two weeks. I am so ready for October to be over. Not only have I not taken my math final that is a month over due (long story)! Leighton and I have been at each others throats over school. Can I tell you how much I take parent projects. His last book report was 10 different things and it took us (and by us I mean me) 11 hours. Need less to say I don't think he got a thing out of it. Then when I e-mail his teacher to find out why he has had so much homework for math and by this I mean about 75 problems every other night because he is not finishing in class. I want to point out that on back to school night I spacifically waited behind so I could let her know that he is on meds for ADHD and if she could let me know if she notices that he is struggling to focus (I didn't even sugar coat it I said "if you notice that work isn't getting finished or he has a hard time staying in his seat will you contact me so I can check his mead's? Her response was I will thank you for letting me know") SO I e-mail her and find out that he is missing "quite a few quizzes and that when he doesn't finish he puts them in his desk, However when he was taking his med's he wasn't struggling as bad" to this I had to say "when he was taking his med's He still is and has only missed one day I might add!" What happened to the I will contact you if I see a problem? Missing quizzes wasn't enough but to think that I had taken him off his med's and not even bother to find out arrgh!

Then I get a letter from the principal stating that he has 10 tardies for the first trimester! What the hell is going on. Have the planets collided yet!

My car had to get a new transmission cause it was acting funny, My computer had to get a new hard drive, Now I can't even take my finals on line I have to find a testing center that is open late or on Sat. Anyone want to add anything else to my plate? Like I said "I GIVE UP!"

Such a nice weekend!

It started out great. First I was off work early and Xia had Reis and Avery over to play with while Brenda went to a reunion. She loved it and I was able to get a lot of cleaning done so that when I left for Wendover my house would be clean and relaxing to come home to. Yeah! 

Then on Saturday Jake and I meet my friend Michelle and Candice in Wendover. Michelle and I have gone for the last 4 years in October to get away and I have loved this planned mini vacation. I never lose much just $20 is the most I am willing to lose. If I get down that then We play cards and games in the room and just have a good time. This year however was wonderful the whole trip after food and room cost Jake and I a whole $5.00 not bad for a weekend of play I don't think.  

I give up!

So I have offically decided that October isn't my month. It started with my crazy two weeks and has just gotten worse. First my hard drive gets a virus. The sad thing its a Mac so the odds are 1 in 100. Of course this is the second "bad apple" so to speak. Don't get me wrong I'm not swearing off apple I love mine I just have no luck with computers, Then my car starts acting funny. Turns out its the transmition good news its covered by the warrenty. And then after stressing over my math final and getting no sleep I log in to the test and find out my computer technology is too fast for the program so I had to down grade the system so I can finish school. It is then that I think it can't get any worse right wrong! As we are driving to Idaho to see family from Canada I leave my phone at a Maverick in Pocatello. They were nice enough to call my Grandma Moyes and then my mom because Grandma didn't know what they were talking about. So we had to stop on the way back home to get it.
All I can say is I hope now October can turn around and get better.

Long two weeks!!!

I know its been awhile but it has been a long two weeks. First I started both the kids in swim lessons (thinking I had time! Yeah right) so on Mon, Wed, and Fri we leave the house at 7:00 in the morning and don't get home until about 7:15 at night on these days. Then on Tues, Thurs I have had training and CPR so I leave the house at 7:00 in the morning and don't get home until around 9 at night. I have my math final tonight (which I am not ready for) then we leave for Idaho to turn around and come home tomorrow. To top it off my house is a mess because I am not home to clean it and no one else does (at least that is how I feel lately) I keep thinking that if I leave it maybe someone will get the hint however then I am just mad and can't function because of the mess so not only am I miserable but then everyone else is. What can you do. Can't wait until the 16th when I get to have a break from life and just have a good time.

Circus

Jake and I took the kids to the circus on opening day Wed. Sept 22,2010. We have gone to the circus for the past four years and hope to continue this tradition because both of my kids and I enjoy going. I know that Jake doesn't care to go but he goes and dispite what he says he aways seems to have a good time.
I missed my favorite part of th circus because "Little Miss" had to go to the bathroom but in the following picture is the final scene in which you can see my favorite act. The clowns have always been my favorite act.

Leighton's favorite part is the motorcycles in the shpere and on the high wire.


Xia's favorite part of course is the animals namely the tigers and elephants.


This is a picture that I took during the pre-show in which you get to go on the floor and see all the costumes and meet some of the clowns.

State Fair

I took the kids to the state fair with GIna and her family on Friday the 17. We had a lot of fun dispite how i thought it was going to turn out because both the kids were pretty tired after school.
When we got there we started in the rides where each of the kids went on the fun houses and then rode in the spinning dragons (which remind me of the teacups in Disney land). Leighton was so cute with the younger kids. Gina was with a friend that had a little boy that was about 4 and he kept an eye on him and Linclon while they were on the rides. This is the five kids in the spinning dragons.




This is a picture a Swiss cow. I have never seen a cow this big. It had the horns and all. It reminded me of the movie Hiedi and the cows you see in the Alps on the show. Both of the kids looked so small standing in front of it.



While we were going through Leighton's favorite part (the animals) we saw a week old calf that was born at the fair. The owner was allowing the kids to pet it. It is at times like these that I wish Leighton didn't have my allergies because he loves animals so much. (Not sure why this is underlined but I haven't been able to undo it please try to ignore it)




They also got to pet a big cow. Anthony got talking to the owner and it turns out that Gina knows the family that owns them in Kamas.



Leighton let the sheep nibble his hand. He thought this was fun. I love how he is with kids and animals. He is so sweet with both.



Leighton also took his money so that he could play games. He is just like his dad. He played darts and was able to hit all but one balloon so he got a stuffed tiger (just what he needs another stuffed animal). Here he is with his stuffed tiger.