All that glitters isn't gold...

Sometimes it is Spray paint.  More on that in a minute.  The past couple weeks since getting back from California have been so busy!  Last week Ryan was out of town all week, and then this week we spent the first three days helping out of neighbors so we had a household with twelve kids.  Here are a few of the things we have been doing...

I took Luke, Michael, and their friend Gunnar to Sams club with me last Saturday and you would have thought I took them to Disneyland.  They wanted all these treats.  I told them to let me take a picture of what they like so I could remember for upcoming Birthdays.  I do this trick whenever they find something they want at the store.  One, somehow it makes them feel like getting that item might be a possibility and so it satisfies them.  Two, it actually has come in handy when I am Christmas Shopping alone.  Sometimes I can't remember which kid liked which thing, so I just pull out my phone.  

After having twelve kids for a few days, six is a breeze.  It actually was not too hard, I would say the after school chaos was the craziest time.  I tried to make it go smoothly with milk and cookies. I think that makes everything go more smoothly. 

I thought this was crazy how James' new tooth was coming in right over his baby tooth.  We have lost two teeth around here this week, but the tooth fairy hasn't made it here yet.  Somehow in the hustle and bustle those two kids haven't noticed.

James got his Arrow of Light last week. 

His leaders looked awesome.

Man, scouting goes fast...seems like he just was getting his Bobcat. 

Yesterday was St. Nicholas Day~the kids got candy, gatorade, socks, toothpaste and mouthwash, and gum.  Most of the kids were delighted. I won't mention any names, but I had this conversation with one of the kids that had a disappointed look on their face-

Child: I don't like those candies. 

Mom: I thought you loved those.

Child: Um, no.  I haven't liked those since I was like six. 

Mom: (In my head) SHEESH!

I am over the days that I take it personally.  I chalk it up to teenagers being naturally ungrateful.  Oh, shoot, did I just give away who I was talking about?

This picture might make one think that we are all ready for Christmas.  The decorating has been a slow process this year with everything going on.  We are pretty much there, except for one minor thing- OUR CHRISTMAS TREE!  That little tree is all we have up right now, and I am frightened it might become our Christmas Tree this year.  This weekend I am getting a real tree if I have to carry it home myself!  In the meantime, I am loving all the other decorations.  It just makes everything so cozy! 

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I do love to make the house look festive.  The kids love it too.  I will stay up late into the night just to get it done!  I am not too crafty, but I was impressed with this inspiration that came to me about midnight one night.  I got this wreath at that great garage sale I talked about here. It was $1.50.  

I had seen a wreath online that someone got at Target.  It was a silvery gold color and just beautiful. I  really wanted to get it.  However, that is when I remembered I had a new can of gold spray paint in the other room. I sprayed it right there on the spot.  It took about two minutes. I love it!  I think it might be even prettier than the one at Target.

For the past couple of years I have almost thrown these babies in the donate pile.  I am always trying to weed out the decorations that have seen their better day.  These seemed a little outdated and I just didn't have a place for them. 

After having so much fun with the wreath, I went to town on these. 

 Our entry way is now shiny and gold and I love it.

PS The dresser was purchased at the garage sale too-SCORE!

Well, I better get moving.  On the docket this weekend-

Ward Christmas Party tonight, and primary is over the food.

CHRISTMAS TREE

Two Basketball games

Birthday Party

Cousin's baptism and luncheon

Hosting extended family for monthly FHE and dinner

Clean my house from the tornado of 12 kids

Sharing Time

Christmas Cards

We will see if it all happens.  Happy Holidays everyone!

A Fun Day at Funderland

The day before Thanksgiving Nana came up with a great idea for the day...all the ladies go out to lunch, and the guys take all the kids to Funderland!  All the kids and ladies said, "Hooray!"  The men, well, they warmed up to the idea after they realized how fun FUNDERLAND is! 

Here is Grandma and Melanie at the Dancing Fox waiting for a table. 

This picture of Michele and Judy is a little blurry, but I still thought it was so cute.

While we were waiting for our table we were sitting in the wine tasting room.  I don't know why I even took this picture, but when I downloaded it I saw something I had not noticed before.- That ladies sweet lace tights/pants.  She is like, "Can I try some wine to go with my lace tights?"  Even though I hadn't noticed it, I think Grandma did.  Grandma is looking over there thinking, "Where can I get me some tights like that?"  Really she is thinking more like, "What is the world coming to?"

I also like this picture because it captures Grandma's attitude about the whole restaurant, "This place stinks, they don't have any meat and potatoes and the only thing I can find that I like on the whole menu is a dang salad."  

Meanwhile, over in Funderland the grandkids were having loads of fun. (That is Michael and Amelia up front.)

Pure joy.

James with Presley, Luke and Annie in the middle row, and way back there is Joshua.

Fun on the Ferris Wheel.  (Starting from Top Left: Luke, Sophie, Dane and Amelia, and Joshua and Annie)

Michael

This picture of Cade and Presley makes me smile and laugh every time I see it.  First, I look at Cade and crack up for so many reasons.  And then Presley, just so sweet and exciting doing her wave.  Love it.

This is the ride that doomed Annie I believe.  The proof is in the pictures.  Look at her in the first picture, "ROCK ON!  This is SO fun!"  Second picture:  "Uh, I am not feeling so well."

I love how excited Presley is here.  I love to see how much my boys like taking care of their little girl cousins. 

  

Michael, Amelia, and Luke

Luke

Annie and James 

(Man, another great thing about having the big boys along for the ride..just looking at these rides makes me want to barf.  I don't know how they do it!)

Michael and Amelia, she is loving it!

Annie and Luke in back,  Joshua, Presley, and James rocking out in front. 

This is my favorite picture of the day I think.  I love Michaels face.  He really loves helping his little cousins.  And check out that hair on Amelia...seriously!?  So beautiful. 

I think that Michael wasn't the only one that loves being with his cousins...

Man, wish I had been there to get Dane in this picture.  Look at these old guys.  Great picture!

After our amazing lunch at the Dancing Fox, Michele and I joined the guys at Funderland to lend our assistance.  We showed up just as they were about done.  Little "Jack Danger?" will be joining Presley in January.  

Papa and Annie

 

I love this picture!  I think it is the only one that weekend of all the grandkids.  I also love that Fall has just hit in California since all the trees here are bare.  So beautiful!  

The only bummer was that we took the picture right before we left.  You can tell, Annie is about to lose her cookies.  She did shortly after we got home.

Thanks for the great idea, Nana!  

Thanks for lunch, Grandma!  

and a BIG thanks to the guys for taking this crew to 

FUNDERLAND!  

(The second happiest place on earth.)

First Day of Vacation

We got kind of a late start driving to California so we pulled into town late that night.  Naturally, the first thing on our agenda for the day was to take naps!  (After we had lunch at In-n-Out that is.)

I told Annie to read the girls stories and then we would go to sleep.  Annie almost NEVER takes a nap. I was skeptical, but she seemed excited since her cousin Amelia was asleep and she got to "tuck" in her cousin Presley. 

Jackpot, all three girls asleep...and I took a snooze too!

That night we headed down to Manteca to visit with old friends.  While the boys were getting haircuts and having a pizza party, Marla hosted a girls get together at her house.  She had the best orange rolls and Orange Julius's.  I am dreaming about them right now.  We always have no shortage of things to catch up on and we always laugh our heads off.  I don't know why we didn't think to take pictures before walking out the door when it was late and all our make up was worn off, but you get what you get.  

Dislaimer:  We told everyone to make a stupid face. (You know how teenagers always make weird faces these days and post them every other day on Facebook.)  Marla didn't get the memo that we weren't doing the crazy faces anymore.  So funny.  I couldn't help it, I had to remember this moment Marla! Anyway, I love these girls so much.  I know they would both kill tigers for me.  The only sad thing about the picture is we didn't get Andrea in it!  I know when she sees it though, she will probably be happy she missed it!  Ha-ha!

These guys were having all sorts of fun, they always pick up right where they left off.  I can't believe how much they have grown.  

The girls (Again, not the best picture ever. I am not sure if that is a shadow on Katelyn's head or what???)  I still can see these two as little seven year olds in my mind.

The babies.  

We left the girls in Lodi that night because they were still sleeping when we had to leave.  Having just the four boys that night was reminiscent of our days living in Manteca being an all-boy family. 

 We did sneak in some time with little Ezra.  He is seriously the best baby ever.  Doesn't make a peep and is happy as can be.  He actually reminds me a little of Michael when he was little.  I wish I had held him a little more. I don't know where the time went. 

Like I said, for a long time it was the four boys.  Now the four girls have taken over.  It is so fun watching them play together.  They love it. 

We had a great first day in California!  It is always so great to reunite with family and friends that are like family.  I await more pictures of our vacation from Dane, he took better ones and so he is going to send them my way!

Off The Beaten Track

I guess Idaho is a little off the beaten track.  We don't get a huge amount of visitors.  We were pretty excited that we had TWO in less than two weeks.  WOW. 

 Ryan's cousins, Jeni and Kolby, were in the area visiting their Grandmother on the other side of the family.  I don't know why I didn't get a picture of them.  I did get a picture of Jeni's sweet little girl.  Her name is Lucy and she is right between Annie and Sophie.  (Literally between them in this picture.) They were not really cooperating as you can tell, but I still thought it was funny.  We were so happy to have little Lucy to play! 

I like how these guys are all playing, but Sophie spies me taking a picture!  We loved having them over and in Lucy's honor we ordered Lucy's Pizza that night.  It is my favorite pizza in Idaho Falls for sure.  We really ordered it because I forgot they were coming and was not home in time to cook dinner.  After they had the pizza they forgave me.  It is so yummy!

The weekend before heading off to California we had more visitors....The Gonzales family.  The Dad (Robert) is a long time Engineering Buddy of Ryan's from their days at BYU.  Even though they live in Oregon, Robert does work out here and so we usually see him every month.  However, this time he brought his family!  It was so fun to meet them!  It seems that every time Robert is over it is crazy busy and this time was no different.  But, they are so easy going and didn't mind it a bit.  (We hope!)

With three boys, and then a daughter they fit right in and the kids had fun playing. No matter what visitors we have, it seems that the costume container always comes out.  Joshua even donned his costume from eight years ago.  I love Annie's face. I am not too sure what Luke is going for, and that is our friend's daughter Evie in the Incredibles outfit.

Our friends headed on to Utah Monday morning and we left for California.  Those dogs don't miss a beat.  Daisy knew we were leaving and made every attempt to get in the car.  This is where she was when Ryan locked up and went to get in his seat.  :(  So sad. 

To any friends and family out there reading my blog....come visit us!  We may be off the beaten path, but it will be oh, so worth it!  AND we now have cheap flights from many locations.  No excuses!

(We do have my side of the family coming at Christmas...yahoo!)