~CURLY~ me

Two weeks ago, my flat iron finally bit the dust after 5 years. Up until then, I'd been buying cheapos and they wouldn't even work on my hair after 6 months. So I decided to fork over the $$$ for a Chi. Definitely ranks up there as one of the best purchases ever. Being so close to Christmas, I didn't feel like I could justify spending $100 for a new one, so I went without.

people always ASK me if the curl is NATURAL

I never KNOW what it's going to LOOK like
because it has a MIND of it's own.

hairs go EVERY which WAY

by the END of the day, I look a bit LIONESS

It sure is quicker to do this way, but I was ready for my straight hair back. So I marched myself right down to Ulta and got me a new PINK flat iron!

~HAPPY~ me :)

Sunrise, Sunset

One thing I love most about Arizona is the spectacular sunsets. That's one thing we really missed seeing when we lived in California.

I've been snapping pictures of the sunrises and sunsets every other day it seems. Too bad the camera can't quite capture the perfection of the pinks, purples and oranges the way the eye sees it.

12/2 sunrise
If you look close enough, you can see the crescent moon in the upper right hand corner! Plus some sort of aircraft making the vertical line on the left side of the picture.12/6 sunset

12/8 sunset

12/11 sunset12/16 sunrise12/17 sunrise

This one is unusual because it was way foggy and the sun was trying to break through the clouds. ♫♪♫ I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Father created for me ♪♫♪

It's a Mormon Christmas tradition

Monday night, we made our way to the Mesa temple to see the amazing light display.Our "spot," 4 kids later :)Preston loved seeing "Sheezee" (Jesus)

We watched Luke 2 and even though it's such a short, simple movie, it gives me chills every time. There is such a special spirit on the temple grounds and I love being there with my family.

JOY to the WORLD~

Getting ready for Christmas!

Saturday night, we picked out our Christmas tree.

Preston just splashed in mud puddles. :/

Tonight we got all the trimmings out and decorated it up! Seems like it should be such a simple event but always ends up being stressful!!! Blake & Brooklyn put ALL their yearly ornaments RIGHT next to each other. They said they HAD to. Made my twin mama heart swell. ♥

All our "first" ornaments are Precious Moments~

Mine & Matt's

Brooklyn's & Blake's

Gavin's

Preston's

Preston kept turning off the room light, saying "Boooootiful!" Hopefully he'll leave the tree alone!

The rest of Thanksgiving weekend

BlacK FridaY shopping ~ woot! This year I got Matt to come with me (my brother Cody slept overnight at our house) and I'm not sure what he thought of the madness!! He was embarrassed that I was taking pictures, but hey, do you have anything better to do while waiting in lines in the middle of the night??!

WalMart, waiting in line for checkout at 12:00am
Waiting outside Kohls
Boy was up in the middle of the night, thought he was starving.
Freezing my arse off on the coldest night of the year so far! Temps were below 30 degrees, we sat out there for 2.5 HOURS!!!!!
LoVe this picture!!! I'm all exhilarated, he's all exhausted! LOL!
I cannot remember the last time I/we've stayed up for 24 hours straight!!! I'm too old to do that. But I can't resist the thrill of shopping Black Friday!! Once again, we got everything we had on our list from WalMart, Kohls and Target. Becky came to my rescue and I fired the road across town in record time to pick up an item that was swiped off the shelf right before my very eyes.

Saturday morning, we took the kids (minus Preston) to see Tangled. SO, so cute!!! The whole family loved it and Brooklyn asked if we could buy that movie right when we left the theater! Disney did good with this one!We met up with Becky and Lexi at the theater. :)That night, we headed back to the movies to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I.I had been quickly rereading the 7th book so I could actually remember something that happened in the book because it had been so long since I originally read it. I just finished the book THAT afternoon, so after having my expectations set high, I was disappointed in the movie. The book was covered well, but I felt like there wasn't enough development, just skipping from one thing to the next. Also it seemed really quiet and slow moving. I'm excited to see Part II next year. I'm hoping they do the ending justice!

So does this officially make me a runner?

This story actually starts WAAAAAAAY back about the end of September. I had hit the breaking point with my weight and decided it was time to do something about it. There is a girl in the ward who runs in the neighborhood in the mornings so I asked if I could join her. I was a little apprehensive because she has run half marathons in the recent past and I haven't run consistently since I was in college!!! Plus I'm way out of shape....... how am I supposed to keep up??

I put on my Nikes and started running. Did 3 miles the first day AND the second day. Felt great and completely surprised myself! I was sure I would collapse after one mile. Well, by the weekend, I was in horrendous pain. I could barely WALK, let alone keep running. My knees hurt SO bad. I alternated heat/ice and took Advil as frequently as directed. I didn't run the next week, then we were off to Utah for October break. When we got back, I went to a specialty running store where they watch you walk and run, then fit you with shoes according to your gait. I ended up with these beauts, the Pearl iZumi.Started back up with running 4 days a week. Took it real slow in the beginning, kept the mileage to a minimum so I could work myself back up. Since I did it RIGHT this time, I've been able to run just fine, with an occasional teensy bit of pain in my left knee. My big plan is to run a 10K at the end of January, but I saw a banner advertising a Turkey Waddle on Thanksgiving day, so I checked out the website and signed myself up for my very first race, a 5K (3.1 miles)! Monday and Tuesday I ran 3 miles so I knew that was totally doable and I was so excited!!!

When it came time to line up, I got a little bit nervous. There were a lot of people! I had a few fears- what if I got lost? (impossible) what if I came in dead last? (probably wouldn't happen) what if I tripped and fell on my face? (could happen) I strapped on my iPod and hit the road running. At first, lots of people passed me, but I just got my pace set and kept it steady. Then I started passing people. ;) Thankfully all of my fears were completely for naught; I finished in 32 minutes and NOT in last place!!! I ran the whole time and didn't die. I was really, REALLY proud of myself and look forward to my next race!

Almost to the finish line.... you can see the kids with the sign they made for me!!!Mission accomplished!

Me & my turkeys

I can't say I love running --- yet. It's way cold and way dark at 5:15 in the morning. It's hard to get out of my warm bed and sometimes my legs just don't want to get moving. But I never regret getting up and going running. It feels real good to move my body. And I love the way I feel the rest of the day!

Holy Catch-up!

I hate when I do this! Sooooo far behind in keeping up with what's going on around here! Here's a rough sketch of the past month.....

1. We were a bit slower to get the winter garden in this year because it seems like we have had a million things going on every weekend! Matt tried doing starter seeds then transplanting and we agreed that we'll skip that next year and go back to planting plants.

We tried a few off season things and have had some surprise appearances as well!!! This strawberry plant cropped up from seeds we planted during the spring, then a cantaloupe plant magically grew before our eyes as well!!! I hope this strawberry plant survives the winter and we get some hearty berries next summer!We have cucumbers, tomatoes (3 plants), bell peppers left over from spring that are getting to be gigantic now that they are uninhibited by the tomatoes!!! Broccoli, lettuce galore, green beans, snap peas, carrots and green onions!

Left side~ cucumbers, strawberry, cucumbers, lettuceMiddle~ tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli (behind peppers), lettuceHUGE green bell pepper plant with dozens of peppers!!!!Broccoli close-up; looks like some buggas have gone to town on the leaves!Right side~ green beans, tiny pea shoots, cantaloupe, carrots and green onions in front, not visible yet

2. Mesa Veteran's Day parade ~ We go to this every year and the kids absolutely love it. Met up with my mom & Joshua, Becky and her two squirts. Preston was mesmerized by all there was to see!

Hey! Look who it is!!! Jen, Emily and Adam!! They walked/rode with the family group, we decided to spectate this year. ;)Yay for the Mtn. View marching band! They were by far the biggest of the high school bands!

3. Preston has had a few incidents in the last little while that involve shoving things up his nose, particularly food items during lunch. First was a small piece of cheddar cheese, which I was able to remove pretty easily. The most recent was a piece of CELERY that ended up requiring us to take a trip to the pediatrician for extraction. I regret not taking a picture of it post-extraction, just for posterity's sake. Let's just say that was the most expensive celery I have ever purchased!!!!
4. Both Matt and I love going to see plays and since we're not quite ready to fork over the big bucks to take the kids to see the major productions, it's especially convenient that two of my brothers are part of their school drama clubs. This year, we were able to go see Cody (14 yrs old) perform in his Jr. high Fall play, "Locomotion, Commotion, Dr. Gorilla and Me!" Cody played the role of the Mysterious Man. Too bad the best picture I was able to take while he was on stage was with Cody "dead" on the floor with a {fake} knife sticking out of his back!!! LOL!
5. We were getting all settled for a Friday night movie night with the kids, I was about to start mixing up cookie dough for pizzookies when out of the corner of my eye, I see Gavin hit the corner of the island counter and fall back hard onto the floor. I instantly ran to him and assessed the damage, and seeing a gash under his chin, I immediately called for Matt to come take over. I don't do well with blood. I was convinced that he would need stitches, Matt was certain it was fine. So Dr. Dad ran to the corner Walgreens while I held Gavin's chin together, got some liquid bandage, steri-strips and fixed him right up! Gavin was a trooper!

6. Preston is pretty much obsessed with airplanes, "helicockers," and motorcycles. This shirt had Preston's name ALL over it!! When I laid it out for him to see, he sat on it, saying, "Presty, ride!" hahahaha

He can be found toting these Matchbox vehicles around everywhere we go!