SANTA Ray

Ray's mom's fiance has a santa suit, so Ray thought it would be fun to dress up as Santa.  This was at Ray's moms house and he liked it so much that he decided that he wanted to go visit a few of the little people in Sugar City.  (I will post those pictures next.)

Yup, that is mommy kissing Santa Claus.

I couldn't resist this one...I think it was my favorite picture of the day.

I made santa sit on my lap instead.

Same decorations different year.

The whole tree isn't even decorated, so I wanted at least one picture and that is what I got.  I guess the kids are growing up, so I can compare the different pictures from different years.  We did get a different tree this year, our other tree (which we had for 18 years) finally gave up the fight this year.  And my friend was retiring her unprelit tree so we got it and I love it.

How precious are these two?  I think Kinlee is irritated with Jerika as usual.  Gotta love them.

Temple Lights - Picture overload

The week before Thanksgiving the weather was so nice, that I started contemplating a trip to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights (neither Ray or the girls had ever seen them). I wasn’t really sure if we should, but I checked the weather forecast for every town between here and Salt Lake. If you didn’t already know, I HATE travelling on slick roads. I know I was raised in Idaho, but that hasn’t seemed to make me feel any better about it. Anyway, Ray and I finally decided the Sunday before Thanksgiving we would go, so I booked a hotel room. We didn’t tell Jerika for a few days and like I said in the previous post, we didn’t tell Kinlee until we made it to the Welcome to Utah sign. I am not sure where she thought we were going, but she finally started getting irritated, so we told her. We couldn’t have asked for better weather, it was beautiful the entire weekend. We did some shopping when we first got there at the Gateway mall and for it being Black Friday it wasn't too busy at all.  We even got some pretty good deals too.

After that we went to check in at our hotel and then we went to dinner with Shelby, Kels, Austin, Ashlin and Catie (possible story to follow at a later time.)  Ashlin, Kelsie, Matt and Austin came back to the hotel with us and then we all went to see the lights, which was so much fun.

This was all of us waiting for the train.

We also got to see the new mall across the street from the Temple and we rode the train as well (which made all of us a little queasy even though we only rode for a block).

Kinlee got to do her favorite thing when we stay in hotels, which is swim and Ray and Jerika even put their feet in the hot tub too.

The next day we did more shopping with Shelby and then went to lunch with Shelby and Ash. We were so tired at that point that we decided to head for home. We did have to stop at the Layton mall, of course, and get me some sugar cookies, and we walked around the mall a little bit before actually heading North. I think we all had a really good time and all of us got along great. Sometimes it is hard to travel with Ray, because we aren’t used to taking him with us and he doesn’t understand why we do the things we do, but he was a trooper this time.  It was so much fun and I am really glad that we went!!

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving like every year (well except for Ray last year when he spent it in the hospital) was at my moms. We decided to take a few pictures before we left the house. How cute are we? We like Thanksgiving week, because that means we get a few extra days with Ray home. He was home Wednesday and didn’t leave again until Monday. And the amazing thing is that we all got along.

Since Ray’s mom got divorced, we invite her to Thanksgiving with us at moms and this year KaReena’s mother in law came too. And if you can see the man next to Ray’s mom, that is her boyfriend Terry (the kids call him Grandpa Tiny….long story). Anyway the plan is that they will be getting married next year sometime. He is super nice and we all really like him and he treats Rays mom like a queen.

The whole day was pretty low key since it was just my family and KaReena’s, but we had a good time and of course the food was amazing as usual. Later that night we went home and packed for our trip to Utah to see the Christmas Lights on Temple Square. We kept the trip a secret from Kinlee and we didn’t tell her we were going anywhere that next day. Jerika packed all of her stuff for her so she wouldn’t know.

Piano Lessons

Kinlee started taking piano lessons in April this year and she has done an amazing job.  She started with a younger teacher and is now going to a lady that teaches on the college level also.  Kinlee loved it in the beginning and I think she still does, but doesn't like to practice as much as she should.  But, she is so good and I really regret not continuing with piano when I was younger so I am making her continue. 

As many of you know, we live very close to BYU-Idaho where we are lucky to participate in some things that maybe we wouldn't normally have the chance to otherwise.  One of the things they host is a Piano Festival every year.  It is very intimidating, the student is one on one in a room with the judge and has to have her piano pieces memorized.  Kinlee was able to participate in Festival a few weeks ago and we got her grade sheet this week and she got 100%.  Which is pretty awesome for a first timer.  We are so proud of her and amazed at the progress she is making.  Me being the ever diligent mother that I am, forgot to take any pictures that day, so maybe next time.  Good job Kinlee!!

Cleaning Carpets

We really needed our carpets cleaned and since our friends sold there business, we decided to just rent a Rug Doctor and do it ourselves.  Okay, who I am kidding...Ray cleaned the carpets for me.  I even went scrapbooking on Friday night and he worked on it while I was gone.  He is such a trooper.  On Saturday I tried to help him a little, but who knew that thing was so heavy, or maybe I am a total light weight and can't do the hard stuff.

He was so tired by the time he finished.  The only place we didn't clean was the basement, because nobody really ever goes down there, at least with shoes on.

Cleaning the carpets really made us notice how bad they needed stretched.  So, we left all of the furniture out of the family room and had someone come and stretch it for us and it looks so much better.  CLEAN & STRETCHED.  Thanks Ray.

We've Come A Long Way "Preemie" Baby!!!

I can't believe my little tiny preemie baby is 12, yup 12 years old.  I still remember the month leading up to her birth just like it were yesterday.  She was so excited to get here that she tried to come 12 weeks early, but she settled on 7 weeks instead.  Which was still pretty early, but she only had to stay in the hospital for a week so we were lucky.  We are pretty sure she had a special bond with my sister Jalyn in heaven, because there were some major similarities with both of them.  When my sister was born, she was 7 weeks early and weighed 4 lbs and 15 ounces. Kinlee was born 7 weeks early and was 4 lbs and 15 ounces.  And it just so happened that Kinlee was born on the same day that my sister died.  I am sure to this day that Jalyn had a hand in Kinlee arriving safely and making sure she was okay.

    

Precious cake, no more cartoon charaters for big girls.

Her birthday was on a Monday so we celebrated in with everyone at the grandparents house.

I am not sure who is the most scary in this picture.  Silly people.

We love you Kinlee and are very thankful you are in our family.  Happy Birthday!!