Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we went to my parents house. We spent the night before and luckily the babies did pretty well. For some reason this year, everyone felt the need to wear green. We're still not sure why, it was totally not planned.

The Kitchen was totally hopping

Why does Laura looked scared in all of these pictures?

It was a pretty good looking turkey!

Jesse and I were on Turkey duty

Rebecca and Richi doing homework

Sometimes a man just needs to be alone.

The main event. It was very yummy! I swear we had more pies than people.

Christmas Dinner Outtakes

Sorry, but these were too funny not to share.

Firsts

I started school at UVSC the semester after my mission. On the first day of classes my mother, who at the time worked as UVSC's catering director, was giving me a tour of her facilities and introducing me to her staff. After meeting a dozen or so people my mother took us upstairs to have lunch at the Valley View room. After grabbing something to eat we went to go pay for our meals. I made my way up to where my mother was standing, next to the cash register, where she was talking to a dark haired young woman with the most beautiful green eyes I'd ever seen. I walked up to my mother, knowing full well she'd introduce me to her. Her name was Lisa, and she was a caterer who worked as a cashier part time. I wanted to play it cool, because that's what you do when you meet a pretty girl, and nothing says "I'm cool" more than an apathetic "Hey." Unfortunately that didn't seem to have the desired effect, in fact it seemed to have the opposite effect. I figured I'd try again later.

Fortunately later was only a few hours later that day. I had diligently arrived to my anthropology class 10 mins early and was able to score a front row seat. I had set out all the things I needed for the class: my book, note pad and my trusty dictaphone (wouldn't want to miss something important.) While the classroom slowly filled up, I started looking around to see if there was anyone I knew in the class. While I was scanning the room who should walk in the door but Lisa. For the briefest moment our eyes met, I thought she might come sit next to me..seeing as the whole front row was still open. Oddly, she went straight to the opposite corner of the room. I figured my "Hey" was still bothering her so I thought I'd try again the next day.

I think this is a good time to note that although it may seem childish, some guys like to tease girls, its a way of letting them know you like them, this is often refered to as "flirting" apparently Lisa was unaware of this or immune to my teasings. For weeks after that first time we met I would go get lunch on the days she was cashiering. Some days I would have to take an inadvertently long time picking out my lunch just to wait for her line to die down so it wouldn't look so odd getting in a line when there were other cashiers with no line. In fact there were many times where I would make sure I was the last person in her line so I could talk to her longer. Each time I went through I set the tease-ometer from stun to kill. Unfortunately it didn't seem to effect her. I started thinking she probably had a boyfriend...because who could resist such excellent teasing? In fact she was meeting a young man quite frequently for lunch, and they sure had a great time together. This was a stark realization. I wasn't sure on how to proceed. I figured I'd have to wait a few weeks then try again.

Magical Tradional Christmas Dinner

We did something COMPLETELY Christmas related and went out for Christmas dinner at Mi Ranchito! I know, I'm giving my children magical Christmas memories. It's just that we didn't pull the ham out in time to thaw and cook so we decided to save ourselves the hassle and the mess. We were so glad we did. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea, because it was PACKED. We got guacamole and fried ice cream and ate ourselves silly! We seriously laughed so hard we cried. Here are some of the highlights!

LOVE this Picture!

Madalyn and I

Maddi wanted a picture of us showing our muscles? Don't ask, I just do as I'm told...

Seriously, she held this pose for like a minute so Jesse could get a picture.
Crazy Kid!

Cute Emmy. She was laughing when this was taken.

Ellie was totally on a roll, she was making us laugh so hard. Emmy was a little dazed by it all.

This face is what kept killing us!!!


We'll never forget this Christmas Dinner, that is for sure!

Christmas Morning 2010

Christmas this year was so relaxing compared to years past! We all woke up around 9 (even the babies!) and I made them brush their teeth and make their beds before we went downstairs. We dragged in the babies high chairs (since I could sense a disaster waiting to happen, what with the wrapping paper and all) and we had them sit in their chairs and Maddi or Andrew would help them open a present.

Ellie was VERY excited!


Andrew checking out a new coloring book
Double teaming it.

Presents from Aunt Becky and Uncle Jared!


Maddi loves Calendars

Spiderman Costume!

Maddi got and MP3 player, a Jesse doll and Just Dance
Andrew got a Woody pull string doll, Buzz Lightyear boots, and the Toy Story 3 DVD
Babies got dresses, shoes, boots, books, and some toys

We had such a good time! We watched movies and played games and just relaxed. It was so nice to spend time with the kiddos without having all the normal distractions of cleaning and school and everything else that makes our lives crazy.

Tin or Aluminum?

No “tin or aluminum?” is not the new “paper or plastic?”, 2011 marks a very special year in our lives, its been 10 years since I first met and married the most wonderful woman I’ve ever had the pleasure of teasing. According to the smartest friend I know, Wikipedia, apparently the tenth anniversary is traditionally the Tin or Aluminum anniversary. Now the only thing to decide is whether to get Lisa something made of tin or aluminum (I’m thinking the latter, because nothing says "Thanks for putting up with me for the last 10 years" more than a pair of aluminum earrings). Throughout the year I am going to mark significant days of our relationship with special blog posts, I’m not positive that I have all my days EXACTLY correct but close enough. Hope you enjoy this year as much as I know Lisa and I will!

The Great Cookie Tragedy of '10

One day when the kids were climbing the wall and I was about to go crazy, I decided to make cookies with them. Because THAT wouldn't be stressful at ALL. We decide to make chocolate cookies and top them with some leftover Hershey Kisses that we had. They helped get all the ingredients and we mixed them all together. I let go of my grossed-outness and let them help me roll them into little balls and put them on the cookie sheet. We baked them and when they came out of the oven, the chocolate was still super wobbly on top. I didn't want to put them in the fridge because I didn't want the chocolate to seize. So I walked out to the garage looking for something to set it on since it was cooler out there. As I was contemplating, one of the babies let out a scream. I hurriedly set one of the potholders I was using on the entry rug I was standing on and set the cookies down. I helped the baby, (who had gotten stuck under a chair) and by that time another sheet was ready to come out of the oven. I grabbed it and opened the door to the garage and then

SQUISH!

Complete and utter tragedy. I stepped on the cookies! I'm a complete idiot.
As Andrew said "sooooo saaaad." hangs head