New Camera - GOOD! Faulty Operator - BAD!

For Christmas I got a new camera! Yeah, horray! This is great news. I love it - A little Canon that seems to work great. As much as I would love to be a great photographer and would love to know how to use Photoshop and all that, I don't. Someday I will learn, but it all seems a bit overwhelming at the moment! Anyway, for now I am happy with my nice small little Canon!

For Christmas I snapped pictures and was excited to download them and see how things turned out. Well, smart me hit a wrong button and it erased all my Christmas pictures :( I am so sad. Luckily we have some great videos from our new and FANTASTIC Flip Video. To make my camera issues worse my ancient (almost 6 year old) computer won't recognize my new camera, for whatever reason I am not sure, and so now I need to go get a memory card reader. Oh technology, the good, the bad and the frustrating!

Hopefully we will be up and running with picture soon! Just not Christmas ones! :(

A Little Josh!

As usual Josh keeps me laughing. Here are a few of his latest.

'Noonies' this translates into Missionaries. As in, "Please bless the noonies."
'Samily' this translates into Family

And the latest and my personal favorite for this time of year is -

"Mommy, you go to the Norf Pole and see Lanta Claus? I want a GREEN DINOSAUR (emphasis on the the 'r')!"

What? Lanta for Santa. Go figure it isn't like he can't say his 'S' he just prefers Lanta to Santa.

THE GIRLS TRIP

FABULOUS! That is really the only way to describe my week in Hawaii with my beautiful sisters, sis-in-law and my mom! Hawaii for a week with just the girls, really people what more can you ask for?

Nicole and I flew over to Oahu together and we were greeted by Marilee, Julie and Mom. They bought us some beautiful Lei's. Let's just say that being on a plane with no children is quite enjoyable.

I'll give you a run down of the week.

Wake up

Go workout or not

Possibly go to the spa

Eat

Get ready and head to the pool/beach ( mostly pool)

Sit by the pool and read books all day

Go for a swim

Order a lava flow (virgin of course)

Get ready for the evening, go to dinner, go shopping, see a movie

Do it all over the next day!

That is it - a complete week of relaxation and rest. We were even able to go the Temple, see some massive waves on the North Shore and some surfing, go diving for pearls (and I don't mean scuba diving) and act like complete idiots.

We laughed, we cried (when we left that it), and just enjoyed being sisters and mom.

On the home front my spectacular hubby, took care of the kids, the house, the homework, the laundry, some cleaning and even managed to get in a few hours of work everyday. He did a wonderful job as Mom and Dad and quite frankly I was impressed! I also have to say that my friends who were able to help out with some child care duties are the best!

MOM, THANK YOU! Of course none of it was possible without you and it wouldn't have been as fun without you either.

My only question is WHEN DO WE GET TO DO IT AGAIN?

The Thankful Post

Since Christmas is only 8 days away, according to Brooklynn's calculations, I thought it was about time for me to write a little about our Thanksgiving Celebrations. We have been so very blessed this year and I would hate to miss an opportunity to express my Gratitude to my amazing friends and family for your love and support. I am thankful and amazed each and everyday for the very many blessings the Lord gives us!

We spent a great week in the OC for Thanksgiving. It all came together rather late, but lucky for us our wonderful and beautiful and favorite (don't tell the others) 14 year old niece had a soccer tournament down there and so we thought it a perfect opportunity to see them. It was wonderful to see Mike and Steph, Mac, DJ Jamez, Nannie, and Haven. WE are most grateful to Nana Janet for offering up her home for us to crash in.

We frolicked at the beach, ate out, saw movies and just enjoyed being together. We were also able to spend some time with Ryan and Nic and crew. Thanksgiving dinner was at their house with their wonderful friends Dave and Heather. It really was a great night finished off with the traditional trip to Fashion Island to see the 150 ft Christmas Tree. Just in case you are wondering about how cutting down this giant tree affected the environment, it was taken from an approved area and this tree was specifically chosen knowing that it would not impact the forest it was taken from in the least. Phew for that one, I was super worried about it.

Sadly because of the pouring rain the first couple of days we were there and the extreme prissiness of the people in charge of the soccer fields in Irvine, Mac's tournament was postponed and we were not able to see any of her games. However, the word on the street is that she played great (We had no doubts).

We are so happy that we were able to spend the week with those we love. We miss our families so much and spending Thanksgiving with those we love made it perfect!

It was supposed to be the Christmas Card!

First, I would like to say that no I have not quit blogging. I think this is a record for the length of time in between posts, but I just haven't felt like sitting down to do this and besides it is almost Christmas people and I am just plain busy. I have lots to say about Thanksgiving and my Amazing Girls trip but that too will have to wait. I have to just post this picture.

I was hoping it would be our Christmas Card picture and then when I put it on the computer this is what I found!

Seriously people how often do you get a beautiful candid shot like this. I look hot (haha) my kids are all looking at the camera and looking perfectly adorable, Steve looks great and then of course HIS EYES ARE CLOSED! This is a regular thing for Steve, but seriously did it have to be on this picture? Oh well. Plan B turned out alright, but you won't get to see my bright smiling face or Steve's on our Christmas card this year, but it may include some of the following images.