Christmas 2007

We have had a very busy last few weeks.  Two weeks before Christmas Brent and I went to NewYork City and then to Quebec Canada for a week.  While in New York we saw the famous Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, time square, all the millions of other people who were also there in New York, great food, and the best of all.... three broadway plays.  We saw Wicked, which was fabulous, Grease, and then Mary poppins.  Brent is now a fan of Broadway, it only took me 15 years to get some culture in that boy!!!!  Canada was beautiful with all the snow and Quebec city was very quaint and fun.  It was like being in Europe but much easier to get to.  The down side of the trip was I started to get very sick and by the time we got home we went right from the airport to the urgent care center.  I ended up having bronchitis and couldn't breathe along with terrible pain.  I was very upset cause we were planning on leaving in two days to head out to SLC to ski with the kids.  The doctor gave me two shots in the bum and sent me on my way.  By the time we headed out to SLC , I was still feeling yucky, so I didn't ski the first day with the kids.  This is our 4th year in a row to go to Solitude and we loved every minute of it.  It is a great place because it is never crowded and the ski school is great.  All the kids tried snowboarding this year and decided that it is way more fun than skiing.  Brent tried it too, but changed back skiing saying that he could snow board but just didn't want too.  OK, whatever you say.

After four days of skiing we headed off to Brents brothers house for a one night sleep over with cousins before heading home on Christmas eve.  Once home Brent and I went our separate ways to get last minute stuff done, load up the trucks and head to the cabin.  By the time we got to the cabin it was past 9 pm and we still had to eat, watch a christmas show, write a note to Santa,and get the kids to bed.  Unfortunately, mom fell asleep during something due to lack of sleep and still feeling sick, and so Santa was a bit grouchy at 2 am.  Note to self, chill out!!!!

Christmas morning came and went way to fast.  Ashlen still doesn't get the christmas stuff but thought all of us being together was fun.  The kids all got extremely spoiled as well as the grown ups.  Brent loves Christmas and goes way over board.  We got two new four wheelers for the land so now we can all have fun at the same time.  The motorcycles are a bit dangerous out there, so I prefer the kids to ride the four wheelers and keep the motorcycles for the track.

After Christmas Lauren's best friend from Dallas came down for the week and is leaving tomorrow.  This is the fourth Christmas that they have gotten together and they love it.  It is New years eve today and I am typing this as I am listening to fireworks going off.  Out street usually goes a bit wild with the arsenal.  I usually find lots of fireworks in the pool the next day.  I can't believe it is almost 2008.  I don't ever like a new year to come cause it means the kids are growing up.  Lauren will be 13 in a month, Austen will be 12 in the summer, and I will be 25 again.  

Here are some of our fun Holiday pictures.

(we got a new computer for Christmas and I can't figure out how to get the pictures on the blog)

random photos again

You can't see Lauren very well, but she is serving the ball in this picture. The other pictures are when Peytens football team won the superbowl for is league. It was an awesome game. As you can see, Ashlen didn't make it the whole way through.

Weekend at the cabin

We decided to spend the weekend out at the cabin and the weather was great. I decided that winter is a great time to be out there due to less bugs and shorter grass, tall grass hides critters!!!! There are also cows out there now and they tend to eat lots of grass and keep unwanted things away as well. We rode our 4-wheeler all around and Ashlen loved looking at the cows as we cruised by. She loves the 4-wheeler. Brent took lauren for a fast ride and she came back splattered with cow poop all over her. Fun times!!!!

We love going to the cabin just to hang out and eat food, play games, watch movies, and be together. We decided that it has been a great investment for our family. We took a few pictures of the place in case any of you are interested in heading our way for some fun times!!!!

Brent and Roger Clemens golfing. Brent said it was a great time, wish I could have been there to see it.

random photos

I didn't get a chance to send any halloween pictures so here are a few. Ashlen and Smalls, the dog, are looking at the big dog across the street that just a few seconds later came over and bit smalls on the butt. She was tramatized for about a week. The cute little super girl is my neighbor Reese. Her mom was super girl also, it was funny. I was a witch as usual, not funny for all of you who are laughing, and the boys were just scary and Lauren adorable.

Yesterday I took Ashlen over to the neighbors house to take her picture in front of their yard stuff. She kept running away.

I am trying to think about what has happened this last month. hmmmm... Peytens football team won the superbowl, it was great. The season was really fun and the weather never turned cold, which I appreciate. The boys are both playing basketball now and Lauren is into club volleyball. We are always running to a practice.

For Thanksgiving we always go to Brents sisters house in San Antonio. My kids love to be with the cousins and the annual "Turkey Bowl" is always a highlight. It is our family against the cousins, the girls even joined in this year. Kari made a great dinner as usual and I made a bunch of pies. Thanks to Grandma Ferns secret crust, I am always the pie maker. After San Antonio, we went to the land for a night. It had turned cold and was raining so we didn't go outside, but we stayed inside and had fun. I made a ham and more pies and the kids played games and Brent watched football. Ashlen ran around taking everything out of the cupboards and drawers.

Lauren and Brent decorated the house inside and out for Christmas. I don't know if any of you know this but I don't like Christmas. I am not sure why, I guess cause it is so much work and the moms always do it all. I turned the decorating over to them and it has made it much nicer. I am needing to get all of Christmas shopping done by the 7th of Dec. because Brent and I are leaving for NY and Quebec for a week and then when we get back we all head to Utah for our annual ski trip. We will get home on Christmas eve night and are going to stay at the cabin so not much time to waste. Because of Ashlen our Christmas tree looks a little weird. I told Lauren to not put any ornaments in her reach, not even unbreakable ones cause she will just take them down all Christmas long. I already get that with everything else in the house. Her nursery nickname is the 'moving tornado'.

Brent got to do something neat last week. He was playing golf with some Ford Co. people and one of them was good friends with Roger Clemens and brought him along to play golf. Brent said it was neat to golf and talk with him for 5 hrs. He said he is a really neat guy and a great family man. He has a son Austens age and Austen has played against his baseball team in a tournament. I will send a picture of Brent and Roger in my next blog. Brent has it on his camera.

I am off to do some laundry while the tornado is asleep.

Places where dolls should not go

Well, Ashlen is making me a big crazy. She loves to make a mess, I am talking bad messes. I don't even try to pick them up anymore cause it just encourages her to do it again. I don't think I have ever witnessed a kid so into mischief at such a young age. Since writing these few words she has already dumped out a box of crayons, thrown all the cushions off the couch, and is now standing on a plastic storage box singing nonsense.

Ashlen has a favorite doll that she carries around with her. Just a few minutes ago I rescued the doll from the toilet. It had been dunked several times so I had to spray clorox on her and stick her is the tub to soak. I have also found the doll in the dishwasher, dryer, garbage, chest of drawers, and in the stack of dirty clothes. Many other places as well but not as interesting as the toilet. Ashlen loves the toilet, I close the door to the bathroom 100 times a day at least but she always finds those times that it has been left open.

Lauren finished off her volleyball season yesterday as district champs. she played great, Brent and I kept giving each other high fives when she would spike the ball. she also came home last week with a straight A report card. She has a tough load in school taking all honors, we are very proud of her.

Peytens football team is playing in the "superbowl" this weekend. His baseball team last weekend took home a first place trophy in their tournament. Austens football team lost in the second round of the playoffs, but he made the "all pro team" for his leaque. His baseball team has their first tournament this weekend. lauren also starts club volleyball next week so we aren't taking any breaks from sports this time around. my life as a taxi driver. Thank goodness for drive thru's and talk radio!!!!

Brent took a four day trip to Alabama to play golf with 3 of his college buddies. He said he had a great time and loved every minute of the beautiful weather and great friends. I on the other hand loved having 3 out of the four kids sleeping with me for 4 nights. They had to take turns sleeping next to me, I feel so lucky. I do have dreams that I am sometimes sleeping all alone in a huge bed all toasty and warm. No one kicking me and plenty of covers, sheets smell fresh and when I awake in the morning I am looking forward to a day all to myself with no one fighting over which cereal bowl they want. I do love my sleep, but I happen to love my kids with me even more. I would like the no fighting thing though.

Ashlen and I are going to pick up a new car today. We decided on black this time. I always get white, I am sick of white. Then I think we are going to head to costco to shop and then my favorite time of the day, her naps!!!!!

Hope you all have a happy friday.

Football is here

Both boys play on the klein Texans football team. They have four teams, Freshman thru Seniors, starting in 3rd grade and going to the 6th grade. After 6th grade they start playing for the school team. Peyten is on the Freshman team and Austen is on the Juniors. Peyten plays cornerback and Austen plays quarterback. Austen also plays cornerback on defense so he is a busy guy. Both teams are in the playoffs right now, tomorrow being the 2nd game of the playoffs. If they both win tomorrow then they go to the superbowl in 2 weeks. We are very excited about tomorrows games.

Lauren is playing volleyball for the school team this year and is doing very well. She loves to smack the ball. A few weeks ago she had an awesome spike that just about took out a couple girls and I gave her a standing ovation and yell from the stands. She gave me the Look, so I can't do that anymore. I need to take some pictures of Lauren playing volleyball so you can get a feel for the animal that is inside her!!!!

As you can see Ashlen is adorable. She is such a happy kid. She goes around telling everyone "Hi". She went to Nursery for the first time in church and walked right in and started playing. The nursery leader said that she likes to make big messes. We know that, come over anytime and see what new mess she has created.

Ok... for some funny comments from the kids this past while. The other day the boys and I were talking about where they would go if anything happened to Brent and I. (I know, morbid). I told them where they would go and they were excited and then I said, "but aunt Angela is going to keep a special eye on you." Peyten said, "Aunt Angela has a special eye?" I was cracking up. I was again having a conversation with the boys and Peyten was telling me about the kids in his school that are "special". He said, "mom, those kids in special lead are lucky, they get to jump on a trampoline in class." This next one is just something funny Austen did. After the football game on saturday he got pretty banged up so Brent made an ice bath for him. A few minutes after he was in it he went streaking out to the kitchen and then back again to the tub a few minutes later. I went in the bathroom to investigate and he was lounging in the tub drinking a mug of hot chocolate. I guess he was cold.

I started taking piano lessons again and am really enjoying it. I took a break for a while but I have a new drive to learn again. I miss being able to garden, it is too hard with Ashlen, she won't stay put and with the pool I can't turn my head when she is in the back yard. Maybe next year I can plant some spring flowers.