Merry Christmas

Christmas is almost here......

Ella's last day of school was on Friday. The start of Christmas Vacation!!

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We had a great sacrament meeting this past Sunday. My favorite Sunday of all the year!

{Although Easter is a close second!}

I love hearing the music and feeling the true spirit of Christmas.

Ella got up to sing with all of the other primary children.

I asked her "sing really loud so I can hear you!".
She did NOT disappoint and even gave me a big thumbs up when they finished!

Jack watched her without ever taking his eye's off of her. Blowing her kisses and waving!

What special little babies I have!

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Today the boys were taking a nap together, seems like they do that a lot together.

Ella and I ran to the grocery store to get some much needed pumpkin pie supplies.

The next couple of days will be spent baking and spending time together as a family.

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I am looking forward to Christmas morning this year maybe more then any other in a long time. In fact I feel giddy just thinking about it!

I can't wait to see the look on these kids faces when they come down the stairs.

I have such wonderful, wonderful memories of my childhood at Christmas and I hope that I'm able to bring that same joy to my kids!

Merry Christmas everyone!

P.S.

My mom has put together a Christmas blog!

Instead of a letter with her Christmas card that would have only a couple pictures a blog can share so much more information and pictures of everyone!

If you interested in checking it out, go HERE!

Ugly Sweater Party

Alright, well after seeing how much fun my little sister Mary and little brother Jacob had when they threw an ugly sweater party, I knew that I needed to throw one too!

It was SO MUCH FUN!

We have the best friends! They really got into it!

We played some games and ate lots of treats!

Justin won for the ugliest sweater! All of those sequined bows were blinding!

Also Ryan Scotts hair cut was pretty dang funny and their white elephant gift, which I can't relate, as I opened it, I thought I was going to pee my pants laughing so hard, seriously!

{ Are these pictures exactly the same? No. Can you see the difference? }

You guys are awesome! Thanks everyone for coming!!!!

Until next year.................

Happy Birthday Sammy

Sarah, Me, NAKED SAMUEL, Aaron, cousin's Allissa and Blake and Adam

Just wanted to say HaPpY BiRthDaY SaMueL!!!!!

Samuel is number 5 in our family.
Every time I think of Samuel I think about how when we were little kids he was always the one to stand up for another. Never wanted someone to get in trouble. Always the one who wanted everything to be fair. He was a sweet, sweet little guy and still is.

He just got engaged!!!

So weird. Now more then half of us will be married!!!!!!

We're getting old!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY little brother!

I hope you have a great day!

Temple Lights

Last week we went to see the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple!

We were so glad that Andre & Melissa's family and Ryan's parents were able to come along!
{I wish that I had taken a group shot!}

We all had a good time, even if it was a little cold.

Well, until Ella stepped into a fountain! I almost did too.

It was hard to see where you were stepping!

Poor girl, she had to walk around the rest of the evening with a wet and cold shoe and sock.

We also all went to Culvers! Yummy!

What a perfect treat!

Thanks for coming along everyone! We should go every year!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Family Night

This week for family home evening we made some gingerbread houses.

I didn't think that the kids would get THAT into it, boy was I wrong!

They loved it and both did a really great job!

There was a little taste testing along the way.
She's growing up....

Also going on this week.................

Must be Santa

A couple nights ago Ryan and I took the kids to the mall.

They had so many fun FREE things going on there!

These are the only two pictures I got of us on the horse drawn carriage ride!

At first Jack saw the horses and was screaming "Jack-Jack ride!" Over and over!

Thankfully everyone around us thought it was funny.

Then when it came time for our turn Jack totally started freaking out, this time yelling "No ride, no ride! mama!"

Once we were on he was fine. I think both kids enjoyed it.

Ella loved waving to the people we passed, just like she was a princess in a parade.

She could have done that all day long.

Still a little freaked out.
Over near where Santa was there was snow falling from the sky!
Well at least that's what we thought when Ella ran over to it!
{oh and she fell, really hard. She was crying.}
It wasn't snow at all, it was bubbles. This bugged Ella tremendously. Like she had been tricked.
Jack didn't care much for it either. I guess when you know the real thing, you would feel tricked.


I was trying to get a picture of the children next to each other waiting for Santa, but Jack wouldn't have it. He kept scooting away from Ella, then she would scoot close and he would scoot away again. Stinker.




I was so pleased that Jack wasn't screaming this year!
You can see he was very weary to say the least, but he wasn't screaming!
I love that Ella is holding his hand for support.
Ella's list of toys to Santa:
Cell Phone
Zuh Zuh Pet
Laptop
Rag Doll
Clothes for flopsy (Her build a bear bunny)
Little littlest pet shop
and
More Webkinz
.
Funny girl. She's stuck between 6 and 26!

Christmas is Coming

The day after Halloween Ella asked me if we could put up the Christmas tree, for me that would have been fine- but Ryan said we had to wait until after Thanksgiving.

So, the day after Thanksgiving Ella came to me and said, it's after Thanksgiving and I want to put up the tree now.

After two hours of digging through the storage unit, we finally found about half the Christmas stuff. I wasn't going to keep looking for the other half.

The kids really enjoyed setting it up and decorating it. Even Jack had a lot of fun and was very gentle with all of the ornaments.

Is it sad though, that after the kids went to sleep I took it all apart and put it back together?

Those were tester presents, to see if Jack could stay away from them.

He couldn't.

Two mornings ago I walked down stairs to find wrapping paper everywhere.

I'm sure he was disapointed that they were empty.

Now there is nothing under the tree. I guess that will make Christmas morning that much more special.

The start of the holidays season!

I love Christmas time!

Happy Birthday Tiffany

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Tiffany!

Another year gone by, another year of being such great friends!

We've had so many adventures together and so much fun together.

Thank you for being such a great friend to me!

I'm so thankful for our friendship!

I hope that you have a wonderful birthday!

I wish that I was there!

Happy Birthday!!!!

7 years ago

We look so young..... and thin!

7 years ago I married my sweetheart!

There was nothing I had ever wanted as badly as to marry Ryan.

He's the love of my life!

A lot has happened in these past 7 years and I'm so glad that through everything Ryan was always there, holding my hand.

He's my best friend and I don't know what I would do without him.

He is such a good husband to me, he works so hard and takes such good care of me.

I'm so lucky and I know it!

I love you Ryan!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Birthday Jake

Wishing you the happiest birthday!

Wish we could be there to help celebrate with you!

Ryan and Rachel

***giggity, giggitty***

Black Friday

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is getting ready for Black Friday.

All of that turkey giving me the energy to get out there and get the good deals!

It all started on Thanksgiving night, 10pm headed over to toys r us. Waited in line alone for two hours. There were THOUSANDS of people waiting in line! Including two ladies behind me from Wisconsin! I was lucky ones who got everything that I wanted! Many people did not.

I got home thinking that I would have time to lay down for a little while, but when I went to set the alarm I realised that it was already time to go pick up Lauren!

Lauren and I helped each other navigate through the sea of people!

She got some great deals too.

The best thing that she found......

EDWARD!

I know what I want for Christmas now!

Hahahahahah!

Just kidding.

I stayed up ALL NIGHT. It was sooooooo worth it!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving morning we spent sleeping in and relaxing.

Something new for me this year. Usually I'm down stairs cooking by 7am on Thanksgiving morning. This year it was just Ryan's parents and us.

So this year we went to a nice buffet at the Arizona Grand Resort instead of slaving away in the kitchen all day.

Me and Ryan

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Although sometimes I feel like there are so many things in my life that I would love to change, so many trials and obstacles in this life that make things seem so hard and unbearable.

However I know that there are so many more things in my life to be so deeply thankful for. I am even thankful for some of my trials, without them I wouldn't be who I am today.

I am so thankful for-

The health of my children and family, a husband who loves me and works very hard for me everyday. Family who love and support me in everything that I do. Who are always there to catch me when I fall. Sometimes knowing what I need before even I do.

I'm thankful for a home to live in, food to eat and the blessing of freedom.

I am thankful most of all for my testimony in our savior Jesus Christ. For my knowledge that he lives and love us all.

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Hanging out at the resort I took a couple pictures of the kids.

Ella {the model} thought that there were many places to take some great shots of her.

Jack still had a very messy face. Oh well.

After we ate we all went and saw the movie "a Christmas Carol".

It was pretty dark and scary, I was worried that Ella would have nightmares, but a couple days later and it looks like she was ok.

After the movie we went and got some pie at Denny's.

We are so much food through the day, I'm still not hungry!

It was a great Thanksgiving.

Ella's favorite part of the day- driving with Grandma and Grandpa!

Thank you Rick and Sandy for such a great day! We were so glad that we got to spend it with you both! We love you!