Meditating

Sometimes you just need to go to that place...

even if it is at McDonald's.

VHS Winter Formal

Jordan was a last minute entry on going to this school dance. All the other girls decided to go and so that changed her mind. This was a formal dance at the Oasis for VHS. These 5 girls went together and Jordan had fun.

This wasnt too exciting for me as she goes to a dance every other weekend. She always has fun and she needs those breaks with the heavy load that she carries.

Megan, Sierra, Patusha, Jordan, & Cassie:

An avid reader, a volley ball player, a SAT pro, one that tries to do it all, and a synchronized swimmer.

That is a mix of girls!

Jackson's First Buck

Jackson's first buck - shot during the last weekend of the hunting season. We are now looking forward to spring turkey season.

(the we must mean Tom, Uncle Chris and Jackson-as Tom was the one to write this post)

Las Vegas

My sisters Christmas gift to me:

Surprise trip to Vegas!

I had not seen my sister in almost 6 months and it was just such an extra bonus to get away from the usual schedule and have 5 days to myself.

My room was fabulous. We were at the Palazo. I could have thought of many people that should have been sharing this suite with me.

Nice dinners out

Mirage breakfast buffet

and of course Vegas shopping!

I had a 16 mile run scheduled and this one was certainly the highlight of this marathon. I felt like I was running the marathon that day. So much excitement around and a personal trainer to take care of me. This run goes down as one of my all time favorites. I had a blast. My sister even got in about 10 miles .

This was an incredible 5 days.

Time with my sister, time to myself, eating, shopping, running, getting my hair done by Kelly Cardenas.

It was so great. I really got time to relax and recharge the batteries.

I really think my husband should look into shipping me off once a year like that because I come home recharged and ready to go.

Thank you so much Char!

Larson!

His 2nd Grade Yearbook Photo

New Years Eve 2011

Yearly tradition: New Years Eve in San Antonio.

We decided to go to Sea World because they were celebrating New Years at an earlier hour and then we could go and have a dinner outside of the park.

The kids thought this was a special day because we allowed them to play arcade games. We usually do not do that. They love playing the games. Thats just what they need, more stuffed animals.

It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed the day together.

The 9:00 New Years Eve countdown and fireworks. We loved that the kids got to see fireworks. The boys never make it to midnight. We got to go to dinner and then the view from our hotel room was crazy. From a 180 view, you could look anywhere in the sky and see amazing fireworks for 45 minutes. I have never seen as many displays as this. It was like the Epcot show.

Exactly midnight!

Happy 2012!

Good morning!

Oh no! January 1st. Logan's first time out.

Our new years day was filled with swimming, eating, movies, and so much fun being together!

Back to Austin to start the new year.

Winter Dance

Jordan and Gemma

Gemma and some friends got to come to our tri-stake winter dance in Kyle, Texas. I love that these girls have been able to remain such good friends despite the 2 hour separation.

This was such a cool venue for this dance. It's called Texas Old Town. It is used as a wedding venue. The outside grounds were beautiful. The cool thing about this night was that the girls were having a great night and the big girls were too. Jenn and I went and had a long dinner together and got to catch up before picking the girls up.

Christmas Morning 2011

Santa stopped at our house!

Even the kitty knows the Christmas morning rule: no one leaves the stair case until Mom or Dad say so.

Just the 6 of us. Kind of a quiet Christmas but not really with 3 of them being young boys.

No more matching pajamas.

Pat Pat's made with love stockings.

Logan kept all the magic in Christmas for us. Any little decoration would excite him.

Everyone had a very nice Christmas indeed!

Jaden loved her kitty toys.

She has a pretty good vertical jump.

This is the best part for me. Christmas morning is over with and all the presents have been opened. This is the part where I can finally take a break, let the house get trashed, and just enjoy the kids.

The week after Christmas is always my favorite.

Christmas Eve

Only if this was theirs to keep...

We got to babysit this cute little thing as he was a big Christmas surprise for Fischer and Reece on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve was pretty easy for us as we had kids eager to go to bed. The sooner they got to sleep the sooner that Christmas morning would be here.

Santa is Coming Tonight

Our "CHRISmas"

We are thankful for the rain but so glad the kids could get out today and burn some of their energy off.

Uncle Chris was leaving for a Toledo Christmas so we had our own celebration tonight.

He had Tina and Tristan with him.

Making Buckeyes was on the agenda for the night.

Sharing a few gifts with each other.

We love Uncle Chris and so glad we could spend this night all together.

Baking With a Little Help From Friends

I love serving in Young Womens with these girls. Love being surrounded by them and all that they add to my life. During a meeting last week, Tracy said lets have a day where we bake all day, so here it is.

Not sure they had my four kids in mind but it sure did add for some laughs. I know that my kids loved this day. Tracy and Tracey are 2 people you want to be around no matter what age you are.

Jackson's dough man

Larson, you can ice the cookies as long as you dont eat the frosting!

Tracy was the one to catch our little guy with the green tongue.

Homemade carmels by Tracey.

We ended up with cut out cookies, carmels, fudge, toffee bark, and I added in buckeyes.

This was such a great idea. I had a wonderful day with my family and friends, didnt worry about all that still needed to be done, and ended up with a ton of goodies to share!

A very successful baking day.