Christmas 2009

On Christmas eve at Mom and Dads house we had a talent show this year that was different. All the grand kids organized it and it turned out really good. Braxton played a card game called Blink for his talent, he is good at this game. After high school I crotchet a lot of baby blankets, that was my talent.

Brian's talent was catching quarters from his elbow.

The grand kids performed a commercial They sang "found a peanut"

Braxton's present from Colt: Rangers Apprentice

Brian got a web cam from my mom and dad. That was the neatest thing about Christmas this year, on Christmas Eve we chatted via webcam with Tyler and Tiffany and saw Nicholas, and on Christmas day via webcam with Brian's family.

On Christmas morning I got a pair of Shape Ups. They are fitness footwear they are so cool, I am way excited.

Braxton is wearing his new pajamas from Memaw and Grandpa. He got a Harry Potter snuggie from Santa. Mom and Dad and Tim came over on Christmas morning and had breakfast with us.

Me and Brian are wearing our new pajamas. Everyone got new pj's this year, we all opened our boxes with new ones at the same time it was the funnest part on Christmas Eve.

This is for Brian's family back in Pennsylvania he wanted to show his computer.

Merry Christmas

  

Christmas at Work

Some of the things that we did at Icon are, On Tuesday we had a potluck breakfast brunch with mostly office personal and management. Me and my mom brought fresh fruit and I made a yummy fruit dip to go with it. The dip was a hit!! We also brought a unisex gift to the brunch and played a fun game to exchange gifts with everyone after we ate.

This is the tree in the receiving office, that's my desk that you can barely see on the side. In just the receiving area where I work we had drawn names for a gift exchange, it was a $5.oo limit. On Wednesday we had to bring the gifts to work so we could open them while we had cake and ice cream. (Might I add) I put this little tree up and decorated it, it has been my duty for years because everyone says I do such a good job and for years it was just me and my boss in the office anyways.

On the 24th is when I bring presents to work for my closest friends for another exchange Its a day that I look forward to because it has been a tradition that has gone on for many years.

We went and saw the lights!

We were cold but it was fun to see the lights with the crowds of other people in the Christmas spirit just like us. We went to the Ogden's Christmas village.

This picture of the big green tree was the lights in the park by the Roy City office building. I loved this tree it looks better in person than in picture. I called it the Emerald tree (referring to the Emerald City on The Wizard of Oz)

Braxton was tired from Christmas shopping today and didnt really want to see the lights, he was much happier if he got to take the pictures. This is one of his not so good pictures. But it really does look neat just wanted to share it!

School Christmas Assembly

Braxton's choir group performed in the school assembly along with the other choirs and the Jazz band. They sang Born, Born in Bethlehem. He had a concert this week too, the assembly was very worthwhile we were glad that we went, they sang good!


hint: He is on the middle row in the middle.

Playing in the Snow

Me and Braxton were playing in the snow.....

It doesn't look much like a snowman, its more of a snow blob!! Whatever it looks like we just spent time together as a family and it was fun!

Making Gingerbread Cookies

Cutting out our little gingerbread men

All lined up and ready for baking!

Warm and freshly baked out of the oven

Our family Brian (Fat man cookie) Jackie and Braxton

The Best Thanksgiving Ever 2007 !!

I am sure everybody would agree in my family. That year was a favorite Thanksgiving memory!

IT SNOWED TODAY!!

Its a winter wonderland...........

Taia says Hey won't someone please come out and lets build a snow man. Her white plastic ball was in front of her and she was nudging it to build a snowball.

We had planned on decorating the tree and when the snow started coming down it just put us more in the spirit, a perfect day for it to snow!!! Burr we will just stay inside and keep warm. We checked the chimney flume and the fireplace was all good to go, this is just the beginning of many fires in the future this season. Yea!!!

15 years at Icon

On Nov 15, it will be my 15Th year anniversary date for working at Icon. Can you believe it? I remember saying that very first year many times "Oh I am not planning on working here much longer, what have I gotten myself into working for this company." There was a meeting with the whole Returns Center and Me and my Mom were both awarded with a Gold medallion and Sams/Wal-mart gift cards. The years have gone so fast!!!

Thankful

WOW another year is coming to an end. I have so many things that I am thankful for, I am thankful for a lot of the good in my life and for my family and friends. I have made some new friends this past year, and some friendships have just gotten stronger. I want to thank everyone in my family because at one time or another they have helped me at sometime.

I would like to start off the first of this month and say thank you to Brian and Braxton. I am so blessed to have them in my life. They are such support to me, they are more support to me than I am to them I think. They are both good listeners and they show me understanding when I need to ramble on about my trials and issues. Being the only girl in a family of all boys hasn't been a easy life, its been a lonely life.

We have had quite a year these past 11 months. When Brian got layed off on January 9th, I knew this was going to be a hard year. We have had our ups and downs other years but this year has been hard and has made us grow in areas that I think we needed the most. Brian has never complained to me ever about not having a job. He has been strong this whole year, he gets down and discouraged but he is always there for me. I try to be patient and remember that I still have a job and give him positive encouragement. We joke that he is the AM. mom and I am the PM. mom, he has helped take care of Braxton and Taia during the day and some of the household duties. That has helped me alot because it has taken the pressure off of me. He gets Braxton up and off to school and drives him to the Jr. High and picks him up everyday. That alone has taken stress off of my shoulders that I used to have to deal with when he was working.


I hope to post more thoughts and feelings too on the blog in the future. I just wanted everyone to know how thankful I am just for the simple things of life.

Fall Choir Concert

Braxton is in the Celtic choir at his Jr. High which is an all Boys choir. He had his first concert tonight, the music teacher said they were all nervous because it was there very first concert but they sang really well. The whole choir has to wear identical shirts and ties and black pants. There next concert is in December which I am excited for and I plan on recording, I hope they sing some good favorite Christmas carols so plan on a future posting for that one.But when Me and Brian were on our way to the school, to take Braxton because we had to have him there a hour early before the concert, the Compass wouldnt start. There was no sign of that one coming at all. My mom and dad were going to the concert as well so they gave us a ride. Thanks to my brothers Tim and Nathan while we were at the concert they were buying me a new battery, they put the new one in and when the concert was over the Compass was running as good as new.

CSI- A HALLOWEEN STORY by BRAXTON

(I like the TV series CSI Miami and Bones, I wanted to reenact a case for fun. )The call came in on my cell phone around 9:30 am on a Saturday on Oct 3rd about a body that was found in a forest area. I am a crime scene investigator for UT. My mom had to drive me to the scene of the accident because of course I cant drive she is also my witness. I needed to look over the scene for clues and try to figure out what happened.
I found the murder weapon it was a knife and the body was now all skeletal remains. It appears that the victim was a female, and she was stabbed in the chest, the murderer put a pirate necklace on the victim which tells me that he wanted to leave his mark.

Well I got a call and I need to leave and get the body's remains back to the Jeffersonian Institute. I also wanted to say that I am a Forsenic Anthropologist. Goodbye!

What happened on Oct 1st

Today I decided to take the whole day off because in my area at work it has been really slow, I feel lucky that I did because around 1:00pm Brian discovered I had a flat tire. Look at the size of that screw!!

This is a picture of the new tire where the flat one was. I didnt end up fixing just one tire the Compass got all four new shoe tires today. I really had no choice the tires where getting bad and I planned on replacing them but not till November. Oh well, I at least made it till the First day of October one month to go!! I just hope nothing else happens this month but you never know......Just BEWARE to everyone this month !!

School picture 8th

What's up?

I decided about a month ago that I wanted a change with my hairstyle along with the change in weather. I guess I was "Falling" for a change in my appearance or something. The Fall season always works magic on me every year it stimulates me somehow. So on Sat the 19th I got my hair cut short up to my collarbone and I colored my own hair to a medium brown. What do you think? I got a lot of compliments on the color at work which surprised me and I am deciding that maybe I will consider Out with the dishwater blonde and In with the brown. Why not?
Okay onto another story last night I was in the kitchen dishing us all up some ice cream when all of a sudden there was a loud bang that scared Me and Braxton to death. Braxton was standing next to me hiding from Brian, so me and Braxton were like what the heck!!! I turned around scared and than my expression changed to pure laughter. (I still get a chuckle about it still) There is Brian standing with a Disneyland souvenir Mickey Mouse hat on his head, a sword and a shield and he has a funny expression on his face.....probably because he sees my expression. Than the fight begins right in the kitchen these two are sword playing. I am in the middle of it and I am laughing the whole time. A hour ago this had all just started out as a tickle fight, it than got carried off into the back bedroom out of my sight. These two were no doubt having fun in there creative make believe world of Final Fantasy games Braxton was White Mage and Brian was Freelancer, that's what they told me.

Yard Work and Such

(There is no particular reason for posting today, only this is what we have been up to for the past month) A couple of weeks ago Me and Brian were out pruning back long tree branches on a lot of the trees and cleaning up the yard, to get ready for the sale. The huge pile of branches in the back! (waiting for the dumpster to haul them off)

Taia was helping us and she was having fun with the branches at the same time. I bet she thought "Oh my gosh look at my big stick to chew on", we were having fun with her too!

Taia and the kitten next door are best friends, the kitten comes over a lot to play with Taia. They spend a lot of time with each other, its really cute!! I promise the kitten is not trying to get away from Taia like a big scare-de cat how it looks in the picture.

Hanging out on the back deck with the screen door closed.