Week #49: Stewart the Elf

This Week...

...the kids used their "Book it" certificates at Pizza Hut. Jason was working and so I took the kids out for dinner. It was nice that it was free. I think next time we'll just order them as carry out.

...we put the tree up. This was the first year that I let the kids put all the ornaments on by themselves. Other years, I've been super picky about how the tree looks and I was a task master with the ornaments. Not this year. I let the kids have at it; less stress for me and it looked great.

 

...someone left us the Elf on the Shelf book. We read the book to find out about the elf. We were so excited that he would be coming to visit us the next day. Our Elf is named Stewart. He chose to sit on the tree his first day in our house. Lainey waved to him from the couch. That was the closest she could get to him.

Here are some other spots he chose to hide in this week. He even ate some of the popcorn off of Emma's garland for the tree!

...Emma made Jason a birthday cake. I love that she can bake. We sang happy birthday to him before he went to work.

Love you dad!

...we went to the ward party. The food was a big hit with my kids this year. They had Santa in the Relief Society room and funneled people through very easily and effectively. The band played Christmas music and the little kids could run around and dance. It was the best Christmas Party we've been to.

 

 

The kids soon discarded their shoes and socks to play and dance.

Week #48: A Day of Grattitude

This week...

...Lainey helped us shop at Winco. I had to remind her that the bulk bins aren't for eating out of. You actually have to pay for it. Haha! We were getting supplies for our blessings mix. Grandma gave some to the women she visit teaches and I gave some to mine, plus our school teachers.

...Lainey painted Grandma Zirker's fingernails. She was thrilled that Grandma let her. I was amazed that it took Grandma at least a week to take it off once she went home.

...Emma's class helped package diapers for the diaper bank. I went in to help with the project. We separated the boxes into sets of 30 diapers for distribution. They set up an assembly line for counting them out, putting them in bags, and tying them off.Those kids worked fast. We were done in no time at all.

...the kids and I went to Mattawa for Thanksgiving. Jason had to work. Since he's on nights, we went out Wednesday after the kids got out of half day school. We've been on a Ticket to Ride kick and Cherice is nice enough to play with me and my kids. The kids are actually good at it. (And I don't have to play the game for all of them so I don't mind playing.)


The kids went out with Grandpa to feed the baby calf.

Grandma let Lainey, Katie, and Emma help her make the rolls.

Cherice kept the rolls in and out of the oven.

Corey made the gravy.

I played games. Hee Hee.

 Me, Christian, Cherice, Alex, Lainy (Austin's girlfriend), Austin

Christian, Cherice, Jordan, Austin, Lainy, Emma

We had a great time being with family and enjoying good food together. I love my family so much.

...we saw a rainbow at Walmart. Rainbows are one of those wonders that never get old.

...we made Christmas Santa Wish Lists.

...we went to the Tri-City Americans Hockey Game. It was FOP night and Jason dropped the puck before the game. When The Rink contacted someone from the FOP, they said they wanted a hero to drop the puck. The FOP contact said his first thought was of Jason and he called to see if Jason would do it. It always makes Jason a little uncomfortable when people call him a hero. That's definitely not why he did what he did on July 9th. But because of his actions, that is just what he is. He acted. He confronted the threat instead of turning the other way. He prevented worse tragedy from happening.

This lady was so cute. She comes to all the games and has done for years. She had her trusty cowbell and boy did she ring it. She knew her hockey as well. We had a couple questions that she answered for us.

...Lainey got her reading in. This girl cracks me up. She loves to read out loud and make up her own story for the pictures.

...It tried to snow. This is about all we got.

Week #47:The end of the best trip to Arizona & New Carpet

This Week...

...we attended the temple dedication for the newly built Phoenix, Arizona temple. Maybe next year we'll get to do a session there! We got a ticket from a member of their bishopric and went with Raleigh and Jordan and the boys to their stake center. Even though we were watching it via broadcast it was still very inspiring. So many new temples in Arizona! I grabbed some pictures from the internet. We didn't dare drive down around the temple for fear of all the traffic.

As we were walking back to the car, a smile jumped out at me from the sidewalk. I snapped it and sent it to my sister. Happy Sunday!

We mostly stayed close to the Hayter home on Sunday. Here's a look. I love Jordan's style and it's been fun to see how they've finished their home.

We went for a walk. For Arizona weather, it was actually a little chilly while we were there. We put our jackets on and walked around their neighborhood. We had some great views of the desert landscape.

We saw a new cactus that we hadn't seen before, the spider cactus. And caught some with blooms.

 

They made us some amazing pear pizza for dinner. De-lic-ious! I probably had six or seven pieces.

We ate delectable treats-It's it. We've had these before in Arizona. They are just so fun for me. I found their stash in the freezer and ate one, or two. Not at the same time...and they totally knew I was eating one. I don't steal their treats. Really.

 

We went to a place called Chino Bandidos. It was Chinese food prepared like Mexican food. So it was terriyaki chicken in a burrito and jade chicken in a quesadilla. It was different, but tasty.

We went shopping at Rod Works and Charming Charlies. Both very fun stores. Notice the wreath, Christmas decorations in Arizona seemed out of place. It wasn't cold enough for Christmas.

Rod Works was a fun store to go into. Much like a Hobby Lobby or Real Deals, I was in heaven. Charming Charlie's was a jewelry and accessory store.

We ate lunch at Smash Burgers. It's fresh meat that is literally smashed together and thrown on the grill. Jordan had a black bean burger and I would've liked that better. It had a great taste. Love the thin fries. Yum!

We also took a trip to World Market. Love that place! Home of Hi-Chews and Kinder chocolates. Yum! The Schoko-Bons were a new try and I loved them.

And then it was time to say goodbye. Until next year!

And then it was time to see the kids...Yes, I made them wear these hats.

Now back to work...

...We had our Young Women in Excellence. Two Young Women worked super hard to achieve their Medallion (Isabel and Miriam), and quite a few others received ribbons for values completed. We had a night with the stars. I got to introduce each girl as they walked the runway, commenting on their FABulous dress or choice of color for the season.

Bishop Pierce and President Fielding were the announcers of the awards.

Noreen took a walk down the red carpet to receiver her ribbons.

Beehive Class

Me, Nancy Rodriguez, Diana Delgado, Emily Hale, Mckenna Slaugh, Sister Draney

Miamaid Class

Perla Valdovinos, Sister King, Egla Kareli Gonzalez, Noreen Hale, Isabel Soriano, Emma Nieforth, Mya Ramirez, Sister Salsbury

Laurel Class

Sister Votaw, Savannah Flores, Miriam Martinez, Natalie Marley, Alma Ruelas, Sister Norman

We made a good team, Shelly Norman and I. It's the end of a great time together. (We're being released Sunday.) It's hard to let the Young Women go, but that is the way of the church. Change is as constant as the gospel itself. It is time for a new adventure. ( I do not know why Sister Shelly is staring off without a smile on her face.)

...so once we got home from Arizona, we were on to ripping out the carpet. Our new carpet was scheduled to be installed two days after we got back. Yikes! 

 

We had things stacked everywhere, in the bathrooms and laundry room, to get it off the floor for the carpet installers. This was super chaotic, pushing things here and there and crawling over things to find clothes and toiletries.

Before of the living room...

We just pushed it all into the dining room.

Wait! It looks like the perfect spot for homework. Maybe we don't need to finish it.

Abraham showed up bright and early Wednesday morning.

He was nice enough to let the kids help out with stapling the pad down. I was ready to shoo the kids off to another activity, but Abraham was so nice about their interest and let them be involved.

Benjamin stuck around to watch him work the seam in the master bedroom.

Abraham came Tuesday and got started on laying the carpet upstairs. Jason was busy prepping his living room built-in for spraying. Tuesday night, he sprayed so that he could get it done before the new carpet was put in. Good plan. So we have yet another paint booth.

Then it was ready for carpet install the next day. Isn't it beautiful?! This is by far my favorite of his projects.

With the carpet..Doesn't that look sharp?!

The kids thought it was great to play the wii on the 60 inch TV. The chaos didn't phase them.

The girls camped out that first night because we didn't get their beds put back together. We wanted to paint and it was easier not to have their beds crowding up the space.

We gave them a nice accent wall. Emma wasn't quite sure to begin with. But after it dried and several days passed, we all warmed up to the color. (Another point for Whitney.)

We also painted the play room. Only I got a little too close to the wall. Dang it! Jason had a good laugh.

My lovely new stairs...

The boys' room. We repainted their walls revere pewter and left one blue wall for an accent. I like it a ton better. It's not so dark in there as it was with four dark blue walls.

The landing...