Ethical Dilema

Would it be completely immoral and unethical or just plain tacky to send out a Christmas Card where in it no one else is looking or smiling, but my hair looks great? Just kidding. It would be hard to make my kids look bad. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to the Camus Library and to Lacamus Lake to get our family photo taken. Tad and Becky Lowder took the photos and lets just say they know their way around a camera and around Camus. Thanks Lowders, I hope I took some good ones of your family, although it would be hard not to.

I think this is my favorite.

I love how Warren is looking at Auri and I love how Max is hugging me.

Black Friday

On Black Friday Holly and I stayed the night at my parents house and got up at 4:30 to go shopping. It was CRAZY! We went to Target first and got great stuff and really good deals, we stood in a line that went well beyond the back of the store, but it moved fast and it was totally worth it.

Before at 4:30 in the morning

After, at 10:30 am. We got chemical peels on our faces so we have no make-up on.

Thanksgiving

I am thankful for my family. I really wish Kiran, Leland, and Will with all their families could have been there.

Roasting by an open fire.

Mom's place settings.

Auri snacking before dinner.

Raspberry and Pumpkin pie.

Warren in combat mode, ready to pounce.

When all is said and done there are dishes to do.

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Why?

I can see why she wanted to eat the whole container with a spoon, but why in the hair, why?

Thanksgiving

Top 5 things I like about Thanksgiving

1. cranberry sauce and eggnogg
2. the black Friday adds
3. hanging in the kitchen with my Mom
4. watching a Christmas movie that night
5. My Most favorite is that every year on Thanksgiving morning Spencer and I go out to breakfast! We have done this about 4 years in a row, last year we went to Elmers, we sit and talk and talk and talk. We talk about the highlights of this past year and what will happen next year. We talk about Christmas, work, marriage, health and a million other things. Seriously, we take 2 hours. We would order appetizers and dessert if we could to make it last longer. It is one of my favorite holiday traditions.

I don't have that many Thanksgiving decorations, but I did inherit this big turkey plate from my Gram and I pulled it out on Saturday while we were cleaning out the garage.

To transition from Halloween into Thanksgiving I just turn my pumpkins around.

It gets the job done.

My 33rd birthday

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday and it was eventful to say the least. The day began with Max throwing up at 4am, if I were a novice, I would have been devastated and wondering why motherhood was so hard and dirty, but as a veteran (it was Nov.11 ) I was not even phased by it. I just did laundry from about 4am-8am and then it was business as usual. Spencer gave me one gift before work, it was Zuma's Revenge, a computer game I play. I think he gave it to me early to keep the boys entertained until I could go out with my friends. It worked.

Spencer took these right before I went out to lunch. It is so fitting. Max, attached to me at the waist, Warren in combat mode and Auri somewhat indifferent to what was going on.

Amy's chocolate cake. SOOO AMAZING!

We went to my annual Buffalo Wild Wings.

It was wonderful loud, entertaining, and delish.

This is what opening my presents looks like every year on my birthday and on Christmas.

The boys do it for me.

Carla got me my annual pumpkin, my favorite one so far. I love it!

Carla also got me an advent calendar, it is made of wood and the boys have been asking to put candy in it since last night. Something tells me that the candy won't last until Christmas. I wonder what else I could put in there. Maybe baby orniments for Auri's little christmas tree.

These are the ornaments that the boys picked out for me, they were perfect. Also Spencer got me a Christmas tree for the boys room. I have always told them they could have one, well this year they actually get one. I am really excited to decorate it. That will make a total of 4 Christmas trees in our house. I have to get one for Auri's room and I have one for the living room and one for the family room. I'll take pictures when the time comes. My parents, Holly and Brian and I went out to dinner at "Beaches". Again, it was amazing,

great food, great company, great service and great birthday gifts.
This is the jacket Holly picked out for me. LOVE IT!

A couple of days ago I lost my wedding rings, I called my Mom in a panic and she told me that she was very good at finding rings and other small lost items. She found it in about 30 minutes, (I had been looking most of the day). She found them in my jewelery cleaner bottle. So for my birthday my parents got me a small jewelery box to put to put my rings in.

Holly, Brian, my Dad, me and my Mom.

Photos of my past 14 Birthdays

Sorry, this is a long post, but it is my 33rd birthday this week and whenever it is a holiday it makes me reflect on what I was doing last year and in this case, the past 14 years. I have to say, birthdays get better the older I get, I think it may be because I have lower expectations and I do what I really want. The top 5 things I love most about my birthday are

1. Seeing what Holly gets me. She gets me things that make me look cooler than I am.

2. Sharing my birthday with my Dad.

3. Opening the gifts from my kids. Spencer takes them shopping and they pick out a gift for me. It tells me so much about what they think of me.

4. Getting a new Christmas album.

5. Amy's chocolate cake.

2008 BIRTHDAY 32

Just last year we went to Buffalo Wild wings and ordered 7 kind of wings. It is the only time a year I go to that place, I don't know why I like it so much, maybe because it is loud there and I am kind of loud, they also play great music.

I love the look on Warren's face when I open his presents. He is so eager to make me happy. Last year he got me pencils.

2007 BIRTHDAY 31
I was pregnant with Auri, but it was a good day. I met Holly and my sister-in-law Amy for lunch at the Burger King on Terwilliger (it has a huge play structure for the kids) I also had lunch the previous Saturday at the Spaghetti Factory with my friends and I had dinner at a German restaurant to celebrate my Dad turning 60. It was a good day.



Lunch at Burger King


Warren's gift to me, again look at his face.

This was the first year in my ward and

these are some of my friends and I at the Spaghetti Factory.

2006 BIRTHDAY 30

We were in Aberdeen this year just before I moved to Vancouver. This is Max and I on my parents front porch.
My red velvet cake.

2005 BIRTHDAY # 29
I can't find any photos of my actualy birthday, but what I do remember is that Spencer and I had reservations for the Marriott in Seattle that weekend. My parents were going to come down and watch the boys, but Warren woke up that day throwing up everywhere, so we stayed home and got take-out from P.F. Chang's. So no photos. This photo was taken about 2 weeks later.

2004 BIRTHDAY #28

Leland got married on November 11, so that day we celebrated my birthday in Venice Beach and going to the L.A. Temple. That night we also went to Santa Monica shopping a little too. It was a great birthday.

2003 BIRTHDAY 27

Spencer was out of town for this birthday, he got back at about 10 at night and brought me some lemon cake. But I do remember having lunch at Maire Calendars that day with my friend Meg.

2002 BIRTHDAY 26
I was about 7 months pregnant with Warren in this photo. We celebrated in Aberdeen.

2001 BIRTHDAY 25

This photo was taken November 10th. It is actually our engagement photo.

We had a birthday dinner in Aberdeen

2000 BIRTHDAY 24

This was my last semester of college in Utah. Kiran is pregnant with Savanna in this photo and the woman in the photo is her mother-in-law Patty. She made me a birthday dinner and cake. I didn't have that many friends in college. I don't know why.

1999 BIRTHDAY 23

Leland and I. For this birthday Kiran and I went shopping at Costco.

1998 BIRTHDAY 22
I drove down to California to meet my Dad and we celebrated with his Mom,

otherwise known as Gram.

MISSING PHOTO 1997 BIRTHDAY 21, I lived in New York, I can't find that photo, which is too bad because I remember I went to Wall Street and Rockefeller Plaza, bought myself a new Christmas album and my roommate Cass bought me the EVITA soundtrack. It was really one of my favorite birthdays.

1996 Birthday 20

I don't have any photos of me on my birthday for this one either, but I do remember shopping in downtown Salt Lake and Holly bringing me home a Boston cream pie from Marie Calendars where she was waiting tables. I do have a photo of Holly and I on her birthday wich is only a few weeks later.

1995 Birthday 19

This is my first birthday away from home at BYU-Hawaii. It was a great day. Kass, Angie and I went to the beach and Angie took me to a pizza restaurant on the North Shore. I think later that night we did our nails while doing laundry.

Above- Angie,

Below -Kass

I know this is a really long post and it seems really self centered, but I eventually want to print all these blog pages and use them as a journal. This might be reaching a little, but Ilike to think Auri will really like these photos, I know I do. Do you remember your past 14 birthdays? Any favorites to share?