Goals for 2009

Schools back in and we are bummed! We had such a busy 2 weeks off with family coming in to town, then my birthday and new years that we didn't even really get to sit down and relax. School is always such a stressful time for all of us...between Chris' studying and my school work, planning and grading papers, we rarely have time to just talk. So since it is the New Year, I thought I would publicly share some of our own "Goals for 2009"

1. Chris home at 6:30pm - 7:30pm for dinner, bath time, scriptures and to put the boys to bed, no matter what test is coming up

2. Sara make dinner every night ready at...you guessed it 6:30pm

3. Study the scriptures as a couple at least 15 minutes a day. We are going to study the D&C/Church History pamphlet that they are studying in Sunday School.

4. Prayers as a family...morning and night as well as one scripture story with the kids at night.


5. Attend our ward Temple Night once a month...the first one is next Tuesday the 13th!

Those are just some of our goals for 2009 that are for our family. I am a huge resolution person and have a couple of my own. I hope everyone has a fabulous New Year....yay for 2009!

I stole this picture from Amanda's blog. I don't have our cute pictures because or old camera wasn't working! This is from when we went to the Med School Christmas Party. I love that kind of stuff, but Chris is never really a fan, so I have to drag him there.

SpOiLeD rOtTeN

I can't believe that it has been two weeks since Chris and I got out of school for a little VaCaTiOn!  But, I wouldn't say that we have been able to rest.  Since Friday, December 19th, we have not had a break from parties, family get togethers, or other holiday festivities.  Our first adventure was getting our living room in order...we painted, decorated and just recently got a new dining room table (because I am SpOiLeD rOtTen).

The before...Chris spent all afternoon measuring, marking and taping the wall to get painted.

The after...doesn't it look amazing!?!

And here it is, our living/dining room...we still have a bunch to do, but it is getting there, and don't mind the toys.  We watch Home and Garden TV, all of the time and they never have toys everywhere, but if I didn't, then I would be lying...=)

Here are some of our holiday highlights...Chris' mom came in town to spend the holiday with us.  It was a lot of fun to have her here and Tracen had a blast playing with her.  We had Chris' family over on Christmas Eve for dinner and some present opening by the kids.  It was a lot of fun!  The kids really enjoyed all of their toys!  Thanks Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Craig!!!

Tracen opening his super fun blocks!
Logan and Kelsey playing with his fun new toy!
Jace playing with Logan's new toy =)  He really liked it!
Morgan with her new amazing TINKER BELL blanket!  Do you love it?  This year, I decided to be ambitious and make ALOT of our Christmas gifts. I had more projects in mind, but time was just too short even though I started in October =( The grand total was: 9 pairs of pjs, 1 night gown (with help from my mom on this), 5 blankets, 1 bag. I better get started earlier next year!

After, the festivities, Chris, Maree and I stayed up putting together the tool bench that the boys were going to get from Grandma Maree, GiGi and Grandpa Jay. Then I stayed up sewing and tying blankets and wrapping gifts...you will notice in the pictures that it is almost 2:00am when I am taking pictures of our Christmas, but it was fun none-the-less. We don't really have any pictures of our Christmas day because lo-and behold, our camera decided to break. Perfect timing huh???

Here is our Christmas...Tracen got a power wheels...once he opened it, well, pulled off his ever-s0-cute blanket, he was not interested in anything else.  He had to sit in his "truck" the rest of morning as he opened his other presents.

What great disguises "Santa" has.  Do you notice the time???

Our one Christmas picture before we got too frustrated to continue.  Sorry, its a bit blurry, but I wanted to get a picture of Tracen with his tool bench for Gigi and Grandpa in SLC =D  Thanks!

For mine and Chris' birthday, Chris' Mom decided to surprise us with a new camera!  THANK YOU!!!  Here is the Log-meister!  He is moving around so much, doing the Army Crawl.

Here is the Tracen-man!  He is full of energy and little sayings!  He is so much fun, but definitely a handful!

After all the Christmas festivities, we still had more fun planned.  My brother, Jason, and his family came to town for more Christmas fun!  We went to Truckee for a yummy brunch (excluding my raw hamburger) at the SQUEEZE IN, then went back to my parents' house to open presents and play games.  It was a ton of fun!  On Monday, we took the Sydenham-Karrasch-Foster grandkids to Kiddie Kandids for a cousins picture.  Again, the most difficult one was Tracen, but the one we decided on turned out pretty cute! 

Tracen, Logan, Zack, Miles, Ally

Monday night we hit up the Blind Onion for some AMAZING pizza!  Here I am with sweet Baby Miles.  He is about 4 months old.  Isn't he cute!!!?!!

Logan LOVES his cousin Miles, infact, he really wanted to eat him!  Grandma is trying to hide in the background...silly Grandma!

For my birthday, all I wanted was to have some friends over to play games, so a few people came over and we rocked out to Guitar Hero World Tour!  

Some Christmas and Birthday highlights, because once again, I am SpOiLeD rOtTeN!

I got this for my birthday!  WE LOVE GUITAR HERO!!!

Chris' favorite present!!!  But he hasn't quite learned how to fly it yet!  It is so big and powerful!

Need I say more???  We are having a Mama Mia party soon!!!

My CRICUT EXPRESSION!!!  I haven't used it yet, but I have BIG plans for this baby!!!

For any of you out there that don't know, I love Nativity sets! My Sister-in-law, Christin, made this for me!  I absolutely love it!!!

We hope you all had a great Holiday Season!

We Believe...The Polar Express

On Friday we packed up the car and headed across the mountain with the Iverson's to Sacramento where we rode an older locomotive that was dressed up for Christmas...The POLAR EXPRESS. There were dancers, elves, hot chocolate, cookies, the Hobo, and none other than the big man himself... SANTA CLAUS! We had so much fun!

Here we are...We can never get Tracen to smile on command...he has completely shunned that idea.

The Karrasch's and the Iverson's...we are hot in our matching jammies!

Lindsay, Wade and Brooklyn (maybe not Brooklyn's best picture...but Lindsay looks cute =D)

The Hobo came and visited our train car...seeing if we truly do BELIVE!!!

We stopped at the NORTH POLE and got to see SANTA CLAUS.  I didn't get a good enough picture of him to post, but it was sooo cute how Tracen and Brooklyn LOVED to see him.  It was MAGICAL.

The Hobo decided to play a trick on us and run through pretending to be Santa!  BOOO!!!

There he is!  The BIG MAN himself!  SANTA>>>He gave out the first gift of Christmas to ALL of the children.

Our family and the Elves...Check out our matching PJ's they are DANG CUTE!!!  I made them and then bought the matching t-shirts.  Chris was such a sport to wear such FUN PJ's!

The CUTE Iverson's

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Okay...and just for your viewing pleasure...at school all of the Med School Guys decided to have a beard growing contest for 3 weeks...so yes, I was married to a MOUNTAIN MAN!!! Then the last day, they had a contest for the most creative looking beard and this was what came about...REALLY CHRIS??? It was SOOO HIDEOUS!!! I am so glad that he shaved before our fun family adventure on Friday!

For Uncle Kenton

L-lovable little prince

O-0cho meses (8 months for the non-bilinguals =D)
G-gleeful little GUY (anyone who knows him, knows that he is full of smiles
A-adorable baby boy (& Amanda's little man =D)

N-nephew of Kenton =D  (his real daddy) j/k

You Better Watch Out...

You better not cry...better not pout, I'm telling you why...

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!

Today we went to the Scrapbook Cottage and got the boys' picture taken with none other than the infamous, Santa Claus!  Tracen loved him when he talked to him, but as with every picture moment in our lives, as soon as the camera reared its face...Tracen changed his!

Also, for the past few Saturdays, my sister, Amanda, and I have been rehearsing for the Spirit of the Season show at the Grand Sierra and today was the day.  We had performances at 2pm and 7pm.  It was so much fun!  There are many, many talented people in the Reno area.  The only problem is, all the people who performed in the choir, were all a bit older.  But they were fun!  I miss singing everyday and am grateful that I had this opportunity this year.  Music really puts me into the Christmas spirit!!!

Oh and did I mention that Susan Egan, the original Belle in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast was our featured soloist???  AMAMZING!  You may know her better as the voice of Meg (Megara) from Disney's Hercules!

MY TOP 5...

MY TOP 5 Amazing things that my students do on a daily basis...(because they don't think that I went to High School)

5.  Sit and talk to their neighbor while I am teaching and when I call them out on it they look at me like??  WHO ME???  You are accusing me of WHAT???  I would NEVER...

4.  Put gum at the top of their mouths and chew it really quick when they think that I am not looking, then say, "I don't have gum, it's just my teeth"...really???  Why???  

3.  TEXTING>>>need I say more???  The stiff look they get when they are trying to text during my class so that I won't notice that they aren't paying attention, but even better, when I say, "Give me your phone" and they say, "I was just texting my Mom and there is a text message chain from Bobby-Jane about where they are going after school"  Really???  I HATE CELL PHONES SOMETIMES, but I have gotten a nice collection of them this year =D

2.  The GROAN-COMPLAIN-GROAN some more when the announcement of what their homework is going to be...As if they expected us to NOT have Homework when we have had it every single day so far this year...or if they GROAN just a little louder, I might actually change my mind and not give them any!

1.  And really the main reason for my ranting...When kids take a test and CHOOSE to "HELP" each other...nice!  REALLY??? I wasn't born yesterday...I might have two kids, but I am not deteriorating...

I HATE BEING THE MEAN GUY>>>BUT THEY MAKE ME DO IT!  =(