Drastic Measures

December has been a hard month at our house. We were all sick for the better part of the month. Needless to say we are ready for the New Year. I have had long hair my whole life it seems like. I've wanted to cut it short for a few months now. I have went to the same wonderful hairdresser Helen at Salon 720 for over 5 years. When I was in last time I told her I wanted my hair short. She told me to wait until after the holidays and if I still wanted to she'd love to cut it. So I knew when I got up I was going to cut it all off. I didn't tell anyone I didn't want them to try to talk me out of it. I really like it. It' s so different. When I came home Ryan just stared at me. All he could say was " It's short". I wasn't sure if he hated it. We took the kids and my mom to see a movie at Edwards. The boys saw Eragon and the girls saw Charlotte's web. Both movies get thumbs up. Then we went to dinner at Perkins. We ordered breakfast. it was so yummy. We took Jake and my mom to her house. She followed us in her car to our house to get some clothes for Jake. He stayed the night. When we got home Ryan was staring at me, I said what? You hate my hair. He said no honey I really like it. You look different. My dad threatened me to never cut my hair he likes it long. He hasn't seen it yet. I'm worried he'll be upset with me. It'll be interesting when I see him what will happen.

Light Brite & Pink High Heels

Aunt Carebear and Jim got Jacob a light brite for Christmas. He's wanted one since January when we visited my friend Melody in Boise. She has two boys that are 5 &6. They played with the light brite while we were there. I looked everywhere and never found one. Jake loves it. Ryan and him played with it all afternoon. Then the boys found out that if you take it in the bathroom and it's dark the light brite is so beautiful. They made me cover my eyes and they took me in the kids bathroom to show me this beautiful ice cream cone.

I thought I'd share these two funny pictures of Marli. Notice the pink high heels. She can't walk in them at all. It's so funny to watch her try. She gets mad when we laugh at her for stumbling.

Marli Pretty Pink Princess and Ponies

Grandma Bette & Papa Bill got Marli a dress up kit...with pink shoes, necklaces, bag and all sorts of girlie things. Marli giggled "LOOK everything is Pink my favorite color" maybe she'll be a girlie girl after all????



I thought this picture of Ryan was hilarious. He's like what the??? It's a pony hair salon. How funny!




Marli in front of Grandma Bette's and Papa Bill's Christmas tree.

Treats For Jacob

Jacob always love treats. He had a piece of banana cream pie. He spilled a little. Whoops.



My dad's dad Grandpa John always sends us a 5lb box of Russel Stovers chocolates for Christmas. This year my dad finally convinced him to send a smaller box. Ever day that Jake is at Papa Bill's he gets 3 chocolates. He loves them. He even called Papa John and thanked him for the delicious chocolates.

Christmas With Papa Bill & Grandma Bette

We had fun sitting around with my parents after dinner.


We tease my dad every year we're always all done opening our gifts and he still has a pile of gifts. Jacob is just like him. When we were in Park City last in October I bought my dad two Harley shirts from the Harley shop. I put them away for Christmas. It was so hard for me to not tell him. He said after he opened them one day at lunch I started to tell him and then I changed the subject. I really wanted to give them to him when we got home in Oct. It was something that I knew he would like.


My mom does so much for everyone else. She never spends any $ on herself. We were at Fred Meyers one day and I had her pick out a Columbia fleece jacket it's a pretty purplish/red and some yummy Jammie's. She is so cute she tried to act surprised when she opened them.

Christmas Afternoon

We went over to my mom and dad's to have dinner with them and exchange gifts .

My mom made a wonderful prime rib dinner.
Then we exchanged gifts. Both my brothers weren't able to come home for Christmas. I was sad that we weren't all together. Hopefully next year it'll work out.

My mom and dad got Ryan some dumbells that he wanted. He was laughing that my mom wrapped them.

Christmas Day

Reuel, Lyn, Carrie and Jim came over on Christmas. They brought their gifts for us.



Reuel and Lyn are trying to open the kids gifts that are packaged in layer upon layer of plastic.


My brother Kyle and his wife Lesley are in Oxford, England going to school. They made us an incredible DVD. Ryan's family watched it downstairs with us on our t.v. that's in our awesome entertainment center. It was so fun to watch the movie with them.

Superman, Spiderman, & A Fairy Princess

So Marli got a Fairy Princess costume...

...she is the fairest princess in all the land.

Jake got a Superman costume....the mask really freaked me out, when he put it on. It looks like him at 30. Crazy. Jake also got an awesome spider man costume from his cousin Koby. Both Jake and Marli love it. The mask lights up.


The kids love to dress up. I'm so glad they have a couple different costumes to play dress up.

Our Family Christmas Morning

Here are some pictures of us on Christmas morning. Jake's the only one dressed. Once he opened his new superman shirt he was off to put it on. He said I did good picking it out he loved it.



The kids were excited to see that santa ate all the oreo cookies(there were only crumbs left on the plate) and he drank all the milk. Santa even wrote the kids a little thank you note and wished them a Merry Christmas and signed it hohoho Santa. They were so shocked.



Marli only asked for horses and ponies. She must have been really good this year, because she got a lot of them. She could start her own horse and pony ranch.

Christmas Morning

Christmas eve when we got home from Ryan's mom & dad's we set out some oreo cookies and milk for Santa. We wrote Santa a note and went to bed. I couldn't sleep. I was so excited. I has butterflies just like when I was a little girl. I think I finally fell asleep a little after 5:00 a.m. The kids finally woke up at 9:00 which is late for them. Marli came running in our room flung the door open and exclaimed"I can't believe it. Santa came!" We all got up and went in the living room. There were presents and stockings filled. Jacob got a Harley Davidson scooter. Marli got a Barbi scooter. As soon as Jake saw his scooter he ran and got dressed. Before we opened any gifts Jake talked me into going outside with him and he rode his scooter up and down our street. He finally let me come back inside. It was freezing out. We opened gifts for a while. Then Jake said"This is too much, this is just too much." So we decided to put the unopened presents back under the tree and they could open them later. I thought that was really sweet. He was completely overwhelmed.

Carrie and Jim Make Christmas EXTRA Special

Carrie and Jim made it home for Christmas. We always look forward to spending time with them. They are so fun. They always find the neatest gifts for our kids. We wanted them to know that their sacrifice (over an 8 car drive from Couer D'alene) made us so happy. Words can't express how much Carrie means to me. For those of you who don't know when our son Jaxon was so sick with cancer, Carrie lived in Utah. She filled in for me when I would have to come home and work. I tell her she's Jaxon's serrogant mother. Carebear and jaxon have a very special relationship. I love that Jacob and Marli love her and Jim so much.



I was able to catch the kids with them on camera. I didn't really let them know I was taking pictures or else they would have made faces at me. These pictures are so sweet.