Happy New Year 2014!!

Cynthia Wood was staying with us for a while, we went to the movies & saw 'Hobbit~desolation of Smaug', it was awesome, I liked it more than the first one. Mina & I went out shopping at Valley fair & bought her socks & she bought her new boots.

Tyrell has been going out a lot to hang out with friends & his girl friend 'Brenna', they go sledding, to the mall or movies. Tyrell brings Brenna home for hot cocoa & cookies.

Jason planned out our new Kitchen for the basement & he helped Jaxon with his school science project. Erana got sick from cuzzies & Me too (Candi). Erana's & Mina's eyes hurt & she rubs them a lot with a wet facecloth.

Christmas Holidays

Christmas seemed early this year, but i  we were done shopping for christmas early thanks to the internet and i went shopping all day friday so I wouldn't have to go out during the weekend before Christmas day. All month we have been watching Christmas movies, Elf, Miracle on 34th street, Meet me in St.Louis, Polar Express and many more.

Christmas Day was on Wednesday. But the night before we had our special Christmas Eve family dinner.  We had 'Panda Express' with my coconut shrimp & pot stickers, sparkling grape juice & bundabergs.  After we had dinner we read the 'Nativity story' from the scriptures, Luke 2:1-20. Then we made gingerbread cookies, and the kids decorated them for Santa.  We put them on Santa's plate & left them on the table.  Kids went to bed early so they won't see Santa come put  presents in their stockings!

Christmas morning we heard Jaxon up & talking about 7am, Jason got up & told him to go back to bed lol.  Then we heard more kids up & walking talking around 7:30am.  So that's when we got up & opened presents. Dad got a toaster, Mum an exercise row machine, Tyrell got a blue guitar, Mina a long board, Jaxon got a crossbow, Leila a green Ukelele, Erana ninja turtle toy & pjs! We had a nice Christmas morning with no stress, because i had made all my foods on Christmas eve day.  Coconut Shrimp, LuPulu, Pretzel salad, Bayou brownies, they were all very yummy.

We had a nice Christmas dinner at Scotts, with ham, pork roast in crockpot, turkey, funeral potatoes etc. And we skyped with Wesley, or Elder Wihongi, he looked very well & happy. We had fun times with everyone's talent, especially liked Mina's & Leila's 'Vintriloquist act' they were hilarious! We opened gifts from each other, we had Scott & Heathers family & we got them gift cert to Cheese factory & the movies, along with Milo & cookies & angry birds gummies for the boys. We received presents from Shaun & Christine, gift card to Red Lobster & a necklace & the kids got gifts too, Jesus sandals, bob marley shirt & toys.

New Years Eve was at our house, we planned on having a breakfast buffet, which turned out really good, we had breakfast casseroles, bacon & egg pies, crepes, scones, cinnamon rolls, pancake corn dogs, fruit, smoothies, bacon & sausage etc... Jason was in charge of games, he also made a schedule for the night.  We played, 2013 trivia which i thought was too hard, animal pairing game & Just dance 2014 on xbox.  When it was time to ring in the new year, we counted down & kissed our loved ones & toasted with sparkly. We also sand 'Aud lange Syne' accompanied by Mariah Carey, and then we continued dancing until clean up time.

Added by Jason:
I was on-call the week of Christmas so I only had Christmas day off but my boss let us go home early on Christmas eve. I took the whole week of New Years off. I had some annual time I had to use or lose. I was over the 320 hour limit. It was nice to have a week off. Stayed up late and slept in a lot. Had time to play with kids, play games and stuff.

Some other December highlights:
On Thursday 12/12 the Welch's asked Candi and I take their spot at a Dinner/Bunco party at the Prigmores that they do annually with a bunch of neighbors. A lot of senior couples. We enjoyed the food and the game. I had the highest score at our table. We sat with the Morse's. Jaxon and I saw the Hobbit 2 the next day. Candi had her activity days. It was good. The 14th was the Ward Breakfast at the chapel. Breakfast casseroles and fried bread scones. It was yummy as. I took the 19th off to use 8 hrs admin leave the state gives us this time of year. I had to add on 2 hrs of annual to make the 10 hr day. I can't remember what I did that day. Probably not much.

Cute Erana Sayings

12/2013

• "Mina pick up your books, clean up Mummy's room"

• Jason drinking soda, "I need a drink Daddy, cause sharing is caring"

• Candi had sore tummy and was doubled over on bed. Erana said. "I get you medicine." She goes in the bathroom and comes back with some pepto bismol tablets. She was rubbing her tummy too.

• Candi got the avocados out of the fridge and Erana was watching her. She says, "Mama you making guacamole?" Candi hadn't heard her say that word before. Funny.

• Candi: Baby, what do you want for breakfast?
  Erana: Hot cocoa with ice cream in it, toast with peanut butter, cereal, guacamole with chips.
  Candi: Whaaat, that's too much
  Erana: Oh and cookies and chicken.

• Erana goes to toilet & I say, "Hey I need to go peepee." She says, "Go down stairs!

• Erana is on toilet and says, "I'm done." So I go wipe her bottom she forgets to hide & says, "I need to hide." I say, "No I need to go." Erana says, "Hold your no no". lol

12/27/13

• Erana : Alessandra that's my Dad (pointing at him). He's nice. Because she was crying at him before.

Thanksgiving and Stuff

We had Thanksgiving at Tania's on the 28th. We got there at 12pm. and ate soon after. It was early so Shaun could go to work at 2pm. It was a sunny day and a bit cool outside. The kids played football and Tyrell shot his bow for a bit. The food was good. I watched football. We left after the Dallas Cowboy game around 5pm I think. They beat the Raiders. Mina went to stay with Maddie for a few days. She came back Sunday. Jaxon stayed at Julia's for a night. He went to the movies with them, Frozen I think.

Not a whole lot of other stuff this month. Tyrell has a girlfriend named Brenna. He says she is his friend but no. I've told him to not have girlfriends so he can date different girls but he doesn't listen. They go on dates and stuff with Tyrell's other friends. He takes the car. We give him times he is supposed to be home and stuff and he pushes his limits all the time. I've told him about losing his privileges if rules aren't followed. He tries to follow them because I follow through with dealing out the consequences. She gave him a treasure chest full of gold chocolates one time with a note asking him to a dance.

On the 11th I had Veterans Day off. We saw Thor 2 for F.H.E. I worked most of that weekend doing server encryption. Had a lot of troubles with it so it took longer than it was supposed and even didn't finish before Tuesday 12th. I'll be getting a big over-time check which is a good thing about it.

We got Leila a new bike for her birthday. She hasn't learned to ride one yet. The first bike we got her was still too big and heavy so we returned it and got one just right. On Saturday the 9th we went out in front to teach her. It took a bit of time and patience with her. She would always get wobbly and lose balance. Candi and I both took turns trying. Leila was sad and about to give up at one point. We went to the office building parking lot next door for more space and she started getting it down after about 5 minutes. Then she got it good and loved it. I told her to not give up and that most of the good things in life take a lot of effort but are worth it.

Leila's Baptism

Saturday, November 2nd at 1:30pm was Leila's baptism. Candi gave the Baptism talk and Mina did the Holy Ghost talk. Tyrell did the interlude music while we dressed. They all did a good job. Leila's foot almost came up when I put her under but it was good. The service was short and nice. The families came over to eat after at our home.

Leila's 8th Birthday

Leila's birthday activities started friday, October 25th. We took her to the Witch Breakfast show at Gardner Village again. We picked her up from school early and surprised her. It started at 10:30am. It was just Leila, Erana, Candi, Mum and I. We ate a lot of eggs and bacon and pancakes. Leila went up on stage a couple times when they had kid volunteers. She even did the cup song with one of the witches at our table. We walked around the village after and she got a new tybeanie boo.

In the afternoon we went to the zoo. The kids had a good time. The weather was nice and not too cool. There was a new part of the zoo we hadn't seen before, the seal and polar bear section. It was nice. Erana loves to see the animal and was very excited.

On Tuesday the 29th we went to McDonalds for her birthday and Dray and Kage came. After she opened presents and had Ninja turtle cup cakes.

Thursday was Halloween. She had another birthday cheese cake. We went over to Jody and Monica's at 5:30pm. We ate clam chowder, boil up, and other yummy stuff. We went trick or treating around the newer neighborhood down the hill. Mina went with Malia and Malia's friend but said they didn't get enough lollies because those 2 were talking too much and walking slow. Mina was a tad bit upset about that. Mina was dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Jaxon was Slenderman from a scary game they play on the pc. Other kids knew who he was and liked his costume. Leila was also a Ninja turtle and Erana was a little skeleton.

October Stuff

Thursday October 24th Jaxon graduated from Webelos and got his Arrow of Light award. Candi went to it. She said Jaxon looked a little hori in his shorts and scout top.

Back on the 7th we went to the annual Halloween party at the Ashworth's home. Erana got her face painted. Kids had a good time.

On the 6th we took some family photos in our backyard. They are for our Christmas cards. We kept delaying it and so the good weather will be going away soon so we were desperate. So the backyard it is, spinarit. We also did some inside. Some turned out ok.

On Tuesday the 1st we had our FHE. We went to Gardner Village and did the Witch Hunt. We got a paper with all the location clues and we went off and found them and marked it off. When it was complete we could use the papers for a cookie coupon.