Bearer of bad news!

I hate to be the one to have to break this to you, but

my child is way cuter than your child!!!

McCormick Ranch Railroad Park

Have you ever been to McCormick Ranch Railroad Park at Christmas time? It really is alot of fun. I think this was our 3rd year attending. There are train rides, a carousel, wandering characters in costume to take pictures with, sitting on Santa's lap, and just a really fun playground to get all those wiggles out after waiting in line for about an HOUR to tell Santa that we wanted a bumblebee transformer and a pink remote control car like the blue one that Laetner got last year. Hopefully Santa's elves can find some pink paint lying around at the north pole, or we might really be in trouble! But, the most amazing part was when Waverly did not make a peep when we handed her over to the big guy in the red suit. As soon as the camera flashed she even broke into a huge grin, but alas that shot was not captured. We really had a fun night and Court all I have to see is ASHER MAXIMILLIAN!

Who knew that Shrek was into Christmas!

This train behind us was where Santa actually was.
Thank you Santa Claus!

Breakfast with Santa Convict!

We had our ward Christmas Party on Saturday morning. Great idea to do Breakfast with Santa instead of taking up an evening in December. Anyways we are all sitting there eating our pancakes, listening to a gentleman in our ward sing 'Walking in a Winter Wonderland', when the fire alarm goes off. We all kinda looked at each other, but nobody really knew what to do. The Bishop stole the microphone right in the middle of the song and informed us to EVACUATE! We evacuated to a different side of the building than everyone else, but it worked out great 'cause Santa came out with us and we ended up being able to get our shots with him!

Once outside the building the alarm made an ever worse sound, and you can't see it, but the light was flashing and Delainee wanted a picture with it.

After the fireman checked everything out, they informed us it had been an alarm malfunction, but really I think it was all part of an undercover sting to arrest this man....

I know, I know, what kind of mother would let her children take a picture with a possible criminal. But we had come for the picture with Santa, and we were NOT leaving without it!

I guess we should be greatful that the alarm went off on Saturday morning and not on Sunday morning. It was kind of funny when the next day at church our Bishop thanked all of those who came out to support our fire drill!

Fuller Thanksgiving 2008

Well I did it! I finally was in charge of my first ever Thanksgiving. We switch which family we spend Thanksgiving with and this year was my family. (we are on the ever infamous "every other annual' plan. But having it at my house was quite an experience that I am still recovering from. I still do not know how Laetner and I managed to get a brining 25 pound bird into the fridge on Tuesday morning. By the time it had enough liquid to cover it, that thing was HEAVY! Court should just be happy that he didn't have to see 'turkey juices' that had to get cleaned up from off of the counter, the floor and EVERYWHERE!

The food was amazing --although my bird did cook slightly longer than Martha would have liked--and the kids seemed to really have a good time. The women even managed to fit in a vinyl lettering craft while the men watched some football. I don't think, however, that my marriage can handle this event again. So someone else better start gearing up for two years from now!

Here is the 'spread' before the feast began!

One thing I insisted upon was that all 34 of us manage to eat at one long table together!

And miracle of miracle, my children actually ate!

Thank you to whoever brought the soccer ball!

I am just so thankful that it is all over!

Cold Play concert on Thanksgiving Eve!

Court and I had so much fun at the ColdPlay Concert! The last time I even went to a concert was back in 1996---Sting! And I would not even consider that experience an actual concert. We were sitting on the grass on blankets for that one. But at Jobing.com arena we were 2nd row baby! Chris Martin was close enough to touch--literally. They had built out platforms from the stage so he could come out into the audience more, and he would actually walk right by me. At one point they even left the stage and just walked out into the middle of the audience to perform an acoustic version of 'The Scientist.' And, although my ticket said no photography of any kind, apparently security did not care, because everyone was snapping away and pushing record. There was some crazy opening act by an 'artist' named John Hopkins that truly made me want to slit my wrists, but once the curtain began to raise everything was perfect. On Viva la Vida the drummer was going crazy on a huge liberty looking bell on the stage. I guess he didn't realize his own strength because he broke the top of the mallett right off! Court got some great shots with the camera, which is pretty amazing since the lighting was crazy. The first video clip is a short 22 second 'keeping it real' segment. The last video clip is if a live performance of 'Yellow' for any of you fellow ColdPlay fans-so it is a little long, but ENJOY!

Thanks honey for coming along and singing all the songs with me!

Twilight at Midnight!

Yes Tara, I am stealing your title, it is just too fitting.

Thusday night was supposed to be bunko night, but a few e-mails, a few phone calls, and it turned into a Twilight movie premiere night! I have never gone to a midnight movie premiere showing before---I highly recommend it. We started out the evening at BJ's Brewery--YUM! I could live off of Bruschetta and Pizzookies from this place.

About 8:30 we headed over to the movie theater to start lining up--bear in mind that the movie still would not start for another 3 1/2 hours. Luckily we had a few children that saved us our place in line. We all camped out in the hallway waiting for the time that we could make a mad dash for a seat in theater #8. I think all passerbyers were jealous of our game of "Would you rather"

I think we made the employees a little nervous. About 9 'o clock they came by and told us that we could not enter the theater unless we were all lined up against the wall. So we sucked it in and made our line up!

It appears that I missed the memo about dressing in black. I didn't think that Stephenie Meyers' world of vampires was goth--but apparently I was wrong!

Instead of filling up one row, we decided it would be easier to chat if stayed in a pack. So yep, we spanned from the back row to the front--all 18 of us!

Oh my goodness, it was so much fun. Finally at 12:05 the movie began! Thanks so much bunko boobies---I MEAN babes!

I hate to write to much about the movie, 'cause I would hate to spoil it for anyone. I DID NOT love it, but I didn't hate it either. Lets just focus on the positive, shall we? All of the Cullen's were well cast and well acted. Except Rosalie wasn't exactly Miss All That---she was sporting a little junk in the trunk. She had the attitude, just not the visual stunningness that is Roalie Hale Cullen. Billy Burke was great as Charlie. The first encounter in Bio class was so good! Special thanks need to go out to "the wind" for playing a huge role in this movie. THE kiss was sooo, sooo, good (and then immediately awkward) but all and all it was so fun to just see it all come to life. All I can say is Jacob better get a nose job if they even think about filming New Moon.

So what did everyone else think?

Meridian Family Picnic

Every semester our elementary school has a family picnic at school. Everybody brings their blankets and scrambles for the little bit of shade that their is by the Basketball Court and we get to spend lunchtime with the kids. I think this was our 3rd one since Delainee has been in kindergarten last year. Usually we do the old drive thru at McDonalds, but this year Shelby and I decided a healthier (and yummier option for that matter) would be Steve's Krazy Sub. Soooo, I dropped Shelby off at school to save us our 'spot' and I went and picked up nine sub sandwiches and chips and drinks for our whole group. Someone should have taken a shot of me trying to carry all of this stuff in, but it all worked out great and it was a perfect day.

Here is part of our group as they chow....

Laetner loves his 'brown juice'
And thank you Shelby for taking some great shots of me and my kids!

I really need to cherish these moments when my kiddies aren't embarrassed to come sit on my lap and be seen by their friends.

I hope they never get to embarrassed.

Viva la Coldplay!!!

I LOVE the band Coldplay, and they will be performing in Glendale on November 26th. I asked Court pretty please if we could get some tickets and 'we' decided that after our NYC trip we probably didn't need to spend money on another 'show'---BUMMER! So I hear on the radio that they are giving away tickets for the show if you call in as the 25th caller when they play a certain song. Right, like those are great odds. But after recently reading a book called "The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio", I thought I should try my hand at a contest! I turned the radio on at 7:20 to hear what the song of the day was---it was CLOCKS btw---and then my poor household had to listen ALLLLLL day long til they finally played the magical tune at 4:45. I had my house phone in one hand and my cell phone in the other, whilst Court sat with his cell phone in one hand and his blackberry in the other. We dialed our phones to 260-0969 and waited for the phones to start ringing, when we got a horrific message that this number is currently out of service. Immediately Court shouts out that is must be a 602 area code so we hang up and proceeded to redial all of our phones with the new correct number. My cell phone was in my left hand and I am not as skillful with my left hand, so when I could hear the phone actually ringing through the speaker phone, I figured I had dialed wrong. Whilst my left hand is ringing I am hanging up my right hand and redialing and then I finally make it back to my cell phone to check which number I actually dialed, when to my amazement it appears to be the correct number. This whole time the phone just keeps ringing and ringing. Finally someone picks up the phone, and I don't think he said anything other than "Mix 96.9" so I waited an instant and blubbered out, "So, am I the 25th caller???"

Indeed I was and I won 3rd row tickets to go see COLDPLAY!!!!!

So if you were listening to the radio yesterday and you heard some deejay berate the caller about a delayed reaction and that her name was Julie, then yeah, that was me!

Hope everyone had a very happy halloween.

Halloween is a bit overwhelming by the time you make it through the ward trunk or treat, the neighborhood block party, the 2 family parties, and the actual night itself. These pictures all happened long before we actually made it the 31st...

This year by the time we made it to Friday, I think the kids had had ENOUGH---candy that is! We met with our cousins to eat pizza before setting out with full bellies---as to avoid trick or treating snacking-- and then we only managed to go two streets before the kids were begging to go back home. Believe me, I am not complaining, I am just surprised thats all. But because the kids weren't all about the candy, they would take an evaluation of the house, and if its decorations seemed Halloweenish enough than it was worth hoofing up to the front door to get the goods. Last year Laetner was sooooo excited by any and all decorations from Halloween onward through Christmas, and I was so sad to think that by this year he would have outgrown it---he has NOT in any way, shape or form! I hope he never outgrows it. This blown up Frankenstein 'lives' around the corner from us and everyday we drove by it Laetner would exclaim,'Frankenstein is dead!" Thank goodness everynight the inflatables 'come back to life' "Put him in a body bag, Johnny!"

Halloween was the one night we finally got out the black hairspray for our little witch Delainee

They are hard to see, but she is trying to show off little press on nails that had black cats on them!

And of course some obligatory group shots....What a group!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Austenland by Shannon Hale

I just finished this book. I had already read Shannon Hales other books, but they were geared toward the younger reader. I almost did not read this because I really wanted something a little meatier, but I am so glad that I picked it up last night. It was such a fun, quick read, and since I recently TiVo-ed Channel 8's The Complete Jane Austen Series, I had managed to have every single Jane Austen story line and characters in my mind. You do NOT need to be a huge Austen fan in order to enjoy the book, but if you do have a thing for Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, or anything to do with Pride and Prejudice, then you will get plenty of the inside jokes. And for those of you who know what a freak I am about how nothing has compared to everything "Twilight", this novel was the first one that I have enjoyed as much! Feel free to borrow the book!