Christmas 2010

We had a very laid back Christmas this year.  We decorated gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve, had our big dinner that night and of course did the traditional Christmas story by candlelight.  We never did get a picture with all of us by the tree this year.  Makes me sad but well, Christmas eve was the first night we were all together all month long - at least that's what it felt like.

 Big D's poor house got wet and wouldn't stay together, she was very sad about that, but at least she got this far.

 The first look at Christmas morning goodies.  I'm not sure why everyone had to have hats on.

 opening presents

This is so fun to watch.  Their first sword fight.

Merry Christmas 2010

As I have tried to put our Christmas card together, I realized that we don't have a picture of the whole family together since last Christmas, and since time is running out I thought I would just share our year in a nutshell:
Our year in Review
January was uneventful
February:  Christina had surgery, Grandma Hatch came for a visit to help out and we got a dog:

 March:  Dave went to training at the Grand Canyon for two weeks.  Learn our landloards are moving back.
April:  Had a fabulous easter
May:  Girls had their first dance recital. A fun kid free cave excursion. Field trips and lots of end of school activities.  Danica received Character Counts award.  Little D turns into a michevious little guy.   Had a visit from Aunt Stephanie and her fiance.

 June: 'W' learns to hula.  Big D turns 7,  Little D gets first sunburn.  Find out Dave got a job at Golden Spike.

 July:  Dance Fest, and fourth of July.  Trip to Mesa Verde National Park on our way to our new permanent adventure.

 August:  The hotel is our temporary home while we wait to close on our house.  The McD's playland is now our playground and so is the gas station.  We visit the National Park frequently.  Take the kids to the dinousaur park.  little D discovered the dinos!

 Sept:  School starts, we finally close and get to move into our house.  We come to a plentiful harvest in the garden.  Start kids in dance/gymnastics and Christina gets a job coaching.  Take the girls to a salon to get their hair cut - this was their first time having someone other than mom cut their hair - they loved it.

October:  Big D gives 'W' a haircut.  Halloween activities!!

November:  Little D turns 2 and gets a big boy bed.  Celebrate everything we are thankful for with lots of family!

December: 'W' turns 5, and Christmas activites are in full swing.

It has been a wonderful year.  I can't even begin to say how grateful I am to own a house and know that I can have my feet planted for a good few years before moving again. The last three years have been full of wonderful new adventures, but also alot of stress and I have enjoyed everywhere we have been, and all the wonderful people we have met, but I am so grateful to be done with that phase.

The kids have grown so much this year and we are excited to see what the future holds.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

ps - we are expecting another little joy to enter our family next Spring/summer.

D's bday stuff

D had a blast for his birthday.  He also celebrated with his cousin who shares his same birthday.  He got a big boy bed and lots of cars.  It was a very low-key b-day, but he had a blast.  He has done really well with his bed, but naps are becoming a bit of a challenge.

Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone.  I know it has been a very long time since I posted but hey - we bought a house, I have an almost 2 year old,  and well, there's just not a lot of time for posting.  I'm hoping now that I am mostly settled I can keep you more up to date. 

October started the Halloween festivites.  We went to the corn maze for Family night with another family.

 sorry for the blur - I didn't take the pic as you can tell.

 scary skeleton hanging in the maze.

 bouncy hay???  yes - you step onto this patch of hay that makes you lose your feet and then bounce.  It was awesome!!

 Hmmmm...  need I say more?

 super fun daddy shoulder ride.

don't friends always make things less scary?

 Everyone had a lot of fun.  The pics are in reverse order - sorry about that.

 Mummy cookie time.  The girls loved decorating the mummies and D - well, he just like to eat them.

 Pumpkin patch for preschool.  I think she picked the biggest ones.

 The city had trick or treat festivities on Friday.  D- throughouly enjoyed getting his face painted, and had the true lion spirit as this was his facial expression most of the day.

 More fun and games at the city festivities.

 D- and his first trick or treat to carry his own bag, walk (no - run) by himself and be a big boy!!  He loved every minute.  Although I still can't understand why he took off his hat.  He wore it all day and then when we went out he ripped it off.  oh well.

 upclose and personal looks of our hallween get ups.  Unfortunately daddy was still at work when we took pics and I forgot to pull out the camera afterwards.

 Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween.

PS.  My girls stayed out until 9 pm.  can you believe it!!  I think they were excited or something.  Daddy and I took shifts passing candy and going out with kids. 

friend is in need of our help

HI everyone,
Please click on the picture above and read about this sweet little girl.  She is my friend's neice.
I wanted to let you know that I am making handmade cards and gifts to donate for their auction.  If you have anything that you can donate they would like a picture and a quote of how much it's worth.  So, you can leave me a link to your picture, or send it to me in an email.

Let's help raise money to help this little sweetie get better!!

trying to buy a house

Trying to buy a house is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  It's a lot of work.
We are slightly frustrated that the loan writer is so anal.  yes I said it.  I am a perfectionist, but this person is way beyond that.
Our loan is being held up because on one form somewhere an 'L' was missing from our address.  So she can't process anything until she finds out why.  Hello - zip, city, state, numbers, etc all the same but someone left an 'L' off the end of the road.   Are you kidding me!!!!  So we had to file an extention to our contract so we didnt' lose our earnest money.
I can't believe what this underwritter is doing.  Our mortgage lender didnt' even know what was wrong when she submitted the 'condition' to him.  My goodness.
so here we sit in the hotel still.  School starts on Monday and the moving company brings our stuff on Tuesday and we are still waiting.   What a joke.

it's been a while

So sorry, I haven't kept you posted on the last few months it has been crazy.
First of all, Dave got a new position at a new park so we've been doing that.  He started the middle of July and we are still waiting to close on our house so hotel life is getting old.  Hopefully we should close late this week or early next.

Second, my sister got married!!!  Which was wonderful, but they got married the week we moved which made for some craziness. 

My Stampin' Up! business has been busy, which is a good thing, but that doesn't leave much time for blogging.

And lastely we had our computer in to get the webcam fixed and they wiped all my programs, so now I have to wait to get unpacked to edit my photos and post them.  and then I will be into the school year againa and who knows how much blogging time i will have.   bummer.

But things are good.  Our soon-to-be home is perfect for us!!  We are so excited to finally plant some roots.  Hope you all are well, and btw we decided not to go private after all.  The people we actually write the blog for would not get on.