361: another day at the beach

Jayden..Colby..Ryder 

{i love the photo bomb of skyler surfing over ryders shoulder!}

 Skyler and his buddy Shane

The sun was shining and it was suppose to be 80 at the beaches..no way were we going to sit inside and play video games all day! We hit the beach again, this time Skyler brought his new surfboard to test it out. CRAZY..no wetsuit! 

360: summer in december

 {testing out my new iphone lenses..this is fisheye}

I love California winters! Not often are you spending your winter break, soaking up the sun rays at the beach! Today was a glorious day. Some people like to shop the day after Christmas..not me! La Jolla was the perfect place to be!

359: merry christmas

Traditional top of the stairs picture

 Our family gift was a trip to visit the cousins in Hawaii during spring break!!

It was a wonderful Christmas day. I think Buddy woke us up before the kids! The boys were so excited and could hardly wait for this day to get here. Everyone was elated with their gifts: Skyler got his surfboard and longboard skateboard. Jayden: bow and arrow and district scooter. Ryder: swapforce for Xbox, games, and a new scooter. My family, minus my dad, came down for lunch..we missed you Dad, hope you're feeling better. The day was happy and merry!

358: christmas eve and traditions

MOVIES: I wish we had seen the LEGO movie..I don't even want to repeat what we wasted on time seeing. {do you spot Jim?}

PJ's: Opening Christmas jammies from Grandma Geddie

Panda..these are just a few of our family traditions.

357: holiday lights

Touring the holiday lights in Temecula

My friends' husband is starting a company, selling these shirts and more.  He had a Kickstarter rally {statelytype}..where he has to earn a certain amount of $$ so he can fund his operations.  I was a contributor and this was what I got! I LOVE IT! I love all things maps/states. There is a shirt for every state and he has the coolest wall maps of the entire U.S. They're working on the website now..should be up in early January.

355: round 5

It was inevitable..with all the caregiving he gave us and puke he cleaned up, I guess there was no avoiding the bug.  Jim woke on this morning feeling awful. I had complete empathy, having just been there myself.  He was totally stressed because he had so much to do for his work holiday party. I knew that there was no way he could do it, so I told him I would buy all the presents.  He gave me thousands of dollars..I was a little nervous, but away I went..on a quest to find 138 presents for his amazing staff. I realized that I'm a great shopper when I'm spending someone else's money! Not that I was frivolous..I came in $1,000 under budget. I just know how to find the deals, even if it took me the entire day {10a.m.-9:00 p.m.}.

354: seminary breakfast

I had planned a huge breakfast for my seminary class, at my house on the last Friday before break. Of course, I didn't plan on being sick. Fortunately, Jim had doused our entire house with bleach. I still had a handful of germaphobic students who didn't come for fear of catching the bug that wiped out our house. We had a great time.  I made cinnamon rolls, waffles, crepes, and had all sorts of cereal. It was fun being casual {I didn't get out of my jammies}. Hopefully I sent them to school nourished, ready to ace their finals!

353: round 3 & 4

Thursday, December 19th didn't really exist in my life. Once all the boys left the dinner last night, Skyler and I started feeling sick. I was laying in bed when I heard a giant splat! Arrrgh...honestly, the toilet is right around the corner. I could hardly move myself, so we had to leave this surprise for Jim {he was out on a run}. Around midnight, it was my turn! Misery loves company. The 3 of us: Jayden, Skyler, and myself, just slept December 19th away!

352: gohs frosh/soph soccer dinner

I hosted the GOHS soccer teams dinner tonight. It was finals week, so a few of the boys didn't make it, but still, we had a full house. 4 lasagnas, salad, pasta, garlic bread, ice cream, and shave ice! These boys can eat!

351: finished pyramid

It's a good thing we finished this in time for his presentation...even though, when I went to the school to go to the parents museum, I was redirected to the school health office where Jayden had thrown up everywhere! I guess this lonely pyramid will have to wait. Round 2 with the sick bucket!

350: procrastination pyramid

By the end of the day, this will be an Egyptian pyramid. So glad that they assigned this over a month ago and Jayden just informed us the day before it was due!

The best picture I could get...I was a bit shocked that Skyler got an award at his cross country banquet.  There are over 130 kids on the team and the banquet usually recognizes the graduating seniors, but they had some awards for the frosh/soph runners.  Skyler won the "FUTURE STATE CHAMPION" award.  I thought that was pretty impressive considering the skills of all the other runners on his team. It kinda made sitting through the 3 HOURS a little more bearable! {I'm not joking with the 3 hours..it was sloooowww death!}

So my life wouldn't be my life if their wasn't chaos! My phone's battery died during the marathon banquet,so I couldn't get the texts informing me that Ryder was throwing up all over the place. GREAT! So now we have a sick one, Jayden's pyramid needs to be finished and painted, and I had to plan my lesson for seminary. It was a very late night/early morning! 

{by the way..my headdress is that of wicked King Noah}

349: dog park with buddy

Buddy..working his magic with the ladies at the dog park.

348: breakfast with santa

We had our ward breakfast with Santa this morning...very early {8:00a.m}! That night, we went to see Skyler perform with the Temecula Stake Youth Choir at our annual Nativity/Creche festival. It was an impressive sight to see all these amazing youth. They had been practicing since the beginning of October!

347: dead battery

I think this is symbolic of my life..dead battery! I've been running around like mad, it's no wonder I'm always getting sick. Tonight was no exception. I took Skyler and his friend to meet up with friends.  While I waited, with my butt warmers on, the radio on and my phone charger charging, somehow my battery died. Jim rushed to my aid but his little Honda hardly got my lights to flicker! This was a job for AAA.

346: ryder's christmas list

Ryder's unrealistic Christmas list is both cute and crazy at the same time.  #21 is the best:  6 Super Bowl tickets "for the family"! Do you see all the stars next to that one? This may be the year he learns disappointment, but it's nice to know he's not only thinking of himself.

345: getting sick again..

Nothing feels better on a sore throat!

344: love my #22

Skyler in action! #22

343: dentist

I strongly dislike going to the dentist!

342: property taxes...booo!

Getting ready to pay this doozy tomorrow morning! I have to stop thinking of all the trips I could take with the $$ or I'm going to drive myself crazy!

341: rainy, cold soccer games..super fun!

Sitting in a freezing, pouring down rain stadium in Hemet watching Skyler's soccer game! Brrrrrrrr!

340: how i beat the cold

339: olive tree allegory via playdoh

We had a little playdough fun in seminary this morning.  I had them sculpt out the allegory of the olive tree, found in Jacob. Some were definitely better than others, but they did use their creativity!

Skyler's 1st high school soccer game!

338: buddy's sick

Poor dog won't eat anything!! It's just so sad when he's not feeling well. Took him to the vet and we're going to wait 1 more day. If he doesn't eat, we'll have to do x-rays and blood work $$$$..I'm hoping for a miracle!

{I got my miracle..we gave him some herbal drops and he was better by the next day!}

337: last gulp

I caught Ryder eating the last of the soft serve this morning for breakfast! Sadly, the machine will be picked up later this morning!

336: happy 43rd jim

Jim's birthday was coming up and I always have the greatest intentions, but with it being so close to Thanksgiving and right as the busy holiday season begins, I always fail and delivering. Jim does so much for me and our family, I didn't want to disappoint him this year, plus, who would suspect a surprise party on your 43rd birthday?  I pulled it together fairly quickly. I wasn't sure how many people would be there or how I was going to pull it off, but everything worked magically! I rented a soft serve machine {it's one of his favorite things to eat in Catalina} and we had a sundae bar. I was able to get him out of the house for a birthday dinner to Olive Garden and my dear friends Chanin and Theresa set the house up! I had no idea how many people would end up coming..it was on a Monday night! When he walked through the doors, he was definitely surprised!  I think I was even more surprised with how many people showed up!  Our entire downstairs was filled!  I was so excited and so grateful to all our friends for making this a night to remember.