HaPpY bIrThDaY sCoTtY pOtTy!!!!!

On this very special of days EVERYONE celebrates my hubby's Birthday! :) Happy new year's eve, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTTY POTTY!!!!

Sweet Scott has a tough Birthday, right after Christmas, and on a major holiday. Most people overlook him and his special day. I am totally guilty of doing this too! (Sorry honey!!) Scott is a night owl and LOVES to stay up late (any night) and play. He always likes to stay up super late on his Birthday and welcome the new year. I am the total opposite! I would much rather go to sleep at 9-10pm. :) I always try to stay awake for Scott, but it usually doesn't happen. This year WILL BE DIFFERENT!!

I WILL STAY UP LATE WITH MY SWEET HUSBAND AND WELCOME THE NEW YEAR as one of his Birthday presents! (cop-out gift, I know! but he'll enjoy it!)

Here are 32 reasons why I love Scott, and to tell you all how wonderful he is!!

#1 He is always fun to be with.
#2 Scott is hard-working, always has been.
#3 Is a total smarty-pants!
#4 Loves watching reality TV with me.
#5 Will eat ANYTHING I make him for breakfast, lunch and dinner! And always says it is SO GOOD, even if it isn't.
#6 He's a very honest person.
#7 He is a very giving individual, always thinking of me and kids before himself.
#8 Gets very little sleep so he can be with the family.
#9 Puts up with and loves my mom!
#10 He takes the boys golfing and other things that just the boys can do together.
#11 He is a very funny person, always making jokes and is fun to hang around with.
#12 He is big and strong. He can always help lift something or open something for me.
#13 Every time I see a spider or some nasty bug Scott will get it and kill it for me without any hesitation.
#14 Scott has a great smile. Nice big pearly white teeth.
#15 He puts up with me and everything I throw at him. (not literally!)
#16 He too loves Madonna!!!
#17 He is a very nice person, he can talk to anyone about anything.
#18 He lets me cut his hair.
#19 He lets us spend every holiday with my mom in beautiful Santa Barbara.
#20 He plays the Wii with the boys.
#21 He changes the babies diapers when he is home for me!
#22 He is in charge of doing the dishes, taking the trash out and cleaning the toilets, jobs that I HATE to do.
#23 He is a great singer.
#24 He takes the boys to Home Depot once a month and helps them build the craft they offer.
#25 I love his hands. Big. Strong. He gives GREAT massages!!
#26 He loves Jesus, the gospel, the scriptures, and has a wonderful testimony that he shares with us often.
#27 Whenever any of us are sick he'll help us while we're throwing up and will willingly clean up the vomit if any of us miss the toilet.
#28 He is great with computers and any technical things. He helped build our websites, design our birth announcements and Christmas cards.
#29 He takes us swimming and teaches the boys how to swim.
#30 He's tried out for game shows and has been on some!
#31 He is so patient with the boys and especially me.
#32 He loves each of us a lot and WE LOVE HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Scott that I love with all my heart. I sure made out like a fat rat when I got to marry him! He a wonderful, and I thank the Lord everyday that he is part of my life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!!

Time to say goodbye....sigh.

Well, it's time to pack up and hit the road jack! :( I will miss being in beautiful snowy Salt Lake city with awesome cousins and friends. All the boys drove out early this morning, 6am. I stayed behind with Brigham to clean up Bub's (my cousin) house a little bit and will fly home tonight.

We have had such a fun time here. We will move here to be closer to family and friends in the near future! My boys, even Scott and Papa, had a blast playing in the snow. We made 7 snowmen, had several snowball fights, went sledding several times, and just had an absolute blast in SLC.

Thanks to Bubbles for letting us stay in here beautiful home! Thanks to Ang and the ladies for hangin' out with us, playing games with us, letting us borrow Mamma Mia, and having a fun gift exchange! Thanks to Papa for buying a home in Utah so we could make this trip. Thank you weather for snowing on Christmas night so my boys could have a extraordinary time.

Mesa, here I come!

New Years Resolutions...

It's almost time to make your New Year's resolutions! Last year I came up with some real cool ones that I actually stayed with and accomplished! I usually make 2 or 3 resolutions and do them for about 3 or 4 months then give up. Last year I started thinking about what I could do and came up the normal ones, exercise, read scriptures daily.....but I wanted to do something different. I just didn't know what.

It was last year on January 1st I was watching The Biggest Loser and one of the trainers said, "Let's make the BEST out of this life we got!" I paused my tivo and thought about how profound that statement is.



I thought how I could make different areas of my life better and enjoy the wonderful life I have. I got a pad of paper out and started making notes on that profound quote. I wrote down 5 different areas that I can and needed to work on. Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial. Within those areas I made 3 smaller ideas I could work on. This is what I did LAST year.

Physical: Drink green shakes for breakfast, work out 3-4 times a week, eat out 1 time a month

Mental: Take a on-line class, read a book a month, review and study Marcus Buckingham's lectures

Emotional: Watch "the Secret" 1x a month, date night 1x a week, me time 1x a day

Spiritual: Read the R.S. lesson a week before, have FHE evening EVERY Monday, pray nightly as a family.

Financially: Search for more coupons, only buy when on sale, buy more "needs" than "wants".


I plan on doing the same for 2009! I have been thinking a little about it and will post later on the exact resolutions I will be working on and accomplishing for the new year!

The day after....

The day after the big dumping of snow in SLC, this is what it looked like!

It is so dang beautiful. I am so thankful we were able to come to SLC as a family and spend this wonderful holiday together.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!!

Boys Playing in Grandma's front yard!

All wearing shorts and enjoying eating the snow!

We drove to Cedar City, Utah on our way up to SLC for Christmas this year. We stopped for an hour or so to visit Grandma and Grandpa. The kids we freaking out from all the snow. They all have shorts and t-shirts on with a coat. They tried to make some snowballs and chuck at each other and they all loved tasting the snow.

On Christmas night it started snowing, and it kept coming all night long. It was so fun to run outside and see the beautiful falling snow. My boys were so excited about it. Of course they kept getting cold. They would run inside and defrost for about 5 minutes and then out they would go again!

We had a wonderful Christmas but it really ended the day well with snow!

Special FHE

We wanted to do an extra special family home evening tonight. I found these huge, yummy Carmel and chocolate dipped apples that I bought. We went around to our special friends, caroled to them and handed them our Christmas card and one of those delicious apples. It was a lot of fun. The boys only know a few Christmas songs so we were singing the same ones over and over, but it was still fun.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

First Fire

I don't think Arizona every gets real cold, at least not where I live. But the other night it was a little chilly and the boys asked if we could build a fire. Last year we only made 4 fires. They are always beautiful, but we hardly ever have the opportunity to make them.

Santa Claus

We have been to 5 different Christmas parties this year and Santa has been at each one of them. After the first one, Scott and I realized that the kids totally knew Santa was really Scott. So, we talked to them about how dad went through a special certification at the North Pole with Santa to "help" Santa. He can't make it to every holiday party so Santa has asked a few dads to help out. :) They totally bought it.

Sweet Gavin even knew it was Scott every time. Santa would walk in and Gavin would run over yelling, "Santa daddy is here!!" But would never want to sit on his lap. He would scream and cry. One time Scott used his real voice and said, "Gavin, it's me dad. It's okay don't cry!" But that didn't work either.

Brigham always was excited to see Santa. He was never scared to sit on his lap either. Brigham would giggle and clap in excitement. It was real cute.

On Saturday afternoon I told Gavin and the other brother's that that night we were off to another Christmas party and Santa would be there. Gavin asks me, "mom, Santa Dad or Santa ho ho?" Too cute.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

.74 CENTS!!

Yesterday, I went and filled up my suburban for .74 cents a gallon!! HELLO! I shop at Safeway (Von's) and for every $50.00 you spent you receive .10 cents off at the pump. Well, I had accumulated .70 cents worth! Total I paid $23.40. I use to pay over ONE HUNDRED dollars to fill up!

What a GREAT feeling!

Gross!

This morning Gavin handed me one of those little cereal boxes that are individual size to open for him. So, I open it and he walks away....A few minutes later I walk to find him and Brigham to make sure all is well and I see Gavin filling his cereal box with WATER!! YUCK! Not just any water, the water from the bathroom faucet! GROSS! (We're out of milk!) He is sitting at the table right now eating his breakfast and he even just said, "Yum!"
My first errand this morning is to go to the grocery store to get some milk!

1 Week Baby!!

No, I do not have a 1 week old baby! :)

In 1 week we are heading to UTAH!! YEAH! This will be our families FIRST white Christmas, but hopefully not the last! We made these plans very last minute. The main reason we're going is Papa bought a house and we're (Scott) is helping him move stuff in and get the home ready to rent out. But of course Scott can't go to Zion alone, we ALL must go along for the ride!

We have several cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, second cousins twice removed...blah, blah, blah and we are excited to hang out with them and PLAY!!

My boys love to visit the cousins, but honestly, they are SO excited to play in the SNOW! So am I! I had to go shopping and buy some extra stuff for the boys so we'll be a little more prepared for the weather. it's just a tad colder there. :)

So my friends, the countdown is on! 1 week baby!!

Christmas Card 2008

Here is our Christmas card we sent out this year. We usually do a family portrait at a golf course, but we decided to change things up this year. One of my friends, Janae, does this kind of Christmas card. And every year I love it and wish I had done that too. So, here is my copy of her card!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Golfing time with Grandpa!!

Over Thanksgiving weekend Grandpa took the boys golfing. The boys LOVE when grandpa takes them golfing. They are always so excited about having quality time with Grandpa and having such a great golfer teach them some tricks.
Here is Tyler hitting the golf ball. If you look closely you see his little tongue hangin' out as he is concentrating on the ball. Too cute!

Each of the boys has their own bag and clubs to play and practice with. Grandpa MADE most of the boys clubs! YES! He is very talented! There is a golf course right by our home, LUCKY US!! We try to go as often as possible, but we're crazy busy!

Gavin here is practicing just like his big brothers. He hit the ball the was so excited about it!!

Nice stance Jack!

THANKS GRANDPA!!!

Lettuce Wraps

I love lettuce wraps.

I love them from PF Chang's and Pick up Sticks. I was watching The Biggest Looser last week and one of the couples (the ones I don't really like!) were making turkey lettuce wraps. They looked so yummy. It never showed the actual recipe, but I kept pausing it and trying to figure it out. So the other night I made my own Turkey Lettuce Wraps.

1/2 onion, chopped finely
1 C. baby carrots peeled, chopped finely
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped finely
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped finely
1T garlic, chopped finely.
1 package of ground turkey
salt and pepper to taste.

I cooked up the ground turkey and added teriyaki sauce, A-1 sauce, and Worcester sauce. In another pan I sauteed the veggies in 1T of EVOO.
After both were booked I added them together, and wallah, yummy turkey lettuce wraps!
I did put the lettuce in the freezer while I was cooking so they were extra cold and crisp. My kitchen smelled good while I was cooking, and man were they good!

(you could also add in celery or water chestnuts, but I don't care for either!)

Do YOU have a real lettuce wrap recipe? Will you share?

Boutique

Well, I did my first and only boutique this year today, I usually do 8 to 10 different boutiques. But not this year. It's so time consuming and it's a lot of work for me and poor sweet Scott. He is such a great help to me by setting up, moving the heavy boxes and of course taking everything down and putting it away for me. Isn't he great!!

My friend Stacy helped make some of the vinyl boards for me this year. She is very creative. The big sellers this boutique were the shutters that hold pictures and the BE boards.

Right next to us were two girlfriends from our ward. It was fun chatting with them the entire morning and afternoon.

Temple Lights

Tonight we went to the Mesa temple to see the lights. It was beautiful, like always. It was a lot of fun and the boys always seem to enjoy seeing all the colorful lights. We try to count the lights...but we usually stop after 1 bush or 1 tree. :) There are just so many.

It was cold enough to get the coats out. Shocking! I grabbed the boys coats and when we arrived at the temple and had the boys put them on there. I noticed two of the jackets were too small for the boys. That's what I get for having the boys wear their coats 2 times a year. :)

Inside the temple is a gorgeous Christus. Gavin kept wanting to touch it. He kept telling me and his brother's that there was Jesus. It was really cute.

Also inside the temple there is a room full of nativities from all around the world. This one was made in Utah and made out of paper. Folding, twisting, fraying, shredding, and crumpling it to make this beautiful scene.

Nativity

Scott and I have been collecting different nativities for a few years now. We first started doing it when we would travel a lot. We bought one while visiting Mexico, South America, and other places. We have two that are carved out of an olive tree from Jerusalem. We have one carved out of a gourd. A snow globe, a musical one, tiny small ones, large ones, one made out of banana leaves, one from my Gram's shop, and one you use a candle with. It's been fun finding unique ones to add to our collection.

Do you collect nativities? Or other Christmas items?

9 Months old!

My sweet, adorable, chubby, little love muffin is already 9 months old. Man, times goes by too quickly. Brigham is crawling all over the place, pulling himself up, letting go and just standing there and as of late he's been taking a few steps here and there.

I brought out a bunch of new toys for his age, and he's had a fun time exploring them. When The other brothers saw the new toys they got all excited and thought today was Christmas! These new toys I've had for several years, but Gavin out grew them. Silly boys.

Here are the top 9 reasons I LOVE Brigham

#1 He is so dang cute. Always smiling and cheerful.

#2 He gets so excited when he sees dad come home or the brothers when they come home from school. It's so cute to see him smile while his arms and legs start moving out of control.

#3 He goes to sleep so easily and stays asleep all night long.

#4 He said "Ma Ma" for his first babbling words a couple of weeks ago!

#5 He hasn't pulled down my Christmas tree or any of the expensive decorations.

#6 He wants me to hold him more than anyone else. I love to snuggle and give him loves.

#7 He loves bath time. He'll put his head under the water coming out of the faucet, he'll slap his hands in the water to make splashes, and he'll play very contently with his toys.

#8 He loves to talk to Nana on the phone and gets all excited and drools all over the phone.

#9 Because he is Brigham Nielsen Thompson. With such a great name, how could there be anything wrong with him? He is easy going, friendly, always smiling, checking out his bro's and other surroundings, and is just a joy to have in our family.

Happy, happy, birthday Brigham dear......I love you!