Grad School

We'll times have changed. I got an email today with an attachment saying I had been accepted to the Graduate program and I could log on and register immediatly.
It's what I've been working for for over a year, but I'm so sick and worn out today I'm feeling pessamistic about taking on another big project.
Wish me luck

February

It's the month of birthdays for my family. James happy b-day past, mom, me, sam happy b-day to come. For my birthday I have decided not for work. I know that sounds like a given, but I've been working about 60hrs a week for over a month and still will this week just not on my actualy B-day. I'll probably lay in bed all day and do nothing. Sounds soooo sweet.

Growing up

Wow kids grow up fast. Sam just lost his first tooth. He won't even be 5 for a couple of weeks and he lost his front tooth. He has the most adorable lisp that is just slight enough to be cute. He was sooo excited to get a visit from the tooth fairy. At our house the tooth fairy only comes if you put your tooth in a baggie and put it on the fridge. The tooth fairy has a very bad memory and can't be relied upon to check pillows.
Today Brandon is hanging out at the ski resort with his school friends. He is taking snowboarding lessons in the mornings and gets to stay and play for the day. He thinks he is all grown up packing a cell phone and snowboarding with his buddies. My little baby is grown up. Luckily he doesn't have a teenage attitude yet. A few more years and I'm sure he'll grow into one. :)

Christmas

Is there anything better than Christmas with kids? Of course ours started Way too early about 5 am, but once they were up they were sooo excited. Santa was the big hit this year. He got the boys a Wii and they couldn't stop saying "I can't believe it, we finally got a wii!!!" Mom was too mean to get them a new Video game system but Santa pulled through. :) It was a great present for mom and dad too since we went back to bed before 630 and they were so distracted by video games we got to sleep till almost 11! Awesome!
After that we went to Grandpa Palettas. We stayed with Bryan's family for several hours till I had to come home and get ready for work. The kids were excited to play more video games and I headed off to the hospital.
Brandon was having a great day, not only did he get a Wii that he has been asking for for 2 years, but he gets to take snowboarding lessons starting in January so he got all his snowboarding gear. He is loving being the oldest and getting to try new things first. I just wish I had gone to his school. Instead of school on Fridays he gets to spend the says on the slopes and get school credit. How cool is that?!


I had to add this picture of Sean and his wife Mac. There relationship has outlasted most Hollywood marriages. They got married in Preschool because Mac told him they had to and they have been 'Husband and Life' ever since. She has him wrapped around her little finger. This year she decided she was going to be a BYU cheerleader so of course Sean has to be a BYU football player so these are the gifts they gave each other for Christmas.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great! I actually managed to leave the fall decorations up so we weren't having thanksgiving surrounded by Christmas decorations. Wednesday was our annual Pie Night. I'm loving the tradition of gorging on pie before filling up on Turkey dinner. I'm so glad our family is willing to travel to see us for the holidays. It's was great that Mel can all the way down, we never get to see her enough! Bryan's mom Alice stayed the night and stayed for Thanksgiving day. It was great to have her visit and spend time with the boys. I don't think I mentioned she was great 2 weeks ago.
Ben's class to prep for Thanksgiving decided to have a Native American Thanksgiving. They have been studing Native Americans so decided to spend a few weeks learning how the Indians harvest food for the winter. They dried fish, made their own beef jerkey, gathered nuts and fruit etc. Bryan's mom was great she came down for a day, went into Ben's class and taught them all how to make Navajo fry bread and tortillas. She was great and talked about her life growing up hearding sheep, drying their own salt, growing their own food, etc. She just turned 71 and most of her life was spent on the Indian Reservation in New Mexico. They lived very traditionally in a Hogan no utilites, hearding sheep. Her father was a medicine man so she had an interesting life, very different from ours.
They kids all Loved the fry bread, and couldn't wait to eat the homemade tortillas for their Thanksgiving feast.
I didn't spend much time in Ben's class on their Thanksgiving day because I had volunteered to Host Brandon's class party. It was like pulling teeth to get enough parents to help with the dinner, and not one showed up in the class to do crafts or games, but the kids are a little older in his class so it worked out fine. It was funny, the night before the feast I sent out yet another mass email to the parents telling them we had no one to bring pie and it wasn't Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. One parent said she would make a pie, so I was hoping it would be enough. When I got to the school the next day we had 7 pumpkin pies! 3 of them the HUGE Costco pies! It was hilarious. The kids got to eat all the pie they wanted and then some.

Family Pictures

Busy Week

Aren't they all! Took the GRE, am rushing to finish my application for grad school, threw together a b-day party for Sean, now looking forward to planning Thanksgiving etc. But So excited, got our family pictures back.!!!
Loving them. Wanted something a little retro and of course Marta is the queen of pictures. She has the patience of Job!! I couldn't hack all the kids and families so I got out of the picture business a long time ago. Marta is amazing. Check out her blog at . She is an amazing photographer, nurse, friend, all around super mom! Love her!
I'm going to add a slide show here, but there are too many great one's to put them all on, so the family shots first then I'll work on the kids later.