I always like decorating the tree and getting the holiday decorations out. This means that I get to enjoy it all for just about a month before it all goes back into a box for the next year. The kids like it and it's clear that Tiss likes it too!
These two are silly kitties! Tiss can get up high and Otto can't, so it's fun to watch the fun they have together while Tiss sits there with her "ha ha" attitude, while Otto tries to figure out ways to get where she is.
Zach and I got the chance to do some running around with Holly and Jordan. Like always, Zach and Jordan have a lot of fun together being silly and enjoying their time together. It was nice spend some time with them. The funny is, they are both wearing Old Navy jackets and jeans. 
They just looked cute eating with their tails curled "just so." Well, their tails might have been moved by Alissa and I, but we'll pretend they were just like this ;)
For Zach's birthday, we were down at my moms to celebrate my grandma's, Ben's and Zach's birthdays. My uncle Dick and uncle Bruce came and we spent a nice little weekend with family.
We drove down on Friday, Saturday we went to lunch at a Chinese buffet that my grandma likes and that was close to her place. We spent the rest of the day just hanging out as a family. We went and visited my grandma the next day. I love the visits where she remembers who I am. Her mind is going foggy with long term memories (depending on the day), but her short term memory is pretty shot. It's interesting watching the circle of life and I'm very grateful that I've had my grandma in my life for all these years. I'm grateful that the kids will remember her and that Zach will have his own special memories because of his Pup Pup.
While we were there, Ryan showed me an old scrapbook of my dad's life. It was the first time I'd seen it and it was strange. It's strange to think our parents had "lives" without us in them, because all we know are lives with them. I looked at my dad as a boy and then young man and it didn't look like "my dad." I was trying to look past the age, at the eyes or smile, and it was just strange. I feel so blessed that enjoy blogging and putting our memories in the same place so that we can remember them for years to come. My kids will show their kids some day and they'll have those same feelings that I do when I look back at family history. It's pretty great that we are able to preserve our memories with pictures and videos.
Now a little bit about our baby boy, Zach, who turned 11 years old while we were there! It's hard to imagine that time has gone so quickly and that he's now just so big.
He loves (from him) : "Pizza, Rachet and Clank, Minecraft, all my friends, Terraria, my family, my stuff, where we live, my Legos and some of my toys, school, myself, cookies and that's all"
We love him because he's witty and silly, caring and sweet, creative, helpful, handsome, lively, sensitive, independent, responsible (as much as an 11 yr old can be) and he's just a good boy. We are very blessed to have him in our family. He brings a calm (when he's not arguing with Alissa or talking back) and helps me remember what's important when he so lovely asks "are we going to read tonight?" It's those reminders that he values and really enjoys those times with Alan and I. He loves his family and we love him!
As I start back into photography, I have been keeping my eyes open for some good spots to take pictures. I found one amazing spot tucked on a small hill near my house and Alissa and I took a walk the other day to look at another place I've been eying.
The spot I thought would be cool, ended up not being so great, so we walked across the street to a field with some cool weeds. Here you will see the many faces of Alissa. You'll see the "I don't want to do this anymore" face and then lots of her cute squishy little nose when she smiles. I love that!
Alissa was in need of new shoes and Twinkle Toes are the "thing" right now. These things cost so much, so after a long search, we found the cheapest pair we could find and just over a week later, the sides are piling away from the shoes. Lovely, so glad they are falling apart already.
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Over the weekend I got the chance to watch Mindy's boys while she went with John to CA for some fun. I am not going to lie, it was hard. We stayed here the first night and lost some sleep because Jordan kept moving and making noises and ended up getting up around 5:30am. From there I decided we needed to spend our time at Mindy's house because Ben was also having a hard time breathing with the cats here.
We packed up the boys stuff and headed to Mindy's and by the end of the day I was pooped. I put all the kids to bed and was asleep by 10pm! I don't remember the last time I fell asleep so quickly and didn't wake up at all during the night. It was awesome.
I had a lot of fun while watching the boys too. Jordan was my little buddy and followed me around a lot. We read stories and took pictures. He was just so sweet and I was reminded how precious they are at his age.
Zach and Ben did what Zach and Ben do...they played video games. At one point I had to pretty much force them outside. Really, it was like pulling teeth. Zach didn't want to jump on the trampoline because there was a bug and I told Ben we could go in once he decided to play for 10 minutes. We were outside for about 40 minutes total, it took him that long before he'd play.
All and all we had fun. I was reminded why we only have two kids and why I love having older kids, but I didn't want to say goodbye to Jordan because I knew he'd care less about me the next time he saw me, ha ha!
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On special holidays, some one in the neighborhood puts flags in everyone's yards. It was a beautiful day out and everyone was out enjoying the warmth. Otto has a spot that he was just loves, Zach and Conner were outside while Conner read a story he wrote to Zach and it was just so amazing to soak up the sun in November, even Tiss is enjoying the sun!
Tiss is always pretty hot and cold. Some times she's your best friend and MOST of the time she's not. When she's been outside or feels like it, she loves to make her way under the covers (I say "make her way" because it's fun to make her try for it and not just open the covers for her) and snuggles so sweetly. Today her little head and feet were sticking out and it was too much...adorable!
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Alan was doing laundry and found this little cutie in the dryer. I would think this could become problematic if we didn't check and turned the dryer on, so we'll remember to close the dryer door from now on.
For Alan's birthday, Mindy watched the kids the weekend before so Alan and I could have a fun night out. I had it's all planned out, but Alan ended up having to work earlier in the day and came home not feeling the best, so we had a night in with dinner and watched "World War Z."
On his actual birthday, he turned 33! It's fun to think that soon we will have been together more years of our lives than apart! I sent him a text every hour at work telling him why I love him, made tacos for dinner and he got banana cream pie for his "birthday cake." He got a single serve coffee maker and I'm excited to use it to make my tea (of course he likes it because he likes his coffee).
He continued the "celebration" into the next weekend with a little guys night that I set up because it had been SO long since the last one.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAN!
A couple months ago, I got an email from Pro Digital Photos to do some custom work for them. I knew they were a local lab, but I usually don't take custom jobs because if I'm not feeling creative, it's hard to work with someone's schedule. I didn't respond right away and I got another email. This time I decided to just listen to what they were wanting. They needed 25 holiday cards for their 2013 holiday card collection. We needed the extra money, so I decided to go for it and I am SO GLAD I DID! I got the chance to go into their shop in Pleasant Grove for the first time and I was so impressed. Not only is their store incredibly cute, so much so I wanted to move in, but the cards and their prints are beautiful. I met the owner and another girl who were so nice and lets be honest, it feels GREAT to hear people in real life tell you how much they love your work. It's kind of like "oh ya, I really do have an amazing talent and people love my designs." It just felt like I'm now a part of something really cool. I got to take home some of the designs they had already printed and it's awesome to get hands on products of MY designs!