Playing Catch Up

Why so many posts in one day you ask? Well I am trying to play catch up. So, here are some pictures of the kids decorating our Christmas tree. In an effort to make it feel like Christmas we had Christmas music blaring and Landon whipped up some hot chocolate for everybody.


Okay so, after I uploaded the darn pictures onto blogger I noticed that these pictures don't really show the kids decorating the tree. I could have sworn I took some pictures of them actually putting the ornaments on the tree but no, there isn't one. Or at least I can't find them. Oh well. Enjoy!

Ward Christmas Party!!!

The bad part about my kids having blogs is they want to blog about the same things I want to blog about. They are really putting a damper on my blog fodder. So you might have to read about the same things three or four times. Anyway, we went to our ward party on Friday night. It was your typical ward party. There was ham (or it may have been roast beef or turkey or prime rib, or chicken....we weren't really sure), funeral potatoes, rolls and a wide variety of desserts. We watched a video of Christ. Then we sang carols. I sang my heart out to the Little Drummer Boy. I have loved this song since New Kids On The Block sang it back in the late 80's.



Braxton, Beth and Ashley. I think at one point they were mocking me.

The kids (minus Madison, she was at McDonald's with a friend and Logan, he's to old for the jolly man's lap.)
Karli was trying to be nice and take Tommy to see Santa and she got roped into sitting on his lap too. She also thinks she is to big for this Santa business.

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

Last Tuesday school got cancelled for the kids due to snow. It was a first for our family. This is the first time we have lived somewhere that it snows. It snowed about 4inches and it was perfect because it all melted away by the next day. No shoveling snow here. The kids played in the snow for hours. The bad part was Tuesday was the day of my finals at school. It was supposed to be a big study day for me, but how do you study with the kids running in and out of the house 50 times?

Downtown

We went with the Butlers, Wilsons, and Allreds to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Albuquerque few Fridays ago. We arrived early to make sure we got the best spot to see the tree. We had to wait about 30 minutes and as you can see Tommy was having a lot of fun.

Afterwards we had dinner at Saggio's where Landon got a parking ticket for exceeding the 1 hour parking time limit. The guy handed Landon the ticket as we were getting in the car to leave. Bummer!

Yes, another one

I knew it would happen. Madison wanted a blog too. So check it out here.

I have caved in

For words of wisdom from some of our brats you can read this blog and that blog.

We will eventually make them private but when we do we will let you know.

Be sure to leave them a comment (or two) so they know people are looking.

Enjoy!!!

Family Pictures

My friend Beth so kindly offered to take our family pictures. Here is the product of her work.

I love how they turned out. Now I just need to hurry and put together our Christmas cards before they become Happy New Year cards.

The Kitchen

Here are a few more pictures of our house. I hesitated posting the kitchen pictures because we just bought knobs and pulls for our drawers and cabinets, but we have yet to install them. I thought it would be nice to wait and take a picture after they are installed. I guess I will have to take another picture and post the kitchen again. We'll see.

Lunch With Our Kids

The Friday before Thanksgiving the kids' schools invited the parents to come to the school and enjoy a "yummy" turkey meal with our kids. I was surprised when Logan and Karli asked if we were going to come. After all they are in middle school, aren't you supposed to be embarrassed of your parents when your in middle school?

Landon had the day off work so we went to both schools together. Here are the pictures.

Landon and I forgot how "good" the cafeteria food is. I kept telling the kids how lucky they are that they get to eat this stuff everyday.

On a side note: It was jersey day at the middle school so the kids were aloud to wear team jerseys instead of the uniform. Landon decided to participate too.

Thanksgiving in a nut shell

We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona. We were able to have lunch with the Skinner side and then dinner with the Biggs side. It worked out quite well. Although, Landon spent Thanksgiving day in bed, sick. No Fun!!!

The food at both get together did not disappoint. It was fabulous. We all left fat and happy. I am still wondering why were asked to only bring drinks to the lunch though. Somebody knows I can't cook. I did help peel potatoes and nobody complained about finding a peel in the mashed potatoes.

Aunt Krista taught us to play the "What If" game after we ate. If you want to know how to play it you'll have to ask her. My kids loved it and they even conned the Biggs family into playing it at dinner. Everybody got a kick out of it.

There was a lot of Wii action going on too.

This picture cracks me up:

I didn't know that Wii had a ballet game too.

Here is a picture of some of the Skinner Grand kids (Sara and Cameron's kids weren't there):
The Saturday after Thanksgiving John organized a breakfast at IHOP, but we couldn't get him to pay for the breakfast.

Sleeping arrangements

So the other morning I went to wake the kids up for school. I walked into Karli's room to find this:
They all have their own beds, I promise. I could have sworn that when I tucked them in they were all in their own beds. After I went to bed they must have all migrated to Karli's room. Why they would choose the floor over their comfy beds is beyond me.

You should see the other guy.

While we were in Arizona over the Thanksgiving holiday (more posts about Thanksgiving will come later)Tommy got a shiner. It was pretty bad too (though the pictures don't do it justice). Tommy likes to tell people he got in a fight with a 13 year old but in actuality, while we were at the park he ran into something that looks like this:

Just Wanted To Share

In February 2008 my parents celebrated their 40th anniversary. We celebrated with them by throwing them a surprise anniversary party. These were the last family pictures taken with my Dad. I am so grateful to have these. I am so glad that my brother John had the idea to do the party in the first place. If it wasn't for him (and the rest of my siblings) we wouldn't have these memories. We just got the disks with all the pictures back from the photographer. I didn't realize at the time but the photographer took over 200 pictures. I would love to share them all but for the sake of time I will only post a few of my favorites. It was so hard to choose, but here you go:

My Family:

Malissa, Kendra, Dad, Hollie, Kristin

Todd, Dad, Mom, John

The Whole Biggs Clan:

Mom & Dad:

My Dad & his siblings. Donald, Dad, Jean, Harold

The Grandkids:
It's hard to believe these pictures were taken 4 months before my Dad passed away. Look how healthy he looked.

Eight Is Great

I was tagged by Landon's sweet Aunt Kayola. I would link you to her blog but she is private. Which is too bad for all of you because her blog is the best.

I stole this picture from her blog. This is Kayola and her "boyfriend" Phillip:

So here you go. Crazy Eights:

Eight Shows I Love To Watch:

1. The Office
2. Survivor
3. Nothing
4. Nothing
5. Nothing
6. Nothing
7. Nada
8. and Nothing again!!! (Boring.....I know)

Eight Of My Favorite Restaurants:

1. Outback Steakhouse
2. Carvers
3. Chipotle
4. Matta's
5. Pei Wei
6. Olive Garden
7. Taco Bell
8. Someburros

Eight Things That Happened Yesterday:

1. Baked Snicker doodles with my girls
2. Went to church
3. Studied for Biology
4. Took a Shower
5. Figured out the difference between Mitosis and Meiosis
6. Brushed my teeth
7. Taught my primary class
8. Kissed my kids goodnight

Eight Things I am Looking Forward To:

1. Being finished with School
2. A Pimple free face
3. Paying off our cars
4. Christmas
5. A Cure for Cancer
6. Spending more time with my family and less time with study groups.
7. Going To See The Twilight Movie with Hollie, Mom, and My Girls. (And anyone else who wants to come along.)
8. Seeing my Dad again!

Eight Things On My Wish List:

1. A's in all my classes
2. New Purse (A girl can never have too many purses)
3. An ice cold Diet Pepsi in my hand right now.
4. No more TMJ
5. All expense paid vacation to Hawaii
6. Clothes, Clothes, and more Clothes
7. A fully landscaped backyard
8. No Debt

Eight People I Tag:

1. Hollie (she's new to blogging)
2. Farrah (since I just discovered your blog)
3. Derek (he could probably use a change on his blog)
4. Ashley (It's time for an update)
5. You
6. You
7. You
8. And oh yeah, You.

No Pressure though. I normally don't do the whole tag game. I was never really good at tag in elementary school so I have bad memories flash back when I see the word tag.

While I type this......

Logan is on a 20 mile hike with his Scout Troop.

Landon is on a date with 2 girls.

Karli and Madison are at the movies with with there Dad. Landon took them to see HSM3.

Tommy is playing video games (no surprise there).

And I should be studying for a Biology exam.

Climbing Rocks

Last Saturday the Wilson's invited us to go rock climbing. C.J. found a perfect spot for us to climb after about a mile or so hike. Thank goodness it was perfect weather. It was so much fun. We had a membership to an indoor rock climbing place when we lived in California so our family has had some practice at this sorta thing. But climbing outdoors is totally different and much more of a challenge. Here are some pictures of us in action.

Madison scaling the rock:

Madison's friend Kylin came along. Here she is repelling down the rock:

Tommy showing off:

Landon (aka Spiderman):
That's me, way up there:

C.J., the "professional" belayer:

Here's a picture to break your heart:
Becky and C.J.'s brave little boy, Kaden who is barely 4, was the first to give it a shot. He got climbing and got turned around and that was the end of it. He was so scared. Don't worry though, his mom saved the day.

Where are pictures of Logan and Karli you ask? They didn't go with us. They stayed home with their friends. I guess we aren't cool enough for them anymore.

Madison and Kylin: