Our Christmas fun!

As always on Christmas Eve we have pizza and root beer floats. We decided to make our own this year and I had gotten a awesome pizza crust recipe from some good friends, it was sooo good!

After pizza and floats we open a few presents from the Ashbocker cousins, friends and new PJs from dad and mom.

Here are the girls in there new PJ's!

This Christmas was fun! We didn't do a whole lot, just a few gifts. But it was still fun!

Can't tell Jake is a little surprised and excited that Santa brought an XBox to our house can you???

Grace didn't really want a whole lot, but Santa brought her some new Zhu Zhu stuff!

Bekah got this Frosty the Snowman from her Aunt Deana & Cousin Sara, she loves it!

I love this picture! What a ham!

We had a nice quite, fun Christmas. We missed all our wonderful family, but look forward to next year when we can all get together! And we can't wait for a white Christmas next year!!!

We are so thankful for all we have been blessed with this past year and look forward to a year filled with family and fun! We are thankful for Christ and all he did and continues to do for our family.

We hope everyone had a Christmas filled with love and fun!

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!

My sweet, sweet Bekah-boo!

We celebrated Rebekah's 4th birthday on the 21st! It is hard to believe she is 4 already! She is such a joy to have around! She is always making someone laugh and spreading lots of love. She is growing fast and trys so hard to keep up with her big brother and sister! She is sometimes too smart for her own good! She loves going to play group and helping around the house and at the school. She is always on the go and looking for new things to try, whether mom and dad think she should or not! She is my trouble maker! In a sweet and loving way! She loves playing with friends and making new ones too! And she would talk your ear off if you let her! She brings a smile to everyone around her!

Bekah is such a joy to have in our family! I think we would all be lost without her! Her sweet spirit and personality add so much to our lives! We love her so much and hope she had a great birthday!

Happy Birthday Bekah! We love you so much!

My Favorite Christmas Poem

The Stranger

At Christmas time there was a man who looked so out of place

as people rushed about him at a hurried sort of pace.

He stared at all the Christmas lights, the tinsel everywhere,

the shopping center Santa Claus, with children gathered near.

The Mall was packed with shoppers who were going to and fro,

some with smiles and some with frowns and some too tired to go.

They rested on the benches or they hurried on their way,

to fight the crowd for purchases to carry home that day.

The music from the stereo was playing loud and clear

of Santa Claus, and snowmen, and a funny nosed reindeer.

He heard the people talk about the good times on the way,

of parties, fun and food galore, and gifts exchanged that day.

"I'd like to know whats going on," the man was heard to say,

"There seems to be some sort of celebration on the way.

And would you tell me who this is, all dressed in red and white?

And why are children asking him about a special night?"

The answer came in disbelief, "I can't believe my ear!

I can't believe you do not know that Christmas time is here;

The time when Santa comes around with gifts for girls and boys,

when they're asleep on Christmas Eve, he leaves them books and toys."

"The man you see in red and white is Santa Claus, so sly.

The children love his joyful laugh and twinkle in his eye.

His gift packed sleigh is pulled along by very small reindeer

as he flies quickly through the air, while darting here and there."

"The children learn of Santa Claus while they are still quite small.

When Christmas comes, he is the most important one of all!!!"

The stranger hung his head in sorrow, he closed a nail-pierced hand.

His body shook in disbelief, He did not understand.

A shadow crossed his stricken face, his voice was low but clear.

"After all these years, they still don't know,"

And Jesus shed a tear.

I read this poem every year in our 24 days of Christmas book. Every year it makes me cry. It touches my heart so much. I am thankful for Christ. All he did for me , my loved ones and friends. I hope that we all remember the real reason we celebrate this holiday. And pass along to our little ones the true meaning and traditions of the season.

That boring???

Am I really as boring as I am appearing to be??? I know I don't live a fancy life full of intrigue, but I have cute kids! I stay busy and have a few things to say every now and then. Oh, well. Here's to being boring!

A little behind...

So life has been a little busy! So here I am now, trying to catch up on life. Between football, cheer leading, Cub Scouts, play group, work and just life, I haven't had time to do much blogging, so here I am. As always, I like to let pictures tell the story!

 Jake playing football

Grace in the front, cheering away!

Jake tackling (#48)

Grace on the front, left, during her cheer Show-Off

Grace holding her metal from Show-off

Bekah Cheering at the Show-off

Jake got his Duty to God Knot in Cub Scouts

Grace, Bekah & I made a bow holder for all there hair bows, I think they have to many!

Jake made the All-Star team again this year, they played over Thanksgiving (#28)

Dustin with the girls, watching the Thanksgiving Day game Jake played

Everyone after the game

Dustin throwing Grace for her to cheer

Dustin throwing Bekah

And this brings us to now! I was a little slow and reluctant to get out all the Christmas decorations, I just didn't feel like it. But I made myself pull the boxes out and start, and the kids excitement rubbed off on me and I was brought back to the magic of Christmas. Their excitement and joy filled our house. That is what makes the season special.

I got to set up my Christmas Decor! I love my Nativity Set!

This is the kids tree this year. It is starting to get over run!

This is our tree.

We went with the old fashion theme this year.

As we have been preparing for and stressing over Christmas again this year, we have decided that it would be nice to just skip over it all next year! Where has Christ gone in Christmas? It is suppose to be simple and filled with love, laughter and fun. Do we really need all the things we get? Do we really need to spend all the money to show we love or care about others? We are on a mission to find a simpler, more affordable way to do Christmas. Any ideas are welcome! Next year, we are going simple.

Discoveries

As I have been watching others this past couple weeks I noticed a few things.

One- Some of parents take simple things way to seriously.
Example: At a Fun run to raise money for the school, one of the fourth grade girls, now she is a beautiful girl, who at Mile Club, (for PE once a week they run around the track earning tokens for every five miles they run, parents are invited to join in.) anyway, at Mile Club she runs hard the whole time, with her father who comes and kind of keeps her going. Now as she is running for this Fun Run her dad is on the side lines telling her to 'run harder', 'get going', taking it way to seriously! It is a FUN run! I am sure he wants her to succeed, but she is 9!
Another Example: At football some of the parents freak out when their sons don't do everything perfect, or come in first every time. And I mean FREAK out! One mom in the stands yells, and I mean loud, at her son through the whole game, they are 9 and 10 year olds, just learning the game.
LET THE KIDS BE KIDS A LITTLE LONGER!!! We pressure our kids way to much. They need time to learn and grow. Yes they need to work hard do there best, but they also need to have some fun!

Two- I have amazing kids! I really love them each so much.
As I watched Jake do this fun run at the school I noticed that he ran the entire hour, and didn't slow down or stop at all, he is so determined and when he decides to do something, he goes all the way. I also noticed that he is a leader without trying. As he did his thing running he had a friend who would search him out every time they got separated. He went out of his to stick to Jake. He is such an amazing boy, with so much potential, in so many different ways! He amazes me! I am so glad he is my son!

As I watched Grace doing the same fun run I saw how she was determined to do all the laps, and she did them and more. She is normally with her friends having fun, but when it came to this, she went on her own to do her very best! Running isn't her favorite thing, like her mom! But she did her best, and went above and beyond doing it. She is going to succeed at anything she decides to do. She is a smart, beautiful girl. I am so grateful to have her in my life!

My sweet, sweet Bekah!!! Oh she is such a joy! So full of fun, attitude, and personality it is coming out her toes, as grandma would say! She is so much fun! I can't imagine our family without her! She is always making me laugh and think about everything a little differently. She is a little wonder, whom we could not live without!

Three- I am very blessed to have the in-laws I have! I am lucky that I not only love them, but I really like them! I enjoy spending time with them. And the rest of my husbands family! I have often heard from others how they can't stand to be around their in-laws much. And heard it again this past week. It made me really think about mine, and how blessed I am! They really are the best!

Life has its ups and downs, like it or not!

So for normal, chemically balanced people, life has lots of ups and a few downs, but they don't get to low and you can climb out. Well, in my world, they get so low you couldn't find them with a shovel, and forget trying to climb out, you just have to ride it out, hoping you can crawl out after a few days!

I am not saying my life is any harder, or that I have it worse than anyone, I just have my own challenges. Ones many people never understand. I don't understand it half the time! And I have lots of friends who want to be able to fix everything. It just can't be done. There is nothing any of my amazing friends can do, but wait it out with me. There is nothing to be fixed and make it go away.

As I am just coming out of one of these such weeks, I am so thankful for all my family and friends who do stick around through it all. I have been blessed with an amazing husband who understands and lets me work it out, while loving me and helping when he can.

I am also so thankful to have the Lord on my side. He is the only one who can really help me through these challenges. After the fact it is easy to look back and see where I started to slip, and if I was doing what I was suppose to be doing: prayer, scripture study, charity; I could have avoided this past week.

So, I am getting back on track, and I hope that my ups stay longer, my downs keep nice and short, and that I remember the Lord in everyday of my life. I hope you can do the same! Funny thing, hope. One of my favorite quotes says, "Hope is a creation, not a gift." So may we each make our own hope for the month!

Going Batty!

As I was looking for another cute Halloween background, I found this one called 'going batty'. I just loved the name! Sometimes I really feel like I am going batty! So I HAD to use it!

 Enjoy!

 I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween!!!

Fall Fun!

We had a great family day full of Fall Fun!

We started our day out at a Pumpkin Patch on a Peanut Farm. 

 My cute kids!

 They had a sunflower field next to the pumpkin patch.

My sweet Gracie!

Jake showing the pumpkin he picked out!

 The kids leading the way in the Corn Maze! We had a great time!

They had this cute picture board the kids wanted to take pictures in!

This is the Cow Train! They pulled all these cute cow barrels behind a golf cart, that went pretty fast!



Football & Cheer Pictures!

Tis' the Season, for football that is!

 Our little cheer girl! She can't wait to be a real cheerleader!

 I just love those little feet!

Jake and team running in after a win! (Jake is 48, leading the boys)

 Running up field!

 Grace is loving cheer leading!

 She is really good and one of the team leaders!

Go Eagles!

And thus are our Saturdays spent!

Check out the Pumpkin Patch!

Check out this great site for all kinds of Holiday fun! For every Holiday! She has great ideas and awsomw stuff!!! She is giving away some pumpkins!!!

Her is a link: http://deckthehalls-christmas.blogspot.com/2010/10/pumpkin-happiness-giveaway.html

Busy, Busy life update!

So things have been so crazy busy! And as I sit down to write this, I realize that I don't take enough pictures of our life happenings! I know crazy right! Coming from the one with a camera stuck to her head! ANYWAY...

Where to start... Baby Mason is doing great!!! He is growing and if you saw him now you wouldn't even know he had a rocky start in this earthly life! And since some of you ID friends will be seeing him soon, you will have to let me know how stinkin' cute he is!!!

Jacob is doing great at football! He is having fun and learning. Working hard. Even though his team is not winning a whole lot, he has a great attitude about it. Which we are thankful for. He still makes us all bust up laughing in! He is doing good in school this year also, amazing what a few months and a different teacher can do!

Grace is loving cheer! She is one of the two lead cheerleaders on her team. She is reading at a 3rd/4th grade level,(she is in second grade). And doing just as well in all her other subjects. She is going to an advanced, 'gifted', class for language arts and her teacher thinks we should have her tested for the gifted program. Needless to say, she is not my worry child! We have found that she has a little silly streak, and when it shows she has me rolling! She is still a very, very sweet, caring girl.

Bekah, sweet Bekah! She is very active, smart, and to cute for her own good! I still get to have her around all day, which on most every day that ends in y, she has me grinning! She is learning things right and left. Full of fun, and sometimes mischief! I think she is the one who will give us the most 'run for our money' as she gets older. I don't even want to think of her as a teen! She wishes she could cheer like her sister, and knows most the cheers by heart, and loves tagging behind both Jake and Grace, luckily they are great and include her most things! We are still doing playgroup, which she loves!

Dustin is working, and has been doing a lot of running here. We still like to be outside every chance we can! He is great with the kids, as always! And has been very supporting of me and my crazy adventures! I do love that man! We are still doing Cub Scouts, but have more help, so it is getting easier.

I have been busy with hosting parties for friends, (where I have gotten a lot of free stuff), doing photography, and making my watches and bows. I also get to watch my good friends little one year old a few days a week! So that is fun! And Bekah loves her to death! I am also one of the 'CEO's' of a group of three women who have started a little group to help and support home businesses and network together. It is turning into a great thing, WAY bigger than any of us thought it would be! So that has kept me busy! But it has been fun! As always, I have a busy life, full of fun, most the time!!! I have, believe it or not, been saying no! Most of the things I do, I started! Sadly. But I do still help at the school in each class once a month.

So as you can tell, we have a busy, busy life! BUT it is filled with fun times, laughs, and lots of love! So who can complain!!!

Baby Mason

Meet our new nephew, Mason Michael Fry.

Born 9/20/2010

7lbs 15ozs, 21 inches

Proud parents Michael & Kayla Fry



Mason is having a hard time right now and needs every ones prayers.

So please keep him and his mom, Kayla in your thoughts and prayers.

Hello Sunshine!

We have been so busy, as life often gets, that I for one, forget to look for the Sunshine. To look for Heavenly Father's hand in my life. This morning as I put in a CD I had misplaced for a few months, (I found while cleaning my entry way closet), one of my favorite songs came on, Hello Sunshine.(There are so many songs on this CD that feel like they are for me, from me to my Lord.) This is a CD I got at Time Out for Women last March, Mercy River, a great three women LDS group. They where at Time Out and sung many of their songs as well as talked about life and why they had written many of the songs. As I listen to this CD I remember that time, and how touched I was by strong the Spirit felt that day. And that Spirit has come rushing back to my heart. It has made me think of all that I am blessed with. Even though our family seems to be having a hard time right now, we are so blessed! To look for the Sunshine. Which is something I really needed to be reminded of at this time. I know that Heavenly Father is always there, like the sunshine, even when it may be hidden under clouds!

So my thought today, my heart today, welcomes the sunshine into my life. I hope you will all do the same.

HELLO SUNSHINE!!!

Your Party Central!!!

A wonderful group of ladies here in my area who all have either Small Businesses or Home Party Businesses have made a group to help each other out, and put our information into more hands easier. We have a NEW BLOG!!! so check it out! AND tell all your friends!!! Don't forget to become a follower!

http://www.yourpartycentral.blogspot.com/  OR see the button on the right side on my blog!

We even have a facebook group! (Your Party Central). So become a member, I already sent the invites out to almost everyone, and invite others! We are going to have special offers to our facebook and blog followers ONLY from our many different businesses! There truly is something for everyone!!! And you won't want to miss out!
Plus we will have different events happening!!! SO join the fun, it is just beginning!

If you have a small or home party business not represented and you would like to become a member of our group, let me know fast! (We only want one per business type).

Family Pictures!

So being a photographer has its benefits! Like getting to have your family pictures taken for free by your partner! And then getting to edit them the way you like, and print them at a low cost!!! Oh yeah! So Checkout a few of our latest pictures!

Dustin & I

Jacob

Grace

Rebekah

And that is my family!