Happy New Year!

We spent New Years Eve at my sisters house with her family and my brothers family too. It was a fun time; eating, talking, playing Mexican Train. Then we had to run outside at midnight for fireworks and confetti.

It was really wet outside but they were still running around throwing confetti.

Gabriel was not happy about taking pictures, even with his dad.
All the kids having fun and being silly.
The little kids did not like the noise from outside so they hid by the door.

The girls excited about the New Year
Savannah and her Uncle Jimbo

All of them posing for their first picture of 2009!

Christmas 2008

This past week has been full of family fun and Christmas activities. To start the week off we went to a neighborhood full of Christmas lights. It was so fun to walk the streets and look at the pretty decorations. The kids loved this. Gabriel liked the lights but did not want to take a picture!

Then on Monday we went to Grandma Pryce's for ornament decorating. The kids have been doing this for a few years now.

Gabriel and Kaylee stayed interested for a few minutes but Kaylee would have rather had a tea party.

Now came Christmas Eve at my parents house. My mom has been in the middle of remodeling but I am impressed she got all the flooring done just in time. She might have been up all night we are not sure.

Anyway here is my nephew Owen. His first Christmas. We bought him Curious George who looks like it is bigger than he is.

All the boy cousins; Eric, Luke, Gabriel and Owen.

All the girls cousins; Ciera, Chyna, Patrice, Gillian, Savannah and Lauren. Don't mind Owen he is so cute he gets to be in all the shots.

Now ALL the cousins together. Next year we should have one more to add to the bunch.

All right now for Christmas morning. We awoke to an empty plate of cookies, so someone must of been here...

Yep their were a lot of presents under the tree so I guess all my kids must have been good.

We bought Chyna a digital camera for Christmas so she tried it out on mom and dad first.

All the girls wanted American Girl dolls from Santa and they all got them. Gillian really wanted Felicity.

Savannah wanted Kit along with a telescope and binoculars.

Gabriel playing with a Jimmy Johnson toy. Now I am not sure if someone is trying to get us to switch from being a Dale Jr fan or what. His favorite gifts were his cowboy boots and a Dr. set.

Chyna showing off her new camera. Usually she is a hard kid to surprise because she is snoopy and asks so many questions. This year I think she was surprised by ALL of her gifts.

My favorite gift was my pink Slanket. It's a blanket with sleeves. I love it for watching TV or being on the computer it is great. Thanks Jason, I love you very much!


I wish I was better at taking pictures to get actual shots of everything going on. I am always in the action so I forget to stop and take pictures. This should be one of my goals for the upcoming year. This is why I have no pictures for the rest of the day.

Later that morning Jason's parents came by for cinnamon rolls and to see all the kids gifts. My parents came by in the afternoon and we ended the day with dinner at our aunt and uncles house.

I am thankful that our family had a wonderful Christmas and all our family that was around us, we love them all. I appreciate this time of year because we get to see them more. We hope everyone else had as great a Christmas as us.

Christmas Confusion

Three year olds are adorable and the things they say are even cuter. I have let the kids open a few small presents from people early this year. It doesn't matter who I tell him they are from he always says "Jesus bought me this" then he will say "Thank you Jesus", so polite, so confused. I think as the kids get older we have been emphasizing the meaning of Christmas more and more and putting Santa a little more in the background so for him being so little he's not so sure who or what is going on. It is really sweet.

Schools Out...

For the next four weeks for me but Jason is completely finished. I am so proud to say that he has completed his MBA program. It's hard to believe when we met and he was a senior in high school. I never knew all the things we would go through. He has been so strong in his determination to finish school. I look up to him and only hope that I can get through school as well as he did. Congrats Jason on your Masters degree!

Christmas Party

We attended two of our annual Christmas parties and unfortunately missed our ward party but that's okay I don't think I could of done another one. First we had Jason's family party which is all the extended family and out of towners. It was fun as always. This year we tried the white elephant gift exchange. I ended up with a latch hook rug- Yay! J/K Jason ended up with two movie tickets. It was fun and that is the point. We did it with the kids and they were too nice they didn't steal any gifts frpm each other. The adults weren't as nice.

Then we went to the Elks Christmas Party. There they had a magician and Santa Claus. Savannah was chosen to help with one of his tricks. Gabriel wanted to see Santa but only for a second before he started screaming. The rest of us saw Santa too.

Grandma and Grandpa Pryce and Grandma Kim


Grandma Barbara and Grandpa

All of the cousins or at least the ones that came and were awake! (Gabriel, Chyna, Kaylee, Savannah, Alyse, Justin and Gillian)

Savannah helping Tony Blanco the Magician pull a rabbit out of the hat.

Christmas Program #2

Well last night was the older girls Christmas performance. Now I feel bad because as I said in the previous post I forgot my camera for Gillian's and then last night I did bring it but didn't remember to take it out until Chyna so I totally skipped Savannah's. But I did record a few things from Chyna. Now I have been trying to download the video but it will not go through so I am doing something wrong, oh well. Chyna plays the flute in beginning band and I must say she is really good, well I mean the whole band is good. This was their first performance and they all played really well. Sometimes you hear beginning bands and it sounds like screeching. They did great. I am not just saying that. Okay and then she is in choir which is 5th-8th grade choir. The choir is extremely good too. I am just so proud of all my girls and all the activities they join. It is so wonderful to go and see them perform and excel in all their endeavors.))

Also notice in the picture Savannah has braces now. They were put on right before the performance. She looks adorable. She was so nervous after all the horror stories her friends had told her but she did great and and performed perfectly even though she was in a little pain.

Christmas Program #1 and Gabriel's Antics

Tonight Gillian had her Christmas program. She got up on the stage and sang and did all the movements which is a great accomplishment from last year. She stood there so scared last year. She is really growing and maturing and it makes me so sad to have her be a big girl now. Tomorrow night Chyna and Savannah have their program.

On another note Gabriel has totally discovered Santa and can not wait for him to come. Every time the doorbell ring he screams "It's Santa!" He so funny.

On Monday Savannah could not find her Ugg boots for school on the morning. Well I thought she just put them somewhere weird and told her to wear a different pair of shoes to school. Well as of this morning we still couldn't find them. Then today I went to put my boots on and they were gone. I searched everywhere, in cupboards closets, bedrooms and could not find them. I asked Chyna after school if she had seen them and she started looking. She told Gabriel to help find Mommy's boots and he ran to the hall closet and pulled all of this stuff out of the way and pulled mine and Savannah's boots out. I asked him why he took them and hid them and he said "I want boots too, Cowboy boots" I guess he is mad so if he doesn't have boots none of us can. I bought him a pair for Christmas so he will have to wait 15 more days. He is totally in to Cowboys right now but what 3 year old boy isn't?

One more note Gabriel has used the potty 3 times so far this week. It is looking up. He goes to Primary in three weeks and I don't want him in diapers.

Toyland Parade

The girls were in the Sanger Christmas Parade on Saturday. Savannah and Gillian were on the schools float. If you notice Gillian in both pictures I think she froze. She would not move. Savannah is happy and smiling. Chyna was performing with her dance team so she was dancing in the parade. Hopefully it kept her warm because it was cold out there!

Magical Month

Not only will we have a visit from Santa this month but tonight Gillian will have her visit from the Tooth Fairy. She lost her first tooth today at recess. She was so excited she brought it home in a little treasure tooth box they gave her.

Thought of the Day

"Never did the Savior give in expectation of receiving. He gave freely and lovingly, and His gifts were of inestimable value. He gave eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and legs to the lame; cleanliness to the unclean, wholeness to the infirm, and breath to the lifeless. His gifts were opportunity to the downtrodden, freedom to the oppressed, forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing, and light in the darkness. He gave us His love, His service, and His life. And most important, He gave us and all mortals resurrection, salvation, and eternal life.We should strive to give as He gave. To give of oneself is a holy gift. We give as a remembrance of all the Savior has given."
Howard W. Hunter

I Have a Baby Again

I had bought some baby outfits for gifts and tonight I was wrapping some for my brand new nephew Owen Anthony Wood born Friday, Nov. 28th but anyway as I was doing so Gabriel kept throwing a fit for the clothes and I kept telling him he was too big and these were baby clothes. Well tonight at dinner he disappeared and I went to check on him because a quiet 3 year old is not a good idea. This is what I found. He had put on this little jumper and buttoned it up. You can see the legs are just hanging there at his waist and of course on a baby it should be long sleeved. Well he has been wearing it ever since and says he IS a baby.

Sharing Time

Today I was in charge of sharing time in Primary. After four weeks of the same topic I was trying to think outside of the box. I thought about when we were little and would make Christmas chains in school to countdown til Christmas. So I decided to make a Christmas chain to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas. I followed things from a talk by Pres. Hinkley last year and then added some scriptures to read and other acts of service. So as they rip off the links each day there is something for them to do to reflect on the "true" meaning of Christmas. The kids absolutely loved it. I think it is always good to have fun and Santa and presents but we always need to remember

the reason for Christmas.

Here is Savannah showing off her chain.

Christmas Lights

Jason decided yesterday to put all the lights up on the house. He even went and bought the chubby little penguin because the girls love penguins. I was taking a nap because I had been up the night before in line for Black Friday deals so I slept through the whole process. I was glad to see that he and the kids did it all by themselves because usually he makes me help up on the roof so this was a relief. I think they all did a great job.

Fun with 4th Graders

Jason and I went on Savannah's 4th grade field trip to Monterey and the Carmel Mission. In the fourth grade they study California history and then they have to do a report and make a model of a mission. It was a lot of fun spending the day with Savannah and her friend Sarah. They are two peas in a pod. Sometimes you just need to relax and have the humor of 9 year olds around you.


Savannah and her best friend Sarah

Jason and Savannah hanging out at the wharf

I.. tag

Sorry Marina, I know you tagged me awhile ago but I am slow sometimes. Anyway here it is:

I am: a wife and mother.

I know: I am not always right even though I don't admit it .

I want: a bigger house.

I have: to get Gabriel potty trained.

I hate: being sick.

I miss: my friends from the A.F .

I feel: sick right now (I'm recovering from a flu shot) .

I hear: my kids fighting.

I smell: a delicious dinner that I cooked.

I crave: Reeses pieces right now.

I search: for knowledge.

I love: my family.

I care: about what is happening to our society.

I always: am thankful for my blessings.

I believe: in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

I sing: only in Primary.

I write: for meditation.

I lose: my mind when my kids fight.

I win: when I plan ahead.

I never: stop loving my family.

I listen: to my husband who is usually right (at least 50% of the time).

I am scared: at night when my hubby is at work.

I need: more sleep.

I am happy about: my life so far.

Halloween

Well I am finally posting our halloween pictures. We went trick or treating with the Manriquez cousins this year. It was fun and the kids have tons of candy. I confiscated most of it and I think I have candy for my Sunday school class for a year now. Gabriel is into Batman for some reason this year. He has never seen a Batman movie or comic but he knows him and wants Batman everything. Isn't that funny how boys are? Although Savannah's costume says Wizard of Oz after last weekend she changed it to Galinda with a "Ga" from Wicked. Once you see Wicked you don't really care for the Wizard of Oz anymore. Of course Gillian was a witch and Chyna a pirate nice traditional costumes. We had a fun night. After trick or treating we went to my parents house so they could see my cute kids. By the time we got home it was midnight.

I am glad that it is finally November because it is usually a kick back month. We have absolutely nothing planned. Yesterday I finished all of my midterm's so school will be a breeze until finals in December. I have to brag one tiny bit because I did great on all my midterms but in my Psychology class we had to write a 6 page paper for our midterm and I got 100%- 200pts. out of 200pts. I know it is not nice to brag but if I don't give myself props who will. It boosts my confidence when I start feeling like I am too old to be going back to school.