Today we got brave and made Christmas cookies! We had SO much fun. Here are the finished product. They turned out cute and were really yummy! The Santa ones are all for Santa tomorrow night. Maibel wanted him to have them so he would know what he looked like. She's so funny.

Well, we finally got Internet thanks to my extremely smart husband. He had to convert a phone jack or something or rather. I don't really know, but I do know, he stayed up really late (till like 10!!!) getting it put in for me. We have had SO much going on this past month that I really haven't had time to even think. We did get a new camera, which I haven't figured out how to get the pics off of yet, so no pics until my extremely smart husband can show me how.

The week of Thanksgiving started our craziness. We spent Thanksgiving with Brent's family in Payson. I love having my in-laws again. I was so excited to be able to spend a Holiday with them once more! I just wish we could have stayed longer(we flew to Cali the day after Thanksgiving). But the hardest part of this month has been saying goodbye to Kieth and Hariella, who left to Hawaii to serve an 18month mission. I am SO proud of them, but miss them tons. Not that I feel to bad for them, since they do get to live in Hawaii! Being a senior couple, we do still get to talk to them whenever we like. That's VERY NICE but still hard. Now that we have Internet, I hope we can get a web cam set up so Maibel can still see Grandma and Grandpa.

We were able to go to California for a week in November. The first few days we stayed with one of Brent's mission companions and had tons of fun with them. Jake and Fran have three adorable little girls, so Maibel was in heaven. I really hope they take us up on our offer and come visit us in Utah. Than we went to Disneyland for THREE DAYS!!! We went with my whole fam minus Rhonda and Greg. We all even stayed in the same hotel. It made the trip so much more fun to have everyone there. I thought 3 days was great but Brent was good at 2. Hopefully by the next time we go, he will have forgotten how tired he was the 3rd day and we can stay that long again (or longer).

The day we came home, we starting moving in to Kieth and Hariella's house in Payson. They were kind enough to let us stay here while they are gone. I LOVE IT!!! I can't wait to be done cleaning the apartment in Orem, but I am in love with having so much space! Sorry Hariella, we might have to live with you guys forever because I love this house!

Well, this is a long and boring post but sorry! I promise pics as soon as I can! It was nice to update everyone though! I haven't updated Mai's hair blog in a long time, so sorry about that too. Love to all and Happy Holidays!!

Maibel's Imagination

Well, we have had a very busy week with all the packing we are doing. But Maibel has kept us very entertained! She is SO funny. So, two nights ago I hear a big thump and I knew Mai had fallen out of bed. I waited for about ten minutes for her to come in crying to me but she never did. So, I went in her room to investigate and this is what I found. She was SO sound asleep.

And than yesterday morning Maibel informed me it was Annabelle's second birthday and that we were going to have a surprise party for her. (Annabelle is one of her dolls.) She went in her room and very quietly, so Annabelle couldn't hear, talked to her other dolls about coming to the party. We than went to the grocery store and we got a few snacks for the party. After that, we came home and make some decorations out of paper and markers and hung them up. We than went to Party Land and Maibel picked out a lai to give to Annabelle and a flower balloon. To top it all off, Brent brought home a little birthday cake for Annabelle. Hope Annabelle enjoyed her surprise party! I know we did! I love Mai. She is so cute. This party was VERY real for her. She even made Annabelle thank everyone!

Last but not least, Maibel went over to her cousins house today and they were playing monsters. Of course they were all so brave in the light of the day but tonight we were not so brave around our house. Maibel would not leave the room I was in because she just knew there was a monster in her room. Than I looked over and realized I had an extra bottle of Magic Monster Spray! What about that!! I told Mai she was very lucky because Mommy happened to have an extra bottle of Magic Monster Spray and all she had to do was spray it in her room and it would make the monsters melt away. She was very excited about the spray but then asked me why I had Magic Monster Spray if I said there was no such thing as monsters! (Whoops! Wasn't excepting that question!) So I told her that was why it was magic. I don't think there is any real monsters, but just in case there was, the Spray would know and get rid of them. She couldn't believe her luck!

New Moon

Maibel and I were in Albertson's the other day and we see these AWESOME New Moon cups. I got one and Maibel really wanted one so I had to get us two. Now Maibel will only drink out of her "Edward" cup. Its really funny.

Halloween 09

Well Halloween has now officailly come and gone. That's so crazy I can't believe it! My family had a big Halloween party at Clif and Chayo's on Friday night. It was a costume party so I was busy all week sewing and baking to get ready for it. As you can see Maibel was a butterfly, I was a witch and Brent was a spider. It was SO much fun.

She even let me put fake eyelashes on her. They were HUGE!

Here are the cupcakes we made. Maibel was so helpful all week and she even helped me put the eyes and the mouths on all the bats. When I was making Brent's costume, she stuffed one of the legs for me too. It was a GREAT week. It was so much fun to spend so much time with Maibel.

The Party

Here are the pics from Maibel's party. I am warning you now, there are a lot. I HAD to put them all on here because they were all so cute! Here is Mai standing next to the table, waiting on everyone to get here. She is SO excited! That big purple and pink thing on the table is the pinata. It is a nail polish bottle. It was a Barbie party so of course we had to have a Barbie cake (which ALWAYS reminds me of Sister M and my baptism). The cake was totally stressing me out so Melissa came and rescued me and finished it for me! What would I do without my sisters?
The pinata. It was SO funny!! We started with Ruthie and finished with Becca. Sweet Ruthie and Caleb went and barely touched the pinata and than it was Jaxon's turn. I told Brent to watch because I knew he was hit it HARD. He walked up and before Brent could even raise the pinata, he hit the crap out of it. It was so funny.
You can't really see Mai in this pic but oh well. Cesia was so funny. She was getting so mad at Brent because he kept moving it. LOL. Look at her face, she was so mad at him.
Inside the bags I put in the pinata, I gave all the kids stickers. We went inside and I started getting the cake ready to sing and when I turned around this is how I found Ruth.
Mai opening gifts. Clif had given her this little toe nail painting kit and she LOVED it. This was the look on her face when she opened it.

The Tent. We put all the kids in a tent in the living room. They watched Barbie and The Three Musketeers from inside the tent. They are so funny.
Saturday morning we had grits & cheese, and eggs and bacon. Than we went out front and played with bubbles.
For the past year Maibel has been asking for a "Build-a-Bear card". (gift card) We gave her one for her birthday and we went Monday night and did it. This is the bear she choose and its birth certificate. She named her bear Kari.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MAIBEL

Happy 5th Birthday Maibel

Since today is Maibel's birthday, I decided to ask her what a few of her favorite things are. I couldn't find pics of her with them on all of them but you get the message.

1-GoGo. Mai received GoGo as a gift on her first birthday from a friend of mine. She takes this doll everywhere. This is also to tell you how obsessed she is with babies. Any and all babies, she has to hold and love.

She has such a big heart and really just wants to "mother" anything she possibly can. Pill bugs are continually being brought into the house because "they just needed to be with me Mom." They receive names and are cared for as if they were human babies. When my niece was born last year, Maibel would sit on the couch and hold her for 30-45 min no problem. I love her caring personality.

2- second thing she choose was her sleeping mask. I know I have posted about this but she still wears it to bed ALL the time.

Its so funny. That's just Mai for ya. Last week she was sick and had to have a chest x-ray. They made her wear a mask in the hospital so she wouldn't get anyone sick. She faithfully wore that mask for the next three days because she didn't want to get anyone sick. Only Mai.

3-Next is our Little House on the Prairie books we read together each night. We went all over looking for used books in this set. We did pretty good. We are only missing Farmer Boy and By the Shores of Silver Lake.We read a chapter or two every night and Mai loves it. She will not go to sleep with out it. Its SO sweet. And of course I am so happy that she enjoys reading!

4-She recently was given these pajamas as a hand me down and she will not wear anything else to bed. They are so cozy and soft. Her pair are actually purple but they are the same Carter's Cozy Fleece Set. She just loves cuddling with anything. She has to sleep with her blanket and GoGo and a stuffed animal every night! It get rather crowded in there sometimes.

5-And the last one is her Barbie bike. She loves this thing. Brent got it for her last year and she

rides ever day! Not only is it pink and purple, and not only does it say Barbie on it, It has a little barbie bike on it so your barbie can go with you on rides!

New Baby!

I have been SO busy this week, this is the first time I've even had a minute to post these. My sister Rhonda had her baby last week!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!! Little Caroline Gail Spears came on Oct. 7 at 1:12pm. She was 20" long and weighed 7lbs 1ounce. Its been a little hard for us stuck in Utah because we haven't been able to see the new baby yet but she is CUTE! Here are the pics that Greg sent out.

Felicity, Hank, Caroline, and Bobby.

You Can't even tell she just had a baby! She looks great.

Family pic!

Caroline and her dad (Greg)

Camp Out

So last night Brent decided that we should have a camp out in the living room. We had put our blow up mattress in the storage unit so we just took our mattress and used that! It was so fun. Maibel could not quit laughing about it because she was so excited. At about 4 am Maibel was laying across both of us at the same time. I was awake and she kinda woke Brent up. He reached over and tickled her and she says, with her eyes closed, "Dad, this is not the time for that. It is way too late." It was so funny. Neither of them remembered it this morning.

Things that I love

So, as I am cleaning the house today, I started thinking about some of those little things that just make my life easier and I thought I would share some of them with you all!

1- My Dyson vacuum. Seriously the best vacuum EVER. I bought it for myself a year and 1/2 ago with some of my tax return money. It was my present to me.2-My heating pad. I sleep with it almost every night! Besides the fact that Brent tries to freeze me to death by sleeping with the windows open and this thaws me out, it is my saving grace for my arthritis in my back! On the days when its hard to move because my back hurts so bad, all I want is this!
3-My new cook book! Not only does it save us tons of money because we don't go eat out, all the recipes are SO good. I find myself sitting down and reading it like a novel.
4-My scentsy. I'm obsessed, I know. I love having my house smell good and I love scensty because you don't have to worry about it burning your house down. :) AND I can change the scent everyday if I want! PS- this pic is the one I have in my living room!
5-My newest find. Instead of dryer sheets, you just stick this in your drying with the sticky back and it last for at least two months. Its awesome. It was only like $5 dollars and no sheets to throw away or forget to put in your load of laundry. Plus, it works SO well.
6-And last but certainly not least, Crystal Light On The Go Energy. YUM!! I love these. Its only like 5 calories a serving and on those days you just can't get going, they are awesome. Danielle and Jenny can testify!

1-

She's A Swain!

She might look more like a Wright but she's played soccer like a Swain!! Yesterday was Maibel's first soccer game. It was literally the first time she has ever played soccer and she did awsome! She even made a goal. It was SO cute to watch her out there. She stayed in the game almost the entire time. I told her my dad would have loved to watch her play and she said "But Mom, he is watching me." I wanted to cry!

She was so worried bc I had signed her up late to she doesn't have her uniform yet. I just put her in a pink shirt to match her team but she was convinced that they wouldn't let her play without "a real soccer shirt". She just cracks me up!

Everytime she would kick the ball or anything, she would look over at me to make sure what she did was ok. I love how innocent these kids are.

Happy Birthday To Brent

It's here again, Brent's birthday! His is 32 yrs old today! Since he is 32, here are 32 random facts about him
1-His birthday is 9/9/77
2-His favorite is chicken rice a roni with fish sticks
3-His middle name is Warren (named after his Dad's Dad)
4-He graduated high school in 1995
5-He went on his mission to the Florida, Orlando Spanish speaking mission.
6-He lived in Bolivia for two years when he was 13.
7-He knows everything there is to know about concrete.
8-He is amazing at woodworking.
9-He likes everything neat and organized (I'm not very good housekeeper so feel bad for him!)
10-He had to wear a patch over one eye when he was 5.
11-He is not afraid of anything.
12-He tried to wax his hair once, and only once!
13-He used to sneak out of his house ALL the time.
14-His first car he bought was a black jeep.
15-When his family lived in Bolivia, he was the first one to learn Spanish and his mom used him as her interpreter because he was so good at it.
16-He has lived in 4 states.
17-He is the 3rd of 6 kids.
18-He has beautiful green eyes.
19-He is a WONDERFUL husband and father.
20-He's not a big TV fan.
21-He played football in high school.
22-He has had two back surgeries.
23-He had to have 9 staples 6 yrs ago when a water bed frame fell on his head.
24-He can fix just about anything.
25-His favorite colors are blue and black.
26-He has a Honda Shadow.
27-He has read all the Twilight books. :)
28-He sewed his own curtains for his last apartment and owns his own sewing machine.
29-He is an electrician.
30-He saves every box that things come in so he can pack them back up in the right box's every time he moves.
31-He loves dogs.
and finally, last but not least....
32-I LOVE HIM!!

Happy Birthday Honey! I love you and I am SO happy we are married.

San Diego

This past week end we were able to go to SanDiego for Brents fam reunion. It was SO much fun. We camped at Camp Pendelton and spent a lot of hours on the beach! We flew out there Thursday and got home late Monday night. All of the Brents siblings were there and four of Kieth's kids were able to make it as well.

So on our way home from my soccer game I saw a dresser in front of someones house and told Brent to pull over. I went and asked them if they were getting rid of it and they gave it to me for FREE!! (I know, I'm turing into my Dad. I can't tell you how many times I had to go ask people if they were selling their car!) Anyway, Brent spray painted it white and I just thought it needed something else, so I decided to use some scrapbook paper and voila. I am actually pretty happy with how it turned out and now Maibel finally has a dresser!