Merry Christmas and Meet Chavez!

Me and Gracie at Thanksgiving


Taresa and Bryce

Baby Chavez taking my spot in the bed

Nick and Chavez

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that everyone had a great day. Ours was pretty busy, as usual, trying to fit time in the day for three family visits. We started out with my dad for brunch and games, then my mom's for an early dinner, and lastly to Nick's mom's for his family visit. It was a crazy day, but a good one! My family decided to do a Sub-4-Santa this year, so we had no holiday shopping stress, and it was awesome, I recommend it to anyone who wants to give back and do something different for Christmas. It was a little weird though to not open presents on Christmas Day! I don't have pictures from yesterday yet, hopefully soon. I do have pictures of Chavez finally, and a few from Thanksgiving(I know, but it is hard when I don't have my own camera...) So enjoy our new family member, and check back for new better pictures!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd give a quick update. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! As dumb as it sounds, this year was my first year not having Thanksgiving with my mom, and it was a little weird! Nick and I spent last Thanksgiving with my family on a houseboat trip to Lake Powell, so this year was his family's turn. The food was great and we had a good time eating and watching a movie. We did miss the Winquists, it was sad not to have my girls there! I also had hours worth of homework that I was supposed to get done, but with all of the family activities and Christmas preparation I did none of it! I am already regretting it, but I got a lot done at home so oh well.

In other news, Nick and I decided to get our Christmas present a little early this year. We were going to wait a few weeks, but we were too excited. So on Friday night we drove to the Humane Society and adopted the newest member of our family, Chavez. He is a Chihuahua mix, but looks mostly chihuhua. I will have pictures up soon, but my camera has disappeared and Nick's is full of Iraqi sand. Chavez is an angel, and we love him already! It didn't take him long to warm up, he already has claimed our bed. Good thing he only weighs 13 pounds:) He is a sad puppy today, he got really sick this weekend and when I took him to the doctor today he had a temperature of 105! He has medicine now and seems to be doing better already. I know posts are boring without pictures, so I'll stop here and hopefully have Chavez up soon!

Happy Anniversary!

November is a crazy month for us, with lots of birthdays and other special events. November 12 is my mom and stepdad's fourth wedding anniversary! I can't believe it has been that long. For those of you that don't know, Mom and Larry dated in high school and somehow managed to find each other so many years later. I'm so glad they did, Larry is awesome and he balances out my crazy mom. He also puts up with having two new daughters, who are equally as crazy as their mother. They are a great match, and I hope they have a great anniversary. Love you guys!

Celebrating Veteran's Day

Tuesday is Veteran's Day and I hope everyone takes a moment to thank someone you know who has served or who is still serving. The sacrifice that the men and women in the armed forces make for our safety and freedom is greater than most of us will ever know. I am posting in honor of my husband, who served four years in the Army infantry, two of those years in Iraq. I am so proud of his hard work and sacrifice, and I have seen first hand the effect that war has on a person. He is the strongest and most honorable man I know, and I hope that he knows how much I appreciate his work for our country and our new little family. I also hope that our new president can help to resolve this war and bring back all the men and women over there. Happy Veteran's Day Nick. I love you!

Happy Birthday Mom!

My mom turned 50 yesterday, November 4, and I'd like to take a minute to say Happy Birthday! My mom is awesome, and she has done so much for me and my sister Devin. She made it through being a single mom with two crazy daughters, and finally got us all out of the house and starting our own lives. She remarried a couple of years ago to a great guy and is still incredibly active. She and my sister ran the St. George marathon last month, and it was Mom's 11th? marathon. It's at least 11 sorry Mom if it's more than that. She got to go to Mexico for her birthday, and while she was gone my sister and I decorated her house with 50 signs and black crepe paper, it was great. I'll post a picture when I get it. Happy Birthday Mom!

Joining the Fun

Well we decided to join the blogging game. I figured I should let people look at me since I'm looking at all of you... Anyway hope to get some good pictures up soon!