New Camera

This year for Christmas Robbie surprised me with a very unexpected gift. He was so generous to give me the new Cannon Rebel T1i digital camera. I really wanted it but never even asked because I knew it was too extravagant. Luckily my wonderful husband read my cues and got it for me anyway. Thanks Robbie I love it and I promise to put it to good use.

Here are a couple of shots that show just how awesome this camera is. I love all the detail it shows.

Feeling a little worried!

Our three year old Tate is seriously starting to scare me a bit. He is the funniest kid. The things that come out of his mouth astound me sometimes. You can always tell that he is very observant.... maybe a little too observant. It started about a week or so ago. We took the kids to see Santa. We thought we would get it off our list a little early. Blake asked for typical kid stuff but Tate, on the other hand, was not typical at all. When Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas he said the craziest thing. He piped right in with a very certain, " I want a chain saw and a mask." Santa looked baffled. I knew he was wondering if he heard him right. Robbie and I just about fell over. You see this year Robbie manned the Chain saw in the haunted house. All evening Tate saw him chase countless people out with the chain saw while wearing a scary mask. We decided it was just a funny thing that we will always remember he said.

Just this week we started to worry though. It began when we took the kids to choose their Christmas ornaments this year. This is a tradition we have (I am sure many others share the same tradition) so that one day our kids will have ornaments to start their own Christmas tree. Blake's tree will no doubt be sports themed. That is what he chooses every year. Tate has a variety of things. This year we stood looking at the ornaments and he found a German Shepherd ornament he wanted. I tried to coax him into something a little more traditional. (One day I will have to answer to my boys' wives about all the crazy ornaments they are taking for their own tree.) I said, "Tate, look here is a snowman, or a this shiny bell. Oh, look Tate , here is a star." He then stood there for a moment and burst out, "Santa with a gun. I want the Santa with a gun." He was certain that this was the ornament for him. I saw the hunting Santa carrying a shotgun and found myself quickly saying, "Oh Tate how about the German Shepherd." It was too late. He was certain that the Santa with a gun was the one for him.

I am certainly hoping the whole violence thing wears off quickly. Maybe when he see that Santa brought him a shiny new bike and helmet he will realize that chain saws and guns are overrated.

December 1st

This year I decided to try and do some really fun things with my kids for the holidays. I have already finished most of my Christmas shopping and stuff because I really want to focus on fun and service this holiday season. I decided to make my kids a fun advent calendar. I got this little idea and went to the dollar store to see if I could pull it off. With a little effort and time this is what I came up with. 8 feet of holiday fun. Every day my kids will get to pull a gift from a bag that coordinates with December's date. I think they are going to love it. Happy Dec. 1st!

Traditional?

I grew up in a home that was very traditional. I had a great mom and dad. They have been married for 41 years. My dad always worked and supported the family while my mom stayed home and took care of the household. It was a fabulous and happy environment to grow up in. One of the best parts of my childhood was holidays and traditions. We almost always did the same thing for most holidays. The food was usually the same, the activities the same and it was so fun. My mom is pretty amazing. We celebrated every holiday including President's Day. She would post these cute cardboard pictures of our Founding Fathers on our bulletin board in the kitchen. She is the reason I love holidays.

When I married my husband I was exposed to a new environment. It felt a little foreign. I would go out of my way to do fun things for him and he would question why I was doing them. I would make him a big Easter basket and hide it. He would roll his eyes and say, "Can you just tell me where you hid it?" Then I would find that he had not even made me an Easter basket at all. At Christmas I would load his stocking with all kinds of fun stuff......... gum, toothbrushes, gadgets, CD's and just stuff. He would flounder and have to take my Sisters with him to figure out what to get for mine. Our conversations were funny about holidays. Mostly they consisted of me asking, "Didn't you ever do this on Valentines Day? Or what kinds of things did you do on the Fourth of July?" His response was usually the same thing...... "I don't know. We would just got together."

It took me years to realize that his family's traditions were completely different. At first it might seem like they had no traditions, but what I realized is that their food may change or the location or activities but the the tradition of being together was always there. Not bad, just different I guess.

Where am I going with this you might ask? Well there is one holiday Robbie and I definitely agree on. It's Thanksgiving. We really don't care much about this holiday. I like the giving thanks part but the whole turkey dinner thing is so overrated. Every year we endure a long boring day of hot crowded houses, cooking all day, football and then crowding around a table for 30 minutes to take in a pretty boring meal of Turkey and sides, just to clean it all up after. I hate it.

The last two years we have said, "NO MORE." We have had a nice quiet day at home and then loaded up in the car and headed over to our local Golden Corral Buffet. It is so nice to only spend $35.00 to feed the family and you never have to worry that the whole meal was ruined because you forgot whipped cream at the store. My kids love it. They choose fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, pizza or even turkey. It is so nice to leave with a full belly, go home and nap and later gather with friends and family for a little pie.

I know I am going to get comments left about having leftovers. Save it for someone who likes to clean leftovers out of their fridge two weeks later. It's not me. Also I do not want to hear that I must have never had an amazing turkey dinner. I have...... but I still prefer Mexican food. I guess I would just say, "You choose your traditions and I'll choose mine."

Great surprise!

Today I received a package in the mail. It was so much fun and unexpected. Emily sent Heidi a gift. Some time ago she asked if Heidi could use a beanie. I said, " Yes". She really has so little hair and could use some protection from the elements this winter. Emily never said anything more about it. What fun to open our package today and find this cute little hat. The best part is that Heidi is no longer hairless. As you can see, she loved it. Thanks Aunt Emily you are awesome! By the way, Emily made this by knitting it. Seriously Emily, you have some mad skills!

Don't you just love those two little bottom teeth?

Zion

Tony, Nancy & Natalie
Best buds
We are trying to encourage best friends here!

One of my very best friends came to visit us with her family this weekend. Nancy and I were best friends in Elementary School and thru High School. She recently married and then had a little girl. I was so glad that she, her husband Tony and their baby Natalie could come and visit. While here we went to Zion National Park. The leaves were turning and the weather was beautiful.

Thanks for coming Volkmanns!

Crazy Catch-Up

Life has been super crazy for us the past couple of months. I know that everyone else is busy too so I do not use this as an excuse but hopefully you guys will cut me some slack when you see all that we have been up to. Let's start off with Tate's birthday. This year our little Tate turned three. We decided to take him to Disneyland. He had a great time. It drizzled on us all day but It made for small crowds and lots of fun. He had a little party at my parent's house. We ended up having a pretty good sized crowd. He got lots of gifts. Thanks everyone.

Next we went to the Farley's annual Halloween party. They are good friends and we have so much fun there. It is amazing what costumes they come up with. This year Robbie went as Ed McMahon. He wore a gold button that said Prize Patrol. I went as the new recipient to $10,000,000. It was a fun costume and felt good to walk around in my pajamas all night.

Next came our annual Haunted House. Every year it has grown bigger and bigger. Last year we realized that we needed some help. Robbie just could not pull it off without more help. Our good friends, Darrell & Penny Farley, started to help last year and this year they really helped make it amazing. We had all kinds of fun stuff this year. It was bigger and better. The line never really died down. We had characters working the line, Penny worked the entrance and a slew of friends and neighbors held down the fort inside. It was so fun to hear the screaming inside and see grown men, women and children run out. The chain saw is always good motivation to run at the end. This year we had 18 workers & Penny took a pretty accurate count of all that came through Halloween. We had over 600 people come through.

This year I swore it would be our last year for the haunted house. It took weeks to set up this year and our lives are in chaos the entire time. Unfortunately, Robbie and Darrell are already planning new things for next year. Everyone should think about coming out to visit. It is tons of fun here and there is a free haunted house you can visit.

Lastly, just a few side notes...... Kim and Trevor came out for Halloween. we had a great time with them. My kids' costumes turned out well. Blake was a knight, Tate was Robin Hood and Heidi was a flower. I also sewed my first thing from a real pattern. I usually sew things that do not need patterns, like bedding , curtains, crafts, etc. This year Darrell Farley asked me to make him a pirate coat. It was the hardest thing I have ever sewn, but it came out beautifully. I am already trying to decide what to make next.

So that should pretty much do it on the catch up.

Here are a few of the workers that night

These are the guys that worked the line & that is the pirate coat I made Darrell.

Here is the counter that says 634. Wow!

Sorry, did not mean to load this picture twice.

Part of the outside of the haunted house

The never ending line

Penny at the entrance. You can see we have a donations bucket. We only made $83.00.

Here are the kids ready to go trick or treat

I wish that was a real check!

Three year old cutie!

Blake, Tate and cousin Trevor at Disneyland