Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!

We love Christmas! We had such a blast. Christmas Eve we spent at my husband's parents house. His brother got a surprise puppy! He is so cute. We will love this new member to the family. And the best part is I don't have to clean up the doggy messes! We had a nice dinner and the cousins got to play.


"Duke" the boy's new cousin.


The Boys with their cute cousins!

Christmas morning was so fun. The kids were so excited, and J-wa was up way too early! He was full-on awake by 6am, and at 6:30 we gave up and decided we could go start the presents. The kids got really fun stockings to start it off with. They also got a new Webkins each and a movie. Uncle Dave scored with Captain Rex helmets for each of them! Those were a hit! Jon got some clothes, books, new headphones and trendy shoes (which I am trying to push on him. He thinks I am trying to turn him into a teenager). I was surprised with a hot pink ipod! I love it! I also got some yummy perfume, clothes and shoes.


Christmas morning!


My new hot ipod!


"Captain D-la" and "Captain J-wa"

The family got a Wii. That was the most exciting item of the day! Jake was only slightly dissapointed it wasn't an xbox. But he loves the Wii and wouldn't trade it for anything. We have been having fun playing some games as a family. Star Wars Lego (of course), Wii Sports (golf is the obvious favorite at our house), Mario Galaxy (my personal favorite) and MarioKart! We are having lots of fun! Now we need to come up with rules on how much Wii they can play, or it will take over their lives! For anyone who wants to play ... come play with us!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Amazing Book!

I fell in love with this book. I started it last month, but only got a couple chapters in before the holiday craziness began. I put it down and didn't pick it up again until two days ago. Needless to say I was addicted to it till the end.

It is a heart breaking story about two Afghani women. It follows their lives from the late 70's until about 2004. It has a lot of Afghani history and culture mixed in with the stories of these women. I loved the characters, and I also thought that this book was loaded with emotion. I laughed. I cried. I was angry. I was happy. I felt everything reading this.

So, I think everyone should read this book with an open mind. I think you will love it!

Feeling the Christmas Spirit

I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the lights, the treats (I love those a little too much), the carols, the shopping, and the Spirit that feels the air this time of year. I was visiting with my visiting teachers the other day, and we were talking about how special this time of year is. It really is a special time like no other. I don't know about you, but I feel like my Christmas boxes have packed in them a special kind of magic. When I break them out and trim the house, the Christmas Spirit is suddenly here. And then all these things I love so much seem to disappear when I pack up after Christmas. It's almost like that act takes away the magic of Christmas. Anyway, I love when it is Christmas time again so I can feel this way again.

These last few days have been especially fun. We are getting into the Spirit of things. J-wa had his Christmas program at school. That was fun to go see. He sings, but he doesn't really get into all the action and hand movements. He puts little effort into those things. His sentiments on performances was made clear at the ward Christmas party. A children's singing and dance group came and performed a few pieces after dinner. He said: "I am not going in there. Some kids just sing way too loud, and when I heard them, I thought...I'm outta here!"




We will definitely have a white Christmas in Logan. Last week we got pounded on, and the kids really played in the snow for the first time this year. They had a blast! That is until D-la found his face in the snow and his gloves fell off!






We also spent some time this weekend with my hubby's* family in Centerville. The kids got to play with thier cousins. They built the cutest little gingerbread houses. D-la ate so much candy that he threw it all up a little later that night. He felt better after the fact and stayed up late with cousins and J-wa. They finally feel asleep after 11:00. Oh well...at least they had fun!







*I am under strict orders not to talk about him in my blog! I guess sometimes he is going to have to come up! I am only married to him.

"I'll ask Santa for it"

Does your Santa have a budget? It's kind-of cute how kids really believe some big, nice man in a suit brings all kids presents on Christmas. He's so nice in fact, that he will bring multiple really nice presents to every kid on Christmas. Well, we finally made official letters to Santa yesterday, and I had to explain that Santa might not bring everything on the list. My six-year old is especially expectant. His list would include: an xbox ($250) with multiple games (about $150), a Darth Maul lightsaber (can you even buy those?), the Republic Gunship Star Wars lego set ($115), Prince Caspian DVD ($20), Star Wars action figure set ($30), and a football ($10). I don't know about you, but this Santa is on a budget.

This has been a good opportunity to teach my kids about saving and earning the things we get to enjoy. J-la told me that he understands, and he will be okay if he doesn't get all things things he wants. I am happy about that. I'm sure they will be pleased with Christmas ... we started buying early this year (in the summer), so it made it a lot easier to plan a nice Christmas.

I'm finally ONLINE!

So this is an exciting day! My business is finally on the web. For those of you who don't know, I have been taking a web design class for the last two months. It was time for me to expand my design skills to the web—since it is such a web-based world now. Anyway, class has been really fun. I have forgotten how much I really love school and learning new things.

So, check it out! You must post comments and feedback about my site. I designed it from scratch, so I need to know if it looks good, if it is easy to use, and other general comments.

Thanks for checking it out, and tell everyone you know about it! Click the link below, or you can always find a permanent link in my "Bubbly Links" list!
www.gohalogen.com

Happy Twilight Day!

It finally came! 9:15 on Friday night couldn't have come soon enough! Some of my other crazy Twilighter friends and I went to see the new movie! It was so fun! Charlotte was there at 7:30 to get in line. Good thing, because the rest of us couldn't make it until 8:00, and there were tons of other insane people in line. We were able to get a great seat all together! YAY!

The movie was good. I didn't know what to expect really (maybe my expectation were too high), so there were parts and characters I thought weren't as good as I would have liked to see. But then there were parts I really liked. One of my favorite characters on screen was Carlisle! I cheered when he came on screen. Woo hoo! Now that I know what the movie is and have accepted that nothing can top reading the book, I can't wait to see it again!


Melissa, Keri, Charlotte and me (I'm wearing my "dazzled" shirt)!







The glare is bad on the poster, but here we are!


Okay, so this was funny. Melissa is sitting by one of only like maybe five guys in the whole packed theatre. It turns out that he was "the biter!" So we had to get a photo! Here's the scoop ... While standing in line to get in, we were making fun of him and the girl he was with toward the front of the line. He was—very dramatically, I might add—biting this girl's neck. WATCH OUT MELISSA!

Halloween

For J-wa and D-la, Halloween is a love-hate relationship. They have been talking about what they want to be for Halloween this year since November 1, 2007. They get so excited about dressing up and getting candy. They were determined to be Jedi's this year. J-wa was Obi Wan and D-la was Anakin. They were thrilled with their costumes.

They love pumpkins, ghosts, cats and "cute" Halloween stuff. Skeletons, clowns and most of all Scream masks are not so loved. Back in September we were shopping in Sam's Club, and they were selling life-size "Face Rippers." That was the end of Sam's Club. If I wanted to threaten them, I would tell them, "if you don't behave, I am going to take you to Sam's Club." Comments like that would be followed by screaming ... and better behavior. They would also burying their heads in shopping carts in any store that sold anything Halloween. I was worried about J-wa going to school on Halloween, but when we learned no masks were allowed, I felt a little better.

Every year, trick-or-treating is a nightmare. J-wa cries and hides in the car and won't come out if he sees a costume he doesn't like. So, this year he had to be brave or we just wouldn't go Halloween next year. Well, it turns out that he was ok. He talked himself into being brave and realizing they are just kids and adults in costumes. He said, "Mom, I was so brave. I even saw three scream masks and an ugly clown, but I just said 'They're just masks. They're just masks.' I was a little nervous, but I was ok."

J-wa's Birthday

I guess I have a little catching up to do. I won't go too far back, but J-wa had his 6th birthday in October. I took some cute photos of the kids and got some birthday shots too! J-wa loves golf, so I made him this golf ball cake.

The Beginning

This is the beginning.

I have never blogged before, so this is the start of something new. To start I thought I would have a vote on my blog title. So please cast your votes!

• Brenda's Bubbly Blog
• Brenda's Bloody Blog
• BAM!
• Give me your ideas...
  

Sometimes I am creative all by myself, and other times I just stare at the computer wondering if my ideas are lame. I look forward to your imput.