Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Ours has been a little different this year: My great grandfather who was 96 passed away last Saturday and then on Monday, my grandma passed away. So last week, after 3 of us had the flu (Jerm still hasn't gotten it) we drove to Arizona where we spent the next four days with family. We stayed at my cousin Tiffani's house (thanks Tiff) and enjoyed being with their family as well as lots and lots of cousins. My Grandma's funeral was very nice. I am very sad that she is gone and that both my grandparents are gone, but I am so happy she gets to be with her sweetheart. That is what touched me the most about my grandparents was the pure, unselfish love that they constantly showed for one another. When my grandpa was dying, my grandma would literally pick him up to help him use the rest room. They would lay in bed together when he was so sick for hours just to be close to one another. When they lost two of their children, they drew closer together and to the Lord. I am so grateful to have been close to them and lived close to them.
Anyway, Jeremy and I enjoyed our Lassen Christmas eve except that Wyatt threw up on me. For the rest of the night, I had a very lovely aroma! Poor kid. He's had the flu since Saturday. He got it on our way back from AZ, but fortunately he did not throw up in the car!
This morning was fun, and when we woke up at 7, the neighbors were still playing their music from the night before! We even called the police at midnight, put in our ear plugs, went to bed, but it was still on this morning! People are so strange sometimes! The kids had a great Christmas. They really enjoyed getting a Dr.s kit, a musical instrument kit, books and jammies. The also get to go to Build a Bear and to see Enchanted at the El Capitan on Thursday, which I am very excited about! I hear it's a great movie.
I guess that's all for now. I'll post some pictures later. I'm just so grateful to be with my family and sweetheart! We love you all! Kirsten, we missed you guys!

Video Flashbacks

EXTREME SPORTS THAT NEVER CAUGHT ON.
So. Stephan Lovstedt and I (and in this instance Pat) would get some crazy idea's. Some of these ideas would actually come to pass, others never went past the drawing table. This is what we called Sand Surfing or Skiing. The first run we did was with an old wide slalom water ski that we bought at the Thrift store. That didn't go very well at all. Even though we were on sand, it was really hard to dig the rail in to turn, and the fact that we were only going 5MPH didn't help a lot either. So, we took an old surf board and chopped the fins off of it! This seemed to work better but in the drop knee position. Some of you may recognize the scenery in the background. I'm pleading the 5th on the location, because we would probably be shot by some environmental wacko for doing that today. This was actually taped before I even met Ditte, so we're reaching deep into the archives!
-Jeremy

Video Flashbacks

Jeremy bullriding in April 2004 with some friends up in Monterrey.

Christmas Spider!

Here are some pictures of the spider that was living in our Christmas tree, but is now out in the garden! WARNING:For those of you with weak constitutions (Haans) this might not be for you!

Also, here is the link for our elves! Jeremy did it the other night and the kids were just cracking up at it! It's http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1253020844

Enjoy!

Busy, Busy!

We must all be busy or something because I just checked like 10 blogs, and most haven't been updated since Nov! I don' feel so bad now! We finally got our Christmas decorations all up and our tree looks great. I wanted to take a picture of how "organic" our tree is since it came with a "friend". I went to help Cozette put on the star and realized there was this huge, green spider the size of a quarter right where we need to put it! So I left him there because I want to take a picture of him. I think I'll name him Ralph or something. So our tree is starless and I can't find the camera to take the picture, but what's the rush? As long as he stays on the tree, right!

I feel like I can't get enough done around here either. It's crazy. We are not that busy as a family, but just with homework, meals, exercise, trying to get our Christmas presents all taken care of, etc...I just end up pooped at night! It's nice because Jerm and I sleep better. We've been finding ourselves falling asleep on our backs and waking up on our backs.

Anyway, our family is concerned with our grandma right now. She has been in the hospital for a few days because of serious dehydration, liver problems, etc.. that she's had for years and now today she found out that all her female organs have cancer all over them. Surgery would not help and she is now too frail to undergo any chemo or radiation. We don't know how long she has or anything, but she has been in pain for months now and for some reason, the CT scan that the doctor ordered never got done. Hence the pain for months and not knowing the cause.

I found our recently that when my Grandpa died about 5 years ago that she told him that she'd see him in 5 years. I have mixed feelings about all this and feel very insensitive and selfish at times, but I know she will be happier going on. I sure love my grandma and have so many fond memories of her. She is such a wonderful person and has been through so much.

Sorry if this blog is a bit too serious, but that is what is going on in our family's life right now! Thank goodness for the birth of our Savior and knowing that we can and will be together again!

Oh, P.S. Jerm and I went to check out some of the big waves the other day. Our friend actually went out in them at the Rincon where the tallest wave that day was recorded at 23 feet! Can you imagine that, at the Rincon? It was fun to watch and to be at the beach! Can't get enough of the ocean!

Jerm pulling a wheelie with Wyatt. Wyatt was non stop on those bikes. He even knows how to turn on the gas. One time Wyatt was outside with Nana and she was trying to start the bike. She kept trying to kick it, but it wouldn't go. Wyatt was telling her, "On" and pointing to the gas switch. Low and behold, it was off and he knew that it needed to be turned on in order for the bike to start! He's sooo smart!
Jerm and his dirty face! That's not just facial hair! It was super dusty out there!
Atalie riding alone on the ATC. She loved going up and down this little hill next to the rode.

Thanksgiving fun!

Wyatt is already trying to mountain climb in our van using the seat belt! This kid is funny and very entertaining to watch!
Don't you love satellite! Even in the desert we could watch the BYU game and boy did we DOMINATE!!!!!!!!
This is "Lucky" our new van! It's great! We love it!
Cozette zipping up and down the road in first gear. She was really getting the hang of it and she did really well turning!

The desert was great! We couldn't have asked for better weather. I was so relieved because before every trip I worry about us freezing our little tushies off, but we never do. The girls slept in a tent the first night and were fine, despite the fact that it was about 35 degrees! We slept in "Lucky" and were pretty cold and even turned the engine on at about 3AM just to turn the heater on! The next night was better because we used a little propane powered tent heater which is great. It ran out of propane about 5AM, so the last night we brought in a spare can and slept great!

Jeremy had a blast riding, especially with Uncle Scott. He looks forward to the "big boy rides" and loves those. He was a good sport and took Cozette on a ride that was only supposed to be about 1 1/2 hours, but ended up being three! Cozette was excited to try riding the XR 50 all by herself and did great! She fell a couple of times, but got right back on a tried again. We think she is trying to be more independent and try new things that Atalie won't do yet. She even wanted to sleep in their tent all by herself the last night, and she did! She even asked Heaven;y Father to help her not be scared in her tent!

I was only out there for two days. ON Wednesday and Friday, Kirsten and I did flowers all day for Brittanie Morris' wedding. They turned out great. Too bad I forgot my camera, but hopefully we'll be able to get some professional pictures taken and post them. We sure love to do flowers, but it is a lot of work and straining on the family.

I drove back to Camarillo on Friday and we finished up the flowers and set them up at the Camarillo house. It was beautiful. It was fun to see this old Victorian House looking so good, and our flowers added such a nice touch! The arrangements were fall colors and looked really nice and romantic!

Anyway, here are some pictures from the desert. Enjoy!

Excited kids getting ready to go in! We had this whole plan to get to Finding Nemo first. Good thing Jeremy and Jonathan had the strollers and didn't feel bad about running people over!
Here is Jeremy and Jonathan in the bone cage on Tom Sawyer's Island. It is now Pirate's lair at Tom Sawyer Island. It was pretty fun.
Mardi Gras kids trying to catch beads. Cozette was pretty good and was catching beads after beads until I told her she needed to let the other kids catch some!
Addy playing along with the Dixie Land band. I love Disneyland!
Kids on the mountain of gold on Tom Sawyer Island. We had a great day!

I only have a few minutes, but I just wanted to put some funny pictures on here. Isaac and Wyatt are playing right now, so hopefully I can do this before they come and find me! This week I am sending Jeremy out to the desert with the kids for Thanksgiving. Since Kirsten and I will be doing wedding flowers tomorrow and Friday, I will only be out there for two days. It's going to be freezing, but at least we have a nice van to sleep in! Anyway, here are some pictures from Disneyland when we went last month. I want to go again for Christmas, but alas, I think twice a year is pretty good! We already went on March and did the "Twofer"

Here is my Halloween Costume. Some of you have probably seen this before since I wore it a few years ago, but no in our new ward has seen it. I love recycling! I still don't have any of the girls (I know, what kind of mom am I?) I know their Pappy has some pictures, and hopefully I can get some from my girlfriend who took some.

Avoiding the Blog!

So I have been really proud of myself since I haven't written anything for a couple of days. I am playing this game and hoping that I can resist the temptation to get on the computer and see if anyone has commented on my blogs, think of what to write about next, check other peoples blogs and by the time I'm done, I've spent way too much time on the computer! I am too busy for this! I'm really not that busy, but having three little ones, trying to finish homework, have quality time with all of them, read stories, do my own projects such as fixing holes in the wall, sewing a duvet cover, doing filing for my dad, practice the piano for my calling, exercising with Jerm, takes up a lot of time! And since I read Dalin H. Oaks talk again about Good, Better Best, I want to try and fill up my time with the best! Anyway, I loved that talk and another one that touched me the other day was Joseph B. Wirthlin's talk on love. Since he gave it in conference, I couldn't wait to read it again. I was some what distracted by the tender love of Elder Nelson supporting him while he was talking, that it was hard to pay attention to what he was saying. But that was the perfect talk to show that kind of love because that is just what he was talking about! After I read it, I just felt such a deep love for my Heavenly Father and I know how he feels about me as well! Sorry if this sounds a bit cheesy, but I had to write about it.
Another cool experience I had last week was when I was practicing the piano for primary, I looked at the song, "I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ" and just had a little thought to play it through a couple of times. So I did. Later that night, I received a phone call from the 1st counselor in the primary pres. and she wanted me to play that song for Sharing time! I know it's simple, but I know that Heavenly Father knows me personally and that he is willing to show us if we listen!

Last Soccer Game!

Purple Princess fan club! (a couple of games ago)


I actually have some great actions shots, but they are hard copies! So these will have to do. This is the team warming up!

Atalie had her last soccer game today! Hooray! Parking these last three weeks has been a nightmare! Kirsten had to walk about 10 miles today! Well, maybe not 10, but she got to the field at 5 after and she had been for 25 minutes! Poor thing!


Our poor little team is on the young end of the spectrum. All the girls just barely turned 5 in July and only one girl had played before. So needless to say, we pretty much got slaughtered by every other team! Today one girl made 1 goal, then last week, I think we made three. At least they had fun, right? It's almost frustrating to watch because they would get so close to the goal, and then miss by a few feet. Or, they would just play defense and try and block the goal, but that was not to their advantage a lot. It seemed like with all the feet in the goal, that the ball would end up going in anyway! Oh well. The girls are so cute and Atalie tells me that she wants to play for at least 3 years!


That's really it for now. Jeremy is going to the temple tonight with the youth from the ward and will actually be baptizing them. That's one of his favorite jobs. His other one is being a veil worker which he gets to do once a month. I'm going to my Auntie Doris's birthday party which is a traditional Danish "smorebrod" or open faced sandwiches made up of all sorts of things from pickled herring to liverwurst. Yum! Actually, it is pretty tasty! It's just fun to dress up every once in a while and have good, free food to eat! I'll do a lot of things for a good meal!

Halloween Fun!

I love Halloween! Not only is it my birthday (I'm now 28!),but it is so fun dressing up and being silly. Cozette and Atalie were privileged enough this year to have homemade, fancy costumes! Cozette was an Indian princess and Atalie was a "Princess Bride". Fortunalty, Wyatt is still young, so we managed to get the $12 Superman costume at Kmart for him.

We went to my parents house for dinner and trick or treating. Boy did Wyatt get the hang of trick or treating fast! He was litrally running from door to door, trying to keep up with his sisters and cousins! He was so excited to get candy dropped in his little bag!

After trick or treat mania, we had pumpkin pie and a great rendition of Happy Birthday by all my immediate family that lives nearby. I am so lucky! We do miss everyone else who lives in outer darkness! Hopefully some day they will all come back into the light!

During the day, Jerm and I went shopping and had lunch at this great panini place in the Jans mall called Panera Bread. I love panins!

I guess thats all for now! Forgive me for my lack of writing skills and descriptive talent that so many of my family members have! I got the short end of that stick!

Succomend to peer pressure!

So, I did it! I finally started a blog! Of course this is going to make me really cool and computer savvy, right? I want to post some stuff about Halloween, but don't actually have time right now! I have some great pictures of Jeremy in his white trash costume! One guy at our church party didn't even know it was Jerm until I sat next to him! It was great! I'll try and write more tonight and post pictures!