Christmas 2016

We had another wonderful Christmas in Iowa!  My parents, Steve and Lynn, came in from Las Vegas to spend the weekend with us and we had a great time.  My Mom came in on Thursday night, then we spent all of Friday completing lady duties like grocery shopping, going to Costco, and getting a manicure and pedicure!  My Dad arrived on Friday night, then we enjoyed a nice meal at Bonefish Grill.  Christmas Eve was a fabulous day and night with good food, movies, games, and opening presents.  Christmas morning we watched the kids open their gifts from Santa and then had a yummy brunch before unwrapping the last of our gifts to each other.  Aside from a jaunt to the ER to confirm the health of my Pops, we had a fun and relaxing weekend.  No worries, my Dad will be okay--thank God!!  He had a diverticulitis attack :(   Oh, and we can't forget going to the movies to see Sing!!  Great movie!

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Drake's 11th Birthday!

We had a great day with Drake on his birthday!  We started out with a yummy pizza dinner from Topper's, then had a cake that Drake made all by himself...it was sooooo good!!  We also bowled, played board games, and opened presents.

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Thanksgiving in Minocqua

It was another nice trip up North to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving!  Not only did we have amazing food, but we played in the snow, the boys went hunting, we played lots of games, snuggled with Toby, and went on our annual trip to see Santa at Ace Hardware. 

     

     











     

Fall Fun!

Happy Halloween!

Introducing Little Red Riding Hood and a Birthday Cake!  (yes, I know it's December :0).  The girls costumes were a big hit and SO cute.  The weather was great, as was going door-to-door with our good friends and neighbors.  It was a fun night!

Kirsten's 7th Birthday... a Slumber Party!!

Kirsten's birthday is on November 9th, however, this is the first chance I've had to create and post this slideshow.  We've been pretty busy around here!

For Kirsten's 7th birthday, she got her ears pierced!  She was so excited and even had a countdown :) Plus, she had a Slumber Party with 8 girls!!!   It was a lot of work, but totally worth it.  Gordon helped out so much and both girls were very appreciative.  :)

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Disneyland 2016

The family just got back from an AMAZING time at Disneyland!!  My Dad has been asking when we could take the kids to Disneyland for awhile now.  My response?  As soon as our youngest is out of nap age.  Well, Alexa is 5 now and in kindergarten, Kirsten is 6 and in 1st, and Drake is 10 and is in 5th grade.  Sounds like the perfect ages, so we went!  My Dad was gracious enough to pay for us, (SO GRATEFUL) and having my Mom with us was icing on the cake!  We stayed for 5 days/4 nights Monday to Friday.  We had so much fun!!!  Our first night, we all dressed up since we went to Disneyland the week before Halloween.  I was Cinderella, Gordon was Prince Charming, the girls were Princesses Ana and Elsa (and got papered at the Bibbidi Bobbed Boutique), my Mom was a fun spider,  my Dad and Drake went as Donald Trump and Mike Pence!!  The kids loved it, we loved it, everyone loved it!  And, I finally have children that will ride rollercoasters with me!  We created life-long memories.

Go Blazers! 20 year High School Reunion

Class of 96 Kicks!

I celebrated my 20 year High School Reunion in October.  It was a fun weekend in Las Vegas with 3 days of celebration.  It started out on Friday night at Spanish Trail Country Club, where I grew up from age 8 to 18.  I took Gordon around and showed him the house I spent the formative years of my life, in addition to some celebrity homes and rich people, like the Sultan of Burnei.  The reunion itself was a lot of fun, great to see faces in-person instead of on FaceBook.  On Saturday there was a family picnic and Saturday night a more casual night at a local establishment, Sagos!

     

Vote for Guthrie!

We might have some politicians in our future!  Both Drake and Kirsten wanted to be a part of their respective schools Student Council...and they both achieved their goal!!!

Drake ran for class representative and made an awesome video (check it out below!).  He ended up winning the election, but he didn't stop there...  Drake then decided to run for student body president, and WON!!  Check out the creative campaign poster.  It is an election year after all!

Click to watch:  Drake's Campaign video

Kirsten's school selects their student council members a little bit differently.  Her school focuses on the 7 Habits of Leadership (like that of the adult version).  So instead of a vote by her peers, she had to earn her position by filling out an application (see attached) and submitting it to the Principal for a potential interviews.  Out of 77 applications, she was selected for an interview!
They asked her two questions:  "Why do you want to be on the Lighthouse Team"  Her response:  "I want to be on the Team because I like to help others".  2nd question... "Tell us about a time when you had to make a decision.  Her response:  "When I went to Market Grill restaurant with my parents, I had to choose between the chicken and the pizza.  I decided on the pizza."  HOW CUTE IS THAT??  She is only 6 :)   And...she got it!  She is officially on the Lighthouse Team (name of the student council) as the first grade class representative!

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