Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

We are so thankful for all of our family and friends who are in our lives.  Near or far, you are loved and such a blessing to our family! We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2014!

SNOW!

We got our first big snow storm over the weekend! The kids had a great time playing in it and being outside.  Of course, it seemed like we spent more time trying to actually GET outside then the actual time spent being outside! haha

 My silly girl :)

 She loved it until her cheeks got too cold.

 Blackie truly hates the snow but, she HAS to be wherever the kids are so that meant being outside in the snow too; it wasn't really her "cup of tea"!

Tickle Tys!!!

Gingerbread Men

Friday evening the kids decorated their gingerbread men.  The girls made cute little "gingerbread girls" while the boys made "zombie-men".  

I love that Katie is getting old enough to roll and cut out the dough!  I'm not a huge fan of cutting and rolling dough (gingerbread men/sugar cookies etc) so I gladly let her take over :)

ZCS Christmas Program

Last Thursday the Zion school had their children's Christmas program.  The kids (and teachers!) had spent a long time practicing and preparing for this! They all did a beautiful job and it was a wonderful performance. Katie had a short solo piece in 'Hark the Herald Angel Sing' and sang it beautifully... also, she and Tys both had a speaking part.  Tys' speech had quite a few long, difficult words and he did great!!! He had practiced quite a bit to get them pronounced just right :)  I knew that once we got to the church we'd be busy so I snapped a few photos before heading out...

Caldwell Lights

Every Christmas, downtown Caldwell puts on an amazing light show! And every year it just keeps getting bigger and better. On Saturday evening, a couple of weeks ago, we met our good, long time friends, the Fisks, there and enjoyed a fun evening walking around.

 Katie and Emma

 All the kids, minus the babies... Emma, Katie, Tys, Colton (hiding) Trenton and Evan

 Trenton and the train.. his favorite!

 So pretty! It's hard getting the camera to do justice to all the bright, colorful lights!

 The men (Casey and Dave) with their baby girls :)

 My sweet friend, Mindy and Ava

Afterwards we all went to Applebee's for dinner... it was a fun evening and we enjoyed good fellowship with good friends!

Holiday Party

On Friday, December 13th, Casey and I dressed up and attended our good friends, Cory & Katie's yearly holiday cocktail party. No kids allowed :) It was such a wonderful evening filled with LOTS of laughter, yummy appetizers and a certain amazing cocktail called 'Apple Pie Moonshine' 

Women's Running Race Expo

Last weekend I worked at my first race expo for i Declare Charms!  It was an amazing experience and lots of work :)  First, to prepare for the expo I spent hours stamping the pre-made charms (necklaces, bracelets etc) that we took with us to sell.  With my position as a "stamper" I see the initial raw product. I am the first person to work with each charm.  Once they're each hand stamped they go to the polisher & assemblers.  For me, I rarely see the finished product or, our customers.  So, this trip was a great way for me to learn more about our company, the products and the ladies that we sell to! 

On Friday my supervisor, Mary Jo, and I met at the Boise airport at 7:40 a.m.  Our flight was at 9 a.m. and we arrived into the Ontario, Ca., airport around 11:00.  We packed as light at possible because we took so much luggage filled with our product & display items.  Everything you see in the following picture we brought in our suitcases and crates!  (except for the iron display grids.. those were shipped and waiting for us when we arrived) After getting our rental car, stopping by Wal Mart to buy one more display table (it's cheaper to buy one at Wal Mart upon arrival vs having it shipped) we headed to the convention center. Usually, it takes about 3 hours to set up... we had just 2 hours so we were hopping! That evening the expo ran from 4-7pm. After our long day of traveling, we were exhausted! So we grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner and headed to our hotel for bed :)

Saturday's event ran from 10am-6pm.  The day FLEW by! We were busy the whole time.. which is a good thing! I tried our first experience at hand stamping there on-site (just the minimal, basic things for customers) The most amazing part was meeting all the ladies... who were excited to be running their race the next day.  You could feel the anticipation and excitement everywhere!  The motivational speaker was Ali Vincent from the Biggest Loser Season 5 winner. I helped her figure out a customized order ~ funny thing is I didn't realize it was actually HER until afterwards! Which is a good thing because it might have made me a little nervous :)  

 On Sunday we didn't fly home until 3 that afternoon so, Mary Jo and I drove down to Huntington Beach for the morning.  While it was snowing and freezing back home in Idaho, I spent the morning sucking up the warm sun and listening to the waves come crashing in... glorious!! We ate lunch on the patio of a cute Hawaiian restaurant and walked around the cute little surf town :)

It was SO good to be home after a long and busy weekend but, I definitely also had a great little mini-vacation!