Enjoying the winter wonderland in Idaho

We are loving being with family. All of my sibblings (6 out of 7 ) except my brother Brandon, who is in Iraq, are here for the holidays and to see my brother Jayson, who just returned from El Salvador. We have been doing so much here. Some of the highlights include sledding, swimming, birthday parties, a missionary homecoming and trying to have family pictures. (Brayden and Joshua are only 19 days apart so we wanted to get them in a pictures).It is sad that Brett and Brandon can't be with us. WE MISS them, but we are thankful they are sacrificing so we can have fun. ( I will have to post Christmas pictures later when I get my camera back that I left at my in laws).

P.S. Have a Happy New Year!

Our Big News and Other Holiday Festivities

We found out last week that Brett is going to be a Flight Surgeon for the Navy. What that means is that we will be going to Florida next year to do flight school. Fun for us that we get to see so many different places :)

Yesterday we got to see my uncle Jeff, his son JD, and my grandma and grandpa Herring. It was so fun. They took us to pizza, and then came over and hung out. It was so great to see them. The other picture is of the girls in the store. They have been troopers to come with me all over San Diego to finish up my Christmas shopping. It is pretty funny because sometimes Brynn will just stop next to a display in the store and say she wants to take a picture.

Last weekend we got together with some friends out here and made gingerbread house. It was such a fun activity. The girls actually did a great job. It is hard to really see there gingerbread house, but it was an interesting house. It was all done by the girls. Brayden didn't help much with the houses, but he loved playing around in the living room.

Brett had Saturday off, so we went down by the bay. There is a huge playground that the girls love, and Brett watched the kids while I went running. It was a beautiful sunny day. I was running in a tank top, and you think I would be use to warm weather in December, but it is still crazy for me to not see snow around Christmas. Later on Saturday my friend watched the girls while Brett, Brayden, and I went Christmas shopping. ( It was almost like a date. It was so nice).

This was Brynn's preschool concert. She did such a great. She would come home and practice her moves so she would be ready for the concert. I was so impressed that Ms. Ruby could get 2o four years old to dance and sing. ( This a picture of one of Brynn's old teacher. She was sad when Ms. Joslyn had to leave so she could go to college).

How does life get so busy?

Hello everyone! Happy Holidays! Our December has been so busy. Here are a few things that we have been up to.

Last night for family night we went to this cute pizza parlor to celebrate taking his last board exam. It was all decorated for Christmas so Brynn had to stand by the Santa that was "just her size". It was a fun restaurant. They brought all the kids out there own plate of dough to play with. The girls made some nice pizza dough, but Brayden didn't quite get it.

We stayed at my friend Ashley's house last weekend in Arizona(the girl on the right:))She was such a great host. It was the highlight of my trip to see her and all my other friends friends that we left behind in Arizona. We went to our old wards Christmas party. ( That is were the kids saw Santa). Then on Saturday we went Logan's birthday party. That was definitely a hit for the kids. Heather, one of my good friends, always knows how to throw such a fun party. Then later that day Heather took my children picture. They were kind of difficult subject, so well see how well they turn out. Heather always does great so I'm sure they will look good.

We went to Arizona last weekend to do a triathlon and see friends. Well, it ended up being a lonely wet ride for my bike. There was a misleading sign that had me and a my friend Taya thinking the race was cancelled. We didn't find out that the race actually happened until late Sunday night. I was actually really sad, but I guess everything happen for a reason. :)

Brynn was so excited to sit on Santa lap. Every time we go shopping she always says"I'm am going to put this on my list for Santa. (She made a long list to give him, but unfortunately it got left at home. Hopefully Santa will still get it somehow:) This was Aubrey and Braydens first time sitting on Santa lap without tears. Brayden was very interested in see whose lap he was sitting on, and Aubrey actually wanted to sit on his lap (no tears).

We got to go to a BYU game a couple weekends ago. It was mostly just fun because we got to do a fun family activity. To be honest my favorite part of the evening was after the game we went and got our first "real" Christmas tree. The girl loved decorating it and they love having to water it.

Getting back into our routine

Well we have almost been back from our trip 2 weeks now, and I feel like we are finally getting things back on track. We got home just in time for Thanksgiving. We thought we were going to spend the day at some of my friends that live here in California. Anyways, I am figuring out more and more that things don't always work out the way you plan. We ended up at our house having dinner with just our little family. My highlight of my meal was the fruit turkey I made. ( I am a little sad that I couldn't post a picture of my cutest turkey. Later on that day we went to the park, and my camera fell and got broken. The positive side of this story is that I got a new camera for an early christmas present :)). Anyways, it ended up being a very memorable Thanksgiving. It was nice that we got to spend it with Brett. He even got most of the weekend off as well. Since he did have some time off we had a friend take some family pictures for us. I didn't post the one that we are using for our Christmas cards, so you'll just have to wait to see the cutest one when I get your Christmas cards sent out. :) Other than that we just kind of had a relaxing weekend. The highlights of this week have been getting some good workout in before my race next week, and a little cooking day with some friends. We each prepared meals for our family and my four other friends' familys. When we finished we all took home 5 prepared meals. It was awesome.We each have three kids each and most of the kids were there. I tried to get a picture of most of the kids, but I think 7 were missing. We were suppose to freeze them but I kind of cheated because I have already used 2 of them and it has only been 2 days. Anyways, whatever works is what I say.

Blast Off and More

We went to Blast Off on our last day in Idaho
before we headed
to Utah. The children

loved it. It is a big indoor
playground with a cute,

larger, and fun dress up room.

After Blast Off my parents watched the kids while Kelsi and I went to a spin class. We got home at 9:00 and then my parents wanted to give the girls their Christmas presents.(Needless to say we had a last night, which the girls loved). One of the gifts was a big pink bag. Aubrey and Brynn loved it because they could get inside them. My parents spoiled the kids. We had so much fun with them. Thanks for everything mom and dad!

We then headed back to Utah for our last few days of our trip. It was so nice staying at the Banks. They were so good to let me come and go. We kept super busy seeing family and friends.

I saw some of my old college friends. Michelle, Sunny, Reggie, Amber, and I got together with all of our children (11 children) at Sunny's house. It was a great time. Thanks Sunny!

We then went and visited Brett's grandma Phyllis. She is such a great grandma. Brayden loved it because she was letting him play with her box of Lifesavers.

Brynn loved playing with grandma and grandpa's adopted cat.

I went to dinner with two of my dear friends Kara and Andrea. These two girls have known me since grade school and Junior High. I am so thankful for good friends that are haved loved me through thick and thin. I am also thankful for my father in law who watched all my kids so I could enjoy a night out. Thanks Alan! (And thanks Sharon for watching my kids every morning so I could work out! :)

One of Brynn's highlight is hanging out with her cousin Bridger. They are only about a month apart and they love being with each other. It is so cute. I am so glad we got to go out and see all of our family and friends. Thanks to all of you for making this such a great trip. It made all the long hours of traveling worth it. (For all of you that I didn't get to see this trip I hope I can see you at Christsma).