Chocolates!

My mom has been making chocolates for over 20 years. The last few years she let Tami and I join her in making and giving chocolates as gifts. This year Shelly decided to join us as well. Together we made over 100 pounds of chocolate. For those of you that don't know how much that is, all I can say is it is a lot. So, if you haven't gotten any chocolates from us yet you better make it a point to see us soon so you can get a box of your own.

Caught sneaking some chocolate.

This is how we keep the babies happy while we work.

I am so glad to be done and have our house slightly back to normal. Hopefully I will forget how hard this all is by next year. Sitting here eating them I am already starting to forget.

Christmas Day!

We Had a Great Christmas. We headed down to my parents at about seven in the morning, since that is where Santa left all our presents. We had a great time opening gifts with my family, there is never a dull moment. Our family has the tradition of making our gifts for each other. As with most years there were some unfinished gifts. I made a Kidd Family cookbook for everyone. Hopefully everyone liked them. Jared loves his "board of education" from the Kamerath's. Our kids loved opening presents and seamed to like their new costumes best, what a surprise.

After Opening all our presents we ran up to Jared's mom's for round two. She made our traditional breakfast casserole and pull aparts, they turned out perfect this year. Later that night we returned to my parents house for dinner. This is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. My dad always makes us a feast including, prime rib, salmon, halibut, sauteed mushrooms and shrimp, and of course king crab legs. For dessert he made creme brulee. It was all so good. Much, much later that night after Jared discovered his new game was a Spanish edition, we started watching music videos on You Tube. We were so inspired we decided to make our own. We started out with big hopes and ideas, but eventually got tired. We got Jared to record what we had right before going home. We weren't doing so hot by this point in the night but were still having fun. Feel free to watch, but don't judge my bad dancing, I'm just a lame mom.

Brunch with Santa

We had our annual brunch with Santa this last weekend. First of all I have to vent. Things didn't go quit as well as I was hoping, I wasn't as organized as I was wanted, my house wasn't as clean as I wanted, some of my food didn't work out, but I'm trying not to focus on it any more since I have plenty of other things to worry about. Things are just to crazy for me this year. I guess having another kid, a new puppy, a busy husband, and a full holiday schedule is a little more than I can handle this year. I did try to simplify a little this year. I didn't invite any of our ward friends to the party (I'm hoping I didn't offend anyone). It was nice to have less kids, but I didn't get to spend much time visiting with friends. We'll be making some more changes next year. There I am done. thanks.
So now to the good part, my kids had a blast, and that is why we throw the party anyways. We usually have my brother play Santa, but my kids just laugh and ask him why he is dressed like Santa. So, this year we hired Mr. and Mrs. Clause to come to our party and they were great. The kids really enjoyed singing songs with him.

Grayson told Santa he wanted a small superman, too bad he wasn't telling Santa this last month when Santa got all his presents. Hopefully he'll change his mind back when he sees his transformer.
Lydia ask for Red licorice. I wonder were she got that from, not her mom. I'm sure Santa will have no problem with that last minute change.

All my kids have cried with Santa. I thought Kate would be different because she is so easy going and loves to meet new people, but apparently not Santa.

Christmas Performers

Grayson and Lydia both had a big performance this week. Lydia performed with her dance class on Friday night and today Grayson had his preschool program. We are very proud of both of them.

Lydia was so excited to dance for everyone. When we got to the rec. center where she dances she said, "Oh, mom all these people came here to see me dance." She did a great job, much better than last time. We forgot the camcorder, so all we have are these pictures. She did the splits a few times during her routine, I was sad we didn't get a good picture of it.

Grayson on the other hand kept saying he was tired of singing at school. I was impressed at how quickly he learned all his songs. I've loved listening to him sing while playing, when he doesn't know any one is listening. We do have a little video of some of his program. I know this is something only us and grandparents would probably want to watch, but I put it on anyways.

P.S. If you did want to watch you need to pause our music at the bottom of the page. Also, this is a really bad recording I was trying to take care of other kids at the same time.

Oh Christmas Tree

With the weather being so great and no snow, we decided to get our Christmas tree up at Schuster Creek this year. It was so fun and so beautiful I wish we hadn't been in such a hurry to get back for the big game. We were excited to go with the Perry's but ended up going with some of my family when they couldn't make it. All the tree's were really tall so we basically had to cut down a big one and chop off the bottom.

It took awhile to find a good shape in all the wild trees, but we eventually found this one. I liked these picture of Jared sawing the tree, he makes it look so hard. The guys had alot of fun being Lumber Jacks until the chain saw ran out of oil and they had to do the rest by hand.

It was a big tree, I'm glad Jared and I weren't alone with all our kids. Lydia sang Oh Christmas Tree over and over again at the top of her lungs, it was cute the first couple of times.

The kids love to decorate the tree. It was killing them to wait till the end of the game for Jared to cut it down and bring it inside. It ended up being alot skinnier than I thought it would be, but we love it. Grayson keeps saying that Santa is going to come and steal all the decorations. I think he is confusing The Grinch will the real Santa.

Welcome to the family Max!

I am so not a pet person, I swore I would never own a cat or a dog. Every time Jared and Grayson would bring up getting a dog, I would just tell them they get a baby instead. This has only worked because I seam to always have a baby or be pregnant. I didn't think I would seriously have to deal with the dog issue for years, as there are more babies to come, hopefully.

But, weather I wanted pets or not, I got some, MICE. We have mice everywhere, and they have been driving me crazy for years. They poop everywhere, they eat our clothes, and love to run across the room when we have people over. It is so embarrassing. We've tried traps- there are to many to make a difference and I have trapped myself a couple of times.

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So it came down to this, I was going to have to have a pet no matter what these were my options. Mice, a cat, or a Boston (they were bred to catch mice). Luckily Shelly and Chad have a Boston, Spike, and we love him. He is such a good dog. I don't think I could have gotten to this point if I hadn't known Spike.

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Of course we all fell in Love once we saw the puppies. We looked at two litters and chose Max. Jared liked the paint brush because it reminded him of his horse. Jared also chose the name Max, I guess he's always wanted to name a dog Max. I'm so glad he can finally live this childhood dream.

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Chad came with us to help us make our decision and ended up falling in love with Max's brother. They went and got him today. They were so excited to see each other again.

I'm scared to death of training Max, I don't want to do it. I'm scared I won't do it right. I'm scared it will be too hard with all that I'm already doing. But, I hate having mice enough to face it, and having such a cute puppy helps too.

Pay it Forward...

A friend of mine is doing this and I thought that it sounded like fun.

I will send a handmade gift to the first three (3) people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. (or just promise to do it somehow). I can't wait to see who I will be giving to.

To join, just cut and paste this on your blog and comment away. So get posting!!

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by Maggie, I'm suppose to share 7 things about myself and then tag 7 people. I found this to be more complicated than I thought it would be. I've tried to think of 7 things other than, 1. wife of Jared, 2. Mother of Grayson, 3. Mother of Lydia, 4. Mother of Kate, 5. Cook, 6. Maid, and 7. Punching bag. I don't know if these are much better but here you go:

1. I'm an all or nothin kinda girl. When I do something I either go all the way or don't even bother doing anything. Lately I end up doing nothing a lot, because going all the way sounds like to much trouble. I don't know why but doing something half way drives me crazy. Sometimes I try to not go all the way with something and before I know it I've gone to far. Like a party for example, I think to myself "I'll just have a few friends over and keep things simple." next thing I know I've spent days stressing, cleaning, cooking and have twenty kids and their parents running around our house. Another example is cleaning. You might be thinking, Your house is never clean. This is the problem, I can't do light house cleaning. I put off cleaning because I know it is always going to be more intense than I was planning. Once I start cleaning a room I start to notice everything wrong with the room and it drive me crazy to not to the job right.

2. I LOVE candy. Most of you already know this. If I could survive and not gain a thousand pounds, I would eat candy all day long. In fact I go through periods when I am pregnant, where the thought of eating food makes me sick- but candy doesn't and I will only eat candy. Halloween was always my favorite holiday. I would eat all my candy in three days. I named my first doll Candy. If there is candy in a room all I do is focus on the candy. Someone could be talking to me and all I'm thinking is, "why are we talking when there is candy just sitting over there." It has taken lots of practice to control myself, and I never buy candy. I would go insane having it in my house. My favorites include Swedish Fish, Nibbs, Starburst, Reeses Pieces, Twix, Baby Ruth, Dove Dark Chocolate, and of course my mom's homemade chocolates.

3. When I was in first grade my favorite animal was a turtle. So, for Halloween I begged my dad to make me a turtle costume. This was back in the day when you didn't buy costumes and if you did they were those weird plastic kind. Well, my dad is an all or nothin kinda guy, and went all out and spent many hours making a paper mache shell. The costume was amazing for the time. My dad was so proud that he took me a Jazz game to participate in a costume contest. This how it worked- everyone was suppose to walk around the outside of the court and if they liked your costume they would pull you into the middle where they would chose a winner based off of crowd response. So, I'm walking around and next thing I know they pull me into the middle. Apparently, some guy in the crowd liked my costume(probably because I was the only kid in the middle) and started chanting "Turtle, Turtle..." Next thing I know the whole Salt Palace,(Yes this was at the Salt Palace) was chanting "Turtle, Turtle..." and I won a trip to California.

4. Growing up I lived with extreme paranoia. I was scared of everything, not just the dark or monsters. I had a lot of sleepless nights. I was scared that there would be a fire in the middle of the night and I wouldn't get out, I was scared that if I opened my eyes I would see a ghost. Walking in the middle of the day I would be scared someone would attack me, or there might be a flash flood. Yes, I know I was crazy to be afraid of a flash flood. My sibling loved to play trick on me because they know how scares I was. I spent most of my nights growing up on our couch, so I could fall asleep watching living scripture movies- they were the only thing that could calm me down. I'm over all that for the most part- I only freak out when I spend the night alone when Jared is out of town. (Jared says this is a mild description of my paranoia)

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5.I'm a picky eater. It's not so much that I don't like certain foods, I just like my food to taste good. Jared likes to call me a culinary snob. This doesn't mean I am a good cook either. I have no problem throwing an entire meal away if it is gross. It sounds like pure torture to sit and eat something I don't want to. I was always worried about going on a mission for this reason. I have a really bad gag reflex and honestly would probably throw up if I tried to eat something I didn't want to. I don't like skimping on cream, butter, salt, etc. I don't care if it's healthy as long as it tastes good. Now you all know why I'm so big.

6.If I could change one thing about myself, it would be that I could sing. I am hopeless when it comes to singing. I've honestly had people think I am joking when they hear me sing. The funny thing is, I was in Sunshine Generation when I was younger(I am really embarrassed to admit this). Here is the funny thing, they let me do solos, as you can see in this picture. Maybe none of the other kids could sing either. I've gone through periods where I wouldn't sing hymns in church or sing Happy Birthday at a party because I was to embarrassed, but I'm over that.

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7. My best friend has always been my sister Tami. I hear a lot of sister just fight while growing up. Not me and Tami we have always been really close. She was never to cool for me or at least she didn't act like it, even when she moved on the Jr. High or even High School. Most of my greatest memories include her. Best of all, we married best friends so we could stay as close as possible after we got married. I still talk to her almost everyday, we always call each other to brag about our great deals. We spend the first hour of every visit showing each other all the new clothes we bought or the new decorations in our house, and the best part is we know the other one is just as excited as we are. (Shelly don't be jealous, your my other best friend now that Tami is gone).

TAG your it! I've tagged seven people: Tami, Shelly, Chad, Melanie, Laura, Dirk, and Allison. I had to do husbands, I don't know enough bloggers. Within 7 days, write 7 things about you or you'll be stuck with 7 curses upon your head (that's what I've heard, anyways!). Pass it on! It's fun to read new things about people!

THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!

After visiting Disneyland with the Rays this summer, Jared decided he was going to get his mom to bring the Wright family back for a family trip. I didn't take him seriously, but in no time he had convinced his mom and made all the arrangements. We had so much fun with MaryAnn and the Cox's. I hope Grayson and Lydia will be able to remember (at least for a little while) the amazing experiences we had. It was a perfect time of year to go. The weather was great and the lines were short. Here are some of our Highlights.
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Ariel's Princess Celebration

We received the royal treatment at Ariel's Grotto for lunch. After being welcomed by Ariel we ate a special meal, and had all the princesses visit our table.

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Jedi Training Academy

Grayson had the opportunity to train in the ways of the Jedi. As a young Padawan trainee he took the Jedi oath and learned to wield a lightsaber. Then he used the force to battle against the Dark Side, fighting Darth Vader and Darth Maul. We didn't get any pictures of him fighting Darth Vader but we do have it on video (I'll try and post it later- it takes to much time).We were so proud of our little Jedi.

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The Blue BayouHaving diner at the Blue Bayou (inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride) was a special treat. The food was fabulous and the kids loved being pirates. They had amazing desserts, the one above is a pirate ship.
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Meeting our favorite Characters

Last time the kids were scared of all the characters and would barely even look at them out of fear. Luckily this time they were excited with every new character we saw.

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Thanks Grandma for a Great trip!

I think I'm out of the TWILIGHT ZONE!

The last two weeks have been rough for my family, to say the least. During this time our house was a total disaster, No laundry was done, and I have no idea what anyone ate. It's all kinda of a daze now that I look back. Yes we had the wedding and celebrated Halloween- but if I wasn't required to come out of the twilight zone, I didn't. For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about- I've been reading the twilight series. I finished the third one two days ago. I think that I can finally say I am back. It was a total addiction for me. I read every chance I had and would get really mad every time I had to put it down. I would stay up till one in the morning reading on the floor of our hallway(I didn't want to keep Jared up), just to start reading again 5 hours later when Kate woke me up for her morning feed. I don't normally do this, but what can I say I was addicted. So as soon as I was done reading, instead of jumping up to start cleaning the house or throw a load of laundry in, or even make sure my kids were alive I had to jump online and get more detail from the authors website. I spent the rest of the the day in a total depression(honestly), because the next book wasn't going to be done for like a year. I thought I was going to go crazy (well maybe just more than I already was), because I couldn't keep reading the story. So beware anyone who starts to read the series. Make sure you have access to all three books, that you have plenty of free time and your okay with the next book not coming for another year. Having said that I hope all my friends read them so we can chat. Just because I said I was out of the twilight zone doesn't mean I don't still think about it a lot.