Ten On Tuesday!

OK so maybe I should call this 12 on Tuesday. This is an awesome way to play catch up! Love it!

1. I took the kids to Zumba with me on Saturday. The girls LOVED it! Had a blast dancing with me. When we were driving home I told the girls that I was all sweaty. Abbi said she was sweaty too. Then Cadence piped up and said, "I don't sweat, because my skin is white. You guys have dark skin and that why you sweat." It was pretty funny!

2. Whenever I ask DJ to do something he looks at me and puts his hand up to his forehead and yells, "YES SIR" as he salutes me! It's pretty cute! Not sure where he got that from!

3. The girls had there last day of skating on Thursday. DJ was all sad, so I pushed him around on a chair. I borrowed some skates from someone. Cadence finally figured out how to skate and was confident enough to try on her own. She skated all by herself on Thursday. I was so proud of her. Abbi and Brianna have been skating everywhere! They all loved it!

Cadence, standing there all by herself. Plus a little smile too!!

My 4 cute kids on the ice!

4. I drove bus last week for Kendell. DJ came with me and had a blast playing with some boys. They got kind of wild. After I dropped the boys off, DJ got very quiet. I had three more stops left. When I looked, he was sound asleep across the two front seats. Funny boy!

DJ sound asleep on the bus!

5. We dipped chocolates on Monday. It took us all day, but it's so nice to see the yummy results. They are all delicious. Love home made chocolates! Yummy!

Lot at all that yumminess!!

6. The kids helped set up the train set around the tree a few weeks ago. It was before we went to church. They were all in their dresses. The girls got to each chose their own Christmas dresses this year. They all told me that they didn't want to match. So I took them shopping and they chose their own dresses. It was fun to see what they chose!

Helping dad put together the train tracks.

Abbi, Brianna, Cadence and DJ all ready for church!

7. DJ had a bath one morning and was playing with his cars. I had to laugh because he had them all lined up in order of color! He didn't want me to mess them up! Funny boy!

My cute boy organizing all his cars!

8. Cadence has been loving her clogging class. A few weeks ago they had their last class until after Christmas. So we got to stay and watch the class. She loves it! It's so fun to watch her. She has so much energy bursting from her that all of a sudden, during the dance, she'll just go crazy. It's so funny! The thing that really cracked me up is how her arms are flying around everywhere. She is so cute, I loved watching her dance. You can tell she loves it!

It's really fuzzy, but you can tell how fast Cadence is moving! Love how she swings her arms.....so cute!!!

9. Last week the kids sat down after school and wrote their letters to Santa. The girls are doing so good at writing their own letters. They all had fun and decorated their letters and envelopes with stickers.

Everyone working hard writing their letters to Santa.

At the post office, ready to mail their letter!

10. Took the kids shopping on Saturday afternoon. They drew for names, so we took them so they could buy their siblings something. It was actually a lot of fun. The kids did awesome. We just went to Walmart and I took the girls one at a time and helped them. Then Richard helped buy DJ's toy. Then we went to IHOP for something to eat. It was a fun outing. Then we came home and I helped everyone wrap their presents. A successful trip!

11. We decorated gingerbread houses last night for FHE. The kids had fun. We watched a short Mormon Ad, about the real meaning of Christmas. We talked about that and then I made some yummy kettle corn popcorn. So easy and delicious!

Decorating the little gingerbread house village! Abbi was a bit annoyed with me!

Busy fingers putting on the candies!

12. Today I decided to be all domestic and bake some short bread cookies. They were delicious. It's my first time baking them. I knew they were good when the girls came home for lunch and were gobbling them down. So I did 3 batches. Then DJ and I dipped them in chocolate. Just half of the cookie. They look so yummy. DJ cracked me up, he was such a big helper. Love it when my kids help me! So much fun!

What a big helper I have, and handsome too!

Weekend Getaway!

Last weekend, Richard and I were able to get away all by ourselves! It has been a while since we have been able to do this. Things have been so busy with work, school, kids and just life. We had a chance and decided to take it. Good thing for awesome parents! Richard's parents took the kids Friday to Saturday. Then my parents took them from Saturday to Sunday. The kids were thrilled to find out that they were having a sleep over at both sets of Grandparents! They were very happy and excited to go.

I packed and cleaned the house Friday morning. I got everything all ready and Bear all packed up. Then we went and picked up the girls from school and drove straight to Cardston. We dropped them off at their Grandma and Grandpa Spencer's house. We gave them all hugs and kisses and left 4 happy kids! I was worried about DJ, but he was a happy camper, so away we went.

We had booked a place in Fernie right on the hill. We got there around 6pm and checked in. We had stopped at Walmart in Pincher Creek and picked up some food. Our room had a full kitchen. So that was nice, we could make our own food. We just relaxed and watched TV. Then we went our and relaxed in the hot tub. It started to snow as we were out there. Love sitting outside in a hot tub while it's snowing!

Us hanging out in the hot tub!

I tried to get a picture of it snowing, but managed to get a lot of the steam from the hot tub!

We woke up early Saturday morning. Not on purpose, but to Richard's cell phone ringing. Then I couldn't go back to sleep, because my back was killing me. The bed was horrible. I went and relaxed on the couch and we watched TV and had breakfast.

The view from our room. One of the ski lifts went right by our room.

Since we were up early we got ready and got our ski rentals right there at our hotel. Then we skied from the back door down to the hill. We had to get our tickets. Megan was planning on meeting us around 10am. So we went and did a few runs by ourselves. Then we met Megan. Away we went. It was a fun morning. The only bad thing was the bottom of any of the runs. It was pretty bare, and you had to be careful. There were streams that we were skiing over. The first time I did, it kind of freaked me out. But on the top of the mountain the snow was nice and fluffy and it was good skiing.

Megan snowboarding in her fancy new pants and matching goggles! Looking hot Megan!!

Richard at the top. Loved the view of the mountains and trees, oh of my husband too!! he he!

Just to prove that I was there skiing too! I had the camera in my pocket!

We stopped and had lunch at the Lodge. Then we went back out ready to go. We did a few more runs. Oh funny story that happened. Richard and I got way ahead of Megan and we stopped to wait for her. He was sitting on a log, and I was standing. My legs were so tired so I plopped down in the snow, and instead of it being a little firm I ended up buried in snow. It was very comfortable so I just layed there and waited. I was wearing all white, except for my helmet. I heard Megan say hi to Richard so I popped up and said hi too. Well Megan was going right beside me. I scared her so bad that she almost wiped out! She didn't see me at all. We were laughing so hard about it at lunch time! It was pretty funny. By about 2pm I was having a rough time. My left leg was killing me. It felt like my ankle was broken. Every time I turned it would hurt so bad. So when I got to the bottom, I decided to go back to our hotel and see if I could switch the ski boot. When we took it off, there were huge welts down my shin and ankle and the top of my foot. The guy couldn't figure out why the boot did that to me. We tried another boot and I took off. I didn't make it very far. I found Richard and Megan and told them I was done. Megan said she was tired too. So we went back to our hotel room. Richard skied a bit longer.

Megan flying by me!

Richard waiting for me and Megan.

It was nice to go and lay down and relax. I've really enjoyed skiing these past few years. Thanks so much Megan for encouraging us to go! I enjoyed talking and laughing with Megan too! We always have so much fun together. Richard came back about an hour later. Then I gave Megan a ride back to her vehicle and she took off for home. Richard and I decided to go into Fernie to get some food for supper. We stopped and got a few snacks too and a puzzle.

We came back and ate wings and some pasta for supper. It was delicious. While we ate, we worked on a puzzle together. Richard really got into it. As for me, I couldn't do it for a long period of time. So I would take a break and then come back and help him. He stayed at it for hours. Then we finally finished it.

Richard, very focused, working on the puzzle! It was a hard one!

Me with the finished puzzle. Of course, my eyes are closed!!

Sunday morning we were able to sleep in till about 8:30am. It felt better then waking up at 6:30am! We took our time and had breakfast and got ready. We checked out at 11am and headed for home. We got to my parents at 2:30pm. They had just gotten back from church. The kids were all so happy! It was a fun weekend. Thanks to both of our parents for watching our kids!

Ten On Wednesday!

I'm really trying to catch up with my blog. I was having problems with my blog last week. It wouldn't let me upload any pictures. It said I hit my capacity and had to pay. But after getting advise from a fellow blogger, I deleted all my old pictures from Picasa. It worked perfectly. It just took time. So I thought that this would be a quick way to get caught up too!

1. We've had crazy weather this fall/winter. We got some really good snow falls last month, but haven't had any snow since then. Abbi and DJ spent hours making a snowman one afternoon. They had a blast. It was fun to watch them out in our yard, working hard together!

2. I decided to join the Weight Loss Challenge at the library this year. It started back in September and today was our final weigh in. I can proudly say that I lost 17lbs exactly! YEAH!! I just ate healthier and watched my portion sizes. I used an app on my phone that I could keep track of what I'm eating and also my exercise. That was a huge help. I'm hoping to lose a few more pounds and then just maintain. Next week is when they reveal the top 3 winners. I'm hoping I win some money, because then I can go shopping! Yeah!!


 The left picture was taken at the end of September. The right picture was taken beginning of December and with 17lbs gone! Yeah!

3. DJ is doing awesome in his speech. We had our last session with GiGi (her name is Ginger, but that's how DJ says her name) yesterday. Kind of sad. Her contract is up and she is moving on to something else. So DJ is getting transferred to another therapist. It should be interesting because DJ "woves (loves) GiGi!" Lately he's been saying to me, "It happens mom, it happens." Anytime I ask him why he did something or if I ask what happened, that's the answer I get...."It happens"! So funny!

I caught DJ drinking from the milk carton. Crazy kid!

4. Had our Magrath Hometown Christmas and it was a blast. Brianna was picked by the Mayor to push the "magic button" to turn on all the Christmas lights. She was so excited to do that. Then we saw Santa. It was so funny, because when it was our turn, Santa looked at the kids and said, "Oh you must be the Spencer kids? I knew your dad when he was just a little boy, and he was so bad." Well all my kids had this shocked look on their faces! Then Santa laughed and said, "No, your dad was a good boy." It was so funny. My girls all asked for makeup, because they thought it was funny, the reaction they got from Santa. He kept telling them that they are beautiful and don't need make up. For some reason they all thought it was hilarious! So now at home, they play Santa and take turns asking for make up! Funny kids!

Brianna with the Mayor, just pushing the button.



Cadence got to sit with Santa first. She told him she wanted make up.

Brianna with Santa, and asking for make up too.

Abbi talking with Santa and telling him about make up too!

DJ wasn't sure about what he thought about Santa!

5. The girls are skating every day for school. I've been helping putting skates on. I stayed today and it's so funny to see kids falling everywhere. Abbi and Brianna have caught on and are having fun. Cadence just doesn't like it. It kind of freaks her out. But she keeps trying. Usually a teacher always has her. I've walked around holding onto her hand too! She likes to hang onto the side boards! It's fun to go and watch them!

Brianna skating, with the pink coat and white helmet. Abbi getting help from a parent (in the brown snow pants and black helmet)!

This picture cracks me up! Cadence hanging onto the edge for dear life!!! She wasn't so sure about skating! But she hung in there and did it!

6. Spent all day Tuesday at my mom's making the fondants for chocolates. We are going to dip them next week. They are going to be so yummy!!!

Me, Tiffani and Megan sporting our cool aprons and a spatula!! ha ha! Sorry the pic is a bit fuzzy!

Me trying a new chocolate recipe. It said to mix it with my hands, so that's what I did. Very messy, but it will be so so yummy!

DJ was so good and entertained himself the whole time. Here he was talking to his stuffed animals and saying "Yeehaw"! What a cute little boy!

7. My niece, Keira, is super cute! She had this hat on and it just made her blue eyes stand out! So stinking cute! She would do the cutest gum smile! But of course I couldn't get it on camera! She's still so cute!

Cute little Keira. Here I got a half smile!!

She just wanted my phone!!

8. I love that all my Christmas shopping is done! Now to enjoy the season and focus on the real meaning of Christmas.

9. The girls are turning 7 this year and they all want to have a friend birthday party. I'm a bit stuck on that though. How do you do a friend birthday party on Dec 26? So I was thinking we might do it in January sometime. We will see!

10. Love good babysitters. I have one that we use most of the time that is amazing. She's younger, but it totally amazes me how she keeps everything so clean! We came home on Friday and the basement was spotless. I was a bit embarrassed because it was a mess when we left. I asked my girls and they told me that they wanted to surprise me. So they picked everything up and even vacuumed. The babysitter helped a little. Such a nice surprise! Loved it!

Crazy Black Friday Shopping!

I wanted to go Black Friday shopping again this year. It was so crazy and fun last year, that it had to happen again. So Megan, and I and Renee decided we were going to go. But then Renee and Theron went and bought a house and she couldn't come. Way to go Renee! Jokes.....very excited about your new house....we were just super sad you wouldn't be coming. No worries, I got my SIL, Lisa to come with us. We all had a blast together.

We left Thursday afternoon and got to Great Falls around 3pm. It was so nice that we could take our time and not be in a huge rush. We checked into our hotel and figured out what we were going to do for dinner. Luckily the hotel we stayed in served dinner. So that solved that problem. We relaxed and then went and ate some food. It wasn't the greatest, but it filled us up. Then we went and got our lists and walkie talkies and we were ready to go!

We went to Walmart first. They started earlier this year. We got there at 7pm and they opened some things at 8pm. It was a mad house in there.....just like last year. I got the things I could and decided not to stress about what I didn't get. We met at the cashiers and paid and took our first load out to the car. Then we came back in for the 10pm. I got a few other things and picked some stuff up for Megan. She was standing in line for a computer....which she found out later it wasn't the one she wanted. Oh well:( We went through the cashiers the 2nd time and then went out to the car.

Then we headed to K-Mart. We only got a few things there. We took turns standing in line. Lisa and I came up to Megan as she was going up to the cashiers. That got the lady behind her all excited. I didn't really care, because we'd been standing in line for a good 30mins. But Lisa couldn't leave it alone. I finally told Lisa to shush it!! Ha ha! I really didn't want to get into a fight with anybody! We had a good laugh about it after wards!

After K-Mart we headed over to Target. We walked in and the line for check-outs was HUGE! I went and stood in line while the other two went and did their shopping. Lisa came back first and then I took off and met Megan. She helped me finish my shopping. Then we came back to find Lisa. We couldn't find her and then I saw her jumping up and down by the cashiers. It was crazy how fast that line moved. So we went to the next cashier. We were out of there within 45mins and I got a lot of my shopping done there. It was sweet!

We then stopped at the mall. We went to Sears and a few other stores. We didn't stay long. We were all beat. We got back to the hotel just after 1am. Lisa insisted that we take everything inside. I kind of groaned about it, but I'm glad we did. We hauled everything in. Then Megan and I crashed. I think Lisa got her second wind, and was laughing and talking to herself....sorry Lisa I couldn't keep my eyes open!! ha ha!

Lisa and I woke up around 10am. We went and soaked in the hot tub, then came back to get ready for the day. We went and had a yummy breakfast and then went to finish up our shopping. We went back to Walmart, Target and the mall. I totally cleaned up my shopping. In the meantime, we were filling up Megan's car. We ended up buying a soft top, to strap on top of her vehicle. Good thing! By this time I had lost my voice. My body couldn't keep up with everything I was doing. I was getting sick. I knew it was going to happen! Oh well.....I pushed through it!

We decided to go have a yummy dinner at Applebees. So that's what we did! It was super busy there. I ended up running into someone who knew me and we had a whole conversation on how they are doing and where they are at now. After they left, I asked Megan if she knew who they were. I was so confused, I had no idea who I talked too! Bad, eh?! It really bugged me, I finally decided it must of been someone I worked with after I got back from my mission. My memory is horrible!

That night we watched shows and ate ice cream and talked and giggled all night long! Well Lisa and I stayed up late. Megan crashed again. I woke up around 9am the next morning and my back was toast. I couldn't lay down any longer. I was dying! After we were all ready we started taking loads of all our stuff out to Megan's car. It was packed! Good thing we bought that soft top!

Lisa and I showing how stuffed the vehicle was!!

Here's Megan and I! Here you can see the soft top, which was stuffed full too!

We packed stuff all around where Lisa sat too!

We stopped at Famous Footwear and then headed for breakfast (a really late one) and then we headed home. It was a super fun and successful trip! So glad we went! I am ALL done my Christmas shopping and the girls' birthday shopping too. So nice! I love getting all done at once! Richard does too! he he!

We came through the border and didn't have to pay any duty! YEAH! Got home and Richard and the kids were in Cardston. It worked out perfect for me. I was able to organize all my stuff and put it in totes and into the trailer. It's all in one spot, which works the best for me. Last year I forgot where I put a bunch of presents! I did finally find them, but it took me forever. It was a fun weekend!

Out With The Old.....In With The New!

As I posted a bit ago, our suburban is gone. The insurance wrote it off, and we started looking for another one. We looked EVERYWHERE!! We just couldn't find an older one with low km`s. So we broaden our search and found a vehicle in Regina, SK. It was a Cadillac Escalade. I laughed at Richard when he showed me. It was super nice, and I didn't think he was being serious. But after looking at all our choices, this one kept sticking out. So we made a few phone calls and decided to buy it. It is a 2005 Escalade, with only 100,000km`s. That`s what we loved about it most. The only problem was it was in Regina, which is 7hrs away. Richard`s mom came to our rescue. She came over Tuesday night so we could leave early Wednesday morning.

There goes our suburban.

Bye, bye old burb!!!

We were up at and going before 5am. We hit the road by 5am. I drove the first 4hrs, and then we stopped and had breakfast. Then Richard drove the rest of the way. I promptly fell asleep for about 1hr. I woke up and felt that we were sliding. We all of the sudden hit an icy patch. It really scared me. Richard had it under control and slowed right down. All the vehicles in front of us were pulling over. There were a few that went in the ditch. So we were only going about 30km an hour. That was for about 10kms and then the roads were fine. But then it started to pour. It rained for the last 1hr of our drive. The weather was a little crazy.

We got there and took the Escalade for a drive. It was so nice. We bought it and put our plates on it, in the pouring rain. It was turning all the snow to slush, and making the roads into a huge mess. Then we were on our way back home. I drove the van, and followed Richard for the first hour. Then we stopped in Moose Jaw and ate lunch. We saw a sign for Bonanza. It brought back some child hood memories for both of us, so we decided to go eat there. We shouldn't of gone! It shattered our memories. It was horrible! Oh well! Then we took off.

Not the greatest picture....but here is Bear in our garage. It's blowing like crazy and I didn't feel like going outside!

I got in the Escalade and was following Richard. We drove for about 30mins and then the roads started getting bad. It was very slippery out. There were a few bad accidents that we passed. It was starting to scare me a bit. Then we came to a complete stop. We sat in traffic for about 30mins. Then it started to slowly move. Two semis spun out on a hill and were stuck. The cop was slowly letting people go, but telling us to stay in the right lane. So away we went. We were only going about 60kms an hour. It took us a long time to get to the next city. We pulled over to take a break. Then off we went again. To make a long story short it was a LONG day and took us a long time to get home. We hit a snow storm next, and the roads were still pretty icy. But we finally made it home around 10pm.

I was too tired to go too bed. If that makes any sense. I knew if I went to bed I'd just be dreaming of driving. So we watched some tv, then I finally fell asleep. The kids were so excited to see the new vehicle. We called our last vehicle, "burb", or "truck". So we came up with a new name for our Escalade. It's big and black, so we called it "Bear"! DJ thinks that hilarious, and loves telling me that he's going to get into "bear"!! So that's the story how we got Bear!!!

Brianna's Special Date!

Brianna finally lost her first tooth a few weeks ago. The poor girl kept asking me why she hasn't lost a tooth yet. She was so excited to find her first loose tooth. She wouldn't let me touch it and ended up pulling it out herself. Brave girl. She went into the bathroom and pulled it out!

Happy Brianna, just after she pulled her tooth out!

She was very worried that the Tooth Fairy was going to take the tooth. So she very carefully wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy. She asked if she could keep her first tooth (that's what her sister's did). So the Tooth Fairy was very kind and left $2 and her tooth. Funny story about that. I totally forgot to go and put the toonie under Brianna's pillow. I woke up at 6:30am and remembered. So I grabbed a toonie and went down stairs. Brianna was awake and staring at the wall. I realized that she wasn't fully awake. So I was very carefully walking up to her bed. She hadn't seen me yet, but I didn't want to go under her pillow and have her ask me what I was doing. So I whispered, "Hi Brianna, are you ok?" As I asked her I slipped the money under her pillow. But I about scared her to death. She about jumped out of her skin. I tucked her back into bed and told her to go back to sleep. Which she did. Because she came up about an hour later all excited about the money that the Tooth Fairy left under her pillow! Oh, I am so sneaky!! Ha ha ha!

She was very excited to go on her special date with mom. We had some busy weeks, so we didn't do it till a couple weeks later. So on Friday after school, Brianna and I went on our date. I took her to Marble Slab where she got to pick out her ice cream and 2 toppings. It was so fun to just sit with Brianna and talk and laugh. Brianna is such a cutie. She asked me before we left, if she could get her hair cut. The poor girl has so much hair, that it drives her crazy. It really does. So I called and made an appointment before. After our ice cream treat we went and got her hair cut. The hair dresser just took a couple inches off and then I had her thin Brianna's hair out. It was crazy how much hair was on the ground. It was amazing what a difference it made. We actually left Brianna's hair down and she was fine with that. We never did before because her hair would poof right out and drive her crazy. Brianna left the hair dresser, one happy girl! We got a new, cool brush too. We used it today and it was amazing. It just fits in the palm of your hand and you brush through the hair. It doesn't pull, and we had no tears this morning.....that never happens!

She wanted me to take a picture of her eating her ice cream!! Yum, Yum!!

Happy, Brianna at Marble Slab!

Brianna with her super thick hair!

Just some of her hair that was being thinned out!

Brianna with her new hair cut and the cool sparkles in her hair!

It was a fun little outing. I am glad we got to spend time together. I need to do this more often and take turns with my girls. I feel like, DJ and I do a lot of things by ourselves! It's good for DJ and his dad to go out and do things together. DJ loved working with Richard the other day. He talked about it all the time! Especially about the donuts! So funny! I can't believe how big my girls are getting. It really does blow my mind. Brianna and I had fun together!