Paul reading the scriptures

Absolutely LOVE mornings like this....

Other December fun

Disclaimer: All phone pictures - sorry!

Paul's preschool had a Christmas party on Dec. 15 before they were out for Winter Break.

They made ice cream come Christmas Trees

and decorated and ate cookies. 

 Then later that day we went to Bass Pro Shop with his BFF Ben.

When the ride operator told them to hold on, they couldn't find anything

so they grabbed on to the back of the sleigh.

 They did invite this other little guy to join them, and help them drive the one reindeer.

After the sleigh ride, Laura (Ben's mom) and I spent about half an hour

watching them play on the ATV's. 

 That Saturday, the 17th, we visited Santa at the Highland Village fire station.

Ben's school was also out for winter break, and his parents both work

so he spent two weeks at our house during the day. On the 20th, Crystal (Lucy's daughter)

called and invited us to go to the Aquarium with their family.  

Uncle Hugh bankrolled anyone who wanted to the Super Bouncy trampoline after the aqaurium, 

so these two lucky boys got to have a turn.

 Lucy dropped off this gingerbread house the day after Christmas

so we put it together, beautiful, isn't it?

 New Year's Eve we spent the day working on the floor and other projects around the house, then went to IHOP to eat dinner with the senior citizens and pot smoking teenagers. (Okay, they only smelled like pot smoking teenagers.)

 New Year's Day was a great day for Paul as he be came a CTR!

He uses his CTRness for a lot of things now.  "I need to get a new CTR bike mom, my bike is too small."  "If they say I am a baby, I will tell them I am a CTR."  

(Side note: As far as I know, no one actual calls him a baby, but he is aware of the threat.)

Holes

This what the front of our house looked like for about a week,

with the pieces slowly going under our house.

They had to put about 30 piers in to prop the front of the house up.

It was sloping by about six inches. 

Luckily, they did not have to pull up my kitchen tile,

which was awesome, since they were able to come in from the outside. 

 Big pile of dirt from under our house

 Master bedroom

My poor living room that had 8 holes. 

And yes, my front porch which is now in pretty serious need of a large welcome mat

to cover the patched cement. 

 About three weeks after the holes were filled in, we finally had the structural engineer come

and pronounce our home level (mostly). Two days before Christmas, we were finally able to install laminate flooring. This was the easy part. Straight, no corners, no angles.

 This was as far as we got the first day.....it is not as easy as they make it sound in the DIY video.

We did not get it all the way done for Christmas, but enough.

2011 isn't over yet...

At least on my blog, I'll attempt to catch up what did not get blogged in the midst of moving.

Batman continues to make regular appearances,

and is always sure to keep up on local news...just in case.

 Since we were mostly packed at our apartment, but not unpacked at our house, 

we had Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrell

 thanks for the scarf Shayla!

 with our friends the Desrosiers.

 Fast forward, we had Paul act out the nativity for FHE on Dec. 12

 Angel coming to the shepherds

 Finally able to decorate the tree a few days before Christmas

Christmas Eve, Paul got to open one gift and he opened a cozy blanket from Grandma Jan 

And dad opened a flashlight and Home Depot gift card from Jon and Ana. 

 Oh the kitten....

 Christmas Eve, we Skyped for about an hour and took a picture of matching boys in their jammies.

Yep, he's pretending 

 Because we almost forgot to put out the traditional Baklava for Santa, 

and carrots for his reindeer.

We pulled out our futon mattress and snuggled in by the fire trying to catch Santa.

But, he came and left presents without us catching a glimpse. 

 We were so busy Skyping and opening presents, that I didn't take many pictures....

okay, any pictures.

Paul is ready to go to church

 Then we spent the evening at Hugh and Lucy's house

 More Batman things! 

Grandma Nae and Papa gave Paul a Batman Leapster game, Batman shirt, and a Batman washcloth.

 The next day we spent afternoon visiting with Packard cousins.

(This gave me flashbacks to Grandma and Grandpa Brown's basement, 

where someone always ended up crying after playing pool.)

Eating with his cousins 

 Jared and Talmadge Packard (His great-aunt)

 President Packard, Jared, and Paul (He is the Dallas Temple President, and Jared's great-uncle.)

 We were lucky to get $5 tickets to the BYU bowl game here in Dallas, 

but unluckily Jared had to work.  So Ben, Paul, and I went with our friends

from our old ward.  We only stayed a quarter, but they won!

Happy New Year!

*Thanks dh Images for this picture!

I know it's a little late, but we wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  We are so grateful for the knowledge our family can be eternal, and that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.

Our family has had a fantastic year! Most importantly, we were sealed together as  family in the Salt Lake Temple in April.  We have been working towards this for awhile. It was a wonderful experience we were glad to share with family and friends.  We are so thankful for all those who gathered to celebrate with us, and many who contributed to that wonderful weekend. In November, we purchased our first home!  We have a large playroom and a pool so, come on over ya'll.  Jared and I are installing a laminate floor in the living room, and might just have enough planks that we haven't cut incorrectly to finish. Our family went on vacation to Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, Sea World, and Utah.

Jared celebrated his one year anniversary with Richemont, N.A. and is enjoying his job. He spent the from April to November as the Elder's Quorum Secretary in our previous ward.  Also in November, he turned 35 and I spent Thanksgiving night standing in line to get him a new flat screen television.  He has wowed me with is handyman skills fixing doors, and making things work.

I continued working for my mom's cousin Lucy as her real estate assistant, then when hail season was upon us, Lucy's husband asked me to answer phone's and estimate hail damage to cars for his business. I have learned some new skills this year and brushed up on some old ones.  I turned the big 3-0 in September and celebrated with friends at as surprise party put on by Jared and our friend Lissania.

Paul finally decided he was ready to be potty trained in January when I put him in underwear out of desperation.  He had one accident that day and has been great ever since.  In May, he turned four and started preschool the next week.  He met his best friend Ben there, and they can play together for 10 hours and think it's not long enough. How It's Made is his current favorite show, and his favorite question is Why? This boy is happy go lucky and has done very well with all the changes in his world this last  year.  We love his little guts!

We decided to do one last family activity in 2011, please enjoy!