supa.cross.

Every year since we've been married, Jer's dad has bought him a ticket for Supercross for Christmas. I've been a couple times, but it always gets over so late that its not worth the struggle of finding a babysitter. This year my sister brought her kids over for a slumber party with my kids and I was able to go.

Amongst watching the exhaust fumes and dirt, I had a sudden awakening.

This is exactly what Jer feels like when he comes with me to the Nutcracker.

But it was totally fun to have a long date night with my handsome husband.

design on a dime.

I totally forgot about this post. Last year sometime, I got the itch to redo our bonus room and really make it a toy room. Jeremy longed for it to be a theatre room, and well...that just wasn't happening. The toys accumulated and his theatre fund depreciated. So glad I could finally convince him this is what we needed to do. I was trying to think of colors that would be gender neutral and I came across these swatches. They were my inspiration.

Brayden was thrilled to bits about the new project and stuck with it from beginning to end.

Even Kosty hopped on a paint can and went to work.

I love this. Those cute little feet balancing on a paint can, ahhh.

We had originally painted it dark chocolate brown when it was still thought of as a future theatre room by some....so we had to prime and paint the top section. Then Jer did a lovely chair rail which didn't take him but an hour. I was amazed.

Brayden took a short break from painting and crashed on the couch mid day. He has NEVER done that before.

I so wish I could've found that adorable Ikat pattern for the curtains, but the Ikea orange curtains and toy cubbies were all the budget would allow. I still want to get some more art work on the walls and a big area rug. But for now, its done.

Merek Lee

Merek Carter Lee

Jenna & Kevin's second baby boy was born on 1.10.10. I found out right before church and had to endure three + hours and a new group of crazy rowdy Sunbeams before I was able to head straight to the hospital and hold him. He is sure cute.

Know the saying "always a bridesmaid, never a bride?".....I kinda feel like that's the theme regarding babies and me. Since I had Kosty four years ago....

My sister Brittney has had two babies,

My friend Jenna has had two babies,

My sister in law has also had a baby,

Three of my step sisters had babies,

And most of my neighbors have had one or two...

Still {patiently} hoping for my turn.... ;)

"God doesn't care nearly as much

about where you've been

as He does about where you are;

and with his help, where you are willing to go."

today's agenda.

(recipe found here).

resolutions.

I should've mentioned my resolutions. I have just one this time. I quit my gym membership because I was only using it once a week for yoga. Waste of money, and I was tired of the guilt that I wasn't keeping up with cardio. I really miss yoga. BUT. I started running outside. Its so nice to be able to wake up and go for a run where I feel free, on the pavement. No wonder I hated cardio so much, the treadmill is awful. Plain excruciatingly boring.

I have bad lungs so I thought I could never be able to be an outside runner. But I am taking baby steps and today was a breakthrough. I didn't want to check my time every two seconds. And I actually sort of liked it.

Steam (stress) comes out my ears.

The cool, crisp air feels incredible.

The sun shining on my face makes me happy.

I love blasting my ipod and not hearing myself breathe.

The street just after a rain feels clean and fresh.

Negativity leaves, positivity takes over.

My head becomes so clear.

I come home feeling refreshed, strong, and ready to start the day.

I want to be a better mom/wife/person.

I so need this right now. I think this time I will keep a resolution. (please don't mention summer...)

p.s. I have no idea how many miles or even if I've been running a single mile at all, ha. I made a goal to start with 15 minutes of straight running. Remember, baby steps. Today I went past 20 without stopping. This is big for me. I really want to stick with it.

And I've been able to continue yoga at home. All by myself, when no one is here. Peaceful.

new years eve.

New Years Eve inspired many firsts:

First time letting our kids stay up till midnite. Note the tired eyes. (brayden was thrilled when I told him it was NYE and proclaimed it as his 2nd favorite holiday, I caved).

Kosty's first time ever playing a video game. And he liked it. I was sad.

First time playing card games as a family. We can do that now. Well, Kosty not quite.

Jer's first time ever eating a crepe.

First and only people in our whole neighborhood that chose to make any sort of noise. Sheesh.

Growing up, we never acted out the Nativity...I never knew I was so abnormal. Apparently everyone else does. I decided we should step out of our comfort zones when our ward Christmas party required us to dress up like people of Bethlehem and watch a little rendition of the Nativity. I'm glad we did. Kosty was dressed up about 5 seconds before the picture.

christmas day

Christmas morning started out with Brayden waking up at midnight and saw that Santa had already put his (wrapped) gifts under the tree... So yes, at midnight he was ready to open gifts. Jer explained to him that he had only been asleep for 3 hours and that it was still nighttime. He started balling and cried himself back to sleep...oh how horrible to have to go back to sleep after he saw all the presents under the tree.

Then he woke up at 5 am and so the unwrapping began. The only thing Brayden really wanted this year was a Wii. We let Santa know that he could bring it only if we sold our XBox. Luckily that was accomplished and so Santa knew it was ok to bring one ;) I just love this picture of him opening it, it doesn't get much better than that face!!

Kosty wanted a Batman house most of all and Santa delivered.

After we opened our gifts and played for a bit, we went over to Grandma's and ate her yummy breakfast and opened more gifts. Oh, and found out these two had gotten engaged the night before. Wedding in March!

Kosty loved blasting everyone with his Web slinger!

Brayden REALLY wanted Uncle Chase to spend the night on Christmas night. The next day we had crepes, bacon, and orange juice, then played a whole lot of the Wii, built legos, and played games.

Jer really loves his keyboard and practices as much as he can. He's always wished he could play the piano, so I'm happy he's learning. Kosty fell in love with this girly book series when his teacher read "Purpleicious" at school. He is now the proud owner of Pinkalicious and he got Goldilicious for Christmas.....its pretty funny.

{Now....can anyone tell me why on earth most of my words are underlined!??? its driving me absolutely crazy and I can't get it to stop!}

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was busy but we decided to mix it up this year and do both our mom and dad's houses on that day, so that Christmas Day would be more relaxed and less loading in the car and making visits. We had a lovely brunch at my Mom's house in the morning, opened a few gifts, played some games, and gave Chase a haircut. Oh, and Justin surprised us all with a fresh haircut of his own. (Those of you that know my brother Justin, know his hair was waaay longer than mine).

Then we headed to my Dad's house....Erika, Stefanie, Me, and Brittney.

All the boys. Justin always has a guitar in his hands it seems...

We've convinced my Dad the last couple years to fore go the usual turkey dinner and he treats us to his famous Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches instead. They are SO. GOOD.

Great Nana and Nana

Then we came home and sprinkled reindeer food on the grass, baked cookies for Santa, and read some Christmas books. We were supposed to drive around and look at lights but BOTH boys begged to just go to bed! It was cracking me up how serious they were about going to bed. They did not want to miss Santa. We snuck in a picture of the tree right after Santa came.