It's Been Awhile Update

I see it has been awhile since I have posted. Rather than feeling completely over whelmed with trying to catch up and write about what has been going on for the last six months. I will just a post a few of my favorite pictures and move on. I am hoping to keep things more up-to-date and document what is going on in our crazy busy lives. School takes up most of my time and can be overwhelming.

 

 

July Vacation to Red Fish Lake, Idaho with Kyle & Misty's family

 

 

Craters of the Moon

 

Fishing at Massacre Rock in Idaho

 

Parker walking in a parade behind BIG BLUE.

 

Thanksgiving with my kiddos. I am very thankful for the joy they bring to my life.

 

Kids are easily entertained. Thanksgiving.

 

Thanksgiving on the farm. All the Vea 2nd cousins.

 

Decorating the Christmas Tree. Kind of nice I didn't have to do much.

 

Maisie celebrating her birthday at Grandma and Grandpa Julander's.

 

One of my favorite pictures of me and Maisie. Shopping in Kohl's.

 

New Year's Eve fun. 

 

I Love watching Parker read. His favorite books right now are Geronimo Stilton.

 

Parker and Tyson enjoying their first sleepover. They were both so excited.

 

Celebrating Leap Year.

Elves

Christopher, Christina Marie, & Mittens weren't very exciting this year. Maisie and Parker actually weren't as excited about the Elves visiting our house as much this year. They may or may not return next year. We will see. Here are a few tricks they had up their sleeve this year.

2013 Christmas

Christmas morning is always an eventful day. We wait until the kids wake up. This year they didn't wake up until 8:30. We decided a couple of years ago that Maisie and Parker would take turns opening their gifts. This way we all have to watch each other open their gifts and it takes a bit longer than just tearing into our gifts. They were very excited with what they got this year. Maisie got an Apples to Apples dice game, clothes, earrings, dork diaries book 1 and diary, ipad case, TV and tv stand, PJ's, rainbow loom. Parker got UNO dice game, marbles for his marble solitaire board game, three Ninja Turtle lego sets, lego play mat, 2 shirts, sticker book, Ninja Turtle underwear, ipad case, pj's, headphones, TMNT shredder, and a box of lego's. I got a set of cooking pans, and a nice tripod for my camera. Also, pj's and a Christmas outfit. Eric got a metal detector, a shirt, pj's and two investing books. We had a great time and everyone loved their gifts. It took us a while to get going with the day. Parker had to put together his lego's and we told him he couldn't take them to grandma's. We went and said hi to Sallie and Jerry before they headed up to Idaho to visit Ken's mom and sister. Then we got ready and headed over to my family's to spend the afternoon. We finally got their about 1:30. I love the holidays and just relaxing and spending time with family. Some of us girls did our nails with Kelsey's new shellac stuff. My mom cooked a great dinner. Turkey, salad, rolls, and pumpkin pie. After my parent's opened their gifts, we went over and visited with my grandma and grandpa Hendrickson and gave them their birthday calendar that I have gotten in the habit of making them for Christmas and they look forward to receiving it every year. They have a lot of birthdays to keep track of. I believe it is close to 130 and they still send birthday cards to everyone. It was great to visit with them. We didn't stay to long cause the kids were anxious to get home so they could play with their stuff. 

I had off work from December 20th to January 1st. Eric was off from December 23rd to January 4th. It was great having all those days off for the holiday. One bad thing about it though, is we stay up way too late and sleep in way too late. It takes a lot of adjusting to get back on schedule.

Christmas Eve

Eric decided that he wanted to start the tradition of deep frying a turkey for Christmas Eve. Little did we know it would turn into quite the ordeal. The night before Christmas Eve we decided we better start preparing this thing and make sure we had enough oil. We put the turkey in the pot and then filled it with water so we knew how much oil we would need. Well I had bought a 4.5 gallon jug of peanut oil from Sam's a couple of days ago, but as we were filling the bought with water we soon realized we weren't even close to having enough oil. We put the turkey in a brine which was kosher salt and brown sugar and water. So Christmas Eve morning I went to Sam's to pick up another jug, but they were out. So I ended up at Walmart. They were almost sold out, but I was able to get 3 more gallons of oil. It was a little more pricier than Sam's but I figured at this point we had to cook they dang thing. 

Sallie and Jerry came over at 1:00. We starting the oil at about 1:00 and by 2:00 it was up to temperature. We put the turkey in and the cooking began. It took another 15 minutes to bring the oil back up to temperature and then it had to cook for about 35 minutes. It looked so good when Eric pulled it out. He was so proud of himself. It was a pretty dang expensive turkey, but it tasted really good. We also cooked yummy potatoes, yams, and a veggie tray. Sallie also brought Eric's dessert. The dessert has been named after Eric since it is his favorite. It is hard to get him to share it. We enjoyed the evening listening to music, watching a movie, and playing games. We opened out pj's and they left about 10:00 and then we went to bed.