HAPPY NEW YEAR !!~

Today was filled with lots of fun and I accomplished a lot! I got up at 7:45 and headed to Traci's to learn how to make some Disney scrapbooks. I was at her house till noon and I got a good start on ONE ! I'm making 4 of them for Scott and Jill's kids and Traci and her girls made theirs. They are ADORABLE if I do say so myself!!


CHECK OUT A FEW PAGES!!
I'm far from done but you'll get the idea ......

I need a 6 for this page but I'll add it soon................

Cute huh? Can't wait to finish!

I've got a lot to do but I was happy to learn how to do these.

I left her house at noon and hurried home to clean up and then Tony and I picked up Mom and Dad Norton and we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes!

It was good and Tony and I enjoyed it but we knew Dad wouldn't like it .........
AND HE DIDN'T ...... No big surprise!!
After the movie we did a little shopping for some things we needed for Italian Soda's and then we went to the OUTBACK for dinner. Bob and Joyce met us at the restaurant and we had a nice dinner together. After dinner, Bob and Joyce took Art and Lynn home and Tony and I went again to the store to get one more thing for the soda's that we were not able to get earlier. While out, Tony bought me the car of my dreams!!! I couldn't believe it !!!!
I have been wanting a Mini Cooper for EVER!! I love that little car and we found a deal we couldn't pass up!! I was so excited to get back to Art and Lynn's to show them!!
CHECK THIS OUT ......................

I finally got the MINI COOPER I've been wishing for!!

Pretty dang cute huh?? Not the color I would have selected BUT we couldn't pass up the price!! LOL !

After all the excitement of my NEW CAR, we settled into a few rousing games of UNO and MEXICAN TRAIN!!

Real rousing huh? We all look like we are about to pass out!! lol

SO it was time to break out the ITALIAN SODA'S!! That got the party started! lol

Good times!! We actually didn't stay up long enough to bring in the NEW YEAR..... we are all old and we left around 11PM to go home and hit the sack!

Our Home Teachers had dropped off a package while we were out and about! A bottle of SPARKLING GRAPE JUICE, 2 glasses and some noise makers ...................
so we brought in the New Year in style! There was nothing in the cup but you get the picture!!

Now it's that time of year again to make resolutions and all I can say is :
I hope you see less of me next year!! lol

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2012 be better than the last!

MONDAY THE 26TH ... LAST DAY OF THE LONG WEEKEND!

Monday the 26th was the last day of a wonderful 4 day weekend!! We had a very
MERRY CHRISTMAS with family and friends!

We started off the day by going to the store to get wrapping paper for next year! lol Got some great deals and all foil paper!! LOVE IT!!
Tony also bought me a mouse and a carrying bag for my laptop and I bought him ramps for his truck. lol
We then went to pick up our friends, Larry and Zella Hendricks and we
went to see the movie
WAR HORSE!

It was FANTASTIC!! I highly recommend it and we will definitely be buying this one!! It really was a great movie!! BRING KLEENEX!!


After we dropped Larry and Zella off we went to the church to find a couple of things that were left there by the kids from our Christmas dinner.
We then drove to Meridian and used the gift certificate we got from Chris and Princess at Deseret Book!
I bought the 3 WISE MEN to go with the Nativity (Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus) that I got last year!
I LOVE IT !!

I asked the lady at the store if they are planning on coming out with a new piece each year and she said she thought they were but she wasn't sure. WOW!! If they do, I will have to find a special place for it BECAUSE ....................... they will be mine! lol

Thanks to all our family, near and far, for making this year such a wonderful memory in our Book of Life! You are all precious and special to us!
HOPE YOU ALL HAD A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS. WE LOVE YOU ALL!!

CHRISTMAS DAY 2011

Tony bought me a tripod for my camera on my Birthday in September and we hadn't used it till last night! It was so awesome that I decided to set it up and record our entire Christmas morning together. We got up, got ready for church, got the turkey going, had some breakfast and then I set it up ! Here's the tree ...........

Testing, one two three! ..............

YAY, it works! lol So here we go .......

My dear sweet husband got me a laptop! I'm pretending to act surprised because he got it for me on the 10th of December and I helped pick it out! lol And he got socks??? Whoopee!

Thank you sweetie! I LOVE IT! BUT I LOVE YOU MORE!

He gave me three new movies I wanted too and I gave him a new tool and a car wash gift card for his new pick up truck!

Just what we need ...... a box of cookies!! lol

It was a lovely Christmas, we enjoyed getting up late and relaxing before church.

One more for the road! lol
We had a beautiful one hour Sacrament Meeting celebrating the birth of our Savior through song and a couple of talks and one story! It was a really nice meeting. Tony was the narrator in the Choir's Cantata (which we both sang in as well)
After church we went home and got things ready for our Family Dinner which would be at 4PM.
We had scheduled the church for the party and it was nice to be able to all sit together at tables and the little ones all ran and played with some of their new toys!

Deedra with baby Lehi and his parents, Krista and Colby! Michelle in the background!

Isabel, me, Traci, Tammy and Deedra, Tony and Andrew (I mean Captain America) in the front!


I had the tripod all set up and then got so busy eating, I forgot to take a picture till we were all done!! lol (I lose all sense of reality when food is involved! lol) Anyway, I got a lot of us in this shot. Most of the kids had taken off to play. There were 28 of us and we had 3 visitors (friends of Deedra's and a friend of Callie's) drop in to say hi. It was fun!

After eating and visiting, Traci and the family went home to Kuna to have a dance contest with Sophia's new
Wi DANCE. Tony and I took our leftovers home and cleaned up the kitchen and then went to Stillman's to play games for a bit. Some were watching a Christmas movie .....

And some played games ..........

And some played more games! lol This is Jayden showing me his Angry Birds blanket! So cute!
It was a fun day.
One more day off and then back to the Ole Grind! Monday, Tony and I are going to get me a Laptop computer bag and he gets some ramps for his Pickup!
MORE WEEKEND TO COME ...................... UNTIL THEN ............... SEE YA AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

CHRISTMAS EVE 2011

This year we loaded up the
NEW DODGE SLEIGH and made the rounds delivering to all the good boys and girls (at least the ones we could make it to in a 5 hour period) lol

We made our 1st stop at Mom and Dad Norton's and took a picture of the 4 of us by their tree. Then we all left and headed to Kuna!

We stopped at Jason and Traci's and exchanged gifts and they shared some delicious homemade chocolates and brownies with us and after a nice visit we jumped in our
DODGE RAM SLEIGH again and headed to Meridian.

2nd Stop was at Colby and Krista's apartment. We had to laugh at Nephi. He didn't want to open his gift but was happy to help his baby brother and mom and dad. When they had opened theirs he decided to open his. lol

Back on the road again and back to Nampa for our 3rd stop at Nate & Melissa's. It was Ellie's 9th birthday so we gave her a Birthday gift before giving the family their gifts.

After a nice visit with the Cleaver's we got a photo and headed down the road to Deedra's.

We had planned about a four hour evening and we were running behind by quite a bit when we arrived at Deedra's but we got our picture by her tree and got to watch the kiddies open their gifts as well as their new pajamas from their mommy!
We got a call from Stillman wondering when we were going to get to their home. The boys were needing to get to bed! After all, lol Someone important was coming that night! (and it wasn't us!! lol)

So we were off again for our 5th stop (well technically, 6th counting Mom and Dad Norton)

The boys were excited to show us their new MARIO PJ's and back packs!

Our last stop was at Chris and Tammy's. It was fun to be able to see the kids all open their gifts from us and to actually get some good pictures! We enjoyed spending some time with each family and wishing them a
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
We love all our kids and hope they all had a Wonderful Christmas!

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY BEFORE CHRISTMAS !

Tony and I worked Thursday and now we are off for a long 4 day Christmas weekend! YEHAW~!!
We started off the fun filled four days by going to Mom and Dad's Thursday night to watch the BRONCO'S play in the MAACO BOWL in Las Vegas! Colby and family, and Tammy and family and Deedra and family were there as well to watch Kellen win his 3rd out of 4 bowl games! It was a great send off to a remarkable Quarterback and a class act young man! We will miss him!!

Friday, we slept in and then did a few last minute preparations for Christmas. We made plans with Deedra to go to the Dollar Showing of none other than
PUSS & BOOTS.............
She had to take Jack to a Dr. appointment in the morning and then she went home and fed the kids lunch and then picked us up .

The show was so cute!! The kids loved it and so did we. There were some parts that were so funny I was laughing so hard I teared up!! Nikki asked her mother if she would buy it when it comes to the store. After the movie, Deedra took us to Art and Lynn's because I had left my purse and she had left a movie. I tried to get a picture of the 4 of them but Nikki said she was too tired to get out of the car.

I got one of Deedra and the boys and then she took us home.


After Deedra dropped us off, Tony and I got in our car and headed to the store. Tony needed some AIR BOURNE and we wanted a dessert for tonight. The town was buzzing with people doing their last minute shopping and it took us a lot longer than we anticipated. We finally got home and we set the table for our little
"GET TOGETHER" we had planned with Mom and Dad Norton and Bob and Joyce Haverfield!

It looked so pretty. Mom brought some homemade Turkey and Noodles and fresh asparagus. Joyce brought a relish tray and we provided Peppermint and Burnt Almond Fudge Ice Cream.
It was really a good meal and we had fun visiting and watching the video that Scott made Tony and me for Christmas.

After dinner we cleared the table and then the real fun began! .............................

We played "MEXICAN TRAIN". A new game Tony and I learned with our neighbors! It was so much fun and we laughed and laughed!
A great couple of days and a good start to our Christmas weekend!

MORE TO COME!!

I GOT MY OWN OFFICE ...... YIPPEE!!

Remember all the heating and cooling problems we've endured over the past in our tacky little office ? Well, no more!! Nancy and I took it upon ourselves to change things up a bit. We use to be together on the side of the building which was called the
"SUN ROOM" ...... It was exactly that! Too hot in the summer (especially when the air conditioner went on the fritz) and too cold in the winter (and yes ...... the heater went out his winter too!) After a horrendous heating bill, the owner had someone come in and remedy the problem, however it is still cool sitting by the windows because they are so old and outdated so we moved all the testing to the SUN ROOM and we took over the two offices on the side of the building that is carpeted and toasty warm!

It looks sooooooo much better and more professional!
This is the SUN ROOM where we use to be .......
It is now the testing area!!

Such an improvement!!

And this is the old testing room and it is MY office now!

It's carpeted and private and I'm loving it!

It was very bright when I took these pictures in the middle of the day. I am going to get some blinds for the two windows right behind the desk.

I have a section at the front of the room where I have a couple of NICE chairs for interviewing!

However that changed!! Nancy moved another desk in here which she is at temporally, until she moves to the back office. The desk will remain however but I'll still be alone.

I have a credenza and Nancy put the main printer on it. NO PROBLEM!!

I had some extra material at home and I decided I needed some curtains on the windows above the credenza because they get the afternoon sun and I can't see my computer!! I am also going to make a valance for the windows on the right of the desk ...

It's nice up until 3PM and then I can't hardly do a thing on the computer so ...............


Whala! ...................

Once the blinds are up and the valance is done (probably after Christmas lol) it will be quite homey.