Mexico

Our trip to Mexico

view from our hotel - it was a really fun hotel. The kids had more fun than the adults I think.

Brooklyn's Birthday

We Celebrated with dinner at a Steak House. Brooklyn still thinks the whole trip was for her birthday.

Family Photo at the Beach

We went to celebrate my Parents 30th wedding anniversary. It was by far the best family trip the Ralls crew has been on.

Tanner on the Zipline

He waited all week to go, and it rained the whole week. We finally just went with the stormy weather. He thought that was the best part of the trip.

Chichen-Itza
This was an amazing once in a life time experience.

Since no one really reads my blog, just ask me if you want to know the details!

Cute little Prayer

Last night my sister in law had her baby. We explained to the kids that the baby came earlier than she was supposed to and wasn't quite big enough. We asked Brooklyn to make sure she said a prayer for mom and baby. This is what was included in her prayer:

Bless we have a good night
bless baby li'jah has a good night
bless laura she has a good night
bless baby she has a good night
bless baby and laura they come home safe when they come home
bless baby li'jah will be a good brother
bless the baby she'll be a good sister
bless baby li'jah and baby will be friends....

So so cute! Today... we've been watching Elijah so his mom and dad could be together at the hospital with the new addition. Brooklyn has been little miss mom. She's given him snacks, made sure he didn't go up and down stairs, hugs him when he falls. And every time he does a silly little cute thing, she runs over to me and says, "baby lii'jah did this mom. Isn't he cute!"

I guess she'll be a great mom. With her "boyfriend" Dan from Virginia if she gets a chance!

Shots for Sale!!

Today, while cleaning the house... my kids opened a shop.

Tanner was the sales man, and Brooklyn a customer.

She must not have been very good because while Mike and I went about our cleaning, Tanner started his sales pitch, and slowly got louder and louder.

"SHOT FOR SALE... only 6 cents. Comes with a case for free! Get it with Vitamins for only 12 cents! GET YOUR SHOT AND FREE CASE HERE. Half price on Saturdays!"

I think we have a born salesman on our hands!

Busy Bees

This weekend we did so much! Mike ended up having Monday off work, so we made it a day out! We went to breakfast as a family, went shopping for a wedding gift for Ju-Ju, went to see Percy Jackson the movie (it was OK... pretty scary though for PG rating), then shopping! I'm pretty sure the shopping part was painful for mike. He didn't seem to happy. Then..I headed over to a friends house and cooked freezer meals for the month! It takes a long time to get 24 meals cooked, but it sure will be nice to have dinner ready every night with out thinking about it.

Now I just have to get ready for another busy weekend. We have a magic show for the primary kids on Saturday morning, and then I'm in charge of our Ward Game night Saturday evening. Hopefully at least a few people will show up!

I can't believe we leave to Virginia in only 2 weeks. I haven't lost any weight for the wedding, and I still haven't made up my packing list. This may be the first trip we've gone on that I haven't been packed more than a week in advance. I don't know why, but packing is my favorite think to do. I love getting everything organized for trips.

Oh... by the way... did I mention to everyone that I've decided to be the PTA president next year? I hope it doesn't kill me!

Larry the Cucumber's Cabin

We spent this weekend at my Dad's friends cabin. All the kids call him Larry the Cucumber. We had a great time. We played in the snow, stayed up late playing games, watched movies and visited with family. The guys also tried to kill everyone when they started up the snowmobiles. They hadn't opened the garage enough and the fumes from the motors blew straight into the house. Everyone had to evacuate until the air cleared.

Another great moment was when my sister and I were told to hurry outside to break up a fight between the little boys. We went front to find them both black and blue and Tanner standing over the top of Abe with a shovel. Needless to say, it was nap time after that.

all in all we had a great time. All of the boys, little and big, made a huge ramp in the snow and would try to go down the big hill as fast as they could on the sleds. I don't think anyone was seriously injured, which always means it was a good trip!

Christmas Time

I'm finally posting pictures from Christmas... just a little late, I know! We did have a great month though. We had a chance to go to Temple Square to see the lights. We ended up running in to a bunch of people we knew too. We had brought rice crispy treats and hot chocolate to snack on and the evening ended up being really fun!

We had a great Christmas as well. Delicious Prime Rib dinner at my parents house on Christmas Eve, and yummy Honey Baked Ham on Christmas day at our house with the Koen's family. The kids loved their presents and gifts from everyone. Santa was very

kind as well and some how didn't leave coal for both of our kids. He must really love them!

Pictures

We went to a park and took a few pictures. I just thought I'd share them. Tanner was very proud to have 2 missing teeth right now and loves to show his smile!