Had a Merry Christmas

Well, Christmas is over and hopefully I didn't throw any of the presents out with the wrapping paper. I tried to keep everything together, even making the kids get their laundry baskets to collect their booty.

Austin received RockBand 2, which he has been having a ball on. The rest of us have tried it and found that our musical talents need some work. Emily received a karaoke machine and has found it to be fun. It needs some updated songs, though. She doesn't know many that came with it. Ryan received lots of Star Wars toys and a new sled. Haven't tried out the sled, yet. The snow has been melting too fast. They also received the basics of Christmas: clothes, underwear, tinker toys, and candy. Also, snow boots and pants (to go with the sled) and Em received Bella and Edward Barbie dolls. Posters, games, movies and gift cards round out the Christmas booty. We all overate and have been enjoying the down time.

Austin will be going snowboarding for the first time this week. I'm a little nervous because I'm not going to be there. He is going with his uncle, Sean, to Park City. I have to realize that he is growing up and doesn't need his mommy everywhere he goes. Yet, I will be praying for a safe return, nonetheless.

We are going to be celebrating Austin's 13th birthday on January 2. It just happens to be my Dad's birthday, my niece's birthday and my sister's wedding anniversary. Busy day for all involved.

Band Concert

Just got home from the Juab High and Junior High band concert. Austin is in the Jr. High beginning band playing the drums. I guess he played during the songs; he was in the back playing the bass drum and I couldn't see him.

Anyway, he also plays with the JHS drumline. My little brother Sean is band president and drumline director. They played balloons. It was quite funny. They all did a good job and the beginning band sounded really good.

Austin has been helping out the drumline at the basketball games, too, playing the cymbals. He hasn't figured out the self-discipline part of it and tends to get distracted. Sean gets on his case.

The bands sound really good and the orchestra did really well for their first year. The new band director is doing a really good job and seems to have the kids motivated and enjoying themselves.

Ryan and wrestling

Ryan came home from school last week with a note. He said, "Mom, I want to do this. I'll fill it out." Wait, what? What are you filling out? I took the note from him and it was sign-ups for Little League Wrestling.

Wrestling? Since when was this ever a sport that we follow in our house? We are all about soccer, football, and baseball. I've been to wrestling tournaments. They pop shoulders and elbows out of the sockets. They get cracked ribs, pulled muscles, broken appendages. This was so not my thing.

But, I can't keep him from trying something new and he might turn out to be really good at it. (Not a lot of confidence in my kids, huh?) Well, he's had two practices so far and Heath reports that he spends a lot of time talking with the other kids then actually wrestling, but he is learning some moves. He's shown me moves like Barb Wire, Cowboy something-or-other, Cross Face, and other moves I can't name.

He seems to be enjoying himself which is what it all comes down to anyway. I'm still not too sure, but I'll try to be supportive.

Christmas shopping

Heath and I braved the traffic and went Christmas shopping today. The stores were pretty quiet. I refuse to go on Friday. My life means more to me than the fabulous doorbuster sales going on.

We went to Kmart and put a lot of stuff on layaway. The kids are getting harder to buy for these days. It was nicer when they were little and any kind of toy would do. Now they want IPods, stereos, Wii games, movies, make-up, etc. Oh I wish I could go back to Fisher-Price toys.

I still need to buy for Heath, Stella, and my family. Plenty of time before Christmas to brave the crowds, but I think I might just stick to the internet.

We put up the Christmas lights on Monday and they look decent. Half my strands don't work, so we weren't able to put up lights on the dormer windows. But we decorated more of the trees. It looks festive, that's all that matters. We are planning on putting up the tree on Friday or Saturday.

Ryan is performing for the Christmas Lighting Ceremony Saturday night and Austin might be performing with the drumline during the day. Busy day. Looking forward to the holidays so we can all relax.

New Moon

Well, we finally went and saw "New Moon" tonight. Emily had been begging all day to go and see it, but we had to stuff newspaper "guts" earlier. We ended up seeing the 8:10 p.m. showing. The kids are tired, but they enjoyed it.

As for me and Heath, we really liked it. I thought it was better than the first, but I am "Team Jacob" so of course this movie was going to be better for me. Heath thought it was a better movie than the first, too.

Austin said it was okay, but I think he really wants people to think he's cool and not a fan. Trying to be "manly" about it and say Twilight sucks when deep down, I think he doesn't mind it.

Ryan, of course, liked the action scenes, though some I had to cover his eyes. A little scary. He was funny when before the movie he told me he really needed some candy. I told him that he was fine and that I didn't have any and I was fine. He said that I was old and didn't need candy as much. Not like a kid. Little stinker.

My friend works at the theater and she hasn't seen it yet, so I told her I'd go to it again with her. Emily wants to see it again, too. We'll see.

If you are a fan of the books, this one follows the book pretty well. I wasn't disappointed with the new director. MUCH better than the first one (I didn't need sweeping shots of them standing in a wood. Dumb scene from "Twilight".)

I recommend this movie to any Twihard. I don't think you'll be disappointed unless you are Team Edward and want to see a lot of Rob Pattinson (although you'll see plenty of his chest. Not as impressive as Taylor Lautner's.)

Off to bed now. Late night, but well worth the bags under the eyes in the morning.

Getting Started

I'm new to the blogging world and bear with me until I get the hang of it. My relatives blog all the time, so I thought I'd better jump on board so we can all keep up-to-date on each other's lives.

Now, I write a weekly column for the newspaper, so in a sense I should already know how to do this. But, just like there, I am having a case of writer's block. Not sure what to say that I don't want the whole world knowing. Some things should not be publicized (just ask my kids whom I embarrass often in my column).

Well, I will hopefully get more things on this blog site, just as soon as I can navigate the site and figure things out. Hang in there with me! Thanks.