Saturday, December 29, 2007

mountains....

seth's family cabin is in running springs. when we had those really bad fires here the fire came super close to the cabin. this is us in front of the cabin and if you look closely behind us all the trees are burned. it is scary how close the fire came.
tanner, hayden, and i chilling in snow valley's lodge

2 days after christmas we headed up to the mountains to spend a few days in the family cabin. seth and isaiah went snowboarding. isaiah did great..i hung out with tanner and hayden in the cabin and then went to meet the boys for lunch at the lodge. our friends the wenster's came up for one night and brian took megan and lauren skiing. we had a great time.

christmas.....

tanner was determined to see santa, so he slept on the couch. seth ended up moving him late that night, in the morning he goes "why am i in my bed? i wanted to see santa"
christmas tree before all of the gift opening

the boys and micah in their matching pj's


the fam on christmas morning
we had such a wonderful christmas this year, i think the best ever. with everything that has been going on with seth's job we never got caught up in the 'i wants' of christmas. it was a time where we focused on jesus' birth and family. what a blessing.
christmas eve we went to our favorite restaurant yen cheng with family (us, mom, dad, katie, shane, micah, shane's parents, seth's mom, stepdad, and sister).it was great that we could all spend this special night together. then on christmas morning we had brunch at our house with my parents, katie, shane and micah. it was micah's first christmas, it was fun watching him open his gifts. he loved the wrapping paper. isaiah got a few new wii games so everyone had fun playing the wii all afternoon, especially the new 'guitar hero'. tanner and hayden enjoyed spending the morning playing with their new transformer guys. that was their favorite gift. the transformer guys that come in a 2 pack and are only $6, gotta love that !! all in all it was a fantastic christmas.





annual friends christmas party....

every year for christmas we get together with my high school friends for our annual christmas party. we have been having this party since the christmas of 1992. we used to meet at sheryl's parents house but as we got older and we all started to have our own houses the locations has changed. pretty much every year we have it at the oliva's, one year it was at our house. each year it is the same thing, we do a potluck dinner and then a white elephant gift exhange. it's always fun to see which white elephant gifts have been recycled from years past. the one gift that keeps making it's ways year after year is sarah's foot cast from third grade (so gross!). it has been such a blessing being with my friends through so many stages of life. when we first started having this party we were all 15, within this past year the majority of us have turned 30!! that is so crazy. i love these friendships and cherish each and every one of them. we have all been through so much together (dating, marriages, babies, divorce) and still manage to all be the best of friends. even if we don't all hang out in a group all the time, when we are together it feels as if we are 15 again. i love you guys and look forward to many more years together.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

christmas blessings....

1) our Lord and Savior came down to earth as a baby
2) seth got a job (yeah!!!!!)
3) our family is healthy (even though we may have to hold it together with stitches)
4) we have people who care about us. i don't think i have ever had a christmas with less stuff but more love was felt.
5) this christmas, Jesus taught us to care more about giving
6) trader joes and all it's yummy goodness
7) our family; nana's, papas, grandma's, grandpa's, sissy's and aunti's you know who you are... merry christmas and we love you.
8) our friends; to the runners, photographers, botanists, welders, loan officers, soccer players, insurance sales, old people taker carers of?, electricians, catheter sales (ouch), teachers, dirt movers, lawyers, marketers, graphic designers (i hit like 10 of you there), pastors, and even mac users, you know who are...the holidays would not be the same with out you. thank you so much for your love and support.
9) the zas, zaiah, bing; T.J, tan, bong; smooshie, the smoosh, stinkin' smooshie, sweet sweet babiesh, boing. chistmas would not be the same with out the bing, bong and boing. let's talk blessings.
10) whoever this secret santa is... you rock. no really, you rock.
11) mark driscoll because the holidays need truth and it needs to be spoken truthfully. mark does this http://www.marshillchurch.org/
12) the bible - the blessing of the christmas story... amazing.
13) now stop reading this and go buy some streaming media hosting, seth sells it and he needs commission. :) www.streamingmediahosting.com

by the way seth snuck on my blog and wrote this, can't you tell? he meant all of it though.

Monday, December 17, 2007

secret santa....


someone out there has been our 'secret santa' for the past 4 days. we have no idea who it is! every morning (for the past 4 days) we have come outside and found a present on our front porch. the first present was labeled "the 12th day before christmas". every day since then there has been a count down. last night we recieved "the 8th day before christmas". it was a gingerbread christmas tree kit. we put it together tonight as a family. it was so much fun! the boys enjoyed eating the frosting and candy. i am surprised we had any left to put on the tree :). whoever you are 'secret santa'....thank you so much! this has been such a blessing for our family and so much fun!

the perfect gift.....

last night isaiah was in his first play at church. for those of you that know isaiah you know that he is our little actor. he was in HEAVEN on that stage. he did such an amazing job and we are SO proud of him. thank you so much to everyone that attended. it meant the world to us and to isaiah.

Monday, December 10, 2007

family pics...











this weekend by good friend and neighbor took family pictures of us. michelle is such a talented photographer and i am so thankful for her beautiful pictures. thanks michelle!

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

GNO...

on the first monday of every month i get together with my friends from highschool. we have all known eachother for 18 years. last night gina hosted at her house. we always have fun laughing and just having good girl time. we have all been friends for so long and have been through so many stages of life together. i look forward to another 18 years with these great women.