Merry Christmas!

New Christmas PJ's are the best. The best part is staying in them all Christmas Day. We had our dinner on Christmas Eve, opened our pj's, set out cookies for Santa and then tried to get the kids to bed!

We woke up this morning to gifts for everyone from Santa. He was very good to us this year. We are having a great day relaxing, playing and eating. We hope all of you have a fabulous Christmas.

Christmas Fun

We have had lots of fun at our house. Grandma and Grandpa Pollock are staying with us for Christmas. We have:

Made Popcorn Balls with Grandma:


Made Gingerbread Houses with Grandma:


We all went downtown to the Macy's display. This year's display was the life of an elf. Blake loved it!



We walked around downtown. This Christmas tree was 5 stories tall. We had dinner downtown and then we shopped for our sibling gifts.


Of course we couldn't finish our night without hot chocolate. That was a necessary stop along the way.


Last night we baked sugar cookies:


Today we are watching Santa's progress at NORAD tracks Santa, decorating our sugar cookies and sledding.

16 Years!

16 years ago I married my sweety! What a great life we have had ... not without some up and down moments but I can truly say I married my sweetheart and I am totally in love with him 16 years later! We spend most of our time laughing and having a grand ole party.

Life is so fun with him. He makes life fun and exciting. My kids adore him and think he is the best dad ever! This past year has been one filled with new trials but our partnership has grown stronger and I am incredibly blessed to have him by my side as we face this new year.



Happy Anniversary JP! I love you!

Cruisin'

Jon and I left for our cruise on November 30 out of Galveston, TX. We had a great week with family (there might have been a little drama on the boat but what do you expect when you get all of the siblings together.)

We spent the first two days at sea. The first day was a little cloudy and not that warm but the second day was great. The third day we had our first port, Jamaica. We took a bus ride up to the Dunn's River Falls. On our way up we stopped on the side of the road for a picture moment:


Before I knew it we were climbing up these falls without a tour guide! We got a little ways up and a local came to help us. It was about a mile hike up the falls. It was a great time and pretty surroundings.


Jon's sister Lisa and her husband John, his sister Veronica and brother Jimmy, brother Jason and Stephanie and brother Jarom and Brittany were with us on the cruise and climbed the waterfalls with us.


The next day we were in the Caymens. We had a great time snorkeling with the sting rays. We also saw some fish, turtles and some amazing coral reefs. I caught a picture of Jon kissing a stingray.


Yeah, I even let the stingray kiss me. They are really slimy feeling.


The water in the Caymens is unbelievable. It was so blue almost a teal color.


Our next stop was Cozumel. I have some great pictures of Jon and I kayaking in the ocean but I couldn't get them to upload. Jon also went diving while we were in Cozumel. I forgot that it was Christmas season until we saw this tree in the port at Cozumel.


It was a great time. I was even able to watch the Alabama/Florida game on the boat. I was sad to see my Tide lose but they had a great season and I look forward to watching them next year.

We got back Monday and I woke up Tuesday to 4 inches of snow and was out shoveling Tuesday morning. What a difference a week makes! Now it is on to my Christmas to-do list.

7 Days & Counting

Next weekend, Jon and I will be boarding something like this:


Headed to places like this:


I haven't really had time to even think about this trip. We are going on a cruise with Jon's parents, siblings and their spouses. It will be a welcome break from the stress of our life. I don't know about the timing ... who wants to take a vacation in the middle of the holidays? I have so much to do.

I am looking forward to my parents arrival next week for Thanksgiving and then they are watching the kids when we leave on our trip.

So many things have happened in the last year .... but so many things to be thankful for. If you look outside yourself and appreciate the many blessings in your life than it seems to strengthen you through trials. I ramble but hope that this Thanksgiving holiday my family can appreciate the many blessings we have been given.

One More Year, One More Hallween Party and Video Scavenger Hunt

Jon and I hosted our first Halloween party when we were still in school at BYU. The tradition has carried on with our moves to Oregon, Texas and now Minnesota. We have a lot of fun. The biggest part of our party is the video scavenger hunt. The best part of the hunt is coming back and watching the videos of everyone completing scavenger hunt activities in their costume. I forgot to get a group picture. I think everybody had a great time.






I am totally exhausted today but I have a great time planning this party. Each year I wonder when we will be too old to do the scavenger hunt???

Happy Halloween

We carved pumpkins on Monday night while Grandma Bonnie was still here visiting. All of the kids carved a pumpkin ... Blake had a little help from dad.


Lindsey went as a 50's girl. She looked really cute and was excited that she got to trick or treat with a friend so she got double the candy. (they did both of their neighborhoods).


Ashley was a Vampiress and Blake was Buzz Light Year. TJ at the last minute threw some red make up on his face and went out to get some candy ... so I don't have a picture of him.


To Infinity and Beyond!

The Best Weekend

We spent a weekend in Austin, TX with great friends. Most of us had moved away from Austin two years ago, we were all back together in the place where most of our friendships started. I just love these ladies! We spent the day together on Friday shopping and then we picked up our dear friend Marianne from the airport. We were waiting at the bottom of the escalator with our poster board welcoming her back to Austin. You have to accept that you may be publicly embarrassed when we are all together.


We had all flown into Austin for the LIVESTRONG challenge in honor of Marianne's husband and our dear friend Rich Lloyd. After picking up Mare at the airport, we met the guys at the Hula Hut on Lake Austin. I think we all left Austin having gained weight after all of the food we consumed.


Saturday morning we all met at our hotel and headed down to the capital building to participate in the 5K run/walk. We had to start our day off with world famous Round Rock Donuts.



I would love to say that we ran the 5K but we decided to walk and spend time with friends and remember Rich.


This is the entire Live Rich team on the steps of the capital building in downtown Austin. It was a great weekend of laughter and tears. We all miss Rich so much. We were also honored to have a breast cancer survivor on our team. These friends are such a vital part of my life and I am so thankful to call them friends.

Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Patch

It is really pretty here in Minnesota right now. This has probably been the warmest fall we have had since we moved here. We visited an apple orchard on Saturday. We had a great time. We had some fabulous apple donuts, tasted different types of apples and had some apple cider.



Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch and the kids picked out their pumpkin to carve for Halloween. The girls were very selective and took some time picking out the "perfect" pumpkin. TJ picked his out pretty quickly and Blake had a fun time pulling the wagon with the pumpkins in it.




We had a fun family weekend enjoying the fall here in Minnesota and celebrating Blake's birthday. Jon and I leave this weekend for a trip to Austin. We are looking forward to good times with friends, great food and a great football game. Hook' Em!

Blake's 4th Birthday

We had Blake's birthday party last Friday. He loves race cars so we did a race car themed party. The boys had a lot of fun.


There favorite part (for most of the boys ... I had one that got upset that he wasn't first!) was doing the race in the box car.


Blake had a blast. I think his favorite part may have been eating his cake.


His birthday was yesterday. He kept telling us he wanted fried chicken for his birthday dinner but at the last minute he decided he wanted to go to Arby's (or did his dad influence his decision??) My other kids are now asking for nice restaurants for their birthday ... at least Blake is still asking for the cheaper birthday meals.


We came home and had cupcakes and opened his family birthday gifts.


I can't believe my baby is 4! He has grown up so much in the last year.

BYU Game

Jon and TJ went to the BYU/UCLA game last month. Jon forgot to take pictures so I had to get them from Jon's parents ... the reason for the late post. They had a great time. The game was awesome. They walked around campus the day before. Here is TJ at the Football Office on campus.


Oh, the memories this picture brings back. Lazy days on the quad by the library.


Jon was able to catch up with old friends at the alumni tent before the game. Here is Bobby Griffitts and his twin boys. A bunch of us had our first babies while we were still at BYU and our husbands were playing football. We (the wives) would all hang out together with our new babies. It is neat to see how big these kids have gotten.


They had a great time with friends and family on their trip to Utah.

Hook 'Em Horns!

My second favorite team won today. They beat Oklahoma in the Red River Shootout. One of these years I want to go to that game. I was so sad that I missed the game. We were at TJ's game. He won, too! Wouldn't it be great if Bama and Texas played in the National Championship game? I don't know who I would root for .... probably Bama.

Today was TJ's last game of football for this season. He has been great to watch this year. We have really enjoyed it and are really sad the season is so short up here in the North.

Bob That Head .... Rascal Flatts Concert

Jon and I went with our friends Winslow and Kristen last night to a Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts concert. Taylor Swift was ok ... she is an angry teenager! Rascal Flatts were awesome. All along their stage it says "Bob that Head ... Rascal Flatts" For those non-country music fans, that is one of their songs.

I forgot my camera so these pictures were taken with my phone. We had a great time. The concert helped take our mind off of all of the stress lately.