The End of 2016!

December went by way too fast.  Can't believe it's 2017.  My goal this year is to have a healthier year.  I have been sick way too much.  Got some great advice to help boost my immune system so I am trying them all!  I also want to lose more weight and read 100 books again!  Our family goals are to read our scriptures more and help Memphis get ready to be baptized.  We also want to get our basement done!  Our contractor comes on Wednesday to start the refinishing.  Excited for that!  We are trying to plan trips to Washington, Bear Lake, and Lego Land!  And Memphis wants to do machine pitch baseball and Kayzee wants to do dance this year.  It's going to be a great year!!!

Here is what when on during December in our little family...

Danny went hunting again the first weekend down in Blanding trying again to get his elk.  I didn't want to go again so that Saturday I took the kids shopping and out to lunch.  Always fun to spend time with my kids!

 DANNY FINALLY GOT HIS ELK!!!!  I had to park outside for about 2 weeks while he let it hang in the garage and got it all cut up.  We have had elk steak and burger already and of course some jerky.  YUM!  We are set for meat for the year.  YAY!

 Danny had his work Christmas party at a bowling alley again with free Costa Vida.  We had a fun weekend all planned out just for the two of us celebrating the day we met on the 10th but I started feeling sick.  This night I got a really high fever and couldn't eat or drink because it was so painful to swallow.  And the glands in my neck were so swollen they looked like golf balls in my neck.  So painful to sleep on.  And so frustrating because I had just gotten over being sick! Totally ruined our fun weekend and I missed my Christmas work party too.

 I kept telling myself this but I did end up missing a lot of school and school went way late this year.  our last day was the 22nd!

 Here is what I wrote about my experience being sick this time around...

You know it's bad when you walk into the Instacare and the secretary, nurses, and dr instantly recognize you and ask what I am doing there AGAIN. Third trip in a month. They asked me what I do for a living and I said teach elementary school. They said oh so it's your first year that is why you are sick so much. Ha ha nope it's my 12th year!!! Must not have a good immune system cause I am sick all the time. The drs were arguing over which antibiotic to put me on this time cause they are running out of options I have been on too many. This one I have to take 1 pill every 5 hours for ten days. Guess I have to start setting a million alarms and waking up in the middle of the night. LIFE IS AN ADVENTURE that's for sure 😷🤒Hey at least I will get my 100 books read for sure 

Memphis and Kayzee had fun helping Daddy grind up the elk to make burger...

 I was quarantined to my room for 5 days because of my fever and contagious bacterial infection.  Danny was so great at keeping the house clean, dishes done, entertaining the kids, and taking care of me.  When the kids could finally come in my room and I finally felt well enough to move the kids came in to make me laugh and wanted to do face swapping with their dolls...so funny!

 On December 10th we celebrated 9 years since the day we met.  Here is a pic of us right after we met.  It's been a crazy 9 years but we still love each other:)

 Danny's brother and his wife got us all Jazz tickets and Danny's sister watched all the kids so off we went.  It was a fun night!

 On December 15th my Nephew James was born.  I am so excited for my sister Annalyn and her husband Curtis and their new adventure as parents.  Hopefully I can go see them up in Washington in April.

 One Saturday we went to Top Golf with Danny's brother, his wife, and their son Max and found out Santa was there.

 Kids got free elf hats and we got hot chocolate and cookies.

 My kids would not go near Santa.  Don't know why.

 It was just a little cold, they have nice heaters but we had fun!

 Once we finish our basement the TV is going down there and the front room of our house is going to become my library!  A wall of books is going up and I am excited.

 I cut off 6 inches and went darker for Christmas.  Don't like it but it will grow right?!

 We had our Christmas Sing at our school.  Love that Memphis and Kayzee go to my school so I can see them.  We had one song at the end that the whole school sang all together and we had a big dance party.  I had fun dancing and singing with my kids on our last day of school.

 Me, the art teacher, the music teacher, and the librarian.  Love my team!!!

 Freedom Elementary faculty and staff...Merry Christmas!

 We really wanted to take the kids to see Christmas Lights and we found out about Christmas in Color at the Provo Marina.  So worth the cost!  You drive around and they set up light displays and tunnels and all the lights are programmed to music.  So cool!  The kids loved it and the loved getting to stand up and look at the lights through our sun roof!

 I took the kids to the mall right before Christmas to buy some last minute gifts and they had a virtual reality store in the mall.  Memphis is obsessed so I let him try it.  He would be there all day if I let him.  Memphis attracted quite an audience with his commentary and reactions to everything going on around him.  Love this boy of mine...

 Kayzee tried it too.  Here she is petting a dog!

 Well, I did it.  I read 100 books this year!  I only tried it because someone said I couldn't do it.  I read 50 in 2015 so I doubled my books read.  It was hard but I was sick a lot so I read a lot.  I always read 3 different books at the same time.  One in my car on audio so I can listen when in the car.  One on my phone so anytime I am waiting or have a break at school I am reading and I have an actual book by the side of my bed.  I read until I fall asleep every night.  Gonna try for 100 books again because I have too many books I want to read so I need to get through as many as I can because there will always be more right?!

 We started a new tradition for Christmas Eve.  We decided we wanted to go to a family movie.  The night before I went online to buy tickets and they were sold out everywhere except for the expensive VIP lounge of course so we decided to splurge and try it out.  They have recliners that are heated.  They provide warm blankets upon request and you can order food and they will bring it to you.  We saw Moana and had a great time so we will definitely do it again next year!

 In the afternoon on Christmas Eve after the movie we decided to be lazy.  While the kids played quietly together Danny took a nap and I read.  Perfect day!

 Christmas Eve we do my family tradition I have done since I was little and have Christmas Eve dinner by candlelight.  This is my kids favorite part of Christmas Eve.

 We open one present before we go to bed and it has always been the present from my Grandma Astle but since she passed away my mom is continuing the tradition.  New Christmas Jammies!

 Another Tradition...I always make my Grandma Thorpe's famous mud pie.  YUM!

 I hate living so far away from my parents and sisters and brother but I love that we can text each other and send pictures...Here is my sister Alicia and her family in California!  Max is getting so big!

 Here is her twin, my sister Annalyn and their new baby James in Washington!  Christmas Baby!

 Our tree Christmas Eve!

 Santa came in the form or our wonderful neighbors!  I had these two big gifts hidden in our basement at the beginning of December.  Memphis and Kayzee were searching for a ball and found them.  Don't know why but they told me they found them.  That night I took them over to our neighbors for them to hide them for us and I showed Memphis and Kayzee the next day that they were gone.  I told them Santa's elves came and took them back because they were snooping around and I told them Santa would only bring them back if he knew they were being good at school and at home.  They both cried but that trick worked!  They were so good the rest of the month and our neighbors were great Santa's helping us out.

 Waiting for mom and dad to take pictures and wake up.  We made them wait till 7 am to get out of bed.

 Favorite part waking up to a white Christmas!

 Seeing what Santa brought for the first time!

 Love Kayzee's expressions...

 Kayzee got spoiled of course...

 Memphis too!

 Merry Christmas Danny!

 Thanks everyone for the gifts!

 Kayzee and her Barbie Dream house she has been wanting forever...

 Memphis built this Jokerland Carnival Circus Batman Lego Set right away.  He loves Legos.

 During our Christmas Break we had a nice surprise and Danny's sister and her family came and stayed at our house one night.  Memphis and Kayzee were so excited to have a sleepover with their cousins!  We took them to Kangaroo Zoo to get some energy out.

 One day Kayzee went to her friend's house to play so I went on a date with Memphis.  We went to the arcade and he got 1000 tickets!

 We also went out to lunch.  Love my cute date.

 Baby James is growing and getting cuter every day!

 I was so happy to feel better during Christmas but I am sick again!  Seriously.  3 months of being sick now.  So miserable.  So annoying.  Spent New Years with the ones I love the most...and went to bed early.  Hopefully I get better before school starts again on Tuesday and hopefully my immune system boosters I am going to try work so I don't get sick again for a very long time!  Happy New Year and hope you all have a wonderful 2017.  We are so appreciative of all our friends and family that make our lives brighter and we send you our love!

A Family-Filled November

We got to see both sides of our family this month!  Here is our November...

Kayzee went on a field trip to the zoo with her kindergarten class.  A teacher at my school went on the field trip, her son is in Kayzee's class because both of our kids go to the same day care after kindergarten every day.  She got to have Kayzee and her son in her group at the zoo and they picked their friend to tag along with them.  She sent me this pic...yes, my daughter is one of the tallest in her class:)

In November I project JUST DANCE in the gym with my PE classes combined with the music classes...so fun!

 Memphis danced the whole 30 minutes...he loved it too!

In my last post I said I was going to let you know how my first week of 21 day fix went.  My results were awesome as usual.  This program really is so cool!  In my first 7 days of eating on plan and doing the extreme workouts I lost 7 pounds!!!!  Nailed it!

I tried some new recipes in the 21 day fix fixate cook book.  So yummy and nutritious...chicken tortilla soup.

I was so excited to start week 2 but then I got really sick.  I have been feeling sick (really dizzy, ear and jaw pain) since October 1 and I finally got so sick I knew it was time to go to the dr.  Don't know why I didn't go in sooner.  I had an ear infection and a sinus infection.  Dr put me on a steroid and an antibiotic.  My past experiences with antibiotics is I always have to go on two different ones.  On day 7 I was still not feeling better so I went back in and the dr said I only had one more antibiotic to try and then I would need surgery if it didn't work.  I prayed really hard and the antibiotic worked and I finally feel better two months later.  YAY!!!!  So I wasn't working out anymore because I was so dizzy but I have maintained my 7 pounds lost.  Now to lose more or maintain through the holidays right?!

Memphis has been having a rough year (making some bad decisions) and I finally found out that he has been so upset about Grandma Astle passing away and he is so worried about Grandpa Astle.  He is meeting with the school psychologist to try and help him make better choices when he gets upset and to work through some of his OCDness...Memphis loves the psychologist and tells me that loves talking to him and that he can tell him everything.  So glad about that and I can see a difference in his behavior most of the time;).  Memphis also loves his teacher even on his bad days and I am so grateful for his teacher loving him back even on the hard days!  Here is a letter Memphis wrote to his teacher...I love how tender-hearted my son is.

I will translate...Dear Mrs. Cox, Deep in my heart I love you and deep in your heart I know you love me and I promise I will be good as I can.  Love Memphis.

Memphis also made this for the art teacher...

Here are some cute pictures of my sweet Kayzee Lynn...

On Veteran's Day we took the day off and we went down to Blanding again so Danny could go hunting and try and get his elk.  No elk AGAIN! But we did have fun!  One of Danny's brothers and his wife and son went down with us so it was fun to hang out with everyone.  We went on a few more hikes and explored new parts of Blanding, Kayzee had fun playing with her cousin Max, and we also went bowling.

I have to do recess duty this year and the only reason we will have inside day is if the wind chill is below 20 degrees.  So if it's 21 degrees outside you will find me out there freezing!  My dear sweet husband knows me too well and how often I get sick especially in the winter with my freezing gym so as an early Christmas present he bought me a heated jacket!!!  It is so awesome.  And now I am toasty warm at recess:)

My kids find interesting ways to entertain themselves while they wait for me to clean up my gym and get grades done everyday.  Here is what they decided to do one day...

We went to Logan for Thanksgiving this year.  My grandpa is all alone now so it was nice to see him and spend them holiday with him.  We stayed at my wonderful Aunt Sandra's house and hung out with her and my Uncle Larry.  My parents also came down from Washington to stay.  Memphis and Kayzee were so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Thorpe!  We had fun playing at a park, watching football, doing fun activities that Grandma brought, and eating yummy food.  I read A LOT of course.  We also got to visit with one of Danny's brothers and his little family.  On black Friday I stayed home (do not like shopping on that day because I used to work it and hated it) but Danny decided to go because he found an awesome deal on ammunition.  I just thought it was so funny that Danny went (he hates shopping) with my mom and aunt.  Danny said that my mom and her sister are crazy ha ha!!!

My mom had Memphis and Kayzee make hand turkeys then we cut out pictures of everyone's faces as name cards for Thanksgiving dinner...

 Exciting update on Baby Max.  Not a baby anymore!  On Max's First Unbirthday (His actual due date on Thanksgiving even though he was born 3 months early in August) he started walking!!!!  YAY such a great accomplishment.  GO MAX!

 A picture of my other sister Annalyn and her husband.  Their baby is due around Christmas.  So exited for them!

My mom got my kids new Sunday clothes for the holidays...so cute!!!

When we got home from Logan we set up our Christmas tree and we had a little birthday party for Danny's sister Nita.  

We also had a good snow storm and my kids were so excited.  They played out in the snow for over 4 hours!!! The first picture was 4:30 pm and the 2nd picture was from 6:30 pm.  The snow just kept coming down...

The next day after school we stopped by some good sledding hills by our school.  The kids had so much fun sledding together while I sat in the nice warm car and read a book ha ha!

EXCITING NEWS!!!  We are now officially DEBT FREE (except for the mortgage on our house).  It has been a hard 5 years but it feels so good to have no more car payments or credit cards.  We even have money saved up to start finishing our basement.  We have already had several contractors over to give us some bids and we have most of it saved up to pay for the basement in cash!  So proud of our hard work and it feels so good!  Now to get ready for Christmas.  It will be here before we know it!