Honeymoon

This week marks Matt being home from Afghanistan 7 1/2 months. He has only been home half as long as he was gone. I have been asked every once in awhile if the "Honeymoon was over"? My answer is NO! I still look at him in the quiet hours of the morning and just sigh with relief and wonder that he is actually here. I am so glad he is home, and I am so glad that we get to have a wonderful Holiday season with our "Dad" around. I sure do love this guy...probably more then I should, or is healthy. But what can I say, I am caught!

Snow Day and Other Ramblings

What a week of weather we have had here in Southern California! Monday we had about 4 in. of snow dump down on us, forcing the highway patrol to close our only road into Fort Irwin. (still no snow day by the way) Tuesday dawned bright and clear with most of the snow melting...only to be opposed by Wednesday's weather. We woke up with cloudy skies, but the road still open and school still in progress. As the day progressed, it got colder, mushier and eventually snowier. It snowed all afternoon and evening, dumping another 2 or 3 inches of snow. (still no snow day for school) After all this "weather" the school district panicked and declared Thursday a SNOW DAY! Most kids would be excited right? Not mine!! When I released the news I was presented by a loud "Ahhh...Mayonnaise" by Hannah (her latest phrase she likes to use) and other musings. According to Hannah today, Thursday, was going to be the funnest day ever. She was going to be able to wear her P.J.'s to school, and bring a pillow and blanket with her to school. Then her class was going to lay around watching "The Polar Express" while drinking Hot Cocoa and eating cookies. I almost wish I was back in school! Anya was also disappointed, because she would miss her class party too. Boo Hoo, girls, you get to start Christmas break 1 day early! As a side note today, Thursday, the "snow day" dawned bright and clear...no clouds or snow. In fact, most of our snow melted today! So, they were a little behind on their snow day. To try and make-up for the disappointment of no school(come on girls, where is your spirit!), I let them lounge around in their P.J.'s all day, watching movies, drinking Hot Cocoa and eating cookies. Sound familiar? We did get together with some friends later in the afternoon, but Hannah still declares going to school today would have been much funner. Mom's just boring I guess!

So, I am a little slow!

I admit, that at times I am a little slow on the uptake. I just realized that I had been tagged. Didn't want my poor dear sis to feel left out...so here it goes.

8 T.V. shows I like to watch

1. The Office
2. Law and Order
3. E.R. (was loosing interest...but decided to stick it out for the LAST season)
4. Gray's Anatomy...depending
5. Gilmore Girls reruns
6.I am out of shows! I am more of a movie watcher!
7.
8.

8 Things That Happened Yesterday

1. Went grocery shopping
2. Watched snow melt
3. Went visiting Teaching
4. made Baked Beans
5. Went to Matt's Office Christmas Party
6. Finally settled our moving claim
7. Took the girls to piano lessons
8. Went to Hannah's school Christmas program

8 Favorite places to eat

1. Olive Garden
2. Popeye's Chicken
3. Rice Wok
4. Training Table
5. Wingers
6. Taco Bell
7. Los Hermanos or any Mexican Restruant
8. Pier 49 ( best pizza ever!)

8 Things I am Looking Forward to

1. CHRISTMAS
2. DISNEYLAND
3. Our trip to Utah
4. A new year with Matt home the WHOLE year!
5. getting Christmas cards done...why is it taking so long this year?
6. delivering Christmas goodies...so they are off my counter (i hate clutter)
7. sledding ( i hope there is snow)
8. seeing all my family

8 Things on my Wish list

1. Start saving more
2. Matt and I's tropical getaway/belated 10th anniversary because Matt was gone trip
3. Hawaii next year
4. Summer and the beach
5. getting to the outlet shops eventually
6. "The Office" night...Matt and I always end up laughing until we cry...great stress reliever.
7. a new stereo system so I can play c.d.s downstairs.
8. getting my couch fixed (it was damaged in the move)

So there, Trudy, I finally did it! Sorry it took me so long. I guess I tag Melanie, Nicole, Heather, Stephanie and anyone else who wants too.

Snow...in Southern California!?

Gingerbread houses

Anya's Spelling Bee

Anya recently participated in the School wide spelling bee. She had passed her class level, and then her grade level. She went on to the school level. She didn't win, but we were very proud of her for making it that far. She said that next year she would really study the words, since she didn't study seriously this year. She is so funny! The word that got her bumped was "formaldehyde". The kid right before her got the word "chocolate". Too bad Anya didn't get that word...she would have passed that round for sure! We told her that sometimes spelling bee's don't always show who is the best speller, since it is the luck of the draw. Some words are easier then others. She had fun anyway, and her good friend was in the spelling bee too.

Good Job Anya, we are so proud of you!

Cora's Dance Recital

I am finally getting around to letting you all know about Cora's dance recital! She performed on a real stage, which she was so very excited about. She had a "curtain call" at 2pm for hair and make-up, and then her performance was at 3pm. It went as well as any performance involving three year olds can go. The important thing is they all had so much fun, and they all felt so special for being in the spotlight. We had fun watching, and Matt got to be with us this year, so that made it even more special. Because of the deployment he has not been able to physically be at any of the girls special performances yet. It was great, fabulous and wonderful to have him there! Cora saved her biggest, most special kiss for her daddy!

Cora dressed for her "King and I" performance number

Cora dressed up for her "Doodlebops" number

Getting all dolled up. I think this was her favorite part!

"Doodlebop" Dance Recital

Here is the other dance that Cora performed. I think this one was her favorite, she knew it best. Although, you wouldn't know it by watching the video, she really had a great time!

"The King and I " Dance Recital Piece

I didn't get real good film footage of the actual recital. Too many heads in my way, so here is the dress rehearsal recording, which I think turned out better.

Decking the Halls

Dad putting the Star on the tree

"Dad...stop taking pictures of me!"

We're done!

Jeppson Christmas tree 2008

It was such hard work! Time for bed, pout face.

We finally finished decking the halls! We had to buy a new Christmas tree this year. I had sneakily given our old one to Good Will before the move. It was time, we had bought it when I was pregnant with Hannah 7 years ago. Even then it was just a cheap $20 Walmart tree, all we could afford as struggling students. It served us well, and we had a lot of wonderful memories with our old tree. However, we love our new tree. It looks so pretty all decorated up, and the girls had a good time getting out all the ornaments. They each have their favorites that they like to put on the tree each year. As soon as the box of ornaments came out, earlier that day, piles of ornaments started to accumulate as the girls began their collection of favorites for tree trimming. I am still finding the occasional ornament stashed in an odd place...like inside a Santa hat. We have found a spot for all our decorations in our new house...and we have twinkly lights up in the windows. The only thing left is to put up the icicle lights around the front porch. That will be Matt's weekend project. The Holiday feeling is upon us, and we are grateful the spirit of the Christmas season is in our home.

Decking the Halls

Here we have a short video clip of the traditional tree trimming!

Thanksgiving Report

So here is the low down on the show down: We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Utah. It was kind of nice to feel the cold weather, it really made it seem like the Holidays had arrived. I even got to break out some of my winter sweaters, which I LOVE ( Matt does too...because they are so huggable...any excuse for a hug, I always say). We hit some weather and traffic on the way to Utah, but arrived safely at a very late hour. Did that stop us...no it did not! We continued to stay up until after 2 a.m. (yes, the girls too...what wonderful parents we are. HA!) helping the Jeppson family make pies. It is tradition that all the women in the big Jeppson clan get together the night before Thanksgiving for "pie night". It is very fun, and goofy, mainly because we stay up so late! I was excited to attend this year, since past years I have not been able too. Anyway, we ended up making 4 pumpkin pies, 2 lemon pies, 3 Chocolate pies, 1 Blueberry pie, and 1 banana cream pie. Now you know why we were up so late! Go pie!!

The actual day of Thanksgiving was Heaven! I had my husband home, my girls with me, and we were surrounded by family eating great food. You can't get much better then that! We got to meet our new niece, Shanna, who is a complete little angle. Cora is constantly bugging me now that we need to go to the store and buy our own real baby. Hmmmm....wished it worked that way!

Since Matt missed most of the Holiday season last year ( he practically arrived home for his leave Christmas Eve), I have made it a point to immerse him in Holiday season cheer and activities. Basically this means that I drug him out on "black Friday" to shop! Oh, the cruel one that I am! I actually think he enjoyed it! We were able to leave the kids with my parents, and we got a lot of Christmas shopping done. Even though we arrived late ( no, we did NOT start shopping at 4 a.m.!), we were still able to acquire some sweet door busters. We were very proud! It has been forever since we have been able to shop with just "us", it was kind of romantic. Matt treated me with some fabulous Chinese food for lunch, it was a wonderful date!

Sunday arrived, and back to California we went. Back to 80 degree weather, light jackets in the morning, and shorts and sandals. Hopefully, Utah will cooperate and give us some more winter weather during Christmas. Our drive home was smooth sailing all the way to Las Vegas. It was perfect....Until Vegas! That is when the traffic jam began. We live 2 or 2 1/2 hours from Vegas, but because of the stop and go on the freeway, that is how long it took us to reach the border of California. Then we still had another hour or so of driving, at least. With the slow traffic this took longer then normal also. It was so grueling, Matt commented that he had never seen such a bad traffic jam in his life! Things to learn! Next year we will not travel home on Sunday!

We were sad that the weekend came to a close so quickly. While we got to see many family, we were not able to see everyone, or spend the time we would have liked with everyone. We are looking forward to Christmas back in Utah, and we are looking forward to spending more time with everyone!