Disney fun

We spent December 1-5th at Suzy's in Huntington Beach. It was Mary's 7th birthday so we celebrated by going to Disneyland a few times. Gavin didn't want to go because he said that he would rather go to Alaska. Poor guy. He finally relented and ended up having a blast. The girls were giddy with happiness.

Hollywood Tower of terror (2nd row to the left, that's us)

Grandma and the girls on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Space Mountain. Everyone looks happy and I'm trying not to barf.

Splash Mountain. Grandma, Gilli, Mary, Drew, Cyn

Laura and Gilli. Gillian was NOT happy that we went on Heimlich's Chew Chew train because it is a little kids ride. I never heard the end of it.

Gillian the Mad Hatter

Toon Town

The teacup ride. I was trying REALLY hard not to throw up.

Bugs Life 3-D show

4 cute girls and a gingerbread house

Alice is hilarious. She walked around with this plastic thing on her head and she posed for me in the hallway (note the crossed feet!) So cute!

3 Crockett girls with long straight hair.

So, in summary, we had a great time in Southern California last week. I loved seeing the blue sky and feeling the sunshine on my face. I really miss it. I wish that I could see my family more and have my kids hang out with Sheldon cousins more. But I'll take what I can get.

snow days and stuff

It is supposed to be a very snowy winter, hooray! Last week it started off that way on Monday. That, of course meant 2 days of cancelled school. The kids and dogs had fun in the snow.

And with Gillian, I've created a monster. She went to Crossfit with me 3 times last week. She works out hard and everyone loves her. She now has her own little Agoge Gym shirt and even wore it to school. She is very upset tonight because I went this morning and she wants to go tonight. Sorry, have to pack for Huntington Beach. Yes, we are going to Disneyland and the girls are so excited. Gavin said that he would rather go to Alaska. Oh well, so sad for him.

Gillian's great form performing pushups

....and pull-ups

Doing "thrusters" with a 15 pound bar.

Augmenticillin and Crossfit

This past month has been a month of strep throat, bronchitis, lots of different antibiotics, sleepless nights, etc... Drew and Gavin have both been on Augmentin, Amoxicillin, and I've been on both. Many days of school have been missed by all 3 kids. I'm still coughing, Drew has intermittent sore throats, and Gavin almost passed out at karate. It was freaky, his face turned ghostly white and he looked dazed. They sent him over to sit by me and he said that his ears were ringing and his vision was blurry.

And yes, I know that I should be taking it easy but somehow a nice hard workout does my mind good. I'm not nearly at 100% but I love my new Crossfit gym and it's hard not to go. It is physically the most difficult workout I've ever done. Every day it's a different workout and every day I think that it couldn't possibly get harder. I can now do pull ups (we've done over 100 in just one workout!), and lots of pushups. Gillian loves to come with me and she exercises the whole time. I love it! My little mini me! Last night she joined me and Darren and we did kettle bell swings together. While Darren and I ran around the building she did pushups and sit ups. Darren is also getting stronger and loving/hating the workouts. Everyone there uses the white board to track their progress and Gillian made up her own little system.

Haircuts and Things

Gillian was so excited last week to get a haircut in an actual salon (Hairmasters). I can't believe that that was the first time I took her to get her hair done by a pro. She smiled the whole time and kept saying "I love it" about her hair afterward. Drew also got a cute new A-line bob.

It rained buckets and buckets a few days ago so I spent the day in my rubber boots. People in stores and the bank said I was pretty smart. Maybe not fashionable, but smart. That's just what you have to do living in Washington.

Gillian was home sick this past Monday. Drew and Gavin have both had strep in the past few weeks, and I've had bronchitis. Luckily Gillian just had a cold. Speaking of cold, this is how I found her at the computer when she was ill. Guess it's time to turn up the heat!

Halloween was fun. Gavin ordered a hazmat suit online and was..... a guy in a hazmat suit I guess. And of course the gas mask topped it off.

Gav helped me get outfitted for the trunk or treat at church. Basically we raided his closet. Funny thing is that Rebecca showed up in an army getup as well. We didn't even plan it.

Drew and Natalie Peay were Thing 1 and Thing 2. So stinking cute! She was nice and comfy and toasty warm.

Gillian was a Candy Corn Witch. Cutest Candy Corn Witch I've ever seen!

I told the kids to hide their candy from me but they didn't. Sometimes my self control is greater than others.

Today was kind of a rough day. Darren came home to pack for Scottsdale, I'm stressed out, a few tears were shed as I sat on my bed feeling sorry for myself. Gillian came in and saw me, went out and shut my bedroom door while Darren and I discussed a few things. Then I saw two little hands pushing a note under my door. It made my cry even harder when I read it. Man, I love that little girl! That note reminded me that the most important things in my life are living with me right here in my house and even though it's chaotic most of the time there are some very sweet moments. I'm grateful for my life, even though things don't always go the way I would like them to go. Life goes on, and life is good.

The End!

42

Today is Darren's 42nd birthday. Hard to believe. I just have to say that I feel like one lucky girl to be married to him. He really is too good for me. Here are some great things about him:

-He's a great dad

-Darren is kind to everyone

-I will never (well, rarely) get lost with him around because he always knows his way even if he's only been there once

-He never uses foul language and rarely loses his temper

-Always says he's sorry even if it's me who has done wrong

-Great knowledge of the scriptures

-Great knowledge of useful and useless trivia

-Fantastic dentist

-Incredible athlete

-So loving, giving, creative, smart

-Super duper handsome

-He can fix most everything and anything

-Lots and lots of other amazing traits

Love, love, love this guy!

Happy Birthday Darren! Can't wait for the next 42 years!

Fun Fairy Friday and other stuff

Gillian had a friend over last Friday. Her friend, Natalie, brought her secret fairy handbook which contained many fun activities. They worked hard on their fairy garden. The first picture is before the final creation.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any cuter they had strung up paper lanterns, made clay seats and all sorts of fun things for fairies. I love the creativity. It sits outside our front window on the ledge and has been rained upon causing the marker sign to run. I don't have the heart to take it down.

Gillian also found a recipe for fancy fairy juice in the handbook.

In other news, we got new carpets. Wow, that was a big deal. We really needed them. It was interesting getting all the furniture into one room and then shifting it around. It's been about 3 weeks and I'm still putting stuff back.

Somehow I got everyone's stuff from their rooms into my

room while the rest of the upstairs was carpeted.

Drew turned 11! Such a beautiful young lady. And she's been complaining that she can't see very well. So after a trip to the eye doctor we were told that she just needed a slight prescription, not much. She was very excited to get glasses. That lasted for about a day after she got them and decided that she sees better without them. Good thing I spent time and money on that! She looks cute in them though.

Drew was served breakfast in bed for her big day.

And finally.... My real midlife crisis has arrived. Gavin shaved for the first time today. Sniff sniff. I got him an electric razor (he doesn't need zits AND nicks) and after his shower he came out with a smooth face. No more peach fuzz. I just don't know what to think about it all.

First dance

Gavin is now 14 years old (has been since April). He can now officially go to church dances. This is how it went as I tried to get a before picture of him going to his first dance...

He quickly shut the door on me as I tried to get a picture of him coming out of the bathroom.

Then, Darren tried to help out by tackling him

And then Spencer comes in to try to help stabilize him.

It didn't work.

I got the update from his friends that he was very social and danced with girls. Oh my!

Banks Lake 2010

So much to catch up on. First of all we had a fantastic time at Banks Lake. We were there for 9 days. It was tempting to just forget about school, work, house, and never come home. We brought the dogs and they had a great time. There were 6 families and dozens of kids. I was the only one to get injured of course. This time not nearly as severe as last year. Just a black eye and bruised shoulder. This year we had the Buzz Bomb tube. Holy cow, that tube is fast. Rebecca was egging Darren on saying "is that all you got?'", which made Darren drive faster causing us to flip hard around a corner. We hit the water sooooo hard. But still, very fun.

Darren set up a movie theater with a sheet and a projector so that we could have movie night.

We had two movie nights.