Christmas Week

Well I began the week with a kidney infection, and ended it with a kidney infection and a broken down Suburban... Yuck!
If there was ever a week to be sick and have the car break down this was it. With Jared home all week it gave me the opportunity to go to the doctor and rest a little. We had big plans for this week but enjoyed a little R and R. I think I'm on the mend and Izzy (the Suburban) is in the shop. Yea! Hannah and Noah are very proud of Silvy (the Altima) for doing her best to tow Izzy. Hannah remarked today that Izzy likes to play and tease daddy by starting sometimes and not starting at other times. She also said that Izzy is really thankful for her Christmas present of getting all fixed up. The kids attachment to our vehicles is really helping us with our goal of no car payments ever again. We'll see how long we last. Though Noah did look behind him when we were towing the suburban and remarked "well maybe we could sell Izzy, she keeps breaking down", only to evoke a look of horror and disgust from Hannah. The ultimate betrayal...

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. The kids woke up to find there stockings full and a thank you note from Santa for the milk and cookies all a top a gym mat that they failed to notice until Jared and I asked about it. Noah was most excited about his red mittens and Luke Skywalker action figure, Hannah was most excited about her locket and mittens. My parents and brothers family came over for Christmas breakfast and we exchanged gifts. This is the third year we have done this and it's quickly turning into a tradition I love. The menu has changed from year to year, but I think we are sticking with Jareds eggnog french toast. Mmmmmmm
Later in the day we ventured over to my aunts home to enjoy Mexican food and several rounds of Guitar Hero. I played once and found I enjoyed my place as spectator much more than getting booed off stage by a disgruntled crowd of animated glam rockers.
The next day we took a trip out to Dripping Springs to visit Hannah and Noahs Great Grandpa and Grandma Hays. While out that way my mom, Amy and I took a little side adventure to the old ranch house that my mothers family owned for a time in the 70's. The ranch house was originally built around 1930 for Pearl Hart a woman who gained notoriety from her gun slinging, stage coach robbing days of the late eighteen hundreds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Hart. I'll write another post on the Ranch house another time. Too creepy to to be in the same post as Christmas.
My favorite activities of the month were having my family over for a turkey dinner and going to see the live Nativity production, our caroling party, and Christmas morning. This is the first year I had ever gone caroling. We invited about 5 families over went caroling around the neighborhood, then enjoyed a potluck Mexican food dinner and visiting. Five minutes after I had made the arrangements and invitations I panicked and wanted to cancel. But...in effort to challenge myself and attempt to step outside my comfort zone I resisted and am so glad I did. We had a wonderful time and plan on adding it to our Christmas traditions.
It has been a wonderful month full of lessons and experiences reminding me of this amazing gift of life I have been given. So many opportunities to grow, so many reasons to be hopeful. I am grateful for the friendships and the inspiration those friendships have brought into my life. I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas. We miss you!

Love,
Mel

Cockroaches, a Princess, and The Festival of Lights

Today started out just fabulous. WE SLEPT IN UNTIL 9:00! The kids had slept in too, we all must have been really tired. We skipped breakfast and went straight to yard work. The kids had backyard duty and Jared and I took to trimming the front. I quickly found that my idea of trimming was very different than Jareds when I turned around after hearing Jared holler out to find the lantana cut down to a nub. He explained that apparently the moist area under the lantana was the home of a cockroach colony. EWE! We cut all the lantana way back after that discovery. I keep reading that it's one of the most resilient plants you can have. Time will tell... I love yard work. I really do. There is something therapeutic and so gratifying about it.
I checked out the backyard and the kids did an amazing job. I was really taken back. Go Noah and Hannah. Though Hannah informed me that Noah only helped a little which sparked a sheepish grin from Noah as he replied "Well, I needed a little bit of a play break and then I just forgot to help again." Then Hannah piped in, "but that's okay he helped a little." Jared unwillingly took all the clippings to the dump where he found he needed cash that he didn't have, came home to get cash, to only have the suburban not start. After tinkering with it a bit he finally made his way to the dump and back. After so much mishap I began to feel bad I was so insistent about getting rid of all of it today. Then again I wasn't about to have it all sit in our front yard or our back just so Bailey could drag it all over creating another mess. I just wish it hadn't been such a chore. Meanwhile the kids and I bought tortillas from a La Villa restaurant for Christmas Day, made it back in time to pick up Jared after his adventure to the dump and catch a matinee of Enchanted. Then we headed over to my brothers home to spend the evening with his family and my parents walking through Winterhaven. Winterhaven is a neighborhood in central Tucson that holds a festival of lights each December. It was a lot of fun. I had to drag everyone there with the exception of Amy my sister in law who is always game for just about anything. I had to bribe my dad with promises of fresh bread for Christmas morning. I'm happy to report that they all seemed to have a good time. My mom was especially happy we all went. I'm so glad. Activities like that are always more fun when your sharing them with those you love. I am really looking forward to Sunday, a day for rest. Both the Bishop and First Counselor are out of town so Jared will be flying solo. No rest for the weary... Sometimes I think Jareds past life as a paramedic working three jobs and going to school was to prepare him for the non stop schedule he seems to have most days. He hardly bats an eye, and seems to thrive on the go. What's that rumbling... Jared has fallen asleep on the couch watching the news. I love him so much! Time for bed.

-Mel

Flash Back Friday

I wish I was clever enough to have come up with this on my own. I am grateful however to have clever friends with great ideas. Thanks for the idea Toma Family!

For this weeks Flash Back Friday we are going to visit Christmas past...

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2005

Christmas 2004
We moved back to Tucson from Chicago too tired to take pictures...

Christmas 2003

Chicago and the Colberts

Christmas 2002

Christmas 2001

Christmas 2000

Merry Christmas All!

What a Wonderful Year!

We have so much to be thankful for. This year has brought so many new friendships into our life. Along with the new friendships formed we have been able to reconnect with friends and family that have been so dear to us throughout our lives.

We have had the opportunity to travel to new places and enjoy our yearly destinations Utah and Mexico.

This year we took the kids to Philadelphia for a week. Jared had a conference there so the kids and I took on the city and enjoyed every minute, (well almost every minute...) We were also able to tour the Statue of Liberty and Valley Forge. WOW! We had an amazing time and are so grateful to have been able to walk the paths our founding fathers had tread so many years

before us.

Each July we love to travel to Utah to spend time with family and explore the many natural treasures of the area. This year we were able to spend time in Zions, Bryce and the Grand Canyon. We had so much fun celebrating the 4th of July with our family that lives in Utah. Jared and I also ran the 5k freedom festival race this year.

This October we headed to our favorite beach Las Conchas in Puerto Penasco Mexico. As always we had so much fun exploring the tide pools and enjoying the great food and atmosphere.

Jared remains the second counselor in our Bishopric and I have remained the Ward Activities leader. We both have enjoyed the learning and growth experiences afforded to us not only through our callings at church but by the everyday situations that we cross paths with.

Jared is working as a PA in neurology and at urgent care twice a month. He loves both jobs, and I enjoy all his stories from the office which can be both touching and hysterical. Jared also coached Noah's soccer team this fall. The lesson learned there is one we already knew. WE ARE NOT A SOCCER FAMILY. Though Noah and Jared had fun spending time together on the field.

Both Hannah and Noah are in school this year. Hannah enjoys school and being ahead in her class. She likes reading The Magic Tree House Series that her cousins introduced, which I am forever grateful for as it has made Junie B Jones take a back seat. She joined the jumpin rattlers club at school and enjoys learning all sorts of jump rope tricks. Noah has entered into the wonderful world of reading. He is very excited, but very hard on himself for mistakes. He seems to think he has to master a skill before he takes it on. He loves school and is quite the little scooter rider. He makes me a little nervous when he rides so fast and insists on showing off. Yet that grin he gets,(which is a miniature version of his daddy's), melts my heart and I can't help but smile when I'm shaking my head in disapproval. Hannah has started up piano again after taking a brief break when her teacher moved out of state. Hannah is still in dance and is so close to mastering the splits which she has been working on now for awhile. Her next feat- cartwheels...

I continued with school this semester, and oddly enough found myself missing my College Algebra class of last semester during my Creative Writing class. Though I enjoyed the outlet for writing I didn't particularly enjoy the anything goes atmosphere of the class. I finished with an A and received a B in my Spanish class that I am convinced I did not earn. What's that saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth? I have been walking and occasionally running 3-5 miles before dawn three times a week with a good friend. Each morning seems like an adventure, meteor showers, Javelina encounters and good ole fashioned scaring one another out of our skin has been the norm this winter. I love the stars, but am anxious to be met with the sunrise once again.


Favorite hikes of the year: Sabino Canyon in the rain, Wasson Peak, Sanctuary Cove with the kids.

We still haven't hiked Sombrero Peak. That's on the list for January.

Now that we're all caught up, I'm looking forward to writing about our new adventures which I hope include all of you.

Love,

Mel