Black Friday

To me, the best part about Thanksgiving is the next day: Black Friday! It is the day of shopping mania. I love the feeling you get from all the sales and good deals that you get.

I started taking Tiffany with me on Black Friday last year. It was kind of a trial run last year to see how she would like it and how she would hold up. She LOVED it! She had a total blast and loved helping me pick out everyone's gifts. She enjoys shopping, so it's a nice thing. This year, she was sick earlier in the week, so I wasn't sure she would be up to going shopping with me, but she took her naps and stayed home a day from school to get all better. She abstained from sugar and junk food so that she would be good to go. Well, she was good to go by Friday.

We got up at 3Am, and got ready so we could leave by 4 AM. We started on 56th W and hit all of those stores. then went down south and eventually worked our way up. I got quite a few AWESOME deals. I didn't get as much as I normally do (due to the limited funds I have this year), but it didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves and by being exhausted. Josh and I were dying before Tiffy. I have to say that it makes me laugh that she was able to out shop me- That's my girl! LOL! I think if I would have had more money, I would have had more energy (since I work that way), but its all good.

We came home and all took a 4 hour nap. Shows how tired we actually were. Then, we went to a movie. Tiffy hadn't seen Mew Moon yet (Josh and I went to the 3 Am show on opening night- WOOHOO!). So, she really wanted to see it. So we took her to the show. She loved it. She said there were a couple parts that made her nervous, but she LOVED it. he he he. It was a great movie! We came home and went to bed. We were so tired, we slept till 9 AM the next day. That, for us, is SUPER late!

I will be going shopping again, since I am nowhere near done, but it was a fun day!

Thanksgiving

This year, we kept Thanksgiving pretty simple. My dad, Lonnie, Brian, Josh, Tiffy and I were the only people here. John and Patty decided to do their own thing this year. Yes, I wasn't very hapy about it since it should be about family and not just friends, but whatever. My sister is in Florida and couldn't come. So, it kinda sucked that she couldn't be here. But all in all, it was fine.

I cooked, like I do every year, and everyone else just came. josh is pretty good about helping. So, I do get a sous chef. LOL. We got up at 5A and prepped the turkey and a couple of the other dishes so that the turkey was in the oven by 6A. We did get a nap/rest time for about an hour and a half while everything was cooking.

We ate around 12P. Then, we all hung out and talked for a while, while my dad played w Tiffy. After a couple hours, it was all done and everyone was set to leave. It's kinda nice to not have to entertain ALL day long. That would be exhausting! We all get together and then after a couple hours we're all set to go. I like that about my family. We keep our visits short so we aren't all dying by the end of the day. I guess that says something about my family though- that we can't be around each other TOO long or we drive each other crazy. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. LOL!

Anyway, Josh had to go to work at 4P, but luckily about 15 minutes before he had to leave they called him and let him know it was slow and so he didn't have to come in. He was happy about that. So, we all decided to take a nap. It was nice. We got up and had a small dinner around 8. Watched a movie and then went to bed since the next day was going to be a LONG one. He he he.

Gateway Tree Lighting

Last weekend was the tree lighting at the Gateway Mall. They were going to have Santa there, free hot chocolate, cookies, and Jon Schmidt performing. So, we decided to go. Some of our friends were supposed to come with us, but at the last minute they weren't able to come. Regardless, we wanted to go. We had a lot of fun. It was cold, but nice weather other than that. They had a childrens choir singing holiday songs and they Jon performed. It was kinda cool. I love free events that are fun and family oriented. They had people passing out free candy canes and free glow sticks for the kids.



It was funny cause he said that he'd never played in such cold weather. LOL. It was only about 40F. Not bad for Utah. I wonder where he is from. Pretty sure it's not Utah. It was, all in all, a good time.

Dance Observation day

I am so proud of Tiffany. She has put so much hard work into this year of dance. I am constantly amazed at the progress she has made this year alone and I am SO excited to see her perform at her winter recital in January. She is a mad woman. Most of the time, instead of playing, she chooses to practice her dances or stretches....and it shows.

She had an observation day for dance and so Josh and I came and saw her. She has improved by leaps and bounds and she is so very proud of herself- and she should be!






I know I have said this before, but she is very technical in how she learns things and she is really hard on herself if she doesn't get it after the first couple times. I guess its something she will have to learn to deal with..but for the most part, she does really well and gets it all pretty quickly.





After they did technique and warmups and stretches, they practiced their jazz dance that they'll be competing with at comp. It's a way cute about being rockstars.







I can't watch her dance without smiling. I truly enjoy watching her have so much fun at something she is really good at.

Cheer Observation Day

On Tuesday, it was observation day at cheer. We get to sit and watch the girls and se how much they have accomplished since classes started in September. There are 2 each year. One in November and one around April or May. Josh couldn't come since he had to work, but I made sure I was there to watch her. I brought Tiffy's friend brieann. We had fun watching her. She was very well behaved (as always) and was very technical in everything she did- not that its a surprise.





They also got to play some games where they practice the cheer poses.




They worked on stretches- Tiffy of course was a poser for some of it.









Every week, someone gets to take the spirit stick home. This time Tiffy got to take it home. it was extra cool cause since it's over Thanksgiving (there's no cheer next week), she gets it for an extra week. She was VERY excited!

Lunch with Johnny

I got a text from my brother John about a week after my birthday. He said "I just got back from Hawaii and I totally forgot about your birthday. I am so so so so so so so so so so sorry! When can I take you out?" It made me laugh pretty hard. We decided to go to Thaifoon for lunch since our schedules are pretty busy. I brought Tiffy and Josh. We had good conversation and had a lot of fun together. Tiffy just adores her uncle John. So, I made sure to get some cute pictures of the 2 of them.

Halloween

For Halloween this year Tiffy wanted to be a punk rocker. Josh decided to do the same thing as well.




Josh had to work, but we did take her out for a bit before he had to go.




After, Josh went to work, I took her out for a bit andthen I met up with our friends jeanie and Coby to trick or treating.

Pumpkin carving

We finally found some time to do a couple of pumokins. Tiffy and Josh carved the pumpkins and I took the "corporate" route and did the documentation (aka pictures). LOL!

Tiffy always starts off super excited....



Then, we open it up and she realizes how "yucky" it is. It always cracks me up.




Once, its mostly cleaned out, she is ok.



Then, she kinda just watches mostly. lol.

He is Back!

My brother John came back at the very end of September. So, at the beginning of October, we all got together and went to The Spaguetti Factory and had dinner as a family. We were all so glad to see him. It is amazing to me to see how much he has grown up.









We found out that John won a medal for bravery and support of his troop. We are all so proud of him!