New Year!

I am so ready for a new year. This year has been full of it's ups and downs. Mark lost his job twice this year, from the same company. We should have learned after the first time, but we didn't. Sometimes it takes more than one try. The good news is that he was never unemployed for more than six week. His is with a great company now and we are really happy.

With our trials we have learned that we are not alone and in fact better off than most. With this new year we wish peace and happiness to all our friends and loved ones. May 2010 be a great year for all.

Here is the most up to date family pictures.

Jared was being a stinker the whole time. Funny thing is we got great pictures of him.

This one was my favorite of Jared.

This is right after Curtis' second Birthday. He is getting so big so fast.

Abby just turned 7. Pictures will follow when I find the cord to my camera. She is an amazing girl. I cannot believe how fast it goes.

We wish everyone a Happy New Year. With the stress of everything I have been horrible with my blog. I will do better this year.

Update

I know it has been forever. Sorry. I have been a little busy. We have so much to tell everyone.

Mark is working for Target now. We are really excited. I am not working for State Farm. It had been an adjustment. Mark was so great to trade his perfect work schedule to let me go back to work. He took over as Mr. Mom in the mornings. I loved my time out. It is nice to be home but I really miss everyone. I have so much more to tell you. I

will just slowly start posting pictures.

Abby is in 1st grade. She loves school. We go the pictures taken last week.

Jared is in preschool. He loves being with all his friends. He has his first girlfriend this year. I think it is a little soon.

My baby turned two last week. He went from sweet to devil with the perfect demonic voice. AHHH! I hope this doesn't last.

Tim and Kim did halloween pictures of the kids. It was fun. We had never done this before.

Festival of Trees and Santa

We went to the Festival of Trees with Maria and her boys here are some pictures. We also have had a lot of sitting on Santa's lap. Here are all the pictures.

Jared with Santa

All the kids with Santa. Yes, Curtis is falling off.

Jared in the bubble. We tried to get Abby, but she popped it before we could get a picture.

All the kids at the festival of trees. Next year it will just be a girls night out. Too much for little kids.

All Jared wants from Santa is a candy cane. This is at our ward party.

Abby with Santa. She is taking her wish list very seriously.

The best Santa of all. It was at the mall. He had a big love seat to fit a bunch of kids and there were a lot of activities for the kids while they wait in line.

Thanksgiving

This year we were in Idaho. We had a weekend full of fun. The kids loved playing with their cousins. Jared really missed Idaho and the great outdoors. Curtis didn't sleep the whole weekend. Here are some pictures.

Here is the picture of the kids table. Curtis (my cousin), Marjia, and their two boys came. Becky, Brad, and Addison were there also. We had a large group.

Curtis ready and waiting for food.

Kassie, and Mark in the background rolling up his sleeves to dive in.

Family pictures

The grand kids. My dad had M & M's for all the kids that smiled. Jared was very into that. He is holding his hand out for more. Look at his fake smile.

Our family pictures. It was really cold outside.

Picture of Abby.
Another one of Abby. She is turning into a little model. Today she told me that she now has a picture smile. It is just for when she gets her pictures taken.
Jared and Papa on the tractor. This is his favorite activity when we go to Idaho. He could sit on the tractor all day.

Papa jumped off and Jared is driving the tractor by himself. We drive young in Idaho. The age of three is a good time to start.
Jared started to get really scared. He was worried he was going to hit Grandma's new tree.
Daddy and Curtis. I love this picture.

Thanks Becky for the great pictures.

Anniversary

I have so many post to catch up on. Sorry to do it all at once. I am afraid that if I take my time it wont happen.

In November Mark and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. It seems like we just got married. What can I say, time flies when your having fun. We went out to dinner and a movie the night before. The morning of we went to brunch. We took the kids with us. It was fun to celebrate as a family. Here are some pictures.

Sorry the pictures are bad. They are off my phone.
It pays to get reservations. There was a band and we were right by them. It entertained Abby and Jared forever. They decided to dance. I thought it was so cute. We had to take a picture.

Twilight

This is one example why 1-800 Contacts is such a great company to work for. When a big movie comes out they rent the theater for their employees. For Twilight they did it a little different. When I reserved our tickets they had several showing for Thursday night. It is hard to get a babysitter late at night so I got the 5:30 showing. I didn't realize what a big deal it was until we got there. We got to see the movie before it was released to the public. We had to go through medal detector and they had to check our bags before we went in. I have to admit it was cool. We enjoyed the movie and we were home a little after 8. We got a great night sleep and could still talk about the movie the next day.

Change

Mark has been with 1-800 Contacts for 6 year. It has been an amazing company to work for. They are really good to their employees. Mark is in management there. It is a problem moving up in the company because no one leaves. Mark decided to apply to be a manager at a Target a few weeks ago. We are really excited to say that they hired him. He starts as an assistant manager and then in a few years he takes over a store. They seem like a great company to work for. We are sad to leave 1-800 Contacts, but are really excited to see where Target will take us.