Freakin' Christmas

What a great mother I am! I had this idea in my head about how fun it would be to bring a tree home and have the girls decorate it with me, have Brandon hang lights, drink hot cocoa...you know, the perfect family Christmas. I guess I didn't factor in that our kids are HORRIBLE 2 year olds with the biggest emotional crises every 2 seconds. Brandon and I had to hurry and put the tree up while the girls were in time out for like the 15th time that night and by the time bedtime came around half the ornaments were already off the tree with the stupid little metal tops pulled off!!! Ahhh!!! So next year I hope it will be better with only one 2 year old to deal with.

On a positive note, we got a free tree from one of the local state parks. The Silver Falls State Park bought some land with a Christmas tree farm on it and every year they cut a few down and have this Christmas activity day where they give out free trees, hot chocolate, the kids can make ornaments and gingerbread houses, it was so much fun. So, the whole day wasn't so bad, I really do love Christmas.

The 80's Are Back!

Yeah Baby! A woman in our ward had a surprise 80's birthday party for her husband yesterday and Brandon and I really wanted to go so we could make more friends since all of ours are moving away. Anyway, the invitation encouraged people to dress up and it was super fun!!!! If you look closely, Brandon ended up SHAVING actual lines on the sides of his head. Oh my gosh!!! It was flippin' hilarious!

Winter Break

Melody has begun to refer to this blog as hers, rather than ours, so I thought it would be nice to make my very first solo post.

Today I have officially begun my winter break. Four weeks off. Four weeks of no reading, no studying, no sitting on the edge of my seat in class filled with anxiety that I might get called on, no case briefs, holdings, majority opinions, concurring opinions, or dissenting opinions. Four weeks of not having to go to that big building pictured above. It is four weeks to give my brain a rest. And trust me, four weeks is not nearly long enough.

The really cool thing about this semester coming to an end is that this officially marks my half way point in law school. The first half flew by and really challenged me. I fully expect the second half to go just as fast and challenge me even more.

Please do not take this the wrong way, I really enjoy law school, the law school finals however, are not so great. I have spent the last three weeks in the law library, non stop, studying for these dang tests. Poor Melody has pretty much been a single mother because I have rarely been around. She continues to support me though and doesn't complain about the time spent at school too much, even though I know our three little girls are not easy.

We are going to my parent's house in California for a few days after Christmas. My mom called last week asking if it is okay for she and my dad to rent a hotel room for Melody and I at Lake Tahoe so we can sneak away together for a night while our girls stay with them. Of course that is okay! Is it sad though that the first thought we had about having a hotel room to ourselves was that we can go to bed early and sleep in as late as we want? I guess we will work on that.

Jon Heder

So Jon Heder's aka Napoleon Dynamite's parents are in my ward. His parents are soooo nice and his mom talks to me all the time because we have twins and she has had twins. Anyway, two Sunday's ago Jon Heder's daughter was visiting her grandparents and was playing with our girls in Church. How cool is that! It gets better. Last Sunday guess who was in town visiting family for Thanksgiving? Yeah!!!! Jon Heder was sitting 3 pews ahead of us and to the right. Ahhhhhh!!! It took everything I had to not start screaming. You could see everyone in the ward taking glances at the big fat elephant in the room, the movie star casually sitting in church. He has touched Will Ferrell for crying out loud! Holy Moly! Too bad Church is not the appropriate time to be like, "So, I want to be an actress, can you make that happen?".

Twilight Addiction

Not even kidding, I am addicted to this stupid stupid Twilight phenomena. I have read all the books one and a half times (the second time around I skipped all the stupid parts about Jacob and the silly fight scenes and went straight to the love story, hence the half). I saw the movie and loved it, and I think I am going again tonight by myself. The bad part about all of this is that I am soooooo incredibly happy while I am reading and watching the movie that when it ends and the lights go up I get so depressed and start crying. It is ridiculous! Why can't love be like that? Then again, who on earth would want a boyfriend or husband who smothers you like that? I guess I just love the notion that you can't live without someone, they love everything about you, your smell, your hair, your eyes. I guess as women we really need that though, that feeling that you are their world and nothing could ever replace you. Don't get me wrong, Brandon is my perfect man and I love him more than anything, I just wonder why I have such a strong emotional tie to this dumb story? I have a happy marriage and family. Hmmmm...

Apple Picking

I can't tell everyone how much I love Oregon! It was so much fun, look at all those apples on the ground. There were people there loading truck beds full of apples since apple season ended and all the apples were completely free. Apple pie anyone?

Woo Hoo!

Everyone who knows Brandon and I know that we are not the most fit people. Well, a few months ago Brandon started this running program and has worked up to running 3 to 4 miles straight! I was really envious of him and he encouraged me to do this program too. Well, just yesterday I was able to run 30 minutes straight and could have easily gone longer. I can't explain how good it feels to run like that, my muscles get so tired and sore but I have a ton of energy and want to keep running longer and longer. I love it and can't wait to go running tomorrow. I have this friend who is running a marathon and I have the greatest respect for her, I don't think I would ever want to do that, but build up to running 5 miles a day would be great!

Here's the site http://www.wikihow.com/Begin-Running

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is my second favorite holiday. My friend Mary-Anne and I thought it would be fun to have a Halloween get together as an excuse for all of us adults to dress up even though all of our husbands complained about it. Adia and Layla were witches, Cali was a 49er fan, I was a "whore" vampire, and Brandon was white trash. It was fantastic, Brandon played the part so well that when we were trick or treating people actually wondered if it was a costume or if he really dressed like that. I will be the first to tell you that if he dressed like that all the time we would definitely NOT be married. It was hilarious! *Brandon shaved his goatee into a handlebar mustache (what a trooper) and wanted to make it perfectly clear that the Hooters shirt, John Deere hat, and flannel shirt are NOT his.
Adia was loving picking out all the seeds.

Crazy Aha Blonde Moment!!!!

Okay, so all I watch anymore is The Wiggles. If you haven't seen these shows, it is 4 australian guys dancing around and singing kids songs. It's a great show for kids. Anyway, I was watching this live concert they were doing and they were singing Christmas songs and mentioned that it was almost Christmas. The audience was wearing shorts and tank tops! Then I realized that it is summer in Australia in December! What! I went 25 years thinking everyone in the world had snow or at least cold weather for Christmas. Are you kidding? These people are having BBQs and going to the beach for Christmas. What would Christmas be without snow, fireplaces, warm cozy cinnamon smelling houses, and all the other stuff that comes with Christmas? Crazy Crazy.

First Post Ever

We are new to the blogging world. We discovered Myspace a few years behind the trend and thought we had become something. Now there are blogs and we have no idea what we are doing. Hopefully this can be a place to share some thoughts, frustrations, pictures and fun.