Susan Gravell Family Christmas

We're back home to stay, for a little while that is! Sorry, for not letting you all know that we would be out of town and we were at a Mountain House with no reception or Internet, that is the reason I missed my Monday post! We went to CA last Friday and just returned home today. The kids and I stayed the night at Grandpa Ernie's & Grandma Debi's on Friday night. The kids always enjoy spending time with them and Max was exceptionally happy this last visit because grandpa gave Max his Chino Football Hat, which he wants to wear everyday now! Van with Grandma Debi. On Saturday, I got to visit with my friends Laurie and Emily. Emily is now 16 and driving, I started babysitting Emily when she was just 3 weeks old, now I feel a bit old, I had a lot fun visiting with the two of them! Then Danny came and picked us up from my dad's. After which, we went to Murrieta to have a Christmas dinner with Grandma Michaelson at B.J.'s. All her kids and most of her grandchildren were there and that was a lot of fun seeing everyone! We spent the night at Grandma Mike's house and went to church with my Aunt & Uncle on Sunday and then we headed out to Mt. Julian. It is a beautiful Mountain in San Diego County. My sister's partners mother owens a Big Beautiful Mountain home at the top of Lake Cuyamuca and is so kind to let our family visit there. All of my siblings and their kids came and stayed for my mom's family Christmas. (My brother Kurt and daughter Skye from Utah, Rebbecca, Kristine & Baxter from San Diego, Michael from Las Vegas, my brother Greg from San Diego and my mom & my family from Vegas). The kids had fun throwing snowballs at each other the first day, while some snow lasted from a storm a few days prior. Then on Monday we had mom's "Christmas Eve". We had a big dinner with prime rib and turkey...After dinner the cousins exchanged gifts and then we had our favorite family tradition that started way before I was born... SANTA (my brother Greg) came and brought jammies for all the kids. I thought this was great when I was a kid, but now being a mom I'm not sure how much I like it. Last year Max opened his gift so excited to find out it was only p.j.'s, and he still kept a smile. I felt so bad the next day when he asked, "I thought Santa was going to bring my light saber." Then I had to make up a story. This year I just told him before hand that Santa brings his big gift on Christmas when we are sleeping; he was happy about the jammies this year! When Hanna first saw Santa she started to cry and then she hurried and said, "I'm not scared of Santa, I like Santa!" And when it was her turn to sit on his lap she was Happy Hanna! Van wasn't sure what to think of Santa, weather he should laugh or cry. We had plans for the adults to exchange gifts, but a few siblings just brought cash, so we didn't end up doing it. I had brought my rag quilt to exchange (yes, I finished my first quilt and I have no picture to show of it, I'll have to have my sister take one and send it to me), so ended up getting a gift card to Target and gave my sister the rag quilt. My sweet brother Greg gave us a really cute hand-stitched "Families Are Forever" embroidery. The kids had fun with their cousins and grandma and we had fun playing games as adults at night! All and all we all had a wonderful time, we are now happy to be home for Christmas and for the next little while!

Trip to Arizona

We went to AZ this last weekend for Danny's cousins wedding reception. We don't see too much of the Jensen side, so it was a lot of fun getting to know them better! Danny had never been to AZ and I had only been once about 10 years ago with my friends family so I didn't see too much of AZ at the time. Danny and I felt that AZ was no dessert! We kept saying look at all the green and the citrus trees and the dessert grew trees and tall cacti nothing like the Vegas dessert, we were pretty envious! But we still feel that Vegas is our home and we like it! Danny in front of the famous Arizona cactus. I'm so mad because all of our pictures that we took there blurred. I am posting them anyway! A picture of one of us in front of the Mesa Temple. Danny and I were going to do a session at the Mesa Temple, but they were closed for maintenance, so we walked around and took a HUGE lemon off one of the lemon trees because we were so amazed at the size of it. We asked before we picked one they said that they allow people to pick the fruit off the trees (they did say something about January). A picture of Hanna with the huge lemon! Our kids came with us to AZ as well, we had brought my mom so she could watch them while we went to the temple and the reception. It is so wonderful having a mom like mine! Me and the kids went to an old friend of mines house and another old friend was there as well. I hadn't seen either of them for the past 6 years! My friend Tracy is now pregnant with her sixth kid and she is such a trooper because she is deathly ill her first trimester every pregnancy! And my friend Gayla and husband Tom is now on the L.D.S. services adoption site (so if you hear of anyone putting their child up for adoption, they would love to hear, so let me know)! We were able to stay at my friend Laura's house (which was so nice)! She was out of town and it was perfect for all the people we had with us, plus the kids loved the ping-pong table! We were sad we didn't get to see her though, next time! Anyway, we had a lot of fun! We need to visit again so I can see the rest of my friends I wasn't able to see and so we can attend the Temple!

Checkout This Bite!

Last week Max and Hanna got in a little fight and Hanna scratched Max's face and Max bit her arm. That afternoon they got in another fight and Hanna went right for Max's face and bit him! I felt so bad for him, but Danny said he got what he deserved! We just got baby Van's 1 year old pictures back and he was just too cute I bought 8 different poses (I'm just including 4 of the 8). Van just has so many different facial expressions it makes it so hard to choose which ones to get, and with the sheets at $3.99 a sheet why wouldn't I just get them all?! Van loves biting his tongue. Life is getting pretty busy, got to run!

Our Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving Day tradition is first we play or watch the Elders Quorum play football the morning of Thanksgiving, come home get ready to go to a movie (this year we saw Enchanted) and then after the movie go over to Jeff and Cindy Jensen's for the rest of our Thanksgiving Day. At their house we eat, socialize, eat, look at the day after ads, eat, watch a movie and of course eat again. That is what we do pretty much every Thanksgiving. This year I brought the appetizers (cheese ball and crackers, veggies and dip, and stuffed mushrooms) and some of the mashed potatoes too. Max peeled almost all the potatoes, what a big helper! Then early Friday morning we sometimes shop together for the great deals. Well this year none of us were too into shopping, but Van woke up early so I got ready and left for Target at 6:30. On my drive to Target I remembered that my mom wakes up early and I just knew she would love playing with Van while I shopped; and the wonderful mother she is told me to bring him over! So I went shopping and only wanted to buy this twin doll set for Hanna and play dough, but when I got to Target they said they never got that doll set in, but they were giving a different doll away for the same price. Well I didn't want that one so I went to another Target and they were sold out; I was ready to give up. I went home got my kids dressed brought them to my moms for breakfast and then I asked her if I should go and get it at another Target and she told me to go! So I did and luckily it was there and I got the twin dolls with this whole big set of furniture for $30! I'm glad I got it! Later that day Kurt, Skye, Michael, and our family drove out to State line to meet with dad and Debi for lunch. They go there each year with Debi's family so we went out and had lunch and looked at the shops. I shopped, but couldn't find anything I liked cheap enough to buy. We had a good time visiting and the kids always love seeing there "Papa" (that is what they call him and we have always called him Grandpa). Saturday we had Thanksgiving with my mom. Kurt and Skye were here from Utah, Michael came and our family. Van loved the apple pie and whipping cream! It was nice having Kurt and Skye down for the weekend. Max and Skye played and played, Hanna liked playing with Skye and Skye liked playing with Van, so it worked out great! We had a Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

Making Quilts

This week was just the same normal stuff. School, dance, t-ball, Young Women's...oh ya that is something I can write about; at Young Women's we started making rag quilts and my neighbor gave me an old sewing machine so last night my mom came over and showed me how to sew the squares for my quilt. I was able to get half of my squares sewed before the sewing machine jammed, now I'll have to wait for my neighbor to help me. I am so happy to be in Young Women's I'm learning so many skills that I never caught onto before! We have made quilts that are with two sheets and you tie them together and so now I am going to make Max and Hanna a quilt for Christmas. I'll post the pictures of all three of my quilts when I finish! Another great skill I learned was baking banana bread, I never knew it was that easy! I never thought I liked it until during my mission when my mission president's wife made it for all the missionaries and so I tried it and loved it! Maybe I loved it so much compared to the other choices I had to eat in Taiwan! To sum it all up, I love my calling!

List of 5

I've been tagged for the first time by my good friend Autumn, so here it goes...

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. Working in Utah to gain residency for U.V.S.C.
2. Living at the Glenwood.
3. Working at Day's Inn, doing maid service.
4. Wishing I was dating someone.
5. Reading the Bible.

5 Things on my to do list today:

1. Go to Walmart (done).
2. Do the dishes (1/2 done).
3. Do two loads of laundry (1/2 done).
4. Visit teach.
5. Office work for Danny's business.

5 Foods I enjoy:

1. Indian
2. Thai
3. Pasta
4. Bajio (Mexican)
5. Bread and butter

5 Bad habits

1. My impatience.
2. Biting my nails.
3. Too strict with children's routine
4. Too obsessive with having things done my way.
5. Spending all my free time on the Internet.

5 of my favorite toys: I don't have any, so I'm going to change this to...

5 of my favorite things to do on my spare time:

1. Getting on the Internet!
2. Heritage makers books (scrap booking) on the Internet.
3. Looking at houses (on the Internet).
4. Scrap booking.
5. Reading a book.

5 People I tag:

1. Alicia
2. Carolee
3. No more blogging friends.

Van Turns 1

Van turned one on Saturday November 10th! The sad thing is he teethed and his nose was yucky all weekend. Danny and I were not too happy about it, because my mom had taken Max and Hanna for the weekend and we wanted to veg and enjoy ourselves, but baby Van was wanting someone to hold him all weekend long, I guess you can say we were being a little selfish. Van got just what he wanted for his birthday; all of Mommy and Daddy's love and attention! Van locked himself outside. We missed Max and Hanna but they had lots of fun with Grandma Susan! They played with Baylee and Reagan and had a lot of fun with them. Grandma took them on the train from Oceanside to San Diego and picked up Baxter to go to the beach and play. They got to visit with Aunt Rebecca and Great Grandma Mike too. They enjoyed their weekend, but by Sunday night they were ready to be back home. They didn't come home until Monday, so Hanna had a little bit of a hard day on Sunday and woke up twice in the night crying for mommy. We celebrated Van's birthday on Monday with both grandmas, the Jensen Family and Tracy and Alena Blackwell Family. It was pretty simple. Van not wanting to eat his cake and icecream, which was fine with me! I'm so mad at my cammera! None of the important pictures turned out, I'm still posting it anyway! It was also our sister-in-law Cindy's Birthday this weekend so on Saturday night we went to a "Fabulous 40 Surprise Party" for her. It was done by her sister's and of course they did an excellent job! Danny and I were also able to attend the temple on Friday night which was very nice. I hadn't been since just before I had Van. I never feel comfortable enough to be somewhere where I have to turn my phone off for 2 hours until my baby is one. That is also when I ween, so before then the baby just isn't ready to be away from me for that long at bedtime.

Eventful Week

Hanna started dance this week. She was so excited to go and had been asking when dance starts every day for the past 2 weeks. Right after dance class started I think she was done. Her teacher was a little more outgoing then I think she felt comfortable with. I think the teacher forgot that the kids were only 2. She was a little too energetic for the little ones and she spent way too much time on the language of ballet. Hopefully next week she'll calm herself down and just let the kids dance! It was nice that I was able to sit in the same room as her, I doubt she would have stayed in if I couldn't. We'll try it again on Tuesday. Isn't Hanna's hair cut so cute?! Max started tee ball and had his first game already! He is on the "Dodgers" with the 5 and 6 year old kids, I had to put him with his cousin Zachary or he wouldn't have wanted to play, but he looks as though he fits right in! Tee ball at this age is nice, everyone gets a chance to hit three times and play different positions in the outfield each game. He got a little board, but he did get a little action and he really likes his new hat! Grandpa Ernie and Grandma Debi were in town for work and were able to come watch Max play and had some fun with Hanna and Van on the sidelines! Our ward had a chili cook off for Halloween and a Trunk-or-Treat! The kids had lot of fun! We didn't have baby Van trick-or-treat, but when the kids got home and dumped their candy all over our bed he was just about talking for some of their candy! So we gave in and gave him a succor which made him so happy! He was so cute doing the cutest little um um umms and smacking his little lips and shacking his head, it was diffidently all worth his reaction! Hanna and Rylee Blackwell dressed as Tinker Bell, so cute!