Merry Christmas

As I sit here missing my family and avoiding all the pre-Christmas work that I should be doing here is a random mixture of some Christmas pics I have taken the past week.

I hope everyone has a FABULOUS Christmas!

Ward Christmas Party

Here are some random pictures of my very cute kids from our Ward Christmas Party.

RANDOM ALDRIDGES

Carlie LOVES the snow....here she is making snow angels and posing on the trampoline.

I do believe Berkeley is the most handsome boy EVER!

Here I am in my hotel room when I went to Time Out for Women with my mother-in-law, and sisters-in laws. It was AMAZING.

Here is my cute little family at the Starlight Parade in our small little town

Carlie and Claire

Carlie & her cousin Claire

They LOVE each other & fight like sisters. This love/hate relationship is probably due to the fact that they are in the same Kindergarten class, go to daycare together, have dance class twice a week together, live a block away from each other, etc....

That is a LOT of time spent together.

Look at their sassy personalities!!

I LOVE these girls

Best Buds....

Fall Fun

Last month we hung out with some of Berk & Carlie's cousins and went to Rasmussen Farms. What a great time picking out pumpkins, buying fresh fruit, navigating the corn maze, and checking out the pumpkin character displays. I love the fall in the Columbia Gorge!!

Oh Cocomotion, how I love you!

Everyone should have one of these. My sister bought me one a few years ago and I have been in love ever since. Just add some milk and hot cocoa mix and push a button. A few minutes later you have perfectly blended hot cocoa at just the right temperature. If you are super awesome like me you will add a teaspoon or two of your favorite Torani flavoring. My favorite is hazelnut.

This is the best thing to get you through the cold winter months.......seriously.

May the Force Be With You

Star Wars Family - The Clone Wars

Darth-Tater attacks, R2D2 is down!

Don't mess with the force!!!

Carlie showing off her Ahsoka makeup

How did R2D2 get a light saber?

The CUTEST R2D2 in the galaxy

Ahsoka...cutest Padawan this side of the Jedi Temple

Carlie & Claire....super cute cousins

I HATE when Halloween is on Sunday. Luckily this year our ward put on a great party on Saturday. We went to an orchard and had an apple squeeze, chili-cookoff (I was one of the winners), fishing, & a trunk or treat. It was such a great time.

Carlie is sooo old..Where has the time gone?

My baby girl turned six last month. I can't believe it. I usually do extravagent birthday parties for my children, but this year I went mellow. I am too stressed out and busy this school year. Anyways, we had a nice family dinner of Carlie's favorite enchiladas and southwest eggrolls. Her cake was a store bought ice cream cake (I have NEVER done a store bought cake, but again, remember stressed out working mom). The blue frosting made everyone's tongue turn blue, hence the picture with the kids sticking their tongues out.

Carlie's favorite presents were her dragon and Scooby Doo Wii game. **Interesting Fact: Carlie is 4 foot 7 inches and wears a size 4 or 5 (yeah that is adult size)

Zombie Gina

I am a high school teacher. We had dress up days for homecoming week. I LOVE to dress up. One of the days they had Generations Day.

Freshmen = babies

Sophmores = toddlers

Junior = Adults

Seniors = Senior Citizens

Teachers = Zombies

As you can see I am quite the zombie. I looked even better at school because I ripped up an old lab coat and goggles. I said I died from teaching 9th grade science. Plus I tried to stay in character as much as possible all day long. Lots of grunting and weird walking.

SOOOOO FUN!!!!!!!!

Carlie Starts K

Here is some pics from Carlie's first day of school. Not sure what I was thinking having her cover up her cute outfit with her hoodie for the pictures, but oh well. She LOVES kindergarten and is doing well.

Camp & Beads

I am the stake camp director for my church. For all my non-LDS friends this means I am in charge of a week long camp in the mountains for girls ages 12-18. It is an enormous job!!!! Anyways, I wanted the girls to earn beads for the different things they participated in (this is what my stake in Arizona did and it was so much fun). By the end of camp they would have a momento of their week and hopefully remember all the things they experienced. I also wanted them to have a necklace that would hold their daily schedule. If you look at the necklace on the left you can see the plastic protector that held their schedule. It helped SO much! All the girls always knew where they were supposed to be. Thanks to Jillaire McMillian and her hard work to get the schedule cards personalized for each level.....it was so much work and she did an outstanding job.

I spent months shopping, coming up with ideas, and making beads. I could NOT have accomplished this without AKEMI WHITELEY!!! She took my vision and worked tirelessly to create so many cute beads........she is amazing.

Here is what my front room looked like ALL summer! Girls Camp took over my life!!!!!!

Trampoline

Swim Lessons for Carlie

Carlie loves the water.

DANCE FESTIVAL....amazing

This past year Corey & I had the privilege to be dance instructors for the regional dance festival for our church. There were over 12oo youth ages 12-18 involved. We taught the 12-13 aged boys a dance to Eye of the Tiger for 6 month prior to the youth festival. For three days in June six stakes from all over the Vancouver Washington area & surrounding areas got together to PRACTICE some more and put on three performances. I will never forget how much fun it was and how much I felt the spirit.