The Christmas Plan

As Christmas is fast approaching, I was trying to figure out a way to simplify our Christmas. I ran across this cute little poem on someone's blog and decided that this was a great way to simplify and save at Christmas this year. Each child will get four presents:

Something you Want

Something you Need

Something to Wear

and Something to Read

I thought this was genius! Four presents for each child is still 20 presents under the tree along with a gift from "Santa Clause" and other miscellaneous gifts from extended family. So after I talked it over with Seth, we presented the new idea to the kids at dinner. The first response was confusion. Then I could see realization spread across Ashley's face and she said, "So we're just doing this this year and NEXT year we'll have a GOOD Christmas?" What do you say to that??

Halloween!!

We were a little less than creative this year for Halloween. We looked through Grandma Romney's costume box and came up with Ashley's "Jasmine" costume and everyone else picked something they had been before. Mandy was a princess (the costume Grandma Marks made several years ago, it's so fun and beautiful), Jason was batman (again), Lydia was a kangaroo and a dragon, whichever costume she felt like wearing (she wore both on and off for several days).

We had a good time trick or treating in our new neighborhood. It was good to get to know a few neighbors and learn where all the kids live. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The kids came home with buckets full of candy that they traded in for prizes I purchased the night before. I think we are going to have to stop the "prize store" Halloween tradition at our house. The kids are no longer satisfied with dollar store prizes I used to buy for the trade. It's getting more expensive every year, but they LOVE it and I LOVE that they don't eat all the candy!

Jason's Birthday

Jason is 6!! Wow, how time flies. So being new to the area, we invited some boys over from church and school and put up the traditional Marks Family Pinata. It was awesome!! We had those little boys here for 1 hour and I will never do a party longer than that again. It was perfect! Come, play a game, hit a pinata, sing happy birthday, eat cake and ice cream, open presents, pick up your treat bag, go home. I had two little boys compliment the party by saying it was the funnest party they had ever been to!! I came to the conclusion that simple is best.

There is nothing better to a 6 year old boy than a pinata shaped as a football!! Boys just love to hit things, especially if candy comes bursting out in the end. Look at that swing!

Blow out the candles so we can eat some cake!! Jason picked mint chocolate chip ice cream to go with the cake because he LOVES GREEN.

Happy Birthday to my big 6 year old!! I love you buddy!

The Reid Park Zoo

Shortly after we moved to Tucson, we visited the Reid Park Zoo. It's the perfect zoo to visit for a few hours on a Saturday. You can see all the animals in about 2 hours. It's pretty small, but just right for me, so we purchased a yearly pass. These won't be the last of the zoo photos.

Waiting for the tiger to come out and play.....

My turn, no my turn, no it's my turn to sit on the peacock!!

Black Widow

I don't think it was a coincidence that we found a black widow spider the week before Halloween! Spooky!!

Seth was cleaning out the trap by the pool the other day, lifted up the cover and then spotted it. It had made two nice little egg sacks under the lid. Well, he quickly destroyed spider and eggs and then realized how many times he had cleaned out the trap and how close his fingers had been to that spider over the last month. He really was lucky he never got bit!!

We hope we don't ever have to see one of those spiders again!! After you have an encounter with one, you have to look up all the horrible pictures on the internet of people's hands and arms that get bit, and trust me, it isn't pretty.

Speaking in Sacrament Meeting

Seth and I have been asked to speak in Sacrament meeting on Sunday in our new ward here in Tucson. Kind of scary. We've been asked to speak on General Conference. So for all of you who watched the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints last weekend, give me your favorite talk, or your general impressions, or anything that inspired you to do better or change something in your life or your family. I need your feedback!

My personal favorite talk was Elder Jeffery R. Holland's talk on the divinity of the Book of Mormon, it was INCREDIBLE! I also had a general feeling that many talks given were on Love and God's Love for us and extending Love to others. What are your impressions?

Unpacking

We are in our new home!!

The truck arrived on Friday and we are busy unpacking all these boxes. It feels like Christmas here. The kids are thrilled to see all their beds and toys and clothes and we are all having a fun time deciding where to put everything.

We are so blessed!! My mom has been here helping and my brother Jacob and his wife Sherri are coming tomorrow to help watch kiddos and check out the new "crib." It is fun to live close to family.

I will post more pictures when we get all computers set up!