Woodland Park Zoo

Saturday we spent the day at the zoo with Weldon's family and grandma. It was a very nice day. Cold, but super sunny. Jade was a little grumpy because she hasn't been feeling well, but she played along a few times.

We got a wheel chair for mom so it would be an easier trip for her - it's a big zoo. I guess Aaron got bored after a while, because he started doing tricks with her. It was so funny we were all dying, and people who would walk by us would look at us like we were off our rocker. I took a few picks and then finally got a recording. By the time I got the video out though she was getting used to the wheely, so it's not quite as funny as it was at first. Still funny though!!

Christmas

Even though we have had kids working through the Christmas holiday, it has been a really great Christmas.

Christmas Eve we went over to my mom's house, after Jessi got home from work, and had a yummy meal and sat around and played games. It was a very fun night. Mom got each family a Wii for Christmas - one game system we didn't have yet. Had the Cube but not the Wii.

Christmas morning was nice and quite with just our fam. We opened presents and then Aaron and I spent the rest of the morning putting together his new telescope until Weldon, Julie, Jade and Grandma came over to spend the rest of the day with us.

We had a big breakfast, played Wii bowling, watched movies, played games and ate a lot of cookies. FUN! Mom really got into bowling and beat everyone. We'll have to have her over to play with us again soon!

Aaron got me these really good sunglasses, and some new drum heads for my set. I love them, and really needed them! Jess got me the new "Star Trek" and Jeff got me "Up". Both movies I love!

Aaron's main gift this year was his telescope. I really fretted over that for weeks wondering if I should spend he money or not, but in the end just decided to go for it. It's what I wanted to get him, so I did. He LOVES to look at the stars. Jess got him a moon filter to go with it and Jeff got him the last Iron Maiden CD he needed to complete his set.

Aaron and I got Jeff a new fancy coat (that's too big, gotta go exchange it some time) and a PS2. I think he has every game system represented now in his collection. Jess got him the extended version fancy set of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Jess had been dying to find out what Jeff got her for weeks now. The way the package was wrapped was very odd and she just couldn't wait to find out what it was. He got her a gig bag for her bass. Aaron and I got her a camera. She has been wanting one for a couple of years now and finally has one.

Putting together the telescope

Playing Wii bowling

Grandma was so excited she won she almost cleared air jumping in celebration.

We had a great Christmas and got to spend it with great people!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Christmas Eve Eve

We went over to Teresa's house to Celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve Eve. The boys were going to be at their dad's house on Christmas and they really wanted to see Jeff, so we celebrated early. I recorded mom opening her present so that those who couldn't be there could share in this moment.

I think she really liked it. Good job Amy!

Can I just say that Jade is freakin' cute!!

Wow! Finn is a tank! He just pile drives his brother, and Owen just takes it. Poor kid! After this pic was taken Finn stoop up and jumped right on Owens gut. Ouch!

Aaron looks completely in his comfort zone :o)!

Thanks for hosting this year Teresa! I know it wasn't easy for you being gone all day, but we all had fun! It's just great to be together!

Gingerbread Train

Always looking for the cheap dates, I subjected Aaron to building a gingerbread train with me this year. We did wait until Jess got home from work though to do it with us. I think we were not quite intelligent enough however, we should have had Marylinn here to help us! But, we did have a ton of laughs, and in the end that's what it's there for! We had fun.

New Car

So, here it is.... two weeks of total stress and hastle we finally found a new car.

Two weeks ago Jess was driving our good and faithful Altima and was involved in a hit and run accident coming home from work. She was not hurt at all, but the car was damaged pretty good. Fortunately we have uninsured motorist coverage on our insurance, so we had coverage! We took it in for an estimate - $2,200 worth damage!! Holy cow, the car isn't even really worth that any more. So, we decided to take the insurance check and put it towards a new car.

Can I just say I HATE SHOPPING FOR CARS!!!!! I hate car salesmen, I hate trying to find something decent within your budget.... too much stress. It just really sucks that we are put into this position of finding a car and spending money we were not planing on because of some complete dick head out there!!! I finally found this little car this morning.

It's not super new, but for the price it's really good and clean. It is a bit newer and less mileage than the Altima, so it's a trade up for us. Hopefully we can milk it for a good 8-10 years. By then the kids will be good and gone and we can get a sweet little ride for ourselves. Only time will tell, but Nissan is a really good car.

Merry Christmas to us. I guess.

Christmas With The Moms

We asked our moms if they would rather get something or do something for Christmas this year. Both of them, without hesitation, said they would rather go do something. So, we took them both out last night for their Christmas presents.

We started with taking them to a really nice dinner. It was nice just sitting, eating and visiting. We then went from there to Gean Coulon Park to see the lights they had decorated the park with. It was really beautiful. Cold, but beautiful, so we walked around there for a few minutes, until it was just too cold. From there we took them to Jeff's theater to see "Julie and Julia". I have been wanting to see that ever since I saw the previews for it and it seemed like the perfect movie to take them to. It was very cute and funny and we all loved it. We then came back to our house for hot chocolate with peppermint ice cream in it. YUM!

I think we all had a great time, and thought doing something was way more fun than getting something for sure.

Merry Christmas Momma Smout and Taylor. We love you!!!

Annual Christmas Rush 5K

Saturday was our annual Christmas Rush 5K. Aaron decided to do the 10K this year for something different, but the rest of us just stayed with the 5K. It was fun, as usual, but freakin' cold!!!

Paul Jensen, Linda Jensen, Alison Jensen, Lisa Clement
Aaron, Me, and Alex Sheets (Jess's boyfriend)

We were so cold before the race that we all walked over to the laundry mat and hung out to stay warm. After the race we all came back to the house for brunch together. Great times!

Winterfest

After Jeff's Celebration dinner we walked over to the Seattle Center for Winterfest. It was something fun to do for the evening since we were in Seattle anyway. I actually got Aaron to try Ice Skating!! He has never tried it before, and if you know Aaron you will know that this was quite a feat. He doesn't like anything strapped to his feet - roller skates/blades, skate boards, ice skates.....

He was very cute as we went around the tiny rink. He would not let go of me for anything. The first time around he was holding onto my coat and nearly choked me to death, and then I convinced him to hold onto my hand instead. Awwww..... I was keeping him from falling down and it was kind of romantic ice skating holding hands. He said he felt like Rocky Balboa and Adrian, except there were a lot of little kids skating around in front of us making is WAY less romantic and in some cases just down right dangerous.

Even though he was super nervous for most of the time, Aaron actually skated the last two go rounds all by himself. It was super fun, and I think he had fun too.

Afterward we went over to the center house to watch Garfield HS jazz band perform and snacked on french fries. Can I just say that I was super impressed with the talent of those kids!!! Wow! We had a great time until the invasion and smell of the bums just got to be too much for us and we had to leave. They really need to regulate that!

Jeff was with us too, he just didn't want to ice skate, so he was our picture man.

Academic Success Celebration

We got to go to a little shin dig at Jeff's school that they were putting on for all the students that got on the dean's list the last two quarters. The culinary arts program provided food, they hired a dj, and presented each student with Academic pins. I think Jeff had fun hooking up with a couple of his friends there. Way to go Jeff!

Decorating The Christmas Tree

We had a fun night with our annual Papa Murphy's Pizza, decorating the Christmas tree, hot chocolate and "Christmas Vacation". Brett was hanging out with Jeff, so he joined in the festivities. He fits into our family very well.

*Sigh* I have such mature boys in this house. I told you Brett fit in very nicely. Sponge Bob is Jeff's creation and the squirrel with the big balls is Brett's.

Black Friday

Jess and I went out for our Traditional Annual Black Friday shopping trip. We started going out a few years ago and just have so much fun we keep doing it. It's just a great time for her and I to hang out together. We get our Christmas shopping done, go out to breakfast, and always get our picture taken with Santa. Too fun!! I love hanging out with her!

Thanksgiving

We had a little different of a Thanksgiving this year. With having older kids with jobs in the retail fields momentarily, both of them had to work - or so we thought. Jessi really did have to work, being in a grocery store at Thanksgiving is kind of a given. Jeff thought he had to work too, but came home about 30 minutes later. The dork looked at the wrong schedule and didn't have to work after all.

It was quite a quiet day however with Jess gone, and us eating later no one came over till later. That's okay, it gave Jeff some great homework time. Dinner turned out great and we enjoyed the evening hanging out a lot. Grandma Smout even brought us Thanksgiving presents.

She asked us what she could bring for Thanksgiving and Aaron told her presents. So, she did. It was so cute, and we all loved it a lot!!!! I got a little bouncy ball, Jess got play dough, Jeff Go Fish cards and Aaron got a kaleidoscope. Thanks Grandma, too fun!

We got tired of waiting for Aaron to finish talking to Amy to resume our game of Speed Uno so Jeff got a rubber band to fasten the phone onto his head so he could do both at the same time.

Oh the entertainment a silly little rubber band can bring! And we are always wondering why that boy doesn't have a girl friend!

De-boning the Turkey is my LEAST favorite part of Thanksgiving. I just hate it, so this year I made it a family affair. Jess was completely disgusted and I thought she was going to gag. I guess that's a trait she picked up from Amy, gagging at the wimpiest stuff. Jeff was just completely fascinated. He just got done going to the Bodies Exhibit for anatomy class and so it very in tune that sort of thing right now. He was feeling quite mortal last night ripping the flesh of another, once living animal.

We are so blessed in our lives and have so much to be thankful for. We all have jobs, Jeff is getting a great education, a warm house, cars to drive....... many many blessings. But most of all I am just so thankful for my family. Everyone is happy and healthy. We get along amazing and love to be together. Who could ask for more?

New Moon

Last night, after the party festivities were over a few of the girls and I took off to go see New Moon. We left early thinking that it might be busy and there were five of us that wanted to sit together. Holy Crap - it's a good thing I bought the tickets the day before and we were 40 minutes early. I can't remember the last time I sat in such a long line! The five of us ended up not being able to sit together after all. Becca and I sat together and the other three sat behind us.

The movie was okay. It certainly was better than the last one. I just get so tired of Kristen Stewart. I can't stand her acting at all! And, we were in a sold out theater with probably the most inconsiderate audience I have ever been in. Yelling crying small children, people running up and down the isles and in front of the theater, cell phones going off..... ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Not the best movie experience I have ever had, but it was still fun hanging out with the girls.

Jessi's Birthday Party

We had a fun day partying with Jess's friends for her 17th birthday. Since she is doing running start, she doesn't get to see a lot of them very often, so I think it was fun for her to just hang out.

We had an unknown dinner to start with, Mexican style, then just played games and did a bunch a nothing. Fun stuff

Poor Mitchell, all he got on this course of his meal were his silverware and drink. That means he got a whole lot of food later with no silverware to eat with. Such is the way of the game.

Jess sitting with Alex, her new beau.

A cake that Becca and Tori made Jess. It's says "You better eat this". They also gave her the soda below along with a farris wheel of pictures of them for her. They certainly put a lot of time into their gift - it was very thoughtful.

By the way, take a look at the beautiful teeth on this girl!! She finally got to quit wearing her retainers during the day. Night only. Now her smile is even more amazing. She is such a pretty girl. Looks like her mom :o).

Singing happy birthday and blowing out candles. With Alex, Jacob and McKenzie.

Caitlyn, Holly (Damon's girlfriend) and Damon

Cute Pic!
Back - Mitchell and Blake
Front - Jess, Jacob and McKenzie

Becca, Tori and Cameron

Becca again

Jess got a lot of cool stuff for her birthday and enjoyed hanging out a lot. She's got a great group of friends. Now she has lots of fun gift cards to go out shopping with. I get to have fun doing that with her I think. Can't wait.