Our Christmas Letter 2009

Twas the Night Before Christmas 2009

Twas the night before Christmas and I sit down to write

All of the ideas in my head are having a real fight!

It is often overwhelming to look back through the year

God's faithfulness and provision are ever so near

Michael has been working very hard for the family he loves

While our every need was met from heaven above!

He has been working for B-Line driving the bus

And selling, delivering, and moving safes to provide for us.

The end of the year brought the end of our store

But God continues to bless our (now) home business galore!

Kristi is busy schooling her kids, answering phones, and being the social planner

She can't imagine her life in any other manner.

Zane is growing before our very eyes, not only in height, but maturity too

He has kept busy with piano lessons, classes, and being a reporter for our church's news.

Andrew has kept busy with activities of his own, like guitar, legos, and reading

He uses his gift of humor to bring laugther when we are needing.

Brianne is already four, but wishes that she was older by far.

She began gymnastics, loves to sing, likes school work, and going to the park.

Our days are very full with the busyness of being a family of five

Through His grace and mercy is the only way these parents survive.

We are so grateful for the events of this past year

And look forward to His will as we look ahead from here.

We wish you a Merry Christmas filled with blessings and more

As we remember the birth of His son, for that is what Christmas is for!

Bishop's Pumpkin Patch

One of our favorite field trips all year long is visiting Bishop's Pumpkin Patch in Wheatland. It would not be fall without a trip there! Enjoy the highlights of our trip!

Special Time with Daddy

There is nothing more special than a little girl's time with her daddy.

Anniversary Celebration

My husband of four years and I went away for the day to celebrate our anniversary which happens to still be a few days away. Our thought was to go to Redding and relive some of our favorite first dates. That was the plan anyway. Our day did not begin quite as we planned, but the rest was amazing. Sometimes our "plans" just aren't supposed to happen. We had such a wonderful time, just the two of us.

We started out by riding our bikes downtown to watch a bike race held on the streets of downtown Chico. We were so glad that we did not miss this! It was amazing! Our picture is not super great, but the racers are right behind my helmet!

We then went to Redding and walked across the Sundial Bridge (something we did on our very first meeting. Awwww....

My bicycle husband found this bike rack (?) near the river. The seat was not very comfortable, but he had to get on to take a few pictures. I love this guy!

We ended our evening by having dinner at one of our favorite Redding restaurants, Red Robin. Our waitress was wonderful and we had a very enjoyable time. Thank heavens for husbands that were created perfectly for us. I am a very blessed wife.

Dress Up Fun

Thrift Store + Halloween Costumes = Dress Up Fun for the Family! At our home, we do not celebrate Halloween. I actually quite despise the holiday. I love decorating the house with harvest decorations like autumn leaves, pumpkins, and gourds, do not get me wrong. But Halloween just does not have a spot in our home. Instead, we like to dress up whenever we have the chance! Ok, by we I mean our children. :) A local thrift store was having a 50% off sale today and they just happened to have dress up clothes (Halloween costumes) there. We scored! As you can see by the following pictures, we had a little too much fun. Too bad they didn't have anything my size! ;)

The boys wanted to do a picture movie. You just might have to use your imagine to figure out the plot of the above two pictures and Z's pictures below. :) Your guesses are as good as mine. :)

Final Summer Activity

I hadn't realized that I had been neglecting our blog until today! Wow! Where has this last month gone? I thought that I would share a few highlights and a few pictures!

We have started our second year of homeschooling and continue to love it! The boys are involved in piano/guitar lessons, tennis lessons for Z, and will begin their classes at the Chico Center on Monday. They are so excited! Little B is even in on the fun. She has been having so much fun writing her name, cutting with scissors, and coloring, coloring, coloring!

Little B and I went up to my hometown to experience the Intermountain Fair (my favorite thing to do over Labor Day Weekend). We had a blast!

We traveled to Brookings, OR for a week-long vacation at the end of August. My sweet husband had his first week off in 9 months so we took advantage of it! We spent time fishing, riding our bikes (mostly my husband), visiting friends in Coos Bay, time at the beach, and spending time together with my wonderful grandparents.

Now we are back in our home awaiting the arrival of my new niece or nephew. I can't wait to meet this special bundle! School is in full swing. My selfless husband continues to work incredibly hard for our family so I can stay home with three of the most amazing children in the world. I am blessed!

Day of Scavenger Hunts

The school year is JUST around the corner. Yesterday, we picked up all of our curriculum for the school year and realized that we had just 11 days until we began to work through it all. We are supposed to begin on August 24th, but we will be on vacation that week! So, the boys (responsible as they are) have decided to start a week early so that we can enjoy our week away and not have to catch up when we get home.

With all of this in mind, we decided to take advantage of our day. It began with a short drive downtown to the Chamber of Commerce where we picked up a map and a list of the murals found in Chico. After looking at the list, we decided to stick to the downtown area so that we could walk to them all. Keep in mind...the following murals are not ALL of the murals in downtown Chico (only a small handful of them). Wow!

#1 - Phoenix (on the side of Jon and Bon's)
#2 - John and Annie Bidwell (off of 2nd Street)
A was sad that John's face was covered by the tree.


#3 - Academe (on the side of Taylor Hall at Chico State)

#4 - Chico Roller Flouring Mills (we think) off of Salem

Z loved how the trees in the mural were identical to the actual

trees next to the mural!

#5 - Lyon's Books mural (not on the list, but Z thought that it should be)

#6 - Electric Rail Car (City Plaza)

#7 - #60 Electric Rail Car (also in City Plaza)

The people sitting in front of the mural thought that we were crazy!

(If you click on this picture you can see the hilarious look Little B has on her face!)

#8 - Pony Express (on the side of the downtown post office)

We could not believe how many murals there were! As we drove away from downtown Chico we saw many more! Z thought that we could go back another time and add to our list! :) I agree!

Our next adventure was at the Dollar Store. I borrowed this idea from a fellow teacher/mom so I cannot take credit for inventing it. The kids had fun anyway! We pulled up to the Dollar Store and I told the kids that they were going to do a scavenger hunt! They would need to stay together and follow my instructions. And of course they would need to put the items back after they had completed a task. :)

#1 - Find your favorite food and pretend that you are eating it. Of course they went for CANDY! :)

#2 - Find something that you would place school supplies in and put it on your back.

I think that these backpacks were made for preschoolers. :)

#3 was to find a hat and a pair of underwear to wear. Unfortunately, the boys were too embarrassed for me to post that picture...they didn't really wear the underwear, but they made it look convincing. You should have seen them trying to find an aisle with no one in it! :)

#4 - Find a pair of shoes and put them on.

They could only find little girls' flip flops. :)

#5 - Find a school supply and pretend that you are using it.

#6 - Find a cleaning product and pretend that you are using it.

Z was trying to clean A!

#7 - Find your favorite drink and pretend that you are drinking it.

#8 - From all that they were pretending to drink and eat, they decided to go to the medicine aisle to pretend that they needed medicine.

#9 - Finally, the were told to find a toy that they would like and pose with it. After the picture was taken, they were told that they could buy it! :)


FUN! The whole adventure only added up to $3! Hooray for cheap and fun things to do!