The Bickmore Family

"It's all greek to me"...

2012-01-13T11:25:00.000-08:00

Sydney performed in a play at her middle school last Friday January 6,2012. Every mini play was so funny & good the audience was cracking up!!! We came out very impressed with the middle school theater program! Each play was Greek themed!!! Here are some pictures from that night:

One of my new yrs resolutions....

2012-01-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

Is to BLOG MORE OFTEN!!!!!!!! I used to be soooo good at keeping up with our live & blogging it! But then we added 4 jobs to our life, 4 kids who have sports, church activities,etc etc... But I will do my best to blog at least once a week!!! So this is my catch up post!!! Thanksgiving-Christmas!!!

1.For Thanksgiving we went to California to be with my parents!! We had a nice relaxing time!!! Played games, Ate non stop , went to the beach & saw some friends!! It was a nice trip!!

2. Christmas break was heaven!!!! We had the best two weeks off as a family!! No work at all , sleeping in, day trips,movies, out to eat etc. Duane &I both agreed it was soo needed with our busy life!!!! The simple things mean the most anymore. We loved our time off together as a family. One of the things we did that I did get pictures of was we went to the Magical Forest with some friends! It was so pretty & the kids had a great time!!

3. Christmas eve was our traditional evening with Duane's brother & his family!!! We had dinner, played games & did our Christmas Eve pj's!! Always a good time!!

4. Christmas day was one of the best Christmases ever!!!!! It was one of the best because it was no rush to pack up for a trip or company or anything!! It was just us!!!!!The kids all scored from Santa and had a great day!!! We enjoyed playing with all the new toys & things that they got!!! We had a nice Christmas breakfast and a nice Christmas dinner!!

THANKSGIVING IN CALIFORNIA:

Painting personal plates for keepsake

One of the dinner tables set up for our Thanksgiving meal

Played lots of games of Bowl-o

LOVE the beach!!!


Marley & Bear at the beach having fun!!

CHRISTMAS BREAK: MAGICAL FOREST!!!

Duane & His 4 babies!! :)

CHRISTMAS EVE:

Just dance fun!!

Played Just dance a lot!!!

Group shot!!

Every one Pile on Duane!! You can see his socks!!!

Ryan & Dave matching pj's

Karlie & Hunter being silly with Dave

Cousins!! Kaden & Hunter

CHRISTMAS:

Finally the wait is over!! Coming down to see what Santa brought!!

coming downstairs to see what Santa brought!!

Hunter got a sweet long board from Santa!!!

Sari is super excited that she got a cell phone from Santa!!

Sydney got a kindle fire from Santa!!

Samantha got a kindle fire from Santa!!

Enjoying her new kindle fire

Sari doing her stocking

Sydney with her stocking

Samantha got some Legacy high school stuff for her car!!

Legacy High school sticker for her car!!

LOL Sari excited for her Justin Bieber cd

Chargers Jersey!

Mid way thru presents....

Marley Enjoying his bone!!

Adding more soccer to our life!!!!!

2011-11-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

Samantha just made the high school soccer team for her freshmen yr of high school!!! We are ecstatic and soo proud of her hard work and dedication!! She also made it for an alternate for the JV team!!! (They do not allow girls there freshmen yr to be bumped they like them to be on freshmen team but they choose two girls to be alternates for JV and Samantha is one of them!) We are soo thrilled!!! Adding more soccer to our live!! Woo hoo!!!!! I love being a cheerleader for my kids no matte what it is that THEY choose to do!!! :)

Way to go our sweet Samantha!!

Just a picture I took one of the many nights I spend at the soccer field watching Samantha & Hunter practice soccer together!! Thought it was super pretty!!

Family pictures 2011!!!

2011-11-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

Our family!!! :)

Sydney

Samantha

Hunter

Duane & Jenn

The boys!

The girls! :)

Sari

Mom & son! :)

Sari is so sweet she wanted a picture with just her & I! :)

Sure do LOVE the 4 kids!!

Adult Halloween party!!!!

2011-11-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

We hosted our second annual Adult Halloween party & had a BLAST!!!! It is soo fun to see what everyone is!!!! Here are a few pictures from that fun night!!! I wish I had used my camera more to capture everyone who came!!!! Thanks again to those who came!!! :)

Duane & I!!! Scary pumpkin man with cute pumpkin!! :)

Duane won by a landslide for scary costume!!

SCARY!!!

kids/teen 2nd annual Halloween party!!

2011-10-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

Well we survived another very busy fun filled kids/teen Halloween party!!!! I lost track of kids after 40!! The kids all had a ton of fun!!!!! We had our DJ stuff out & they danced, played Halloween bingo, candy jar guessing games, costume contest, doughnut string game, limbo etc!! Here are A FEW pictures from the party on October 15th!! Next it is our Adult Halloween party this weekend!!!! :)

Sydney: Candy Corn witch!!

Sari: Monster High girl

Hunter: Jabbawakee

Samantha: dead homecoming queen

Halloween is near!!

2011-10-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

I LOVE Halloween!!!!! We host two big Halloween parties every yr an adult one and a kid/teen one!!! It is a blast!!!!! Here are some of our Halloween decor SO FAR for this yr!!! :)

34!!

2011-10-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

That is how OLD I am now!!!! ( As of Sept 29th) I had a fabulous birthday!! I was a little sad that I didn't get to spend it with Duane since he works until 9:30 pm but I have THE BEST friends in the world who made my day a blast!!!!!! I loved all my facebook messages,emails, texts, phone calls, gifts!!! That night I went out with a bunch of girlfriends to dinner!!! It was sooo fun!!!! I feel so very lucky to have so many amazing people in my life who made my day extra special!!! Here are some pics from my b-day:

This is what 34 looks like!!!

HA HA I showed up at the restaurant & my friends had me wear this!! It was so fun!!

THE most funniest card ever from my hubby!!! It is hilarious it talks !!!

I came down stairs at 6 am to this from Hubby!! I fresh warm apple fritter, roses & funny card!! ( he also got me clothes & new van lol)

Funny card from my parents!!

Inside of funny card from my parents!!

Just some of my cards that I received in the morning.

Gift from my sweet friend! Mini cake, card, glitter pumpkins

Yum!!! This mini chocolate cake was sooo good!!

My stash from the day!

More of my stash & my restaurant tiara, beau, wand


Bath & body works from a sweet friend!!

Maybe turning 34 wasn't so bad after all!!!! :-)

playing catch up!!!!!!

2011-09-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

WOW a lot has happened since I last posted!! I will try to do my best & do some catching up with just a few main pictures from each event!!!!! Here are some main events that have happened since my last post below..
Not in any particular order....

.1 Duane's parents came from Mexico ( They are the temple presidents for the LDS church in Veracruz Mexico so we get two weeks once a yr that they split up between each kid & family) We had a Bickmore family reunion in Big bear lake ca The first weekend of July! We had a blast. it was so great to be with each of Duane's siblings &; families!!!! ( all of these trip pictures on our my personal Fb page)

2, Sari had her b-day in June on the 20th &; turned 11. I was so busy guess I never posted it! :( She had a fun day of swimming & presents!!!

3. I also never posted some of the end of the yr events like Sari graduating from 5th grade &her fire Jose spray down!! ( June)

4. Samantha had her end of the yr 8th grade dance to officially be done with middle school!! Where does the time go?!!( June)

5, Recently our young Men's & young Women's had an 80's dance that we were the DJ's for! It was a ton of fun!!! Speaking of DJ we are keeping busy!!!! Wish I could add all of our DJ stuff on here but this needs to stay a family blog !!! :)
***If you have not yet become a fan of us here is our facebook page!!! Pass the word along!!!!! I update that often &; it has all of our events on there that we have done!!! (Sept )

https://www.facebook.com/pages/D-J-Entertainment/105191839520796

6. We took a trip to UT to meet our new sweet niece ( my sisters 1st baby!!!!) She is so sweet & fun!! We had a ton of fun showing the kids Bridal Veil falls. ice blocking at rock canyon park, dollar theater, slc train &; slc, fishing, walking Provo parkway trails!!!We just had tons of fun with my sister &; her hubby &; new niece Blakely in Ogden & Provo &; slc!!! Great memories!!! ( July) ( all of these trip pictures are on my personal Fb page)

7. The kids all started the new school yr end of August!!!

I think this somewhat catches us up on everything I have been slacking on!!!! I wish I was better at posting like I used to be and each post was detailed with every event & all the pictures!!! But this will have to do!!!

As for life now we are back in school &work and staying busy as ever!!!! We now have Hunter in second grade, Sari in 6th grade, Sydney in 7th grade , Samantha a freshmen in high school!!!!
I still run daycare out of my home from 6:45 am- 4 pm Mon-Fri. Duane works day job from 6 am- 3;30 pm we eat dunner from 4-5 then he goes to night job from 5- 9:30 pm!!!! And we keep busy on the weekends with DJ jobs!!!!! Our life is busy but we are very blessed &; would not trade it!!!! I will try & do better at posting right away as I used to!!!!!!!!! :-)

Family reunion Big Bear Lake ca

June 20, 2011 sari's 11th Birthday

Sari 5th grade Graduation

Goodbye Elementary school for her!!! Fire Jose spray down!!

Where does the time go?! Samantha 8th grade dance!!!

Oh ya rockin the RAD 80's!! All these pics plus more are on our DJ fb site!!!

Our UT trip was a blast!! Wish I could share all the pictures!!!

First day of school Aug 29,11 our Freshman

First day of school Aug 29,11 our 7th grader

First day of school Aug 29,11 our new middle schooler 6th grade

first day of school Aug 29, 11 our 2nd grader! The one & only left at Elem school!

Hunter's Baptism..

2011-07-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

Wow where does the time go?!!! Our last has been baptized!!!! Hunter was Baptized on July 9, 2011. We had such a great special weekend!!!! . My sister & her family even surprised us and showed up! Hunter had both sets of grandparents , aunts & uncles, his soccer coach , cousins , kindergarten teacher &; many more!!We felt so loved that so many people could attend!! We feel so lucky to have so many people in our life who support our kids in all there many events. I know a lot of people who could not come where there in spirit & we felt there love. I wish I had taken more pictures from that day but I totally forgot. Here are the few I do have:

Sydney's 13th Birthday!!!!

2011-06-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

Wow we officially have two teenage girl's in our home!!! YIKES!!!!!! Sydney had a super birthday!! A few weeks before her birthday( same day as Hunter took a friend for his birthday) she got to take a few friends to Circus Circus Adventure dome. Then on her real birthday ( May 28th) she got to do lunch & the mall with 2 friends and they went and got manicures! That night she also had friends back over & cousins for cake & ice cream!! She had an amazing 13th birthday!!!
Here are some pictures from her 13th!!! I do NOT have any from Circus Circus as below on Hunter birthday because Samantha was at Disneyland with my camera for a guitar competition but here are the ones on her Birthday May 28, 2011

In one of her new outfits she bought at the mall!

Love my girl!

Dad & the Birthday girl!

Bright & early on her bday morning with $100.00 in cash!

Some of her B-day cards & check from her Grandparents.

Her Birthday Banner

Ready for her fun day ahead of lunch & mall & Manicures

Lexi, Emily & Sydney on our way to lunch

Lexi, Emily, Sydney at lunch

She Finally got her ears pierced!! Showing off her earing

Sydney getting her Manicure

Sydney's nails..

Emily & Sydney's nails after there Manicure

Ice cream after the fun day

Sydney's Birthday dinner which was Shrimp, Cornbread & Shell noodles with Alfredo sauce.

Lexi,Sydney,Hailee enjoying cake & Ice cream

Everyone goofing around after cake

Just having some fun!!

Mother/Daughter Acitivity days ...

2011-06-01T08:28:00.000-07:00

Sari & I attended the Mother/Daughter activity days dinner & fashion show! ( May 26, 2011) It was a ton of fun! Each Mother/Daughter was to dress alike then walk the run way to show "off". It was a fun night with my sweet Sari Lynn. It makes me sad that there is only one yr left until I have no girls left in activity days. Again where does the time go?!!! Here are some pictures from that fun night.

Sari & I... USA Girl's!

Sari & Her friend Madie who is moving in a week! :(

Sari in her USA Outfit

Sari & her friend Kelsey. Kelsey & her mom where rich cowgirl's

Kelsey & her mom performing there funny skit!!

Jen & kelly! ( Kelsey's mom)

Sydney Band concert & Awards night!

2011-05-20T07:36:00.000-07:00

This week has been another busy week for me of double things at the same time on most nights!!! Here is Sydney's band concert & She also got an award at the middle school awards night! Go Sydney!!!!!! :)

Band concert. I was WAY far away from her...

Band playing.. she is blocked in this pic.

Sydney & I right before we left for awards night!

Sitting waiting for friends to arrive before awards night. I was way across the way from her.

Standing up for her award!

YAY Sydney good job!!!

2011 Awards night!! Way to go Sydney!!!!

Hunter is 8!!!!

2011-05-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hunter had his big 8th Birthday yesterday May 16th!!! Where oh where does the time go?! It makes me soooo sad that all 4 of our kids are growing up so fast!!! He had a super fun birthday!! It started off Saturday at Circus Circus Adventure dome with a friend. Then yesterday he took Krispy Kreme doughnuts to school for his class and that night he had his special birthday dinner which was my yummy cornbread and Alfredo. Followed by a soccer ball & basketball cake & ice-cream with friends & of course presents! :) Here are some pictures from his birthday fun!!! I did not get any at Circus Circus because Samantha had the camera at Disneyland for a guitar competition!!!
p.s He has the cutest smile with 4 or 5 teeth missing right now!!

Mother's day 2011....

2011-05-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

I should title the post Mother's day weekend 2011!!! I had such an AWESOME weekend!!! Here are some pictures taken on Mother's day...
My 4 babies and I before church on Mother's day

This picture would be perfect if Sydney was not upset in it! But it is still pretty good. I love Hunter's toothless smile!! :)

I woke up too breakfast in bed!! Then as I was walking downstairs I was serenaded with a song & music that the kids were singing to me!! It made me teary eyed!! Along the way I found signs & hearts!! The hearts describe me from each of the kids. Also here are my gifts! :)

Spring break 2011...

2011-04-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Wow I can not believe that spring break has come & gone!!! We loved every second of our time together & had a fun 9 days off as a family. Here are some things that we did:

rented movies
went to the mall
went swimming a few times
went hiking
went "camping" at home due to rates went up so we made our own fire at home & had smores a few nights & roasted hot dogs& put the tent up outback.
went to lunch downtown
had bbq's
went to the park
had a nice Easter

15 yrs....

2011-02-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

WOW where has the time gone?!!!! 15 yrs ago today we got married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so thankful I married someone who treats me like a princess & who constantly makes me laugh ! He is also an amazing father to our 4 kids! Happy 15 yrs xoo

77 red corvette sneak peek!!

2011-01-31T11:50:00.003-08:00

I got to do a FUN photo shoot two weeks ago! Duane has NO clue about this! People have been asking too see them but since Duane does not know I can NOT put them on facebook yet where he will see them so I did a sneak peek on the blog for you since he never gets on our blog! SHH!!!! More to come at the end of next week once Duane see's them ! :)

Trouble?!!!

2011-01-18T07:36:00.000-08:00

Last Friday was a crazy,crazy day it was one thing after another going wrong! Starting off bad since 6 am.... But I never once got upset or mad in fact I just laughed at it all! After all what good does it do to get upset it would only make matters worse! :)
Most of you know I do full time daycare out of my home from 7am-4-5 pm depending on the day. My sweet , happy little boy Cason who I have full time everyday was one big stinker on Friday!!!

This is what he did first:

This was the mess I found after leaving for two minutes to carry laundry upstairs!! He dumped : flour,sugar, minute tapioca, crystal light all over the place!!! And he got it wet to make a nice instant tapioca mix in my carpet! It took 5 times vacuuming to clean it all up & a ton of scrubbing to get the tapioca mix out of the carpet!
The picture's do not do it justice!!!!

I luv the smile of I did nothing! HA HA :)

This is what he did Second:

The girls were supposed to be watching him while I was upstairs folding the laundry I had carried up earlier! All I heard was " OH MY GOSH OH NO CASON!!" I knew he was up to it again! I ran down to find my entire right side of the kitchen floor covered in red cool aid!! Cason was covered and dyed red!!! I tried to scrub him off first & got some of it off but he was still dyed red on his face & hands! His socks were bright red as well!!! My floors were just covered & super red it was starting to stain at this point!.Also he decided to be nice & add some cool aid to Marley's ( the dog) drinking water so the dog had some yummy cool aid water!!! It was time for me to grab the kids from school so I had Samantha & Sydney clean & scrub the kitchen floors! Thankfully since we worked fast they got most of it odd!! I am still today trying to get some of the red off!! These are the days of my daycare life!!! HA HA :)

California trip!

2011-01-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas we headed to California for a week!! It was WAY overdue!! We had a fun time with my parent's & seeing friends & seeing Duane's brother who lives there!! :)

DAY ONE: (Sunday) Friends get together...
We got there at 3:30 in the afternoon just enough time to unpack & get ready for our friends get together at 5:00 pm. We had a fun time seeing some great friends that we have known for the last 15 plus yrs! I forgot to take any pictures! BUMMER!!

DAY TWO: ( Monday) Surf beach, Mom & Dad Anniversary...

It was my parents 35Th wedding anniversary! They were coming home from being out of town so we surprised them with a cake & made them a nice dinner of shrimp, angel hair pasta & chicken cor don blue!

To wait for the arrival of my parents we passed the time & went to surf beach! We luv,luv,luv the beach! I miss is soooo bad!!! It was FREEZING! So we only lasted for about an hr.

This picture cracks me up! Marley trying to jump the waves! He is such a water dog!!

A good picture of some of the snowy plover birds! Half of the yr they close the beach because of these birds!

Just having fun on the beach!

DAY THREE:( Tuesday) Picnic & played games at the park & hiked Nojoqui Falls

A picture of Nojoqui Falls

A stream along the path of Nojoqui falls

DAY FOUR ( Wednesday) Rainy day
We had planned a day at the mission but we kind got rained out on so we had a chill day watching old Disney movies that our kids have never seen! :)

DAY FIVE( Thursday) Duane fishing & I babysat
Duane & his long time buddy Ed went fishing from 7am-5 pm. They had a blast! Ed has a boat & between the two of them they got 9 fish! I babysit Ed's sweet baby Kenzie! The girls all loved playjng with her & helping me out!

Sydney & kenzie

Duane with one of his fish

DAY SIX ( Friday) la Purisma Mission day
We had my sweet friend Marion who I have known for the last 17 yrs give us a tour of the mission. We have always gone there but never had a private tour. We had the option of doing the haunted tour or regular tour & we choose the regular tour. It was so awesome to see all the rooms that are normally locked up and hear all the history of the La Purisma mission!

All of us at the top of the bell tower at the La Purisma mission

marions boyfriend Art telling us about the mission.

DAY SEVEN ( Saturtday) Movies & lunch with Duane's bro & Family...
It was another cold & rainy day so we went to Mcdonalds to hang out for a few hrs with Duane's brother & his family! we played games & chatted. Then we went to see Tangled! We loved it!!

Playing games...

Cutest movie!!! love it!
Day EIGHT ( Sunday) HOME SWEET HOME!!
We left at 4:45 am on Sunday & headed home! We got home right at noon & enjoyed a quiet day at home before it was back to reality! We had such a great vacation!!!! :)

Christmas 2010..

2011-01-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

Wow I can not believe that Christmas has already come & gone!!! CRAZY!!!!
We had such a GREAT Christmas!!!!! I was so caught up in all the fun that I totally forgot to use my camera to capture gifts, fun, dinner etc etc. But it was a very good one! Santa spoiled everyone!!

The classic coming out of the bedroom picture!! :)
On Christmas eve all 4 kids always sleep in the same room & stay up with excitement! Great memories for them to cherish.

I LOVE that I captured this expression from Sydney as she was able to look below at what Santa had brought!! She was soo excited!!!

Marley was loving his big bag of bones from Santa!

Santa brought Hunter a basketball hoop & new basketball!! Only on Christmas can they play basketball in the house!! HA HA. We left it there until we got back from California since we were leaving to California the next day... They had soooo much fun playing basketball all day inside

** So sad I did not use my camera the rest of the day!! Guess I got busy playing with the kids new stuff & packing & cleaning for California. But it was truly a GREAT day!!! :)

Christmas eve 2010

2011-01-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

We did our tradition of getting together with Duane's brother Dave & his family for food, games, making gingerbread homes & new xmas eve pj's! This yr they hosted it at there house & it was a lot of fun! :)
I forgot to use my camera but here is what I do have:

Making gingerbread homes & boys
Karlie & Samantha
One of the finished homes
Silly group shot with everyone in there new pj's
Yay for new pj's!
Kenley & Sari Love the penguins ha ha

Sydney,Hunter, Sari & Samantha with new pj's :)

Christmas letter & picture..... 2010

2010-12-13T12:28:00.000-08:00

I was very lazy this yr & did not send a million letters & pictures to everyone (sorry)!!! So lazy that our letter was done in black & white and put together in about ten minutes! Or is it that we are sooooooo busy ?! But better then nothing right?!! :)
Here is our letter & picture to those who did not get them:

OUR LETTER:

Blessings that we continue to count everyday
Indian Peak court is where we live
Camping trips that we enjoy
Kids are all growing like weeds (Ages 14, 12, 10, 7)
Marley our spoiled dog turned one
October we hosted to big Halloween parties
Roads trips to Disneyland, Or, Wa, Ut
Employment = four busy jobs between us
Soccer , soccer, soccer

As you see our last name above sums up a little bit of the Bickmores life!
We hope you are all happy & well!
Have a very Merry Christmas!!!
Love The Bickmore family

Kit with us all yr long at : bickmores.blogspot.com

OUR PICTURE( which I had to take a picture of the picture from my cell so that is why it is blurry... for some reason I could not save the order of the picture to my desktop so this is the picture of the picture greeting card lol)

Thanksgiving 2010 ... Better late then never!!!

2010-12-08T12:48:00.000-08:00

Wow is it really only 2.5 weeks until Christmas & I am just now doing Thanksgiving?!! Oh well! We hosted Thanksgiving this yr and had my sister Jaquelyn & her hubby & 4 kids & one dog , My sister Janell & her Hubby & two dogs, My mom & dad, My uncle , And our family that = 17 people & 4 dogs!!!! :)
We played lot's of games,went to the park, went to Calico Basin, decorated cookies,did some shopping, ATE & ATE & ATE :)

Here are some pictures from the 3 days everyone was here:

My kids love there cousins! Sydney with Sara, Emma & Anna bright & early on Thanksgiving morning.

Hunter & Emma playing go fish..

A guy meeting? Dad with Aaron,Elliot,Duane

Decorating cookies

Some of the finished cookies

playing a game at the park

Little Megan keeping warm at the park :)

Mom & Dad at Calico Basin

Calico Basin..

The whole group at Calico Basin!! ( Uncle Jeff took the picture so he is missing) but this is my whole side! :)

I love traditions!!!

2010-12-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

It is that time of of year again for traditions!! We have many traditions we do the whole month of December and one of them that we love to do is:

The Last straw
-Paula McDonald-

Everyone, unfortunately, was cooped up in the house that typical gray winter afternoon. And, as usual, the four little McNeals were at it again, teasing each other, squabbling, bickering, always fighting over their toys.

At times like this, Ellen was almost ready to believe that her children didn’t love each other, even though she knew that wasn’t true. All brothers and sisters fight sometimes, of course, but lately her lively little bunch had been particularly horrid to each other, especially Eric and Kelly, who were only a year apart. The two of them seemed determined to spend the whole long winter making each other miserable. “Give me that, It’s mine!” Kelly screamed, her voice shrill. “It is not! I had it first.” Eric answered stubbornly.

Ellen sighed as she listened to the latest argument. With Christmas only a month away, the house seemed sadly lacking Christmas spirit.

This was supposed to be the season of sharing and love, of warm feelings and happy hearts. A home needed more than just pretty packages and twinkling lights on a tree to fill the holidays with joy.

Ellen had only one idea. Years ago, her grandmother had told her about an old custom that helped people discover the true meaning of Christmas. Perhaps it would work for her family this year. It was certainly worth a try.

She gathered the children together and lined them up on the couch, tallest to smallest: Eric, Kelly, Linda and Mike. “How would you kids like to start a new family tradition this year?” She asked. “It’s like a game, but it can only be played by people who can keep a secret. Can everyone here do that?” “I can!”” shouted Eric. “I can keep a secret better than him,” yelled Kelly. “I can do it!” chimed in Lisa. “Me too. Me too.” Squealed little Mike. I’m big enough.” “Well then, this is how the game works,” Ellen explained. This year we’re going to surprise Baby Jesus when he comes on Christmas Eve by making Him the softest bed in the world. We’re going to fill a little crib with the straw to make it comfortable. But here’s the secret part. The straw we put in will measure the good deeds we’ve done, but we won’t tell anyone who we’re doing them for.” The children looked confused. “But how will Jesus know it’s His bed?” Kelly asked. “He’ll know,” said Ellen. “He’ll recognize it by the love we put in to make it soft.” “But who will we do the good deeds for?” Asked Eric, still a little confused. “We’ll do them for each other. Once a week we’ll put all of our names in a hat, mine and Daddy’s too. Then we’ll each pick out a different name. Whoever’s name we draw, we’ll do kind deeds for that person for a whole week. But you can’t tell anyone else whose name you’ve chosen. We’ll each try to do as many favors for our special person as we can without getting caught, and for every good deed we do, we’ll put another straw in the crib.” “Like being a spy!” squealed Lisa. “But what if I pick someone’s name that I don’t like?” Kelly frowned. Ellen thought about it for a minute. “Maybe you could use an extra fat piece of straw. And think how much faster the fat straws will fill up our crib. We’ll use the cradle in the attic” she said. “And we can all go to the field behind the school for the straw.”

Without a single argument, the children bundled into their wool hats and mittens, laughing and tumbling out of the house. The field had been covered with tall grass in the summer, but now, dead and dried, the golden stalks looked just like real straw. They carefully selected handfuls and placed them in the large box they had carried with them. “That’s enough,” Ellen laughed when the box was almost overflowing. “Remember it’s only a small cradle.”

So home they went to spread their straw carefully on a large tray Ellen never used. Eric, because he was the oldest, was given the responsibility of climbing into the attic and bringing down the cradle.

“We’ll pick names as soon as Daddy comes home for dinner,” Ellen said, with a smile at the thought of Mark’s pleased reaction to the children’s transformed faces and voices, filled now with excited anticipation rather than annoyance.

At the supper table that night, six pieces of paper were folded and shaken around in Mark’s furry winter hat, and the drawing began. Kelly picked first and immediately started to giggle. Lisa reached into the hat next, trying hard to look like a serious spy. Mike couldn’t read yet, so Mark whispered the name in his ear. Then Mike quickly ate his little wad of paper so no one would ever learn the identity of his secret person. Eric was the next to choose, and as he unfolded his scrap of paper, a frown creased his forehead. But he stuffed the name quickly into his pocket and said nothing. Ellen and Mark selected names and the family was ready to begin.

The next week that followed was filled with surprises. It seemed the McNeal house had suddenly been invaded by an army of invisible elves. Kelly would walk into her room at bedtime to find her nightgown neatly laid out and her bed turned down. Someone cleaned up the sawdust from under the workbench without being asked. The jelly blobs magically disappeared every morning. When Eric was brushing his teeth, someone crept quietly into his room and made the bed. It wasn’t made perfectly, but it was made. That particular little elf must have had short arms because he couldn’t seem to reach the middle. “Where are my shoes?” Mark asked one morning. No one seemed to know, but suddenly, before he left for work, they were back in his closet again, freshly shined.

Ellen noticed other changes during that week too. The children weren’t teasing or fighting as much. An argument would start, and then suddenly stop right in the middle for no apparent reason. Even Eric and Kelly seemed to be getting along better and bickering less. In fact, there were times when all the children could be seen smiling secret smiles and giggling to themselves. And slowly, one by one, the first straws began to appear in the crib. Just a few, then a few more each day. By the end of the first week a little pile had accumulated.

Everyone was anxious to pick new names, and this time there was more laughter and merriment than there had been the first time. Except for Eric. Once again, he unfolded his scrap of paper, glanced at it, and stuffed it in his pocket without a word.

The second week brought more astonishing events, and the little pile of straw in the manger grew higher and softer. There was more laughter, less teasing, and hardly any arguments could be heard around the house. Only Eric had been unusually quiet and sometimes Ellen would catch him looking a little sad. But the straws in the manger continued to pile up.

At last it was almost Christmas. They chose names for the final time on the night before Christmas Eve. So they sat around the table waiting for the last set of names to be shaken in the hat, the children smiled as they looked at their hefty pile of straws. They all knew it was comfortable and soft, but there was one day left and they could still make it a little deeper, a little softer, and they were going to try.

For the last time the hat was passed around the table. Mike picked out a name, and again quickly ate the paper as he had done each week. Lisa unfolded hers carefully under the table, peeked at it and then hunched up her little shoulders, smiling. Kelly reached into the hat and grinned from ear to ear when she saw the name. Ellen and Mark each took their turn and handed the hat with the last name to Eric. As he unfolded the scrap of paper and glanced at it his face crumpled and he seemed about to cry. Without a word he turned and ran from the room.

Everyone immediately jumped up from the table, but Ellen stopped them. “No! Stay where you are,” she said firmly. “I’ll go.” In his room, Eric was trying to pull on his coat with one hand while he picked up a small cardboard suitcase with the other. “I have to leave,” he said quietly through his tears. “If I don’t, I’ll spoil Christmas.” “But why? And where are you going?” “I can sleep in my snow fort for a couple of days. I’ll come home right after Christmas, I promise.”

Ellen started to say something about freezing and snow and no mittens or hats, but Mark, who had come up behind her, gently laid his hand on her arm and shook his head. The front door closed, and together they watched from the window as the little figure with the sadly slumped shoulders trudged across the street and sat down on a snow bank on the corner. It was dark outside, and cold, and a few flurries drifted down the small boy and his suitcase. “Give him a few more minutes alone,” said Mark quietly. “I think he needs that. Then you can talk to him.”

The huddled figure was already dusted with white when Ellen walked across the street and sat down beside him on the snow bank. “What is it, Eric? You’ve been so good these last few weeks, but I know something’s been bothering you since we first started the crib. Can you tell me, honey?” “Ah, Mom . . . Don’t you see?” He sniffed. “I tried so hard, but I can’t do it anymore, and now I’m going to wreck Christmas for everybody.” The little boy choked. “You just don’t know. I got Kelly’s name every time! And I hate Kelly! I tried, Mom. I really did. I snuck in her room every night and fixed her bed, I even laid out her crummy nightgown. I let her use my racecar one day, but she smashed it right into the wall like always! Every week, when we picked new names, I thought it would be over. Tonight, when I got her name again, I knew I couldn’t do it anymore. If I try, I’ll probably punch her instead. If I stay home and beat Kelly up, I’ll spoil Christmas for everybody.”

The two of them sat there quietly for a few minutes and then Ellen spoke softly. “Eric, I’m so proud of you. Every good deed you did should count double because it was hard for you to be nice to Kelly for so long. But you did those good deeds anyway, one straw at a time. You gave your love when it wasn’t easy to give. And maybe that’s what the spirit of Christmas is really all about. And maybe it’s the hard good deeds and the difficult straws that make that little crib special. You’re the one who’s probably added the most important straws this year.” Ellen paused, stroking his head pressed lightly against her shoulder. “Now, how would you like a chance to earn a few easy straws like the rest of us? I still have the name I picked in my pocket, and I haven’t looked at it yet. Why don’t we switch, for the last day? And it will be our secret.” Eric lifted his head and looked at her face. His eyes wide, “That’s not cheating?” “It’s not cheating.” And together they dried the tears, brushed off the snow and walked back to the house.

The next day the whole family was busy cooking and straightening up the house for Christmas Day, wrapping last minute presents and trying hard to keep from bursting with excitement. But even with all the activity and eagerness, a flurry of new straws piled up in the crib, and by nightfall the little manger was almost overflowing. A different times while passing by, each member of the family, big and small, would pause and look at the wonderful crib for a moment, then smile before going on. But . . . who could really know? One more still might make a difference.

For that reason, just before bedtime, Ellen tiptoed quietly to Kelly’s room to lay out the little blue nightgown and turn down the bed. But she stopped in the doorway, surprised. Someone had already been there. The nightgown was laid across the bed, and a small red racecar had been placed next to it on the pillow.

The last straw was Eric’s after all.

I just love this! We did this growing up & I am so happy my family enoys doing this as well!! ( print it & start it in your house today as a tradition!!)

I love the magic of lights in our house at night!! From 4 pm on I have my lights on inside!!!

Family pics 2010

2010-11-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some of our family pictures for 2010!!! As usual I am WAY behind on blog posts and will never catch up at this rate with my crazy schedule but at least I am up to date with this post! :)

Halloween ...

2010-11-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am so busy anymore that I usually upload all of our pictures on facebook because it is twice as fast & the cheap easy way out!! We hosted 2 Halloween parties this yr. One kid one and Adult one!!! We had 30 plus kids at the kids one & a good turnout for the adult one! Next yr will be even bigger & better if possible!! :)
We can not wait until next yr to host again!! I love Halloween!!!! I have way to many pictures so I will just upload a few on here. HA HA Trust me this is a few and I left a lot of people and pictures out! :)
They are all on facebook ......
Life is soo busy for us with 4 jobs and sports and Church stuff I feel so bad that our blog is always behind and not at all how it used to be. But here is SOME pictures from both parties and Halloween! :)

OUR FAMILY IN COSTUMES:

Hunter as Mario

Sari as Half Devil/Half Angel

Sydney the Bumblebee

Samantha the nerd

Jen the dead homecoming girl murdered by her husband ..

Duane the cell block Psycho

SOME OF THE PARTY FOODS:

SOME OF THE PARTY GUEST:

GAMES & DANCING FUN:

New job.........

2010-10-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Duane was offered a job on the spot during an interview for a really good nighttime teaching position!! We are thrilled but at the same time it means a ton of new adjustments for all 6 of us!! Duane now works from 6am- 8:45 pm Monday -Thursday! Fridays he works from 6am-5:30 pm. So come Friday nights we are thrilled to spend the weekend together as a family!!! :)
It will take some time for all 6 of us to get used to a busier ( if possible ) schedule and doing things alone for me. But we are soo blessed and soo excited for this opportunity. It also secures him for summer school jobs which is really competitive and hard to get into. :) So let's break it down on our jobs:
( Since some have wanted to know and understand better what all we do)

D & J Entertainment is taking off and busy, busy!!! We DJ anything and Everything!!! Booked up with events now until January!!
Follow us on facebook and become a fan!! We upload pictures ,news & events on there..... :)

Jen's full time daycare from 7am-4 pm Mon-Fri

Duane's daytime teaching 6am-3pm

Duane nighttime teaching 4pm- 8:15 pm

= 4 BUSY jobs between the 2 of us!!!!

I LOVE Halloween!!!!

2010-10-07T17:23:00.000-07:00

It is really starting to look like Halloween around here!!! I love Halloween just as much as Christmas!!!!! We are hosting a big kids party and a big adult party this yr in 2 weeks! I can't wait!!!! :) Here is a look at our house (so far):

Our "witches brew" with Creatures in bottles... Being married to a science teacher has its perks for Halloween stuff!! :) HA HA!

A lot of our stuff lights up at night for effect!!!! :)

My Birthday!!!!

2010-10-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

I had such a GREAT Birthday last week ( Sept 29th). I had a park day in the morning with friends then lunch was Cafe Rio with a close friend!! MMMMM!! Then got lot's and lot's of phone calls and texts and messages on facebook in between which made my day!! Then that night Duane & the kids made dinner for me!! :) Here is some pictures from my day:

Duane & the kids making my cake.

GIFTS:

She did an entire powerpoint for me this was just one of the pages.... :)

THE CAKE:

A VERY colorful cake!! It was a Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting and lots and lot's of decorations made with love! Each kid wrote in a corner there name and a little something! :) They all did a great job!!

Dinner made by Duane & 4 kids:

More Soccer in our lives because.....

2010-09-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

Samantha & Sydney Made the middle school soccer team!!!! We are soooo proud of them!! They went up against 60 girls for tryouts and it was a hard week!!! Sydney made it for one of the two positions as an alternate.
Words could not express how proud we are of her because at the first of the week for tryouts her little body could not handle all the suicide runs and running a few miles. She got sick on the field a few times and wanted to quit the tryouts for the rest of the week. But she stuck to it and it paid off!!!
Way to go Samantha & Sydney!!! We are soo proud and happy for you two!!! GO CRAM WILDCAT'S!!!

Life is BUSY!!!!

2010-09-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

Here is what we have going on in our life anymore:

1. D & J Entertainment has been really busy!! ( Which we LOVE!!) We have at least one thing booked a month now! A few weddings,homecoming,Halloween school dances etc etc....
book us today for you're next special event!!

2. My fulltime Daycare has me swamped!!! I have the sweetest bunch of kids and I can't complain :)

3. Soccer season for Hunter has just started ( And We will find out Friday 9/24/10 if Samantha & Sydney made the middle school soccer team to add more soccer to our life :)

4. Duane is back in school full time taking classes to bump him up on a different pay scale
so between work ,football season here which he works and full time school he is very busy and gone a lot!!

5. church callings and activities ... This involves getting all 3 girls to Young Women's or activity days and Duane is the cub scout master so he stays very busy with that! I am in nursery now so mine is more low key :)

" It may be a crazy life but it's our life"

New toy.....

2010-09-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

Or as I call it Duane's new love?!! HA HA!
We finally bought a new laptop for our DJ Business!!! It is an Alienware one from Dell!! WAY ,WAY, WAY SWEET!!!! The color of the Aliens eyes change as well as the keyboard like in the picture! We will make it so the beat of the music changes it ! To fun!!

D & J Entertainment....

2010-09-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

Most of you know but just in case some of you don't we started DJ again !! We love it and have soo much fun doing it!! We are starting to get at least one "booking" a month! If you have a facebook become a fan of us !! Pass along the word and let us know if we can make you're event a fun one!!! D & J Entertainment......
( Get it: DJ but also for Duane & Jen!)

We specialize in:

Weddings/Receptions

Graduations

Sweet 16's

Birthdays

School Dances

Anything you want us to Dj!!

"Dedicated to Making Your Event Memorable!"

Could my weekend get any better than it already will be?!

2010-09-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

That would be a YES!!!! Look what made the news:

School board vote will allow district to make nearly a thousand new hires!!!
Members of the Clark County School Board cast a unanimous vote Thursday evening to pass a plan that will bring millions of dollars to local schools.

It’s not just about teaching positions. The money will allow the district to hire nearly 1,000 people, including support and ADMINISTRATIVE -based positions. District officials say they are going to start the hiring process Friday.

A BIG WOO WOO!!!!!!! Party on and have a SUPER labor day weekend!!!

This will be a sad and happy thing because Duane absolutely LOVES teaching!!! But the bigger bucks is always a great thing! He will have to adjust again to being an Administrator meaning the "bad" guy who disciplines and doesn't have fun so that will be hard. But it will work out ... :) Keep you all posted!!

First day of school!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

YAY today is the first day of school!!!!!!! I am a little sad that summer went by as always to fast but back to school and routine is always a nice thing!!
I will now only have my daycare kids all day instead of my kids + my kids friends + daycare kids! It got to be a little crazy sometimes around here! But it is still worth it because someday I will want the craziness back! But for now I will enjoy a little less chaos during the day! :) Here is the first day of school pictures!! :) Bring on a AWESOME 2010-2011 school yr!!!

Sydney and her "bring it on" middle school attitude!! :) Can you believe she is in middle school now!!!! CRAZY!!!!!!!( They have dress code and have to wear collar shirts)

Samantha now "rules" the campus!! She is the big 8th grader this yr!

Samantha & Sydney with the Rodriguez girls! They all 4 walk together to middle school.

And there they go!! The 4 middle schoolers! Can you tell I was hiding so they would not see me! That's y it is not the best picture!

My not so little anymore 7 yr old Hunter!

Our big 5th grader who "rules" the school this yr, Sari!

Sari & Hunter the 2 left at Elementary school!! :)

I need to catch up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-17T10:37:00.001-07:00

Samantha turned 14 on 8-12-2010!!! I need to do her b-day, sari's b-day ,vacation and some other things!! But when will I ever have the time!! We have been so busy and daycare for me has started back up!!! I guess I will need to stay up really late soon to catch up!! But in the mean time here is this hilarious photo of us embracing Samantha in front of her friends on her b-day!! Her facial expression is the best!!

Nevada State cookie map!!

2010-05-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

It's that time again to make a Nevada state cookie map!! Sari just finished hers last night May 24Th. This was our 3rd time doing this project!! We will now have a few yrs before we need to do it again! Hunter will do it once he is in 4Th grade!
** I have FINALLY caught up on blogging!! Don't miss the other 4 new Post below!!!! :)

The before its decorated cookie picture:

Dad helping!

Sari Honor choir!

2010-05-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

The school had a literacy night around the world and the honor choir performed!! I felt soo bad though because no one could really hear them since it was the last thing of the night and it was really unorganized at that point!! But that is OK! Here is the few pictures that I got of her that night!

Hunter's 7th Birthday!!!

2010-05-25T10:32:00.000-07:00

Wow how did this happen??!! Our baby is 7!!!!!!! :(
I hate how fast all 4 of them are growing up!!! For Hunter's birthday he had a pirate them party at his Grandma Adams house. They went swimming,did a pinata, cake etc etc. Here are some pictures from his birthday party May 15h.

Him and his cousin Karlie!

LOL I love his silly faces!

It got super windy the candles keep blowing out!

He had to try his new skateboard once we got home!! :)

Candy in the mouth+swim hair+sun kissed cheeks from party=cuteness!!

Middle school dance...

2010-05-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Well Duane and I are DJ'S again and we love it!!! We missed doing it soo bad and I am so happy we are able to start up again!!!! YAY!!! We just did a middle school 8Th grade dance on May 14th. Of course we rocked the house and had them dancing the entire time! Which is hard to do with middle school kids so we were happy we did good! We had staff members blown away at how fun we are and good we are at it! Guess we can still say we got it and are "hip"!! HA HA!! :) Here are a few pictures from that dance!! Hard to choose since we took a ton but you get the idea! Also if you have facebook and have not yet become a fan of our buisness do so now!! D & J Entertainment!!!

Setting up...

Samantha gets her young womens Medallion!!!!!

2010-05-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

Our sweet oldest Samantha earned her young women's medallion!!! We can not be more proud of her and the choices that she makes! Way to go Samantha!!! She is now going to do it all over again with her sister Sydney who starts young women's this Sunday May 29Th!!! :) She is such a go getter and we are so thankful for her and her decisions to be such a sweet,good girl!! Here are some pictures from the temple that we did for the slide show on Medallion night and then some pictures of the actual Medallion night!!!!
TEMPLE PICTURES:

The 6 girls who were going to receive there Medallion at the temple doing the "vogue" pose!

She is soo BEAUTIFUL!!! She will be 14 in August!! :) Can you tell I am a proud mommy!!

MEDALLION NIGHT PICTURES:

Dinner decorations...

Samantha with her Display table.

Her table closer look.

The 6 girls at the head table! :)

Our Friend Foi performing for all of us at dinner.

SWAMPED!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-19T11:19:00.000-07:00

Oh how I wish I could sit down and blog!! I need to catch up sooo bad!! Things like Samantha's YW Medallion,Hunters birthday, Sari's choir,middle school dance etc etc!!!! I am soo busy anymore with daycare my days are full of kiddos and diaper changes!! Not to mention something EVERY SINGLE NIGHT anymore!! :) I am hopping to catch up this weekend!!!! Until then I hope you are all well and just as "swamped" ! ha ha! Someday we will look back and miss all this craziness!! :) Happy Wednesday!!

Mothers day 2010...

2010-05-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

I should title it mothers day weekend 2010!!! I was a spoiled mommy all weekend!! Duane and the kids did soooo much for me and really pampered me from Friday night -Sunday night! It was very nice!! They went shopping for the dinner and made me coconut shrimp,regular shrimp, a salad with the works,sparkling cider,french fies, cheesecake brownie ice cream (Ben and Jerry's) !! It was all so yummy !!
My favorite part of Mothers day is being able to tell our own moms how much we love them and for all they still do. I look forward every yr to doing something nice for my mom!
I also love,love,love all the cute cards and stuff that my kids make me! Those mean more to me than any other store bough gift!!
Duane got me some clothes (dress,shorts,swimsuit,sandals) and my "J" jewel kade that I have been wanting!! :)
Hope you all had a wonderful Mothers day as well!! Back to reality and life is CRAZY!!! I for sure need a few clones anymore!!

Some of my "stash"!! :)

This picture is soo funny! I tried to come into the kitchen to offer help and Duane did this!! So Sydney took a picture! This was the get out of the kitchen and into a different room while we "surprise" you...

Marley likes to swim!!!!!

2010-04-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

We took Marley last weekend to play in grandma's pool !! We showed him how fun it was and used a tennis ball in the water to get him to come in. The plan did not go as we wanted because he fell in trying to get the tennis ball and sunk pretty much to the bottom !!I though he was gonna drown!! Really not funny but it is! So we thought for sure he would hate the water after that first experience!! Well turns out he LOVED the water!!! When he needed to cool off he would get right back in!! He is a water puppy! Which we are happy about! :)So here are some pictures of his first time swimming!! He will be 6 months old on April 30th!!

Duane saved Marley...

This was him all day long!! He would come in and out! :)

This picture is so funny! You can see in Duane's face and Marleys they are growling at each other playing! Duane would do this and swim away and then Marley would jump in to get Duane!

Gunner and Marley best buds watching what is going on:

One tired puppy!!! He was out cold once we got home! All that swimming wore him out!

It's that time of year again...

2010-04-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

SOCCER SEASON!!!!!!
Our first game of the spring season was last Saturday April 10TH!! We LOVE soccer!! Hunter can not stand it when he is not playing soccer!! I was really worried because he is now in the 7-9 age group! But he held his own and he for sure "still has it"!! He is just a tad of a ball hog though so we will work on sharing some of the fame in games! HA HA!! I am so glad all of our kids get involved and are happy to play sports or do something to stay active and busy!! :) YAY for spring soccer season!!

FIRST SOCCER GAME APRIL 10TH, 2010:

He runs non stop for practice and games! Everyone comments on how fast he is and the energy he has!!!

Yay for a Goal Assist!! :)

His concentration look!

Spring Break 2010....

2010-04-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

Well Spring Break has come and gone! BOO!!! We had a lot of fun! the weather did not go as planned and we did not get to camp like we wanted but we still a lot of fun. Here are some things that we did during Spring Break:

1. Easter Egg drop at the park

2. Hiking at Valley of fire

3. Got the rock part done of our yard

4. Rented movies

5. Played games as a family

6. Played with Friend

7. Had company for Easter weekend

8. Went on date

9. Got haircut

Sad to say I forgot to use my camera most of the break! :( So here is what I do have:

EGG DROP 2010:

HIKING VALLEY OF FIRE:

EASTER WEEKEND:

Gotta love the Halloween bucket! Hunter could not find his Easter bucket...

Life goes by.....

2010-03-24T08:59:00.000-07:00

Wow what has happened?!!! I used to blog all the time!! There is so many post that I really need to catch up on but for now I guess I will just try and commit to staying on top of recent life happenings like I used to do!! So here is hopping that I am committed again to my blog and staying on top of our life!! With that said Here is some recent things that have gone on in our life:

poor Marley with his "cone of shame" on :

He has to wear this until March 30Th!! He runs into stuff and I have a ton of bruises on the back of my legs to prove it! He always try's to give me loves but gets me with his cone instead. HA HA! At least his "man" surgery is over with!!

CALIFORNIA TRIP:
We went to California to Huntington beach and to Disneyland! We had a BLAST!!!! Oh how I soo miss the beach!! I always say .."once a California beach girl always a California beach girl"! Here are a FEW pictures from that trip! Hard to choose when we have so many! :)

Duane is always so proud of his super high score on "buzz light yr" ride!

When you have a group of 13 it is the best to color coordinate and match!! All of us in line for " Indiana Jones"!!

All the kids...

The Adults...

Gotta love the "tea cups" ride... Samantha , Kate, Alexa

Mom & Hunter in "toon town"...

"Pirates"

View from our awesome seats waiting for the fireworks over the castle! :)

Huntington beach ca... They had a kite flying contest the day we were there! Way cool! They had these kites that could do so many fun tricks and the finalist had choreographed dance routines with there kites to music! Way fun!

The pier..

Playing Frisbee! Duane always has a Frisbee around!

Sari just relaxing watching the waves...

Hunter on the way home showing we had a super time! Him and Sari both crashed right away !!

My baby is getting BIG!!!

2010-03-10T14:03:00.001-08:00

It has been a litle while since I have updated a picture of Marley!! He is now 4 months old and still just as cute and fun as ever! He is such a good dog. He is a puppy so he has his crazy moments!! But overall he is really good!! We LOVE him so much and are so happy to have a dog again! Who could not love this cute face!!! :)

Marley 3/10/10

Look at how much he has grown!!! Click on the word Marley above in purple to see when we first got him!! :)

Budget cuts again!!

2010-03-04T09:46:00.000-08:00

So here are just some of the headlines in news here the last few days:

Battle over budget cuts as higher educations prepare for Board of Regents

Gibbons Wants 'Sweeping Changes' To Higher Ed

Ruffles: New bond program for schools not expected

6.9 % more cuts for the 2010 new school yr

Lots more layoffs coming to Clark County

Administrators and teacher salaries cut again

Which means once again our pay will be cut!! As it is Duane is making less this yr than he has in a LONG time because of cuts!! And next yr will be even worse!!! I tell ya when it rains it pours and the last 2 yrs it has been pouring on us!! I know we are still very lucky to have a job !! We are thinking ahead and preparing for the worst this next school year!! I am hopping to find a full or part time job because if the cuts are as bad as they say we will need it!! My daycare will not be enough. Also we had planned on doing our yard this month and most likely now we will NOT because of what will be going on next yr. So looks like we will just have to do the cheap rock yard for now! We were soo happy and excited to have a yard finally! Oh well! :(
But we still count our blessings and we know it could be a lot worse! Here is to looking on the Bright side of things and trying to stay positive and count all of our blessings!

Give a Day .Get a Disney Day.

2010-03-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

We did it and we are going to the Happiest place on earth a week from this Thursday! (March 11-13Th). When we volunteered we did NOT tell our kids what it was for because we wanted them to learn to help others and volunteer for stuff to be nice and not to just to get stuff! We did a cat adoption bake sale! We made over 75 cookies for the bake sale! It was a lot of fun and super easy!!It happen to be the day before Valentines day so we made pink and red M & M cookies! They were Yummy! :)

Pictures do not do them justice they were so soft and good!

Now off to :

The kids DO NOT know yet!! We are going to tell them the morning we are leaving and have them do a scavenger hunt or something!! :)
Super excited!! We will also hit

The Beach while we are in La!!

The number 14

2010-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

is a special number because thas it the number of years we have been married TODAY!! It has gone by so fast and at the same time I feel like it should be a lot more years?! I love how even after all of these years :

1. we can still sit and talk
2. laugh for no reason
3. He still thinks I am "hot" as he puts it.
4. Send each other random texts or phone calls to make us smile!

And so on...

** My need to click on it to see better!

Atomic testing museum....

2010-02-02T11:54:00.000-08:00

I was able to go with Sari's class on a field trip to the Atomic testing museum. We had a lof of fun . I spend most of my time every week in Hunter class so I was happy that I could go and do something with Sari's class. It was really neat! With Duane being a science person he is excited to take all of our kids there! I got these two pictures of Sari and some of her friends and that was it. I totally forgot to take any! :(

You can visit there website at:
http://www.atomictestingmuseum.org/

The normal pose...

And the goofy pose..

Hotties or Hot tamales?!

2010-01-19T08:14:00.000-08:00

Hunter came home the other day from school and told me all about his time in music class! His music teacher asked each kid to name something they liked with the first letter of there name.So Hunter said "I like HOTTIES"!!!!! What he meant was Hot tamales the candy!! I about died of laughter when he told me this!! Then I thought where did he get this!!!? I am sure his music teacher was like wow he is only 6!! HA HA! We thought it was to funny!! So everytime you have hot tamales the candy rememeber they are HOTTIES!! LOL :)

Goodbye 2009!!!!!

2010-01-12T08:31:00.000-08:00

2009 in a nutshell was a ride!! We are so Looking forward to this new year!
Bring it on:

We celebrated new yrs eve and the weekend with my sister Jaquelyn and family. It was a really fun, relaxing weekend!!! We :

1. Watched movies
2. Went on a double date to the "cheese cake factory"
3. Went to the park twice while here.
4. Played " Imaginiff" ( One of our new favorite games!)
5. Played the Nintendo DS a few times with each other in "Mario party"
6. Ate ,and Ate :)
7. Painted nails

Jaquelyn getting her nails done by Sydney..

Sara prepping her nails to be done

Samantha doing Sara's nails

Soccer time at the park..

Swing fun at the park

Emma & Sari putting on a "rock show" one morning..

Whats cuter than having a bubble bath and putting bubbles on you're face pretending to be "Santa"?!! Sara & Emma

Christmas Eve

2010-01-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

December 24Th we had Duane's brother and family over, my sister in laws mother and Cody and his girlfriend. It was a lot of fun. We had a nice big Ham dinner with all the sides, yummy desserts,played games, made gingerbread houses and did the usual open Pj's gifts! :)

HA HA the not so completed Gingerbread homes...

game time..

We love playing "Imaginiff"!

Being silly for the camera !Typical funny Bickmore Bro's..

Kamren & Samantha

New Pj's for all these 9 Bickmore kids! :)

Gotta do silly faces

Last but not least there was a enough " Hay" to lay baby Jesus in his crib on Christmas eve. All due from our family doing acts of service for each other . No one knew who you had it was always a secret and you put a Hay in every time you do something! We love this and it really brings in the Christmas spirit and season!

Sari's Choir concert & Hunter's class party!

2010-01-03T09:44:00.000-08:00

I am finally trying to catch up!! I feel like I am soo behind.

Thursday December 17Th I helped with Sari's choir concert and watched them perform. Unfortunately because I was helping I was on the side and did not get the best pictures.But the " Holiday Hoot n' Nanny " was a hit!! They had the honor choir perform,Childrens choir perform, Jumpr rope team perform & Groovin Gladiators dance team perform. They all did really well. The main show was the honor choir which is what Sari is in.

Hunter's class party December 18th :

Hunter enjoying his Christmas tree that he decorated! He started to eat it right away!! HA HA that's my boy!

Marley..

2009-12-20T18:47:00.001-08:00

That is his official name! We really wanted to try and give him a different name but it totally fits him and the movie was really what inspired all of this! So "Marley" it is! These are some better picture from the actual camera and not my cell like below! We love him so much! He is soo fun!!

Our new baby!!!!!!

2009-12-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

We have a new member of our family!!! We are sooooo thrilled and excited!!! We have been wanting a puppy/dog again for awhile now. And since we are finally settled and own a house again it was a good time!! We got a pure breed lab! ( Which is what we wanted ) He is 7 weeks old and BEYOND cute!! He is very white aka cream colored. He is also akc registered.We are picking out his name tonight! We just got him less than 24 hrs ago! We are soo happy!! I am worn out from being up all night but it is worth it and this is only for a short while. He is doing so good already. :) These are all cell pictures of our new puppy boy at 7 weeks!

He LOVES to play already!! He even brings back a ball or whatever to you. I am sure he does not know what he is doing yet but it is cute.

Look at that cute belly!! He loves his food & water !

Worn out baby...

" Here I am"!

Chistmas letter and picture....

2009-12-15T12:43:00.000-08:00

Since I know there is a lot of you who may not have gotten a Christmas letter or picture from us I wanted to share our letter and picture this year. I realize it is small but if you click on it you can see it better and read it! I had to scan both the letter and the picture in so they are a little blurry! Have a wonderful Christmas break with you're children and enjoy this Christmas and new yrs together with family and friends !! From our family to yours Merry Christmas!! :)

** Remember to click on the picture and the letter to see them better!!

Thanksgiving 2009... ( FINALLY !!)

2009-12-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

I have been sooo beyond busy and have not had time to do a good Thanksgiving post like I wanted. So I am finally giving up and putting Thanksgiving up! :) We went to St. George Utah to be with my whole side of the family! It was really nice to be with both of my sisters & there families and my parents! It had been awhile since we were all together! Some things we did were:

1. playing "kick ball" on teams

2. The women took the " Mule" on a ride ( mom, Janell, Jaquelyn & I) which ended up being hilarious! We somehow tipped it completely over and with that being said we came back to my sisters house! *LOL* Had to be there but I am laughing now it was to funny!

3. The men played "ping Pong" often.

4. My sister Jaquelyn created this GREAT family game that we all played on Thanksgiving night. It was soo fun!! Basically we were on 2 teams and you pick a category and try and guess who in the family said that or who it is about , or perform a task etc , etc. It was a blast!!

5. We went shopping and to breakfast

6. We saw "New moon" ! My sister Jaquelyn had not seen it yet so I went with her and her sister in law! That was my 3rd time so I can now say I think I am ok to not watch
" New Moon" for awhile. But I will say I never get sick of seeing " Edward " and "Jacob" WOW!!

7. Took the dogs on walks! My sister Janell has 2 dog and she brings them everywhere. They are a part of the family. We all had fun with the new puppy "Molly" she is sooo cute! She was 11 weeks old at the time and the same type as her big sister " Denver" which is a Golden retriever.

8. And of course ate, and ate and ate and cooked and cooked and cooked!! We fried the turkey again like we did last yr!! Yummy!

9. The grandkids all did some crafts that GRandma had brough for them to do! They are now on our Christmas tree .

We had a great trip and I am so happy we could all be together!! Also BIG news is my sister Jaquelyn is pregnant and surprised us all while we were there!! She is due the beginning of June!! I love babies!! YAY!!

Ana & Emma in the cute shirts my sister had made there family for the " Kick ball" game! They were all numbered and I am so lame I did not even notice until later that night! But anyhow the baby was number 6 on my sisters belly!

Me in some "kick ball" action!

Jaquelyn....

Janell & her baby "Molly" at the "kick ball" game !! Isn't she soo cute!!

High fives after a good game...

Boys playing Ping Pong

Grandma & Sara playing a game

The " Mule" ride that ended it all!! HA HA ! This was before we left!

Craft time...

Hunter & Uncle Elliot messing around trying to figure out how to launch a
" teck Deck" ( mini skateboard)!! Hunter had a lot of fun building this with his 2 uncles!He would launch it from the top of the stairs and watch it fly on the ramp they made!

The game board my sister made.

Sydney & Emma in a "dance off" for the game..

Aaron perfoming a task challenge in the game . He had to hop on one leg I think for a few minues I can't remeber that exact time.

Team work playing the game...

MMM turkey!

SISTERS!! This picture is not the best .But it will do!! I really wanted one of us three . Janell was on her way out the door heading home to Ogden ( She usually does not carry 2 Dr. Peppers at once, long car ride ahead!!) and we were all worn out big time! ( But in a good way! )

Young Womens in Excellence...

2009-12-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

I am finally starting to get caught up with blogging!! Yay!!

We had a special night with Samantha November 15th 2009 for our churches young Women's in Excellence program! I am so proud of ALL the Young women. My heart has a special place for the young women's program!!! Samantha earned her virtue value award by reading the entire " Book of Mormon" in a little less than a month!! We are soo proud of her! She continues to amaze us!! She has such a great spirit about her and we are so proud of the example she is to us and her siblings!! Way to go Samantha!! Here is some pictures from that special night:

I absolutely love this picture!! Daddy and his girl!!

Me and my girl!

Out sweet ,beautiful 13 yr old girl!

The Program:

Front cover...

Middle section...

Middle section...

Back of the cover..

Date with Hunter....

2009-12-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

I took Hunter and his good friend Kamren to see:

The boys excited to see the movie! (Cell phone photo)

I was a little dissapointed in the movie but it was still a lot of fun to be with Hunter and Kamren. Hunter had earned this and it was such a fun time with the boys! :)

On a different note Duane and I Friday night went and finally saw:

" The Blind side"!! It was sooooo GOOD!!!!!!! You just walk out of there realizing so much and wanting to do so much for others!! GREAT movie!

Daddy daughter date!

2009-12-01T09:55:00.000-08:00

Sari invited her Dad out on a Saturday night to Church with all the Activity Day girls and their Dads. They were able to have dinner together (salad, spaghetti and garlic bread.) They danced to lots of fun music. Then the highlight of the night came when they got to do each other's hair. Duane has no hair so Sari used syrup to attach some bows to his head. I was really impressed at how well Duane did Sari's hair!! He even braided it !! They had a great time despite a miss understanding (With some syrup) . But all in all it was a great memory and I am so glad they got to spent some time together by them selves!!

Pictures!!

2009-11-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

We took our family pictures this weekend! We are mega busy the next 2 days and then we head to St. George to be with my whole family for Thanksgiving Wed morning!! So Have a HAPPY Thanksgiving week!!! :)

** May need to click on it to see it better!

Special friends...

2009-11-17T13:32:00.000-08:00

WAY back in high school I had the GREAT opportunity to meet a special person who I have ALWAYS keep in contact with! Her name is Marion Rocha.She was someone who has overcome a lot of challenges and it so special to me. I also meet Clint Wray in high school. Both of them have there needs but both of them are such great amazing people. They each have different problems physical but they don't let that stop them!! Each has had jobs and even gone to college. They have taught me so much. Marion still lives in my hometown of Lompoc while Clint lives in Oregon. They both were here visiting Las Vegas and Duane and I got to meet up with them. We went to dinner at

after dinner we did:

The Freemont street experience!! Funny because Duane and I have NEVER done this!! We have lived around Vegas for 7.5 yrs and never done it. I have to say it was pretty cool. I love how they turn of all the lights and do a mini video at the top every hr! And everyone stops what they are doing and starts dancing!! Way fun! :)

Here are some pictures from the visit with them:

The 4 of us at Dinner

Marion, Jen, Clint 3 High school friends....

The 4 of us...

** Sorry the pictures are a little blurry! If you click on them they are less blurry & you can see us all better!! :)

Sweet kids...

2009-11-13T10:14:00.000-08:00

I walked up stairs this morning to find Sydney, Sari & Hunter playing on the computer together. Later I came back up and they were smiling and this is what found:

They made this on the computer for me! :)

My kids are the BEST and I love them so much!! Everyday they remind me how lucky I am to me a mommy!!! Simple things like this I will always remember and treasure.

New Haircuts!!

2009-11-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

Sydney & Sari got haircuts yesterday 11/9/09 . By the time I wanted to take a picture it was late and they were a little messy from playing outside but here is a sample of the new do's! :)

Sydney

Sari

**I am sooo sad Melissa is moving!! I have my final hair appointment with her tomorrow!! I will add my pictures to these. Anyone local have a good hairdresses?

Halloween fun.....

2009-11-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

We had such a fun Halloween!! I always look forward to the crazyness of it all!! We had school parties, our church party & the usuall Halloween night fun!! On Halloween night we went to a Haunted house and did some trick or treating with Duane's brother & family. Kaylee ( sister in law) and I even got into the spirit and dressed up as witches! Next yr we will be more organized and go all the way out and dress up better!!! I really enjoyed dressing up! It had been a few yrs and the kid in me came out! ( Even if my costume was a little lame and not fancy!) Here are some pictures of our Halloween fun:

Sydney AKA " Hannah Montana"

Hunter AKA " Captain Jack Sparrow"

Sari AKA " Vampire Princess"

Samantha AKA " Fairy"

Samantha and her friend Kaitlyn on our way to Church party..

Group shot on our way out for Halloween night fun! :)

Karlie, Sari & Hunter being silly....

2 witches and a " Pimp"? Or is he our "body Guard"?

Fun couple...

My nephew and I! Kaden later worked the Haunted house! He had a blast!

One of the Haunted house decorations

Kaylee & I with some of the kids in front of Haunted house

Samantha & kaitlyn in front of Haunted house

" Trick or treating"

HA HA I love this picture!! " One worn out witch"

Americas got talent... Better late than never..

2009-10-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

** If you click on the pictures you can view them better! :)

I went with my mother in law to "Americas got talent live" here on the Vegas strip October 10th. It was a lot of fun. We had 3rd row center stage seats. It was great. Here are a few pictures from that night:

Stage view...

The winner from this last season Kevin Skinner!! We meet him and got his autograph for Samantha! She LOVES him! On it he wrote" To Sammie thanks for being my fan" signed Kevin Skinner! She was beyond excited!!

Getting Samantha's Autograph for her. He was the nicest guy!Down to earth etc..

The Texas Tenors

Up close signing autographs and taking pictures. We got impatient and went to see the others.

" Recycled percussions" ! I LOVE them A lot!!! Duane knows!! :) HA HA..

Me with all 3 of us. *Happy*! :)

Just the two of us. They are so cool and fun to watch!

My mother in law with "Grandma Lee".

Mother in law with " Nuttin but stringz" From the season before this last one!

" lawrence beaman" with mother in law.

" Acrodunk" They are awesome!! Love them as well!

" Acrodunk"

Me with " Acrodunk"

Not a clear picture but this is a "Texas Tenor" performing with"Barbara Padilla"

2 great videos I had to share!

2009-10-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

I posted both of these videos on my facebook and I wanted to share on here as well! They are both so great!! Have a good rest of the week!! Make sure your speakers are on!:)