An update

I feel as though I have been a little disconnected, however, when I think about life it just is regular and unexciting.  We keep busy in our "regular" life by going to work, running kids here and there, basketball, church callings, working out, same stuff, different day. 

Over Thanksgiving we celebrated the day of with friends, that really are our family, shopping and time together just Mark, Chase and I.  We shopped Black Friday and got all our Christmas shopping done, which felt great.  We enjoyed getting some quiet time together and planning for our busy, full Christmas day.  Monday, once the girls came back to us from their time with their dad, we had our own little Thanksgiving Day feast.  Cassie was sick, so she ate some jello and jumped into bed early. 

We are now prepping for the upcoming Christmas season.  With all our shopping done, I am excited to just enjoy time as a family.  I have resolved to make this upcoming month all about time spent together.  I have come up with an activity for each day leading up to Christmas that will allow us to enjoy our time together.  This will be our new holiday advent calendar.  I am so excited to see how it goes. 

Another exciting aspect to our life is I just recently dropped down from working 5 days a week to only 4 days per week.  This will allow me every Monday off work to enjoy time in my home and with my children.  Yesterday was my first day off work and I was able to get stuff done (like boring mom/wife stuff such as cleaning, laundry, cooking, etc---but it felt great to be able to do it and not in a rushed manner).  i was also able to take my daughter to school, pick my other daughter up from school, take her to the orthodontist and then out to lunch, hang out with Chase, fix Thanksgiving dinner, visit a lady from church, and get a flat tire fixed (that was not planned).  It made me feel so refreshed to be able to just be at home where I enjoy being instead of at work and stress out about how to get everything done.  Now today I feel better being at work knowing of all the things I was able to do.  I also love the fact Chase will now only be in daycare Tuesday through Thursday (as he hangs out with Mark on Friday).  He loves it there and is such a smarty pants but I also love getting time with him. 
Anyway...pictures to come of events we did, such as Thanksgiving and putting up our tree, etc.     

Our little man

Chase Martin is about to turn 3 years old.  Being the baby of the family, he certainly has less professional pictures than any of the other kids, so I thought I should have a session just for him.  I can't believe he is just a few weeks away from 3 years old.  He has become such a little boy instead of a baby or toddler.  Enjoy these few shots of our little man. 

 

Fall

Chase loves playing in the raked leaves outside.  I decided to capture some of the fun he was having. 

 

Lonestar Basketball

Cassie made her 7th grade school basketball team.  She had to try out for 4 long days and in the end made the team.  She worked so hard and wanted it so bad, I was so excited for her.  She played in her first game last night and did great.  It was so fun watching her in her school colors and playing with such heart.  She had 2 great jump balls where she was fighting for that ball.  She was even on the ground holding on to that ball and in the end got possession for her team.  I was such a proud mom on the stands.  I am excited to watch her progression throughout the season. 

    

Disneyland 2012-Halloween style

Mark and the boys of his family (dad, brothers and brothers-in-laws) all planned a Steelehead fishing trip some time ago for the weekend of October 25-28.  Realizing I would be home alone with Chase, Madeline and Cassandra while Mark was away having fun, we decided it would be fun for me to take them on a trip to Disneyland.  I know we were just there earlier this year, but next month when Chase turns 3 years old, he won't be free anymore and Madeline, who turns 10 in February will become an "adult" by Disneyland standards.  This was our last time to get a trip "cheaper" than it will be in the near future.  I also thought it would be a good way to catch up with Reyna, Caleb and Kacey while we were in their neck of the woods and spend some fun times with them (however in the end their mother refused to allow them to come).  So, the 4 of us spend 3 days in the park and had a grand time.    Although Chase was 39 3/4 inches, he was unable to ride most rides that required him to be 40 inches.  He was about 2 inches off by their standards, although he was perfect on some rides.  He was able to ride the symphony swings, but not the beloved Cars ride.  He will tell you his favorite was "Radiator Springs", however he never saw the Cars ride he wasn't allowed to go on.  He loved seeing Mater and Lightning McQueen though.  The girls both went on Splash Mountain for the first time, which was a big deal.  We loved the changes they did to the Haunted Mansion for Halloween, loved the Halloween decorations and the fireworks.  The parks wasn't nearly as crowded as it has been on our other trips, so we really enjoyed just being able to walk onto rides with very minimal wait times.  Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Our trip ended with a glitch.  We were supposed to land in Boise at 10pm Sunday night.  This was after we spent a full day in the park and were pretty exhausted.  To our surprise, as we were landing (literally seeing street lights and feet above the runway), our pilot pulled up and let us know it was too foggy to land of reported we would be headed an hour away to Salt Lake.  Dread set in.  I had my 3 little ones and wondered what was in store for us.  Nearly 1am we learned we would not be flying out again until 9am on Monday, so I packed up and went for a hotel.  I was hoping we could at least get a few hours of sleep before flying home and going to work/school.  At 7am we headed back to the airport and after waiting until 9am, we were told it was still too foggy and just hang out.  As soon as it lifted enough we would be boarding on and our way.  11am we finally boarded only to learn fog rolled back in, making it less that what they are able to land in, so we waited...on the plane...for an hour before we could take off.  We landed in Boise a little after 1pm on Monday and got home around 2pm.  So much for work and school, however Cassie begged to go for the remaining 35 minutes of school and then basketball practice, so I took her.