the Loooooong post ... but oh so fun!

So last weekend nate went camping with the scouts, storie went to grandma gaylas for a cookie making christmas fiesta and stock, saylor, and i miserably sick drug ourselves to AF high to weigh stockton in for the wrestling tournament i knew he would not wrestle in on sat cause we were all too sick. got in a car accident in the parking lot that was my fault kind of in some ways and not in others, no one is hurt ... come on it was a parking lot but that kind of stuff really sucks! on the way home i decided that i was just too sick and stock was too, thought we might have strep, talked to the family doc ... aaron of course ... and decided to drag us to the instacare for strep tests, glad i did cause guess what? yep all of us except nate. i was especially bad and instead of feeling better the next day i felt a lot worse. thought maybe i was resistant to the meds .... i have been before ... but they finally started working and we got on our way eventually. i still am feeling it a little, man i am weak! the drive to cali was not too bad ... decided at the last minute to priceline a 4 or 5 star hotel in vegas for $50 and if we could get it then we would stop and chill there and we did ... planet hollywood! it was there grand opening too and stars were everywhere. the kids loved the fountain show across the street at belagio and storie and i really appreciated the gardens ... always my favorite part! forgot the camera that night dangit ... we didnt venture farthur than that with kids ... then onto LA

I guess what i would call the door to home in LA. Red and full of character .... part of a historical part of town called hancock park. and yes the address is 893 & 1/2


On tuesday we went to universal ... i have not been there since i was a teenager, nate never has and of course the kids havent either. i worried that it would be too mature of a park for them ... we had a blast and never has an amusement park catered so much to saylor and spoiled us with star treatment! We went under the sea to visit sponge bob and i tried to look pregnant! fat is not as fun as pregnant .... everyone was eaten by jaws but me .... saylor got to me DORA! and lots more fun ... shrek and fiona were nice but fiona ... isnt she an ogre now? i was confused too!






Nate in front of the "bourne" car from the first movie ... at universal


Famous universal images taken by me .... a dinosour from the jurassic park ride that you are not supposed to take pics on uh oh ... so real! the famous jaws himself! and whoville a little holiday gift picture format. interesting how the movies look so real ... we all know they are fake but when you see the sets up close there is nothing more fake ... yet real.




Its been a while since i have spent thanksgiving with my dad ... at least my biological dad. in fact i dont remember ever spending this holiday with him. so this is the whole reason we went, to spend time with him and glen. it was nice. good to have pics from that part of my life .... its part of me.


Since we were leaving to go home from palm springs we took the shortcut to vegas through the desert. when the kids and i go to cali a lone we usually take this way and they always want to get a pic of "the shoe tree" here it is ... out in the middle of nowhere, somewhere near amboy & kelso cali! The way home was so much worse than the way there and even though we took the shortcut it felt like longer ... oh wait it was cause we stopped over night in vegas on the way out ..... stockton our usual car trooper got car sick ... weird.... but his throwing up saved nate ... literally ... he got pulled over in henderson vegas for speeding, i was scared cause we realized just before we left that his drivers license was expired ... not a good situation. the cop took one wiff of the car, we explained we were in a hurry to get to a gas station ... he didnt even ask for a drivers license and let us go phew.....


We ended the week with a bang at the osmond family xmas concert! it was way fun, especially for me cause david & Val have become such great friends and its funner to watch people you know, for me and the kids and nate i guess!


so there it is craziness .... we are grateful for you! if your reading this blog we probably love you to pieces .....