Where to begin....

I have so much to catch up on...hopefully I get it all in. So School got out December 18 and what a relief that was, I was so ready for it be over, it was one of those dreadful semesters with lots and lots of work, and group projects, it was crazy. Then that night, Chanc, Randy, and Aidan came and I was so happy to have guests, especially those 3. They stayed until Sunday and we had lots of fun. Chanc and I hit the mall for a few exchanges, we met up with Kasey, Raylynne, and Callie for dinner on Friday night at Famous Daves, in lieu of Randy finishing a semester :) It was pretty good. Manuel had an instinct to buy Rock Band, so after dinner him, Kasey and Randy took off to Best Buy and us girls plus A-man went to see Raylynne's new house, and then we came back home and played a little guitar hero until the band showed up then it was super from that point, after we got the mic working that is. Saturday we just hung around the house, then went and did a little Santa shopping for Aidan and then we came back and made an oh-so-delicious mock salad from Costa Vida, fresh with Cilantro Lime Dressing, it was AMAZING. Loved it-. Sunday the Todd's went to Burley. Manuel had to work on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and I had to work till Wednesday night, which was kind of a bummer being Christmas even n' all and it made for a nasty drive home. Christmas Eve day I brought Syd, Reese, Zoey and Charley over so they could open their presents from us and we could play...it was fun.

(Me, Reese, Zoey, Sydney, and little Charley Grace)

That night Manuel, Gordo and myself left Boise at about 11 and didn't get in to Burley until 4 A.M. it was crazy. We stopped to help a guy who had slid off the road, it looked like he had been there for a while(actually Manuel and Gordo, I just stayed in the nice warm truck, but I felt very bad that they were out there in the cold). We didn't have a tow-rope so there wasn't much we could do, but after he told the guys that he had called 9-1-1 to send some help, we waited with him, until another truck stopped by us and told us they had a rope, so Manuel and Gordo went back out to help pull him back on to the road, it took a while, the first attempt the rope broke, but he was able to get free...poor guy was getting ready to sleep in his car, he was waiting for a long time for emergency vehicles to respond and nothing...that's Burley for you though, they have "other" priorities, forget about helping when it's actually needed. The freeway should have seriously been closed, it was so bad out there. The guy who we helped was off the road just a little bit after Kasota Road exit and it took an additional 45 minutes almost to get to Burley, which is 14 miles away. It was a white out and it was very scary.

Christmas Morning- Manuel wanted to wake everyone up when we settled in for the night, after getting everything brought in from the truck. I was wanting to go to sleep but was wide awake, but after much begging we finally slept for a few hours and we (actually I did) woke up at about 8-I still didn't want to get out of bed then, but everyone was waiting on me (oops) We had a great Christmas, it was fun being with family and as always we were spoiled. Manuel got new paintball pants, a new jersey, a REAL-Cowboy shirt zick kit for his paintball gun, Blu-Ray DVDs (Batman begins, and Nacho Libre)

Manuel and his "real" cowboy shirt.

I got a new laptop --I dropped my Toshiba a few months ago by tripping over the cord, and ever since then this line has magically appeared on the screen, it would go away sometime if we moved the screen back and forth, but lately, I would turn the computer on and the screen would be black with all sorts of lines across the screen, I could see the computer was thinking because of the way the line were moving but I would have to turn it off and then restart it or take the battery out and then start it up. So we decided it would be best to get a laptop before my Toshiba completely went out. So Manuel purchased a Sony Vaio and I am pretty pleased. Its' a nice laptop, and it works great. So then this past Friday morning, Manuel went down stairs to get on the Toshiba (see...it was his computer now, b/c I got a new one) and the Toshiba is done with I think, we have turned it on, off, removed the battery, repeat by like 10 times and nothing still. It's kind of sad, it was a great laptop, definately been used though and put to the test a few time :( oops, I need and hope to be more careful, it was an awful incident, I couldn't believe how clumsy I had been. So back to presents, I also got a new coat from the Buckle, ---story time again---I told Manuel I wanted him to get me a little something that would surprise me b/c I haven't had a Christmas surprise in a while, he kept telling me there was nothing else to get me that he could think of..but I think he did a great job by surprising me with this cute, army green, fur hooded coat, it's oh-so adorable and I just love it. It was an excellent surprise/present and I think he should continue the tradition of surprising me. I also got Zumba workout DVDs and a Christmas plate and some snowflake hanging signs, which are adorable.

(My "lovely, un-presentable, Self, with the cute snowflake signs made by my sweet n' talented sister Chanc)

If any of you know my dad, it's a rare thing to catch a picture of him with a serious face, but that's what's great about my dad, he has a personality that is like no other, and I love taking pictures of my mother trying to figure out technology, she is very smart and so funny when she uses camera's she cracks me up!! Very great, generous, loving, caring mother and father that I have. Love you guys!

Christmas was definitely a white one, in the middle of opening gifts, G'Pa and G'ma Bench, along with Shaun and Deanna came out and G'pa needed to get the cows in, apparently with all the snow, they became "drifted In" so Manuel, Chace, Chad, and Shaun went to help G'pa and when they came back to the house, they were inside for just a few minutes then all of the sudden this little Dodge neon thought they could make their way thru all the snow in front of our house and with drifts so high (I have never seen so much snow in Burley) they became high centered...and for dodge neon's they don't have any tow handles apparently from what I learned last night, but I kind of figured that when all the guys were out in the middle of the road, digging the car out with shovels, and the four-wheeler. That person who was driving, said they thought they could make it thru, so get this...they stopped completely right before the drift, then gunned it....and viola, they sure made it all right....right on TOP of all that snow....it was pretty funny.


















Crazy snow in Burley. You can see in the first picture that the snow covers the entire trampoline, almost....Thanks for taking pictures Randy, so I could use them too :)




















I didn't get pictures of my brothers alone or even looking at the camera...shoot. Chace looks very intrigued at something, he received a new Ipod Nano from "Santa" and lots of other fun things and clothes and here is Chad opening a present...he left his "Santa" present to open very last, it was a Air Soft Gun along with some more fun things and clothes.


Randy, Chanc and Aidan Todd, I love this little family. Aidan is so cute and I loved being able to spend some time with him. While they were here in Boise, he didn't want to sleep one night, so Chanc and Randy left him with me and we had fun for the while that they were gone..they went to get some ice cream and then we were going to watch Mama Mia...It was great fun!



We wanted to play rock band 2 with all the family, so Manuel brought all the equipment...only to find out that we left the actual game in our Wii here in Meridian...We tried a few different places but to no avail, it was no where to be found. So we settled for Disney's wii sing it...--The mic that Manuel bought the night he bought the system, was crappy, it was wireless, but would hook up and then disconnect when ever it darn well pleased, so he took it back but couldn't find a different mic, so he thought he would buy me Disney's wii sing it...it was nothing that I was hoping the songs to be, they are definitely a little too "kiddish" for me, but it was fun none- the less with the kids at Grandma's....My not-so-little Brother, Chace totally rocked at singing, he is a fabulous singer anyway, but dang, he sure can sing like the Jonas Brothers, and he is very very good at it. So any ladies looking to have your heart melted by an oh -so Handsome boy, call Chace, he is the MAN!~~ (Chace there was a lady that posted she needed a Jonas Brother imitator for her daugther's 12th b-day party...thought about sending her an email with your number....hehe)

Friday-was just a low-key day. I had Aaliyah Jade with me whom I love having, she is my little side-kick when I am in town and I love every minute of. She's adorable, but we got ready, had lunch at TACO BANDIDO and then I dropped the guys plus Aaliyah off to play some B-ball and then I headed to Grandma's to hang with Chanc. We were there for the most part of the day, then we went to Grandma Asher's to visit and that was fun b/c I got to visit with my aunt's and cousins from Utah whom I rarely see, so it was fun. That night Manuel and I went to Marc and Lyndsey's to hang out but I wasn't feeling so good, so I was pretty bummed I zonked out on the couch and then Manuel woke me up and we went home.


Saturday---got up at 730 and make the trek back to Boise, it was sad leaving, we had so much fun with Family, but Manuel had to work that night.


I think I captured everything...funny how I remember all of that, but it was great time spent with Family, I just wish there were more time for us to be home, and enjoy every one's company and have fun.