christytomlinson

Good things...

I just had to post about a couple of good things..

Yesterday we had the opportunity as a family, to go to the Rexburg Temple Open house. If you haven't been, and you live in the Idaho falls or even surrounding area's, you have to go! It's so beautiful and it's the only opportunity for non-members and even members without a recommend to see the inside of the temple, see the sealing rooms, the rooms where we do baptisms, etc. Once the temple is dedicated (which will be on the 3rd of February), then it is no longer open to the public, only to members with recommends.. SO.. if have have ever wanted to see or were curious.. now is a good time! and it's a wonderful opportunity for kids.  I believe Saturday is the last day.. but it's worth the drive. It was Parker's birthday yesterday.. and so we did that for his birthday, but then on the way home, we were going to head to Leo's place in Idaho Falls (it's kinda like chucky cheese's).. and celebrate his birthday there.  My sister called me with another "good" thing on our way to the temple.. and told me about a huge sale that Old Navy was having! Their clearance items, which were already marked down 75%, where another 50% off the lowest marked price. So after Leo's, I managed to head to Old Navy after all of the fun and got SOOO Many great things for my kids for school next year. (I know.. it's a long time away to think about school for NEXT year..but when you have 6 kids.. this is how we buy our school clothes! LOL)..

Last year I was able to get all of Allie's school clothes for about $70.00.. that included 20 shirts and at least 10 pairs of pants.. they were all about 1.00-3.00 each. Well I did just the same last night.. and got all of Allie's school clothes again for next year, PLUS shirts for Braden and Parker and a ton of clothes for Noah. So go check it out! I am not sure if the sale is Nation Wide.. or just in Idaho Falls, but they said it was actually going on last weekend, and they extended it through this weekend.. that's why I am not sure if it's still going on everywhere else!  But I got alot of shirts for Allie for $1.75, pants for $3.50-$4.00 and shirts for my boys for $2.00 and sweatshirts for $5.00. I also got Allie a really nice coat for under $10.00! They have these great sweat type pants (more like track pants, but make out of sweat material).. for little boys, that were only $2.00 each and great shirts for little boys for $2.00 too (perfect for Noah for everyday where).

So check it out.. seriously.. saves you ton of money for buying school next for the next year.

Another good thing I i had to share, I also found in Idaho falls, is Hot Chocolate.. I enjoy good hot chocolate and when we went on the Alaskan Cruise about 2 years ago, for Ben's parents 50th wedding anniversary.. I discovered the cruise lines, have the BEST hot chocolate in the world! They only serve it in the "fancy" dining rooms.. but oh my goodness I loved it. I thought it was only on that cruise.. but I discovered  on our last cruise, last week.. which was a completely different cruise line, they actually had the same food and that same hot chocolate! I had it every night for dinner.. oh yum! Well last month, I was heading to my sister's house, with another sister.. it was right before Christmas.. and we stopped at the Chevron on Hitt road and SunnySide in Idaho Falls (the one by Kohl's and the Movie Theaters).. to get something to drink, and it was so cold out, so hot chocolate sounded good. You want to talk about GOOD.. holy cow that is THE Best i have ever had.. even better than the cruise lines.. and they have this fun little hot chocolate "center" where you can put all sorts of flavoring into your hot chocolate like vanilla, or peppermint or what ever.. and also these tiny little marshmallows or chocolate chips.. or sprinkles.. or whip cream.. oh my goodness... I was in heaven! and it was all included in the price of the hot chocolate!  So after that.. I kinda just assumed that all Chevron stations were the same.. but sadly no.. i have been to alot of the other ones over the past few weeks here in Idaho Falls and nope.. not the same.. even stopped at a couple on the way to Utah.. and not the same.. So if you live in Idaho falls and you want some GREAT hot chocolate.. go visit that Chevron.. YUM!

on last good thing I have to talk about our my two oldest boys.. I have to wish a quick Happy Birthday to Braden and Parker!  Braden turns 12 today (we are having a "bowling/Rockband" party).. and Parker turned 11 yesterday! What a wonderful duo they are. They truly are two of the best things in my life! Love em both so much.. happy birthday boys! I LOVE YOU!

hope you all have a wonderful day!
Hugs!
Christy

Lots to share...

First off.. holy cow is it cold here! LOL.. I mean it wasn't super warm by any means in San Diego or in Mexico (only got up to about 72ish... i love being in 90 degree weather! LOL).. but this morning we woke up and with the wind-chill factor it was a whopping -31 Degrees outside!  It was about -16 degrees without the wind-chill, and they are normally supposed to cancel school when it gets below -10. They did cancel is in all of the surrounding areas, but in Shelley, they decided to have a "late start" and started school at 10:00 instead. The funny thing is that by 10:00 is was still -13 degrees (without the wind-chill).. and I was kinda frustrated they didn't just cancel it.

All of the schools besides ours were canceled.. so who knows? LOL Poor kids..

Well our cruise was amazing. San Diego was gorgeous, even in the middle of "winter". We got to spend a few hours both on the day we sailed out and the day we came back from the cruise, in San Diego, because of the times of our flights. ON the cruise we didn't have much "sun" and too much warm weather, we only got to really sunbath and swim twice.. for about 2 hours each time. It was pretty chilly with the winds, but man we had fun. I was glad i brought a sweatshirt and a pair of long pants, because I pretty much ended up wearing it everyday of the cruise! LOL.. So in just about every picture I have the same clothes on.. But it was still fun.

Our friends, Dave and Kara, were so much fun to be with. We are both so laid back that sometimes we would have  hard time choosing what to do every night of the cruise. We saw alot of fun shows, and went to alot of the games they do. We ate a TON of food... holy cow too much. I mean we would eat even if we weren't really hungry and then we would order room service and eat more! LOL! I was pretty sick before our cruise.. and lost about 8 pounds.. but don't worry, I gained every bit of it back! ACK!

I went to the dry sauna EVERY NIGHT and almost every morning. Love Dry sauna's! So great for releasing toxins in your body, and of course it's a dry heat and about 150 degrees.. I LOVE being hot.

And then we would sit in the hot tub at night drinking hot chocolate! LOL.. But what a good time and a fun time to relax. 

Like I mentioned previous, we had some time to kill in San Diego on two days of our trip and the first day we walked from our hotel through Balboa Park and over down by San Diego Zoo (see first picture) .  It was so pretty and the buildings they are restoring down there are amazing.  On our last day, before we flew out, we also got to spend about 6 hours in San Diego and so we took a ride to the San Diego Temple (Second picture) ) ,  Coronado Island (over the cool bridge) and then we thought it would be fun to go to the San Diego beaches and try and lay out and get a nap in before we headed home. We put on our swim suits and headed down to the beach and as you can see in the third picture,  it didn't quite turn out the way we had planned! LOL!

But we had a good time laughing about it and ate at Joe's Crab Shack on the beach. I love San Diego. What a beautiful place to live. Mexico was fun too, but I would suggest to try and do the Mexican Riviera cruise if you can. We went to Cabo and Ensenada, and both cities were not quite as "tropical" as I had thought they would be. In Ensenada, there isn't a beach so we decided to take a Taxi to a flea market about 45 minutes away and we actually really enjoyed the ride through "real Mexico". So interesting to see other places. I have been there several times before growing up.. but it was cool to see it again. Cabo, there are beaches, but you have to take water taxi's to them.. which was fun, but mostly just shopping too. Next time I would love to go further south, where it's a little more tropical and where they have a lot of history sites and ruins.

Here are a couple of pictures of us in Ensenada..  Ben was being silly..  we were trying to get a picture of us with the boat and this giant Mexican flag in the background.. we are such dorks!

Well it's good to be home! I was going to share this other thing with you before I left, but didn't have a chance.. You would be so proud of me.. My best friend, Liz, had a baby girl just a few weeks before we left and oh my goodness she is so beautiful! I decided to make her a couple of burb rags and a bib with some chenille and flannel I found a few months ago.  I love making quilts and things like this, but haven't done it in SOO long!  Probably since Noah was born. So it was fun to work on something like this. I cut out and appliqued flowers onto the front of each piece, with several different layers.. it was fun.. just had to share!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! it's good to be home.. we missed our kids.. but they had fun at my dad's house.. it's always fun there!

Well have a great day!

leaving...

AKK!
I know i have been terrible about keeping my blog up and believe me.. I have SO much to share with you!

We are leaving for a trip in about 30 minutes.. but thought I would share with you ONE thing..

we played this board game over Christmas time.. with our family.. and I LOVED It. We became SO addicted too it (okay I did).. I wanted to play it ALL the time!
Then my SIL told me that you can actually play it online.. on their website.. for FREE..against other people! I was like EEK!

Mainly because we had tried to go out and find the board game and no one carries it.. only specialty shops.. soo.. now I can get my fix online! The only problem is.. I work late.. because it's a good time to work when the kids are asleep (like from 9:00-1:00am).. and then I think.. oh. I am going to play ONE game.. and then one game turns into 20 and by the time I know it's like 3 AM!!! LOL

So.. I wanted to share this with you.. BECAUSE.. I know expect ALL of you to go and get and sign up to play (it's free!).. and then let me know what your name is.. and I will include you in buddy list.. and we can play online together! so practice while i am gone! LOL

the game is called "Ticket to Ride".. The website is www.daysofwonder.com 

they actually make alot of different board games, so when you get there, go to "Play online" and then choose "ticket to ride". That is the game you want.. Make sure you check out the tutorial first on how to play! OH! Love this game.. so fun!

okay.. better be off.. gotta pack and only have 20 minutes now!

be good while I am gone! I have something fun to show and share with you when I get back! :)
p.s... I am SO short on time, I am not even going to proofread this.. so sorry about the bad grammar :)

Christy