To my BEAutiful mama

Mom,

I want you to know how much I love you. You are such a strength in my life and such a beautiful person. I'm thankful for all you have taught me growing up and every day. When I was in high school you came to my room each morning and brought me breakfast in bed with a big nice class of milk, that always meant the world to me. I love how you tell me every time I talk to you how badly you need a haircut and how I need to come down there so I can give you one, after all I am your or the world most favorite hairstylist. :) I love how each of your kids have a song to go with their name, and how we would beg you every day to sing OUR song to us. I love how you made us german pancakes, yellow meal, malt o meal that I still can't make without huge lumps in it. Breakfast foods have always been my favorite. I loved when I got home late I would come into your room at night and tell you about my day. I was always jealous how you never had to get braces and now here I sit 7 years after I got mine off, and am still wearing really pretty retainers every day. I love watching home videos of you with all of us and how you would play with us and make us each feel like WE were the most important, how you showed your love for us and still do. I love how I still have the ring you bought me when I turned 16 and still wear it each day and think of you. How you got me seriously addicted (no exaggeration) to puzzles. and how each time I do them I wish you were there singing while you worked. I love how I can and do come to you when times are hard or happy that you will listen and take on my burdens with me until I feel at peace. I love listening to your beautiful voice while you sing. I've always wished I could sing like my mom does. I love watching you get teary eyed over such tiny little things, like family pictures, a card, a hair brush... (you never know). And so much more I love you MOM. I love that I get to call you my Mom FORVER. You are my inspiration. I love you,

Happy Birthday.

C H R I S T M A S

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas. Everything about this time of year makes me soo happy. SO... earlier this week we got in the Christmas spirit and decided to put up all our Christmas decorations. It's amazing how much we have because we have been given so much stuff. It's so great...

We started our morning off with a batch of pancakes, turning on Amy Grant like my family always did when we were little, then put up the tree. We even have a little tree that we put up that I LOVE! It's so much fun. We cleaned and decorated up until 2pm then we went grochery shopping and got chistmas lights for the outside of our house. When my dad put up Christmas lights they were the icicle ones. I have always loved those, so we got some for ourselves. Nog spent a couple hours putting them up, (I watched I was a good helper) :)

and now... Presenting OUR Christmas Tree!!

Stockings!... 3 you ask? Well we figure one day we'll have a little chap to take the 3rd.

Tiny tree! Nog came up with the idea on how to set it up.. impressive a?!

Close up...
And the Grand Finale.

After we finished it all we came inside and made hot choclate (my fav)

Last year for Christmas we got from Talmage a sweet dvd of a fire place, with a fire burning inside, since we got it we joked that we would watch it. So guess what happened, when our hot choclate was all ready for us we sat on the couch to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas when I found out Nog sneaked in our Fire Place Movie, and it was exactly that. They even had different settings which we were shocked at. You choose, #1 Flickering to Roaring #2 Flickering #3 Moderate #4 Roaring. We watched all 4 settings. Roaring was by far the most risky they zoomed in really close to the flames, the whole screen was on fire. Flickering not so much just alot of popping and crackling. Moderate was impressive, it had just the right touch, no zooming involded, just a solid picture of a fire place. Flickering to roaring just slowly zooming in and out to make it more interesting i guess. So, after much deliberation we decided Moderate was our favorite choose. It was soo soothing infact we fell asleep to the crackling of our pretend fire place while starring into the heavens of our Christmas Tree, how romantic...

Then when we awoke we turned on a movie and ate some grub, what a day.

Cambleback Mountain

Me and Mr. Nog went on a hike the other week. November 1st to be exact and it was 93 degrees that day. November and 93, thats crazy, and now I'm sitting in my house bundled up wishing it was warmer outside. I wish for winter all year then when it comes I'm a big wuss.
Good thing I got a Nog to keep me warm... This was such a fun day for us. The hike felt like at least 6 miles while we were going up it when it was actually shy of 2. I stopped so many times while Nog kept saying you're doing great Annie just a little bit more, all the way up. I just kept saying it'll be worth it and it sure was I already wanna do it again.

Just starting...

MmmMmmHuUmmmmmM!!

We found this cool cave to hide in

Yay almost half way..

We finally made it and had a guy take a picture of us from the top

What a view... :)

I found this little spot at the top that fit 2 people perfectly, we were right on the edge it was awesome. Nog was scared but he's getting braver. He took this picture of his foot and the view to see how close we are to the edge.

I got this anklet at DisneyLand and I literally wear it every day, pretty nerdy I know but I LOVE it, and I call it my lucky anklet.

I made it to the top so it must be workin.

R U N

I have never EVER been a runner,

and it seems like the last time I ran a mile was

in Junior High.

Thats probly not true but thats what it feels like,

when I start running after about a mile

I already feel like I cannot run anymore.

Pretty pathetic, I know.

BUT

I have a goal in mind.

I want to run the Turkey Trot,

it is 6 miles and is on Thanksgiving,

which is just over 7 weeks away.

To some people, especially my sister Laree,

who is an absolutely AMAZING runner and has ran in

2 Marathons and just qualified for Boston,

a-m-a-z-i-n-g

is, NO big deal, but to me, well lets just say I'll need

some serious training

if I really want to do it and not die.

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I'm actually really really excited to set

a goal that seems so far from my reach,

to see if I can really do it,

and do a good job at it,

I definitely think I can if I stay dedicated.

This morning me and Nog woke up early

and started our first run...

He ran, I ran/walked for just under 3 miles.

Nog was so cute and didn't want to leave me all by myself,

so he would run a while then turn around, repeatedly.

(he ran alot more than 3 miles lets just say)

But there is something that really excites me

when I have a really good song going that

motivates me, and I run as fast as I can,

just to run with the beat.

I love it more than anything!

I told nog it felt like I was flying, haha,

and I didn't feel tired or weak until I stopped.

I'm as SOO excited about my new goal

and taking better care of myself.

So wish me luck cause I may really need it,

but I can't wait! :)

Disney Land

Me and Nog went to Disney Land for our 9 Month Anniversary! haha just kiddin.. It did just so happened to fall on our 9 months tho, but how cool would that be if every month we went somewhere or did something amazing haha we'd be poor... anyway.. here is our turtle that we made at as you wish with Dad LoLo and Jaber. I tried making the "splashed look" but it didn't turn out too well it's pretty weird lookin but when I have kids and people say "ahhh did your kids make this?" I'll just nod my head and say ya they did. But for now it is our turtle bank. I saved all my tips from work for a while and it paid for our trip, well almost all of our trip.

So we began our 7 hour trip, just about an hour into it Nog suggested we listen to an audio book that he got from his friend Parker. The books called "The Hunger Games" I don't usually like books like this one from what I heard about it but it was sooo good! We got sucked in, and listened to it the entire way there, while we were there, we laid on our bed, each sharing the headphones, one in each ear, and we listened to it all the way home. We finished it a couple of hours before we got home. We literally were obsessed and we will most likely be going down to the library soon and getting the second book. :)

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Once we got to California we went straight to Huntington Beach. I forgot how much I LOVE the OCEAN. I could sit on the beach and listen to the waves all day. And it was pretty hot too while we were there, everyone said it was the hottest it has been yet...

--

Yay we made it!On Monday we woke up early to go to Disney Land I haven't been since I was little so I didn't remember a whole lot so it was like going for the first time. And nog hadn't been for a few years. Our first ride was Toy Story! Great way to start out, that is my ALL time favorite Disney Movie by far! :) We are in Space Mountain waiting in line in this picture. I loved every ride I can't choose which one was my favorite. Ohhhh wait yes I can, when we went on Tower of Terror Nog was so scared, each time it dropped he would grab my leg for something to hold on to. At the end of the ride my leg was almost up to his head. I loved seeing him scared, seriously that boy does NOT scare easily and trust me I have tried it all. When I think I am going to make him pee his pants and scare him he'll just look at me and smile. I hate it I just wanna scare him and get him back for all the times I thought I had a murderer im my house ready to kill me. So you can imagine my excitement when I see him like this. It was the best :)

It's a small world after all... Look it's Alice in Wonderland, that movie always did kinda creeped me out when I was younger. haha Giraffe neck, what did I tell you, we look just alike :) T I G G E R We're about to get REALLY wet PURDY Halloween Time Look it's an A for ANNIE LOOK it's an N for NOGAL!! I asked Nog to stand by the N and he looked at me weird, then he laughed. I think he really loves that I call him Nogal.
CARS MATOR!!! I'm your biggest fan!! Lightning McQueen Hopper .. pretty scary Boat Ride BUZZ, he's huge! I don't know why he turned out weird when I took the picture. I love Buzz

Tuesday we spend the day at the Beach Nog made this really cool circle of shells hah I love him. He went skim boarding while I boogy boarded, we threw a frisby, and at the end of the day we decided that was the best part of the day. We swam for so long that we got numb (definietly worth it) It was such a good day.

I LOVE going on vacations more than anything but what I absolutely Love about getting home is getting to put everything away, (unpacking). Something about putting everything back where it goes and getting organized again gets me really excited seriously. Nog slept while I got to put it all away,:) he says he loves that about me. haha

Intereeesting

Nogal tells everyone that I have a really long neck and I am often called a giraffe. It is true and I go with it :)
He's so sweet....

He also tells everyone how freakishly long my torso is (only when I comment on his height of course :))... but it is true and I have pictures to prove it. haha it's actually quite interesting, in this picture I'm next to my brothers. Jay is 6'2 I am 5'8 and Brian is 6'8 and I am pretty much the same height maybe taller than Jay sitting down. So weird, we look so cute in this picture. bahah

OHHH nogal I love you

We went to South Dakota Kota Kota

First, a warning.

You are going to be getting a picture overload with all of these pictures, but I couldn't help it, it's hard to weed out so many pictures so I pretty much put all of them in, I loved them all! :)
May I just say this trip we took to South Dakota was by far the best trip yet. I loved spending 6 full days with my family that lives there. It was most definitely needed, for me mostly. I had the most amazing time. The talks I had with my sister Heather, for the incredible person she is, to hear all that she and her husband Brad endure each day, and to see how much good they have done and are doing. It is such a blessing to be able to see them doing the Lord's work. I admire her and Brad more than they will ever know...

I also LOVED the talks I had with my mom, to be able to spend such quality time with that wonderful lady changed my perspective on so many things. She wasn't feeling good alot of the time we were there but didn't let it affect her time with us, she went with us everywhere and still worked 2 full 14 hour days having such a great attitude about it. She is so unaware of all the impact she has made on so many lives, especially mine.

Justin my little brother, WOW that kid is incredible in everyway. Such a big help and soooo good with the kids. All of them absolutely LOVE their uncle Justin. He taught me so much about pure and simple love. He is 15 years old and is mature FAR beyond his years. For example, he has had a paper route since he was 9 years old. Crazy!! He mows lawns on the side of his other job that he works 5 days a week during the day, all while being the man of the house taking care of Mom and LoLo. What an inspiring brother I have!!

So..... here are all of the millions of picture I took of our trip... :)

Our first trip was to Cosmo's where the gravity pull is extremely weird and everything is slanted you would fall over if you tried standing up straight. Water runs up hill, and the tree's grow sideways because of the gravity pull, I love this place.

Next was Mount Rushmore or as LoLo used to call it Mountain Rushmore.
Me and Mom

On our drive around the Rushmore the brakes started burning so we pulled over for a while to let them cool while Justin and Nog played on the hill pushing big rocks over the edge for fun I guess. oh boys :)

All those black dots are Massive Buffalo

Driving by Donkeys that are practically inside the cars getting food

A buffalo just hanging out on the road

I was SOO scared feeding this Donkey its mouth felt really weird but I loved it!!!

Walking around the shops in Wall drug on our way to the Badlands

okay seriously this girl is the cutest and funnest little girl on this planet!! I took about a finidy pictures of her.

I LOVE her blue eyes

While we were waiting for a trolly to come pick us up and show is around town and to StoryBook Island, Log was teaching everyone how to make really loud squealing noises with a blade of grass. Heather's were the best and the loudest, he must have learned it from boy scouts.

And then it came...

This was Nogs favorite ship

And favorite drinking fountain

I love giraffe's!!! As you can see

This is a picture of me last year doing my famous pose....

And this year....

Nog replacing Mom's bathroom sink. What a handy little plumber he is.

A puzzle we did... we were up until 1:30 in the morning working on it, we were SO tired the next day.

Complete!!

Me and Mama hanging out by the pool,

Being big dorks

The kids asked me to take a picture of them every time they jumped in. I got some pretty sweet pictures.

Jazmine

Coconut for a snack

Wooow look at the muscles.

Penny after playing ball with us for an hour

Justin, Log, Kenzie, and Me went on a walk, this is Heather and Brads house, SOOO pretty.

Kenzie wouldn't let me or Nog hold her only Justin.

The Badlands....this place was unreal it's all made of up of dirt.

Ya, I took this picture, it's really no big deal.

This is Nogal

Haha this picture cracks me up!! I was laughing so hard Brad was just laying on the ground being totally serious using a CUP as his pillow. It was hilarious

I wanted to be just like him so I used a brush, it was really comfy.
In the mornings I went for a run with Justin and Nog, this is the path I ran on each time. Why can't Arizona look like this?

On the way back..

This is a picture of the house Mom, Me, Jay, Justin, and LoLo lived it. Me and Jay lived here for 2 years. Love it!And lastly 2 videos. First one, Justin is dancing with Penny and the Second, he is acting like a monkey and Penny is howling at him. I loved them :)

and P.S. There is another new post on the next page