The Happy Hunt Home

It's A Girl!

2011-03-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Last I posted I was three weeks till and now Ali is six weeks old! It's like I've been living in a wonderful dream. We are all so in love with this bundle of bliss. Here are some photos. I know I owe more, but getting to the computer doesn't happen often so this is what we have so far. I'll post more soon!

Is It 2011 Already?!

2011-01-15T12:17:00.000-08:00

Wow did 2010 end in a landslide or what! We're happy to report that we are doing well this new year and have a bit of catch up to do for the end of this year past and a lot to look forward to then the coming weeks!

Thanksgiving

So this was my first year hosting Thanksgiving dinner. This is me and "The Bird". She came in at 14lbs and was one sweet turkey. This is me calling for help, I did that a lot that day. Jose helped me make the turkey delicious, and I called my mom for the mash potatoes, and Jeremy's mom for homemade rolls and gravy made from drippings. On my own I made the green bean casorole - yeah for me! So did I get a picture of the finished dinner all arranged to eat? Of course not! But the meal was grand still the same and the De La Portilla family joined us in one big eating fest that left us all coma-tosed in front of the TV.

And what were the boys doing while I cooked? Putting up the new TV. The day before Black Friday Jeremy picked it up from the Wal Mart and couldn't wait to mount it on the wall and watch some football. Once again Jose came to the rescue and lent the helping hand while CJ enjoyed the excitement.

This is our Thankful Wall. As many mornings as possible in the month of November I would sit with the children and ask CJ what he was thankful for, and whatever he said we drew a picture of. I did one as well and Lizzie was just thankful to color every morning. Daddy even joined us on a Saturday and soon our wall of thanksgiving was full. It was inspired by a talk on gratitude given at conference time this last October and helped us all think of how much we are blessed with. CJ loved to go to the wall and recount all that we had several times throughout the month. Some of my favorite that he came up with were being thankful for all the fans and doors and our backyard. When I was thankful that CJ came and made me a Mommy I had him draw a picture of himself - and he did, as a snowman- too funny, can you find that one?

The Pilgrimage to Sacramento for the Grand kid Photo

The Hunt family has this fantastic tradition of getting the grandchildren together yearly for a photo. This isn't the official one for this year, but it's the one I loved most, its even on our mouse pad now! It's amazing to see how they have all multiplied and grown in the 8+ years I have been apart of the family.

Here are my cutie cutups before the shoot.

We stayed a week at grandma and grandpa's house and the children and I loved every minute of it. Grandma had the Christmas tree up and beautiful and we enjoyed time just playing around. Here's Janie at the piano just like Christopher did when he was a toddler.

But now has graduated to super silly, do-it-my-own-way-or-bust, Man. So maybe these PJ's are a little snug for him, he's a growing boy! I think he was very creative when I asked him to get ready for bed, it was a great laugh.

Our favorite times were spent with all the family together just letting loose,

And not paying mind to social etiquette. Here uncle Richard helps baby Amelie to a nose sandwich, much to the grossed out pleas of her mother, Vanessa. I second the gross out! But had Jeremy been there with us he would have done the same thing - that Tanner nose is just too tempting!

And Elizabeth was just enamored with Amelie. She kept trying to touch her face and Amelie was pretty good about all the cousin love. I'm sure that Liz thought she was a baby doll, she's so cute!

Merry Antics Back at Home

Jeremy is never more at home than at the piano. It's the one thing he is drawn to every evening after coming home from work and smooching the family, and on Saturdays and Sundays we enjoyed his talents throughout the day. During the Christmas season in particular with the tree aglow in the background, nothing was more wonderful than the sight and sounds of Jeremy playing.

Little Sister is so fashionable this season! We went to Michale's for a hundred reasons and on this trip Lizzie went and found fun on the end cap. This is a sculpted bowl that I think is lovely on her teensie head and is the very statement of vogue.

And then there are the antics of Christopher. I can remember doing this when I was a child, and why not? They're a perfect fit at this age! He slid around the floor a couple of times laughing his head off while Daddy played the piano and Teensie ran after him.

A Special Performance

Jeremy played a piano piece called Wizards in Winter by the Transiberian Orchestra at his SW holiday party held in the lobby of headquarters. We were delighted that his mom and dad were able to be there with us for the event. This is our family Christmas picture.

Jeremy's parents had to leave after the performance but later that night we went out as a family to BJ's Pizza to celebrate a job well done. Jeremy had practiced the piece for months in preparation and now with the stress at an end it was time to just relax.

New Shorter Hair!

So this is big news for me. My hair had grown out all the way down to my bum and it was time for a change. Thank you Jenna for the fabulous new me. I felt so frumpy and pregnant before, now I'm glamorous and pregnant and can take on the world!

Jeremy's Birthday Ice Skating Night as a Family
We we lucky enough to find a free family night, on a Monday no less!, at a local skating rink. With the price just right and a willing papa to lead, we went skating for the first time as a family. Jeremy had taken me skating after we were married for 6mo, but that was 8 years ago! Now there are three novices that he looked after, and we had a wonderful time together.

Even Elizabeth joined us on the ice. The rink didn't have a push sled so we had her fitted with skated. Yes, they are size seven and she's a 5, but Daddy pretty much slid her on the ice anyway, and she loved it!

CJ on the other hand was a natural! After a few times around holding hands he was able to skate on his own and loved and laughed the whole time. And then there was me, at 8mo pregnant I think I did rather well. I didn't fall, which was the goal, and loved to skate on my own while Jeremy took rests with the children. We all had the greatest time!

Christmas Eve at Bass Pro
We had been looking for a Santa to take the kids to see that would be tons of fun, and so Bass Pro was the ticket. It was great fun! They even had a carousel in the massive store with reindeer to ride on. The children loved it, even if there were a few antlers missing!

This is a replica (I hope) of a Great White Shark. CJ and I couldn't resist!

The children went and saw Santa and as expected Elizabeth burst into tears as we left her on his lap. The photo is priceless, but not scanned, sorry guys!

Christmas Eve Dinner

Nothin' says love like shrimp! And crabs legs! And cheddar biscuits! And oh my what a merry Christmas Eve dinner we had. I think that this will become a tradition for our sea food lovin' family. The children snarfed as much as we did and we all went to be full and happy.

Hooray for Christmas Morning!
There was so much to be thankful for on Christmas morning. CJ was given the coolest SW set from Aunt Brandi

And super fun play-doh from Grandma and Grandpa

Janie was given a baby doll that she sleeps with every night

And the cutest tea set and outfit!

And then the crowning toy . . . a bouncie bounce!

and Jeremy and I enjoyed just being there for all their laughs and excitement.

A House Full of Yuck!

This is the only picture I have to represent the weeks of "yuck" that we've had here. Jeremy was sick on his birthday, and then one week later to the day, Christmas, Jane and I became sick and then on Boxing Day it hit CJ. When all was said and done I had an upper respiratory infection, and both CJ and Jane had ear infections. Jeremy was the best male nurse out there and when he went back to work the ward family took over. We are so grateful for priesthood blessings and chicken noodle soup!

Happy New Year 2011
So how did we ring in the new year? Jeremy and CJ took a father and son flight to Huston, just for the pleasure of flying.

This is just one of the sights they took in at the airport and even rode home on California 1! Now CJ has flown on Maryland and California, and his favorite, Shampoo (Shamu). The boys we're back by the afternoon so we bundled up and went to a nearby park as a family.

It felt like it was 18 degrees outside, but I think it was closer to 45. So we played a bit and then headed back to our warm home, needless to say it was a wonderful day.

Let it Snow!!

This was our winter wonderland just six days ago! It began to snow while we were in sacrament meeting and at the beginning of second hour we were all told that the rest of the meetings would be canceled. So what does a Hunt do? Make like it's Canada in September and play in the snow!

Jeremy, who just loves the snow and cold (heavy sarcasm here) was the real hero of the day, playing endlessly with the children in the snow. Here they are building our snow beast, Herbert.

CJ was the one to see it to the end with dad as they adorned him with carrot eyes and mini pickles for all the other trimmings. Sadly, Herbert fell over within the hour and CJ plowed his mid section into the ditch where our tree used to be. He will be greatly missed.

We all had a wonderful time in the beautiful white, but it was Janie that finally called it quits - shivering and crying. That's just what a hot bath is for. She also wanted to eat Herbert's nose so with her own carrot in hand enjoyed a relaxing bath.

We enjoyed the rest of the snowy afternoon sleeping, watching football, and CJ went out to play several more times.

CJ is Reading!
This boy just loves to learn, I'm doing my best to keep up with the sponge. Recently he's taken a greater interest in reading so I had this idea of writing his words on the large building blocks. He builds with the ones we are working on, and he loves it! Here are two of his proud pieces.

Well, that's it for now, just three more weeks till Alison will join our family and then who knows what will happen next. Probably much of the same that has been here, love, joy, and adventure. Every day is a gift, that's why it's called the present.

Horay For the Season of Service and Our Savior!

2010-11-28T20:42:00.000-08:00

The days are getting cooler now and we are loving this time of year. People smile more and a Christmas tree decorated with memories glows from the room across from me. We have so much to be grateful for as this year comes to a close, our lives have completely changed since moving here to Texas. We have a home and a happy family and bright hopes for the future.

But what have we been up too since September you ask? A whole lot! Grab that cup of hot cocoa and a piece of peppermint bark and enjoy the recap.

Teensie Tales

Little Elizabeth Jane is always up to something; exploring her world as fast as she can, always making us crack up. Here she found that brother's boots fit on her arms, what fun!

And then there are the times when things don't go so well and we end up with a sad story to tell. Lizzie was just trying to stand up, slipped and bonked right into the meeting spot of two walls. OUCH! She's all better now, but it was a sore couple of weeks!

Next we have petite pilates presented by Jane. First you begin with a positive attitude and your balloon of choice

Next, position yourself on the balloon so that the core of your body is prepared to be stretched. Remember to breath.

Next, roll your body forward into the Up Dog position and exhale, feeling your entire being cleansed.

Finally, relax. You did it! Give yourself a big cheezer smile - cheese!

Our last little tale is that of the tierd princess and the not so polite tantrums that come when bueaty rest is due. Here we have the wails that come from wanting a cheese stick and not getting it fast enough.

And here we have the lastest fasion vogue that was not up to the standard of her highness.

"It just wont do!" she wails. Well, with tantrums such as these there is not much else to do but sleep the sorrows away and awake fresh.

The End!

Visitors!

We love it when family can come to visit us here in TX. It's a real treat and this time it was Richard and Brandi's family that came to stay for a spell. We went to the Kennedy assassination spot

and then let the children cool off in the nearby fountains. They were soaked!

I can't believe I didn't take more pictures! But here are some that made us all laugh. Kami loved our puppet Grimace, and he was happy to have a place to call his own

too funny!

Halloween Time

What a fantastic Halloween we had. Our costumes came from Grandma Janet and the children just loved them!! CJ was a robot, Optimus Prime

And little Lizzie was the cutest little lady bug ever!

We carved a pumpkin as a family, letting CJ design the face this year

Went to the Southwest Halloween Party as a family

And even Grandma Gretta was there too! She was an awesome Super Girl

And on Halloween night CJ handed out candy, and ate a lot of it too, while sister ran around in monster feet grabbing candy from the bowl whenever brother let his guard down.

Happy Halloween!

Other Tid Bits

We love the Home Depot craft once a month. Here's Daddy and son working together on a spice rack

They sure are a great team!

And Teensie is always there to lend a hand.

And lastly, we finally have joined the ranks of many other breeders and have bought a mini van! We love our venture van, it has power locks, power windows, and even a door that opens when you push a button! The kids love to play in it whenever they can, it's our adventure Venture van.

And as a final bit of news, today was Elizabeth's first day in the nursery. She did well as soon as snack time came and was tearfully full of joy when mommy came to pick her up when church was over. She's just growing up so fast these days, I know that she'll be a wonderful big sister.

And on that note, we're having a girl! Yep, couldn't wait, maybe with the next one, right? We are thrilled to have another daughter and will name her Alison Janet Hunt. We're still on track for early February and every day I think of what three will be like. I'm getting bigger, nearing 7mo now I'm starting to look like 5mo, but the trend is for the baby to be all in front by the end and then come fast, I couldn't ask for any better.

Love you all!

Hey! We're Still Here

2010-09-26T17:50:00.000-07:00

Well there goes my resolution to blog once a week, at this point I'm blogging once a quarter! We'll see if my record improves. For now grab your favorite pint of Ben and Jerry's, mine's Half Baked - ahhhh - and enjoy the update on the Happy Hunt Home.

July

The Rangers v The Angles

Jeremy really can do anything. We loved going to Angles games in CA so he found when the Angels would be in town playing the Rangers and then instead of just getting tickets for us, he organized an open call at work and made it a Southwest event at the ball park. It was really great to meet many of his co workers and enjoy a ball game.

We of course came in our finest Angels apparel, which wasn't much. CJ at 4 years old fit pretty well in his 2T jersey that we dug out but Teensie takes the cake at over a year old wearing her brothers onesie that is 3-6mo! They both looked great.

Did I mention that it was about 85 degrees with 90% humidity?

Did I mention that the game was super slow and then in the end the Angles lost? It wasn't the greatest game, and I think that next time we'll be rooting for the Rangers, they do have Vladamir Gurrero and Benji Monlina favorite former Angles, and we do like the Ranger colors, red, white and blue.

Pioneer Day Princess

This dress was a birthday gift from Grandma Hunt and the bonnet was from Apple Hill last year, and for Pioneer Day this year little Janie was the cutest baby of all.

Star Wars at the Library

We have some really great evens that happen at the local libraries here. One night celebrated the 30th anniversary of Star Wars so we made it a daddy - son night with our friend Jose and his son Stev. Everyone had a fantastic time and the next morning on the front page the boys made the paper! Jeremy is even there behind the storm trooper, it was quite a sensation.

August

Summer Swimmers

This was the hottest summer the Hunt's have ever had. We spent as much time as we could in the pool and even enjoyed story time every Friday morning at the local water park. It was a great way to beat the heat.

By the end of August CJ was brave enough to go down the water slides, he always made a big splash!

Trio Houses for the Family

CJ can be so creative when it comes to building, and he loves his Trio Blocks. Here he has spent the better part of an hour building houses for each member of the family that when combine form an airport that shoots fireworks whenever a plane lands. Whew!

Silly Teensie

This kid has so much personality I don't know what to make of it all! At a friend's house she insisted on wearing these goggles and made me laugh till my sides hurt.

September

CJ's Sports Class

We signed Christopher up for a muli sports class through the city to see if he had any of the ol' Hunt talent. What we found is that he loves to play more than pay attention and had a great time learning about soccer, T-ball, and basket ball.

KISS Concert

That's right, KISS. Jeremy knows the head pyro tech from shows in CA so when the band came to Frisco, TX Jeremy was able to call up his buddy and shoot the show for the night.

We had a couple of friends that went to the concert as well that Jeremy was able to say hi to. It's fantastic that Jeremy is able to continue his pyrotechnic passion here in Texas. He has joined a local team here and has done several soccer games, FC Dallas, and some smaller venues as well. We are very proud of him!

Teepee Kids

It's finally cooled down enough that the kids can play a bit in the back yard. We put up the teepee that Grandma Hunt made for us and the kids love it!

Amelie's Owl

So what have I been up to? Oh, a little bit of this and a little bit of that, mostly running after the kids and working on the house, but lately I took up a small project that paid off big time.

Look how cute! This is one of the outfits for new baby Amelie, Vanessa and Paul's newest addition, and I fell in love with the owl over the pocket. So I thought, why not try making a pillow pal? And after a couple of nights and some trial and error here we have it. I can't wait to make another.

Preschool Fire Station

CJ has started preschool and loves it. He attends an at home class with 4 other sunbeam friends and we just went on our first field trip to the fire station! Here's CJ with his partner in crime, Adam. They both learned a lot and had a great time. I teach manners this week so I'll let you know how that turns out.

CJ Reading the Funnies

I couldn't pass this one up: Yesterday we were in the car and I threw the funnies at CJ. At first he had no interest but in no time this was how I found him. Jeremy and I were struck with incessant giggles at our little man and I'm glad I had the camera to snap a pic.

In Other News . . .

I guess it's about time that everyone shares our joy, we're pregnant, and moving on in weeks. I'll be 20 weeks this next weekend so that's when we go for the ultrasound. I was set on not discovering the gender of our new little one, but now that it's so close, can I really go through with it? We'll see. For now we know that I'm due in early February and if all goes well at the birthing center I'll have a water birth. It's all very exciting and so far it's been a wonderful pregnancy.

There's So Much to Celebrate!

2010-07-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

So it's been way too long since I've posted, but it's like, a year's worth of events has happened in the last month and a bit, so now that I'm home and adjusting back, it's time to get goin' with this blog! I have 15 events (!) and a whole lot of pictures, so tuck in with a sandwich and a soda and we'll get going. I'll start with the oldest happenings and move to the present.

We moved into our home on Ocean!

Thanks to the guys that showed up to help us out, they were amazing and went way above and beyond the call of duty. Moving the piano was a beast.

The kids had a great time. Teensie was all over the boxes

And CJ was granted the highest honor; riding in the front seat of the moving van with Dad. He was so excited!

CJ and His Silly Pants

This kid is a real crack up. I asked him to get dressed for the day and this is how I find him. We were all laughing pretty hard.

Elizabeth Jane Turns One

The day after the move Lizzie turned one, May 30th 2010. The house was in chaos of course so there wasn't much fanfare, but the Bird family brought a fantastic dinner with cookies for desert so that became Janie's birthday treat. She loved it!

The Hunt Family Reunion

I love camping, epically when it doesn't feel like camping. We headed to AZ for the Hunt family Reunion and enjoyed the heat of the day and the beautiful outdoors.

Our Ron Hunt family had the pleasure of neon green for our family t-shirt. Pretty blaring, but it made it easy to spot the kids!

We came to the reunion with Jeremy's parents, Ron and Janet, and Brandolyn and her children. We hiked and did crafts and listened to stories, and ate some terrific food. It was great. Jeremy even did a little rock climbing.

One of the games was a "Redneck Pinata". Instead of wacking a character full of candy you dig through shavings for your treats. It was a big hit. Aunt Brandi really got into the fun and CJ loved it!

Naughty Kids at Target

Lets be very real here, CJ led the way for Abbi to climb into the ball cage. It was super cute, but super naughty! It was one of those moments where I am supposed to be the responsible adult and discourage such behavior, and I failed completely. Oh well ;)

The C and Triple J Mega Awesome Birthday!

Here we have Jordan holding Janie, Jackson, and Carter. It was a birthday celebration for the lucky four in all the Toy Story fanfare we could muster.

This was the super cool alien cake that took FOREVER to make

Here are all the Toy Story characters that came to the party

And all the fun that we had

And some of the cutest gifts I have ever seen!

In Over Her Head

So . . . I put Jane to sleep in brother's night shirt and the next morning she wakes up squealing, and this is how I find her! She's always trying to take her tops off, it was too funny!

Working on the House

Now that we're back from vacation it's time to start on the house and Jeremy and CJ went at it full tilt. This is our front yard, we'll see what comes of it.

Good work guys!

Father's Day

Jeremy is such an amazing father, and his kids adore him. He's wearing the tie key chain that CJ made for him, and wore it the whole time at church.

Back to Sacramento

Yes we are back! Back for more family and more laughs, and a bit of Twilight midnight madness. We stayed with Brandi's family for a good portion of the trip and the cousins played all day long. Here we have the triple Vader threat, so scary!

There were also trips to the park to feed ducks, the Jelly Belly factory tour, bowling, Toy Story 3, and so much more.

Total Eclipse of the Heart!

And now for the main event . . . the Eclipse premiere party! Mom hosted us all at her home and went all out. You see the clock tower from Voltaire cleverly holds our appetizer fruit.

We were each given a personalized dinner box

Each box held a delicious treat inside

Every detail was attended to and we spent the evening playing trivia games and acting our favorite scenes from the past two movies.

The Eclipse movie has been my favorite so far, but going at midnight turned into a real ordeal. Maybe we'll go for a next day show when Breaking Dawn comes out.

Fourth of July

It was back to southern California for the long awaited birth of Alita baby number three. By Fouth of July the baby was two days past due so we celebrated the traditional way in hopes that we would have a Liberty Belle join us on the festival day.

We were so lucky that Jeremy flew out to join us for the Fourth. We enjoyed the revelry as a family and with friends that we have missed dearly since moving.

Our fireworks collection was massive! We shot off at the Goodwin home with the families Alita, Adams, Schulze, Black, Wienstock, and Goodwin. There was fantastic food and so much firework fun!

Sweet Fun in the California Sun

Well, Liberty Belle did not come that night, or the next, or the next. Jeremy flew home and we stayed on. It was pretty cold the next few days, the sun didn't even come out till the afternoon, but when it did we sure made the most of it.

On the days that we drove to see the Alita's we were welcomed to a kiddie paradise.

Here we see the trampoline, pool, tent and garden. There was still a ton more grass to run on, toys to play on, chalk, and a sand center. Nana Nora entertained the children well while the rest of us waited for the baby to arrive.

Olivia Belle Alita

Finally, the long awaited sweetheart came! On Sunday, July 11, in the middle of the night it was time to go to the birthing center. I acted as the video/photographer and was blessed to witness an amazing birth. True to her birthday, this 7/11 baby came quickly and conveniently. We were home with family again by 6am.

Back Home Again

We came home exhausted and happy. It has taken a few weeks to recover from a month of trips, but it was all worth it.

We're Moving Right Along

2010-05-24T18:45:00.000-07:00

What are we up to these days? Well, we bought a house, yep we did. And we have all these plans and high hopes for it, see, so now the work begins.

First we wanted to take all of the popcorn acoustic off of the ceiling, a pretty big deal, and Jeremy's parents came to help us make that happen. What a mess!

Then Jeremy and his Dad sprayed texture on the ceiling to finish off the dirty work.

That was all done in two days! And we sure were burning the candle at both ends.

Then Jeremy with the help of his buddy Sei (thank you Sei) painted the textured ceiling and it looks beautiful!

Next comes painting the house. So many colors to choose from! I don't want to reveal too much, that will come when all is done, but here are Jeremy and CJ painting CJ's room, it was the highlight of Christopher's week!

We also had our backyard dug up a bit for a french drain so that the foundation would remain secure during the Texas storms, I can't wait to be in our new home when one hits!

So now we just have to finish the paint, which should happen tonight, and then the carpet comes tomorrow, and then we move in Saturday!!

This is when we were painting CJ's room. Lizzie got all into it with us, hands and all.

I can't wait for this weekend, I've been packing here at home and I feel like we're good to go!

PS it's Elizabeth Jane Hunt's first birthday this Sunday, May 30th, and then we're off to a Hunt family reunion so it may be awhile before I post again, but don't stop belivin', there's always more comin'!

The Greatest Love The World Has Ever Known

2010-05-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

What a bold statement, and a romantic one. I (almost) never Facebook, but I received a message that one of my cousins was getting married, and that was the title of her invitation. I LOVE WEDDINGS, LOVE THEM. I met my husband at a wedding and loved my own, so going to weddings might as well be my version of doing exactly what I would choose to do if given the option to do just about anything else.

Even thought the timing of the wedding for our family couldn't be worse, with us getting the house ready in Speedy Gonzales time and having to pack our apartment, but I wanted to go so badly! So go I went, with the children of course, and left Jeremy to paint the entire house. I taped the whole place before we left, but Jeremy was the one that transformed our home with color, and I love it, but more on that later . . .

The wedding was beautiful, of course, that what happens when good tasted mixes with love. Aubree and John's colors were lemon and lime, and everything was perfect. They married in the Mesa temple, it was the best cealing I can remember, but I always think that.

It must have been 100 degrees by the time the reception began at 7pm that night. But no one complained, we all were too busy eating pizza and ice cream and hugging and laughing. Everything about the reception dripped of John and Aubree, carefree and lovely, ready to start the journey of marriage, well good luck! It's no piece of wedding cake, but so much better.

We arrived mid Thursday for the Friday wedding and left by 5:30 am on Saturday, one quick trip. It was a mix of emotion, wanting to stay and spend more time with my cousin JoVon and other family, like my mother and grandmother, and feeling the pull of responsibility to be back getting the house ready. It was so good to be home with my worn out knight in shining armor.

A Camping We Will Go . . .

2010-05-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

We went camping! Finally after almost 8 years of marriage we went camping and had a fantastic time. We went with our ward and camped on a huge property that has ponds. I would consider it "prairie" camping, there was no need to clear a sight for our tent because there was no dirt, only grasses. I grew up camping and loving it, but always in the mountains and wooded areas. Here in our part of Texas you're hard pressed to find any mountains, but the area we camped at was just beautiful.

We drove out as soon as Jeremy came home from work and were able to enjoy the sunset along the way

It looked as if we might have been the last to arrive. There were a few tents ready for the night and the adults were busy with dinner by the fire, while children spent time fishing in the ponds and running through the tall flowers and grasses. Everyone smiled and laughed and as the night wore on we enjoyed smores and the campfire.

By the end of the night the few of us who were staying over took our seats around the flames and listened to the wild stories of President Griffin. He told of his childhood in northern Mississippi, living in an area cleared for farming but still wooded and having to hide from a panther that tried with all its might to get into their home when just he, his sister, and cousin were home during the day. It was like something from Little House on the Prairie, and Pres. Griffin is such a natural story teller, it was better than a ghost story and still sent me to bed with chills.

We borrowed a two man tent for the trip so Jeremy, Teensie, and I slept in it while CJ slept in a larger tent with his friend. There was no room for the pack n play (we're so spoiled normally) so I just put Liz on top of our sleeping bags with a blanket to go to bed and she was out in no time (it was 10pm by then as well, otherwise we would have had a fight on our hands for sure). When Jeremy and I went to bed she stayed asleep between us but I'm sure she knew I was there because she nuzzled right up to me in no time, so sweet. Until 2am when she woke up, realized she was with mom and dad and not in a crib and thought it was playtime. After about an hour of trying to get her back down Jeremy finally just took her home and said he'd be back to get us in the morning.

At 4am it started raining. No biggie, but the lightning is what make me uneasy, so I moved to CJ's tent and stayed there till 5am when we were awakened by more rain and a warning to pack up and leave before the ponds rose and covered the way out. All the sites were packed and headed out by 6am, CJ and I rode with one family while our things went with another.

It was eventful and wonderful, and I look forward to going again this summer.

You've Had a Birthday, Shout Hoo-ray!

2010-05-02T18:08:00.000-07:00

Birthday week has come to a close at the Hunt home. Mommy is now in the last year of her twenties and Christopher has turned four!

Jeremy gave me the sweetest Willow Tree figurine, Guardian. It reminded him of Elizabeth and me, and it just melted my heart. What a thoughtful gift. He also stepped it up a notch a home and became Super Husband/Daddy for the day, and I asked him if he could be my hero all year long for my 30th birthday gift. He said he'd do his best (he always does) and the atmosphere here at home has been so much more enjoyable because of it, thank you Jeremy!

And then for Christopher's birthday I went super ambitious this year for his "cake" with a mondo sized plane made from rice crispies and covered in fondant.

Here's how it happened: The fondant and frosting was made the afternoon of the 26th and the rice crispies that night with Jeremy's help of course. We made 10 batches, filling a roast pan for the fuselage or body of the plane, a 9x13 for the wings, and an 8x8 for the fins and engines.

The next night we cut and shaped all the pieces together, frosted all the parts, dyed the fondant, rolled it out, cut and covered the pieces, and very lastly assembled the beast.

Awesome! It took three hours, not bad when you think of it, and a couple of hidden dowels to do the trick, but we were very satisfied with the results.

What I learned: 9pm very quickly becomes 12am so even though three hours is pretty good for what we did, getting started as early as possible is the key, even if it means putting the children to bed early.

I did stay up for another hour or so finishing the poster for the stations and cleaning a bit, but gave up when the clock read past one.

Next day, the Up in the Air party was a great success; thanks to all that came for the party and helped out with the activities. The children loved playing with bubbles most of all but also took turns with Blanket Ball, Twirlie Flyers, the Frisbee, and for the finale, Jeremy shot off his rocket and the kids ran for the pieces with delight. It was really great that Jeremy was able to take the morning off to be at the party, we love Southwest!

Having the party at the park worked out great, it gave us adults a chance to catch up while the kids ran and played. Here's our two favorite teensies, Lanie and Janie in a swing together, too cute!

I loved the colors that came through in this picture, to the naked eye it was just food, but when the picture came out it made me wow!

There was so much wind that we sang the Birthday song and did a pretend blow at the candles, and then I just let the kids tear at the plane, why not?! They were so good not to do it while the moms were all talking anyway.

It's a funny thing, but I find the most gratification from seeing the remains of my cake masterpieces, like knowing it was loved enough to be torn to shreds and devoured, or something like that. Over the last few days we ate the fuselage at home but I had to dispose of the remains after the CJ wouldn't stop asking for and sneaking pieces when I wasn't looking.

My next great adventure in cake making and birthday's will be Janie's first birthday. It's going to be a combo bonanza with a Toy Story theme for Janie, Jordan, Jackson, and Carter. Maybe we could do a cowboy hat, or Woody's boot? The jury's still out on that one, have any suggestions?

PS Just the other day I heard of the new Cricut machine that cuts fondant called the Cricut Cake. I would love to try my hand at cakes with that!

Playing with Fondue

2010-04-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

One of the things that I love playing at is birthday cakes. CJ's birthdays have been a real journey for me and I have learned a lot. From his first birthday, a monkey theme, I learned that trying to be Martha as a beginner will only lead to disappointments and tears.

In the end it was only Keith who though is was the head of a bear, everyone else guessed it was a monkey. I learned never to make the cake the morning of the party.

So then came CJ's second birthday and the train theme. It has been my favorite masterpiece so far, beautiful to look at and remember. But I was late to the party because of the cake! Even when I made all the cakes just days before. I learned that the icing can be made ahead of time as well as the cake.

Then for his third birthday I was eight months pregnant with Liz and didn't want any stressful mishaps. So I made the cake and frosting ahead of time. I learned that it takes longer than an hour to assemble and decorate a cup cake creation. (For me anyway)

Now we come to CJ's fourth birthday in a few weeks, I can't believe my little man is going to be four!!!! He's all about flying so we're going to have an Up In the Air party (btw anyone who reads this is invited) the morning of his birthday. Once again I want to try something ambitious but this time I want to use all I have learned as well as some fore thinking.

So I talked to Stevie who was familiar with marshmallow fondant and we spent a Monday afternoon and Tuesday night making a marshmallow rice crispy bee covered in marshmallow fondant.

I love the way it turned out! From this I learned that a birthday cake can be made the day before, in its entirety, and that's what I plan to do. Stay tuned for how birthday cake #4 turns out!

CJ's First Trip to the Dentist

2010-04-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

We we all excited for CJ's first time to the dentist. We found this great kid friendly place with an indoor play place and movie area, and when you go to each room when being seen you are given coins to redeem for a prize at the end, sort of like a cross between Chuckie Cheese's and the Dentist.

We went in with high hopes and lots of confidence of clean teeth, and then found out that CJ's teeth had a lot of plaque and needed a crown and a cavity filled. Yikes! But CJ was brave and we had the work done that day.

Since then I have wondered if the work was justified, but I saw the yellow tooth before it was caped, and the dentists were very thorough and explained everything. Still, it was quite traumatic, mostly for CJ but for me too.

But he's proud of his silver tooth and loves to pretend that he's Daddy because they both have silver in their mouths.

The Easter Bunny Came!

2010-04-18T19:36:00.000-07:00

The crummy-est time to lose your camera or leave it in Utah is when the holidays are here. Well I didn't have the video camera to capture CJ finding all the Easter Bunny's hidden eggs Saturday morning, but as soon as he was done I found it. Nuts! I contemplated doing it all over again Sunday morning, but nah, it was off to the Bird house (no pun intended) for conference anyway.

I really wanted the focus of Easter not to be confused with Bunnies who bring candy and hide eggs so this year we have tried the Bunny on Saturday and the Savior on Sunday. There's a big spread both mornings, and I think it went well, we'll see if we do the same next year. It being conference weekend already there was a lot of talk about Jesus and listening to the words of the prophets so the Spirit was a big part of the Holiday regardless.

We had a wonderful Easter dinner with the De La Portilla family, and the best ham I have ever eaten (and I really would prefer to never eat ham so me eating all the leftovers we took home and wanting more is really saying something, great job Jose!)

Hope You Had a Hoppy Easter Every Bunny!

New Baby Ethan

2010-04-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

At the end of March the kids and I flew (and by the way Jeremy is so jealous that we can fly and can't wait till he can come with us) to Utah to visit Keith and Amber and their kids Darrin, Jakob, Alyssa, and new baby Ethan, who I lovingly christened Short Stack.

Ethan has been giving mama Amber a lot of grief since coming into this world and I was on kid duty most of the time while Amber recouped from endless nights.

I had a lot of fun while I visited and we spent a lot of time in the house playing games and running around. When it wasn't snowing we played outside, but it snowed a lot, and it was beautiful.

It's amazing, I've heard it before, that the tiny size of a new born really makes all the other children you have seem like giants. So that was my Lizzie, the giant baby, who kept wanting Ethan's paci.

We stayed as long as we could and then headed home to Texas for Easter with Daddy.

Fail Blog

2010-04-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

If any of you are familiar with fail blog, it's not really a blog but a submission site where if you find "fails" in the world around you you can submit them to the site to give the world a chance to laugh at itself. Twice I have tried to submit and can't seem to figure out how, so here's my fail blog:

Coming home one night Jeremy and I passed one of those new fancy bilboards that are all digital and showy and make you almost wreck your car for wanting to look at them. This one made us get of the freeway, do a U-turn, pull off the hwy and take a picture. I still laugh every time I look at it, someone must be asleep at the computer!

The next one I think I put in an older post but beggs to be repeated, and has a lot more meaning to me now that we're buying a house. I found this when I visited Brandi and the kids in Del Rio last year and we took a driving tour of the city. They must have really loved that tree . . .

The Fantastic Amazing Super Cool Bunk Bed!!

2010-03-19T06:35:00.000-07:00

This bunk bed really is super cool, fantastic, amazing, and we love it! CJ has been in need of a bed for some time now and once we had the means I was all over Craigslist looking for a bunk bed for my favorite tike. I am partial to bunk beds because I always wanted one, who hasn't?, and CJ just loves the top bunk of his friend Melodie's and cousin Abbi's beds.

After only a bit of searching we struck gold with STEP 2, they don't make this bunk anymore so when I saw that CJ could sleep and play all in one I was all over it. I love how the lower bunk converts to a play area when you aren't using it as a bed. And Janie loves it too!

The sleeping arrangements are a little tight, but not for too much longer. And the kids really do love playing underneath the bunk together.

P.S.

Jeremy and I spent a few nights scrubbing the daylights out of the plastic when it first came home, it was in a pretty dirty state when we bought it. One morning my fantastic new friend out here, Stevie, came over with her chitlins to help assemble the bed. There was also a severe thunderstorm advisory that came in that morning. Well, the storm came with loud booms and bangs and heavy showers, and when we went to check on the boys, we found Adam and CJ hiding in Lizzie's crib from the storm, it was so cute I had to snap a photo.

Then I realized shortly later that CJ was missing his bottom clothing! Apparently he was in the bathroom when all the commotion started and ran for cover! I couldn't stop laughing when I caught on to what had happened. I just had to share.

A special thanks to Vanessa who shared the story of Jack and his wet diaper head and inspired me to share such moments on my blog too without shame.

Love you Van!

Huston Rodeo

2010-03-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

It's a wonderful thing to be able to fly with Southwest, and know people in the entertainment industry. When the two come together its like magic, and in the middle of it all is my amazing Jeremy, a big dreamer who makes things happen. So this last weekend Jeremy was in touch with his pyro buddies from CA who just happen to run the happenings at the Huston Rodeo, and one short flight later we were there, soaking up all the ten gallon hats and bronco riding we could handle.

We entered at the fun zone and CJ had so much fun trying out many of the events, one carnie was even so nice to let him and I run through a fun house.
Carnie's are the best!

Lizzie was all smiles as she enjoyed the colors and loud sounds around us.

We're just resting before we enter the rodeo stadium. I held Liz a lot that day and tired CJ wanted some of Mommy too. I like having a pile of kids, there's at least room for two or three more!

We had the best seats in the house, literally. Our VIP tags allowed us to go onto the dirt and sit on folding chairs during the show! No way! Without the kids, maybe, but as the show started we saw how those horses bucked in only 8 sec. so I was happy being safe in the stands.

We had such a fantastic day together. It became a long night, and we learned a few travel tips, but would do it again in a heartbeat.

Our Home On the Ocean

2010-03-19T04:38:00.000-07:00

So really it's a home that's on a street named Ocean, but it's going to be ours! I wish I could say in a short amount of time, but as it's a foreclosure, it may be awhile to get all the paperwork and repairs completed. It doesn't need a complete face lift, thank goodness, but a bit of TLC that will take a few weekends.

Front View of Ocean - Est. in 2002, like us!

I love how open the kitchen is and the big pantry!

The front living room and neat-o fireplace

The other living room on the other side of the fireplace

Master Bedroom - Needs a little life!

Master Bath with a garden tub and separate shower

Back of the house, we want to do so much here!

Our back yard with a fantastic running slope all for CJ!

We are so excited that we'll be able to stay in the ward we are currently attending and are even closer now to friends. The schools are wonderful and there's even a community park just a few houses away that CJ and Janie already love to play at.

I love that the play equipment is set within a more natural setting so there's shade as well as plenty of adventure at hand. One other interesting feature is that we have deaf neighbors near by. I remember a while back when we were house hunting that we came upon a neighborhood that had this sign

and I thought that the community must be pretty responsible and neat to have such a thing, plus I'd love to have the chance to sign as part of my daily life, I really miss using the language. It wasn't until we started the process with this home and drove the little neighborhood that I remembered this was the community with the caution signs. It's amazing how some things come together.

So we're up to our ears in inspectors, and paperwork, and planning, and loving every bit of it. Keep coming by for updates on the process and we'll do our best to post. Thank you to all who have been so supportive of our little family and our big dreams. If you'd like to see more of the home click on the link below and you'll be taken to YouTube and our home page where I've uploaded six videos of the home. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/user/HappyHuntHome#p/u

In Other News . . .

2010-03-10T04:38:00.000-08:00

For our regular happenings, there's been a bit of chaos and creativity lately.

First, the chaos . . .

Chris is recovering nicely from strep, but his poor face looked like it was shedding winter skin. The result was me having to scrub and then lotion his face every night, morning, and afternoon, but we're better now. And Lizzie Jane cut her seventh tooth on Feb 28th and her eighth tooth just yesterday on Mar 9 so you can imagine her disposition as of late. Eight teeth! She's only 9 months old! CJ was the same way though so I'm not surprised I guess. I don't have any pictures of screaming children to post, the real images just weren't pretty, but everything is looking up now, or until more teeth cut or CJ contracts the plague!

Now onto Creativity!!

Jeremy felt inclined to cut CJ's hair last week, really cut. Normally we have a buzz session for both the boys, but today was different. Using the super dull scissors that came with the kit for the buzzer, Jeremy sniped and clipped the hairs of our wiggly three year old, who was not happy to have the treatment preformed. Once the process started though, we had to see it through and it ended in tears, restraint, and hugs - isn't that how anything worth while is accomplished at this age?

Though skeptical at the beginning as to where this was all leading, the result wasn't too shabby! And then Jeremy asked me to do the same to his hair! Well, we lovingly refer to both results as a "Hunt Job" and just keep going. Although Jeremy says a co-worker paid him a positive comment on his new do, I still find myself glancing at the top of CJ's head and at Jeremy's profile and grimace a bit. I have learned that a home hair cut is all about blending, and that I need to get better at it!

And then there's the sewing bug that has finally bit me again! I've been waiting, and planning projects, and piling repairs, but I didn't have the drive, until this week. I follow a super cute blog called Sew it to me that has great links to sites for Sewrific projects. Sew, I found this one about making a cooking apron out of a dish towel for kids, and here it is! Sew it didn't turn out like the tutorial, but Chris loves it!

In other ambitious projects . . . I travel a lot recently and struggle with the car seat madness that I always need to deal with, ie, packing, moving, and walking with huge, bulky, required objects. So here is my solution, a security bag for my kids so no seat is required . . . just kidding, it's my car seat bag. Both an upright that Liz will be using in a few short months, and CJ's full booster fit in it. And what cool fabric! CJ was just sure that it was for him, and I had to get a pic.

So where is darling Lizzie? She felt well enough to be available for one day of photo's at the Picture People, I love their work. The next day she was back to cranky teething, but for this one day we were all bliss! Isn't she beautiful! This is why we call her Lizard at home, she loves to use her tongue! CJ began calling her Elizabiff, then Elizabiffy, and now calls her Tinseybiff and Lizardbiff. It's just too cute.

The CJ Special Edition

2010-03-10T03:17:00.000-08:00

CJ is such a character! Every day he makes us laugh with all the things he says and does. He is creative, thoughtful, independent, and hard working. Here's what he's been up to lately . . .

AHHHH!

Christopher has been loving his Trio Block set that his cousin gave him for Christmas. He loves to make the design from the booklet and then start rearranging the pieces to make different creatures. He laughs and screams with delight and demands pictures to be taken and of course we oblige and laugh along with him. He's so creative!

Isn't that sweet?

Christopher is so in love with his sister Janie. Often times, like this, when we are in the car on long trips Chris is able to keep his sister occupied. He wants to make sure that she isn't crying, which keeps Mom happy, and has toys to play with. I assure him that she needs only one or two toys, but he loves to pile them on. He's so thoughtful!

YUM YUM!!

Chris is into eating peanut butter sandwiches, no honey, no jelly, no bananas, only peanut butter. I think, well, it's protein right? and a quick fix so why not. I do limit him to one a day though, sometimes he asks for one as a snack and a meal substitute! So this is him yesterday, asking for a PB snack and I was already feeding Lizzie so he would either have to wait, or do it himself, he chose the later and was still working on spreading when I was able to help. He did a wonderful job and ate the whole thing with pride. It was awesome! My little man is so independent!

Just one more nail . . .

This was the first month that we've taken Chris to the Home Depot Kids Workshop and he loved it! There were several little projects to choose from, I was sure that CJ would have picked the helicopter, but he choose to build a hot wheel car display case. Daddy and son worked hard while I juggled a squirmy babes and took pictures. I was so impressed with CJ's concentration to do just as Dad instructed and finish the entire project without losing interest. He's such a hard worker! The result was perfection and one one the best pictures of Daddy and Son that we have.

So that's a wrap of our man CJ and what he's been up to lately. He's quite a character and we love every bit of him!

Can't Get Enough of this Everyday Love!

2010-02-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been two weeks and there's been a bunch of little lovlies that have been happening.

CJ is quite the waffle obssesser. Just about every day he asks to have waffles for breakfast and lunch, and sometimes both. We have four different irons, so there's a lot of selection, and here he wanted the hearts in favor of Valentine month - just one day wasn't enough love for him!
And then just this past week little man ran a fever in the middle of the day so after a bit of mortin I put him down for a nap. When he woke two hours later his face had completely swollen! I had never seen anything like it, it didn't even look like him and it made me want to cry! He was happy though, a happy little state puff man. I called the doc but we couldn't get him in till the next morning. This is how he looked when he woke up the next morning

He's still so happy even though he's sick! At the doc I was also clued in on his full body red rash (how did I miss that?!?) Which sealed the diagnosis of Scarlet Fever, aka strep. He was given a penicillin shot and is now on the way to recovery.

I have reflected on the blessing of that penicillin shot and the many children that died of scarlet fever before it was available, the book Little Women and the story of the Velveteen Rabbit come to mind. It just makes me ever so thankful for the era which we live in.

On to Teensie Buns . . . Our little Lizzie Jane learned to read this week and is enjoying the electronics section in the paper. She's just so technologically minded!

Okay, so maybe I just caught her at the perfect pose, but it sure is cute. Janie is our little rug rat these days, but prefers to be carried rather than scoot on her belly. She's even up and walking a bit as she holds onto our little wagon. We'll see how far she gets!

Though I don't have a picture to match, Jeremy just returned from California where he endured a practical for his California theatrical pyrotechnical license. He felt it went well, and we're all hoping that he'll be fully licensed soon. Why is he still working on a CA licence if we live in TX you ask? "It's a pastime that pays" he'd tell you. We hope that he'll still be able to travel to CA for weekend shoots throughout the year. Too cool.

And on to me. Well, I am very proud of my blooming interest in cooking. I have had some wonderful guidance, thank you Hannah and Stevie, and just this last week I made some yummy granola. It was so pretty I had to take a picture.

Other than that I'm back into making hair bows for Janie and reading. I'm currently enjoying "An Assembly Such as This" Its Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's POV, kind of like Midnight Sun but without the vampires and all the thoughts of killing, but I still love it just the same :>

In other news . . .

Steven leaves the MTC tomorrow for Hungary! We are all so proud of him and know he will serve the people in Buedapest well on behalf of our Savior.

And Kara is engaged! Donny proposed and they hope to get married in the next year. There have been ideas tossed around about a Star Wars theme, wouldn't that be a blast! Janie could go as princess bun head and CJ could be Yoda. RAD!

More to come next week

Let It Snow!

2010-02-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

When we moved to Texas, none of us expected snow. Neither did the locals because everyone is just as surprised as we are at all the lovely white. It snowed all day Thursday, the day that CJ, Lizzie and I attended a Sunbeam valentine party.

It would have been only a handful of children and their parents, but school was canceled so all the older brothers and sisters were there too. It was a zoo of fun and we played games, decorated cupcakes, and had a wonderful time playing in the snow.

It was my and CJ's first time in an all out snow ball fight with other kids, and we both loved it. CJ stayed up high on the snow covered trampoline and chucked snow balls from above while I was on the front lines being attacked by the children. It was fantastic!

Pulling Together

2010-02-14T12:38:00.000-08:00

Thank you to all those who helped support our family in raising money for Helping Hailey. With the help of donations from individuals, a ward family in Las Vegas, and a grant, we'll be able to get Hailey her helmet. All of the efforts have also given hope and spiritual uplift to all those involved and beyond. It has been a fantastic "ripple in the pond" effect and we can only say Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!

Hailey Needs Your Help

2010-01-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone, this is my niece Hailey and Elizabeth, what a couple of cute cousins!

Hailey is my sister's daughter that was born only a couple of weeks after Elizabeth

Hailey is full of smiles and giggles and is the joy of her parents lives, she also needs a bit of help. Her head is still very soft and although her parents have tried to help, Hailey's head is flat in the back and has also begun to dent inward.

After seeing a specialist she has been recommended to wear a helmet to prevent further damage and hopefully correct the current condition. She would wear the helmet for about 12 weeks, letting the soft tissues harden in a secure environment.

The helmet is of course very expensive, $3800 to be exact. It's too much for one family to pull together, but not too much for a small family community.

Already there is a Valentines fundraiser dinner in the works in Las Vegas through Kara's ward, but if you can help as well, anything would be appreciated. I have set up a DONATE button that works through PayPal at the top right of the blog or you can email me to set up another way to donate if you would like, prism61502@yahoo.com.

When the amount has been raised I will update my blog with the results and remove the donate button.

The sooner Hailey can receive her helmet the less damage she will have to correct and the shorter amount of time she will have to wear it. The specialist says that this will be a one time need and that once her tissues harden she will be in no danger.

Thank you for your support!

What's new

2010-01-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

So we had a fabulous new year with a late night at the De La Portilla home till about 10pm and then rang in the new year on the couch, asleep. I hope that's a good omen for the new year that we'll get plenty of sleep in 2010. The next morning however we hopped a flight to San Antonio for out last time with the other Texas Hunts before their move to Travis in No. Cali. We spent most of our time at their home and at the mall, just crawling the stores and enjoying eachothers company, oh, and there was the four hour stint at Chick Filet. Who can turn down food and a play place? At the mall the kids demanded a pic with uncle Ronald, we have to do something about that I'm sure!

I was trying to think what we've been up to this past week and really it's just been run of the mill, so to speak. The kids have been stinkin cute of course, but other than that I'm still just getting the lay of the land here and unpacking some last boxes

It's been pretty cold here lately, so much so that we're having to drip our faucets at home during the night to prevent pipe bursts, but who drips them at the church? No one I guess because one burst on Sat so church was canceled. We spent our time at home as a family and taking a drive that put both kids down for naps

CJ just loves playing hide in the cupboard, and Elizabeth and her dad love to play the piano when CJ the Ham will let them. It was a great day.

Other than that we're just doin' our thing every day, looking for a house on the side and planning our next trips to see family and friends.

Till next time!

Christmas

2010-01-03T12:09:00.000-08:00

We had a very merry Christmas these past weeks. We were delighted to have Richard and Brandolyn and the kids with us for the holiday and had a fantastic time just being together and sharing the season.

This was Lizzie Jane's first Christmas and she was loving the lights and bows, as expected, so any wrappings went to her eager hands for exploration.

And Christopher enjoyed his beloved Mickey Mouse Puzzle Cube from Santa that he asked for. The letter he wrote to Santa was very heartfelt and his good boy efforts were rewarded.

The super duper highlight of the season was the snow. It started to come down in the storm Christmas eve and continued through the night.

It was enough to play in Christmas morning but now freeze us, so it was perfect. I was sure that it would melt by noon, but the wonderful white stayed with us for almost a week in some places.

The children loved going in the snow again and again, and Chris kept wanting to play in it even after is all melted.

We just had such a wonderful Christmas, we hope all of you out there were touched by the birth of the Savior as well and will be part of the Spirit of service and love all year long.

Our Big Trip

2010-01-03T10:54:00.000-08:00

We went back to California recently and one of our stops was the Alita home where it felt like we had never left. CJ played with Emma and Charlie and I played with Hannah while Elizabeth looked like a cutie. We indulged in holiday revelry with wassail and gingerbread men and the children made Christmas chocolates with Melodie and Sarah.

It was so good to be back with friends that are as close as family. With Hannah's help I even made a greenery wreath from the boughs of her tree. I love trying something new and plan to make one every year from now on.

Our next stop was to stay with my Dad and Gale as we said farewell to my brother Steven as he leaves on a mission. He has been called to the Budapest, Hungary mission and is so ready. His talk that he gave at church proved this again and again. He has a testimony of our Savior and his gospel, of the Plan of Salvation, and has a burning desire to share the gospel with the people of Hungary. He is clean and ready to go, and I couldn't be more proud of him. He still has his signature since of humor and whit that I know will aid him while gone, and keep him pliable in the hands of our Savior.

While sitting in the foyer I snapped some uber cute pictures of Chris and Lizzie. Too cute!

It was fantastic to see family that I had missed since moving. My mother and sister came out from Las Vegas as well and it was such a treat to get Kara's daughter Hailey and Elizabeth together for dress up and girly pictures. They are only a few weeks apart and I just know they'll be best cousins growing up if we can get them together enough!

I also saw Keith, who came down from Utah. It's always so nice that to see someone, rather than just talk to them on the phone. Keith's wife Amber is due end of February so I think that will be my next flight out.

Then our last stop was to Sacramento for a quick stop in with the Hunt family. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and played day in and day out with aunt Vanessa, Abbi and Jack. CJ and Abbi are like two peas in a pod, and Jack is Janie's protector! At one point I was cleaning out Janie's little nose and Jack looked so worried for her! He wanted to make sure that she in no pain!

One of the nights we had super tasty spaghetti that Grandma made at Vanessa's home and Janie just loved it! She was such a noodle mess that Aunt Van let her take a bath in the super big sink. It looks like her own personal bath tub! We just had so much fun every day that it was hard to leave.

We flew home on the 17th of Dec, the day before Jeremy's 30th birthday. He deserved so much more than what I could give him, but I tried my best to make him a Homer cake and we had a steak dinner at home. It was small, but we were together after a long time apart, so it was just enough, he said.

It Snowed!

2009-12-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm a bit behind but we've been so busy! The highlights have been our Christmas tree and the snowfall.

First, we put up the Christmas tree and it looks so beautiful. Christopher loves to play with the ornaments while Jeremy and I hope he doesn't brake them, and Elizabeth just stares and stares. She does try to grab a branch as the tree rotates by, but hasn't brought the tree down yet! I am so happy to have the tree up again after a two Christmas hiatus. It's five years old this year but still shines like brand new.

Secondly, it snowed!! It has been very chilly here and the other day we awoke to fresh snow on the cars and ground and powder falling all around us! CJ and I ran out in our PJ's and took some quick pics but then ran right back in.

We love living in Denton!

So tomorrow we leave on our multi state trip to visit family and friends and bid farewell to Steven as he leaves on his mission to Hungary for two years. I'll post about all our adventures in two weeks!

2009-11-29T18:36:00.000-08:00

So Thanksgiving has come and gone and the Christmas season is officially underway.

We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with the De La Portilla family, whom we are truly thankful for, and were overjoyed at having Richard and Brandolyn and their children stay with us Tuesday through Saturday for vacation.

The main event this year wasn't turkey at all but the chaos of Black Friday. Brandolyn and I planned our attack and began at 3:15 am getting ready so we could be to Kolh's in Lewisville just before 4am. From then on we hit Target, Wal-mart (we were out of there just as the sun was rising) then to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Then to JoAnn's, CostCo, Sam's Club, Office Depot, and then Target that is close to home. It was just before noon when we came home laden with our haul and then the next two hours were spent wrapping all Christmas would bring.

It was an exhausting day that still ended with Jeremy and I going to see New Moon together, it was better the second time!, and playing cards with Richard and Brandi till 11:30 am. I love having family over!!!

New Moon Par-tay

2009-11-29T17:02:00.000-08:00

Yes, I flew myself and my two young children half way across the country to attend a New Moon party, and yes, it was worth it! We all had such a fantastic time! It was a ladies only event that begun at 5pm and lasted till about 3am.

The decorations for the party we spectacular. Vanessa went all out to prepare the way for New Moon. Here are just some of the festivities:

These blood bags are filled with either Jelly Bellies or Peanut M&M's and were set as treats for the movie

There were black and red candles all over the living room and on the boom box was the current and original Twilight soundtrack. There were also dozens of white roses set in vases filled with red water. For dinner we had Italiano and I made desert

This Team Jacob cupcake is chocolate with spiked chocolate "fur like" frosting set in a sunshine yellow wrapping for your consideration.

This Team Edward cupcake is a red velvet set in a pale rapper with a white frosting that sparkles with sugar crystals.

Which do you choose?

At the party we laughed and talked vampire v werewolf and then enacted our favorite (or really, least favorite) parts of the Twilight movie. There was even a trivia game that we all apparently won due to the fact that answering questions consisted of yelling at the top your voice what the answer was. I'm not sure who won the golden onion but someone must have taken it home! It was fantastic. The only tragedy of the night was that Van forgot to pull out her life size cut outs of the movie poster bearing Edward in the foreground and then Jacob protecting Bella. We saw it the next night though and took turns drooling at the hunky men.

As the night wore on we talked as the movie Twilight played on the TV and around 9:30 Mom and the nieces went to save our spots in line. I stayed home till the last possible moment because I had changed plans and decided to take Elizabeth with me to the movie. Yep, I did it.

I was too worried being so far from her, the theater was over 20 min away, in the middle of the night. Surprisingly she was fantastic, my little movie junkie! She was awake and watching, sitting on my lap for about half the movie, she even fought me when I covered her eyes at the werewolf parts! Then she quietly went back to sleep in my sling till the movie ended and then went to sleep again at home like it was routine. Amazing.

Well, I loved the movie. I made my own t shirt that has all of the Team Edward and Team Jacob nonsense crossed out on the back and stated Team Carslile on the front. There's no competition with him around. I loved the movie, it was leaps and bounds better than the first. I can't wait till Eclipse comes out in June. When will Breaking Dawn begin to film? I'm sure I'll be back again for those parties as well.

Grab Your Bag, It's On!

2009-11-29T16:39:00.000-08:00

This is the Southwest slogan right now and we sure are feelin’ it. We flew back to California to spend a week with Jeremy’s family. I was a bit nervous to fly with the two kids by myself for such a distance but they did so well!

At one of our stops CJ was allowed to go into the cockpit and get a feel for what flying the plane might be like. Now he wants to be a pilot just like uncle Chewy.

Elizabeth was such a good baby! She was happy to fly and the crew was happy to dote and coo over her. It's so funny but the comment I get the most about Janie is how much she looks like a dolly! I can sure see what they mean.

The crew we had were so fantastic that they insisted we take pictures with them! Here's us with the pilot.

In it's entirety the flight lasted six hours with its two stop offs in El Paso and San Diego. It was a terrific that everything went so well. The flight home six days later however took ten hours and had a few hiccups. Still, the kids were wonderful and it was so good to see Jeremy again.

Our weekend in San Antonio

2009-11-16T11:20:00.000-08:00

It was a dream weekend in San Antonio, and not because we went out every night or went shopping at the fabulous outlets, actually we did neither of those. I made cookies and the children slept well,

and on our second night just the adults stayed up way too late playing up and down the river, Brandolyn and I won of course!, and phase 10 eating shrimp cocktails.

We spent time as a family, which is always way over due, and just enjoyed each other.

As a bonus we took a tour of the plane that Richard is training to fly, the C-5, it was ginormous!

Then we spent our last hours together at the spectacular park on base.

For such a fantastic time it went way too fast. We were back in Denton by 8pm, sigh. We love it here though and it was a satisfying feeling to be going "home".

On Tuesday me and the kids fly out to Sacramento to be with the rest of the Hunt clan for a week long New Moon bash! Don't be too jealous, I'll have all the great pictures from the week when we get back Monday.

Mischief Managed

2009-11-08T21:35:00.000-08:00

It's been another exciting week at the Happy Hunt Home. We are getting a little better settled and Christopher is starting to get into trouble as he sees fit. He's always been one of those kids that wants to go and do on his own so when he wanted a snack, that was just what he was amin to do.

Caught right in the act, I had to grab the camera and then scold him. That kid could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner if we let him.

On to Lizzie . . . She loves to eat! She has been cranky for the last week and I thought she was teething again because she wanted to gnaw on everything but it turns out that she just wants to eat! We're full force into baby food and even table food if it's mashed up. She loves whole fruit, strained green beans, and any kind of bread, who doesn't!

I am also very pleased to announce that our Janie has started to sit up. She leans all the way forward to do so but it does last for more than a few seconds. She then goes even further for the toes or looks to the side with her full head and falls over. This is very exciting stuff.

In other events, I cut CJ's hair yesterday and did my own hair for Jeremy's holiday party. I was pretty impressed with both if I do say so.

And lastly I want to dish about this company party. It was a black and white ball so Jeremy and I dressed up for the occasion, I even wore the tiara from my wedding, and why not? It was held in a hotel in Dallas and there were some big names from the company rumored to be there. The founder Herb, among them, was not present, he had the flu, but Colleen Barrett, former CEO of the company and first female CEO of any airline ever, was there so we took a picture with her.
That's here in the middle. After the picture we sat back down at our table and she followed us! She sat next to Jeremy through dinner and we all had a lot of laughs at Herb's ex pence because he wasn't present. It was a spectacular evening.
This coming week we'll be going to Richard and Brandolyn and the kids in San Antonio so stay tuned!

We're Back Baby!

2009-11-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been way too long since I have updated our family blog, and so much has happened! Of course Lizzy Jane was born and is now a whopping five months old! Also, Jeremy landed a fantastic job with Southwest airlines and we moved to Texas! We love it so far, and surprisingly don't miss California. The locals say, "just wait till the summer". It doesn't make me look forward to the super hot months in the future, but the fall here is fabulous.

So that's the super short update. Here are the recent happenings . . .

Jeremy works for the coolest airline on the planet. To prove it here's a picture of us with the company's founder, Herb, dressed as a biker at the company's Halloween party held this past Friday . . . during normal operating hours. It was fantastic to see where Jeremy works and how Southwest really is as great as it's cracked up to be!

These are the highlights from Halloween. We went to the Trunk-er Treat (come on, that's how everyone says it) and had a fantastic time.

Here is Lizzie the Leopard with Elena the froggie and below are pumpkin Chris and Estevan the Fire Fighter.

These two kids belong to Karolyn and Jose, long time friends of ours that are transplant Californians like ourselves that helped us find our home in Denton.

Our family picture turned out nice I think! We did a lot more trick or treating in the nearby neighborhood and CJ got quite a nice pull that we will all be enjoying for the next few weeks.

So that's the update! I know it's slim but I plan to do it every Sunday at the least so keep checking in to see how we are and how we are doing in Texas!

Spring is Here!

2009-03-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll! It's about time that I updated this blog. I completely missed Valentines day, even though Christopher was the cutest cupid of them all . . .

And then Chris and I went to Texas to visit Richard and Brandolyn and the kids at the AFB in Del Rio. We had a great time in San Antonio the first day when we visited the Alamo and went on the River Walk

Me and the boys at the Alamo fountain

Brandi and the kids at the River Walk

And the rest of the time we had the immense pleasure of living the simple life. We just watched the kids play, made bows, took walks, went sight seeing in Del Rio, went bowling, and made cookies. It was the best vacation I've had in a long time because it was so relaxing. Thanks Hunt family!!!

Kami here is taking Chris cruisin', showin' him her turf.

I want to make them t-shirts that say
"Brother from another mother"

This was the nicest home we saw in Del Rio.
I can just hear Goofy saying
"hmmmm . . . somethin' wrong here"

Kami and I painted fingers and toes

Theses really are the cutest Kids in the west!

So I'll post more as soon as it happens.

Love the So Cali Hunts!

Who We Are

2009-02-11T08:55:00.000-08:00

To better know our Hunt family I have prepared a series of revealing exposes . . .

First Jeremy, the father of the family

He's a wonderful husband and a fantastic father. He's dedicated to being the best he can every day. One of his passions in life is pyrotechnics. He's a licensed operator and loves to show his stuff. Here's one of his more impressive displays:

July 4, 2008 - Ladera Ranch, Ca

Then there's me, Stephanie. I am a happy wife and mother and love to be home. I only just recently left my ASL interpreting life at an elementary school to be home and I love every bit of it (not every minute of it, but yes, every bit of it ;) Soon there will be one more to look after and we're so happy it's a girl. Right now we like the name Elizabeth Jane, Lizzy, Janie, EJ, etc. I hope she has blonde ringlets.

Jan 2009 - Seal Beach - 6mo

And then there's CJ

He's our happy little nutter who never ceases to make us laugh out loud with his antics. He is just so smart and energetic and talented too! One evening I was readying him for bed and he decided to show me his new trick. Where does he pick this stuff up?

So this is our Happy Hunt Home

Ya'll Come Back Now, Ya'hear!

To All Who Come to this Happy Place, Welcome

2009-02-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

So I finally did it! We have a blog. Come see us often for Hunt family updates