The little things that make me happy

So today and the other day I have been fiddling around with my blog design.  I wanted to have a cute Christmas look.  No go.  Instead I ended up just finding another cute background and the how-to on buttons and blinkies.  Well, then I clicked on the secrets buttons and there is the tutorial for how to put the dad-gumm words under a freakin' picture!!!! I have not been able to figure that out.  Glory be and hallelujah!  I really am a happy camper now.  So, here's some cute pictures we have...and the labels to go with.

Justin and I attended the Marine Officer Commissioning of LT Lateer.  We had a great time getting gussied up.

Look closely and you will see ATHENA the new addition.

now usually I don't like how my pictures look, but a random shot by one of the Boys turned out ok.

Ethan loves Mac and Cheese, lots and lots.  No really.

I'll be honest.  I was practically tickled pink to finally get this figured out.  Now my posts aren't as lame!  Cheers!

Oh Happy December First!

When I was growing up we had a tradition that I carry on in my little family. We give December First presents. Not something big and spendy though. Something like a new book, movie, Christmas candy etc. Well, when my brother Riley married his wonderful and fabulous bride Allison, she had a little different tradition that my mom decided to adopt. St. Nicholas Tag. It's celebrated in Germany, which is where Alli's ancestry is from. So score, now I get a Dec. 1st gift from Justin and Dec. 6th gift from my mom!! Oh what a little spoiled girl I am at heart. Growing up with all brothers, it was my job to be that way. A job I took very seriously of course. My brothers think too seriously probably.

So the other day Justin was pondering what to get for me. I gave him some ideas, frankly I have to or else I end up on the receiving end of travel size camping gear, what girl whats that ?!? To have for the family, sure, but NOT as a gift for heavens sake. He has since learned his lesson. Well, he came through this morning! Darling diamond earrings were waiting for me when I a woke this morning. With a cute little note. Well, now he has redeemed himself nicely! A Happy December First indeed!

Full of Thanks and thankful to be full.

Happy Thanksgiving !!! We had such a great time as a family this year. We had some time to hang out with each other and relax. The boys had 5 days off, Justin had 4. When does Kresta get her days off? That is a post for another day. BUT we had a great dinner with friends here in Dayton. We took over the gym at the church. Each family brought something, so no scary turkey experience for me! Just one more thing to be thankful for!! I am a confident baker, cook, and domestic goddess for sure, but turkey scares the crap outta me. Our dinner was really great, no bellies could complain.

So what so the Wright's have to be thankful this year? So much. First of all that J got home from his deployment safe and sound, not a scratch on him....though he did get a hornet sting on the head prior to coming home. BUT that we can live with. Austin has had a full recovery from all the drama we had in March with his Gastro surgeries. We find our selves loving our home in Ohio. That right there is a huge blessing. I'd hate to be somewhere for the next few years that was not Kresta friendly. I have been kindly accused of making a fit for myself wherever we live so, that 's a good thing. Ethan had mastered his potty training experience. Bless him. Bless huggies wipes and Scrubbing bubbles, they can get anything out of carpet. We are surely thankful for great kids who adapt BEAUTIFULLY. Our boys are amazing troopers. They still miss all the friends we leave behind, make new ones and move along. We are truly blessed right there. Can't have a thanking fest without being thankful for Justin's career. What a great one he has, it is going super, he's super at it, too! Lastly( for this post any who) I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So, so thankful and blessed. Sometimes I wonder why we are so blessed, then I remember we really have sacrificed and struggled too, so it works out I guess.

Bring on the Christmas season!! I can hardly believe that this week is December. Yay, yay, yay!!

Time Flies and that's the Truth!

My goodness, what have we done in the past few weeks? Well, for starters we had a great Halloween. The boys dressed up as a Cowboy (jeremy), a ninja (Cooper), Raph - the Nija Turtle (austin) and Spiderman (Ethan). We attended a Halloween Hoops night at Wright State, it was put on as a preview for the Men's and Women's Basketball teams. Then we had a trunk-or-treat night at the church. That was lots of fun, we had a ton of candy by that point. Finally when Saturday night rolled around to do our actual trick-or-treating, the kids were super excited. We went all around our neighborhood and a few streets over. The end result was MASSIVE amounts of candy! Afterwards we had some delicious homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls.

Now moving on to November...Justin and I have been looking forward to the random vacation days he requested this month. Since we still have many jobs in mind for the house, there was a long list of honey-dos. But before all that, the boys had some fun things going on in school and scouts. Jeremy is in the SOAR program here, its the gifted program. He's getting along wonderfully in it. One day a week he and his fellow sutdents all go to Titus Elementary. They have all kinds of projects going on. He's been really pumped to work with the ipods. He also got his Weblos badge and his Religious knot in Scouts. He turned 11 this month, can't hardly believe it. We had a family party and then the other night attended the opening weekend showing of The Deathly Hallows part 1. IT ROCKED!! He and his friend did get a little freaked out when the snake jumped out, but so did I. We loved it.

All the boys have been doing awesome in school and the mid-term reports looked great. This also meant that since they are getting good grades, doing their chores and being great kids (most of the time) they have had the required 3 months to get a new pet. Her name is Athena and she is a Guinea Pig. No hamsters or smaller type things, we wanted to avoid accidental vacuuming accidents!

This week is also our stake wide Proclamation emphasis week. Being un-plugged and taking more time to be together. For us though, we really try to live unplugged and do everything together! But last night when the kids wanted to watch a TV show, we didn't and had time with Athena in stead. We got her little home all set up and let her sniff us out. Eventually she did pee on the floor, on a blanket thankfully. Ethan did drop her on the floor, good thing he's so short, the fall was not a long one!

I love the Leafy Tree Tops here!

Ethan doing what he does best...being adorable.



such pretty leaves around here they are so awesome



Jeremy and the 5th grade trip to the Wright Brother's Memorial

Goodness, the trees here are gorgeous! I was even told that this year they weren't at their best, not enough rain. BUT I have really loved being all over town and seeing these lovely tree tops. Jeremy was on a field trip and snapped a couple great shots, I went to the trail where Ethan and I go for rides and took some pictures too. So, so pretty. I love fall, I love to not have the air conditioning on, the windows open and the freedom to bake! I love watching sports with Justin, baseball playoffs, college football, soccer, whatever. It makes me happy. I love reading books, long books, funny books, sad books, action packed books. I love getting out the long sleeves that have been hiding under my bed, getting new cute fall clothes and boots!

The House, the Hoop-lah

Thar she blows!! Here is the house, yeah we bought it virtually sight un-seen. It has worked out okay so far. There are few things that I don't like about this house, but we can and will change them. For example, the paint almost every where, the kitchen counter tops, the carpet in the living room, family room and the stairs that go to the upstairs. I am thrilled to have all the room we have, that is a big bonus. Having a place to put the kids toys, down in the basement out of sight is really great. Our yard is not too bad, although its sloped in the back, so a trampoline would literally have to be dug into the ground so the kids don't slide right off of it. On the up side a flood would have to work real hard to do some real damage. We have a handful of ward members in the same area, yay! For the first time ever Justin and I have been married longer than our Bishop, that was weird. Getting settled in the ward has been a snap so far. I have a great calling as the CTR 5B teacher, those kids crack me up. Austin is in my class and no, he is not at all worried that since I am his mom and the teacher, he should not be a turkey and crawl under random chairs, just like one of the other kids did. I think he was better behaved when I was the President in the old ward. Oh well. We will work on it.

Yesterday I went and got all the Halloween cuteness I could from Hobby Lobby. If everything hadn't been on sale my poor hubby would have choked when he saw what I spent. My favorite is how the mantle above our ugly fireplace (really? brass trimming, ick) turned out. The boys really like that we have candy corn lights on the stairs banister. And a big purple spider on the entertainment center that is actually made out of large jingle bells, very creative. Not my creative-ness, but for 4 bucks I was sold!

For the last few years we have had a tradition to do a fun ding and dash for Halloween. But since last year was so nuts with Justin getting deployed, I forgot to do it in Clovis. Sorry about that, it's so fun. Hopefully it will make it around this year. So tonight we have our "victim's" picked out, the goodies are ready to be dropped off, I will cross our fingers that no nosey neighbors think the kids running off to the mini-van in the dark are up to no good and we all end up in the Clink! If we do, well at least we won't miss church, its Conference weekend!

Oh what have I done now?!?

Justin has been longing, nagging, and pining away for a motorcycle since he got back from his deployment. We made a deal in fact on the very subject. Well you may guess his search is over. Indeed it is. He looked up a place near the base and wouldn't you know they had the perfect bike, one that isn't even available now as a 2010 model. Its a 2007 Honda Shadow. Very sleek and sexy if you want to know the absolute truth. He looks very manly on it. He even asked if I thought he looked good on it. The mans ego needed little boosting so I went for a simple, "you bet" for a reply. Several years ago we bought a house and a motorcycle in Texas, seems now here in Ohio we are taking that same road. That's fine with me, we had good times and low insurance there too!

When Justin makes these types of purchases usually I have many perks that follow, lots of shopping trips and pampering to make it "even" as it were. No questions asked. Christmas this year will be fun I think. I have already informed him I want new golf clubs, so I really think a pretty, sparkly something, better find its way to my stocking, right? Yeah, I think so.