BEAD FOR LIFE

Some of you might have received a necklace or bracelet from me for Christmas. They all came from an organization called "Bead For Life". If you haven't heard of it, I recommend you watch this video:

http://www.beadforlife.org/video/4DVDRoll.html

or visit their website at

http://www.beadforlife.org


It is an excellent way for us to help fight poverty. Check it out, you won't be sorry.

Merry Christmas

We had a very quiet and peaceful Christmas this year. The boys didn't want to cooperate for our christmas eve picture this year. Happy Holidays to everyone and I hope everyone stays safe this New Years!!

Love the Howards,
Ryan, Amber, Jack & Joey

Party.........Party...........Party

As most of you know, December is a crazy busy month with Christmas.. But throw in several birthday parties, a steady stream of company since thanksgiving, a horrible cold, and other holiday parties and crazy turns into INSANE. Here is a brief look into what has been going on in the last few weeks, although it almost seems like a blur to me. I love the holidays but I am looking forward to things getting back to normal and actually getting a good nights sleep.

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The beginning of the month started out with my niece Lu turning 2. She's such a funny little girl and such a fun additional to our family.

I co-worker of mine did a cookie exchange party and this was what I took. Super duper yummy ORANGE COOKIES with fresh squeezed orange juice. They flew off the plate and I can't wait to have time to make them again.

We attended a carnival theme birthday party that our friends Luke and Naomi hosted. It was complete with a bounce house, face painting, cotton candy, and carnival games... GOOD TIMES!

Alyssa with her cotton candy.............................Bambi, Me

My Aunt Linda and cousin Brett flew in from Texas for the weekend a few weeks ago and it was so fun to spend time with them. Thanks for coming!!!

Playing Mario Kart

Rachelle, Linda, Brett

On my birthday we had a few family and friends over for donuts and hot chocolate outside by a bonfire. THANK YOU to everyone that came, I had a great time. I tried to get a picture with everyone that came but I forgot a few so if I didn't get your picture, I'm sorry. My birthday is also the anniversary of when I got my little boy Jack. So happy 8th anniversary little buddy.. I love you.

Jack enjoying his treat from Grandma

Mom & Me

Mom & Dad

My brother Ben, Max, & Bryn

Cady, Me, Tory, and Bailey

Tory & Me

Bailey, Cady & Me

Darcie & Me

I finally got my stockings hung.

Christmas Humor

My Hubby is AMAZING!!!!

So for YEARS I have been wanting a mantle... especially at christmas time. The problem is, our home does NOT have a fireplace. Despite that little set back, I wasn't gonna let that stop me. I found a few pictures of some mantles that I liked, went to Home Depot and picked out trim work and put Ryan to work building it. After several hours of hard work and LOTS of paint, it was done. He did such an AMAZING job, I LOVE IT!!!!! I quickly whipped up a new garland to match my tree... made a new centerpiece for the mantle and now I just need to finish the look by adding my stockings and candles. THANK YOU HONEY, YOUR AMAZING!

Oh christmas Tree

Can I just say that I'm loving my Christmas Tree this year. I wanted to change it and do something fun for a change. It was hard to get a good photo of it. The green mesh looks yellow in the picture but its actually a lime green like the ornaments. Other than that, I LOVE it. Next I am making a matching garland to go on the mantle that Ryan has been making me.. pictures to come soon.

Happy Turkey Day

Our thanksgiving was pretty low key this year. The weather was actually cold for us which kind of made it feel MORE like the holidays. A BIG thanks to my cousin Carlee who drove over from California for the long weekend. We had so much fun while you were here, can't wait for you to come back. On friday, Carlee, my mom, and myself all got up at 3am to hit the sales... it was crazy cold outside and we braved the lines and got some good deals.

Us enjoying the beautiful weather outside.

Grandma & Bryn..................... Lu

Bryn smiling for the camera.....................Josh & Carlee

Playing some after dinner games

On Saturday we met up with my Aunt Paula and Payton for some more shopping and lunch.

Paula had to put her sunglasses on cuz she always blinks in pictures. ha ha

Me & Carlee

Happy 33rd Birthday Ryan!

Let me just start this by saying that I am SO jealous of my hubby. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Disneyland ON my birthday and my lucky hubby got to do just that this year. Friday was Ryan's 33rd birthday and to celebrate we decided to go to the Happiest Place on earth. Lucky for us we hadn't used our free passes from Volunteering waaaay back in February, so it was an easy choice. We drove over to Anaheim thursday night and thats when our adventure started. We made a restroom stop in Blythe and as I was walking in to the convenient store I noticed two homeless men rummaging through the garbage collecting things. I felt so sorry for them that I gave each of them $5 to get something to eat. No sooner had I handed them the money and they were inside buying booze with it. I have to say that I was a little irritated but I guess they had a good night thanks to me. Our saga continued when we checked into our Hotel. We got our room key and made our way up to the 18th floor. Immediately upon entering the hotel we could see the fireworks and laser show going off at Disneyland so we ran to the window. After a minute or so we turned on the lights and looked around the room and noticed that someone's stuff was in the room... AWKWARD!! We hightailed it back downstairs and got another room. We realised after we were in our new room that Ryan had thrown our bag of goodies in the old room when we first walked in. We got so excited about seeing disneyland and then ran out of there so fast when we saw it was someone elses room that we forgot it. So if you were staying at the Doubletree in room 1816, YOUR WELCOME! After a good nights rest we headed off to Disneyland for the day Friday!!!









Possible Christmas card pic???

I HEART MICKEY!!!

They had just started setting up Christmas stuff while we there. I was bummed that it wasn't already all done because I LOVE Disneyland at Christmas time. We had a great day except we got stuck on the Indiana Jones ride which caused us to miss World of Color at California Adventure. All in all it was SUPER fun and I can't wait to go back.

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On Saturday we went to Venice Beach and rented bikes and road along the beach. Venice is always a good idea because its a great place to people watch. After that we went to Roscoe's Chicken n Waffles in Hollywood for some gooood food. We were the only white people in the place which cracked me up. The food was awesome, as always. We drove around Hollywood for a bit then headed out to Riverside to stay with our friends Eric and Courtney Bostock. We stayed up well past the time change Sunday morning chit chatting. Thanks for letting us stay Eric & Courtney, we had TONS of fun!

Halloween 2010

Wow, what a crazy week we've had. Make that a crazy few weeks for me. I worked thirteen days without a day off getting ready for halloween and by the time it got here, I was so ready for it to be over. First off, let me back up and take you through the last week. My brother Josh's birthday was last week so the fam got together for dinner and pumpkin carving.
Happy Birthday Bub!

Below is our final product. I think we did a pretty bang up job!

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Every year my work (Red Brick Realty) does a haunted hallway party for the community. This means LOTS of work for me. We transfer our office into a haunted house. Since there are only two of us, this process takes ALL month long to put up. Needless to say, halloween is NOT my favorite holiday. All the effort was worth it though because we had a GREAT turn out this year and I think the kids (& adults) loved it. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us, we'll see you next year!!

Me with Bailey Salisbury (I'm a pirate)

(Princess Bryn, Ladybug Lu, and me)

Who's that scary man in the background (ha ha)

This is my partner in crime, Summer who I work with... without her I would drown

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Okay, my boss who LOOOOOVES halloween also has his own Halloween party every year at his house. I spent many many hours helping them decorate their house for their party and let me tell you, they go ALL OUT! They have a gorgeous house and just about every inch is covered. Like a big dummy I didn't take pictures of their house or my office, so thats on my list for next year. For the Hopkins party we decided to change up our costumes from the night before so on Saturday we rummaged through the house to see what we could find. We decided on a pimp and ho.. with ryan being the ho. The funny part is that we just wore each others clothes, slapped on a wig and we were out the door. No one at the party recognized us, which in my mind equals a HIT! Below are the pictures... try and keep a straight face when you see Ryan, he's such an ATTRACTIVE female!

The Ho and The Pimp

We are sooo HOT!

Shari that I work with was the exorcist girl.. she was freaky!

Naomi.... you look WAY too pretty next to me. ha ha

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Eric and Tory came for the weekend so we got to spend time with them while they were here too! Yay, come back anytime guys.... better yet MOVE BACK anytime!

Can you tell it was super sunny out??