Gone to see Santa

Somer, Shelly and I took Davis and Melise to see Santa at the mall. All of my other kids were in school so this is it. We also played in the little play area. They had tons of fun, especially when us moms couldn't see them. Crazy kids!!

Here Melise is make-up and all. I knew there was something missing, "Wheres the paci?!?"

I was just lucky to get Davis to sit in his lap at all. I especially love that I am holding one hand and the other is in his mouth. He did pretty good. He warmed up, kind of. He, or I, I can't remember, told Santa that he wanted a bike for Christmas. There is this little boy in our neighborhood that has one so he always says, "I want a bike like Eli!"

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving day my family all met up at my dads house. We wanted to keep up traditionby having it there. My mom was missed but we still seemed to enjoy our day. After eating TOO much food some of decided to go for a hike. We went up the mountain just in front of my dads house. Justin and Diane came and brought Shea. Me and Sid, my dad, and Ainsley. This is Sid heading down. He absolutely LOVES hiking.

This is Grandpa helping Ainsley down the side of the mountain. She wanted to run and jump. Not exactly a good idea. So, Grandpa thought it best to 'help' her.

This is the view from the top of the mountain. We are looking south. My dad lives west of the mountain.

Here we are on our way out. It was nice outside. A little drizzly (if that's even a word), but nice. Since then my dad has lost about 12 pounds. He looks amazing.

Mexico

Okay, some of you didn't get enough of the Mexico pictures, so here you are. These the the most recent pictures. We went in November and had a BLAST. We had a big group with us. Carter & Tiffany w/6 kids, James & Emily w/3 kids, Clete & Celia w/2 kids, Somer & Aaron w/2 kids, Cliff & I w/4 kids, Triston & Melanie, Tiffanys brother and wife, Emilys Mome and Dad, Her sister, hubby & 2 kids. We all had a great time. We just hang out, enjoy the sun, the breeze, the ocean, the sand, the kids, our company, eat Mexican Food, and yes OUR TRAILERS!!!! It wouldn't be Mexico w/out them.

This is Sammy just being Sammy. We love him so much!!! He is our little surfer boy! He would love to live on the beach.

This is Davis. He loves it there so much he never seems to NEED anything. He loves the sand and the water. He goes from fully clothed to a diaper. So DANG cute!!!

Well, this is obviously a picture of me. I didn't say a good one, I just said it was. I went and got a perm the day we left so that I had a GOOD excuse not to wash it. Thank goodness the water was too cold for me anyway. By the time we left my hair was straight up JERRY CURL!!!

Oh, yeah! We also had a family from the ward come with us. One of Sids very best friends Chase Madder & his family came with us. It was fun to have them with us they are a great family. This is Melise, Davis and Annie just hangin out on the tramp. Oh, and half of Caitlin.

Did I mention that the kids LOVED having the tramp there. They seriously never got bored or ran out of things to do. We just ended up leaving the tramp in the trailer.

Who is this you ask? This is my very HOT hubby. How lucky am I? This is in Mexico. Cliff's very favorite place to be right now. We spend a lot of our time there during the summer. We start going in April or May and continue thru October. It is beautiful there. It is only four hours to get there. We camp in our trailer right on the beach. Our kids beg for us to go. You walk out the camper door and are on the beach. The view doesn't get much better than that. Here are some more pictures. Enjoy. Oh, and if you ever want to come, just let us know. We love to go and the more the merrier!!

They play in the sand! ALOT! This is Sid and Cait.

Like I said. They are always FULL of sand.

Obviously, they play in the water.

Sometimes we take the four wheelers. Not a lot of places to ride there but they still love it. Cliff, me and Sid have our own. Caitlin and Sammy share the little fifty. Soon, Davis will want to ride also. It's always scary when they learn. They usually run into a few things along the way. Part of the Martin adventures. It's fun! Last time we went we even took a trampoline. The kids loved it. They never ran out of things to do on that trip. The hispanics that sell were fasinated by it to the point that they would stand and watch and even walk up to it and test it's elasticity. On the other hand we couldn't even pay them to jump on it. If you can believe that. They were really shy.

My Mother

This is a picture of my beautiful mom. This is the same picture that we used for her memorial. My mom passed away on 9/24/08. Two days after my 31st birthday. It is a week that I will forever share with my MOM. She was an amazing woman. She was sick a lot of my growing up years, and only blessed with good health a few times. While my brothers were on their missions, and then the last two months before she passed. They finally found what was wrong with her after 20 years of being sick. My family was extatic. This was the first time that we prayed for either a miracle or to let her go home. For two months we thought it was a miracle and it was. She was her old self again. Until Wed. 9/16/08. She was sick again. We thought (even her) that she had the flu. We were wrong. She was finally taken from us to be happy and healthy. We miss her so much but at the same time are so happy for her. She was a righteous woman who never faltered from her testimony. She is an example to me of a daughter of God. She is a lot of why I am who I am. I hope she knows how much a love her. How much I appreciate her. And how much I hope to be JUST like her. I have this song 'To Where You Are' by Josh Groban that I want to dedicate to her. Because no matter where I am, she will always be with me. I love you forever mom. Until I see you again!!

Sid Halloween 2008

This is Sid. Now this was not his original costume either. He was so excited to be Indiana Jones. So, he went to the trunk or treat as Indi and then him and his friend wanted to be blind guys. So, this is the blind guy costume that he 'wore' on Halloween. Since we didn't know about this, we don't have a picture of him as Indi. Whatever right. Part of having older kids. He and his friend Chase said that they were not trick-or-treating with the 'parents' this year. Just the two of them were going. There are thousands of kids in the neighborhood. Halloween is crazy in this neighborhood.

Sammy Halloween 2008

This is Sammy. He is an ape in costume yes, but he really wanted to be a skeleton. When he told us he wanted to be a skeleton we went to Walmart and bought him a $20 costume. Well, he was really excited about it until about 3 days before. Three days before Grandma came over with this ape costume and told him he should be the ape. It is so cute. So, that was it. Once he changes his mind there is no going back. He went as an ape this year and LOVED it. So, next year don't be surprised to see Davis in the skeleton costume. Sammy had tons of fun this year. Our neighborhood always does a block party with bouncers. Not only did he not eat, but I didn't even see him until it was time for trick-or-treating. He is so much fun. Gotta love him!!