I need to post about Christmas, but I wanted to send out one last reminder that I will be making my blog private on Friday. So if you haven't sent me an email to get an invitation and you want to continue reading my blog, please don't delay.

Christmas Season, So far

Don't you love the Christmas season? I do... For so many reasons. We always end up doing lots of fun stuff as a family. We had a great start of our Christmas season. Dallin has really been into trains for awhile now so when my parents found a Santa train ride only 10 minutes away, we were sold! It wasn't anything fancy like the Polar Express rides, but it was a lot of fun. It was a 45 minute train ride with lots of singing and Santa time. The train only seated 60 people so it was small and cozy. It gave each child lots of time to talk to Santa. Afterwards each child got a small gift from Santa and got to sit on his lap and tell him their name and what they would like for Christmas. Then we had hot cocoa and cookies. Dallin was in heaven. Elise admired Santa from afar. Dallin actually sat on Santa's lap and talked to him, a first. I was shocked!
Last weekend was Jon's company Christmas (oh, I mean "Holiday") party. It is downtown at the convention center and it is always really fancy. They serve the BEST food! It's a great excuse to dress up and go on a date! But I am not a dress shopper, so thankfully my SIL Katie let me borrow one of her cute dresses. Thanks Katie! We had a blast even though we didn't win any raffle prizes. Maybe next year we will win the first class round trip tickets to Hawaii. I won't hold my breath. :) These two seriously crack me up! They were getting such a kick out of wearing mommy and daddy's shoes. The best two kids ever!

The Time Has Come....

Well my friends, it is time for our family to go private. If you would like to continue reading my blog please leave me a comment or email me at jenmarie15@gmail.com and give me your email address so I can send you an invitation. We will official change over January 1st (just for convenience sake).

UPDATE: If you want an invitation you really need to email me because I will only send them to those who have emailed or left a comment. So don't get left out... Email me. :)

A Proud Wifey!

I'm really proud of Jon for speaking at a city council meeting and standing up for something he really believes in. And for posting on my blog! So far we have seen two articles on the city coucil meeting. You can read them Here and here and here.

Raymore City Council Meeting

Here is a rare post from Jon instead of Jen.

Monday, I had the oppurtunity to speak at our City Council meeting in support of a bill that will allow people to defend themselves with the most appropriate tools, even while inside city buildings. Currently, most common self-defense weapons are banned from city buildings, and we actually heard the Mayor and a councilwoman suggest alternatives such as salt shakers and chairs to ward off violent, armed, criminal attackers.

A friend of mine made some excellent factual/legal comments, and then I made some comments regarding my personal experience (see the video). Then the bills were read, and then extensively and humorously debated, but I didn't put that two hour video here. After we heard various gems of wisdom such as how the Kirkwood, MO City Council was asking for it, and that the Ft. Hood shooting could have only happened at an Army base because [unarmed] Marines would have been more courageous and stopped the [armed psycho] guy, eventually it went to a vote. We got a veto-proof majority of votes in favor, but this is just first read, so it will have one more vote, and then a veto-override vote (the Mayor talked to me after the meeting and promised to veto it).

Sheriff's Citizen's Academy

Jon and I "graduated" from our Sheriff's Citizen's Academy class last Wednesday and let me tell you, I am sad that I won't be going to the Sheriff's office this Wednesday. It was so much fun learning about the Sheriffs Office (dispatch, investigations, patrol, courts, jail...). We had a great time and HIGHLY recommend for anyone to check out to see if your county offers something similar. This is our class.

We had some really annoying storytellers, but mostly it was a great bunch of people. They guy on the left in the red shirt is our sheriff and I REALLY like him. This is the first thing you see when you go to our Sheriff's office website:

"The Sheriff has issued a message to anyone with the intent to criminally victimize citizens in Cass County;

CRIMINALS BEWARE, Citizens in Cass County have the right to self protection."

AMEN!! How can you not like him!!!

A few weeks ago I got to sit in at dispatch and listen to all the 911 calls on a Friday night. I was expecting to hear some crazy stuff, but apparently Cass county isn't too exciting. The most we hear about was some cows on the road and a few suspected drunks. But today I got to sit in at the jail and that was really interesting. I REALLY enjoyed it. I was there for 7 hours and I was siting in the master control station (the person who opens and closed every door and pretty much communicates with any prisoner for any need they have, which was A LOT) for the men part of the jail. The lady in there watched over all the men (from Minimum to Maximum security). It was amazing how sweet she was to all of them, no matter what they were there for and the even more amazing them was how SUPER NICE they were to her. It was really an eye opener to see what a prisoner life is like and what it is like to be the deputy over them. In another few weeks I get to go on my ride along. I'm sure that will be fun too!!!

Story Time

Jon told Dallin to pick out a book to read so Dallin brought over a book and the kids climbed up on daddy and got comfy and Jon started to read. I looked over and this is how I found them...Apparently Elise wanted to get very comfy. She's not only lying on Jon but Dallin too; with her finger in Daddy's mouth as he tries to read and Dallin leaning his elbow on Elise. They are so funny!

Yee-Hah!

For Halloween this year Dallin changed his mind at least 4 times of what he wanted to be. He wanted to be Spider man, then a Cowboy, then an astronaut, and then a fireman. So I finally was able to get him to make up his mind to be a fireman (although I had already found an adorable cowboy costume for $2). But when he saw how cute Elise was as a cowgirl, he wanted to be a cowboy too. For Jon's work party the kids were a cowboy and a cowgirl. Super cute! And for Halloween Dallin got to be a fireman and due to toddler difficult, Elise was a cowgirl again (I had a cute pirate costume for Elise that she REFUSED to wear). The kids scored so much candy that we gave at least half of it to my dad to eat. They both had so much fun this year! And by the end of the night Elise was saying "treat" and "thank you" to just about everyone!

Kids

Where did my baby go? All I can find is this grown up girl...Dallin and I made brownies on Friday for Daddy since my mom and I were going to Time Out for Women all weekend (which was SO good!!!). Dallin REALLY enjoyed cleaning up! Oh...and the black eye is courtesy of Elise. But that is another post all together.

The other day I walking into my very messy living room to find this:

It was so cute that they were just laying there cuddling with each other. I love these moments...

Daddy and Son Bonding

For Dallin's birthday, Jon took him for a special night time date to an observatory (since he has been really into space) to look at the stars and learn about black holes. Jon was a little nervous when they got there and it was too cloudy to look through their telescopes since he figured he would be so excited about the lecture part. But after an hour lesson on black holes Dallin actually loved it! Jon said he was quiet and listening the whole time. They went out for ice cream afterwards and when they got home Dallin told me all about it. He asked if he could go back so we know it was a hit! And here is a picture he drew on his new Art Easel of Daddy and him with their coats and hoods on going to the observatory. What a cute boy!

Happy Birthday Dallin!

My little boy turned 4 today! I can't believe it has been 4 years since I gave birth to that sweet 5 pound baby! He is such a sweet boy! He has a genuine heart and is always trying to be a good big brother. He looks out for his sister so well. It really make a proud mommy! He is so affectionate! He tells me a million times a day, "I love you mommy. You are my best friend." I love it! He is a great helper and such a smart boy! We just feel so lucky to have him!Dallin doesn't request much for his birthday. It is always hard to know what to buy him because he doesn't really"want" stuff. He just seems so content with what he has. But we figured out a good gift and planned a family party for him. He loved it! He also helped me make a pinata for his party. He did such a great job! It is a space pinata with all 9 planets (yes, I am counting Pluto!) and the sun. It was definitely "homemade", but he loved it! He has been really into space lately so it worked out well. His party's theme was Spiderman. He had a blast with his cousins and his sister!

A few of the Partygoers:

I made 4 homemade pizzas (made to order) for dinner with a salad. It was yummy!

Pinata Time! We always go youngest to oldest.

You didn't have to tell Elise twice what to do with the stick!

We decided to blindfold the older two to make it more challenging!

But Cole busted the pinata! Good job Cole!

Spiderweb cupcakes

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALLIN! We love so much!

Fall Happenings

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. So what have we been up to?.... Here we go.

• Jon is taking a graduate level class once a week at UMKC.


• We are both in the Sheriff's Citizen Academy every Wednesday night. That is such a fun class. We learn all about what the sheriffs office does and we get to do some fun stuff. We got to shot machine guns, do a mock crime scene, do a firearms simulations (AWESOME!) and more! So anyway, it is way fun! It is an 8 week academy and we have 3 weeks left.

• I made lots of applesauce with 2 bushels of apples.

• I celebrated my birthday.

Jon and I went to St. Louis for a conference and a temple trip.

• I have found a recipe I really like for wheat bread and make it every week.
  

• With the cooler weather, I started to make lots of yummy soups.

• My girl is turning into a lady! Look at those heels. She INSISTS on wears these princess shoes EVERYWHERE!

• And a drama momma!

• Jon made a new holster for his gun that is AMAZING! He does better every time he makes one and this one is his best yet! He has shown it to a few gun shops that are interested in selling them!


• I decorated for Halloween.

A Chance for Children 5K

Our anxious before shot.

Smiling at the start!

Very happy aftershot!

My friend, Lisa, and I decided it was time for another 5K. I really love doing 5K's but even more, I love doing them when they are for a good cause. And this one was no acceptation. It benefited children with cancer at KU Medical hospital. The day was absolutely perfect weather (low 70's) and the run was GORGEOUS. It was in Corporate wood which is just a bunch of street that go from one huge building to another covered in the most beautiful green trees I have ever seen. It was a pretty flat run with few small hills. We got there right before they started (lucky us!) and we got our MP3 players ready and we ran. This race is our first to have a timing chip on, so that added an element of excitement (although I was wearing my new heart rate monitor Jon bought me that had a timer). There were tons of sponsors for this race too. After we ran there was bagels from Panera, egg sandwiches and breakfast burritos from McDonalds, Chick-fil-A samples, granola bars, fruit, milk, gatorade, and a massage guy. It was a ton of fun! I will definitely do this race again. And... I achieved my personal best time of 28 minutes 11 seconds for the 3.1 miles! I was so surprised by my time; I was shooting for 30 minutes. I was extremely happy with my run. And I did 9 minute miles! How exciting is that?! I shaved 5 minutes off form my last race! Here are my stats that they sent out:

"There were 40 finishers in the Female 26 to 30 age group and 211 finishers in the race. Your overall finish place was 70 and your age group finish place was 13. Your time of 28:11.6 gave you a 9:05 pace per mile. "

Craft time

Thanks to my friend, Shays comment, I realized I forgot to blog about my latest crafts. There are so few, I guess they just slip by. I did these great vinyl crafts at church and I love them. They turned out so nice. The middle one has been edited for privacy purposes, it has our last name and then "Families are Forever"across it..

These are silhouettes of my kids. I saw them on Nie Nie's blog and loved them and then I found a step by step how to make them on this blog. So I decided to try it out. It was super easy and I think they are really cute. Even though Dallin completely disagrees. He tells me to flip them over to the "pretty" side... So funny!