Our California Trip

We just got home from California for my Papa's funeral. It was an emotional weekend for me because I realized that my Papa was really gone and was not there to do all of the Califonia fun things that we do whenever we are out to visit! I loved him so much and he was just such an incredible person! The funeral was actually great and my dad and uncle did an amazing job speaking about Papa. The girls played 2 musical numbers that sounded great as well. My mom, sisters and I made food for 200 people for everyone to eat lunch after the funeral the day before which was fun to cook in the kitchen all day with them!
One of the days we were in California, we were able to go to San Francisco as a family and see the sights and sounds of the city! We made our usual stops: Golden Gate Bridge, Fishermans Wharf, Pier 39, The Glass Elevator, Boudin's Bread shop, and of course my favorite, Ghiradelli Chocolate Shop! By looking at this picture, you can tell that Riley LOVED every bite of his hot fudge and ice cream!
It was a good trip because we all had a chance to remember our Papa, have a good time in California with family, stay in my Aunt's amazing house in Hollister together and have a blast, and come home with one of Papa's hats that he always wore!!!
We came home to TONS and TONS of Snow so everyone...drive safe!!

The True Meaning of the Season!

This post is pretty awesome if you ask me! I have been visiting this lady in our ward for a year now. Until now, I guess I never really thought that I was getting through to her, or even doing anything worthwhile. She doesn't attend church and never really lets me into her house when I come to visit her every month. We end up having really good conversations, but I never really thought much of it. Well, last week, her and her husband came over to my house to have me open a present. I knew her husband was really good at crosstitching, and liked to do it as a hobby, but I never thought that they would give me one of his crosstitches.

As I opened the present, I realized that it was one of his crosstitches, and that he had litteraly spent hours and hours and hours making this for me! I started to cry because I have never really recieved a gift from someone who spent 3 months preparing it! What a memorable gift from someone! They wanted to give this gift to me because he knew that I appreciated his work and that I had gotten to know his wife throughout the year. Talk about a humbling experience. I am usually the one that gives homemade gifts that take me hours and hours, so to be the one on the recieving end was pretty amazing and overwhelming. Another reason why it was a humbling experience is because I just never thought that I was getting through to this lady. I wanted her to know that I was her friend by coming by monthly to visit teach her, but never thought I was doing anything great for her! This showed me that she at least appreciated something that I did!

This is a gift that I will treasure for Christmas's to come because it will remind me that this man spent 3 months and numerous hours to create something beautiful for me!

December so far...

Here are a few random December pictures. The first is of our chubby little girl who is growing so much every day!! (love that double chin!) The next is of Elle with Poochy, the American Family Insurance Dog mascot at the christmas party!

THe next one of Riley needs some explanation. I don't know if any of you have ever seen the new show on PBS called SId the Science Kid, but Riley absolutly loves it! It comes on every morning while we are getting ready for preschool, and basically Sid is a kid who loves science and does science experiments all of the time. Riley is so intruiged by these experiements that he wants to do them himself. So this picture is what I see every time he watches this show. He sits on the chair and draws a detailed picture of the experiement that Sid is doing. This particular day Sid was talking about Teeth, so Riley is drawing a picture of a teeth (circles all over the place) and then puts his own little twist on the experiment. He is such a cute little guy and is so interested in everything these days!

Here Comes Santa Claus

Here is our annual picture with Santa. The kids were so excited to talk to Santa, and didn't freak out at all! Riley told Santa that he wants Star Wars guys, Sunny told him that she wants a baby dolly and Ellie just smiled away! The only bad thing about this is that a new company took over the mall production of Santa Claus and the new policy is that you can't take a picture with your own camera unless you buy a picture from them---the 4x6 picture was the cheapest and it was $15!! I call that a major rip off to the American People who just want to have their kids to get a photo with good old ST. NiCK!

Papa...One of a kind!

My Papa {Grandfather} passed away this morning and I just wanted to say that he was such an amazing person. To give you an idea of the kind of person he was, he is the guy who was passing out business cards out to everyone at my wedding reception. He was the most outgoing, talkative, social person I have ever known! {even more than Regan if you can imagine that!}
I admire him so much and am so sad about his passing. I remember one time when I was 12 years old, I was in California visiting him and was riding horses with him. The horse got spooked, and bucked me off. My Papa was the first one there to help me get up and I will never forget what he told me. He said, you need to get back on the horse so that you won't be scared of him. So I did, and ever since then, have always loved riding horses. That taught me to never give up on something! Always try again and never give up!
I'm thankful for him in my life!

All I want for Christmas is...

Riley..............Anything that has to do with STAR WARS!

Sunny..............Anything that has to do with Dollies!

Andrea.............Anything that has to do with Scrapbooking
{but if you want to get specific Santa, a CRICUT!}

I never thought it would happen to me...

The day finally came that I thought would never come!

My boy with the beautiful curly hair CUT IT!!!!

That's right-Riley cut his curls! For those of you who know my little boy and his beautiful curls, you can imagine how upset I am about this! I came downstairs and saw him watching TV and cutting his hair with not a care in the world. There was hair all over his shirt and curls all over the floor!

Okay, this was shocking! I asked him why he would do such a thing and he said, "because I wanted my hair to look like Jaxson's hair!" Jaxson is his best friend who lives across the street and has a buzz hair cut! Well buddy, ya got pretty darn close and if it weren't for me catching him when I did, it would have been just like Jaxson's!

I am definently NOT sharing a photo of this catastrophy because I am going to wait and hope and pray that the hair grows back as curls!!!!

I just can't believe it happened to me!

My man...the Handyman-Part 2!

So my man is definently showing his handyman qualities lately! 2 weeks ago, Home Depot delivered a heap of wood (that is how I would describe it!). I called Regan to tell him that the wrong thing was delivered, and when he came home to see this heap of wood, he agreed that it did not look anything like a shed! Well, he started looking at the instruction BOOK, and took it one step at a time! Well, his determination paid off because he made this heap of wood into a SHED! It looks great and I am so proud that he did it!

Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and were able to celebrate with both of our families! Regan started out the morning with a Turkey Bowl with my brothers and his friends in the ward. We then went Regan's mom's house and had a delicious Thanksgiving Dinner with his family. From there, we went to my Grandma's Clubhouse and joined the other 45 people that were there! Riley and Sunny had a BLAST with all of those cousins and Regan and I were able to relax and talk to all of my family.

WOW-I have so much to be thankful for and the list definently starts with family!
My family is simply amazing. I think that is a great word to describe them because they are just always apart of my life and my families lives! Riley, Sunny and Elle are growing up knowing who their family is and interacts with them weekly. I couldn't ask for more than that because they feel of the love that my family has for them. They have uncles, aunts and grandparents who just love them so much and have so much fun with them. Riley started to cry on Thanksgiving night because he didn't want to leave my mom and dad's house. He told me that he just wanted to sleep at their house because he loves it there so much! Now if that doesn't show you how much he loves my family, I don't know what else could!

I am so grateful to be a wife to Regan and a mother to my 3 beautiful children. Everyday I look at our family picture and just think that I am seriously the luckiest person alive because I have them to live this life with! They make me smile, laugh and make this life so amazing! Heavenly Father has blessed me so much with a husband that works so hard at everything he does! This guy that I met 8 years ago never stops to amaze me. He is the smartest, most funny person I know!

I could go on and on with my blessings, but I will leave it with family! I am one blessed girl!

{Do you like Elle and Sunny's matching dresses? Get used to it girls, because when I see cute twinner dresses, you will be in them!}

Cute Quilt Project!

My Friend Britta and I started this quilt last fall, and just finished it today! It did not take us a whole year to finish it, we just took a big break from it! We went to a quilt shop called Material Girls in South Jordan to get the material, then we got a cute quilt book from Pine Needles Quilt Shop at Gardner Village. I just love the end result because the fabric just makes it SO cute!

It was so much fun to do this project with Britta because I just loved talking to her about anything and everything while we were both getting frustrated together over the sewing machines, or running out of bobbin! I actually sewed my table cloth into the quilt, which was not fun unpicking!

Hope you like the cute quilt!!!

Twilight!

I didn't think that I was one of those crazy Twilight fans until I found myself in a theater full of women at midnight for the showing of TWILIGHT! As I looked around at a bunch of women dressed up in Prom dresses, I thought to myself, Yep, I am one of these obsessed mom's that just LOVES TWILIGHT! Why else would I be in a theater at midnight instead of my nice, warm, comfy bed?

The movie was AMAZING! When the movie got out at 2:15, there was already another line of people waiting to get in to the 2:40 movie and I wanted SO badley to join that line! I have never in my life wanted to see a movie again right after I had just seen it, but Twlight is another story! I was so into the movie that when it ended, I was left hanging...wanting more! How in the world can I wait for the next movie to come out?

Edward was awesome in the movie, and as I was lying in bed at 3 in the morning, I could not sleep because I could not stop thinking about Edward and Bella! I think I finally fell asleep around 4 am, and even in my dreams, I dreamed about Twilight!

WOW-if you haven't read the book, read it, then go see the movie! I want to have Regan read the book, then go with me, because it would be kind of hard to understand what is fully going on in this vampire movie if you hadn't read the book! (I feel like I am on Reading Rainbow trying to endorse a book!)

Housekeeper or Not?

I absolutly HAD to blog about something that I watched on tv today while I was feeding my baby Ellie! I was watching an old episode of I Love Lucy and in it, Lucy had just had a new baby and wasn't getting any sleep. She told Ricky, her husband that she was having a hard time taking care of the baby and keeping up with all of the housework (they live in an apartment!) so in return, Ricky says that he will get Lucy a housekeeper to help her with the baby and housework so that she can get some more sleep!

Okay, what year was I love Lucy made in because in 2008, I personally don't know of any of my friends who have a housekeeper or a nanny to help out! And on top of this, I am 28, have 3 kids and try very hard to keep up on all of my housework, laundrey, violin lessons, preschool carpool, Joy school, food storage, grovery shopping, decorating, scrapbooking and cooking around my house! Lucy on the other hand was in her late 30's when she had her baby, lived in a small apartment, and still couldn't keep up with the demands of life!

Now whether this be just a television episode for enjoyment or not, I felt pretty good about myself for not having a housekeeper and doing things for my family myself! Watch out Lucy, because this mom can do more than you ever could!!!

My man...the Handyman!

Yes, that's right! Regan made these shelves in our garage all by himself! He watched a how to video online, bought the wood, and went to town on Saturday night making these shelves so that we can actually park 2 vehicles in our own garage without running over something!

I am very impressed with his handy skills because there is NO way I would ever be able to do something like this! This is just the 1st step to organizing our basement and eventually finishing it! Way to go Regan!!!

Christmas in November

Some might call me crazy, but I have already decorated my whole house with Christmas! I absolutly LOVE Christmas time, so why not enjoy the Christmas trees and decorations a little longer? I haven't forgotten about Thanksgiving, but I just want to savor all of the Christmas stuff a little longer! Why do you think I have been listening to Christmas music on the radio since Halloween?

Elle's Birth Announcement

This is Elle's birth announcement that I haven't sent out in the mail yet! I am debating if I should just put it in our Christmas Cards in a few weeks! So, anyway, enjoy and thankyou Danielle! She is my friend who took our family pictures! Doesn't she do an amazing job?

Embarrasing Moment!!!

My calling in my ward is the organist. Obviouslly my ward is dificient in piano/organ players because I am not that great of a pianist, let alone organist. Well anyway, today I was playing the organ in church and when it was time to play the introduction of the closing hymn, I went to play on the keys, but I could barely hear the notes coming out. I tried over and over, so finally I decided to press a button called tutti thinking that it would make the pedal louder! Boy did it make it louder!!!!
I woke up everyone in the congregation and probably a few people a few rooms down because that first note after I pushed the tutti button was SO LOUD!! The bishop even jumped up in his seat because it probably freaked him out hearing such a loud note in a sacrement meeting!
My face was SO red and afterwards, I think people were thinking, "is it appropriate to laugh right now or not?" Our dear Stake President was also sitting right in front of the organ, and I am wondering what he thought of this most embarrasing mistake!!

I guess it's like what my mom said. I am not getting paid to play the organ in church, all I can do is my very best, and if that means I have to wake a few people up in church every once and a while, I guess that is my best!

It's Official!

I am proud to announce that we have a baby who is sleeping through the whole entire night!!!! She is 7 weeks old! How lucky am I? I was having a very difficult time getting up a couple of times a night with Elle since I was getting a full nights sleep while I was pregnant and now that she is sleeping all night long, I now feel like a real person! No more sleep deprivation. It is a wonderful feeling to get some good sleep, and you really do take that for grated when you are getting good sleep!

Thank you baby Ellie for being such a wonderful baby and a super sleeper!
(We are going in for Ellie's 2 month appointment today even though she will be 2 months next week!) Let's see how much she has grown!

Elle's Baby Blessing

On Sunday, Regan blessed Elle Michelle Fackrell. It was so amazing to watch my husband bless our baby in church. I just feel so blessed to have a huband that is able to use his priesthood. This sacrement meeting was extra special for everyone who attended because it was also the Primary Program. Riley played a solo on his violin in front of the whole congregation. He played I am a Child Of God and he played it SO well! I couldn't believe that he didn't freak out under all of that pressure! He and I had a violin lesson everyday ever since Elle was born, and I even bribed him with a Walle Leapster Game if he memorized it; which he did!!! I couldn't have been a prouder mom with my baby being blessed and my little boy playing his violin!

Elle looked gorgeous in her blessing dress. My mom and I picked it out a few weeks earlier because that is my mom's tradition; buy the blessing dress. Anyway, we had everyone over to our home for dinner afterwards and it was great to see the family & friends support system we have.

I got the coolest picture of everyone who was in the circle blessing Elle! I got on top of our 2nd floor landing and took a picture of Regan, my dad, my brother and my new brother in law with Elle in the middle!

I am so grateful for a new little girl in our family!

Super Capes!

Last week, I made a SuperMan/Batman and Supergirl/Crown capes for Riley and Sunny at Enrichment. They were going to be for Christmas, but when Riley and Sunny found where I had hid them, I realized that they would not make it until Christmas! So, ever since then, they have worn these capes and pretended to be super heros all over the place! At least the 4 hours I spent on them has not gone to waist! Don't they look SO cute in these capes?

Last Call

I am doing the private thing on my blog this weekend, so if I haven't gotten your email address so that I can add you, please leave a comment with your email address, or email me at suzukiviolin at hotmail.com. I don't want to leave anyone out, so please leave the email address!

Don't feel wierd leaving your email address if we haven't talked for a while, and you just like to check up on our family! I don't want to leave anyone out! Well, I want to leave the wierdo people out I guess!

Thanks,
Andrea

Going Private

YEP, I have decided to go Private with my family blog because there are just TOO many wierdo people out there and I need to protect my family. Last night there was a thing about blogs and how other people can steal your family pictures and do wierd things with them, so the private issue is pretty much a must!

Please: a. Leave a comment on this post with your email address
b. Email me at suzukiviolin@hotmail.com with your email address
c. Facebook me with your email address
d. call me with your email address
So that I can invite you to my family blog!!! I would love to have everyone be invited that wants to continue to see my blog and my cute family grow up-just not the wierdo people!

I will officially go private in 2 weeks, so don't forget to leave me your email address; even if you think I have it!
Love, Andrea