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Alright, if your reading this...TAG YOUR IT!! Copy & post on your blog with your answers.

1. Wrapping Paper or Gift Bags: Definitely wrapping paper. Dave wouldn't let me do it any other way.
2. Real or Artificial Tree: Real. They smell so much better!
3. When do you put up the tree: About second week in December, so it doesn't die defore Christmas day. Or at least that's the plan.
4. When do you take your tree down: After New Years, unless it is begging to be buried!
5. Do you like eggnog: No. Dave loves it so I always buy it, but I can't stand the stuff!
6. Favorite gift received as a child:I can't remember getting anything except a walkman one year, so I'll go with that.
7. Hardest person to buy for: Dave. It's not that I don't know WHAT to get him (he makes me a list for crying out loud) I just want it to be the best out of the list.
8. Easiest person to buy for: my kiddos- they like anything- Ditto Laurel!
9. Do you have a nativity scene: I have 3 up actually!
10. Best Christmas gift you ever received: My engagement ring!! I thought I was getting a puppy...lol!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received: I had Christmas' growing up when we got nothing. That kinda sucked. I guess I was bad those years! lol!!
12. Favorite Christmas movie: 5 words: "You'll shoot your eye out!"
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas: I started early this year, but then I forgot about those gift and bought more, now my kids are getting WAY too much this year. Maybe I'll save some for their b-days in January.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present: I never have. But one year Kim (Dave's sister) gave us all items from her mom's kitchen! It was SOO funny. Whenever someone would open something she (Dave's Mom) would say, I have one like that. And Kim would just laugh. It didn't take long for Mom to figure it out.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas time: Ham, I LOVE Ham.
16. Lights on the tree: White.
17. Favorite Christmas song: I love them all. I sing along, unfortunately for those around me.
18. Travel at Christmas time or stay home: Stay home, mostly. David 1st christmas went to New Jersey. I was his first and only White Christmas! (So far)
19. Tree Topper: Santa dressed in a silver get-up
20. Can you name all of Santa reindeer's: I didn't think I could until I read Laurels answers and remembred the song. Thanks Laurel! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph...
21. Open the Christmas gift Christmas eve or morning: We open jammies from Grandma Fletcher on Christmas eve and the rest the next day.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year: It's too short of a month! I need more time!!
23. Favorite Christmas dinner: Ham...yummy, yummy Ham
24. What do you want for Christmas this year: Running shoes so my knee & hip will stop hurting me! lol!

Little Drummer Boy.

This video will be a classic one day when Parker is a world famous drummer. I'm letting you be one of the first to see it. Free of charge. Lucky you.



(Ignore my annoying voice in the background.) :0/

One day Dave REFUSED to get dressed to leave. I told him he either got dressed or he was going naked. This is how he dressed himself. I told him that was fine and to get in the car. The car was parked in the driveway not the garage, like usual, that day. So when we got in the driveway, I told him all the neighbors could see his underwear. He pulled his shirt down lower and checked all ends to make sure his undies were not showing. It was SOO funny! I tried not to laugh, but couldn't help it. Of course I had to take a picture. I need some embarrasing pictures to show future girlfriends.

Veterans Day

This Veterans Day, just like Memorial Day, Dino got to raise the flag at the cemetary Grandpa Dave is buried in. We all went as a family to watch and spend some time with Grandpa Dave (he served in the Air Force). The boys kept jumping from headstone to headstone and Dave & I kept(unsuccessfully)trying to stop them. Then Dave told them they could jump on Grandpa Dave's, he would have loved to have his Grandkids jump all over him. So they did. We know Grandpa Dave was smiling at that. Here are some pics I took while we were there.

This is Dave explaining to David who he was named after and why.

Grandpa Dave's site.

Grandma Fletcher waiting for the ceremony to start.

Dino & Parker

Dino & David

Dino raising The Flag

Thankful Turkey.

I realize that I am posting this about a month late, but hey, better late then never!!! In Nov. the boys and I made Thankful Turkeys. We got general idea from the Family Fun Magazine (LOVE that magazine!) However, in the magazine they had the body of the turkey holding markers at the kiddie table. Then my crafty freind, Dawn, took that idea and converted it for a Singing Time activity for her primary calling. She added feathers on skewers and voila! She had a different song written on each feather. I copied her (I'm a really good copy cat when it come to creative stuff) but had the boys write what they are thankful for on each feather. The idea was for each of us to add a feather a day until Thanksgiving day. But as you can see we missed a few days. (No, it's not that we're not thankful! We're just forgetful.)Anyways, some honorable mentions are: David- thankful for drumsticks and drumsets. He doesn't have any, but they are on his list for Santa this year. Maybe he was telling Santa that if he gets them, he will be thankful for them. Parker- the kitchen table so we don't have to eat on the floor. I was suprised, he eats everywhere else anyway!

What to do...

Tonight we had an FHE on how to call 911 and when to call 911. We went through the way to dial and what to say. When we were discussing what to do during certain situations,I asked David & Parker, "What do you do if the house is on fire?" I expected them to answer "get out of the house." But Parker,calm and as-a-matter-of-fact answered, "Um, go get the marshmallows?" Oh boy, we have work to do.

Run, Fletchers, Run!

It all started some time in the beginning of this past summer. I (Cindy) started running with a few lady's in our ward. At first there were about 4-5 of us, then it dwindled to just 2 (Adrienne Pugmire & myself), with the occasional sister joining us (Sister Pei Tang) when she has time off from work. I personally started to get in shape. I mean a better shape, the apple shape I was sporting wasn't really my thing. I figured if I ran with other ladies, I had someone I had to be accountable to. You know, alarm clock rings at 5am and you think, "Oh, maybe I'll start tomorrow." Don't lie, we've all been there. But if there is someone waiting for you at an intersection, you feel more motivated to get up. Now let me make something clear. I SUCKED at running. I mean end-of-the-block-asthma-attack-even-though-I-don't-have-asthma kind of suck. Really, I was horrible. But I kept on keeping on, and what do you know...it worked!! I can now run 3-4 miles without stopping....and without the fake asthma attack! So, Adrienne, the go getter kind of lady she is, suggested early on we train for a 5k. At first I thought, "okay, I'm sure they'll have ambulances handy." But as the day approached I actually got excited about it! Until the 2 days before. You see, I was a chunky child. (I know duh, right?) And in the 6th grade I joined cross country to "lose weight." (Do you see a pattern, hum?) It didn't work that time, but it did give me traumatic memories of coming in DEAD LAST at every race. So, the day before this 5k, I had the most nervous feeling in my stomach all day! It wasn't until we got to the park were the race started that I calmed myself down. Parker & I got some good stretch time in (gotta prevent injuries you know) and then we took pictures of our family's racers.




First up was David, Parker & their friend Danny's (Adrienne's Son) 1/2 K race.

Parker & Danny were SO excited. David, not so much. He was having a grumpy morning. When the race finally began, David seemed to be into it. Then it happened. Melt down. He stopped running and started crying. So, I, did what any loving mother would do.I grab him by the hand & and made him run the rest of the race with me.
Okay, maybe not the MOST loving thing, but I wasn't about to let him quit. He cried the whole way. And I gotta admit, I wanted to cry with him. I hope I didn't just traumatize him!!
Parker was into it the whole way and at the finish line when we stopped, he asked, "Can we do that again?"Each child that participated in the race got a medal. Parker LOVED his. After their race, another group of older kids got to race a 1k, and then it was our turn. I, thankfully, was not nervous at all when we lined up. I kept telling myself that it'll be just like running every other time we ran together. And it was really close! Except for all those other runners.

Running by our kids, right after we started.


This is how far ahead Adrienne got when she started sprinting. I think I need to work on that.


Me, trying to catch my breath. Final time: 33.28 minutes. Not to shabby for my first 5k, eh?

Pumpkin Carvin'

Here are some pics of our creations. I didn't get an of the actual carving this year, we were pressed for time!

Here is Cindy's creation.

The spider was Dino's, the Ghosts Dave & the boys did, and the one on the floor the boys did with Cindy's help. (It was a freehand one)

Cheesy situation.

Everyday, when Parker & I get ready to go pick-up David from pre-school, Parker asks if he can have a snack on the way there. Usually Parker falls asleep on the way, so I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I gave him Handi-snacks cheese & Crackers. Poor kid didn't even make it through half the snack before he knocked out! Luckily he's a deep sleeper when he's tired. He didn't wake up when I cleaned him up. Note to self: give Parker snacks that can be vacuumed up in case of sudden sleep.

Treat Time!

The boys & I decided to have a treat making night. Abuelita was able to come over and help us out. The boys LOVE having Abuelita over. David was so excited when he found out she would be living in Lancaster, closer to us, now.

David's favorite part (besides eating the treats) is adding the ingredients.



Parker's Favorite part is licking the cooking utensils. Surprised? Didn't think so.

My mom & me scraping off the middle of sandwich cookies.

The finished products. Graveyard cake...spooky!! And Witch cupcakes.

Ward Parties!

This year we had the opportunity to join the Stockdale clan to the Rancho Vista Ward's halloween party, along with our own ward's. The kids had a blast! David was batman (costume borrowed from Cullen), Parker was a Dinosaur ($2.99 @ Goodwill, cuteness...priceless), Cullen was a Jedi, Sophia was a butterfly princess and cute baby Lily was Little Mermaid (costume from Build a Bear...yeah, she's tiny!)

Sophia & Parker are the best of freinds. They walked around in the "show-your-costume-off" parade holding hands. SO CUTE!

The kids also participated in a cake walk. David & Parker both won plates of cupcakes...YUMMY! It took Dino quite a while to finally win a prize, but he never gave up! He got a plate of cookies.

At our ward (Lancaster Ward) party, the kids got to play games at every room and get candy...of course! There was also a Haunted House, which David refused to go in and even was to afraid to let Mommy & Daddy go! So Daddy stayed behind with him. Poor Parker burned his fingers on a lamp that was on a chair at the enterance of the Haunted house. So he stayed out too.

Over all we had a great night, BOTH nights!

One day while Parker was napping (hurray he still does that!), David & I did a craft we found in the handy-dandy Family Fun magizine. I did buy enough supplies to make one with parker, but we never got around to it (oopps!). When parker woke up from his nap he kept telling David, "Good job, David. Good Job!" You may not be able to tell in the picture, but those holes in the construction paper are bat eyes! Spooooooky!!!

I've been really slacking when it comes to posting blogs, so this one is from Oct. 13th. Dave has Monday's off so we decided it would be a great day to take the boys to get their pumpkins. Every year we go to Lambardi Ranch off of Bouquet Canyon road. The boys LOVE it there. They have a petting zoo area, a train to ride, a huge pyramid of hay & a corn maze. Plus, they get to pick their own pumpkins! We got one for Grandma Fletcher & Dino too. (He had school that day & couldn't go with us.)

Kings of the Mountain! div>

Assisting in the breakout.

silly faces

Dave, preventing aliens from reading his brain.

The boys thought the train was going to be loud. Tried to tell them is wasn't, but they couldn't hear me...

Had to get one picture of myself as proof I was there!

Weekend Wedding Away

My (Cindy's) really good friend, Clarissa, got married on Oct. 12th in San Diego. Dave & I took the opportunity to make it weekend-alone-away out of it. Grandma Fletcher was gracious enough to take David & Parker for the weekend. I cannot begin to tell you how excited they both were. The talked about it every day leading up to the weekend. They kept asking me if "tonight" was the night they get to go to Grandma's. They just couldn't wait. (Dino was pretty excited too, lol) The first night away we stayed with my BIL Tony in Murrieta. We attended his school's fundraiser for the Invisible Children foundation which he is raising money for. It was held at Basken Robbin's...what a great night...ice cream and help out a worthy cause! After that we headed out to his house and went to sleep. The next morning we went to breakfast with Tony and his kids Sofia & Lucas. We were very excited to see them, it had been too long...like a month! After breakfast we headed out to San Diego to check into our hotel & do some sight seeing. First we went miniature golfing. It was fun! Dave totally kicked my butt at it...or did I let him win? Which ever, it was still a good time. I kept thinking of the kids the whole time, thinking they would really enjoy doing that. After that we went to the mall and walked around and then to dinner at a really tasty Mexican restaurant in Pacific Beach called Fred's. We had a really nice time together, but I gotta admit, it was weird not having any kids around!!

The next day we headed out to Clarissa & Paul's wedding. It was a blast. Our good friend Matt Kabel DJ'd the event so we got to spend time with him & his wife, Jill, too. Clarissa looked beautiful and we were so happy to see her and Paul finally married! It was a great weekend!