Flashback....

Flashback to New Years Eve 2006!

(the whole gang playing a mean game of mexican train)

Man do we know how to party!

(Uncle Will and Sydney ringing in the new year)

James and Tammy partying like the rock stars they are!

You haven't been to a real party until you've been to a Holyoak/Stanley party!



And the Queen of the night was....... you guessed it, my crazy mom!!

Happy New year! Have a great 2009!!

We love our cousins!

I was so bummed out this year. Christmas morning we forgot all about taking pictures of the excitement. Then we went to my moms and snapped a few pictures. I was not in the mood for anything at that point. Then the kids went on to Grandma's without their mom and dad, and without a camera. I thought for sure we would have no pictures to remember this years Christmas by. Aunt Tara to the rescue!! She was a picture taking saint! She took so many pictures, and not only of just her kids, or just the cousins. She took a bunch of just my kids!!! Thank you Tara!!

(Autumn, Victoria, and Alex)

So here are a few of our favorite pictures of the kids with their cousins (thanks to Aunt Tara!) Despite Mom and Dad not being with them, they seemed to have a really good time (we have the pictures to prove it). Wish I could have been there! We have the best Aunts!

(Victoria, Autumn, Sydney, and Alex)
(Alex, Victoria, and Sydney)

(Sydney, Victoria, and Colton)

A few of our favorite things....

Here are a few of our favorite things we got for Christmas. I actually loved everything I got this year. Santa was very good to me. We stayed within our budget and I think that made all the difference this year. Uncle Will gave us this great sign for our wall. I was real impressed he picked something out all by himself (I think he actually won this at the family Christmas party or something, but I'm glad he did). I love it!
My Mom and Dad gave us our family Book of Mormon. I was so excited to get it! I have wanted one for soooo long. It's great having the new Walmart in Benson, they have a great selection of church books there.

Clay is really into making movies. I got him this new software. Wow, was he excited, he loves it! Yay for me, he actually liked one of the gifts I got him. This is why everyone got DVDs for Christmas from us.

Clay bought me my new cookware and my mom bought be my new baking sheets. I love them! These baking sheets are the best ever, I have already thrown out all the others I had ever owned! Thanks mom, you're the best!!!

Alex loved her Littlest Pet Shop sticker coloring activity thing the most. She's been sleeping with it every night since she's been home. I'm not sure if she loves it so much she has to sleep with it or if she is hiding it from her sister!

Sydney loved her Tutu that Aunt Amy made her. She wears it everywhere! She even tried to wear it to the store today but I had to put my foot down. Mommy with no makeup and pink eyes was enough but add a little girl hopped up on candy wearing a tutu, everyone would be running for the hills!

The kids had many favorites. They got a lot of super fun stuff this year. Aunt Amy also made these awesome bags (check out her blog Tojamesonwithlove). My kids have theirs fully stocked with cool things. From their sunglasses to crayons, coins to lip gloss, their ready to hit the big town of Bisbee!

The antibiotics are kicking in so we've been playing all day with all their fun toys!I love Christmas, I'm kind of sad it's already over. I was not sad however to see the tree come down or all the decorations packed away! It feels nice to have the house all back in order, now I just have to find a place for all our goodies. Next year I'm leaving a bag of stuff for Santa to take with him. It's not fair he can drop off all this stuff and not have to worry about where it's going to go. So next year he'll have to take some of our junk away if he wants to leave us presents, being the nice guy he is I know he won't mind. Heck, give it to someone else while he's out and about! Knowing my luck he'll take our stuff and only leave coal. Can't wait for next Christmas, love you Santa!!

Kids are home!

I was so happy to see my kids! I spent the day in the doctors office. When all was said and done, I left his office with a grim report. I had an inner ear infection in my right ear, strep, a sinus infection, and pink eye in both eyes. A few prescriptions later and I'm on my way to feeling better.

Grandma brought the girls home today and boy oh boy was I glad to see them! What else could make a rotten day better. Nothing but my girls! Thanks to Aunt Chalice, Aunt Tara, Aunt Amy, and of course Grandma. I know my kids were in good hands and being highly spoiled. I also know that their hair was always done and they of course got their bubble baths. They were excited to get to open more presents, but most of all they had the greatest time playing with ALL their cousins. A few days with the uncles.... who knows what would've happened. They would have been sent home in camo and learned how to gut a fish and skin a deer! Yay for Aunts!! The kids had a blast. I twisted their arms pretty hard to get them up there without me but they decided it was well worth it. The pictures they had taken at the picture people are awesome plus the Nutcracker Ballet memories, this is a Christmas they will not soon forget! Thank you to everyone who stepped in and helped make this a great Christmas for the kids. As soon as mommy feels better we hope to see all of you! Happy New Year!

Could Christmas have been ANY better?

Wow, what a Christmas we had this year.

I started feeling under the weather on Tuesday. The next morning (Christmas Eve) I had full blown Strep throat....yes, again!! Good thing my doc gave me an extra prescription of penicillin just for this reason. After we read the Christmas story from our scriptures and all opened one present, mommy was pretty much done celebrating. Christmas morning come around, still feeling horrible but managed to have a good time for the kids sake. We made it to my moms for food and more presents, cut our trip short, and I was back home in bed. Clay had to work Friday morning.

When I woke up that morning to get his lunch ready my right eye was matted shut. Get it all cleaned up, get Clay off to work, and go back to bed. By the end of that night both my eyes were pink and goopy, kids had gone to stay at my moms, and I was once again in bed. I have never had pink eye in my life, and it just so happens I get the worst case of it ever in both my eyes! Merry Christmas to me!!

Friday night Uncle Colin came and got the girls and took them to Phoenix to see all of Clay's family for a Christmas get together. Grandma took them to see the Nutcracker Ballet, they got to play with their cousins, and of course more presents. They come home tomorrow! I'm so excited. I love going to Clay's mom's house so it was a big bummer to be stuck home in bed. My eyes are not as goopy today but still scary pink. Hopefully our New Year's is a little bit better! We'll see.

Santa Claus ic coming to town!

Well, we finally made it to see Santa. We went for a drive after church. I wanted to get a picture of the girls in their Christmas dresses. We went to Sierra Vista, to the mall. Santa was there, ready and waiting. The girls told him what they wanted, got their coloring book, and they were ready to go. I love Christmas time. I love to give gifts, to receive gifts, and of course shake all my gifts under the tree. I also love the spiritual reason for the season. The birth of our savior Jesus Christ. This past year has been the toughest yet for our family. I am very grateful for my husband and my children. Without them, this year would have been very hard to make it through. I am also thankful for my savior and the many blessings he has given to me and my family this year. I whole heartily believe that life truly is not easy but it will be worth the struggle in the end. I'm looking forward to an easier year in 2009, maybe not filled with so much loss and hardships. I can't wait to visit with our families, maybe see a marriage or two (uncle Will.....hint hint!), and the births of at least two new nephews/nieces. We are so thankful for all of those who have kept us in their prayers and have supported us. Happy Christmas and may you have a very safe and healthy 2009!

Christmas Concert

Today was our Christmas concert. Mrs. Reed's Kindergarten class (the class I work with) and a third grade class put on a performance for the whole school. We did three shows. The little girl I work one on one with was great! She had a part that was made just for her. She was in charge of ringing the bells. Wow! She knows how to shake her bells!! All the kids did an awesome job. They were all so excited to perform. It was so fun to work with them and help them learn the songs and their lines. I'm glad it's over though, it was a lot of work!

I also found out today that after our winter break I will no longer be working one on one with my little girl. I'm so sad. I'm going to miss her. I will still be working at the school but I will be testing kids or pulling those kids that need extra help out of class. I'm excited for the new position, but I am going to miss my little girls sweet spirit every day. I will still be working in the preschool in the afternoon so that makes things a little easier. I love my job and the special children I have the opportunity to work with. Plus, I get to see my own kids everyday, have their same schedule, and keeps tabs on their academics all at the same time! What more could I ask for. Tomorrow is our last day of school, then we're out for two WHOLE weeks! Yay!!! We're excited for the rest and relaxation not to mention all the family we're going to visit and all the presents we're going to open!!

Christmas Party!

Yesterday after school, we went to a staff meeting/ Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. They had it catered at no cost to us. There was enchiladas, Chili rellenos, beans, rice, tamales, chips and hot sauce. Wow was it good! We also played a gift exchange game and went home. Short and sweet, my kind of party!

Most Mondays we have staff meetings after school. If Clay is off then he'll come pick up the kids. Sydney likes to go to the staff meeting because their in the library and she can read all the books she wants to. Alex would rather go home, do her homework and have a snack. They both enjoyed yesterdays meeting. They were spoiled by the staff! They got to eat, participate in our reindeer games, and left with WAY to much candy! Sydney asked me this morning if we had a meeting today. No!

Brothers

I was so excited when Colin and Amy called and said they wanted to come visit for the weekend. Colin has been in basic training for the army. We haven't seen him at all in months. The girls were so excited. To get their rooms clean I just told them Amy and Colin were coming and off they ran to straighten up! We missed both of his Army graduations, so we were super excited to finally get to see him. Now, this is Clay's LITTLE brother. Many of you may remember him from when he lived with his parents in Pomerene. Wow, hasn't Colin changed. First obvious change: He's so dang tall. Clay is really tall compared to me but standing next to Colin nobody is tall! Colin is also married to his beautiful wife (a super fun talented girl!) Amy (who is expecting another baby. Yay another cousin to play with. Aunt Chalice is having another baby too, yay more cousins!) He's such a great husband and father. Colin kept the kids busy playing the PS2 with them while me and Amy worked on the computer. Amy is so talented in everything she does. She's an amazing woman. Clay was even able to visit with his brother some of the time.

Were looking forward to the holidays and visiting with all of our family and friends. Thanks for coming to visit Uncle Colin and Aunt Amy, feel free to visit anytime! We'll see everyone in a few weeks!

Oh Christmas tree......

This year, Christmas is different at the Dozier's. We simplified. Very few of our decorations made it out of storage this year. I for one, (and I know Clay really likes this!) think our home feels so much better than it has in past Christmases. We decorated the bare minimum this year. We have the tree up of course and icicle lights on the house. We put out our nativities and a few of our favorite gingerbread things. That's it! It feels wonderful! We love our two new little gingerbread additions, thanks Sara!

Most years, our tree overflows with presents. This year the presents just don't seem to matter much. The kids could care less about what is in the gifts anyways. We haven't even made it to see Santa yet. I did ask the girls what they wanted for Christmas. Sydney said she wants an alarm clock and some books. Alex wants a singing reindeer and a movie. I asked them what else. That's it they said. WOW! I'm asking santa for a Wii, but I know he's gonna say HO HO.... NO! We went through their playroom and donated a ton of their gently used toys to charity. For some reason they had a great time giving their toys away. I never heard the end of buying a new toy, not wrapping it and taking it to the school. They kept sending reminders home from school. I had to keep reminding the girls that we already bought toys for the toy drive, didn't wrap them and turned them in to the office. Well we should buy more mom, is all I heard after that. This year I decided to let the girls decorate the whole tree themselves. Usually, I will let them hand me the decorations and I will place them. Not this year. I put the tree up, got the ornament box out and let them go to town! They got bored after only half the box of ornaments. The amount they put on is the amount that stayed on. I usually put every single ornament on. I have to say, our tree looks better this year than last year. I'm surprised our tree made it through last Christmas with all the ornaments I put on it! They grouped the ornaments this year, and the majority of them are at the bottom right side. I have had the hardest time leaving my tree this way but I have done it. They were so proud. The missionaries thought it looked ......ummm.....what's the word?.......Nice? The girls were so excited to show them the tree when they came for dinner one night.

I love the feel of my home so much this year I think this whole simplifying thing will carry over into the new year. Not only has the economy made us want to simplify, I have also found it much easier to concentrate on the true reason for the season. We as a family just feel more in tune with each other and the spirit. I'm glad we decorated less and left plenty of room for the spirit to dwell in our home.

EACH ONE OF US IS AN INN KEEPER, WE DECIDE IF THERE IS ROOM FOR JESUS.

We hope you and your have a wonderful and joyous holiday season!

The verdict is in

I loved being on the jury! It was so exciting. I have always been very interested in the whole process. I don't think I'd like to be on the Jury for a murder trial or anything like that. The case I was on was a burglary. It was easy just to follow the evidence. The hardest part of the whole thing was getting the other jurors to see things my way or being able to see things their way. The group dynamics of the jury was pretty funny. We were all so different. One guy yelled a lot but he had a very good sense of humor. Another guy talked so soft you could hardly hear him and he went to the bathroom a lot. I was the youngest on the jury, I didn't get what they were talking about half the time but I still had fun. I was the foreperson so I was in charge of the deliberations. I didn't want the job but no one else would volunteer. It was hard to tell a man who could be my Grandfather, what to do and how to do it. I had a great time and can't wait to do it again. I'll be waiting a couple years of course!

Jury Duty

(Horrible picture but this is the button I'll be sporting the next couple of days!) I am one of those people who is always summoned to jury duty but never picked! Well, today was different! I made it on to the jury in a criminal case. I'll tell you all about the process but for right now I'm off to hear testimony and deliberate!

Also, Christmas cards...... I know many of you have new homes. I would like to get my Christmas cards out this week. If you think I may not have your new address please e-mail it to me or leave it as a comment. Thanks and Happy Holidays!!!

The World Wildlife Zoo...

BEWARE: Lots of photos!



The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to the World Wildlife zoo with Clays Mom and sister. It was amazing. Normally we go to the Phoenix Zoo. We have to fight traffic all the way from Peoria to get there, then once there the animals are either sleeping or invisible. This zoo was so different. It was about 20 minutes away from my mother-in laws house. All the animals were very active and alert. They were so close to us!

This is the cutest picture. Sydney is always so interested in what her Daddy is doing. We really wish they had a take your daughter to work day. She didn't leave his side, or quit talking to him the entire time we were there! Clay even let Sydney video some. We have lots of video with the people in front of us, of their bottoms! Great work Sydney :)

The Lemur (the move it move it guy) was Alex's favorite animal of the zoo. All the kids started singing move it when were standing by these guys. It was funny. The lemur could jump high into the tree and from tree to tree, but they don't jump the little moat of water that keeps them on their island.

Alex kept asking if the flamingo's were really real. They were sleeping but once in a while we would see some move. She still isn't so sure they're real.

We road on the sky tram. That was so fun to see all the animals from a different perspective. Sydney was on the next seat up with Grandma and her cousin.

Tara, Josh, and J.J, were behind us so at the turn I snapped a picture. Looks like he was doing the same thing!

The camels were a hoot. I was making noises and they all came over to visit. This guy was really interested in what I had to say. I didn't know Clay was right behind me videoing and laughing as I'm carrying on a conversation in another language with the camels!

Sydney and Alex gave food to the Giraffes. It was a fun experience. Alex was a little grossed out by the color of the tongue but they were really excited that they came right up to them. The Giraffe's had their own little routine. They'd walk to the platform, get some food from the people waiting, walk in a big circle, and come right back for food. It was great. Everyone got a chance to feed them! The best thing was, all over the zoo they had these little gumball machines filled with little pellets of food. You could get a lot of pellets for a quarter. We must have spent 6 dollars in quarters on food and fed just about every animal in the zoo.

Where we fed the Giraffe's is in the background of this picture. It was mating time for quite a few of the animals. These turtles were the loudest. The kids laughed whenever the turtle made his loud noise. Sydney thought the turtle on top was sleeping and snoring and that the turtle on the bottom was trapped. I told Alex they were wrestling! We moved on from the turtles pretty quickly!

This Porcupine was so close to us. If you leaned over the logs and stuck your hand out you could touch it. Not that you would want to but it was that close!

Our happy little family enjoying the zoo!

I don't know how many of you know this but both Clay's mom and my mom are named Charlotte. I think that's funny. My kids call Clay's mom Mama and my mom Nana. Their two totally different women who share the same name, we love them both!

Tara (Clay's younger sister) and wonderful old me! I'm so glad they moved back to the states from England. We didn't get to see them for years! We still don't get to see them often but when we do get to visit with them it is so fun. We play games, and chat, and laugh! It's like they were never gone. Hopefully we'll get to see them over Christmas as well. That will make three times in one year.........WOW!

I just had to post this picture ( I know, I know...... way too many pictures!). We went to the petting zoo, bought some food from the gumball machines, walked in, and were mobbed by the goats. One big one even rammed Alex and left a bruise on her side. So she was crying and scared and we were getting mobbed.

We finally got away from all the big mean goats and found a little bench where the baby goats liked to sleep. So Alex sat down and I put a baby goat up on the bench for her to pet. Right away it starts eating her hair. First she gets rammed, now they're eating her hair, what next!

So we get her to take a picture with the goat and it starts nibbling her clothes! My goodness, you would think these poor little things never got fed! So we snapped a picture and Alex was officially done at the petting zoo. We went and washed our hands and waited for Sydney and Daddy to finish petting the animals.

Sydney, completely opposite of her sister in every way possible, of course,loved the goats. She was having a good time feeding them. She loved the baby goats. At one time she was sitting on the bench and every baby goat there was sitting by her.

They even have a warning for the goats. They need to put ramming on the list!

This was by the Kangaroos. They were only contained by a little rope. The rope was more to keep us out of their space then to keep them in it. Of course, they were penned in but we got to walk through the pen. It was so cool to be right there with them! They wouldn't ever get to close to us but it was so neat to see them out in the open. No chain link fence or bars or glass in the way.

A normal Dozier family picture. Me of course with my eyes shut! It's always something. :)

Mama and the kids looking at the map, trying to decide where to go next. We went watched a animal show and then on a boat ride. Good planning! I have to say it again, this zoo was amazing! (Amie is this the zoo you and Mandy go to? If so maybe next time we're in town we can take the kids to the zoo and visit? You too Linda!) We will be going to this zoo again, and soon. My kids still haven't stopped talking about it. There was so much more than I posted but you'll have to discover that yourself! Thanks Mama for taking us, we enjoyed it!

On Dec. 29th, they will be opening an aquarium at this zoo. It's going to have all kinds of fish, even sharks! It's going to have a log ride that will take you underneath some of the fish tanks. We've been dying to take the kids back to Sea World. We may just postpone that trip and check out the aquarium in Arizona!