Here are some of our christmas season photos.  Enjoy and I hope everyone had a merry christmas.

Well I totally forgot to Blog about Darin's big fish story.  As many of you know we went to Mexico last month.  We had the opportunity to go deep sea fishing while we were down there.  We were out all morning my one fish got away Darin had caught a Durango but it was Marlin season and we were a little disappointed that we had not got a bite.  I did not know then catching a Marlin was a big deal because I am such a big fisher my self.  Anywho, right before we began to head back in Darin and I spotted the fins of two Marlin's by the boat.  Our guide threw out the bait and then Darin took it from there 1 hour and 30 min. later Darin got his 200 lbs Marlin.  Being the tree huggers we are we let it go but what a blast, the thing was beautiful it was black and purple.  Congratulations to my man.

We are so glad the cold weather is finally here.  This is a picture of my kids playing in the front yard with all the leaves what a blast.  There are days that staying home can be a little less than glamorous but I do not think any other job in the world has so many amazing days like this that are so rewarding and full of such abundant happiness.  I can only pray these days can last forever.  

Another fabulous pic. from my talented bro michael.  Here is a shout out to you Mike !

Um, lets do it again

So the huge Twilight fans my friend Amanda and I are decided after all the good reviews we have read and our friends personal recommendations we would check it out again with more sleep and less hot chocolate in our system.  Well, I am still not a huge fan but maybe my first comment was a little harsh.  On the second go around we decided the music was still not great (keep in mind this is just my opinion), Edward's acting needs to improve for new moon, and the special effects were not great, in fact I posted this pic because this is pretty much the extent of their special effects =)  Anyways, to those who loved it or even liked it there are some good scenes and I hope they learn from this to make an awesome new moon I am sure we will be in line for that one at midnight as well.

The Day The Twilight Died

I just came from the midnight showing of Twilight.  Two mimes on crack could have produced a better screen adaptation.  My stomach still aches with the nausea this film gave me.  Where to begin ? Viewing this film was more painful than watching an adolescent boy go through puberty.  Bella is obviously on some sort of illegal substance or she has some major ticks that make forming a coherent sentence impossible.  Edward is either bipolar or mentally challenged, on second thoughts maybe a combination of both.  The special effects reminded me of vintage 80s Chuck Norris.  The music was a strange mix of Mexican novella and and Yani new age.  The editing obviously was done by an individual with ADD off their meds.  And last,  but not even close to covering all the  possible mistakes,  was the entire lack of character development, at the end you are left wondering um who were the main characters again.  Stephanie Meyers said in L.A. "If I went to see it in a theater I would have walked outside to buy another ticket."  I wonder why, was it because even though she wrote the book it still made no sense.  The upside to my evening was I do not think I have laughed so hard with my girlfriends in a long time, I can at least take that to my grave.  Peace out Kristin 

So we are back from our vacation to mexico don't have those pictures downloaded yet but here are some pictures of Joel's class trip to the pumpkin patch.  Joel says "we went onto the train and I picked a heavy pumpkin (mom had to carry Sydney on my back so the boys had to carry their own pumpkins) and we ate halloween doughnuts." 

Kristin says my jerk husband just scared the crap out of me by sneaking in the sliding door with a mask on, i have to go beat him now so I will post some more later this week.

Soccer

So many of you know that Joel is in under 6 soccer again this year.  You would think under 6 soccer, childs play, to the kids however it is all business enjoy the pics. I call the second pic "let me hear an amen", the  pic with the girl in the gray uniform shows a girl that took down like every player on our team through out the game, the last pic I call karate kid. 

Heather and St. Johns wedding

Darin's niece got married two weeks ago it was such a beautiful wedding I just had to post some of the pictures.  We wish them all the best and for all us old married folks reading this we know they will need all the luck and patience they can find.  And yes that was our boys climbing the tree at the temple with their cousin.  I am sure Sidney will be up there soon enough. 

For the Dems

So I am an Independent, and Darin is a Republican, but I come from a very strong Democratic Family (Mother, Grandparent, ect.) My Father is also a Republican and wanted me to point that out.  This picture was done by my brother and this is my shout out to them.  Enjoy (or not)

Kristin

Sydney Turns One September 7

So Sydney finally made it to her first birthday.  It was crazy exciting and I can't say enough how much fun all my kids are, but lets face it girls are just so fun to dress.  Here are some fun facts about Sydney...

1. She is the only family member with blue eyes
2. She is my only child who loves when I sing to her
3. She loves wheels on the bus
4. She loves shoes all shapes and sizes, but especially her own
5. She already thinks she can do everything her brothers can do
6. She loves the water
7. She is a total mama's girl (sorry Darin)
8. She is only in the 3% tile for weight
9. She loves chocolate (um, I wonder who she got that from)
10. Last and not least, She loves to wrestle with her brothers

Happy Birthday Sid =)

So my Camera is back online and where do I begin.  I will tell you my story of the importance of giving back, recycling, and a pinch of white trash dumpster diving.  Darin and I had gone through our closets and had a bad of old cloth sitting in our garage.  It sat there like a month and finally I decided I needed to take it to good will.  I was having a busy day and I thought how much easier it would be to just throw the bag out in the trash and save myself a trip.  But I really hate waste and some of the shirts Darin threw out had hardly been worn so I threw it in the car and hauled all three of our kids to the local Goodwill.  On the alley to the Goodwill donation site there were dumpsters and as we were driving away and spotted a green plastic slide inside one of them.  The Irony or just good old fashion luck is our slide to our play set just broke a couple of months ago and a replacement was like 100$.  So I ignored all the things my parents taught me rolled up my sleeves and fished the thing out, this was no small task.  To get it into our Pilot the boys and to drive home with their heads down, I wish my camera was working to show you all the picture of that, lets just say I got more than a few looks on the freeway.  Well I got it home cleaned it up and it fit and was better than our old one =)  So that story was like my story of the month.  Here are some pics of Joel's soccer game today where he scored two goals.  Yeah, he scored more than any other player and half the goals of the entire game. 

Ok that did not work here I go again...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODv96oeEAqw

Ok So sorry I have not blogged for like two weeks, I have some great white trash stories coming your way, but I believe all good stories should have pictures and as fate has delt me a cruel hand again my husband lost the battery charger to our new expensive camera so I am in download limbo.  Sydney just had her first birthday which was way fun and I totally wanted to blog about that but now I am bummed because all her cute outfit pictures are on my friends digital camera. s I began having a pity party for myself when I was reminded of a video clip I saw on youtube and thought I would share it with you.  It has a couple of Mormon missionaries on it.  For our friends and family that are not Mormon don't worry it is always fun to tease the missionaries even for us Mormons.  Here is the link I hope it works

Summer coming to a close/ Show and Tell

So this has been a great summer and even thought I live

 in California where I, at times, believe that summer will never end it does seem to be cooling off.  So todays blog I decided to post pictures of why I hate to see it go.  

I am also going to try and tell my top funny storiy of the week, for most of those who know me well and my uncanny nack to embarrass myself this should not be a challenge.   

Here it goes:  So today Joel had show and tell at school, I had planned on bringing our turtle mudslide, but true to form I will just say that Mudslide (the second) is MIA, anywho I decided to take the leapord gecko instead.  So the kids were totally eating it up, right, I was thinking best mom of the year award not to far from my grasps when the gecko (we call her Flo) started freaking out.  I had a hunch Flo might freak so I was totally prepared for this and I patiently took her from Joel.  However, as most things in my life can never in a rational normal ending, so Flo turns on me and bites me.  The kids love it and go crazy, but the teacher eyes got huge and I figures there was a fifty fifty shot she was about to pass out.  I was able to shake the thing off back into the shoe box from whence she came.  I was totally devastated by the fiasco but Joel and Reid gave me to thumbs up so I will call it a draw.   

                                                       Ok, Here are the shortest Gale family members.  First is Reid doing what he does best, scaring people silly.  Next is Joel at his first day of school at Lincrest Elementary just excited to escape from home.  Last is Sydney literally chilling at Half Moon Bay Beach in 50 degree weather.

Let the mid life crisis begin

In the begging there was everything and nothing..... maybe I should just start with pictures of the family.