The Manning Family

This year Greg's parents took us all to Mexico for an "early" Christmas. We went to Puerto Penasco which is straight south of Arizona. We stayed in a beautiful resort called The Mayan Palace. It was a great week of relaxing on the beach...swimming...and sipping pina coladas! Oh, and did I mention the Nachos? I think by the end of the week, we were all sick on Nachos! We had a really fun time together! Thanks again, Bart and Karen :) Here are a few pictures from the trip...

We had a GREAT Halloween this year! We started the night with a ward trunk-or-treat, followed by a BBQ at Greg's sister Sarah's house with our friends. It was about 95 degrees until the sun went down, then it cooled off a little making it the perfect night. The kids had a great time, too. Greg was pimpin' in his blue leisure suit, I in my 80's get up, Reese was a ballerina, and Truman was a groom to a little sweet baby bride, Kennedy, (our friend's little girl). Two of my friends were also in 80's attire with me, Holly and Tiffany. It was so fun to goof off for the night in our costumes. I would like to give a shout out to my older cousins, Kim..Ricci..Stacy, for inspiring my clothes and hairdo!! :) Great night, good friends, good weather...can a girl ask for more? I am going to have to do a "re-do" next week and dress my kids up again for better pictures. The sun went down way too quick and I didn't get any good pictures of their costumes. Stay tuned for the next edition of "fake Halloween" coming soon!

This week our garbage disposal took a big dump so we had to get a new one. Buying it was very easy, but installing it would be another story. When we aren't sure how to install a certain item, our new motto has become "Mike will know how!" Our good friend Mike is pretty much a know-it-all for just about anything. And don't be fooled by the picture...Greg and Casey were there for moral support only!!! (Just teasing, Greg, I know you helped! That victory lap around the house saying 'Mike is almost done' was extremely helpful!)So, Mike saves the day again :)

While we had Kristen, Karley, and Kasen (my youngest siblings) here for the weekend, they BEGGED us to go to this pumpkin patch to buy our pumpkins. (Ok...so we drug them along...) Of the entire weekend of happenings, we only took one picture of us all together. I have GOT to get better at taking more pics! So, here are the kids with their pumpkins, and all of us goofing around! We did in fact have a great weekend with the three K's, and hope they will come back soon!

So last week I was summoned to jury duty. When I originally received the summons, I was actually pretty excited. I have this weird fascination with the court system, prisons, anything like that. (Don't ask me why, I guess I am just weird!) So to get to see something like a court case up close and personal, that was going to be great. What I didn't know was that it would actually be the LONGEST, most BORING day of my life!! I was finally called out of the "holding room" about 2:00 pm to be interviewed. Well, the questioning of the 45 potential jurors took longer than expected, and we were told to come back Monday afternoon to finish the selection process. After lots of questions and waiting, the judge came back with the numbers of those selected. Sure enough, out of 45 people, Your's Truly was chosen. Like I said, at first I was really exited and thought it would be cool to actually be on the jury, but now, not so much. Now I am having to trouble my friends with my children, miss appointments, etc... Not fun. The trial is supposed to last for the next three days, so wish me luck that it will! After it's over, I will post all the juicy details!! :) (Like any of you care about a man stealing a car somewhere in AZ!!)

While out tonight, I noticed two personalized license plates and had some thoughts regarding them. The first one was an old lady whose plate said : "msbhvn2" (translation for those of you who don't speak license plate language: misbehavin2) This could only mean one thing...that somewhere her husband/life partner was driving msbhvn1. Trust me, if you saw her, you would NOT want to know that she may or may not be "misbehaven"!!! The second one I saw stated this: "hotbunz" I read this and then noticed it was a middle-aged balding man driving the truck. I'm not sure if it was a joke, or if he was advertising, but either way....creepy and grose. While pondering the two plates I saw on the way home, I remembered that I, too, fell victim to the 'oh-so-cute' personalized plate once in my life. It was when I turned 16 and got my first car. Before I tell you what it said, please keep in mind that I drove a teal dodge shadow with pink swooshy stripes up the side (VERY COOL!). It read this: 'KORTI-Q' This was short for 'Korti-cucumber', a nick name my family had always called me growing up. My Question is this: WHY DIDN'T ANYONE STOP ME FROM DOING THIS? Mom, Dad, Alesha....why would you let this happen. Every time someone asked me what it meant, they started by saying 'What does Korti-O stand for?' and I would have to tell them it was a Q, then try to explain the cucumber...which had no explanation. The moral of this story is don't do it. Even if you come up with "2THFIXR" (TOOTHFIXER) because you are a dentist...DON'T DO IT!!

Yes, it is Jessica Simpson! She totally calls me all the time and wants to hang out. I keep telling her that I am busy with my kids and other friends, but she just doesn't understand! Anyway...she did her concert after the D-Backs game, so of course Sara got us "VIP" passes down on the field to get up-close and personal! It was a blast. I also got to catch up a little with my long-lost friend Beckie and her boys. It was a great night, and my "real" friends and I had a blast!

I have been feverishly trying to fix my computer so that I could post these pictures. Needless to say, it is still not fixed, but my nice friend Tiffany let me use her's in the meantime. Well, all of the pictures speak for themselves.I have posted both before/after pictures, so anything ugly you know was before!! The house was HIDEOUS before we started with some really "colorfull" paint choices, but I think we have made some great improvements. It was three LONG, HARD weeks worth of work, but OH SO WORTH IT!!! I couldn't be more thrilled with it. We are all settled in with a few "misc." boxes left to unload. (we could actually really do without all of the "misc." stuff that is in those boxes....but i'm sure we'll find a home for all of it!) Thank you to all of our friends and family who worked so hard to help us. It is such a great feeling to be ralaxed and settled into a home we can enjoy for many years. Ps...we LOVE our pool and are trying to enjoy every last minute we have of this warm weather. We are ready for visitors...hint hint...so anyone and everyone come visit us!!!

Well, I have many before/after pictures of our new home. PS...we bought a new home. I would LOVE to post them, however, my computer is not working very well these days and won't let me download any pictures from my camera. We also went camping this weekend and have a few great pics from that trip as well. Too bad none of them will be posted until I figure out what is going on with this big piece of crap!! Stay tuned.....

Is he the cutest boy ever?!! We put his "suit" on because he is finally big enough to wear it, (had to give the pants a few rolls at the waist), and he was so proud! You could tell by the way he strutted around before church. I gave him the "nice boy" hair comb parted down the side, and we had everyone fooled that he was going to behave during sacrament. (even greg and I had high hopes!) We did make it through the entire meeting, and with minimal screaming! We sure love this little man :)