Merry Christmas

WEll it's official, Christmas is over. It was definitely a fun, and interesting Christmas this year!

Last week, Kyle was very busy with Christmas concerts and school, and I was very busy with.. well.. nothing, so I decided to come down to Buckeye a little earlier than we had planned. I came down Thursday morning and spent the rest of the day shopping with my mom and dad for last minute food and christmas shopping. Friday, we went tot he mall (which was CRAZY, we seriously had to park in like thee very last parking spaces in the very very back) and finished shopping for Derek. While we were at one store, my dad got a phone call that his speaker on Sunday wouldn't be able to be there because of a family crisis.. so he quickly asked me if I wanted to speak...even quicker i replied "Kyle would LOVE to!" so I called Kyle and let him know :) That's what a good wife is for right?! Kyle came up later that day after a Christmas Luncheon for work and we hung out the rest of the night.

Saturday, Kyle had the fantastic oppurtunity to go Christmas shopping for.. ME! I told him that he shouldn't have procrastinated, but he quickly informed me that either I could have gotten something from Alco or Safeway, or he could wait.. and I decided that was prefectly fine for him to wait 3 days before Christmas :) While he was out and about, Mom, Dad, and I did some MORE shopping and my dad took me to In and Out- oh how i love that place.

Kyle's talk went VERY well on Sunday, I had a lot of people let me know that i had a very good husband (I completely agree). Because my dad had to work Christmas, My Aunt Steph, Uncle David, Amber, Jenni, Grandma, and Grandpa, and Ben came later that day and we had Christmas Dinner (Ham, Potatoes, mom's famous rolls, green jello salad. etc.) that night, which was AMAZING, and Chris, Kati, and the Boys arrived to mom and dad's around 10:30 that night.

Monday, we had our morning Christmas routine. We all woke up.. waited.. waited some more.. and went and woke up mom and dad. Mom had to put the "Pancakes for a Crowd" (really yummy breakfast casorole) in the oven, and then she had to go get ready before we could open presents. Kyle did a VERY good job- he got me a really cute heart bracelet, 2 movies, and Enchanted for my Nintendo DS (I've been playing it non-stop since Monday) . Kyle got a football, socks, a George Forman Grill, and a book that he really wanted. Between those and presents from Family, it was a very good and useful Christmas. We spent the rest of the day playing and enjoying families company.

Tuesday, Christmas! Santa brought my little cousin Ben his presents, and Kyle, Derek, and I got our stockings. Stockings are always one of my favorite parts. I love the little goodies and toys. Since we did all our Christmas stuff the morning before, most of our extended family had gone- so about 2:30 we decided we should go see a movie.. even though we were meeting the Carrolls at 6:30 to see National Treasure. We hopped in the car and went to Harkins and saw I Am Legend. I have heard mixed things about the movie, but overall I really liked it. National Treasure was pretty good too!

Today- We're planning on meeting up with Chris and Kati and Steven and Meghan and playing soccer.. and Steve and Meghan are supposed to come later to get their presents and stuff.

It has definitely been a long Christmas... since we did everything we usually do in one day- in three! I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

And I thought college was rough

When I was in college I always looked forward to Christmas break with great anticipation. Well that was before i became a full time music teacher. I think I am looking forward to this upcoming break more than ever. I have been so busy and I still have an elementary concert, Senior Orange sales deliveries and auditions for the Holbrook Musical this week. The jr/sr High School Christmas concert was a success last week. Again, I think the biggest compliments are how long the concerts have been because both have been exactly an hour and 15 minutes long. I also redesigned the music web site which has been a lot of work but that was my own fault. But I really like it. Check it out (www.myjcsmusic.com). I am looking forward to going to Buckeye for Christmas from what I hear we are going to celebrate like the Jews over a multiple day period. :) Adam Sandler would be proud. Kyle and Alli not a jew! haha Don't tell Alli but I have to go pick out her present Saturday :) Plenty of time right. I think that Helzberg commercial fits me just right "because your not that guy"
I haven't really been in the Christmas mood the last few years I guess Alli and I need to have kids so I can get in the spirit again through them. My students at school definitely are in the mood they decorated my office this morning.

Well the ceiling at least. Well that's enough from me but if you are really bored check out the video that I made back in college.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7CJuHEpsoc

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Holidays begin!

Kyle seems to keep this pretty updated with all his school jazz- so I think it's my turn to keep ya updated on our other lives :) Two weekends ago we were able to go do to Tucson for my nephew Wesly's 3rd birthday, I can't believe he is already three! We had a total blast hanging out with the family and Kati's family. We went to the park and played kick ball, football, and watched the bottle rockets go off. It was nice to get outside and play for a little bit. Then we went back to Chris and Kati's house and had pizza and amazing pumpkin rolls and we played a very exciting game of spoons.. man those Pike kids are rough! :) I held my own pretty well though.
Two days after we left Kati had the new baby.. Nathan Douglas, I haven't been able to see him in person yet, but in pictures his just as precious as the other two boys :) I'm excited for Christmas to see him.
This Thanksgiving we spent with Kyle's family, and I was so super excited when I found out Stormy was going to come over too! The food, of course, was amazing! I was a little sad that we didn't have the green jello salad, but that must be a Carbonneau thing :) After we ate, we went to the Sand Dunes... which I wasn't excited for what so ever.. my stubbornness kicked in and I decided I wasn't going until Kyle's mom told me I had too.. can't fight with that :) I'm glad I went though, it was really fun. When I think of Sand Dunes I think of the ones in Buckeye.. it's just sand what's so special about that? But this is like the finest sand EVER and it's in a HUGE hill so you like jump of the top and roll down in the sand, it's really fun! I pushed Stormy a couple times and we had a little sand fight, and there wasn't a piece of clothing that was on me that wasn't filled with sand.
We put our Christmas tree up! We got everything at good ol' Alco.. it's like a walmart but Holbrook style. We didn't have anything to go on the top so we made something from construction paper, but hey i think it looks pretty good! This Sunday Stormy and her new bo Mr. Josh is coming over and we're gonna make gingerbread houses (one of my favorite Christmas crafts!) and that will be REALLY fun, I'm excited! I have two weeks left in school till finals, so wish me luck! We love you all!

Kyle In Real Life

So this last week has been crazy to say the least. Tuesday was the George Gardner Memorial Show Choir Festival and I took my Audition Choir (Voce) to that that. I was very proud of them they did awesome. I would say we were the Second best group there but of course I am a little biased. Snowflake was hands down the best but I think in a couple of years we can be as good as them. :) I have already talked to Mindy Flake (the snowflake director) about bringing my choir up to work with hers I figure if we want to be the best we need to surround ourselves with the best. The choir had a good time hitting on all the girls and guys there. 3 of the guys even went to breakfast with the snowflake choir. They were loving that. We also were able to spend a couple hours that day just playing games like Dippity Dippity Dip and Kye, I even learned a new one Called Chicken Taco that was a lot of fun. Then when the Voce performed our last song is called Voice Dance and Kellie did an awesome job of giving us some fun tribal choreography and made us some cool rip away skirts. So I let the guys go without shirts and just paint their body's in white "war" paint. This was done under the black light so it had a really cool effect and for any of you who have ever been to the Show Choir Festival you know who got the loudest cheer of the day. :)
I thought I was tired after that but I was wrong because the nest day I took 19 Jr. High students to the their regionals in Round Valley. This was a lot of fun as well because I got to see my Mentor Teacher Mrs. Turley who was the Choir Clinician. I taught my choir one of the warm ups she always did about Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies and we bought her a package of Nutter Butters and did the warm up for when we first got there, she loved it and my students got to connect with clinician right from the beginning so it was good. During the lunch break we played all the games again that we did the day before I have a feeling before long I am going to get pretty god at these games. Its fun though and it seems my groups are the loudest ones at all these events haha who would have thought. Its ok though we are friendly and invite anyone who wants to join in. The groups sounded really good by the end of the day and everyone had a great time. The next couple days were catch up days for me.
Friday though alli and I decided to go to flagstaff and go to dinner and a movie. We saw "Dan In Real Life" It was a great movie we thought, of course I have to confess I am a huge Steve Carrell Fan. I think he is the greatest actor alive right now haha. Then after we went to Garcia's I haven't had the Pollo Fundido in a long time so it hit the spot.
Well Next up Christmas concerts so hopefully I have a little time to catch up.

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The days or our lives... continued

You heard the days of Kyle's life- so he handed me the computer and said "ok your turn" :)
The past 3 weeks I've been in a kindergarten class.. what a treat :) I have 18 kids constantly saying "Teacher Teacher, Teacher Teacher" but they are so fun.. they are mesmerized by the simplest thing.. for Halloween we did a bunch of stuff w/ pumpkins and they were amazed that a pumpkin could float- they are too cute. At the end of the day I'm definitely ready to come home- but they are pretty fun :) School has been going really well... for the most part. I am really enjoying my Excel class and I am learning so much that I didn't know I could do with it. I have a Biology class that I am so ready to be done with.. my teacher is a real piece of work and I'm really excited that I only have 5 more weeks left with him. I can't believe that it is already November! I am pretty sure I'll be attending NAU next semester and finally work toward my BA.. I'm really excited to get into the teaching classes and be done with these classes that I feel like are a waste of time.

This last week I don't think there was a day that Kyle and I had more than an hour together before we went to sleep.. he's a pretty busy guy- and his mom said it only gets worse :/ I'm not excited for that, but he loves what he does and that's what matters. I'm trying to talk him into building me a house this summer- and I'm pretty sure we can do it, but we'll see what happens :). Zeus is doing good (he's our puppy) he's home a lot by himself and that makes me sad.. and I think he's jealous of Kyle, they other night kyle kissed me and Zeus like jumped on me and started licking me, and then he would glare at kyle and then lick me again- it was pretty halarious. He's getting neutured this coming Saturday- so he's really excited about that :).

Kyle ratted me out- I'm super duper baby hungry :) and we'll keep you updated on that when there's something to update :) Well it's time to get ready to go for the weekly Sunday dinner at Kyle's moms- I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and hope everything is going well!

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These are the days of our lives...

Life has been hectic as usual and doesn't show signs of slowing down any time soon. Yesterday Alli, Mom, and I went to the temple in Snowflake. It was really nice to get out of the world for a few hours. Alli says she is starting to remember things from the sessions now so thats good, now we just need to get back more often. After we got out of the temple we went on up to Show Low for the Walmart since Holbrook doesn't have the best selection of stores. :) After, my Mom treated us to dinner at a nice little Mexican Restaurant in Snowflake. By the time we got home the ASU game was already over which probably wasn't a bad thing since they lost.
School is going really well for me, my High School groups have both performed twice already. Once at the state fair and at our Fall Concert. This week Voce (the audition choir) is going to the George Gardner Show Choir Festival so I am excited about that. I get to direct the Old Irish Blessing with all the groups up there so that should be a lot of fun. That was the song that my Dad used to end all of his concerts as a teacher. The day after the Show Choir Festival I am taking my Jr. High kids to Round Valley for Jr. High regionals, I am excited for that because the Choir clinician is Mrs. Turley who was my mentor teacher. We've already started preparing for the Christmas concert and hopefully we'll be ready for that by the 13th of December, can you believe Christmas is coming that fast? I can't. We are also already trying to get ready for our Musical Review next semester so if anybody knows any really good songs from Musicals that we should do let me know. :)
Being the 1st Counselor in the Young Men's has been fun we are still trying to get things figured out but the last couple weeks we have been making a movie (survivor scouts) and that has been pretty fun. Anyway all together things are great I can't complain a bit. Alli has been incredibly supportive for all I have had to put her through this semester. She is amazing working full time going to school full time and helping me with all my extra music concerts and trips I don't know how she does it without losing her mind. One of these days were actually going to have time with each other, well unless she gets her wish... She wants a baby... A woman who knows I guess :) The days of our life are good :)

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We found it!

This is my Grandpa Carbonneau's grave that we finally found. It's kind of weird that it has my Dad's name on it.

Super Saturday!

This week was again, hectic as usually! I (it's alli haha) got to teach a kindergarten class this week and it was so much fun! I did have to remind a little boy a few times that I was the teacher, but I'm going back this week also so I think we'll do better :). Kyle is getting ready for his upcoming fall concert, so he had me come to the school and watch a dress rehearsal and tell the kids what i thought they needed to work on, and they are going to do an excellent job, I'm really proud of him :).
Yesterday, Kyle's school had a football game that his band had to play at.. so he was at the school until about 9:30 yesterday.. they made it into the state finals and it was their first game, they beat them 80-12.. they killed! So day we thought we would take it easy and relax! Between work and school we don't really have that much time to hang out with each other and go play, so I decided today we were going to play instead of watch football all day :)
We started off our morning with some Denny's (yes- Holbrook has a Denny's.. no panda express.. but Denny's haha) and we started driving around Holbrook. My Grandpa Carbonneau is buried in the Cemetery here so we went to go find it.. we walked around for about 45 with no luck.. we started walking into the Veterans section and i told Kyle that he wouldn't be in there so we turned around and left... I called my dad later to see where it was and he said "its in the Veterans section" ;) Maybe I should have followed Kyle's lead afterall.
I didn't really want to go home, and there aren't any stores around here... so I decided we would go house shopping today! Not really shopping to buy, but to look. We found a really cute house in Holbrook that I really like.. it's clean, wood floors, tiny but enough for us and we called on it and it's only 109,000... you can't even find that in the valley anymore! haha. too bad we're not ready to buy one yet.
Next Kyle decided we would go look at the petroglyphs (the Indian scratches on rocks), and we had brought our puppy Zeus with us so we figured it would be good for him to run around. The indian scrathes were on these HUGE rocks so we had to go climb a bunch of huge bolders and such, but it was really fun! Zeus ran and ran with us and climbed the rocks really well- I was proud :) He's been laying down chillin' all day- which is totally unlike him, so we think he got a good workout.

That was our super saturday in Holbrook :). Not much, but enough :)

This is what we didn't see during conference, when everyone was laughing, and we were like? What just happened?


"After President Hinckley finished with the sustaining of the officers of the church during the Saturday morning session, Elder Eyring had moved to his new seat on the stand. Unfortunately, they didn't show this on TV, but when President Hinckley turned around, he stood there for a moment looking at Elder Eyring, then picked up his cane and "knighted" him on his shoulder and head.

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Our Painted House

This weekend we were in the valley and we got to see Brent and he asked why we never posted pics of the final paint job of or house so here it is.

Dancing Girls

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Getting ready for the football game.

Well it's Friday night and and football season still so Alli and I just got back from Mr. G's Pizza!! I know your jealous and you should be we had the best Pizza and Wings in Northern AZ. Now we are at the high school waiting for the band to show up so we can head over to the football field. This is technically the last game of the season but it's looking like we will make the playoffs so we will have at least one more home game after this week.
Well we are both looking forward to this weekend, I don't have school on Monday and it's General Conference so we are going to head down to Buckeye tomorrow and spend the weekend there. I am super excited for Conference and I am calling it right now President Bowen! Not really :) Well I better get going I have to go find some wireless mikes because I have a double quartet singing the National Anthem at the game tonight and they actually sound really good so I would like them to be heard.

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Busy little bees!

Well Meghan inspired me to do a little update so here ya go! :)

It's been pretty hectic around here lately :). Last weekend Kyle and I took 7 of his High School students to a leadership choir at ASU which meant we had the wonderful opportunity to take the short bus all the way to Phoenix at 4 o'clock in the morning. :) Kyle had a lot of fun meeting new choir directors and learning new songs. My friend Whitney came and picked me up and we hung out at her house for awhile and I got caught up on all the new stuff happening in the valley. Then we met my parents, Stevo, and Meghan at Panda Express (which was WONDERFUL because I had been CRAVING panda since we moved out here :)). It was fun to get caught up with them.. i think we sat and talked for about an hour after we were done eating. Then My mom, Whitney, and I went shopping and I got some new clothes for substituting that made me look like I was older then the kids I sub for :).
Nothing slowed done for last week either. Kyle's sister Kellie came done to help his choir with their choreography so Kyle spent a lot of time at the school and at his moms figuring out the skirts and shirts for their uniforms. I was able to sub for a kindergarten last ALL week last week and I really enjoyed it. I decided that that's my calling :) So i finally figured out what i wanna teach! I had so much fun with the little ones and they were all so cute. One little boy actually gave me an apple- So i thought that was pretty darn cute!
Yesterday in church Kyle was set apart to be the 1st counselor in the Young Men's presidency so he is really excited about that. He gets to go camping and all that fun stuff with them now! I haven't received a calling yet- but with school and work I don't feel like that's necessarily a bad thing :). We love you all!

Painting the house!

http://kylenalli.blogspot.com/
So yesterday Alli and I decided it was finally time to paint the house like we promised to do. Well there was a little adventure. Now of course I don't believe there is anything I can't do but this took some learning.
Lucky for me I had the whole back of the house to practice on and if you look at the rocks on the patio you can clearly see the learning curve. I am sure I got more paint on me and the ground then the actual walls. I know because the second bucket of paint went twice as far as the first.
We were lucky enough to use my bro-in-law's professional sprayer which made the job go really fast once we got it working properly. About 2pm, after we had spent all morning covering the windows with paper, I went to start painting. The first hour and gallon of paint, I spent trying to figure out how to make the machine spray. After I called my bro-in-law I learned I didn't put one piece in the nozzle. The next hour I spent trying to get the hose to stop leaking paint.
About this time my mom showed up to see how we were progressing. She showed up just in time to run to the store for me to buy tape. 3 different kinds of tape (at once) later we were off and running. Once we got going it only took about an hour and a half or so to paint the whole house. Then another hour cleaning out the machine.
Now we no longer live in the blue house, it's now the yellow house with the blue door. :) Alli and I have decided that we have found a summer job. But were not cheap! :)
To top the night off Alli made a great supper and we prepared talks while watching ASU somehow pull off a victory over Colorado.

We got sucked in :)

So it looks like we've gotten hooked into "Blogging" with the rest of the married clan :). Kyle and I were married on May 19, 2007. We're going on 4 months now and have loved it all. We moved up to Holbrook, AZ in August, where Kyle is the Music Teacher for the Joseph City School District.. that's right, DISTRICT.. he definitely has his hands full but he loves it.

I am working for the Holbrook School District as a substitute, making sure I want to go down the whole "teacher career" and I'm a full-time student. I'm taking night and online class so i can work during the day while Kyle is gone. I had my first day on Friday (Aug 31) and I sat a 7th grader in the corner, so I think it's gonna work out for me :).

This weekend we were able to spend with my family down in Buckeye and had a total blast. I love being in Buckeye when all the kids come home... Travis and Wesly (Chris and Kati's sons) are the cutest things and make any family gathering interesting. We got to see Seth and Tara's new baby Kade, so adorable. I came home and told Kyle I wanted one, and he said OKAY! But we'll see if that all pans out soon haha.

Another trend I got hooked into... the vampire books. Oh my goodness but I love them! I started book number 2 yesterday.. took about an hour and a half to go to a barbecue with Kyle's family and returned to my book so finish it at about midnight last night.. I went to the library to get book number three and they don't have it in yet, but i reserved it for when it comes in. :).