The Craziest Thing Happened...

I can't believe it's been almost a year since I blogged last. I'm not using my one medication that makes me so lethargic anymore and I finally have internet and a minute to blog.  So excited to start it up again!! 

THE CRAZIEST THING HAPPENED LAST THURSDAY...  

So, every year we like to buy a real evergreen wreath for Christmas. Usually we get it from Costco. This year a nice little boy scout came to our door in October and asked if we wanted to order a Christmas wreath from him. We figured why not?! We have a boy scout, 1 cub scout, and 1 will be a cub on January 26th, we might as well help out a scout. He delivered the pathetic little thing the weekend after Thanksgiving. It definitely had nothing on the Costco wreaths we're used to. We've been watching our account ever since wondering why the check never has gone through. You can imagine my surprise when I answered the door last Thursday night and the nice little boy scout handed me a wreath. A Christmas Wreath. On January 16th. My mind was having a hard time processing what I was seeing. 

Umm...did I just have a stroke?

Did I just dream the last month and a half? 

Am I being "Punked"? 

What?! 

Brian came over because I was just standing there with my mouth hanging open. He told the scout that we already had our wreath. I told him that I had just thrown it away a few days before. He stood there looking at his clipboard saying but I hadn't brought this one to you yet. We told him that yes he had and we were just waiting for the check to clear. He said that he still has it because he hadn't delivered the wreath to us yet. We were finally able to convince him that he didn't need to give us the wreath and he went to his car where he and his parents continued to wrap their minds around it for like 5 more minutes.

I hope whomever the wreath belonged to is a much nicer person than I am...IF he figured out who that even was. I would not be a happy camper if I wasn't receiving my Christmas wreath until January 16th. 

Still here...

Life is hard isn't it! I have seen so much loss over the past few months and so much suffering happen to others and it has just been hard to watch people go through such hard times and not be able to do much to help them. In addition to loss of loved ones I've seen loss of jobs and other temporal losses.

Also, my sister, Dana's husband, who is in the Special Forces in the Army, is deployed right now. He missed Thanksgiving, Christmas, the birth of their second grandchild. My sister only has her little family to celebrate with as she doesn't live near any of us or her in-laws. I have felt so bad for her and her family. I feel bad for the families who's soldiers have lost their lives.

Words cannot express the feelings of sadness I have had for the people in Connecticut who lost loved ones or who have loved ones who survived it and will struggle with it the rest of their lives. It breaks my heart to think that there is such evil in our world. Truly horrific!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We are truly blessed in so many ways. My brother, Nathan, and his family are here and have been since the 18th. They live in Florida and it's been a year and a half since we've seen them. It's been wonderful having them here!

My sister Steph and her husband J.J. are part-owners of a cabin. This year they were able to stay in the cabin from December 26th to January 1st. They were nice enough to invite our family, my parents, KayTee and Chris, and Nathan and his family, to spend that time with them. It was so much fun! The kids and Brian rode snowmobiles and went sledding and played in the snow. I stayed inside the entire time as one of the main triggers for my Trigeminal Neuralgia is cold. Cold air. Cold food. Cold drinks. Cold. I read a book, relaxed, held Steph's darling 2 month-old son, Jacob. It was so nice! Matthew came down with a fever on Christmas Day and had some breathing issues so he had to stay inside the whole time. He did get to play outside for a little while one day when he was feeling a lot better but then he was back to square one again afterwards so we kept him inside the rest of the time. It's beautiful there!

Sometimes it's hard for my extremely sympathetic/empathetic heart to enjoy things to the fullest when I know of other people's trials and suffering. I know that "men are that they might have joy" but still! I just sincerely hope and pray that those who have cause to mourn are comforted and blessed in the ways that they are in need of. Sometimes it's hard to snap out of depression when it rears it's ugly head. I'm trying to overcome it and be joyful but it's hard. I have so very many blessings and I am trying to focus on that and to be what my family needs. And to be grateful for all that I have. I desperately want to help those around me who are in need of a lift. Can anyone suggest ways that I might be able to do that without making their suffering worse? I'm not very good at this! I so want to be though!

So, I know it's been a while since I've posted on here but I'm still here. Just haven't known what to say...

Lots of Gratitude

Well, it's been a while since I posted about what I'm thankful for.  The #1 thing I'm thankful for is that Brian doesn't have cancer!!!

That was so scary having to wait for 2 weeks to hear the results since they had to send the biopsy to California.

I'm also very grateful to be able to spend time with my Mom.  We haven't always lived where we were able to spend so much time together so it's nice to be able to now.

Another thing I'm thankful for is music.  I like how hearing a song can affect you so much.  It's my favorite part of church (besides partaking of the sacrament) (and when they choose to sing songs that I've actually ever heard of :)!).  It's one of my favorite parts of celebrating Christmas.  Songs make me laugh. They make me cry. They make me feel and learn and grow.  I always tell Brian that at my funeral I want everyone to sing A Poor Wayfaring Man Of Grief...ALL 7 verses! It's one of my favorites. I like to read it during the passing of the Sacrament.  I like to sing I Love To See The Temple when we see the temple.  I like to sing My Heavenly Father Loves Me as we drive around town looking at all of he beautiful Lilac trees, Apricot trees, and every other tree that has pretty little blossoms on it.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE music!!!

I am SOOO incredibly thankful to be the mother of 4 beautiful children.  They are so AWESOME!!  They are smart, funny, fun to be around.  They remind me every day of what really matters in this world! Blessed doesn't even begin to express my feelings about them but I'll use it.  I am incredibly BLESSED!!! They are also a constant reminder to me that what I WANT isn't always what I really NEED and that Heavenly Father is the Captain of this ship so I need to just trust in Him and His plan for me!!!

Stop & Smell the Roses Once In A While, Already :)

Today, I am thankful for the beauties of the earth.  Hasn't Heavenly Father blessed us with the most amazing planet to enjoy.  I've always LOVED late fall/winter time until I had kids and then it was really hard to not be able to let 3 little, wild, and crazy boys outside to play.  Now they are ALL old enough to play outside in the snow and be just fine.  We just bundle them up like the little boy on A Christmas Story and they're good to go.  The best part, I get to still love late fall/winter!  I think I like it so much because this time of year just seems so magical, what with Thanksgiving and celebrating Christmas from the day after Thanksgiving all through til January 1st.  I love Christmas trees and decorations.  Going for rides to look at Christmas lights.  Hot cocoa.  Warm, snugly sweaters, and blankets.  Cute boots.  Nativity sets.  Christmas programs.  The Nutcracker.  Christmas dresses for my daughter and nice sweaters or sweater vests for my sons.  The music.  Who doesn't love Christmas music?!  The feeling of looking out the window and seeing a blanket of snow on everything.  There is something so peaceful about that. (As long as you don't have to drive in it.)  Icicles.  Making snowmen and snow angels.  Snow covered trees.  Seeing the lights on Temple Square.  Christmas movies.  And just think about a lot of the best movies ever, that are set at Christmas time because...hello, it's magical and so romantic.  For example...Serendipity, While You Were Sleeping, The Holiday... I could go on and on. 

Springtime is so incredibly beautiful!  I absolutely love seeing all of the pretty tulips, daffodils, and lilac trees in bloom.  The grass begins to turn green.  The trees begin to grow leaves again.  The world begins to have color and life again.  Isn't it fun to see all of the cute little lambs, colts, and calfs.  The air starts to warm up again a little bit so that we can pull out our light jackets, capri's and flip flops.

Summertime is so much fun!  I never was very thrilled about it before I had those 3 little boys I talked about earlier.  It is wonderful to be able to just let them be free and play outside without coats, boots, gloves.  I loved seeing my babies chubby little legs and arms when they started wearing shorts and short sleeves.  It's such a beautiful time of year, too.  We love to see waterfalls, rivers running, The Garden's at Thanksgiving Point.  Everything is colorful and lovely. 

And living in Utah is really fun when Fall comes along.  I had never seen such spectacularly colored leaves of trees as when we moved to Utah from Kansas.  I still remember how awe inspiring it was the first time we drove through Price/Spanish Fork Canyon in the Fall.  The mountains in Utah are just beautiful no matter what time of year it is, but I especially love it when they are full of beautiful fall leaves.  I just can't get enough of it!  And, seeing Temple Square this time of year is my new favorite!

There are so many gorgeous places in our state, our country, and all over the world that I would just LOVE to see some day.  This earth was not made by accident.  There was so much thought and science to it.  Heavenly Father and Jesus are so amazing!  The beauty of it is such an amazing gift to all of us!  Sometimes I think we just get so wrapped up and caught up in the stress and duties of daily life that we forget to look around us and savour the beautiful world we live in.

Just a little venting... :)

~Well, Christmas is finally over at our house. Brian got tired of waiting for me to have time to take it all down so he decided to do it himself on Friday. We still have our Christmas lights on the house and fence but other than that it's finally all put away. I have mixed feelings about it actually. We got a real tree from Sam's Club this year. It.was.gorgeous! And our decorations looked so pretty on it. After it was decoration free it STILL looked gorgeous! The needles weren't even dried out or anything. Usually they are brittle by now. We had such a lovely Christmas this year! Kind of sad it's over! When Max was 3 years old, we were driving down the road and he asked, "Mom, can we go to Christmas?" I thought it was so cute that he loved Christmas so much!

~Brian's lack of employment is totally freaking me out now! I was cool with it at first because he had the severence package and will receive pay checks through February 1st. Well, in the beginning I was super busy and we had a little time to look for work so I wasn't too upset. Now that he only gets one more paycheck, I'm having a heart attack! One of my favorite parts of my job is that I get to see people I know, all the time. There are so many members of our church where we live that there have to be 11 different sessions in 5 different buildings. Each session called a ward and each ward has a number, so that we can keep track easier. Well, my parents ward was the 8th ward and it has been really fun to see some of the people I love who are in that ward. And the people from our current ward that we just LoVe! I've been able to see some of my friends from high school also. And a friend I made while attending the college here when Matthew was 3 months old and Zack was 3 years old. Her name is Kelly. She is an AMAZING woman! I just love her! I was SOOO thrilled to see her and it made me so happy that she was as happy to see me as I was to see her! I think of her as a "kindred spirit"! I've met a few "kindred spirits" over the years and they continue to bless my life today! The only problem with working at Walmart, and seeing so many people that I know, is that most of them are so awesome and concerned about us that they ask if Brian has found a job yet. He's applied in outher states and for jobs that aren't Accounting related. He just wants ANYTHING! I appreciate the concern and the love they have for us but hearing that all of the time is starting to really weigh me down. I'm already starting to get depressed about it and then to have constant reminders is just really hard. I need to pray harder that we'll be able to have joy in our trial because that has worked for us in the past and I really need that strength if I'm going to make it through this! I know it could be worse. People are mourning loved ones, watching their loved ones suffer through cancer, chemo, and other horrid diseases. Our trial pales in comparison! I just really worry about having to move our kids from school, the town we live in, their friends, our ward. We need to be able to feed, clothe, and provide shelter for our our 4 children. It's just so scary and overwhelming for me that I just can't take it! Not to mention how very much I hate the whole process of moving!!! The packing. The cleaning. the loading. The unloading. The unpacking. The sorting. The collecting boxes. The switching utilities. All of the deposits. The paperwork involved in registering 3 kids at their new school. I know, I'm so lazy, right! But U~G~H!!!!!

~I'll try to be more positive next post! :)  Just needed to vent a little...

WOW! Long time, no post, huh!?!

 I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted on here! Our life has been pretty hectic, to say the least. I worked quite a bit during December. Probably not nearly as much as most people I know, but a lot for me anyway. I have been so happy that Brian has been able to take care of our little Gracie but it makes me so sad to be away from her. Wednesday I helped my friend out with her preschool for 4 hours and then I did my Hallmark job for 2 hours. Brian said that at one point Gracie went to him and said that she was sad because I was gone. I miss just snuggling in the rocking chair in our p.j.'s in the morning while she watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. This time is slipping away so quickly and I just hate missing any of it. I've missed being home some days when my boys get off of the bus. Last week I worked 19 hours and this week I'll only work 4 1/2 hours. I guess the hours really calm down during January. I'm glad! It is still a fun little job that I really like and the money really helped us out. I am just so looking forward to a bit of a break and to be able to spend more time at home!

~We had a great Christmas! At my family Christmas party, we were able to visit with  Nathan's cute little family by using Skype. It was so much fun to see them! We all miss them a lot! It was especially fun to see his new little baby boy, Thomas, who was born in October!

~We stayed home for Christmas. Traveling with our kids on Christmas is just not easy, not fun, and really not worth it! We had a nice quiet day. Our friend's, Mysti and Randy, invited us over to their house for dinner. We decided we would all still make our Christmas dinner to share and we would be able to spend time together to help make our day feel less lonely. Mysti made Roast and potatoes and carrots, and a veggie, and dessert. Brian made ham, yummy potatoes (otherwise known as funeral potatoes), and rolls. It was a delicious meal and everything just worked out great! AND, bonus, I got to hold  Mysti's baby boy, Landon, who was born on ll/11/11 at 11:01! I just had to throw in his birth date cuz it's so cool! He is such a cute little guy!

~My Max made our Christmas extra special! He's 5 now, and turns 6 at the end of January. A lot of you will remember the many stories of my Max's craziness since he is definitely my craziest child, so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when my "crazy" little boy was the one who kept our focus on our Savior, Jesus Christ. At church, they learned the song  "Samuel Tells of the Birth of Jesus" for the Ward Christmas Program during Sacrament Meeting on Christmas Sunday. For weeks we heard this song practiced over, and over, and over again. Even when he played the Wii! That's HUGE! Even on Christmas Eve when most kids are singing about Santa Claus and his reindeer, our Max was singing about Jesus.    Here are the words...

Said Samuel, "Within 5 years, a night will be as day, and Baby Jesus will be born in a land far, far away." Hosanna! Hosanna! Oh let us gladly sing.  How blessed that our Lord was born. Let earth receive her King!
Across the sea, in Bethlehem, Lord Jesus came to earth, as Samuel had prophesied. The angels sang His birth. Hosanna! Hosanna! Oh let us gladly sing. How blessed that our Lord was born. Let earth receive her King!

What a wonderful song to hear over and over again! What a blessing it is to have Primary for our little children. To have wonderful teachers and choristers and Presidency members help us teach our children the principals of the Gospel. Our entire family was blessed to have the words of this song ingrained in our heads. We needed that! And it NEVER got old!

~Some of you will remember the posts I made last year about our Christmas Jar. (each of those 2 words goes to different posts about the Christmas Jar)  Well, on Christmas Eve, Max found a couple of scriptures he wanted to read in addition to the one we would take out of the jar that night. I just thought that was wonderful! He just really surprised me with his focus on our Savior. I can't even express how happy that made me feel!

~I'm trying so hard to potty train Gracie. If we weren't already, for sure, done having more children, THIS would have totally made me decide to stop! I HATE potty training. I seriously think I have A,D.H.D or something. It is so hard for me to just take a whole day and focus my efforts on potty training. She tries so hard to go. She really does. She sits on the toilet and tries and tries but she just can't let it out. I know that if she would just be able to do it once she'd totally be fine but she just can't. Any suggestions would be really great!  Heaven help me! If only there was potty training camp or potty training school that I could send her to....

~I shared this on facebook the other day. I absolutely LOVE her voice! I have also always really liked him and had no idea he could sing too. It's kind of fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcrd5vpUGyk&feature=related

~Oh and one more thing. We played the game called LOGO at my sister's on New Year's Eve. It was so much fun!!! I hope everyone has a wonderful 2012!!

I survived Black Thursday/Friday at Walmart...

Well, Brian survived his first "Black Thursday/Friday experience. We went to Walmart in Payson. It was CRAZY! I've never seen anything like it and I've been going to these for years now. One chick's hand was bleeding from fighting someone over something. Not a fan of bumper carts! Had to ditch the cart to try to get through and I still couldn't get through. I thought I was going to have to punch a couple looney cart chicks when I still had the cart. My sister, KayTee would have totally mopped the floor with them! We were so excited though because we were able to get one of the $99 4-wheelers for Max. He will be over the moon excited! We were also able to get Matthew a pogo stick for $12 and 3 Barbies that were $5 each for Gracie and we were also able to find a Harry Potter Lego Wii game for $15 that my mom wanted us to pick up for her. There were lots of other things we wanted to get but they will have to wait until after Brian's payday.  :)  The lines seemed to be moving pretty well to check out so that was nice! I would much rather stay up later than get up at 4 a.m.! Unfortunately, so would everyone else! We were able to save about $150.00 and as cheap as we are and as much as we love a good bargain, it was totally worth it!. Fun times! Fun times! 

We had such a nice Thanksgiving! The food was delicious, the company was wonderful, making gingerbread houses was so much fun, and the Black Thursday/Friday sale was very productive.  We missed Rob, Jenise, Dana, Richard, Nathan, Heidi and everyone's adorable little children and grandchildren!!! I love Thanksgiving! It is such a wonderful time to reflect on all of the wonderful blessings we have! I hope everyone I know had a wonderful day as well! Later today my mom and sisters and I will go to the craft sale in Spanish Fork. Oh, I just love this time of year!!!

Better late than never...I hope!!

I was finally taking my friend Tara B's advice and labeling my blog posts since I REALLY needed to sit down and ran across a couple of posts I was going to make over the holidays but for some reason forgot to actually push PUBLISH POST. Yes I'm a goofball! Here they are...

 11/28/10

So, I totally love the prices of Black Friday! I'm not a big fan of the crouds but I do enjoy getting in on all the sweet deals! My Mom and I decided to avoid most of the crazy loons by leaving around 7:00. No offense to any of you crazy loons! I am usually one of them but just wasn't up to it this year. Most of what we were interested in was gone but I got some super cute brown dress boots at Penney's for 30 bucks. We got a few other things but the best deal this year for us HAS to be the ladder we got!!! They had these 6 ft ladders that are usually $50 on for $19 at Lowe's. We haven't ever really needed a ladder much before. But since we've lived here we've needed one lots of times but they are so stinking expensive. So this was like HUGE for us!!! I wanted Christmas lights up and that was just NOT happening without a ladder. So we went on over to Lowe's and to our HUGE disappointment they were OUT of them!!! Brian used to work at Lowe's and he knew that they price match so we decided to check out Home Depot and see if they had the ladder and if they price matched and sure enough they DID!!! Not only do they price match but they also give you 10% off of the purchase as well!! We got a $50 ladder for $17.10!! So cool!!! It was so fun having our Christmas lights on the house and I'm sure we'll use it lots! I LOVE a great deal!!!

12/23/10

~Today I finally finished my Christmas shopping. I am so excited to have it all done and hopefully everyone is happy with what they get. I used to have all my shopping finished by October so having to wait until two days before Christmas to finish things up made me hyperventilate often but it was actually kind of fun being at the stores today. Walmart totally rocked today too! They had someone there to help the cashier bag groceries and put them in the cart and there was even an employee in the parking lot who offered to help me put my groceries into the car. It was the best customer service I've ever had there!!
~I checked over my list of all the things we have bought for the kids for Christmas and can you believe that somehow we managed to buy only gifts that don't require any batteries. Usually we spend between $20-$40 on batteries alone at Christmas time so I was so excited not to have to buy any!!!
~I made some projects at Super Saturday last month that were so cute. I made a cute, big, brown bracelt. 7 sets of blocks that say Family for me, my mom, and each of my siblings. One of the things I made was one of those fancy big watches that everyone is wearing. It has black, silver, and clear beads. I love it! I debated over giving it as a gift or making it for myself. I've wanted one for myself so bad for a long time and I rarely get anything for myself so I decided to make it for myself.  SO EXCITED!!! Today at Walmart while I loaded up the conveyerbelt I accidentally smacked it on the little metal edge and broke the cute little crystal cover. :(  Oh well. It was fun having something cute and fun while it lasted!
~I finally finished everyone's Family blocks on Christmas Eve. Yes I'm a procrastinator! They ended up cute and I was so sad I couldn't give them to my sisters and brothers and parents right that moment! I can't send them to Dana and Rob until February but hopefully they think it's better late than never!! :)

This one is mine and the others were a variety of dark reds, cream/tan, and navy blue or green. I have fun making them and learning to use Mod Podge and can't wait to find something else to mod podge!! I made a sign for Matty and Max's room using the technique that says I hope they call me on a mission. I need to make one for Zack now and I want to make one for Gracie's room that says I love to see the temple, I'm going there some day.

Can you see the broken crystal?  :(

A few of my favorite things...

So a couple weeks ago I took some pics of my favorite decorations around our house and I was going to post them on my blog but completely forgot until I was checking out blogs today and one of the blogs I follow had a post with all of their fun decorations on it. So now that I remember...here goes...I don't have a lot of fancy stuff and my camera bites and I'm not so good at using it anyway but whatever!

This little star was my Grandma Hazel's ornament she used to hang on her tree. I have another like it that is just white. I LOVE to see these ornaments when I'm decorating the tree and throughout the month. It makes me think of her and I miss her so much! And my other grandmothers too!

Zacky's little first 5 years Hallmark ornaments.

Matthew and Max both had the same little set for their first 5 ornaments.

Gracie's first 2 ornaments.

Mickey Mouse of course!!!

This is not how we hung these I just squashed them all together to take the picture of all the ornaments we've made the past few years. 2 years in a row we made mittens then last year we made snowflakes, and this year we made stars. The kids got really creative this year and last year their snowflakes were rainbow colors and covered in glitter. It is a fun part of our Christmas celebrations now. I just googled salt dough ornaments and used a recipe that popped up. I think they are really fun!!! And a little old fashioned which I like!

When my Dad was alive he would send us a hand carved and hand painted Santa ornament. I looked forward to getting these in the mail every year and cherish them! I love hanging them on the tree and thinking of him and including him in our Christmas celebration in this small way each year. They are hung as high on the tree as I can hang them for safety purposes of course! This one is my most favorite one!!  

Christmas and ringing in the New Year

We had a wonderful Christmas this year even though I almost totally ruined the whole thing and we had a little change of plans.

How I almost totally ruined Christmas (for Zack anyway): I put Zack's basketball goal he wanted on layaway at Kmart early in November. I was going to get it off layaway December 23rd and it was going to work out perfectly! Well, lots of Dr's appointments, pain, festivities, callings, and craziness in general and apparently somewhere in there I was supposed to remember to make a payment on the thing at the end of November...big OOPS!!! Brian was inspired one day in December to check out the status of the layaway online...it was...CANCELLED!!! WHAT!!! WHAT!!!!!! Total heart attack city for me when I got that lovely phone call! Thank goodness Brian was able to find one on walmart.com that was actually like $40 cheaper anyway. There weren't any left in the stores here in our little town and we weren't planning any trips to the big city anytime soon so we were so LUCKY (blessed!) to find that one online! And it was delivered 2 days later which was awesome!!! Thank goodness Zack has a great dad!!!

Change of plans: We were planning to go to my parent's house for Christmas dinner but my mom and my sister Katie got sick with a stomach virus that morning that they got from my adorable niece, Emily. I feel so bad for them that they were sick because that would be a totally rotten way to spend Christmas. And my brother in law Chris who is married to Katie has his birthday on Christmas day. So he spent his big day watching Katie be sick. Fun stuff! Well, we obviously stayed home and it turned out to be an awesome day!!! I was worried how the kids would react to having a slimmer, but still, very nice Christmas gift getting experience this year compared to last years major over indulgence. They LOVED it! They were so happy with everything they got! They were disappointed to not be going to my mom's and we were too but it was SO awesome to just watch our kids relax and enjoy their gifts and enjoy the day. We haven't traveled for Christmas in several years because it just doesn't work for us anymore but we thought it would be nice to go for Christmas dinner. I'm thinking while our kids are still young enough to really enjoy the magic of Christmas this may just have to be the way we do it from now on. It was a great day! I had a lot of energy that day which is highly unusual for me so I cleaned a lot and accomplished a lot of things I had been wanting to get done so it worked great for me. I kept getting teary thinking about not getting to see my sister Dana and my brother Rob that day. I knew we'd see the rest of my family in a few days anyway but I was really sad to think I couldn't see Rob and Dana! We did enjoy just being alone for the day though and realize sometimes a change of plans isn't such a bad thing after all. We spent New Year's Eve with my family and had our belated wonderful Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts and had a great time!!! It's all good!
Here are some of our pictures from the fun and crazy month of December...

Gracie had so much fun tormenting our poor tree this year. Eventually we had almost all of our ornaments on the top of the tree and only indestructible ones down low. I gave up trying to rearrange them to look halfway decent. I took this picture on Christmas Eve. Poor pathetic tree!!! I didn't want to put the gifts out until Christmas Eve because of our sweet little tornado but Brian talked me into it on the Sunday  before Christmas and sheesh...we should have waited. She unwrapped like 6 gifts. You can see that Brian's exercise bike he got was unwrapped. Silly girl! P.S. I wasn't trying to send Brian a message by giving him that bike or anything! That's what he wanted!!! Just wanted to make it clear that I didn't say here's an exercise bike fat a.. USE IT! He would just have said ditto!!

Brian made us each a hat for Christmas. Love them!!! We usually do Christmas pjs for Christmas Eve but didn't this year. Oh well, we survived! !

Apparently Gracie agrees that being surrounded by presents and chocolate = pure bliss!!!

Cute little Lucy on our way to Spanish Fork. Thank goodness Katie and Chris let her sleep over at their house with Sam and Sia when it's too cold to leave her home!!!

We came to Spanish Fork for our New Year's celebrations a day early on Thursday so we could go on a date while my parents watched all the kids. What I won't do for a date night! Even driving through white out conditions in the canyon couldn't stop me from cashing in on that prize!!!

 So, 2010..not my favorite year I must say!! A lot of trials and bumps in the road! Also many, many blessings!
Great things that have come from this year:
~A stronger testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and a greater feeling of closeness to Him, our loving Father in Heaven, and the precious gift of the Holy Ghost.
~A stronger testimony of the power of prayer.
~A closer family unit seeing as how we are so CLOSE in our tiny house. They say love grows best in little houses and boy are they right!
~The joy we feel in watching our children grow and enjoying the precious gifts of being their parents is truly a blessing!!!
~Our children have been really healthy this year and we are so very grateful to our Heavenly Father for that amazing gift as well!
~Our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for all He has provided us with in our lives has grown tremendously this year!!!
~Brian has a great job with great benefits. We have a roof over our heads. We have food on the table. We have clothes on our backs. We have cars to drive. We have the gospel in our lives. We have friends. We live in Utah in the United States of America. We have people to love. We are blessed!!! And we are grateful!!!

So GOODBYE 2010 and HELLO 2011!!!!!  Please be kind to us!!! :)

STOP...and...THINK...

This time of year is the best! It snowed yesterday, and last night, and it still is...FINALLY!!! I am so excited! I love seeing the world around me covered in a blanket of snow. It makes me smile! The kids built a snowman. Gracie is thinking this snow stuff is pretty cool! Mostly this time of year I love focusing on the Savior. We, as Christians, focus on Him throughout the year. Each year the stores put out the Christmas decorations for sale earlier and earlier. I started seeing them out in October...OCTOBER!!! Crazy! My first thought was the same as many of you would have. What are they doing putting decorations out in October! Why do they try harder and harder each year to take the focus off of Christ and put it on all the worldly stuff! Then, I remembered the shame I felt last Christmas morning when I realized that for the first time in our 17 years of marriage we hadn't really stopped and focused so much on Him as we always have before. I determined right then that I would make it more meaningful next time as we have in the past! Well, when I saw those Christmas decorations in October and my thoughts, feelings, and heart went straight to our Savior and how I could make it a more Christ centered celebration this year I decided having decorations in the store so early, and lining Main Street, wasn't so bad afterall. It got me thinking about Him. It gets us ALL thinking about Him. Our defenses come up, we think of our testimony of Him. We think of what we SHOULD be thinking about. We think about what is really important at this time of year. So...good for commercialism! Hooray for Christmas decorations in October! It helps us Christians, all of us, no matter what religion we are, to think so strongly of Him during our busy, crazy lives. During our busy, crazy errands, we STOP...we THINK...of HIM!!!

Exhausted, even crazier than before, and more than just a little bit sparkly...

~I told the kids that we'd go to the $1 store sometime and let them buy gifts for each other. I got a wild hair Sunday and suggested they make each other gifts. I thought it would be more fun to make some bacelets and book marks with my jewelry making stuff than it would be to fold laundry so I joined in the fun. I was completely unprepared for the glittery explosion that I was unleashing but it's all good. Who doesn't need a little sparkle in their lives, huh?! Zack made God's Eye's for each of us and his teacher. Matthew made God's Eye's for Zack and his teacher and the teacher's aide, a bracelet for me, a pencil can for his dad out of an empty vegetable can that I hot glued around the inner edge to avoid cuts, I hot glued popcicle sticks around the outside and had him paint it and decorate it. He also made a gold star out of popcicle sticks and glitter. Max painted a star salt dough ornament for my mom, and he put LOTS of gold glitter on it. LOTS!!! Then he made a paper weight for his dad. He painted the biggest rock he could find in their "rock collection", then covered it in LOTS of glitter. LOTS!!! Then he drew a picture and made a picture frame for it out of popcicle sticks and suprisingly he chose to COVER it with LOTS of glitter!!! The boy loves glitter!!! I made like 14 little girl bracelets and 6 book marks just for fun! Gracie just enjoyed stringing items from each of our projects all over the place. She LOVES glitter too!! AND beads! By the time I finally packed up all the supplies at dinner time Monday night I was seriously SPENT!!! And very sparkly. I looked like a character out of Twilight standing in the sun. Brian has been making each of the kids a hat with our hat making looms. Matthew still has to make something for Max and Gracie. Max still has to make something for Gracie, Matthew, and Zacky. I may have to take a valuum to be able to survive our next little craft making extravaganza!!! Any suggestions for cheap, cute, little homemade gifts for a little girl that little boys can make? I'll be finding glitter in nooks and crannies for the next 2 years! At least we had a lot of fun together, eh?! I didn't think to take pictures of our creations until after they had wrapped all their creations but here are some pics of the bracelets I made, the bracelet Matty made me, and the book marks.

Here are some random pics just for fun and to save me from having to do more posts since I'm finding it hard to find time to lately...

This is of us at Rodizio Grill. Yes I'm fat! I told it to rotate the picture but it didn't. Nobody ever listens to me anyway so I'm used to it! ;)  Steph and her adorable kids (Josh is the cute little blonde in the striped shirt. His head is turned but trust me...ADORABLE. Emily isn't in the pic but she was there. What a cutie!!! Love them!) and KayTee came with us. It was fun. Zack ate himself sick for a minute but we all loved it! And we even have one of the $50 gift certificates left so we can go again some time!

We also made a trip to the mall to see Santa. I am so glad they let you take one snapshot with your own camera. Obviously Gracie was less than thrilled with Santa. That is until he gave her a coloring book. Then smiled at him and I said Santa is nice,isn't he?! She nodded yes really big and even gave him a quick wave goodbye.

 Thanks Grandma Irvine for the super cute outfit you gave Gracie! LOVE IT!!! Once again, it didn't listen and didn't flip. Oh well!

While we were up there we also got to go to Ikea! HOORAY!!! I've missed Ikea so much!!! It was a fun weekend! We came back Saturday.

Also, I went to the High School Choir Concert last night with the young women and young men to support the young women and young women who were performing. It was a wonderful experience! I am so glad I was able to go! The last song was so lovely it made me cry! Most of the songs were actually about the Saviors birth. What a novel idea huh?! Way to go Mr. Pinedo!!! It was awesome! All the school concerts I've attended in past years all have goofy Christmas songs about Santa and the commercial side of Christmas. It was refreshing to actually go to a Christmas concert that focused on CHRISTmas!!! Very uplifting! Can't say enough good things about it! I may have to take my little family with me next year so they can experience the beauty of it! Rarely have I felt the spirit at a school related activity but it was definitely there. Especially during that last song! So good! I hope you all are having a wonderful month!!!

Fun time!

For our Young Women activity this week we had an ornament exchange. We were supposed to think of a meaningful ornament to give to everyone. We could make the ornaments or buy them. We had to bring 16 to give to the girls and leaders. It was so much fun! I made some little salt dough ornament stars. I painted them red to represent Individual Worth and I gave them each a copy of the words to Every Star Is Different. I love that Primary song and thought it would be a good reminder that they are unique and of great worth to our Heavenly Father. My little ornaments were pretty plain and ordinary compared to everyone else's I think but that's ok. Hopefully, it's the thought that counts!!!

Here is what the stars looked like. Some had silver ribbons and some had white.

Here are the words to the song...

Here are the ornaments from all the very creative and talented young women and leaders...

On the other side of the white ball ornament it says faith. She personalized each one and put faith on them using her cricut and vinyl letters. Clever! The gold high heel shoe had this scripture with it...Who can find a VIRTUOUS woman? For her price is far above rubies. Proverbs 31:10. She put the little red rose on it as the "ruby". She wanted the girls to think of their Virtue value when they see it since Virtue's color is gold. Love it! The clear ornament in the middle has a picture of the nativity on the outside. Lovely! I didn't hear the significance of the others because I had to run with Brian to the Stake Presidents office where they issued him a calling as the assistant ward clerk over memberships. Incidentally, they also called him to be the secretary in the Elder's Quorum just 2 weeks ago. They wanted him to be over home teaching routes. I think he should do both! LOL!!! Can you imagine!!! Silly silly!!! Anyway, it was fun when I was there at the activity anyway! And who doesn't love a whole bunch of new ornaments for their tree?! My tree is very hodge podgy so I love adding to the collection!

Putting Christ back in Christmas, Part 2...

At Shani's request, here are the things I wrote on my papers in my jar.  Hope this helps!

Sing  I Know That My Redeemer Lives  Hymn 136
Sing  The Lord Is My Light  Hymn 89
Sing  I Feel My Savior's Love  Page 74 (childrens' songbook)
Sing  A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief   Hymn 29  
John 9:1-11
John 11:1-45
Mark 7:33-37
3 Nephi 17:11-25
Matthew 9:1-8
Luke 8:41-56
John 13:34-35
Matthew 14:14-21
Read "None Were With Him" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland  ( I found this on lds.org it was from the May 2009 Conference Issue
Ether Chapter 3
READ  How Great Thou Art  Hymn 86  (I decided reading it would be better because I cry when I read it or sing it so I can just have someone else read it and cry without sounding like a freak. Such a beautiful song!)
Matthew 3:13-17
Luke 17:12-19
Sing  I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus  Page 78
Matthew 6:1-4
Matthew 14:22-33
3 Nephi 17:4-10
Read "The Certainty of the Ressurrection" by President Spencer W. Kimball ( I will just read the first part of this talk. Found it on lds.org)
Sing  I Stand All Amazed   Hymn 193
Christmas Eve: Read Luke 2    Sing Jesus, Once of Humble Birth (Remember to put this one on a different kind of paper so that it stands out as the one to save until Christmas Eve)


You can certainly mix this up and change things to what you like better or whatever. Maybe you'd rather sing a song about Resurrection or read a different article that means a lot to you. You can personalize it however you want but this is what worked for our little family.  

P.S.  Make sure the mouth of your jar is big enough to put your hand in. Mine barely is I just discovered. Brian would never be able to fit his hand in there. HEHEHE  Might want to check that detail out before decorating up your pretty jar. Course maybe kids' hands would fit or you could shake the papers out. Remember that I printed the references on the white, back side of  pretty Christmas paper to make the jar look prettier. Hope you have fun with it! :)

Putting Christ back in Christmas...

So when I think of last Christmas it is just a big ol' blur of craziness! Lots happening, not living in our own home, I was in pain, it went by SO fast, I just don't remember much of anything except that at the end of it all I really felt like we hadn't focused on the Savior through the month like we always have in the past and I was really sad and felt ashamed that we hadn't tried to stop and really focus. Well, I decided this year is going to be different. The kids are fully aware that they won't be getting as much as they did last year. I asked each of them if they care if we don't have pj's to open on Christmas Eve. Zack and Matty were cool with it. I was honestly quite suprised that Matty was cool with it. Zack has given us a very small, modest list of things he would like to have. It was like pulling teeth to get Max to tell us ANYTHING at all to get him. Even after a special trip this weekend to Toys R Us, walking up and down each aisle, he still only said he wanted a skateboard. What 4 year old doesn't usually say he wants EVERYTHING at Toys R Us! It's awesome in some ways but hard when you're trying to buy him something for Christmas! Then there's Matthew who wants

EVERYTHING!!!

I was SHOCKED when he said he didn't care about the pj's and Max was the one that was upset about it. Turns out he just want SOMETHING to open that night so I'll just make a trip to the $1 store and wrap a little something up for them that night and all will be right in his little world.

Back to the focus...our Savior! I decided it would be nice to dress up an old pickle jar and fill it with little pieces of paper (I printed them on the backside of pretty Christmas scrapbook paper so that it makes the jar look pretty) with scripture references written on them that have to do with miracles he performed or teachings of his or just special moments like when he blessed the Nephite children. Some of the papers had the title of a song about Him that we could sing. Some were from the primary song book others were from the hymn book. None of them were Christmas songs or scriptures about his birth. As I studied the scriptures, looking for just the right ones that our children could appreciate and understand, and as I read the words of the songs as I searched for just the right ones, I was so filled with the spirit and so grateful for my Savior and His love for us and His atonement and sacrifice and example and life. I felt that I should add something about his atonement and about the resurrection and I decided to search for talks on LDS.org. I found the one by Elder Holland a year ago in May that was so beautiful about the atonement and decided to use that one. I just put Read, None Were With Him by Elder Holland, on the piece of paper and printed the talk. I'll highlight parts to read that night. I also found one by President Kimball about the resurrection that I thought I'd read the first part of. We will have a little prayer, sing a lovely Christmas song. No Santa ones! And pull a paper out each night of December and follow it's instructions. I put the Christmas Eve one on a different piece of paper so we know not to take it out til last and it tells us to read Luke 2, which we do each year and it will be a nice end to our little Christ centered Christmas. I really enjoyed this project! It really brought me closer to the Savior just preparing it and I hope it will help bring our family closer to Him as we return the focus back to Him again this year. I just used what little things I had in my scrapbook stuff to decorate the jar and I thought the Merry Christmas sticker was just right because I want the kids to relate the whole Christmas holiday with Jesus and it's decorated festively and stuff and I'm hoping they "get" that the true gift of Christmas is our Savior. I know we've talked about this before with them and in years past we have always tried to focus on Him in some way the whole season, as I'm sure you all do too. I just thought this was a neat little way of doing it that hopefully helps us have a truly meaningful Christmas season! Just thought I'd share in case any of you were looking for something different to do.

Silly Max...

K so Brian asked Max today if he has thought of something different to ask Santa for besides a baby (see previous post).  The conversation from there...

Max: I'm going to write Santa a letter and ask him for an iPod Touch.
Brian: Santa doesn't bring iPod Touches to 4 year olds.
Max: I won't tell him how old I am! (Max talks very dramatically with lots of influxion ending the sentence in a way that makes you think his next word will be DUH!! making this statement even cuter!)
Brian: Oh, Santa KNOWS how old you are!
Max: Really?!?!?
Brian: Yeah! Santa knows EVERYTHING about you!
Max: Made the cutest look ever like HOLY SMOKES!!!

Very interesting...

This morning in the car on the way to preschool I asked Max what he thinks he'll ask Santa for this year. He said he is going to write Santa a letter and ask him for a baby.
uuuhhhh...WHAT!!!!
I hate to break his heart but all Mommy wants for Christmas is her tubes tied so this may not work out as he would like!!!
We may have to take a little trip to the toy store so he can find a little something DIFFERENT to ask Santa for!!!! 
OY VEY!!!