What a Merry Christmas We Had!

Wow, the big day came and went. It was wonderful and chaotic. The children were so overjoyed with their treasures. We had few unhappy moments, no fighting for two entire days(a Christmas miracle) and lots of good food and fun.

The biggest blessing of all? Being with my wonderful husband and beautiful children celebrating our Saviors birth. Warm, safe and connected. What more could I ask for? A Christmas blessing indeed.

Trying to focus

Do you ever just wonder where the time goes? We have been running in overdrive for a few weeks. I feel like I am six weeks behind! Can you believe that Christmas is only a few days away? Unfortunately for me, I still have much to do. I am so behind at home that I stayed home from the gym yesterday to do laundry and just put things away. It is amazing that my house still looks so messy after spending nine hours working in it. I am hoping that I can make a difference today and get to town to do some last minute stuff. I need to make a list-I have avoided it because it is too big!
I am trying to think of this as a blessing, I have the means to get the things on a list. I have people on a list. We are blessed. I will try and remember that as I am vacumming and picking up the same messes over and over again!

Merry Christmas!-let's remember the reason!

The Terrible Family Picture Day!

The words that bring fear into grown men and children alike. FAMILY PICTURES!
We attempted to have pictures this past Sunday. We were all dressed for church and Grandma was here to take the pictures. It sounds perfect. It wasn't. We went outside, it was bright so we were squinty, we came in and the old family picture was behind our heads. We went to sit down and all Hell broke loose. Mr. M started whining about sitting up, being stubborn, then baby was through. Finally Momma lost it. I went out of the room crying, Grandma then started in on them about their bad attitudes and how bad they have been treating me. Poor Husband, trying to feel the Spirit and watching Satan walk around his house. Mr. M mouthed off just too far, Husband lost it too. The two big kids went into hiding. Husband left, Mother threatened the kids. We went to church in silence--not the way to go to church on a very special day.

I tell you, that the family pictures were not the reason for this terrible scene. It was Satan. He didn't want to let Dave and our family feel the Spirit. Perhaps keeping Dave from being sustained as Bishop. It was strong and it was real. I have heard other people tell of these stories. I haven't really had one so strong before. It was horrible. However, it made me realize how much Satan is trying to stop the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He doesn't want it spread. He doesn't want people to know the truth and to teach other people. Satan will use anyone and anything he can to stop the work. He tried with us. He had us for a moment but he didn't win.
We have to remain strong and keep on keeping on. We have the light within us, we need to let it shine so that other people can feel the light.

What a weekend.

Bishop Carrigan!
My sweet hubby was made a Bishop in our church(LDS) on Sunday. It is in a University Stake so it is a single's ward. All the ward members are between 18-30. There are about 200 of them!
I know that he will do super. I am not so sure about myself. I worry about my ability to take care of these four people that live with us! I just keep praying that we will have extra blessings that come from serving. I know that it is a good thing but it is also a big change, for all of us.

My kids have really been having some behavior issues lately and I think it is in direct relationship to this new calling. I believe that Satan doesn't want good things to happen so he will attack people any way that he can. I believe that he has been working on our children. Particularly Mr. M man. He has always been so mild and respectful. I pray that this will improve.

Please add us to your prayers, we need all the help we can get to help those in this new ward and to keep our family strong.

What a weekend.

Bishop Carrigan!
My sweet hubby was made a Bishop in our church(LDS) on Sunday. It is in a University Stake so it is a single's ward. All the ward members are between 18-30. There are about 200 of them!
I know that he will do super. I am not so sure about myself. I worry about my ability to take care of these four people that live with us! I just keep praying that we will have extra blessings that come from serving. I know that it is a good thing but it is also a big change, for all of us.

My kids have really been having some behavior issues lately and I think it is in direct relationship to this new calling. I believe that Satan doesn't want good things to happen so he will attack people any way that he can. I believe that he has been working on our children. Particularly Mr. M man. He has always been so mild and respectful. I pray that this will improve.

Please add us to your prayers, we need all the help we can get to help those in this new ward and to keep our family strong.

Time keeps on moving.

December 6th already! The month is flying by!
We went and cut down our tree on Saturday, it is HUGE tree that is still in our garage! We are going to hopefully get it in the house today. I am not too stressed about it but it is making Miss E nuts! She is so excited this year. I am glad that I still have one that is still in the magic!

I am headed to Idaho for a Collin Raye concert with my Mom tomorrow! That should be really fun. It will be a quick trip and then Mom will come back with me for a few days.

Thanksgiving update

Time flies!
It seems like an eternity, not that many are reading but those two who do are tired of my old post!

It has been a nutty two weeks! We went to Idaho for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful/awful time! It is always so much fun to go to my Momma's house. It is one of those houses that seems to just wrap its arms around you. I want to just sit in the chair and look at magazines by the fire. There is one really big problem with this, those four little people that think I AM THEIR MOMMA! They get rather bored, the two bigger ones are no longer able to entertain themselves with blocks, coloring, books etc. So, they watch t.v. for hours and hours which makes everything worse. After they have watched more t.v. than their brains can absorb they have to come up with other things to entertain themselves. Those things are usually things that just shouldn't even be talked about. The things that make nice Moms say really bad words. The ones that make nice Moms come close to child abuse. It is getting to the point that my children are almost not invited any more. I want to go by myself. They can eat cereal! I was so exhausted after returning that it took me an entire week to emotionally recover from their nasty fest.

Ok, now for the good parts! We had my Uncle come spend Thanksgiving day with us. He is in his seventy's and quite frail. He never married so has no children, etc. The family(my Dad's family) is not close at all so he is really really alone. When I invited him he was nervous about the weather, slipping etc. I just told him that we were coming and my husband would throw him over his shoulder if he had to! I think that he had a nice time. I know that it was nice to know that for at least a few hours he was part of a group, part of a family again. He has always struggled with relationships so I think it was probably a bit overwhelming but still good. I know that it was good for me and also good for my children. They didn't really have conversations with him but I hope that when they are older they will remember when we went and got their Great Uncle for Thanksgiving. Isn't that what this entire experience is all about? Helping and loving each other? We seem to forget and only worry about ourselves.

After a great day we hit the craziness on Friday morning! It was insane. I don't usually go, I don't like the nuts! It was alright, and we got a few things we wanted and nothing to stupid!

A busy holiday with lots of memories, good and bad! Hopefully, I will be able to focus on the positive and forget the negative!!!


Now lets start celebrating!!!!