December 31 2007!

Wow-the holidays have about come and gone! I don't quite feel like I have actually caught up to them yet!

We had a nice Christmas. Santa found our house. The kiddies were all so happy and excited! We have been skiing a few times, eaten too much of everything and now have tons of messes to clean up.

Here are a couple of shots from our big day. I really didn't take too many shots-I am either taking hundreds or none!

Happy New Year!

Visions of SugarPlums!

Everyone is settled in. Hopefully with sugarplums dancing in their heads!

Merry Christmas!

If Only In My Dreams!

I'm missing home.

I have been married for 17 1/2 years. I have been a mother for almost 15. I still want to be home for Christmas.

My life!

Remember my post about my Christmas cards?



I mailed the letters--not knowing that they were too heavy! The lady at the post office called me about it. She said that they would mail them, I needed to bring a check in or put it out for our mail lady! Only in a small town would they actually call you when there is a problem. If I had been in a city they would have either been returned to sender or they would have had postage due on them for all my friends!

Jigle Bells

This tickled me. Little Miss E spent quite awhile writing down the words to the song Jingle Bells. She has been singing it at school.

She is at the very funnest age for Christmas! It is all magical! The songs, the snow, the wrapping paper, the cards and of course a present or two! She is also such a good little reader now that she is devouring all of our Christmas books.

What are you enjoying?

Where does it all come from?

It is late. I am doing laundry!

I try, I really do.

No Power

What to do when the electricity goes out?

Take pictures of the kiddos by the candles!

I didn't get the tripod out so they are a bit blurry but fun non the less!

I laugh at Little Miss #3. She was quite the poser!

We have had quite a snow storm so an electrical line was down. We were without power for about four hours. Nothing to complain about after the poor people in the East last week!

Santa Claus came to visit!

This is as close to Santa as my 3 year old boy got! He was starting to get croup so he wasn't interested! Poor little thing. He ended up being terribly ill that night.

The 7 year old was very happy to sit on the Big Guy's lap!

It was fun having Santa come to our ward(LDS church) party. We haven't had Santa for years. Trying to keep the focus on the Savior. This year it was decided to have a nativity--darling and then after the party have Santa. I enjoyed watching all the little children, they were all so excited.

I BELIEVE!

One more thing!

Do you ever wonder "WHY" you do certain things?

I certainly do! Take Christmas cards. I really enjoy receiving Christmas cards so I have almost always sent them. I enjoy writing a note to old friends and hoping that they will send a picture of their family.

I like to think that I am an artistic/crafty person. The problem with this is that I have 4 children, 1 husband who happens to have a job and is a Bishop, 1 dog, 1 big house, 4 toilets, 4 bedrooms, 1 office, 1 art studio(junk room!) a kitchen, 2 family rooms and a partridge in a pear tree!

I don't have time to be artistic and crafty! So, what do I do to myself? I think that it would be so much simpler to purchase a "kit" for my cards this year. They are pre-designed. All I have to do is put them together and they will look creative. However, I decide that I have to "alter" them a little bit. This process took forever. Doing it while helping eight maids a milking! So, I finally got the cards assembled, wrote a letter to go inside, put a picture inside, personal note to each and then had to use scotch tape to seal them up!(go figure) THEN--I go to the post office and they are too heavy for regular postage!

Oh, well! They are finished, darling and sent!!

More

It just keeps coming fast and furious!

Sunday: Take #4 back to Dr. with fever, sore throat, cough. He has strep throat. Just in time for the other 3 to have it by Christmas!

What will Monday bring?

Where Did This Week Go?

I'm exhausted!

Monday: Boot Camp at gym, pharmacy, 8 loads of laundry, 6 Christmas books read to #4, Family Home Evening in Salt Lake to see the lights. (one hour both ways)

Tuesday: 8 more loads of laundry, work on Christmas cards, Church Christmas party-made mint frosting brownies, recommend renewed.

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning: Up with #4 sitting by the outside door breathing in cold air--most of night.

Wednesday: Miss boot camp at gym, go to Dr. with #4, he get's a nebulizer treatment and a shot for croup-102*fever, come home and sleep for two hours(#4 slept for four hours).

Thursday: leave for Logan at 7:15 am to drop #4 at best friends house(1 hour 15 min. one way)
Leave home at 11:00 headed for Boise(five hours). Take clients to Christmas dinner. Spend night.

Friday: Leave Boise, take a three hour nap on drive home!!! Talk with family, go to Ogden to meet friends for dinner. Best friend brings #4 back, Grandma eats dinner with us and takes #3 & #4 to her house while we go with three other couples to a Christmas concert.

Saturday: Leave home at 8:30 am headed to the Bountiful Temple with a great young man getting ready for his LDS mission. Get home at 2:30 p.m. Leave our house at 4:00 p.m. for a Martin's Cove planning meeting and then a Dicken's festival/dinner at a local school. Arrive home at 10:00 p.m. Empty dishwasher, take out garbage, load dishwasher, clean pans(eewh!) Clean off counter. Turn off all lights.

I AM TIRED!

Only in the Country!

You know that you live in the country when you look out your window and see a herd of cattle eating your dead weeds!

Yes, this was my backyard this morning. Seven cows clomping through my yard. The funny thing? This same herd came through two weeks ago. Hopefully, they are now properly contained, away from my back yard.

The End of an Era

My friend Lara at The Lazy Organizer has a little thing she does on Tuesday's. She (or anyone that links to her) tells about something interesting(at least to them).

My little guy is three years old. He has been an absolute joy. A few weeks ago I decided that he was way past ready to be out of the crib. My other children were out of the crib much earlier because they were climbing out. This little guy NEVER climbed out. Well, we did it. We put the big boy bed in the room and then it took a few weeks before the crib was removed. However, not one more night was spent in that crib! I thought he might have a bit of hesitation. NONE!

So, I have been thinking about this. This is the last time this crib will be used for my babies. It has been part of our lives for almost fifteen years. My Inlaws purchased it for us with the first baby. It has been a wonderful crib. We have used it in four different locations. Four different babies. Off and on for the past fifteen years it has been part of our decor. Taking it apart this time signified the end of an era. No more floppy newborns, no more 2am feedings. No more stretching the sheet over the mattress(they are the hardest things to get on). No more little ones yelling, "Mama, I wake". This crib has been a symbol of the sweetest, yummiest little babies that have been sent from heaven to this family. Babies are the closest thing to heaven on this earth.

I will be missing those babies.

A Blessing

Do You Recognize YOUR Blessings?

Yesterday, as I was shopping, I was buckling up my three year old into his carseat. A woman came up to me and said "Excuse me" As I turned to look at her (always nervous when people approach me from behind) I recognized her. She said "I have lost my bus fare and I can't get to work. Could you spare some change so I can catch the bus?"

In September we were early to an eatery for a birthday party. We were waiting in the car for a few minutes. A knock came to the car window--"I have lost my bus fare and I can't get to work. Could you spare some change so I can catch the bus?" We found $1.50 and gave it to her, not knowing if she was telling the truth but hoping that it would help her somehow.

When I recognized this woman(at the other end of a very large city) I was a bit surprised. I asked her where she lived, which caught her off guard. I said that I had given her bus fare on 12th street. She very quickly said "thank you" and took off across the parking lot.

As I was driving home I called my husband. My first intentions were not really that nice. However, as I was telling him the situation that had just happened, I had the strongest feelings of gratitude come over me. I felt so grateful that I didn't have to go up to strangers and ask them for spare change. I didn't have to make up stories to be able to get money. I have no idea what this woman does with the money that she gathers. I hope that it isn't for drugs or booze. What hit me the most is how blessed I am to be able to go into a nice dress store and shop for a dress that I WANT not NEED. I have a nice vehicle, a beautiful home, a full fridge and many, many more things that are lovely. I also have the knowledge that I am a Daughter of God and He loves me.

I AM TRULY BLESSED.

Where Are the Pretty Dresses?

Any of you been dress shopping lately? Well, my sweet Hubby is taking me to a dance tonight so he suggested I get a new dress. When the hubby says "go shopping" I listen. Therein lies the problem.

I am a 39 year old mother of four. I am rather short, am blessed(or cursed) to have womanly hips. I will not wear sleeveless, low, revealing, or short clothing.

It is the Christmas season, I assumed that there would be many beautiful festive dresses to choose from.

I WAS WRONG!

I didn't find even one dress that I would even try on---not true, I did try on ONE( not a pretty sight). All other dresses were either for people that dress more bare than I do or are much more MATURE in their dressing. Where are the pretty dresses? Where are the Burgundy, Red and Green pretty dresses for the holidays? If you wear sleeves does that mean that you have to wear a blazer with absolutely NO SHAPE?

I finally found a blouse(do people still use this word?) and a cute black skirt.

I have actually seen little girl dresses for the Holidays that were beautiful. Make a few adjustments and they would be darling---where are they if you are past a 6X?

This is the reason that my closet is not full of the newest fashions. I can't find what I like or it doesn't fit my hips!!

Blessings

What are you grateful for?

Do you ever take the time to write those blessings down on paper? Do you ever write about when the Spirit touches your heart? Do you write down how the Lord has blessed you?

President Eyring(LDS church leader) recently gave a wonderful talk in General Conference where he talked about how he had written blessings, spiritual experiences, etc. down in a tablet for years. He did this for his family. He wanted them to know how he felt about the experiences. He did this so that they too, could learn to recognize the Spirit in their lives and be aware of their many blessings.

In our Relief Society (ladies church meeting) lesson this past Sunday my good friend gave the lesson about this very topic.

Well, I decided to make some little blessing books! I was having my friends over for lunch and I thought it would be fun to give them each a little book. I think that they turned out cute. I am new to this "altering" thing. I used those composition books and then adhered scrapbook paper to them. I stamped some words on them and then got very brave and actually used some paint to make them look---well, altered! I like how they turned out!

It was fun to let my friends pick one. I hope that they will take the opportunity to actually write down some experiences and blessings.

I actually wrote in my own!!!

(Mom, will you start doing this too?)

These Are Making Me Happy

These are making me happy right now!

Last year my sweet Mom bought me some Christmas bowls. I loved them so much that I bought a few more-in case we had a soup party, we would need enough for more people. Well, I went back to TaiPan trading and they had the same set of dishes available this year. However, they had a much larger variety. So, I decided that I was going to buy myself some dishes! I went a little crazy(ok, a lot). I bought a set of both prints. I already had both patterns in the cups. I also bought enough(8) so that if I set my beautiful new table that I would have enough to set all eight place settings.

Well, today I had my soup party! I invited gals from the neighborhood over for a little Christmas lunch. I had out all my pretty dishes and it was so fun. I really enjoyed having those pretty dishes to hold our yummy food. The best part was the company! I really do enjoy all these gals and it seems that we just don't have much opportunity to visit. I would like to try and have one of these little get togethers more often, perhaps once a month or so.

What is making you happy this Christmas Season?

Monday

I said to my three year old, "I am so glad that we got you" "Where did you come from?"

He say's "from the zoo."

December-already?

I am still alive! It has been a crazy week. We had Family Home Evening on Monday, dance practice on Tuesday, Festival of Trees(girls dance groups) on Wednesday, Skating activity on Thursday, Temple Activity on Friday, Neighborhood Party (our House) on Saturday. All of these activities are in addition to all normally scheduled activities-including laundry, dishes, decorating the house and Christmas shopping.

To say the least it was a very, very busy week.

I do have to say--I am so close to being finished with any shopping. With four children it gets a little nuts. I am not a HUGE shopper(my husband would disagree-but he doesn't know what other families do). I have eliminated most gift giving between family and friends. However, it is still a bit of a stretch to just think of the things that you want to have in your home. I worry and worry about the things that I buy for my children. Will they play with it, will it be a flop, will it sit on the floor. Will it help them learn something? I over-analyze every little aspect. I wear myself out worrying about it. Hopefully, this year I have eliminated some of these concerns.

I hope that I will have a moment to blog some pictures. I have some great ones!