Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

With the snow and the Christmas decor up, it is really feeling like Christmas. We've really tried to have the real spirit of Christmas in our home this year. It has been a fun and peaceful time.


Anna had her Christmas recital last week. They did such a good job. With her slender figure she looks very graceful on the dance floor.

I have been shopping and feel like I got almost everything done.

We went and saw Santa on Saturday. Anna and Abby had written notes to Santa with things they wanted. Abby wanted a play laptop, really bad. Then while chatting with Santa she REALLY wanted a play kitchen. Santa was so generous saying, "That sounds like something we can do." Hmmmm. . . When I asked her about the laptop, she said, "I want the kitchen more!"

Saturday night, Mike and I went out and finished up a little more Christmas shopping. Except for a few things I need to make, I think we are done! :) Time to start wrapping. . .

I tried

to get tickets to Wicked today. I tried with 2 computers and 1 phone all going at the same time . . .nothing. They are sold out. :(
If anyone has connections, let me know. ;)

Happy Birthday Mikey!

On the 3rd Mike turned the big 3-5! We celebrated on the 2nd because he was actually out of town on the big day. It was fun to have family over with some cake and ice cream.
Mike is very caring about others. He tries to be thoughtful of others needs and feelings.
He is a good teacher, to others, as well as our children. That is one of the things I love about him.
He is funny.
I love to hang out with him, I just like to be with him.
I am so happy that I get to spend my days with him and enjoy our lives journey together. He has been there for me in many ways and tries to make me happy, I hope I do the same for him.
Happy Birthday! I love you!



By the way, I was feeling so youthful because I am almost 4 years younger than he is. ;)That was all ruined today when Abby asked me if cars were made when I was born. Hellooooo! How old does she think I am?!
I guess when you're a kid, all you know is your parents are OLD. . .

Catching Up

Finally Posting Thanksgiving! We met Mike's cousin Andy's family and Jill's family for a wonderful feast!





Before we ate Anna read to us her Thankful Scroll that she made in school, burnt edges and all. We were all very impressed. It set the mood for being thankful for all of our blessings, then it was time to dig in!


Earlier that morning I had to watch "The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" of course. Mike teases me saying, "Can't you just call it The Parade?" But no, I can't. It's just one of those things you have to say all of it and watch all of it. I peeled potatoes during commercials.
Its been a tradition since I was a kid and now because I get so excited about it and talk about it like it is the best thing on earth, my kids love it, too! :)

We talked, laughed, played games, and kept an eye on 9 kids. The little community where we stayed had an indoor pool, so there was a lot of swimming going on! It was fun.

Aaron and Shadow were BFFs. Shadow even slept on Aaron's bed, which for some reason I think is gross, but Aaron totally loved it! When he's happy going to bed, I'm happy. ;)


I snapped a few shots of Andy's family for their Christmas cards. (no pressure!) I reminded them several times I am SO not a professional and I don't even know how to work my camera yet. Hope they found one they liked!

It was nice to spend some time with Jill's family, too. We really miss them.

To add to the excitement we got rearended on I-15 on the way home. 4 cars involved, not our fault, no injuries and only minor damage to our bumber (although the poor car that started the chain reaction was totalled, thats too bad). But everyone was OK, another thing to be grateful for!

Look, look. Look at Abby. . .

A few years ago Mike's mom gave Anna some retro Dick and Jane books for her birthday. They are awesome!

Now Abby is reading them and is really enjoying her new found independence in reading. She calls them her "chapter books" because they have little chapters. The pictures are great, the words sometimes crack me up.

"Look, look Jane. Look up there." "Run Dick run!"

No one names their son Dick anymore. I wonder why not. . .

Fall

I love fall! I love, love, love it. I love crisp air, the leaves turning colors, and the excitement of college football games. I even enjoy raking up the leaves, crazy I know. On this particular day, my intent was to rake up the leaves and actually get them into the green waste bin. I knew my kids would want to play in them and I was prepared with my camera. They had so much fun

rolling,

jumping,
throwing and

burying each other in the leaves.

By the time they were done it was dark and cold. The leaves would have to wait until the next day to make it in the waste bin.

As a family we helped rake leave for some elderly (like 80's) neighbors who were both sick. The surprising thing was they told me how much they liked jumping and rolling in the leaves, too. They said that just a few years ago they gently lowered themselves down in their leaf pile and had a good roll (or maybe just a sit) in it.
Oh, those youthful souls!

It made me think I need to be jumping into a few leaf piles myself!

Happy Fall!

What is going on?!

Yet another post without pictures, but I am just disturbed by everything that is happening in California!

The misinformation the media is putting out against the LDS church is awful and fueling some of the protesters and other events against the church. Some LDS leaders have had threats on their lives, and they claim WE are not tolerant?! The LDS church is totally being singled out. We, like all the other citizens of California, exercised our right to vote!!! The opponents to Prop 8 are exercising their right to protest, but in some cases they have crossed the line. Using threats and spreading lies about The Churches involvement (they are saying the Church broke the law by contributing money or lobbying, "The Church" itself didn't donate any money, they asked the members to donate time or money out of their own free will and choice, some did and some didn't), and vandalizing church property.

Prop 8 was a proposition that had already passed, but was overturned by judges misusing their authority (judges are to interpret the law, not make new laws) and had passed again. Although it was close, it was clearly the voice of the majority of California. It passed the vote of the people twice.

I remember the same proposition being passed in Nevada. There was nothing like this going on! No protests, threats, or hateful redirect being spewed out against the Church. What's the deal?!

I actually have gay and lesbian friends (some are LDS) and family whom I love dearly and deeply respect. I think we have more in common than not. But I feel it a moral issue to define marriage as "one man and one woman." I totally recognize that may be offensive to some, but there is a place in this country to disagree and to vote your conscience and still be nice and love each other. It is possible to just agree that you don't agree on an issue, however personal it may be.

All of the inaccuracies about the Church and our doctrines are nothing new, but very offensive. And people believe it hook, line and sinker! I can't believe it. Please ASK a Mormon if you have questions about our stance and involvement in Prop 8, not turn to the media for answers! They used an ex-Mormon as an expert in Mormonism for one newspaper article. Please!! Couldn't they find a current Mormon to be an expert? But then that wouldn't give them enough controversial fuel, I guess.

Here is a link detailing some of the abuse and protests the church has been receiving:http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081110hate.html

And here is a link to the Church's official statements regarding the issue:
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/

Boy, I've had a lot to say about politics lately. I'll now step off my soap box.

8 Things and Gratitude

OK, I've been tagged by 2 different people on this "8 things" tag, so I thought I should do it. The "Gripes to Gratitude" tag is probably fitting for me since I've been griping A LOT about my computer that has a stupid virus! (stay tuned for my gratitude after the 8 Things. . .)

8 Favorite TV Shows (I don't really watch a lot of TV)

1. Biggest Loser
2. American Idol
3. HGTV (when I am at my mom's who has Dish)
4. I have to admit I did enjoy the Saturday Night Live Prime-time shows about the Elections
5. General Conference
6. Ummmm, that's all I have. . .I don't watch a lot of TV.
7.
8.



8 Things I did yesterday

1. ran on the treadmill
2. carpooled for the Kindergartners (it's my week :) )
3. went to Harmons
4. watched Biggest Loser with a bowl of ice cream that they are not allowed to have :) and was totally shocked by the ending!
5. watched my neighbor's daughter
6. Picked up Anna from school then after an early dinner took her to dance
7. talked to my mom on the phone
8. worked on this on-line class (Stories in Hand by Jessica Sprague, anyone else doing it?)


8 Things I look forward to

1. Getting Aaron out of diapers, he is totally NOT interested
2. being closer to my family
3. Thanksgiving
4. Christmas
5. Spring
6. another baby, not anytime soon
7. any kind of quality time with the fam or just with Mike
8. being totally healthy again, or just getting off half my meds for my thyroid (that would save me about $100 a month, terrible insurance!)


8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Training Table
2. Red Robin
3. Bajio
4. Macaroni Grill
5. Kneaders
6. Magleby's Fresh
7. Cheesecake Factory
8. Anything my mom or brother will make!


8 Things on my wishlist

1. To go to Disneyland again
2. Taking some Photog classes
3. Live closer to my family, including Jill :)
4. find some time to scrapbook again
5. more CUTE crafty or home decor things at Enrichment (San Destin Ward I miss you!)
6. To travel the world and see and photograph different people and cultures and hear the stories of their lives (kind of like National Geographic)
7. To raise good and righteous and compassionate children
8. To own a home again, so I can paint and landscape the way I want (the white walls and mauve chair-rail with wall paper is starting to drive me nuts!) although I am grateful for this house.


8 People to tag (Good Luck Ladies!)
1. Cali
2. Traci
3. Jamie M
4. Heather
5. Linde
6. Carol
7. Kimm
8. Amanda


OK, now the Gripes to Gratitude tag. The whole idea behind this tag is to take something you gripe about and instead of griping, find things about it to be thankful for. Others chose laundry, I am going to choose my computer with it's stupid virus and now my printer that is very hungry because it keeps chewing up my paper and then eating it! Printing anything these days is a nightmare.
So now I guess it's time for me to think grateful thoughts (give me a minute here. . .)

1. I am grateful for my computer and that it allows me to communicate so quickly with loved ones.
2. I am grateful that my mom who lives far away can see pics of her only grandchildren with just a click of the mouse.
3. I am grateful that I have access to any info I wish to acquire
4. I am grateful that I don't have to clutter up my house with magazines, because after I've read them I can throw them away and find all the articles again online (why do I pay for magazines?)
5. I certainly have gained more appreciation for those who know a lot about computers to fix them
6. I am grateful that when my printer is working I can print pictures from home
7. I am grateful that when it is working my printer prints things out pretty quickly
8. I am grateful that just because I have a computer and a printer means that I live in a country with many luxuries and have been fortunate enough to acquire them.
9. I am grateful for the country that I live in that allows me to say whatever I want on my computer.
10. I am grateful for spellcheck

Now, I tag anyone who wants to do this. It is kind of fun and therapeutic. I feel much better now. Thanks Danielle :)

Quote of the Week

"(As women) we are here to influence the world, not to be influenced by it."
Sheri L. Dew

Bugged. . .

Seriously! My computer has a virus! I can't pull up certain web pages, my email included! Posting pictures is hard because sometimes it will and sometimes I'll wait and wait and wait and then it won't upload them! Some blogs I can't pull up. . .it is so annoying. I guess it's time to take the computer in to the doctor!

A 3rd Choice Please. . .

Happy Election day! It is snowing outside today, and I feel just as cold inside. I don't really want either candidate to win! I fear for my wonderful country's future in the hands of either party for different reasons. I've heard people say they are voting for "the lesser of two evils." But on which issues? Abortion? Foreign Policy? The war? Bringing our Troops Home? Health Care? The Economy? I think depending on which issue you are focusing on, "the lesser evil" could be either one. I've also heard some are voting because of who they chose for a running mate. Did you know that really the VP is just there to step in if the Pres. dies and cast a deciding vote should there ever be a tie (which I'm not sure there ever has been)? The Pres does not have to take advise from the VP, so voting on the basis of the VP seems silly. The Pres may not even consult with him/her, they may have only chosen him/her to boost their polls during the election. Who knows.
I think I'd rather "write in" a name than vote for either one. I know people say that is throwing my vote away, but I look at it as making a statement. At least I'm not endorsing some one I cannot agree with, but I'm saying "I don't like either of you."

I will get off my soap box now. Go Vote your conscience. We'll see how it all plays out tonight.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Princess Anna, Snow Princess Abby, and Spiderman Aaron!

Home Grown Pumpkins

Blurry picture, but we carved pumpkins tonight. We have a Mickey Mouse, a bunny, and a bloody jack-o-lantern. All of the pumpkins were grown in our garden this year. Kind of fun.

We saw. . .

Yes, we saw it last Saturday! High School Musical 3! The girls loved it!! They thought it was super fun that they could take a friend. Aaron, on the other hand, about half way through was saying "I don't like this movie, I want to go home!" I know I'm totally lame, but I liked it. It was a no brainer, corny, and just entertaining. More musical numbers than the others, but same basic plot of all the others. If you have young girls (or boys?) go see it!

We also made Monster Cookies again this year. Fun, fun. Inspiration found here and from Heather. Way too much sugar to start off this super sugary season. I don't think I'll get my kids off this sugar high until after the new year! There is this dentist in town that will exchange candy for cash (they then give the candy away to different charities). I'm going to try to convince my kids to do it. Who needs ALL that candy anyway?!

A few random thoughts . . .

It has been forever since I have blogged. I have a bit of catching up to do.

*Warning* Blogger is not being my friend today, the font size is all over the place. I just wanted it normal with a few "large" words here and there. That is not what it is doing and I've tried to fix it and its not working*

* Today I have not done much and am feeling SO tired! I think it might have something to do with the fact that I stayed up until 1 am with Abby and her ear infection on Tues. night, then 2 am Wed watching Pride and Prejudice (the one with from A&E and BBC with Collin Firth, its 5 hrs long) and of course I had to stay up until 12 am last night finishing it. I L*O*V*E*D it! In my opinion it is a must see. . .

*A couple of days before my last post, we all went to a wedding reception up here for one of our cute singles, Kate, from Vegas. She's obviously not single anymore. . .Anyway, it was so fun to see her and meet her hubby. It was also a blast to see some of the other girls from the Singles Ward! Having that calling was so much fun! I miss it and all of you! Good thing we have blogs so we can all stay connected (hint, hint Amber and Tonya :) ) It was so good to see Parker and Aubrey and meet their baby. So much fun!

* Anna found a new friend. It was super cool and fun, but we decided to let her go after she started crawling up Anna's arm and clawing at her face. Obviously not a house pet.



*Last Saturday I went to Deseret Book and bought The Mother in Me a compilation of mothering essays and poems. All of the proceeds from that day went to the NieNie Recovery Fund. I felt like I met a movie star! C Jane, who has been taking care of her sister's kids and faithfully blogging about her sister and brother-in-law's recovery, was there. She was so cheerful and smiley, felt like a friend you'd had forever. While she was signing my book, we chatted about stuff, life, Target. It was a fun Day.

See?. . .I got her autograph. . .right there. ALSO, while I was at Deseret Book I picked up Paul Cardall's latest CD Living for Eden. Absolutely beautiful piano arrangements! Paul is the brother of our friend David Cardall from Vegas. He is currently awaiting a heart transplant. You can read about it here. His daughter's name is Eden, which makes the title of the CD more meaningful, and even brought a little tear to my eye. You should pick one up! :)

*On Wednesday, we had Enrichment mtg at the church. It was good. They had different little classes you could go to on marriage, raising small children, raising adult children, oh, I can' t remember the others. Anyway, they asked me to be on the marriage panel to help present and lead the discussion. I thought that was funny. Mike and I have a great relationship, we like to spend time together, but I hardly felt panel worthy! Ummm. . . be easy going and make eachother happy?. . .I don't know any advice! However, I picked up a few tips for myself.


We also made a craft. These little ornaments. They are really simple but I thought cute. They are just vinyl letters of "noel" and "wish" on the clear glass balls with ribbon. Do you have anything cute you've done lately? Super Saturday stuff or on your own? Post a pic or send me a link. I'm getting into the crafty mood. . .

Speaking of making my hubby happy, he thinks I should do a cute background. I personally like the white, I'm plain like that, I guess. We'll see what I come up with.

I'm not ready

for *SNOW* !! It snowed this morning, my kids were excited. . .me?. . not so much. Winter cannot be starting yet! Last winter was so L - O - N - G! I cannot do another long winter! So go away snow!

(Lucky for me I heard it is supposed to warm up to the 70's by the end of the week! Yay!)

enjoyable

I always enjoy my kids, but lately they have been a little extra enjoyable.


Aaron is my side-kick during the mornings. I love his bead-head hair and his silly words he makes up. The latest is "hu-li-do-di". He uses it for various meanings, he just throws it into a sentence whenever he feels the sentence needs a little pizazz!
Last night he had his first night-mare. He woke up screaming, so I came to his rescue and asked him what was wrong. He said, "A big squirrel was going to get me." That cracked me up, poor guy dreaming of giant squirrels. It was probably from when we were at the zoo in WA and a squirrel jumped out of the garbage can and surprised us all.
He loves potato bugs. Sometimes he loves them fiercely and they don't live long. This one made it and we "put it back in the dut," as he would say. Cute, cute boy.


Abby has been in to babies lately. Dressing them, putting them to bed, even nursing them. . .hmmm. Anyway, she is a darling mom.
Also, she and Anna are VERY willing subjects for my new camera. Thanks Gals!



Anna came home from school with this precious pose, at the same time saying "Peace." Poor girl living in "Happy Valley" doesn't know what she's really doing here, flashing a gang sign. . . but a peaceful one.
Mike had a business partner from Georgia here for a few days. He took her by the house to meet the fam. After a few minutes, out comes Anna with her hat on, pose and "Peace!" Oh Anna, how we love her! Never a dull moment at our house.

New Arrival!

We have a new addition to our home! One that I have been wanting, hoping and waiting for for over 2 years! I think she is fitting in nicely and I feel bonded to her already.

Her name is Canon. And she is a Rebel, but I think with some proper training we can overcome that. She is the perfect size and weight, so easy to hold and carry around.

Are you ready to see her. . .

Isn't she cute? I know we are not supposed to love things, so I don't. . .I just like her. . . a lot.

Seriously, I need some help, a few tips and classes. I've looked at some classes on line and I feel like I need classes just to get ready for those classes! Does anyone know of any really, really, really, basic, basic, basic classes? Either on line or not. They would be really helpful. All the new info is a bit overwhelming, but I am more than happy to take on the challenge.

LOVED Conference

So many highlights! Too many to list.
3 things come to mind that I am going to be working on:

1) Pres. Monson: Finding joy in the journey, here and now.
2)Elder Perry: Living a more simplified life
3)I can't remember who said it, but it has stuck with me: solving problems is not as important than loving people (or something like that). I feel like I am always going about my day solving problems: the dishes problem, laundry problem, cleaning the house problem, etc. that I put off or delay loving the little people around my feet. Going to be working on that.

What were some of your favorites?

Spiritually Fed

I loved the Relief Society Broadcast on Sat.! I especially loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk on creating and compassion. There are so many ways to be creative. It inspired me to do a few things to beautify my surroundings and sharpen my skills. I think it also validated my love for photography (which I definitely need to sharpen my skills on) and scrapbooking, and not to mention blogging. :)
I can't wait for this weekend and General Conference. I found a website that has an activity book for conference. (It was from last conference) You can find it here. I didn't print ALL the pages, I just chose the ones I thought would keep my kids busy.
Let me know if you find another one, maybe one made for this conference!

Our Washington trip

Road Trip! This is how I travel! Poor Mike had to do the driving. . .all 16 hours of it. It was a fun trip and the kids did amazingly well. I bought somethings from the dollar store to give them every couple hours to keep it fresh. I also took Jodi's idea of giving them a disposable camera. That was a big hit!

Beautiful Mt. Hood (or was is Mt Adams...now I can't remember) with the Colombia River in front of it with the John Day Dam. It was fun to drive thru Idaho and Eastern Oregon along the Colombia River because I am reading the American Girls series to our girls and we are on "Kaya" who is an Indian living in these parts of the woods in the 1750's . It was fun to identify some places they mentioned in the book. Also, Hwy 84 goes along the Lewis and Clark expedition trail and we've been learning/talking about them, too. The other pic is of Mount Renier with the Pudget Sound in front of it.

Aaron at a playground during a pit-stop in The Dalles, OR.

Once we got to Washington on Friday, Mike and I left the kids with my parents and headed for Seattle. We stayed the night up there and went to the exciting BYU/UW game on Saturday.

This is my lame attempt at a panoramic shot. You can tell where the pictures didn't piece together well. Anyway, the stadium is BEAUTIFUL! You have the lake on one side and the Seattle skyline on the other with the Space Needle and ribbons of freeways. The seats have huge coverings that go overhead (because it rains so much) and that just amplifies the sound. It was an exciting game. Some of Mike's long time buddies were at the game as well.


After the game we headed to my brother's boat, where he lives.

This is beautiful "A Dock". There are more "live aboards" than you would think. Some families with children, etc. We dingied out to a water-front restaurant and had a wonderful meal (Thanks Brent!) We left just as the sun was setting, the view on the water with the boats and the sun setting behind the Olympic Mtns was one to remember.

This is my brother in front of one of the boats you see on "The Deadliest Catch" on the Discovery Channel. They live up the hill from him. Word on the street is they work 3 months out of the year and party the rest.


Sunday we had a fun family party. My sweet cousin Laura gave my kids gifts to play with at Grandma's and some for the ride home. She and Newby also played with them tirelessly. Thanks guys. My darling Great-Aunt Caroline (whom was really more like my 3rd Grandma) is 93! She is so active, with such a positive attitude. A laugh is always quick on hand with her. I love her and am so grateful we were able to spend some time with her. It was also wonderful to see my other aunts and uncles that I unfortunately didn't get pictures of. Its always nice to catch up over some good food. We also took a minute to celebrate my Dad's birthday!

I assure you he needed more than one candle on his cake. ;) A nice cousin pic. Me and Brent and my cousins Laura and Nicole.


On my Dad's B-day we went to the Northwest Trek. You can go on this bus-like thing with no windows and see all the animals in the wild. We saw elk, moose, big horn sheep, among others. My favorites were the buffalo (or bison or whatever).


This is the bear through which my mom earned her name as "Bear Whisperer"! We were having way too much fun for our own good. This bear was sleeping and my mom told him get up (in English or "Bear" I can't remember) and he did. He stared at us for a long time. Moving his big lips occasionally. Funny, funny memories.


A trip to Washington would not be complete without going to Hartstine Island (spelled many different ways depending on where you are on the island). The girls are sitting on a bench that was placed in memory of my Grandma. She bought a cabin on the island before I was born. Several times a year we would go there. It was a wonderful place of discovery and fun as a child. The positioning of the bench is so perfect because we spent many, many hours with her on that beach making many memories. As we sat on the bench it was very tender, I could feel her near. I miss her.


The tide was very high, so all we could really do as we walked along the beach was collect and throw rocks. The girls collected, the boys threw! We saw an occasional jelly fish, but not the usual star fish or sand dollars we find when the tide is out. I love the beach. It is so calming.

Next up, the Zoo.


We spent a long time watching the Gorillas. One just had a baby and it was so intriguing to watch the mom with her baby. Her almost human actions and care for the baby. This sweet Chimp was absolutely darling. She would sit like this with her chin on her hands, then occasionally when she maybe wasn't getting enough attention, she would tap on the glass with her knuckles.


They had a beautiful "Blooms and Butterflies" exhibit where you walked in and the butterflies just flew around you or landed on you. They carefully brushed you off before you left to insure all the butterflies stayed inside. The elephant was far away so Mike forgot about the "Do Not Feed the Animals" sign and waved some of the greenery in front of her. She came closer, that's for sure. She did something I've never seen an elephant do. . .she rubbed her eye with her trunk, no joke.
That was our trip, along with late nights with my mom watching HGTV and seeing their own home being remodeled. As well as, seeing Jamie and her handsome boy Daniel. When I asked Aaron what he liked about the trip, one thing he said was, "playing trains with that boy." That boy would be Daniel. It was too short. I could have used more time with my family in WA.