Christmas Morning-add your own text

ZILCH

Probably the most frequent activity over the holiday season was playing ZILCH. I don't know how many times we played, but I know that I didn't win very much.
Emily almost rolled all 1's! Too bad, no 5000 points for you.

Embo and Greenlake

I just love that I live next to the one of the most beautiful places in Seattle: Greenlake. When Emily saw it she wanted to go, so we made a couple of visits to see the squirrels and ducks and the beautiful nature.



I am looking forward to spending much time there again come spring.

Scrapbook Page

Sometimes I create pages I'm pretty proud of, and this is the most recent one. Picture quality isn't great. Bummer. I love how I'm learning to better incorporate embellishments in my pages.

Any other scrappers out there? Post your stuff for me to see!

Christmas Package

It's always fun to receive packages in the mail!

Life is Beautiful.

Bumblebee and the bus. Michael threw that bus during church today and about smacked a lady in the face. She didn't know it was coming, because she was being obedient and closing her eyes during the prayer. I still love the kid though. Super Saturday craft for Relief Society. Love this saying, and love that it's displayed. Beautiful.
Beside the tree, this is my Christmas decor. Also, beautiful.
Still busy making Christmas cards of sorts. Triple beautiful, I think.

Toyland

There were some toys that I just adored, coveted, and loved as a youngin'. Something spurred my memory of the Skip-It tonight. I always wanted this thing. Beware, after you watch this you may have the song in your head.

And, I am not joking. I swear I had the same outfit as one of the girls in the video; the teal polka dot one.

New Toys 10 days before Christmas

Presents are fun. Wrapping paper rolls are better, methinks. We had a lot of laughs tonight with Michael and his inventive ways.

Campout & you're invited

Last week I felt behind schedule. Today, I am feeling giddy and excited. Excited to open presents. Excited to send my presents. Excited to party. Excited to sleep in the yard with Emily!

I think it was about 8 years ago when my Dad suggested that everyone in the family campout in the backyard on December 23. We start by celebrating the birthday of Joseph Smith by eating cake and ice cream. Then we play games till all hours of the night, dress up in bundles of clothing, and head out to the backyard for the night. We've had a good turnout every year. Neighborhood friends joined our family, and of course the boys always tried to be cooler than the girls by sneaking a TV and extension cord out to their tent.

The funniest memory was my youngest brother sleeping alone in a tiny tent, and rolling around so much that his tent rolled around with him. But, he made it through the entire night.

Of course, in freezing temperatures, making it through the entire night is the challenge. All the girls would situate themselves with the luckiest persons sleeping in the middle. If you couldn't make it through the night, the door was unlocked and you got to sleep on the livingroom floor. Sis. Zander began rewarding people with a quarter if they could make it through the entire night. And then she and my mom would cook up a nice breakfast in the morning.

Most people call this tradition crazy. But, we call it crazy fun. Obviously, since moving to Seattle I haven't camped out, but this year Emily is coming. And because Emily is coming everything is different. When we talked on the phone yesterday, one of the first things she asked me was, "Diana, do you have a backyard?"

So, I guess the next thing on my to-do list is find a tent and another sleeping bag.

Christmas Greetings

A few of the things I've been working on:

I've spent a lot of time just on a few cards because I always have to create new layouts and ideas. I wish I could make a card for all my friends, but I'd have to start in February at the pace I go. I've had a lot of fun building cards with a bunch of new tools, ribbons, and stamps I received from a friend. It was a wonderful, surprising gift! More cards to come. Merry Christmas everyone!

Peanut Butter

Michael presents the best way to eat a peanut butter sandwich.

Tender Mercies

Walking into a thrift store and finding 3 options of TALL black pants that fit me within 5 minutes of shopping.

Getting pajamas for Michael that fit him, at no cost, and having so many friends who have passed along clothes for Michael.

Garage parking--especially on frost covered mornings

Socks.

Warm bed, apt, and heaters.

That things financially seem to stay on the up--when my mind keeps expecting it to go the other way around. It just blows me away.

These are just some tender mercies from the Lord I've recognized lately. What have you noticed in your life?

A few of my favorite things (Oregon)

Some of my favorite things of our Oregon vacation:

1. Playing volleyball for three hours, two nights in a row! Totally awesome!

2. Playing Boggle

3. Visiting the cheese factory and eating some Sweet Centennial ice cream

4. Finally meeting my niece, Emily! Of course, I overloaded my camera with pictures of her.

^^They look alike, don't they?^^

^^Singing Popcorn Popping^^ they were both on different parts of the song though.

^^Emily was such a cheeser. She knew what the camera was all about^^

^^Michael wasn't a huge fan of Emily touching or hugging him^^

Actually, on our last day when we were saying our goodbyes, I asked Michael to give Emily a hug, and he actually went for it. But then they ended up bonking heads, and that made Michael cry. But after he calmed down, I asked him if he wanted to try to give her another hug. He walked up to her, and then slouched on the ground and hugged the floor next to her. *just to be safe I guess!

Oregon Coast

We visited Tillamook, Oregon for our Thanksgiving holiday. My family came up and we had a wonderful visit. We stayed up late every night, playing games and chatting. This is some of my family the first morning (and a boyfriend).

We treated Suzy and her BF like the paparazzi treat a celebrity. Lots of pictures were taken of them cuddling, and sneaking kisses. They are hooked to each other-almost literally, sometimes. Here was my official "paparazzi picture" through the stair railing.On Thursday morning, we took a drive to a couple of different beaches in Tillamook. I forget the ocean is just so beautiful and breath-taking. I loved standing on the beach looking into the foggy distance, and watching the waves crawl their way up the sandy ground.

We also visited one lighthouse. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures with our camera of a view I call "heaven", but somebody did, so I'll post it later.
And this is the view from my Aunt's front window. So beautiful.

Birthday

I know. I know. Richard just celebrated another birthday. But I don't have any pictures to show.

But, I was actually writing this post in honor of Mary Etta Apple Mitchell. She would've turned 130 today. I have never met the women, but I am excited to someday.

Reflection in short

I keep looking at old videos and pictures. Time sure flies by. I can't believe how much I have already forgotten about Michael's "little" days. Here's a picture taken 1 year ago today.