Family Photos

As a surprise & gift to my parents, my siblings arranged getting family pictures done. Who knows when ALL of us will be together at one setting again. My wonderful cousin, Robyn, took the pictures on such short notice (Christmas Eve!), and they look fantastic! However, you can always find one goofy face in each picture--since I don't think anyone in my family knows how to smile at the same time. Hahaha. And, in case you haven't seen Richard in a while--check out that hair!

See all the pictures by clicking here!

Cousins

Cousins = The Best Kind of Fun

I love the blonde hair thing going on here.

Once there was a snowman

I'm quite sad I never took a picture of the 9-foot-snowman my brothers and husband built after the massive snow fall. The second ball was so heavy they had to build a ramp to roll it up. However, this snowman literally melted and fell over the next day (a little top heavy?)

Thanks to my nephew Adam and his prepared Mom, we were able to borrow his snow pants so Michael could go outside and play in the snow for sometime as well. I loved how bright blue Michael's eyes were as they reflected against his white surroundings.

-Michael-

-Adam-

The Mr. and Mrs.

The Mr. and Mrs cake. So stunning.

Emily, who I so lovingly nicknamed Embo, was married just days before Christmas, and it was this event that really tipped our decision on whether or not to go to Utah for Christmas. I must say I was very shocked to see Embo with so much make up on. Honestly, this is Emily--the one who doesn't like make-up! But, she looked beautiful. And, I really mean, BEAUTIFUL!

This girl holds such a special place in my heart. We've grown up together, played make-believe together, and even started clubs together. The most memorable clubs for me were:

1. Save the Animals club that started after we saw a neighborhood cat kill a garden snake! We had a proper burial for the snake, and then we colored awareness fliers and handed them out to all the homes in the neighborhood. Oh my. Way too funny.

2. The Slashers Club. This club was to be based on service projects. Each of the club members had specific duties such as treasurer, secretary (in charge of monthly newsletter), president, and vp. I think this club lasted less than a month. We never officially made our t-shirts, because my Mom informed us that Slashers sounded somewhat.....gory, and we could never come up with a new name, I guess.

3. The most memorable club is "The cool club". As Emily recalls, my sister Suzy and I (and I'm sure others) started a club called "The cool club" and told Emily she couldn't join because she was "too young." After her birthday rolled around, she asked if she could join and we told her, "maybe next year." This question became a running joke for years following. On her 17th birthday, however, Suzy and I came up with a grand gift idea for Emily. We snuck into their house, and decorated Emily's room with ribbons and balloons, and a banner that said, "Welcome to the Cool Club!" (She was cool way before that, by the way).

It was her family that introduced me to my husband (of 4 years tomorrow). So, Embo is due some credit for that. Embo and I would joke for years that it was going to be awesome when she married my younger brother, James. Then not only would we be cousins, we would be sister-in-laws as well, which wasn't too far out there for us, since we'd try to convince people we were sisters all the time. But those plans came crumbling down quickly (in just seven months) when Emily met Morgan. That's okay, I like Morgan alright-although, I can't decide if I should allow him entrance into The Cool Club just yet. Maybe when he's older. :)

Congratulations Mrs. Beautiful Emily!

If you're happy and you know it

This has not been a fun week. It's been very stressful, hard, depressing, difficult, trying, and flat out miserable. In short, we haven't really been cultivating a nice environment at home (which is ironic because I just taught a fabulous lesson to the Beehives about cultivating a nice environment wherever you are). It's frustrating.

I feel like there will always be ebbs and flows in my spiritual journey through life, however sometimes I get so sucked away that it seems impossible to return to a state where I was just a few weeks/days/months prior; happy, more selfless, and motivated.

There was another time in my life where I was obviously feeling incredibly down (although I can't recall how long ago this was), but I grabbed my scriptures and began reflecting on the semesters I lived at BYU-Idaho. For the most part, I was incredibly happy at BYU-I. I was surrounded by an incredible spirit-filled campus, with wonderful roommates, and good influences where ever I went. But, what was it that truly made me happy?

This is what I wrote down in the back of my scriptures:

What was I doing then that made me so happy?

-The basics. I prayed morning and night, in private and aloud, and with sincere thought.

-I read my scriptures daily, and read much. It was the year the prophet challenged us all to complete the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.

-I tried to do things for others, and control rude thoughts.

-I attended my meetings and fulfilled my calling.

-I wrote in my journal. I stopped doing unrighteous things, pushed any evil influences away. I kept my guard up.

-I heeded my patriarchal blessing.

-I worked my hardest, well at least worked and concentrated a lot on my school work.

-I maintained a balanced schedule.

-I apologized.

-I tried to show gratitude.

I'm really glad that I wrote this down, because it tells me that I know what I need to do if I want to be happy. But even though I know this and the blessings it will bring, why is it so difficult to form and keep good habits?

And humility? Let's not even go there.

A Holiday Poem

Stressed household.

Great friends.

Needed vacation.

The end.

New Battery!

This is a movie clip to celebrate our digital camera working again! I just had to replace the battery--but it took me long enough to get around to it. Now it's ready, just in time for Christmas!!

Thanksgiving & Black Friday

Hooray for holidays, holiday pay, and family time! I actually worked for a few hours on Thanksgiving morning. We were planning on going to Grandma Hart's house for Thanksgiving, but then she got sick, and wasn't up to cooking all day. Hope you feel better Grandma. So, that morning, we just went to the church where some members of the ward had organized a potluck for those who didn't have anywhere to go for Thanksgiving dinner. We had some fun chatting with friends for a couple of hours.

However, that night, Richard said, "I'm going to the store!" What? Then he explained, "It just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving to me. I need some leftovers!" So, we went to Safeway and picked up a box of Stove Top, and a whole roasted chicken! Haha! So funny. We warmed it all up, and sat at the table together as a family expressing our gratitude for different things in our lives. It was the perfect meal.

And then I went back to work again to work all through the night.

I have never really been interested in all the Black Friday sales. However, I am highly looking forward to Cyber Monday. The only Black Friday deals I hit up were at Rite Aid! Classic, right? I brought home some Froot Loops for Michael, and myself and we made him a Froot Loop necklace, which he loves. And, together we ate the entire box in less than 24 hours.

And, all our Christmas decorations are up! Hooray for the holidays!!!

These are just two....

November 22 brought some snowfall. In Utah, this amount of snow is no big deal, right? But, in Seattle, they have seriously no resources to clean up anything but the main roads. Here's some home videos that I enjoyed of people who seemed to be enjoying themselves inside their homes, drinking hot cocoa, while watching out the window.

And that's why I'm glad I'm close enough to walk to work.

Sick House

We are living in a sick house. I am so glad it's Sunday. I can just rest.

Michael was the first to go. On Tuesday morning, he crawled into our bed and threw up. Nothing like a good adrenaline rush to get Richard up on time for school! We got the sheets in the wash, Richard took a shower, and we all began to get ready for the day. Michael came into the kitchen and started crying for oatmeal. My initial thought was, "You just threw up, I'm not giving you oatmeal." But, then he kept crying, and crying and I felt bad for this kid who was hungry and traumatized at what had just happened. So, I gave him really watery oatmeal. After he ate it, he just laid down on the floor and there he stayed until we walked out the door to drive Richard to school. I put a towel over Michael in the carseat, and off we went.

Michael did just fine, except for the part where he threw up on the way home, missing the towel, and making me completely regret giving him oatmeal. Dumb Mom moment. We pulled over, I cleaned him up briefly, opened the windows, and rushed home as fast as I could.

When we got home, I knew I had to strip all his clothes off of him before I could take him upstairs. That's when I spotted a plastic bag in the passenger side of the seat. I recognized this as a tender mercy, especially when I recalled the circumstances for why it had been left there. I realized then that Heavenly Father knew that days later Michael would throw up and that I would need it. Seeing this, almost forced my mind to take a more positive approach to the entire situation, instead of getting too discouraged.

Taking off the seat cover from our carseat is very complicated. I couldn't just figure it out, and eventually googled it. I love the Internet. I found someone who had written an entire blog post on how to take off the seat cover from our carseat. It was quite the hilarious read, honestly.

Michael throwing up all over his carseat was a good thing, I decided, because:

1. It taught Richard and I cooperation as we worked on stripping it down and cleaning it.

2. I don't think we've washed it once since buying it.

3. Now it's really clean, and I can feel good about putting in our car.

4. I know not to feed a sick child oatmeal when he's sick again.

Later that day Michael asked for chicken nuggets. I'll leave you to your own thoughts on the matter.

Lucky for the rest of us, we just have colds. I'm glad the week is over, quite successfully too. In fact, it involved making these:

Deal of the Week

Albertsons had fantastic freebies this week! I did one trip last weekend, and then after they printed doublers, I made another trip. How much do you think this transaction cost me?

I paid...drumroll...

...just a little bit of money!

Haha, I actually misplaced my receipt, but the transaction was just over $5.00! That's $5 for 15 boxes of hot cocoa, 4 bottles of pop, 4 boxes of brownies, cake mixes and frosting for baby shower weekend cupcake baking, and more!

I got the pop and hot chocolate and brownies without paying a penny.

Looks entirely healthy, doesn't it!? Tis the season for baking, and baking sales!

I must note that I never had got any doublers from the paper. I was hoping they would have some at their customer service desk, but they were out. When I got to checkout, after I handed over my coupons, the checker asked me if I also had the doublers. I said, "No, I didn't see any." Right then, the customer behind me pulled her doublers out and gave them to the checker for me to use, even though she had coupons in her hand as well. It was very nice, and hopefully I will find the opportunity to return the favor to someone else.

What is it?

There is a game my family plays called, "What is it?" The rules simply go as follows. Somebody picks up an object, typically an oddly shaped object, and asks "what is it?" As the object is passed around, the persons playing will give a clever, imaginative reply to the question without repeating what the object really is, or what another person has already stated.

Well, Michael is learning this game, in his own way. He has the innate ability of picking something up, and when I ask him "What Is It?"...well, can you guess what he replies?

I took the liberty of taking some pictures of the various objects he's picked up the last two days.

A Banana=A Gun

Some Tongs=A Gun

An Apple Peeler/Corer=A Gun

A Puzzle Piece=A Gun

He even tucks the puzzle piece into his pants, and walks around with it that way.