From our house to yours...

The month of Christmas

I love December and the opportunity it gives us to serve, have fun, be together as a family, and think about the Savior. This month, we enjoyed



visiting temple lights with my Grandma Mary, going on light drives,









decorating for Christmas, reading Christmas books, and doing puzzles, 







playing with friends from school and soccer, visiting with friends and book club and around the fire,



attending a Junie B. Jones Christmas play, enjoying the holiday party at school,





mailing letters to Santa, and getting a response in the mail,



preparing wood for winter weather fires, hosting the annual EQ cookie party, 

 and attending a beautiful performance of Handel's Messiah.

We love December and the wonderful Christmas season!

BYU football: a first game story

BYU played New Mexico state the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and since we were already in the state we got tickets and went down for the game. Our girls had never attended a BYU football game before and their time had come.



We dressed up in our blue and white and snapped a few photos before leaving Claire's house. We decided to drive with the boys in one car and the girls in the other, and Claire and I loaded up the girls and were ready to go.



 As we were on the road to the freeway, I heard a troubling sound coming from the back seat. Claire was driving, and I turned around to see Ada spewing in her car seat. It was coming out in droves, and I immediately reached my hand back to catch what I could.



Claire heard my distress, and almost crashed as she pulled the van to the side of the road. The boys car followed close behind and we got Ada out and changed as quickly as we could. Her vomit mostly landed on her beloved monkey and blanket, and we went looking for somewhere to wash them off. Luckily, we found a car wash a block down the road and the power spray seemed to do the job.





We got Ada a sprite and were back on the road with no further incidents. We arrived a little before the game and got some lunch and headed to the stadium. New Mexico state has a nice stadium, but it was half empty, and the majority of people there were BYU fans.

The girls watched well for the first half of the game and had a lot of questions about what was happening on the field. J explained the rules and they were happy to be part of the crowd. My dad treated us to a great halftime treat, which refuled their energy just in time to discover the stadium hill.



On the back of the stadium was a huge cement slab with New Mexico state's emblem on it. The BYU kids, however, just saw a huge slide going down the hill. For the last half of the game the girls were on their bellies, bottoms, and knees going down and running up the slide. It was hilarious to see all of the kids having such a ball and even the grown ups gave the slide a go.







We went down on the field after the game and got to give the players high fives and run up and down the grass. It was awesome! Just before leaving the field we noticed a TV opportunity and walked through the background of this interview. (Start the segment at 25 minutes). We're BYUTV stars and will give signatures for cash.

All in all the girls first BYU football game was a success and we're excited for more games to come!

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving this year in the lovely state of New Mexico with my sister and her family and my parents. We love visiting them and had a great holiday together.

We ran in a 5K, ate at Frontier, watched movies, visited the temple, had lunch at the Tamaya resort, and ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner.




We intruded on my brother-in-law's family and ate dinner at his lovely sister and brother-in-law's home. He seriously comes from a wonderful family and we are so grateful for how gracious they were to host us and our kids and feed us a lovely meal.



My Dad's cousin came to dinner too and introduced us to the Thanksgiving pinata! Everyone writes things they are thankful for on strips of paper, and then you load them, plus some candy of course, into the pinata and start whacking away. Fantastic idea!!!





 

We enjoyed the crisp air of NM and appreciated getting away from our oddly warm November weather. All in all, it was a great holiday weekend with much to be thankful for.

 

 

 Peace out, from the wee wigger. 

My angel mother

I went to Utah in November to be with my Mom for a weekend after her 5th chemo treatment.

I loved being home with my parents and appreciated the chance to spend time and talk with them.

Seeing my Mom in the cancer center, and suffering the effects of the drugs, made her disease definitely more real, but I came away amazed at the strength with which she's facing this trial and the firm faith she has in our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

I credit my faith to the teaching and training of my parents, and am especially grateful for my Mother's influence in bearing record of Him, ever since I can remember.

I admire my parents so much for how they have come together during these difficult months and continue to look outward as they serve and bless the lives of those around them.

I know that my life, and that of my children and husband have been strengthened as we've been able to fast for, pray for, visit, and encourage my Mom and Dad through this trial.

I am even more grateful for my Mother's influence in my life, and know that anything I've done or become is because of her investment, love, nurturing, and sacrifice for me.

One whole hand

At the first of the month we celebrated Ellie's 5th birthday. I can't believe she is one whole hand already. She is such a fun, easy going, friendly, and inquisitive girl and we loved celebrating her special day. She woke up to a pile of presents in our room and loved opening her gifts first thing.With a jewel stand, a real CTR ring, littlest pet shops, birthday cards and cash she was ready to go.

We invited a few of Ellie's friends over for lunch and a play date at the park. These darling girls loved playing with the new Pet Shop circus, eating lunch, and playing together. Ellie loved having friends to celebrate with.

 

Later that night we met J downtown and went out to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Yum! Ellie got to pick the restaurant and since she loves spaghetti, this was just the place to go. She loved the eclectic nature of the restaurant and eating her spaghetti dinner, with spumoni ice cream and a birthday song from the servers to boot.

 Ellie loved having people sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She counted and remembered every group/person who sung to her. Her primary class, the whole primary, our family, her friends at lunch, her preschool friends, her grandparents, her uncle, her uncle and aunt, and the servers at the spaghetti factory each made the list.

The following night we ate her homemade cupcakes and ice cream and finished with a final rendition of the Happy Birthday song. I love this December birthday girl and am so grateful for the wonderful sister, friend, granddaughter, and child she is. Ellie has a wonderful sensitivity to the Holy Ghost and I am so grateful for the things she teaches me. I love you Ellie B.

Art

My amazingly talented friend Lorien just finished a community art project and has her prints on sale! They are beautiful reproductions of her original art and would make great Christmas gifts.

She picked my submission of "Esperando" as the title of the print below and I love my copy of it. Her paintings are available in limited quantities and you can check out her etsy shop HERE.

Until then...

My blog.

Kind of forgot about it.

For the last month.

I plan to catch up.

But, until then, enjoy this blast from the past.



Happy December!

a BIG bear

Costco sells GIGANTIC stuffed animal bears.

6 months ago we were shopping and Ellie and Lauren noticed the big bear and begged me to get them one.

I thought definitely no way, but told them that they could get it IF they saved up enough money for it. It cost $30 dollars and I thought there was no way they'd be able to save enough/ stay interested that long.

That was 6 months ago.

Since then these little girls have been stockpiling cash. From Lauren's lost teeth. From helping with deep cleaning. From Ellie scoring her first soccer goal. From dollars sent from Grandparents. From Ada's birthday cards.  From coins they collected around the house.

First they each paid a dollar for tithing.

Then last week we went to Costco with $30 dollars (mostly in 1's) to buy the GIANT stuffed bear.




It was adorable.



The bear literally filled the cart.

The cashier rang them up and they counted out their bills to her.

(Since I'd told them the bear was $30 and forgot to account for tax we spotted them $3.88 for that)

The receipt guy at the door marked their receipt with an extra big smiley face.



And we brought this big "girl" home. They've named her Rebekah (and Gerald, and Beary, among other things) and love to lay, sleep, crawl, and lounge on her. She takes up a huge corner of the room, but it's like she was meant to be there.



I'm so proud of them for setting a goal, working together, staying focused, paying the Lord first, and finally getting what they'd worked for.



Hopefully it was a life lesson they'll repeat again and again.