Move forward with faith

When I heard the news I cried.
I didn't think I would be so sad.
I am happy to think of the great reunion taking place.
What an incredible man!
How blessed we are to have a prophet of God on the earth to guide us.

January Days

This year we signed the kids up for basketball for the first time. We have played horse/pig type games but the complete game was new to them. So the two oldest have been busy learning how to play and playing. It's not quite as intense as soccer. There is one game a week and one practice.
Jadey is doing indoor soccer too. They play once a week for the next 3 months. They play 12 year old boys...so pretty fierce competition. They are doing it more for practice during the winter months.

It's nice to have couple of things that keep them active especially during a true Utah winter...lots of snow and very cold.

I didn't have any pictures of either of these activities. It think I need to hand the camera over to Hadley as she seems to be the resident photographer (see photo above), constantly taking photos of odds and ends around the house.

I have been busy cleaning out the craft room which will soon be the baby's room. Crafting is being moved downstairs to the storage room. We'll see how much time I have for that in the next year.

Thinking ahead

I'm starting to want to do spring cleaning ahead of time. I won't have much energy by spring :)
I saw this room and want to copy the walls for the new little babies room.

A Birthday

It took me way too long...but here are the official birthday pics.
She is finally BIG and officially 3.


On the morning of her birthday she called, "Mom, Come in here by me." I went in and she was sitting up in her crib and said, "I'm ready for my breakfast in bed." She "ordered" oatmeal, cottage cheese, oranges and milk.


They were all goofy...I love this shot.



She gave lots of hugs!



What do you get for your birthday when you just had Christmas? Summer stuff!
She has tried it out in the tub already.



When Hadley opened this present Cade yelled out "Look it's Oprah"


Coloring with sisters. I love the way these two get along so well. They share so easily and Em is always willing to let her play with her and her friends (even when Em's friends aren't so excited about it).

Family Indexing I am doing it...

Are you doing it?
Go to www.familyindexing.org (sorry I don't know how to create links) and get started. Be sure to go through the training and be warned...this is addicting.

But what a thing to be addicted too! Temple work, geneology...it's good stuff.

My goal is one batch a month.

I will report back!

Starting on New Years Resolutions

I'm not very good and setting and sticking with a goal for a whole year. I have found however, that if I am working on that goal with someone else...I tend to do a little better.

Since we got married we have had a budget. In the earlier years I was really good at sticking to it because it was all there was. Over the last couple of years I have had Reed write up the budget in excel so that it was right there and automatically calculated everything for me. He began recording and going over it with me sometime last year...and I have since been much better at inserting #'s from receipts. That is one of my goals this year...to record everything purchased...to keep track and for a record.

Another is to go to the temple every month. It's one of those goals that is doable, but takes planning. It's also one of those goals that is easier to do if you are both working toward it. Another thing that we have going for us in this goal is an easy to find babysitter!

I have wanted to organize the garage for some time. I want everything on shelves or hanging. I want to be able to go out and sweep up easily on a weekly basis. Aside from the aesthetics of it, I want to keep the spiders and any varmints at bay. This is the one I started on today. I have been thinking a lot about it for quite a while...what way would work best to store bikes in the winter, hang chairs and get big long tables out of the way. Today was phase one. I purchased two big plastic containers and put summer stuff in one and tarps in the other (note to self, and Reed, we don't need any tarps). I then put the little garbage cans on top of these. These garbage cans will hold garbage and recycling until we dump them in the big ones outside. I got everything but the chairs off the floor, and I pinpointed where we can hand the bikes. I can now easily get in and out of my car as well as easily get to the freezer. There may be another 5 phases to this one...but I am determined!

Daily Scripture is study is another goal of mine. I seem to run into the same problems each time...not having a set time to do it, and not having a set thing to read. I have made a schedule for myself that I hope will work and I really think it will have to be an evening thing...mornings are too crazy. My schedule is Monday: FHE lesson prep, Tuesday: 20 minutes Book of Mormon, Wednesday is the same, Thursday: Sunday School Lesson, Friday is Sunday school reading, Saturday and Sunday are RS Lesson. I may have to tweak this a little, and I will definitely have to have everything in a certain place to make it doable...but again, I am determined! I would love to hear if you have found something that works for you.

I talked to a friend recently who keeps an excellent blog. For Christmas her husband had it all printed and bound in a book for around $47. So this year I have to decided to keep a record here. Hopefully with better journaling then usual, and with lots of pictures. I haven't really set a daily goal for this, but in reality there is probably something I could add daily, even if little, and I also hope this encourages me to take more pictures (I haven't been very good lately).

So that's what happens

(a new trend in sledding...comfortably sledding on items from your front room)

After our wonderful day out on the snow H started in on a cold. Last night she was up all night with the croup.

With the other kids this was no big deal...but last March she ended up in the hospital with it. As her breathing became more labored through the night I worried more. R and I took turns holding her in the rocker. It was a long night, but I felt so bad for her.



(This is March 2007)
The breathing got better when we held her. And while she still has a nasty cough...it's not to seal sounding today...and her breathing has gotten worse, so I am hopeful that she will be able to fight it off on her own.


In other news...the oldest two start basketball. M's first game is this Saturday. J's is next. She will get at least one practice in before her game. We were nervous because she missed her first practice and we weren't sure if they would get another one in and she has never played before. I started playing basketball in 5th grade and really enjoyed it. I know her love is soccer, but this will be a fun way to stay in touch with friends from her old school. Same with M.

New Years Day

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We didn't make any plans for New Years Day. Perhaps a drive up the canyon. Just a lazy hangout type day. We rolled out of bed around 9am. We received a call soon after though. "What are you guys doing today?" It was the Cousins and they were ready to head out sledding to a hill near their home.



We whipped out the snow clothes (luckily R had them all organized in bags in each of their rooms) and headed North. We were expecting a little hill...similar to the one in our back yard. But this one was grand. Wide and long. We brought all our kids and they brought the 3 oldest boys (while the younger 2 were napping). I didn't think H would last long.


For 4 hours they went down and climbed back up. Stopping only a moment to drink the hot chocolate and get a little snack that my sister had been so smart to think to send.

It was great.

They came over later to help us finish up the New Years Eve left overs and hang out.

What a great day!

A big day

Yesterday was a big day. We buried Grandpa and welcomed in a new year.
Grandpa (or GGG as he was affectionately known by the great grandkids) was ready to go. At 89 years of age he had lived a good long life. His health, particularly his memory, had begun to fail him over the last year. My diligent mother and her siblings continued to care for him. He was in a care facility at the time of his death.

What a great man. I remember him always being there with grandma: birthday parties, the temple, mission farewells. Our family really likes to celebrate and Grandma and Grandpa were always there. Grandpa always had a good story. At one point he and his sister sat down and wrote their history together. What an amazing gift to leave us! He was always a kind man. He decided early on in his marriage that it took 2 to fight...and he wasn't going to be one of them. Grandma and Grandpa never fought.

I will miss his jolly laugh and big grin. I will miss his big hands shaking those of my grandkids. I will miss his presence. But I am grateful to know I will see him again. I am grateful to know he is in a good place having a grand reunion with those who have gone before!

The funeral was beautiful. The snow held up for just a moment while the grave site was dedicated, and then it poured down.


Later that evening we had our New Years Party. Family and a few friends came and we enjoyed absolutely too much delicious food and some lively (and loud) games.

A tradition about 3 years in the making now, is to have fondue for New Years Eve. The first time we did this we set up 3 fondue pots on each table with Cheese, Oil and Chocolate in them. Delicious, but too much work. The next year we did cheese and chocolate, up to the bar...so it was more of a dish it up and then dip it at your table kind of thing. We found that to work well and so that is what we did this year too. The platter for dipping in the cheese fondue consisted of the most delicious asian pears , peas, broccoli, cauliflower, bread, zucchini (unexpectedly good), and jicama. The platter to dip in the chocolate fondue was filled with oreos, pretzels, pink marshmallows, regular marshmallows, rice krispy treats, angel food cake, sandwich cookies (milanos or something fancy like that). All of this would seem enough...but not for us. We had appetizers to boot: little smokies, meatballs, Jalepeno poppers, shrimp, cheese sticks (the breaded and fried kind), taquitos, pot stickers, spring rolls, and a cracker and cheese platter. Then the most delicious cake with real whipped topping. So much to choose from, and as usual, so many left overs.

We played the great del moody and apples to apples, as well as a new game "fast sunday" where you build ice cream sundays. The kids were excited and there volume was unbelievable...I finally pulled out that cotton balls. It was lots of fun. We celebrated with the Arizonians and a few stuck around to celebrate at the real midnight.