Merry Christmas!!!!

Times like this are when blogging feels a little overwhelming. I want to write about the good times and the hard, but I don't always know how to put it into words. So, I will put up a few pictures.

Top 11 moments of vacation (good and bad!) so far...

1. Bryce screaming for hours in the car.
2. Visiting with a good friend who I have met through this blogging world, and getting to go for a run with her.

3. Taking Emily and her 2 sweet cousins to Nutcracker and watching Emily's face as she dreams of being on stage.

4. Bowling with the fam.

5. Watching Bryce very happy with family around- also watching him dive bomb off everthing-the couch, the pack n play, the bed, you name it!
6. Playing in the snow with kids.

7. Teaming with Erik and beating Jeff and Tony at Taboo.
8. Getting beat by Jeff at Settler's and Chess.
9. Going for 2 runs with Jeff.
10. Enjoying Christmas with the whole family-just being together. (All my siblings and their families are here.)

11. Knowing that there is one person missing.
I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas. I am glad to be reminded of the most important things:family and friends. I am grateful to remember the Savior and that he made it possible for me to be with my loved ones forever.

Edited to add: I am not sure why all the pictures were blurry. They looked great before I resized them!

The Locals are getting Restless...

This was my day today. (Snow Day #4)

I am the Scholastic book lady for Dallin's class. The books for December arrived at the school on Monday. Problem-we haven't been in school for 3 days. Dallin's nice principal drove them to my house today, so I have less than 24 hours to get them out to everyone before I leave. (There aren't too many books, not a huge deal.) So, as I am typing up the orders, I leave Bryce alone, where I don't realize he has access to the art closet. This is what I find.
Then, later in the day I decide to try to be craftsy with my kids and we follow Sarah's idea and attempt ornaments and nativities. It went alright. The dough was crumbly (which I couldn't figure out how to fix) so it wasn't that easy for the kids to work with. They did however manage a cute Pikachu and Mermaid figure! I would give me a B- for this project.

Last thing. Neighbor gifts. I have the bags and tags and I really wanted to make candy. We decided to make peanut butter balls. We had a really fun time, except I messed up the chocolate somehow and the dipping didn't quite work. So, we decided to give it up this year. Neighbors and friends, if you are reading this, we love you, it just didn't happen this year. We tried! I get at least a D for effort on this one.

One of the reasons we are dropping cable

We had Dish Network when we first moved to Oregon 8 years ago. We realized pretty quickly that we would watch too much TV. So, we canceled it and went to rabbit ears. This worked very well, and in fact when we bought Tivo 4 years ago the joke was that we were Tivo'ing local channels! We finally moved up to the $10 basic cable. Dallin has been begging us for "Cartoon Network" and when we bought FIOS because our DSL wasn't working, we thought it wouldn't be much more for cable. So, we have enjoyed it for 2 months. The kids have loved it, and I will admit, I have enjoyed my little obsession show, "What not to Wear."

The fact is, I feel like all I do is fight the kids to do anything else but watch TV. (It doesn't help that the snowstorm forced us inside for the last 4 days straight!) We are also trying to follow the Total Money Makeover and of course cable has ended up costing more than they said. So, we decided to cancel it. The kids are disappointed, but I am excited for them to learn something other than the Pokemon theme song.

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Dallin has spent hours this weekend making snowflakes and taping them up all over our house. His teacher had told the class that the more snowflakes you had up, the better chance you had that it would snow.

Well, it really doesn't snow much where we live. Weather forecasters said there was a chance of snow this weekend, but you never know.

This morning, Dallin ran into our room saying, "I told you it would work! It's snowing!" So, we found out church was cancelled and we pulled some version of snow clothes together and headed outside. Bryce loved the sled that is his side. Dallin and Emily just loved playing. I am sure we will be out there later to build a snowman.

Weekend Update

As you can imagine, it was wonderful spending time with good friends this weekend. Even time on the plane was nice for reflection and rest! I am grateful that Jeff was so supportive of my quick trip! Spending so much time in the temple was such a blessing. But, don't even think it was spent hanging out by the pool and on the strip! First off, I was teased all weekend because I wore shorts, capris and sandals even though it was c-0-l-d! I was hoping the weather report was wrong and I assumed it would be sunny in Vegas. Luckily, Saturday, the day of the wedding was gorgeous! It was a busy weekend, and I so enjoyed helping Laura get ready for her big day. She was glowing and beautiful. I am so happy for her and James. It was great to reminisce with Joni also. She is a fabulous photographer and did Laura's bridal pics. The 3 of us were inseparable for many years in junior high and high school so it was great remembering how well we get along and how much fun we have together. It is nice to see everyone's dreams getting realized, even with hard times along the way.

(So, did you notice the before and after pics of my haircut? Let me know what you think!)

I also did meet up for a run with Brittany. On only 3 hours of sleep, I am sure I was not the best running buddy, but it was great. I really do miss her and our early morning conversations. Move back, Brittany!
My kids seemed happy to see me, as did Jeff. Only Bryce wouldn't acknowledge my existence at first. :-) Sunday was just recovery day and then Monday night we went with good friends to downtown Portland for some Christmas fun. I love watching the kids run around together. We had a very nice time.


(Bryce loved the miniature train! Hopefully now some of our Thomas trains will be played with again.)

Unfortunately, my camera is not doing well right now, so the pics are very grainy. I hope Santa brings us a camera!

On my own...

...thinking about it, I don't really know what to do. I will be heading on a plane by myself in a few hours. I am very excited to witness the wedding of one of my dearest friends. I am so happy for Laura and James and grateful to be able to share this with them.

Thanks to good friends for watching the kids, and Jeff for being supportive!
I will also get to meet up with friends from high school, a good friend from college and one of my favorite running friends!
Here's to a fun weekend!