Temple Progress

We took a detour on our way to church yesterday and visited the new temple site. It was so fun to see! It's really progressed a lot since we last saw it.


We feel so blessed to have a new temple built right in our city. The kids are already looking forward to the open house :)

I also wanted to report that my calling is going much better. Like the temple, I'm still a work in progress, but I am enjoying it now. My primary kids know the new song, all 3 verses forwards and backwards thanks to fun games I've found on some chorister blogs. Thank goodness for creative people...and internet access! We started February's song, "Choose the Right", yesterday and my kids were singing it after we were home from church and that made me happy. Hopefully it's sticking with other kids too.

Happy 100 Days!

Some days I feel like I'm going to elementary school all over again right along with these kids, but they are working so hard this year and I'm really proud of them. :)

Life Swap

I have a friend who's a great shopping buddy and also likes to bring up deep conversational topics. On our last outing we talked a lot about life. Like daily routines (ie spending half the day carpooling kids around)- why do we do them? We're both, in our world of mommy-hood, longing for new experiences and seeing new pieces of the world. It really does feel shameful to live in one place and never leave. She has all her family here so doesn't even get to see California and Utah repeatedly like I do. She asked why I thought everyone falls into what's supposed to be the idyllic life: succeed in school, go to college, get a nice job (or marry someone with a nice job), put down roots, and raise a family. I started pondering on why I did those things and if I regret any of those decisions. Basically it only took a moment for me to realize I didn't. I LOVED college, LOVE being married, I always wanted to be a mommy and feel blessed to have my sweet-peas everyday of my life. The only thing I'm really mixed on is the "roots" part. If we really wanted to, we could move anywhere on this beautiful Earth. Dana could look for new job somewhere else, we could sell our house and go. It's so exciting just to think about! I would love to live on the east coast for awhile just to see what it's like. Wouldn't it be cool if our society had a "life swap" program? Another family could see how great it is to live in our area and we could try out their lives for a bit...maybe 6 mos. Then our longing for adventure and change could be satisfied. The job aspect would be tricky but maybe if you found someone who did basically the same thing you did...anyone with me? :)

Please don't think I'm in any way ungrateful for my wonderful life. Sometimes you just feel like having a little adventure.

P.S.These thoughts may not be completely unrelated to seeing my sister having awesome new adventures in Italy.

Big Stories at Our House

I registered someone for Kindergarten today...I'm trying to wrap my mind around that one.
Holly had her first piano lesson. She LOVES it so far (she's told me so herself 3+ times). It worked out great because while Miranda's in Italy, we get to borrow her keyboard, giving us 6 months to find a real piano. Holly also just began gymnastics and Sadie's taking a little hiatus. (aka 2 girls in gymnastics=notinthebudget).
Dana had a BIG event at work he was in charge of. It was stressful and all consuming. He slept alot for 3 days or so afterward trying to recoup the hours he missed. It went great though and he got lots of kudos at work.
But, he still took the time afterward to take on a little project that Eli was begging him to help with. He amazes me at his willingness to do things like this all the time. Eli really wanted to make a trap. Dana looked on you tube and found a good one that wasn't too complex, and they built it together.
Of course immediately they started looking for willing subjects. Or even not so willing. Who's picky, really, when wanting to test out a new trap. Unfortunately, Pepper isn't one to be coerced and he would have no part of that bowl of tuna.
Onto poor Scout who is a helpless victim to his nose and stomach. He does not hesitate when there is unguarded food in the vicinity- whether there is a suspicious feeling in the air (brought on by a group of onlookers whispering and giggling) or not. Surprisingly, the trap actually works really well. He wasn't happy about it, but I have a feeling it was still worth it for him (later proven by the fact that he was "trapped" 3 more times).
The best subjects ended up being kids who want to get trapped. Repeatedly.
They've been having fun playing with it for a couple days now. I hope they know how lucky they are to have such a fun dad :)

I can't believe we're onto the second half of school already with 100 days of school right around the corner! I really like his school year and kinda want it to slow down.

Lastly, my calling. Let's just say I'm considering a prescription for anxiety pills.....

on second thought let's leave this perfectly good blog post alone :)

Utah

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our annual post-Christmas trip to Utah:

On our way to Vegas (very late) Sadie kept crying that she couldn't lay down. I was glad to see she worked it out... On our way to go sledding...
Got a little (lot) of help from Uncle Dean and Drew- just returned home from his mission.

Safe to say the kids had a GREAT time sledding. They all said it was their favorite part on our drive back home. Eli added "and presents".
It was beautiful. Cold, but not as cold as it usually is :)

Sadie, Holly, Eli
Holly, Laci, Emma

My favorite part was going to Salt Lake and seeing the lights. We never made it to the Mesa temple this year so it was perfect.
We went on NYE which is Dana's birthday. For the second year in a row I forgot his birthday for a few hours in the morning. I totally lose track of time on vacation. Yeah, I felt like an awesome wife. Luckily Dana is extremely sweet and forgiving and quite remarkable at looking past my flaws.

There happened to be free shows going on all over the place. This one was meant to be- bagpipes and Scottish dancers just for Dana! (He served his mission in Scotland). After a few pictures, I was told to put my camera away.
Last, our big group went to Yogurtland (my first time and better than expected) and when they closed we went over to Smashburger (also a first. Smash fries- YUM!). This is Dana's whole family besides Luke on his mission and Dale's wife Kim and daughter Rhianna.
Dana came and kissed me at midnight and I felt like a lucky girl ringing in 2012 with him. I got the kids from downstairs and handed them all pots and pans with spoons like I always did as a kid. They banged them outside and shivered in their pajamas and kept giving me looks like "now what?". I just smiled and yelled "Happy New Year"!!! Doesn't 2012 just sound like an awesome year?

Enlisting Help

For the past probably 5 years I've had the same NY's resolution. Okay, "Have more patience" is also always there, but that's a work in progress. And if I'm going to be honest with myself, it will probably always be on the list. But the one that's plagued me for the past few years is becoming a devoted scripture reader. Namely "Read personal scriptures everyday". We do family scripture study almost everyday and I'm grateful for it and I'm always hoping the kids are getting something out of it, but it's a little lacking in the "spiritual upliftment" area (probably another good thing to add to the list).

So, being a girl that likes accomplishing my goals (and tired of failure), I had a great idea for ensuring success. I asked Emma if she wanted to have scripture study with me every single night of the year-even on vacations. She'll be turning 12 in about a month and starting YW's so it will help start her on the right track with Personal Progress too! Pretty brilliant right?

So far, we've been loving our little one-on-one time at night :) I'm going to try and come up with ways to make it fun throughout the year. I know our testimonies will grow and I love knowing that this year, as she grows, changes, starts Jr High (!!it can't be!!), we'll always have quiet time at night to talk and reflect. Hopefully it will help us keep our close relationship (I was NOT a fun child at 12 and my mother can vouch for that). Also, help her maintain perspective and be spiritually armed for whatever comes her way.

I could always use more of that myself.

So I'll be reporting back in a year!

What's your resolution for 2012?

Their Favorites This Year...

Em's been wanting a scooter since her old one went missing like 6 months ago. This door alarm is actually pretty awesome. All his important things are well protected inside now and he loves catching a thief in the act.
Holly LOVES these horses (she begged for them for Christmas) and we've been reading the books they came with ever since.
Sadie wasn't expecting a bike but loves riding it and feels like a big girl :) ($20 Craigslist special including the helmet. Score!)
I heard a lot of "This was the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!"

My favorite...happy kids on Christmas morning!

P.S. Please no comments inquiring if I'm pregnant even though I look like it. Thanks :)

Christmas Eve 2011

It was so nice to finally get and to enjoy all the best parts of Christmas. Life slowed down once the kids were out of school. Oh yes- that was sooo nice :)

I took on Christmas Eve dinner (Amy took Christmas Day) this year. I decided on Fondue. I've only had fondue a couple times and never made it and I thought it'd be fun. It was a lot of preparation, partly because I had to get a lot of ingredients at the store, but really yummy once it was done. One of my best ideas for dipping was those little bite sized potatoes. Since we had so many people we kind of went in shifts. (aka, whomever was around started eating without informing the others it was ready.)And of course the chocolate was a big hit.
After that we all went to carol at a rest home facility in Amy's ward. The kids made pictures for them and passed them out. It seemed like they appreciated it and I really want to try to do that more often during the year.

For their Christmas Eve gift the kids were all so sure that they would get pj's (since they do 95% of the time). They had all really wanted "Pillow Pets" and seeing their pajama drawers stuffed full, I thought it might be a better option. They all loved them and were pleasantly surprised :)
After that we postponed the Nativity play since it was late (but then forgot the next day-oops) plus I had a TON of wrapping to do, and said good-bye to cousins. Then the kids got busy on Santa's cookies and milk.

Next the kids went to bed and tried to fall asleep as we tackled the mound of presents. Finally, after a lot of work and preparation...
We were ready for Christmas morning...

Here's to hopefully making it to 6 am!