Our Family

A few pictures...all of these were taken in November by my friend Erin, an amazing photographer! She's so talented!

Christmas 2008

It isn't entirely over yet, but the "big bang" part of the holiday has come and gone. It was a little different this year, since my parents weren't here. I can only think of two Christmases in the last 17 years that we haven't spent with my parents and we all missed them. The girls even commented that it didn't seem like Christmas without Grandma and Papa here. We're excited for them to come home tomorrow, but we're happy they've had a wonderful visit with my sister and her family and my brother in Alaska (although they've been much colder than we have...it's been shirt sleeve weather all week!).

I'm proud to announce that my Christmas cards were actually mailed before Christmas this year. OK, so they got mailed on Christmas Eve. Technically, that counts as "before Christmas." LOL Maybe next year they'll get mailed earlier than that. I'm working on it!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We got a Wii and lots of games, and the girls got Nintendo DS's with lots of games. I have to put in a plug for the Personal Chef game -- we made a recipe from it last night and it was really good! Brain Age 2 and Crosswords have also been a huge hit. The favorite Wii game so far is Mario Kart (although I can't drive that darn thing to save my life!). The girls tried the Dancing with the Stars game last night and had a great time -- it's a good workout and we laughed and laughed and laughed.

DH and I ventured out yesterday morning to do some returns and found no lines in the stores (two people in front of me in one store but I didn't even wait 2 minutes)...none of the insanity I have come to expect on the day after Christmas. Then yesterday afternoon the girls and I went to the grocery store and stopped in at Target. Oh my goodness. It was a madhouse! Apparently everyone slept in yesterday and waited to hit the day after sales until afternoon. I was proud of myself for not buying any wrapping paper, gift boxes, gift bags, or tags -- I didn't even make a tiny dent in my stash this year!

I haven't been in to the office all week -- haven't even called in -- and it's been nice. I'm thinking about going by the office today to clean out my e-mail inbox...not to respond to anything, but just clean out the junk. I get the dreaded "your mailbox is over the allotted size" message every day and just thinking about how much stuff will be waiting for me when I go back to work in January is scary!

We're enjoying spending time together and just relaxing. Nothing has gotten done around the house (so much for my big plans of getting the house cleaned and organized while I was off work for two weeks!) but we've just been hanging out. I think it's important to do that, and especially important to do that together as a family. We've been eating lots of cookies (gotta love Pillsbury ready to bake cookies) and just spending time together.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful, happy Christmas filled with family, friends, fun, laughter, and love!

A Christmas Miracle

In the Everly Brothers song, "Unchained Melody," the lyric says that "time goes by so slowly..."...well, not in our world! I just realized that today is December 20.y goodness. December 20. SO much to do before Christmas comes!

It has been one heck of a roller coaster week. On Wednesday, we got the absolutely devastating news that my sister M's foster daughter, Adorable, was going to have to go with her biological mother into a drug rehab center shortly after Christmas, the first step to possibly losing her back to her parents (sadly, that would not be the best situation for Adorable). We have all become so attached to Adorable and feel so strongly that she is meant to be part of M and B's family. We were all devasted -- no one more than M and her husband. Imagine spending your first Christmas with your daughter, with the knowledge hanging over your head that shortly after Christmas you would be losing her. I know how much my heart ached at the news...and I know M and B were is much more pain than I was.

Many, many, many prayers were said -- by family, friends, and even dear friends who have never met my sister. My fried Gena sent me the most touching, fervent, heartfelt prayer in M and B's behalf. We are so thankful for all of those prayers...

Because, 23 hours later, M and B received their own Christmas miracle. We know that God still works miracles, and he worked one in our family. As a result of actions on the part of Adorable's biological mother, she will not be entering the inpatient drug rehab center and the caseworker will be asking the judge to move towards adoption (by M and B) instead of family reunification. They have gone from being a few steps from losing their daughter (yes, we all think of Adorable as their daughter already) to being much closer to having her as part of their eternal family.

I am reminded now, in a very personal way, of the first Christmas miracle. That miracle, too, involved a child. A child who came willingly to this earth, in the humblest of circumstances, to teach us the way back to our Heavenly Father, and to willingly give up his life so that we could all have the gift of eternal life. How grateful I am for that first Christmas miracle...and for the Christmas miracle our Heavenly Father has bestowed on our family.

It won't matter if the gifts don't get wrapped, if the cookies don't get baked, if the cards get mailed late. What matters is that we remember the true meaning of Christmas and focus on that. What matters is that we show Heavenly Father through our actions that we remember and understand the importance of that first Christmas miracle.

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill to men."

December Comes too Fast...

It's December 1st already. It seems that I just barely got used to writing 2008 instead of 2007, and now it's almost time to start 2009. The older I get, the faster time goes by. When I was younger it seemed that Christmas would never come, and now that I'm an adult it seems to sneak up on me. So much to do!

All of the family who came in for Thanksgiving are gone now. It was so wonderful to see my sister and her husband and their foster daughter. She is so adorable! It was fun having two 2 1/2 year olds in my parents' house -- they got along really well (at least when I was around). It was also wonderful to see my grandfather and his wife. It saddens me that his health has declined, but he is still so sharp mentally. He really is one of the smartest people I know. It's always neat when family comes to visit and I'm sad when they leave.

I am hoping to be able to focus more on the meaning of Christmas this year and less on the commercial, materialistic side of the holiday. I need to spend more time thinking about why we celebrate the special holiday and about the miraculous blessing of the Savior's birth.

It's time to rearrange furniture in the living room and set up the Christmas tree...hang the stockings and lights...deck the halls...all of that. It's now "legal" (in my book) to listen to Christmas music and read Christmas-y story books (I have several and I love them). I am looking forward to sitting in the living room in the glow of the tree lights and just looking at it. It's so peaceful to do that -- one of my favorite things about Christmas is just sitting in the glow of the tree lights at night when it's quiet.

We are working on a Christmas cantata at church (I play the piano for the church choir). It is "First Christmas in Bethlehem/First Christmas in Zarahemla." One of my favorite parts of the Christmas story is the Wise Men...thinking about how they watched and waited and watched and waited for the sign of the Savior's birth, and then followed it. Action -- they took action. They didn't just see the star and say, "Gosh, there's the sign. Isn't that nice?" They did something -- they followed the star and went to find the Savior. I was thinking about that last night and today -- I am fortunate to have a strong testimony of the gospel and faith in the Savior...I have "seen the star", metaphorically speaking. But am I following it every day? Am I taking those actions I need to take in order to "find" the Savior? To become more Christ-like, a little more every day? Sadly, the answer is no. I need to work on that.

Another part of the Christmas story that I love is the angels who appeared to the shepherds...the singing. I like to think that I was there -- who knows, maybe they needed a pianist, because I certainly don't think my voice is fit for a heavenly choir! LOL But I like to think that I was there -- that I sang with joy at the Savior's birth.

Music is such an integral part of Christmas to me. So on this first day of December, my first gratitude of the Christmas season is music. I feel the Spirit more strongly through music, and find it easier to express my feelings through music than other ways. Feeling angry? Play something dark and stormy. Happy? Something light that moves quickly. Sad? Moonlight Sonata. Excited? Definitely fast and bouncy. I can't help but move and dance when I hear music. Music conveys thoughts, feelings, and emotions that I can't always easily put into words.

And so, to close this entry, I close with the words of those heavenly angels on that night so long ago -- which I am sure they were singing with all their might:

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

When it Rains...

Why yes, it has been raining here today!

This morning, my grandmother took all of the "grown up girls" and my two daughters and we went to the nail salon for pedicures. It was so much fun, and so relaxing! We had a good time. We won't talk about the fact that I really, really, really don't like the way my toes are painted (why did I let her talk me into a french manicure on my toes? I never like the way it looks) or the fact that she cut my toenails on my big toes too short and now they hurt. *Sigh* If I had known we were going to get pedicures this weekend, I wouldn't have cut my toenails a few days ago. LOL Doesn't it always go that way?

Then we went to lunch at Olive Garden. I love Olive Garden! Unfortunately, just after the salad and breadsticks arrived, Adorable (my sister's foster daughter) decided to throw up...all over poor A (the biggest germophobe you'll ever meet) and in my handbag (how do you clean a Coach fabric handbag???)...poor Adorable...and poor A and B, both of whom immediately freaked out and started crying and carrying on. Granted, it was all over A's clothing. Kohl's to the rescue! There is a Kohl's right there by Olive Garden so I ran her over there quickly to buy a pair of jeans and a shirt...and we found out that she can now wear Levi's in a size 0! Yea -- we might be almost done buying size 00 from a catalog!! Adorable is fine and I am sure A and B will recover from the trauma at some point in time. Although I'm pretty sure A may never have children of her own...ROTFLOL! As for my handbag, it will be no worse for the wear, I'm sure.

After that I went to the church to practice the music for our upcoming Christmas cantata at church. We're doing a cantata that I have loved for years and I am really, really excited about it. Just playing the music makes me happy and helps me feel the Christmas spirit. I enjoyed that.

Right now, DH and A are at a car dealership talking about pricing for a new car. Nothing is decided yet, although we definitely need a new (or newer) car and now is a good time to pursue that. I have discovered that my car insurance company has a car buying service with pre-negotiated prices, so no haggling is required. Gotta love that! Now to decide what kind of car...we're looking at a Honda and a Toyota. We looked into used cars but with the sales and incentives right now, a 3-4 year old car with under 50,000 miles is only about $2000 less than the same car, but new. And the new cars have, in general, better financing. The question is this: will the dealership be willing to come down on the price of the Honda? If not, then I think we'll go with the Toyota. Honestly, I will be perfectly happy with either of them. So DH is off dealing with them...I'll step in with my "contracting officer" skills if needed (since that's what I do for a living for the Government). But I'd really rather not have to deal with all of it. I'm happy to let DH do it. We'll see how it all turns out.

Yesterday we bought a new Christmas tree and I'm looking forward to setting it up and decorating the house. It will be interesting to see how Sadie, our puppy, reacts to the tree. Abby, our other dog, never bothers the tree or the gifts. I have a feeling that Sadie will be a bit of a challenge.

Christmas really is just around the corner!

Blessings

Thanskgiving has passed...It was a wonderful day. We were able to spend the day with my parents, grandparents, and two sisters and their families, and then my parents' neighbors came over for dinner. It was a full house -- lots of people, laughter, love...it was fun. And, of course, the food was fabulous. Our contribution to the meal was homemade dinner rolls, frozen cranberry salad (yummy!) and desserts (pumpkin pie, cherry pie, apple pie - all from the store, and a homemade pumpkin cheesecake). As always, there was way too much food. That's o.k. because I love Thanksgiving leftovers the day after Thanksgiving!

I have thought much about my blessings in the last few days...the times when I find myself feeling sorry for what I don't have, I am trying to remind myself to be grateful for what I do have -- a husband who doesn't mind cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms and does it willingly and without being asked...two daughters who are (usually) sweet, kind, helpful, and fun to be with...a loving, close knit family...a great job that I enjoy...a church calling that I have grown to love (wasn't so sure about it at first)...the joy of the gospel...a warm home (well, when the thermostat isn't set at "arctic chill", LOL)...friends...

And now it's on to Christmas. My Mom, sister M, and I braved the Black Friday crowds this morning at 5 a.m. Mom and M found everything they were looking for. I did not. Darn! We were only gone for 2 hours -- that's a Black Friday record for me. Everyone said the sales were going to be fabulous this year, but I just didn't find the items I wanted on sale, or else they weren't in stock. I did get DH a fabulous combined Christmas/anniversary gift so I'm excited about that. A and I went out a little while ago and bought a new Christmas tree, so it will be fun to get that set up and decorated. Later today the girls and I will go to the mall and browse and shop. They're fun to spend time with and they are both old enough now to truly understand and appreciate this special holiday. I'm looking forward to it.

I have much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Week

Wow, Thanksgiving week is here! It seems like it was just Halloween...now Thanksgiving...and Christmas is just around the corner. (Or in front of the corner, if you look around at all of the decorations already up...Christmas music already playing 24/7 on the radio...and the fact that B had her Christmas piano recital last Saturday!)

This should be a wonderful, fun week. My Dad's parents are here and my sister M, her husband, and little Adorable (their foster daughter) arrive tomorrow. Please keep Adorable in your prayers as she has a stomach virus today and we really want her to feel better to fly down here tomorrow! And on that note, keep me in your prayers, too -- I haven't been feeling well at all today. Not an auspicious start to the week.

And of course, what Thanksgiving week would be complete without Black Friday? My favorite shopping day of the year! I know, some people think I'm crazy. But I love it.

Gratitudes for today:

-I taught all of the young women at church yesterday and it went really well.
-The fine for the speeding ticket isn't as bad as I expected.
-My job interview last week went really well (just waiting on the outcome).
-We get to spend Thanksgiving surrounded by family and way more food than we could ever eat.
-DH cleaned the kitchen (well, most of it) and the girls' bathroom. Yea!