He's Nice, But Scary.

I'm talking about Santa.  This year Grace and I were so excited to go to Fesitival of Trees with Kelli and Alleah.  Kelli insisted on Alleah getting a photo with Santa.  I figured I might as well do the same for Grace.  She has NEVER met the Jolly of Fella before.  I'm not sure how she was going to react.  She did great though.  Out of nervousness and unsure of customs, Grace went straight in for a hug.  I was slow on my trigger finger and missed the full on hug.  It was really cute.

I loved walking through all the Decorated trees.  A huge theme this year was Red and Lime Green ornaments.  Gorgeous! 


Grace coming out of the hug with Santa.  
You can see she's a little unsure of the Big Guy dressed in Red.



Forcing a happy smile.






I love how she's taking him all in.
Grace requested a baby doll for Christmas.



Goofy Girls.



There was no to the goofing.



A tradition at the Fesitival of Trees: Cinnamon Rolls and Scones.  
Delicious!!



Me and my Baby!!

Annika's first Piano Recital

Over the summer I realized that Annika took quite an interest in the piano. She sat with Grandma Pat and picked up tunes very quickly. When we would go back the following week she had remembered what she learned and played it again and again. I approached my next door neighbor who teaches piano lessons. I offered to teach her cooking lessons in exchange for piano lessons for Annika. I am so grateful to Carmen for being so willing to help.
Annika already knows tons more then I do. She does a great job for only taking lessons for 4 months. I am very proud of her and can't wait to see where she takes this talent.


Waiting patiently for the program to begin.




Fiddling with her book. Must be nerves.



After her performance.



A close up of that cute face.



A close up of that cute headband I made just minutes before.


Here is her performance.  I realize we still have a long ways to go.  Practice, practice, practice.  She did a wonderful job!!

Christmas Cheer

As tradition goes, the day after Thanksgiving we set up all the Christmas decorations.  We start with the tree.  This, of course, takes the longest.  Especially since I have to go up every bough with lights.  That makes for a lot of lights and a lot of time.  But in the end, it's so worth it.  Seeing the tree light up so bright brings the Christmas spirit more then anything else.  I love it!! 



Our tree is always adorned with Hand Made ornaments.  This tradition started years and years ago when Brent started receiving ornaments from his Grandma.  She continued to make them for her Grandkids and Great Grandkids up until a few years ago when Parkinson's took too much of her.  This is not my first choice of decorations.  But It's Tradition.  The kids love it when the ornament boxes get pulled out and they see their pile of ornaments grow.  This tradition was started so when the kids got married they would have something to decorate their own trees with.  I have to admit, it was nice to have something, and it had a lot of memory attached to it for Brent.



My contribution to the Decorations. 


I love filling the garland with ornaments and lights.



This is Grace's 2nd Christmas and I finally made her a stocking.  Her's is Unique. 


All the stockings, hung with great care and love.

Girls and their Clothes

Grace is at that stage where she wants to wear certain outfits. Most of them include skirts or shorts which are not conducive to the cold weather.  I've had to resort to hiding said items to help keep weather appropriate clothing on her.  One of Grace's favorite things to do these days is to change her outfit after getting up from her nap.  Now that she can climb out of her crib I don't always know that she has done this.  The other day she came downstairs wearing this awesome outfit.

The top is in fact a DRESS for a one year old.  She pulls it off like a empire shirt.  I have NO idea how she squeezed into it either.  It took some skill on my part to actually get the buttons undone and peel it off of her.  Silly thing.


The hat is cute too, right?


This photo displays how tight the dress is around the chest area!
So stinking funny!

Tooting my own Horn

Today I can say that I attended the Temple every single month this year.  Yay Me!!  This is a huge accomplishment which deserves a big pat on the back.  In the past I have always made it a goal to go once a month.  Things always seemed to get in the way.  Conflicts always came up, or I simply just didn't feel like going.  One of the driving forces in my success was Kelli.  We trade baby-sitting so we can go.  She would call at the beginning of the month to schedule out a day.  Sometimes I felt like telling her "No thanks, not for me this month."  But I knew I had better go.  Like today.  There is so much for me to do at home, lots of preparation for my 12 days of Christmas.  But I got dressed and packed Grace up for a visit to Alleah's.  When I got to the Temple, the line for what I had planned on attending was the longest I have encountered this whole year.  I could have turned around and went out the doors and back home.  I was there, I was going to make good use of my time.  I changed plans and stayed.  I am so glad that I did.  Nothing big happened.  No grand revelation was revealed to me.  I just had a sense of accomplishment as I walked out the doors. 

There are very few things in this life that I voluntarily follow through with.  Very few things that I set a goal, and reach it.  I can now proudly say that I went to the Temple every single month for the 2010 year. 

I felt like I was getting applauded today too.  This is going to sound super silly.  Have you ever heard Thunder in December?  I did today, as I was walking outside.  The Heavens were happy that I stuck to my goal. 

The Christmas Quilt: #5

This year I chose to go with the traditional Christmas colors: Red, Green and White. This quilt was a pain in the butt to put together. The pattern was easy enough. I learned a valuable lesson this year: Remember to measure 1/4 inch from your needle out. This will insure exactness and squareness. I realized, after talking with my Aunt Gaye, that I probably had a 1/2 seam which made my squares smaller and didn't measure up with the pre-cut strips. After tugging, and pulling, and stretching to the point of tears I was ready to be done with Christmas quilts forever. Lesson learned. I will be smarter with the 1/4 seam.

Despite all my heart ache I really love how it turned out. I finished it in the nick of time to lay out on the 1st of December.

This year I changed it up a bit. Instead of me rotating the quilt every day I've turned that over to the kids. They get to choose a member of the family to serve and the recipient of the service also gets the quilt. So far, its a bust. I did the first act of service which was to make jaren's bed and clean up his floor. He struggles with this and so I knew it would be a good choice. Jaren struggled to find a really good service so he just made his Brother's bed. Beckham didn't want to serve cuz he'd rather play on the computer. I know your not suppose to use guilt, but it's the only way I could motivate the kid to get going this morning. He ended up cleaning up Annika's floor and writing her a note. It's like pulling teeth to get these kids to serve one another.

Another example of my best efforts blowing up in my face. Ugh! Hannah thinks there should be more thought put into the acts of service. I completely agree with her. I guess this is where my lack of communication comes into play. I think I explain things in lamen terms, but somehow my point never gets across. It's only been two days. Hopefully things will get better and the kids will get more creative.

Without further adou, This Year's Christmas Quilt:













It's always fun to lay out the Christmas quilt the first day.

This year my Mom also made all the kids Christmas pillowcases and a Tree skirt. So fun. Pictures to come.

Just for the sake of posterity I have to record what went on the first night. We were all gathered around and somehow the conversation turned to wieners. I'm not talking about the hot dog type either. Leave it to my husband to talk about wieners, he is definitely his father's son!! This same husband had the bright idea to put the dog up on the top bunk.  He thought this would just be hilarious.  I told him not to.  That idea is not the most brilliant one in the book.  He did it anyway.  He was on a roll.  I asked him what he would do if the dog decided to jump.  Catch him of course.  What ever shaking my head and rolling my eyes.  Roman, our cocker spaial just layed there a few minutes wagging his tail until he had enough.  He decided to jump down.  Guess who WASN'T there to catch him.  Brent just watched him jump.  The poor thing hit his head hard on the ground.  He stood up, moved really slowly, and proceeded to lose all balance.  Brent cries, "Oh CRAP!!"  And I exclaim, " I TOLD YOU NOT TO DO THAT!!"  Brent guides the dizzy dog to his bed, gets him to lay down and pets him into calmness.  Why does it feel like I'm raising 7 kids and not just 6?

Quilts of Christmas Past:

Quilt 1: 2006


Quilt 2: 2007


Quilt 3: 2008


Quilt 4: 2009

Mother of a Teen; AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

Well, it finally happened.  My first born turned 13 on the 28th of November.  Making him a teenager and me the mother of a teen.  Allow me to reminisce for a few paragraphs.

I remember going to a delivery prep class at the hospital a few weeks before Jaren was to be born.  The woman asked us all there when we were due.  She exclaimed we would all be having Thanksgiving babies.  I was like, what ever.  This baby isn't coming any where near Thanksgiving.  I then went to the Dr. on my due date and he proceeded to tell me that I wouldn't have this baby for another week.  Devastated is what I was.  He stripped my membranes, which by the way was the most painful experience to that point, and told me I could prove him wrong.  He informed me that I could experience some cramping from his vigorous hand up my v-jj.    Off to home we went.  The next morning was indeed Thanksgiving.  Brent went off to play football and I woke up to cramps.  Or at least what I thought was cramps.  They bothered me all morning long and into the afternoon.  We had Thanksgiving at my parents house and my Mom kept on insisting that I was probably in labor.  The cramps came every 12 minutes, then every 10.  Maybe I was in labor.  I knew I wasn't suppose to eat anything so my meal was pretty meager that year.  In an effort to keep the contractions going my Mom, sister Jessica, and I went on a walk.  Above my parents house is a tremendously steep road.  We decided to attempt that hill.  I beat both my Mom and Sis. 9 months pregnant and in labor.  I am very proud of that story.

The evening progressed and so did my contractions.  They were now 5 minutes apart and getting difficult to talk through.  At 11:30pm we decided to head to the hospital.  We called both our parents informing them of their soon to be Grandparenthood.  Soon I was in the standard Hospital gown with all the monitors hooked up to me.  I really wanted to get the epidural.  I had to wait an hour to make sure I was really in labor.  Of course I was and in the mean time had to suffer through terrible back labor.  It was not fun.  I was relieved when I finally go the epidural and could finally relax.  My Mom and Sister were both present for Jaren's birth.  Of course, Brent was there too.  While in the middle of delivering the stinking Doctor took a phone call!!  Yes, with my legs spread eagle and in stirrups, she took a phone call.  What the heck?  Really?  Jaren finally arrived and they quickly placed his perfect little body on my stomach.  I remember his tiny arms flailing along with spread fingers and thought to myself, "He looks just like Brent!!"  He was an instant Mini Me. 

There is nothing more spiritual or miraculous then giving birth.  The quiet that proceeds from being alone in the hospital gives one to reflect on that spiritual experience and how you never want that spirit to be interrupted.  And then you go home and life goes on.  The world around finds a way to sneak in through, radio and t.v.   I never wanted to t.v. on, or the radio.  At that time we didn't have much of a computer or the internet.  I just wanted to quiet peace to continue forever.

That is the birth story of Jaren Elijah.

Jaren was able to celebrate his 13th birthday on 3 different occasions.  Once with the Woods', once with the Weiss' and finally on his real birthday with just our family.  I labored to make him a quilt for his bed, and ended up painting stripes in his room.

I am very proud of Jaren.  He is a wonderful son who shows tremendous responsibility and desire to do good.  He honors his priesthood and does a great job with his church calling as Deacon President.  At home Jaren is happy and always ready to tease me or any one else for that matter.  Jaren is a blessing to me and our home.  I can't wait to see what this year brings for him.



Opening a present.
Sweet wrapping job done by Hannah.



Jaren with both his presents, lego game and quilt to fit his twin size bed.



I think Grace was more excited about the gifts then Jaren was.
She is just so cute!