Sweet 16!

Miss B is officially "sweet 16!"  Here are a few "sweet" memories of her through the years. 

  B was so tiny!  

We really had to STEP UP to be the wise, caring parents she needed. 

She was and is the "Apple of our Eye!"  

She has kept her cool with the many curve balls life has thrown her. 

...like surgeries.

She LOVES her dad and he LOVES her. 

Cheeeezzzzzzzze!  

We love her smile.

self-portrait

She sees the world in a different way. It's been good to see it through her eyes. 

She can make us laugh!

She keeps her head up.

Her smiles sparkle!

She's had to sort through the goop of life and find the sweetness.

I've been blessed to sail with her--

sometimes through stormy seas but also through beautiful vistas. 

We're so glad she's part of our eternal family.

She's our B. Doll!

We LOVE you, MISS B.  

You're One in a Minion!

Happy 16th Birthday!

 A charming charm bracelet for a young woman!

Brrrr...

I think there must have been lots of kids dreaming of a white Christmas--and no school--in our neck of the woods. Their dreams came true a little early when we heard ice pellets pinging our window all night and woke to icy snow blanketing our roadways, lawns, windows, and houses. And since ICE = NO SCHOOL here, we've been enjoying a peaceful day together.

 The boys can't get enough of the chunks of ice and go out to stomp through the hard ice snow. Then come in to warm up red finger tips and noses. Then back out they go. Then come in. Out. In. Out.

 Showing the chunks of ice they've been finding. 

And now a little catch-up...

During Thanksgiving Break we: 

*played games

*ate pie,  homemade pretzels, and salmon

*watched some movies

*played outside

*did a little Christmas shopping (NOT even close to being done!)  

 Some Christmas Elves got a little CRAZY!

*got into the Christmas Spirit by attending our community theater's performance of "A Christmas Carol." 

 My little family loves me, so they put on happy/tolerant faces when I excitedly told them about our opportunity to see "A Christmas Carol"in our old courthouse-turned-theater on the town square. We sat on old wooden chairs with pillow cushions (thankfully) while a gentleman in a Santa hat played the old organ throughout the performance. The theater was small and quaint and the performance was quaint and sweet. I loved it! I dare say my family enjoyed it too.

*Walked around our town square, enjoying the festivities like...

The Sledding Hill

Don't you dare laugh, our cold weather friends and family! 

Though I did. Yes, we need to take our kids "real" sledding. 

  

*took apart our computer to upgrade it, so it is now SPEEDY with lots of memory! 

Patient T, my own personal I.T. man.  He researched the process and diligently and quietly worked, saving us a bundle and keeping us technologically up-to-date!

And because I've been a blog bum...A few other happenings.

 X-man and T went with a whole gaggle of 5th graders on a science camp retreat for 3 days and 2 nights. They examined bugs, swung around on ropes, dug up fossils, became archer kings, stayed up late, slept in bunks, and came home happy and tired. I'm so glad T was able to spend this time with X-man. I know they both loved it!

 AHHHHHH, ahhhhhhhh, aaaaaaaaaaa!

Sweet kind boy!

L went on a field trip with his class and learned about our town's history. 

Here he is listening attentively to his school marm.

Now you are sorta up-to-date on us. 

Creepers & Skeletons Make Us Want to Run!

X-man always stretches my creativity when it comes to his Halloween costume. This year he wanted to be a Creeper from the computer game Minecraft.  I guess it creeps around at night and explodes. I do know it has an awful lot of pixelated greenish squares, because I painted those green squares until I wanted to explode! But my X-man was happy, so it was worth it.

 Creeper!

A Creeper AND a skeleton!  Ahhhhhhh!

Thankfully, we had the felt skeleton from a past year!

We had two Halloween parties to go to, one at T's work and our ward's dance/trunk or treat. We have bucket loads of candy and it isn't even Halloween yet!

L sockin' the Creeper.

 I'm guessing lots of kids want to sock the Creeper,

 because this happened all night--lots of kids coming up to touch, tap, pretend punch (thankfully) and hug the Creeper.

The boys skeleton and Creeper wandering through the grave yard!

SPOOKY!

T's work always does such a nice job on their Halloween party with games, food, and prizes.  

  

 Witches' fingers!

 Ummmm....tasty!

X-man won "The Most Creative Costume" award at the work party. He was so happy (and so was I!) He also won a tin of candy by guessing the nearest to the amount in the tin. More candy!

At the ward party and trunk or treat, Creeper found some more Minecraft friends: Stevie, and Enderman. I didn't know the character's names, but I was quickly informed.

Saturday morning nice and early we went and supported the local fun run. The money earned helps the school district with college scholarships. Many, many students participate.  T, X-man, L, and A all ran the fun mile. B and I were great cheerleaders!

 Before the run!

 Where's T??  

T had a great time photo bombing all the groups taking pictures with their phones.  I bet there will be a bunch of people wondering, "Who IS that guy in blue?" when they look closely at their pictures. I think he's a great candidate for teaching Photo Bombing 101. 

After the race! 

Girls' Weekend

A few months ago, I emailed T's sister, D, to catch up. I mentioned a fun weekend the girls and I had planned and wished she could be with us. She emailed me back that she could!! So that fun Girls' Weekend has happened. It was so nice to have our Aunt D with us. When the girls and X-man were little, we lived just down the road from her, so we got to play with her often. Now...we live a lot more than down the road from her!

I got to take D to have lunch with the boys at their school when she arrived. Then she, the girls, and I went to a Time Out for Women/Girls event and heard some really amazing people talk, and sing, and play violin. There were friends I hadn't gotten to see in a while there, so it was a treat to see them.

Being silly together!

Nice 'stache

The kiddos didn't have school on Monday, so D had a day with all of them. We wanted to go on a picnic and mini-golfing, but the rain changed that plan. We stayed in, played games, laughed, and visited.

Then Aunt D had to go home. There were tears all around and wishes that she lived closer and questions of why she had to go back home. So what if she needed to get home to her hubby, animals, job, and life the kiddos wanted her to stay FOREVER!

Thanks for coming Aunt D!  We miss you! 

Copy Cat and Conference!

My friend, R, found this great idea and shared it with me. It was so good I copied it. It worked so well for her family, she blogged about it.  It worked so well with our family that I'm blogging about it too. So I'm a copy cat, and there couldn't be a better person to copy than my friend, R!

General Conference was this past weekend. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we believe that God still speaks to His children through his authorized servants, his prophets and apostles, just as He did anciently. God spoke through prophets since the very beginning with Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Elijah. When Jesus Christ came to earth, He established His church with a prophet and 12 apostles. Sadly, but as foretold by ancient prophets and Jesus Christ himself, the apostles were all killed and the priesthood authority was taken from the earth.  In 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was fully restored with prophets and apostles as the foundation and Jesus Christ as the cornerstone and Head of His Church.

So in short, we get to listen to these men and their wise council right in our homes. We can even watch the conference again at www.lds.org.  This year, I put all the First Presidency with President Thomas S. Monson, our current prophet, and the 12 Apostles on our doors in our kitchen. Then after listening to them talk, we wrote down what we liked or what stood out to us on a sticky note and stuck it by their pictures. I love reading what my kiddos wrote. Some are very brief. Others had many quotes they loved.  Now we can remember what was said and work to become more kind, merciful, meek, and loving. More like Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

 I know. The pictures are the size of a postage stamp!  

When I enlarged them they came out grainy. We just get real close to see each person.

Here are a few of our notes: 

President Thomas S. Monson, 

President and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

 I know we will be reunited and never be separated again.

[Speaking of his wife who passed away in May]

"Behold my witness in heaven" when sharing his testimony.

Family

"The heavenly virtue of patience is required." 

"Endure to the end."

The story of Job.

"Shall I falter or shall I finish?" 

Dieter F. Uchtdorf

2nd Counselor in 1st Presidency

A's favorite quote:

"Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."

Robert D. Hales

Quorum of the 12 Apostles

Church

(To the point!)

Richard G. Scott

Quorum of the 12 Apostles

Scriptures

Repentance

We can receive personal blessings from the Atonement

People of Ammon

As we lose our life in Heavenly Father's service, Satan's temptations lose their power.

Neil L. Anderson

Quorum of the 12 Apostles

The priesthood is the power of God.

Preistood

Condescension of God (Jesus born in stable)

There are special blessings from God for all who partake in Priesthood ordinances.

And on that note, God loves us. This I know. He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He loves us as much as He did the people of Moses and Abraham, so He speaks to us today through modern day prophets.  I can know what they say is true. Their words invite me "to do good continually" and "every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God (Moroni 7:13)."

Love, Hugs, and All That

Yesterday, T and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.  Look at those young, whipper-snappers! The photo is even starting to yellow; it's that old!  That was the night before the BIG day.  We were so excited, full of exuberance and confidence, ready to take on life.  I like that excitement.

We are more subdued now. And tired. Life, seminary, teenagers, a cold coming on can do that. We went out to eat. After dinner we looked at each other and said, "Now what? What do you want to do?" We both said, "Let's go home."  And we did. And we were ok with that. We don't have to impress each other with our sparkliness, our energy, our abilities. We're comfortable with each other--comfortable in our skin. We like each other. Sometimes we're exciting, but mostly we're peacefully happy being together. I like that peace.

Though I still get excited when T comes in the door from work. He listens to my rants, my "trauma" stories, and my epic adventures in laundry, carpool, and grocery shopping.  He makes me laugh. He treats me like a queen. He brings out the best in me. He won't argue with me though I sometimes try. He's like Sister Falabella, wife of Elder Enrique R. Falabella of the Seventy, who says: "In order to contend, you need two people, and I will never be one of them." (April 2013 General Conference).

We've learned to share, help, forgive, let go, and cherish. We're still learning. Thankfully, we've made covenants with each other in the temple, and we have an eternity to get it right!

Full of Hot Air

Different hot air balloon festivals are cropping up in our area, so we decided to go to one. I checked the take-off time for the balloons and off we went. When we got there we kept searching the skies for balloons. There were lots of little kids hanging onto helium balloons, so T got a kick out of saying "Balloon!" and watching us jerk our heads up to the sky, looking for a hot air balloon every time.  After talking with the crew chief of one of the balloons, we found out that unless the wind died down, the balloons couldn't leave the ground. They also had to be on the ground at sundown which was in an hour. Unfortunately, the wind never died down which made for a pleasant evening...a pleasant evening with no balloons. The balloonists were able to inflate their balloons, so we could see what they looked like.

 When Pigs Fly...

We had a fun time anyway, looking at the different vendors. I even found some baklava!

 The cuties! 

 The parents.  

Big, bad L!

He tucked his shirt in so he could do somersaults and cart wheels without showing off his manly chest and stomach. That or he's doing his grandpa impersonation. 

I can say that because that's something Bumpa taught him.  

 X-man showing us his cart wheel. 

And his grandpa impersonation. 

Miss A after her cartwheel. 

She would only do one if one of the boys did a handstand. 

L did--with T's help, so she had to be a woman of her word!

T remembers seeing many hot air balloons floating high, growing up near the Hot Air Balloon Capital. He wants to show it to us some time. 

Even though the balloons didn't fly, we had a great family time. 

I love my family.