Going Private

After a lot of thinking, I have decided to make my blog private.  In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been posting and putting pictures up like I used to.  Honestly, it's partly because I'm lazy and mostly because I am starting to get freaked out by all of the creepers that are out there on the internet! 

When I started blogging, my purpose was to keep a weekly record of what our family was doing.  I think I can get back to that once I'm not paranoid about where pictures of my kids might be going and all of that fun stuff.

So... I would like to make everything private by the beginning of March.  If all of you friends, family and loved ones would like to continue following along, please leave your email info in a comment or go to my profile here on the blog and email your info to me.  I will send you an invite and info to get onto the blog.

Adios January

How pathetic...  the whole purpose of this blog was to keep a running record of our family and to share it with those who want to keep up with us.  I have obviously failed this month!

Here are a few things that have been going on for the first month of 2012:

• Kensie has been doing softball conditioning with the high school.  She drives me to conditioning every Monday, Weds, Thurs at 5 P.M. and then hands the keys over.  (I think I might like when she can drive by herself, but only for this reason!)

• Rick celebrated the big 40!  I don't think celebrate is the right word, remember when 40 seemed so old?  I am so glad that it was his turn first, I am really dreading my turn!  We sent him to work with 40 treats that had 40 jokes about turning 40.  I opted to be nice since it will be my turn soon enough.  After his birthday dinner we awarded him with a list of 40 things we love about him.  It was a pretty easy list to come up with!

• On the same day as Rick's birthday, I had my first funeral as a Relief Society President.  Everything came together really well and I am so grateful to have amazing sisters in our ward that are so willing to help.  We will be doing another funeral luncheon this Thursday, I didn't even get a chance to return the washed dishcloths!

• Jaden went on a Klondike Campout with the scouts.  Camping in the cold does not appeal to me, but he had a great time.  He stayed warm and did not come home a human popsicle!

• After much peer pressure, I caved and joined Pinterest.  I have spent too many hours pinning away and looking at all of the amazing ideas out there.  I think I can get the habit under control without counseling...

I think I can do better next month, after all it will only take 2 posts!

Emery's Baptism Day

We had an exciting weekend with lots and lots of family right here in Vernal!  In fact, we had about 40 family members here from out of town to support Emery as she was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!  We had been praying for weeks that the weather would be good enough for everyone to travel and I am so grateful that it was!

Rick baptized and confirmed Emery on Saturday morning.  Emery was so excited, she almost ran from the chapel to the baptismal font when they said it was her turn.  Everything was really nice and I am grateful for the spirit that was there.  I am very proud of Emery and her decision to be baptized.  She has an amazing spirit about her and will be an influence for good through out her life.

We are so grateful for the support of our family.  It meant so much to Emery to have everyone there!  It was fun to have lunch at the church afterwards and get a chance to visit with everyone.  There were only 2 bad things about our weekend: 1) everyone left us by noon today and 2) there was something on the lens of my camera that messed up every picture! Grrr...





Here are a few more pictures taken earlier at the Vernal temple:

Our Christmas

We had a fantastic Christmas!  We woke up to wonderful gifts from Santa and each other, ate our traditional ebelskiver breakfast and made it to church by 10:30.  This year our young men and young women were in charge of sacrament meeting at the care center.  It happened to be at the same time as our church so we attended church with the elderly.  Jaden passed the sacrament and gave a talk.  It was a neat experience, the spirit was very strong.


After church we ran home, loaded up and headed to Salt Lake.  I hadn't seen my family since before Thanksgiving and was really feeling homesick.  We made it in for the tail end of Christmas lunch.  It was so good to see everyone and spend some time with my parents.

Christmas Morning

All Syd wanted for Christmas was a flute - go figure!



 

Jaden made marshmallow roasting sticks for everyone.



Kensie made necklace hangers for the girls and a tie rack for Jaden.

Emy made decoupaged sketch books - see direction here.

Syd made groovy gloves for the girls and a p.j. shirt for Jaden.

See directions here.

This was our second year of having the kids make gifts for each other.  I still love it!  Everything seems to mean so much more.  We also stuck to the 3 gift rule again this year: something to play with, something to wear and something to read.  Santa doesn't overbuy like he used to and he gets sort of creative according to the kids needs and wants.  Emery's something to wear was an MP3 player.  Kensie and Jaden both got Ipod touches to play with.

I love the Christmas Season!  It's nice to see so many people thinking about others rather than themselves.  I love this time to reflect on the birth of the Savior and his life.  I'm grateful that our family enjoyed another year of good health and that we have been given so many opportunities to learn and grow. 

Christmas-time / Stress-time

December is keeping us crazy-busy!  If there isn't a Christmas party, there is a band concert, birthday party, goodies to be made, shopping to be done, presents to be created, class parties to plan, sisters to be visited and the list goes on and on and on.  I think we are finally at the tail end of it all and can relax and enjoy the days leading up to Christmas. 

The girls got to see Santa twice in one day!

We made many, many popcorn snowmen to share with friends and teachers.

Now for a moment of truth, Christmas really isn't the only thing that has been stressing me out.  Kensie turned 15 last Saturday and I took her to get her learner's permit on Monday afternoon.  Can I really have a kid old enough to drive?  I can vividly remember the day I turned 16 and went to get my own license!  As I sat there waiting for her to finish the test, I thought I was going to hyper ventilate.  I could just feel my hair turning gray.  I didn't want her to fail, but I really didn't want her to pass either!  Well, of course she passed and now wants to drive all the time.  It is such a weird thing to have my teenager driving me around.  She is listening and learning and I am slowly learning to breath while she drives although I may soon wear a hole in the passenger floor where I am pushing on my imaginary brake or I may pull the "oh shit" handle off of the door!  Is this normal?  Can I do this?  In the back of my mind I keep thinking that Jaden is right behind her, scary!



Emery Turns Eight

Can you believe my beautiful Emery is eight years old?  It seems like just yesterday we were checking into the hospital for what we thought would be a normal delivery.  Good old Emy, she's always full of surprises! 

I am really proud of Emery and the amazing young lady she is becoming.  She loves to serve others and is a great friend to everyone.  She is looking forward to being baptized in January!

We had a Birthday Party with 12 of Emery's friends on Friday afternoon (yes, I said 12. I know I am insane).  We found some cute ideas online for a Puppy Party.  The girls had a blast and it wasn't too stressful! 

The house looked a little like this...

We ate paw cupcakes

My fave thing was serving puppy and kitty snacks out of dog dishes!

The girls filled out adoption certificates and each took a stuffed dog or cat home.

What a fun group of friends!  A little loud, but very cute!

Sugarfest 2011

We survived Halloween! 

The three wards in our church building had a combined Trunk or Treat. 

 Needless to say, there was lots of candy and kids!

Syndey had to be Strawberry Shortcake.  There were no other options!

Emery ended up being a little devil.

 

 This kid always makes me laugh!

 Three of my favorite girls geeks!