Welcome to our World

  We may have overdone it on presents this year perhaps because our trip to Hawaii was postponed once again, and I did love the reactions I got to see while opening presents and the company for a great Christmas Eve celebration with my parents.  Then we got to be our missionaries’ service project! When we had the sisters over we mentioned our wood floors were going to be refinished soon and they said they had been encouraged to find a service project to do on Christmas Day. So I said if they hadn’t found another project by then they could come move furniture off our main floor. On Christmas morning they asked what time they could come and it was so amazing to see how quickly everything got done and didn’t feel like a huge chore. It was such a blessing to not only have their help but have them in our home as an entire district. Such a great reminder of what is most important as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. As the Grinch learned too, it’s not all about the presents even...

Hubby felt better just in time to join in on his parents’ special 50th anniversary dinner. He flew out on Friday and flew back on Sunday and his parents expressed their appreciation for his effort to come.  Many thanks to his sister for sharing photos! Meanwhile, back at home, Kate went to Top Golf and spent the night at A’s house, Michelle went to her first lock in with Scouts and stayed up until 5am, Danny went to Get Air with C and P (and then C hung out at our house), and Natalie was a rock star helping me get ready for and have the Activity Days girls over for breakfast and Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas. On Sunday we were happy to dress up in festive apparel and have the last Primary lesson of 2021 after a special Christmas program during Sacrament.  After Church Michelle had her first temple recommend interview and Brother J. told me I had an amazing daughter. “She was born that way,” I replied.  Michelle is excited to go asap!  And Natalie was counting down ...

The first Sunday of December found us teaching Primary, making gingerbread houses, watching the Christmas Devotional and ELF, and celebrating Danny’s half birthday a little early. We are so grateful for this smart, fun, talented, strong boy. I personally am extra grateful that when I got upset that we missed our ice skating reservation because I was in a hurry and didn’t put it on the calendar, he asked me if there was anything he could do to help.  That alone made it ok.  Speaking of our boy, he got a Christmas present early: a full size bed! Luckily my co-worker was selling hers so we only had to pay $40 for the frame, box springs, and mattress. Now only if the new bedding only cost that much. Ha!  The new bed makes the room look totally different and now all he’s wanting is a monitor to hook his PS4 up to in there.  He has moved Hubby’s monitor out of the playroom and into his room more than once after being told there was no way we were buying him his own monitor...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Hubby continues to do amazing things in his career, most of which he isn’t allowed to tell me about.   Sometimes I worry that he’s so good at keeping secrets.   He also does wonderful things at home and you seriously should be jealous of the sound system he created for his truck this year.   Hubby  is definitely the preferred parent for driving children to and from activities. I am loving helping out at 3 of my 4 children’s school from 9am-4pm as a special ed para.  I don’t love trying to get everything done that I used to do with 7 less hours in the day to do them.  In fact, I’ve now been diagnosed with IBS so chug fiber drinks and swallow enzymes every time I eat.  I still love serving in Primary after all these years but am beginning to think they need to pay me now that I work with kids at a real job.  lol. Kate is getting ready for high school in all the ways you would expect.  She is keeping her ...

We were literally counting down the days until Thanksgiving and our entire week off school. First up, preparing for new carpeting upstairs. Originally we had planned to only put new carpet on the upper half of the staircase and then replace the rest with wood flooring next month. Long story short there was a mess up somewhere, probably in the warehouse, and we ended up with new carpeting for the entire staircase. Luckily the wood flooring company was understanding and we took the stairs off our work order with them.  Natalie got to go to a mini Thanksgiving horse camp on Monday and Tuesday morning and had a wonderful time.  We are so grateful for the owner and all she does to help the children make great memories.   Hubby also fixed up and repainted the desk the puppies had chewed on and it looks great. Amidst doctor, dentist, orthodontist and chiropractor appointments we watched plenty of movies to relax and recover from all the cleaning out and moving of furniture we ha...

Here’s part of Michelle’s fan club for her first middle school orchestra concert. Our neighbor who used to give her lessons even gave her chocolate for good luck!  We were very impressed with how well these students played considering each grade level they were at. This may look like an ordinary kitchen but I wanted to take a picture because I want to remember a magic moment that happened there. I was doing the dishes while my three middle schoolers were at the island talking to each other about math classes while Natalie did her math homework at the white table.  I felt such an overwhelming feeling of joy simply being together.  This is what I pictured motherhood to be.  This was a glimpse into what I had imagined my home would be like - a dream come true.  This isn’t the only time my kitchen has seen times like this but for me, the world just seemed right that night. Back by popular demand, we did skits for Activity Days again but I had to slip in a “secret se...