Holidays in a Nutshell

in no particular order

Thanksgiving with K's family... all of D's siblings and all of K's siblings were in SLC for Thanksgiving, that makes 10 siblings, spouses and kids.

D's siblings and mom...Thanksgiving Day

The Feast

Christmas decor at our house, and D providing the music!

Christmas Morning...waiting to see what Santa left

Christmas Eve, with the "Danish Tree"...notice the REAL candles burning!

The I-pad...kept ALL of us entertained all Christmas Day.

Luminarias

 Nativity puppets hand-made by someone we love.

Surprise visit from Santa Christmas morning...

Does Santa look familiar???

Candle in my favorite window in our house.

New Years, E walked around trying to blow this horn.

            

Bringing in the new year...

D's B-day celebration

pig-tails

more of the pig-tails...they make me smile!

Halloween Happenin's

Wishing you a safe and fun 2010 Halloween!

Hercules and his HOT Goddess

A vampire and his two bats, a buff football player, and sweet lady bug and two Greek God's.

my little lady bug and bat....

mom, watch me fly!

Pumpkin Carving 2010

G with his Lord Voldermort pumpkin

and more fun to come (and more photos!)......

a MIGHTY kid turns twelve

He is MIGHTY....in every sense of the word!!  

And, for N, twelve meant

getting a nerf flag football set,

and air soft guns,

and dinner at Red Lobster,

but more importantly

it meant 

receiving the priesthood,

flying to SLC to attend the LDS General Priesthood Session in the conference center,

and being able to go to the temple to do temple baptisms!

N with his great legacy of priesthood holders

PiCTurREs and MOMeNts that made me SMILE lately

The Next Generation of L's

N not wanting me to take a picture of him getting ready on his first day of Middle School
G happy to show off his braces.
oh, they are growing up.

E falling asleep with his lego ship in his hand....do you call it obsessed?

Cowboy E ready for Rodeo days!

S-First day of preschool.

E showing her cheese!

Just wondering?

I'm just wondering if you:
1.  Ever go months without cleaning your shower?
2.  Feed your kids mac and cheese for dinner?
3.  Pretend like you don't hear your kids wake up, so that you can sleep a bit longer?
4.  Eat brownies for breakfast?
5.  Watch a movie in middle of the day?
6.  Sometimes pick up the house 30 minutes before everyone comes home so that it looks like you've been working all day?
7.  Waste time on blogs?
8.  Read 4 books in 5 days, thus ignoring all your life duties?
9.  Take coupons to the store and forget to use them?
10.  Get in the car to go somewhere and end up somewhere completely unplanned?

'Cause I do!!

Meaningful.

I recently relistened to two talks from my church's last general conference.  You can read or listen to the two talks here and here.

Loved the inspiration and truly feel that being a mother is an incredible gift I have been given.  

I loved Elder Perry's description of his mother:

"My mother understood the value of teaching her children about standards, values, and doctrine while they were young. While she was grateful to others who taught her children outside the home at either school or church, she recognized that parents are entrusted with the education of their children and, ultimately, parents must ensure that their children are being taught what their Heavenly Father would have them learn. My siblings and I were quizzed very carefully by our mother after we had been taught away from the home to be certain the correct lessons were reaching our ears and shaping our minds.

I used to think some days as I ran home from school that I was through learning for the day, but this illusion was quickly destroyed when I saw my mother standing at the door waiting for me. When we were young, we each had a desk in the kitchen where we could continue to be taught by her as she performed household duties and prepared supper. She was a natural teacher and far more demanding of us than our teachers at school and church."

Do you ever wonder what your children will remember about you?  Like so many of you, I try everyday to make a lasting impression on my children.  Some days, I do a terrible job, and other days I feel good about the things I'm able to teach my children and what we are able to accomplish.  


I know that I have the most peace in my heart when I nuture myself and my children on a daily basis.  I'm talking about those days when we really focus on eternal principles and I can tell that my children are feeling them deep down in their souls.  Or days when we don't have twenty things going on and we have time to pause from life and really talk, play and spend time together.  I see the world placing so much emphasis on activities, sports, secular education, etc, and leaving little time for family dinner, set aside family time, spiritual discussions, and quality time. 


 I recently was reading a sad truth that many parents are so busy running their children from activity, to activity and have little time to be together, quietly being home and being a family.  In reality, these parents really think that they are doing their children a favor, exposing them to quality activities, enriching their lives.  


Yes, I'm a little guilty of this as well.  My children have a platter full of activities.  All wonderful.  All meaningful.  I do think that D and I have tried to protect certain times...especially the sabbath day, dinner time, and family home evening night.  Occasionally, we have had to adjust our dinner times, or have family home evening earlier or later (which we really don't like to do). We try to have dinner together 6 times a week (Derek works evenings one night).  Some activities are unavoidable, and that is just part of life.  I have found how necessary it is to sometimes say, "NO!"  to activities that are available.  This is hard for me since I truly want to give my kids everything.  But, I realize that giving them every activity is really not giving them everything.


The above story from Elder Perry made me laugh a little since I have a white board, a pull down map, an art book, articles of faith and other stuff right by our kitchen table.  I don't use them everyday, but I do have them accessible so that I can grab them right when I need them.  Also, when we remodeled our kitchen I put in an area where the kids could sit at the counter and do their homework.  It's been a treasure so far this school year.  I believe that good education, both spiritual and secular, begins in the home.  And, that spiritual education impacts our family eternally.  Our family goal is to: 1. Teach our children the gospel and to help nuture strong testimonies.  2.  Teach them to be hard working.  We hope that if we give our children these two gifts, that they will be able to be happy and accomplish their own goals.  Derek and I discuss these goals often and remind ourselves that raising children takes Patience and Persistence.  


I still have so much work to do as a mother....but today, I feel up for the task (as long as I get to pray as much as I need to!)

Joys of a Summer Season

I love how nature and life our symbols of each other.  

Life is full of different seasons.  Some winter, spring, summer and fall.

I'm loving this season of my life.

Even though I'm EXHAUSTED by 9pm every night...

I still love it.  

Even the laundry part.  (ok, I tolerate that part)

It's seriously a joy to wake up to my children and my life.

However, I've allowed myself to stay in bed until 7am ALL week long. 

No working out this week.

Summer rocks:

Why are little girl in swimsuits SO darn adorable?

Nothing beats hanging out with your best friends ALL summer long 

(even if one  is your brother)

1, 2, 3 jump...oh, summer swimming

And of course, popsicle eating on the kitchen counter.