I am truly thankful

1. My Family. I'm happy that I got to spend time with my parents and my brother and his family. I'm glad that I know that we can be together forever.

2. Cousins. The kids had fun seeing their cousins. They get along so well and have a good time together.

3. Chris. Love, love, LOVE this man! He is the most patient loving person I know. He just makes my life complete. He takes really good care of his family and is such a great Dad. He's also one fine man.

4. My parents. This picture of me and my mom is so cool. I'm so glad that my mom is taking such good care of herself and kicked that cancer in the butt! I'm also thankful for my dad. I know they love us very much. My parents are so great, I love them a lot. I'm glad we got to go spend Thanksgiving with them. It was a very relaxed holiday.

I'm also thankful for my other brother and my sister. They had to spend the holiday with their girlfriend/boyfriend and their families.

There are so many other things that I am thankful for, this has been a really good year for us. I'm glad that we have this holiday to make us think about all we have been blessed with.

Getting the tree

On Wednesday, we traveled to Fishlake National Forest and cut down a Christmas tree. This was something we did almost every year when I was growing up. We've also done it a few times since we've been married, but it has been a long time. I decided it was time for the kids to have this experience too!

We got all bundled up and hopped in Grandpa's truck. It was starting to rain in town and we (at least I was) were worried about the weather. Just before we got to the turn off to Fishlake it started to snow! The kids were thrilled! We had to drive a while because we can't cut trees in the park, but soon turned off on a sideroad and found this beauty!

We had a lot of fun walking in the snow and looking for the perfect tree. I think this is a tradition we need to visit again!

Things I Like Saturday

Traditions!

Every year since 2002, I have traced and stitched my kids handprints. The first year I made them into a wall hanging. Then I decided to make some pillows (not all are shown in the picture--and I'm a bit behind (gotta get caught up on this one for sure!) Someday I think I'll make all the handprints into a quilt. I love looking at these handprints, it's a fun way to see how the kids are growing! I also have them write their name in the handprints so we can see how their writing changes through the years.

Christmas is a time for lots of different traditions, and today, my Thing I Like is traditions. What kind of traditions do you have for this holiday season?

Pay It Forward

I'm participating in a Pay It Forward Exchange. Who wants to play? I will send a handmade gift to the first three people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward Exchange. You will receive your gift within a month from leaving your comment. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. I signed up for this fun exchange on my good friend Tennille's blog. She is a very creative person and she sent me this darling picture. It's really cool, because it opens up to more and more cool pictures (I tried to take pictures of it, but they aren't the best, but maybe you get the idea.)

I can't guarantee it will be anything amazing, but who cares if it is FREE! Remember, you have to have a blog to participate and must Pay it Forward on your site as well. Who's ready to play?

Things I Like Saturday

Slave Labor!

Today the kids and I cleaned our little hearts out. I bribed them with money and they really earned it! I love when I hear,"what else can I do?" and I can't think of anything. That is my favorite thing on this Saturday.

Jazzed

On Monday, I got to go to a Jazz game! My dad got tickets at his work and invited his girls (my mom, my sister Lexi, and me) out for a date.

Me and my Daddy

The Utah Jazz played the Phoenix Suns. Had it been a football game I think I would have gotten bored in the first few minutes. As you may or may not know, I'm not an athletic type of gal. But I'm not one to pass up spending time with my family (that I don't get to see as much as I would like since we moved). I do understand Basketball (most of it anyway) and sat by my Dad for the first half of the game and he reminded me about some of the things I'd forgotten. (I'm actually sort of embarassed to say this, but I haven't watched a Basketball game since my days at Snow College... it's been awhile).

Mom and Me

Well, you won't hear any kind of commentary about the game here, I went, I watched, I cheered, I left. That about sums it up for me. But I will leave you with some pictures of the best looking spectators there!

Lexi and Me

Aren't we a great looking family?


Oh yeah, the Jazz won! Here's the final score. We had pretty good seats. It was fun, but the best part was seeing the family. It seems like we usually just see each other for a few minutes. I got to be the daughter instead of the mom and wife. It was really fun!

Thanks Dad for getting the tickets and taking us all out to the ballgame!

Overwhelmed by the craftiness.....

As I have mentioned before, I like to do crafts. I'm happiest when I have a big project to work on. Right now I am making a cross-stitch Christmas light sampler ( I love samplers best of all).

I also have a baby afghan I am crocheting, I bought fabric to make our family matching pajama pants, and I just went to a huge scrapbook sale and bought a bunch of supplies to do scrap booking.

I love all these things, and I really want to get back into scrap booking. The only thing I don't like about it is not having room to spread out and really get it done. It seems like once I get all the paper, cutters, embellishments, pictures etc. out, it's time to put it all away! I would love to have a craft room where I can have huge tables and organized paper stackers and all the fun things for scrap booking on one side of the room and then another side for sewing. If everything was already ready for me then I think it would be easier to get things started and finished. It seems like it's harder getting things ready so it's just easier to put it off and not do it at all.

I talked to Chris about it and asked if we could set up a place for me in the basement. We are thinking over our options and wondering if I can handle extra mess in the bedroom. It's really the only option. I'm sure I can keep things neat, especially if I don't have to put everything away, just tidy. who knows?

Someday, when we have our own house, I will make a spot just for me. Until then I will have to make due, even if it means carrying everything up to the kitchen table.

Things I Like Saturday

This is something I really like. It is my husband's style. He's not afriad to do things a little different than other people. He has a style all his own. The thing that really attracted me to him was his nonchalant attitude and not caring about what other people think of him.

Just one of the many things I love about my man.

a little favor for my friends and family (and anybody else who reads me)

In trying to make things a bit safer in the blogosphere, I would like to ask anybody who reads this blog and posts a link to please not use my family's last name. I know that many people are going private and I respect that choice. I am choosing to keep my blog public with more precautions. If you would help me out by taking my last name off your links I would really appreciate it. Also, I would really really like to know who reads this lovely blog, so in the comments section, go ahead and say hello and tell me how you found me or know me. I love sharing my life with people and would probably like to share your life by reading your blog as well!

Happy Blogging!

Things I Like Saturday.

I have decided to to a weekly post called "things I Like Saturday" . I will be posting pictures and descriptions of random things I like. Today I am posting about a pretty cool thing I like. It is the Salt Lake Temple.

I got to go there today. I consider myself to lucky to be minutes away from such a wonderful sacred place. Going to the Temple today was something I really needed and I'm so grateful I can do so whenever I want to. Such a beautiful, reverent, special feeling I have when I am there. I'm especially thankful that Tristan got to be there with me. I am loving my new calling.

Exercise your right

Something new in the works......

I will now officially be crazy busy! I just got a new church calling. I am the second counselor in the Young Women program! I haven't been in YW since I was one (and a beehive? wow that was 22 years ago almost (wow, I'm old)). I'm really excited about it, still don't know exactly what I'll be doing, but from what I hear, I will be busy! I hope that I will be able to do a good job. I went on Sunday and I think there were more leaders there than girls. Hopefully we can get more girls to come to church. But even if they are all there, there are only 15 Young Women total in our ward. We need some families with teenagers to move into our ward!

give me something good to eat!

Halloween this year was really fun! We had the warmest weather I can remember. We didn't even have to wear our coats trick or treating so we could really show off our costumes.

We went trick or treating with our friends, the Flittons. We had a great mix of costumes. It was fun going with them, they live in a great neighborhood. Thanks for inviting us!

Tristan was a "recycled costume" he took bits and pieces from old costumes and put them all together into this beauty.

He won a prize at a costume party with the young men and young women.
Connor was a Ninja. Notice how stealthy he is.
Anna was a princess.
We got tons and tons of candy! I think that we trick or treated more than we ever have before.

We got home and got visited by ONE trick or treater! I guess we missed out on that part this year. So now we have all the candy the kids got and the 4 bags I bought to pass out.

can you say sugar high?