Merry Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful Christmas season. I'm always a little sad to see it end. We stayed home this year and had our own little quiet, stress free Christmas. Here's a look at some of our highlights this month.


Ian and I went to the Olympic Oval to skate. We had a great time. I used to go Ice Skating all the time as a kid at the local outdoor rink. Even though it's been well over 10 years since I last skated, I managed to not fall once (I'm not sure if I would have been able to get up if I did).

I bought a pre-made gingerbread house kit and this is how it turned out. Despite every effort to help save the poor house, it wouldn't stay up. The kids still had fun, and I'm learning to not be so stressed and just let the kids take over.

Our Christmas Eve Festivities included - watching movies, eating snacks, reading the Christmas story from the scriptures, and opening new jammies.






Christmas morning was fun and chaotic with presents, boxes, wrapping paper and plenty of giggles.


The kids both got new snow gear and they eagerly went out into the back yard and played and did some sledding. Morgan looks like a cute pink marshmallow :).




Morgan can't stay away from her new "baby alive", it poops and pees, squeals, cries and laughs

Christmas is always filled with lots of games, Jeff has beat both Ian and I in scrabble two nights in a row. He's just too good with finding words.

Book Giveaway

To kick off my weightloss journey and my new blog. Go here for your chance to win your very own copy of the book that is helping me lose weight.

Don't pass up this CUTE & ADORABLE Giveaway

Click HERE for the cutest giveaway EVER!!!

Come on over

I started a new blog, come on over and follow me along my weight loss journey. I'll be posting low glycemic recipes also hints and tips to help anyone else out there who is looking to begin a new healthy life style.

New Journey

I started a new journey yesterday, and that is a quest for a healthier lifestyle which I'm hoping will result in permanent weight loss. I'm not starting any fad diet or using any weight loss pills, but I am reading this book called "Healthy for Life" by Dr. Ray Strand. It has been a real eye opener for me. I don't usually put things out there in the open for the whole world to know what I'm doing (especially dealing with weight issues and weightloss), but I feel that by doing so will help me be more accountable for my new lifestyle. I'm going to admit that I'm nervous and scared of failure, and that my motivation will quickly go away (like it has in the past), but I'm determined more than ever to be healthy, to look healthy and finish what I've started. So I hope you don't mind that I periodically let you know how my new lifestyle is going and I'm going to post before, during and after pictures as well.

Halloween 2009

Our Halloween week started off with a neighborhood party. We played (of course), decorated cookies (they didn't quite know what to do with them), and played games, the girls were so cute, we played duck duck goose, and when they'd say goose, they ALL got up and ran around chasing each other. Here's a few pictures of our PaRTy:








On Friday we ventured over to the school's Halloween parade. We re-used a costume that Ian was in 2nd grade, a Colonial Soldier, he loves history, I love the fact that he wants to be completely different that what is the normal or most popular thing to be.

we dressed Morgan up in her ladybug costume from last year for the school parade.

Jeff had some vacation days to use up so he took Wednesday-Friday off to work on this:

his mad scientist lab

this is only a portion of what he did. He had the outside taped off, spiderwebs, and 3 different scary music soundtracks playing in different locations. He even went as far as shaving his head for.

And here are the pictures of Jeff and the kids all dressed up. One of these days I'll get my act together and find a cool costume that I can make, I'd love to dress up too, but can't find the time to make a costume for myself.

I can't get enough

of him

and her

and them

I'm reminded everyday how lucky I am to be their Mom!

Switching Roles

Lately we've been having MAJOR attitude problems around here with our 10 1/2 year old, to the point that sometimes I wonder if he's 10 or 2, and yes I have one of those too. It starts off with a simple request, and ends in a full blown temper tantrum, throwing himself on the floor and extreme sighs of exasperation. I've talked to him until I've litteraly turned blue in the face, tried to reason with him, but nothing has seemed to work.

So, I racked my brain for a couple of weeks, and then came to Jeff with my idea, and he helped me execute it. What was my ingenious plan (altough we don't know if it's ingenious yet)? We put Ian in charge of reminding us of our duties, i.e. fixing dinner, laundry, giving Moran a bath, etc. etc. So, last night after F.H.E. and treats, he started his duties reminding us that it was prayer time, and to ease him into my bad attitude about his reminders, I just plopped myself onto the couch, sighed, and said "I don't want to say prayers". He immediatly told me that I wasn't setting a very good example, both Jeff and I grinned at each other, but deep down inside I was doing my infamous Witch cackle (my mom can do it better than me, she was a good teacher). We'll see how this all turns out, hopefully he'll realize how frustrating it can be to deal with bad attitude, and then again, maybe not, we'll see. Stay tuned for next weeks post to see how it all turns out.

New Goals

We returned from Wyoming last night after my Grandmothers funeral. My heart is heavy with saddness to see her passing. It's really hard to imagine my life without her. One good thing about her passing is that her funeral brought us ALL together. My brothers and sisters with all of our kids, and my Aunt and Uncle, their kids and grandkids. We had a family get-together in my grandmothers back yard. I felt that my grandmothers spirit was there smiling with us, laughing with us and crying with us.

One thing I brought home with me was a new goal. A goal that I have been trying for years to accomplish and get in the habit, and that is Journal writing. My grandmother would write just a few words down daily, without fail. They were not long journal entries, but just little snippits of what happened that day. We had SO much fun reading some of her journal entries, and I can't wait to have the chance to read ALL of her journals. So this morning, I got up before the kids got up and had quiet time. This is also something that I've been trying to do. I get up about 30 minutes before I need to get Ian up for school, and have scripture and prayer time. I haven't been very consistent, but I'm trying harder to be. I've noticed that when I do this my life feels more peaceful, I'm able to face my day knowing that I've done the most important thing to start out my day. So, part of my quiet time consists of journal writing too. My grandmother has left me with a great legacy. I want my children, and grandchildren and great grandchildren, to read about my life, to read about my struggles and triumphs and know of my testimony of the gospel. This link has some great ideas for quiet time. It has helped me feel closer to my savior and helped me to have more peace and less contention.

Bitter Sweet

My dear sweet Nana passed away this morning with my mom and dad and my aunt by her side. About 6 weeks ago she found out she had lung cancer. She moved to Montana to be closer to my mom and to help her with her cancer treatments. This was a very big move for her, she hasn't lived outside of her house for 50+ years. She was a homebody and didn't like to go anywhere, but when her Doctor suggested that she go be closer to family, she listened and went. She was brave and was enjoying meeting new friends, playing bridge, going to church services and visiting with family. Unfortunately this didn't last, and she quickly went down hill, requiring 24/7 care, and last week she entered hospice care, and decided to forgo further cancer treatments. I'm grateful for the opportunity that I had to visit with her this past July. I'll never forget the sweet memories that I have of her. She is in a better place free of her ailing body and mind. I'm sure she is having a wonderful family reunion seeing so many family and friends that have passed on.

A GREAT deal

For the past month or so we've had hardly any light in the kitchen/nook. It has been driving me completely bonkers. I can't see when I cook, we can't see when we eat especially if we wait past 7. One night when having a late dinner we had to get out the coleman lantern. This was not due to not having any light bulbs, but due to some electrical shorts in the fixtures. They would come on periodically, but for the most part they decided to stay off.

Last week for date night, Jeff and I decided to head to Lowes to look for a new light. I wasn't really expecting to find what we needed right away especially in our price range $50-$100. I was really excited when I stumbled upon this light in the clearance section for $49. This chandelier was originally priced at $125. I think I found a great deal, and now I have light in my kitchen. YEA!!!!

I love how it dresses up our dining area, it has made a huge difference!

This dinky light is similar to the one we had over our dining table the we just replace, just a boring little ball- this is our next light to figure out what to do with, but thankfully this one still works.

5000moms

The launch date for 5000moms is TODAY!!!I recently joined 5000moms in July and have had the great opportunity to be a part of the pre-launch group. This site was created to connect women together who want an opportunity to gain financial freedom and better health while getting back to the basics of home, body and soul. We'd love to have YOU be a part of our team.

http://www.5000moms.com/

http://www.5000moms.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA9iw_UCAOQ

Terrible two's

What are people talking about when they talk about the terrible two's? I never really understood until just very recently. When Ian turned two he was rarely mischievous, always listened and hardly made any messes. We were prepared with doorknob covers, cabinet locks, and putting valuables out of reach, but never had to worry about it.

Morgan, on the other hand has been VERY busy lately with shenanigans left and right, she's making my head spin. Yesterday it was a concoction of lotion and soap spread all over the bathroom counter top and herself. The day before it was crawling out of her crib, climbing up on to her changing table, taking her diaper off and then getting the wipes out and throwing them on the floor (about 1/2 a package). She's figured out the doorknob covers and can open Ian's room and get into his stuff, and the pantry, and if we don't keep the front door locked, she will escape, and probably naked. I thought this was a terrible two day, but not compared to what we've been dealing with the past couple of weeks. At nap time she'll crawl out of her crib, and play dress up, and tonight, when I went to check on her before going to bed, my heart dropped because she was no where to be found, not in her bed, not on her changing table, not under her bed, but when I opened the closet door, there she was sound asleep in her baby bouncy seat. I guess it's time to "baby proof/toddler proof" the house, because she is keeping us on our toes.

Camping

Last weekend we headed up into the high Uintas for our first camping trip in 4 years as a family. Jeff is the scoutmaster in our ward so he goes camping once a month, Ian usually gets to tag along with him. Since Morgan is getting older and easier we thought we'd take a couple of days to enjoy being in the beautiful mountains.

We didn't think that we'd have a hard time finding a camping spot in the place that we had gone before, but it was full, and about every camping spot after that too, but after searching for about an hour we found a really nice small camping spot. Unfortunately it started raining about the time we got dinner done and had to hunker down in the tent earlier than we wanted to. Morgan freaked out and didn't want to sleep in her pack and play and wouldn't keep her blankets on, so it took her a while to get settled down, and I thought we'd be in for a long night, but thank goodness she settled down and slept in her own bed all night.

The next morning we hiked into a small lake about a 1/2 mile for the road to go fishing, but didn't have any luck catching fish. Later that afternoon Jeff and Ian went to try and go fishing again on a river that he had heard from a fellow camper that he would definitely catch a few fish. Jeff doesn't have very good luck fishing, so they came back empty handed. Morgan and I spent the afternoon throwing rocks in the river, and taking a stroll around the campground, she could have spent all afternoon throwing rocks.

That evening after dinner it started raining AGAIN and AGAIN we didn't have the chance to sit around the fire like we wanted to. It poured and poured all night, and I thought for sure we'd float away, but now we know that our tent is waterproof, it did a fantastic job keeping us dry. Because of the rain and cold the next morning was almost unbearable so we packed up early in the rain and snow (yes, it started snowing briefly). We went through the Uintas the opposite the way we came and stopped in Evanston for breakfast. Despite the rain and cold It was a successful camping trip, hopefully next time we go we'll have better luck with the weather, but then again at 10,000 feet the mountains have their own "special" weather.

This was a treat to see the two moose on our way up the mountain

I love how Morgan adores her big brother SO much

Morgan and I on our little hike

Fishing is one of Ian's favorite hobbies

Jeff taught Ian how to make fire with magnesium - he'll be a pro before he becomes a scout

Yea, we have fire!

Can't get enough of those yummy smores - our dutch oven desert didn't work out to well, but thank goodness we had a backup

The second night Morgan learned that in order to stay warm she needed to stay in her covers, she didn't move a muscle when she went to bed that night.

Silly Girl

Today at nap time Morgan was refusing to go to sleep. I thought it was going to be one of those "no nap days" which at about 5 pm is not very fun to be around her. About a 1/2 hour into her playing I went to her room and reminded her it was nap time, she looked at me with a huge grin and said "poopy", so I changed her diaper and left her again to take a nap. I was hoping that this was what was keeping her from falling asleep. Unfortunately she continued to play and play and just about the time that I needed to log into work I went to her room and reminded her again that it was nap time and that she needed to lay down. I logged into work and thought that she had gone to sleep because I didn't hear anything for a while. Shortly after logging in I heard her talking and playing again, and just assumed that she decided to forgo that nap today and play in her bed instead. After being logged into work for about a 1/2 hour the Internet and phone connection went dead. While dealing with this I realized that Morgan had FINALLY gone to sleep, and before logging back into work I peeked in on her and found this:

her diaper was on the floor, she was completely buck naked. I had to wake her up to put her diaper back on, luckily she went back to sleep.

Photos needed

I'm posting this link to my friends blog who is in need of some photos for an upcoming launch of an awesome website. Click here for details it would be awesome to see some of my favorite moms on this site

Long Overdue post

For the 4th of July we headed to my small hometown in Wyoming. This has been our 3rd year in a row, and I think we'll continue to make it a tradition. I'd much rather visit Wyoming in the summer than in the dead of winter anyway. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time visiting with family. On Friday morning Jeff's dad got out the horse (Nugget) for the kids to ride, they were so excited, this was Morgan's first time on a horse and Ian's 3rd time (but it has been a LONG time for him). All the grand kids that were there took turns with grandpa leading the horse around the circular drive way. Morgan didn't want to be on the horse at first, but got used to it, and liked it a little bit towards the end.

On Friday night we went to the annual fireworks show put on by a local orthodontist, He does a spectacular job and puts on a program with music and narration along with the fireworks. This is no ordinary little fireworks show, and it seems to get better and bigger every year.

Saturday was the parade, which is not that great, but fun for the kids to get candy and sprayed by the firetrucks at the end. Jeff ran the 1/2 marathon, unfortunately I couldn't find the camera that morning, so there's no pictures of him coming in from the race. His brother ran and his two sisters, walked, they all did an awesome job. The rest of the day was spent lazily laying around, and Morgan took a SUPER DUPER LONG nap, which I was so grateful for. We had a yummy BBQ, and after dinner we ran up to visit my Nana. When we got back we had our own little fireworks show. There is absolutely nothing that is illegal there, in fact ALL day long and ALL night there are firecrackers and fireworks going non-stop. It's nice that my in laws live out of town, so we don't have to hear it all day.

Sunday we left early because Jeff had to get back to pack for scout camp the following week. We left Ian to spend the week with his cousins and stay for Grandma Jo camp. He had a great time, and can't stop talking about it. It was nice to have some time away from my boys, but I missed them and couldn't wait for them to come back.

This is my sweet niece Gracie sitting with Morgan. We had a fun visit with my sister-in-law and brother-in-laws kids a few days before heading to Wyoming, they drove all the way from Tennessee, it was fun having them stay with us for a couple of days

Morgan is not too sure about being on that big horse

Grandpa was trying to teach Ian how to lead the horse and make that clicking sound that the real cowboys make when riding

Grandma Jo Camp - these pictures are so small because I took them off my Mother-in-laws facebook page, so I'll have to email her and ask if she can send them so I can get them bigger

Hotdog Roast

Sleeping in the tent

They all had fun on Grandpas 4 wheeler

Field trip to the Museum, they read stories inside the Tee Pee