We're Home!

Ten days, 3,500 miles, 4 states, 3 hotels, skunks, cows, 3 dead birds, cracked windshield as a result of hitting the birds, dry air, snow storms, ice, temperatures varying from 8 degrees to 70 degrees, throw up, wet pants, snow clothes for all 4 of us (which we will probably never wear again), 8 Temples, The Bluebird Restaurant, 1st time sledding for the girls, a sledding accident for Laura, nearly getting sideswiped by a diesel truck, a visit to Dad's grave site, and having the most wonderful Christmas ever! We enjoyed every minute of it! The only thing I would have done differently is to stop at Haggermann's the first time we passed through Salt Lake as it was closed for Christmas. We loved the snow and every aspect of it and it definitely felt like Christmas for us this year!

Christmas plans!

We are doing something different this year for Christmas. We are loading up the van with all our presents and going on a road trip! We are even taking a Christmas tree with us! We've stayed in a hotel at Christmas time before but we will see how well we like staying in 3 different hotels! The kids hope Santa will be able to find us! We have had trouble in the 8 years of living in Texas to really get into the feeling of Christmas because there is no snow. So, we thought we would go find some. (If we don't, then we will have to wait for that crazy day in Texas.) With the weather being so cold as it has been, we've heard of snow falling from weird places...even Vegas! So, wish us luck! As we won't be seeing Family this year we hope you all know you will still be in our hearts.
Merry Christmas!

I'm a pink slipper!

Our Theme for Enrichment this month was Bringing 'Soles' Unto Christ. We were to bring a shoe that best describes our personality. I took a pink slipper.

Pink...because I am all girl...and a mother to girls
Slippers are quiet...I am a quiet person...until you get to know me and I don't like attention brought to myself.
A slipper is easy...I am easy to get along with.
It's warm and comfortable...I am comfortable to be around.
They come in fun styles... I can be alot of fun too!

I had a friend who thought I was a high heel; polished on the outside and comfortable on the inside. I had to remind her that high heels are not comfortable!

1st talk...Nativity!

Danielle gave her 1st talk in Primary yesterday. She was given a pretty broad topic so we went with the theme of Christmas and what I've been doing this past week...The Nativity.

We are very proud of you Danielle!

Every year our Stake puts together a wonderful display of Nativities that bring hundreds of people from all over our community to enjoy. (This year we had over 1600 attend.) I was overwhelmed when I was asked to be a part of the Nativity Exhibit and decorate a section of it! I am convinced the Lord had his hand in this decision to help me shift my thoughts to a better place this year! How grateful I am! I have to admit my husband is the decorator in our home because I lack the know-how so this was a big challenge for me. Anyway, I think I did a pretty good job. This picture is only half of what I was asked to do. Unfortunately, it didn't get to stay this way for long (only 2 days.) A weeks worth of hard work and long hours comes down easily in a matter of about 3 hours. :(

Mother/Daughter Date

Tonight Hannah and I went to see the Allen Christmas Tree lighting for a Mother/Daughter date. This is kind of like Temple Square at Christmas time but not as pretty and not as fun, but for Allen it is a big deal. This was something that started out as a Family outing but Brent came home really sick today so Danielle stayed home to take care of him. Isn't she sweet?! Actually, she was so tired that I refused to take her. Brent talked her into staying home with him. They played "Sorry" and had hot chocolate and watched "The Cosby Show" all of which she loves to do. Anyway, before we left I made Hannah bundle up in all her jackets because we don't own coats here in Texas, it just doesn't make sense to buy a coat that you wear for 3 weeks out of the year. Once we were bundled up (it was in the 40's) we headed up to 7-11 where we stopped for hot chocolate and then headed to the Tree lighting. Once we got there, we walked around, took some pictures, talked with some friends, watched the tree light up...twice. Not sure what happened there. We got some popcorn and walked around some more. We decided it was time to go home. Then the fun really started! As we got into the car, Hannah realized she was missing a glove. She gets out of the car to look for it and almost gets hit by a car. After I lecture her about watching out for cars in the parking lot she starts to cry, not for getting yelled at, but for losing her glove. I then drive across the parking lot looking for this glove. We don't see it. I tell her we can go get her another pair of gloves.(By the way, this glove had a hole in it) After a trip to Target and walking out empty-handed I then think it would be better to go back and search for the glove than to store hop looking for a pair that would satisfy her. So we go back to the "Tree." We ask the police there if they can help us and if there is a lost & found anywhere. They were so nice but we never found the glove.(This whole time I kept thinking "Danielle is giving Hannah a pair of gloves for Christmas, can't she wait for 3 more weeks?!") As we walked back to the car I looked down at some stairs that we didn't walk by before and there it was! Hannah finally had a smile on her face along with two matching gloves! I'm so glad our date ended the way it did...a happy child and a happy Mom!

Mind tricks...will they work?

I am one of the many who is obsessed with Twilight! I love the books! Once I started reading, I finished all 4 books in 10 days. My poor family was so neglected. I would drop Danielle off at preschool and I would sit in the parking lot for all 5 hours (no wasted time by driving home) and read, I would stay up till wee hours of the night reading till I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, my house was a mess and Hannah ended up wearing Danielle's underwear due to my lack of household duties. But, like I said, I was obsessed. I was one of the crazy ones who camped out till 12:01 am on November 21st to see the "Twilight" premiere. It was so cold (the one night it got in the 30's) and so much fun! Yes, I was one of the oldest there along with about 12 of my "old" friends although I felt very young as I normally don't do things like this. In my 33rd year of life it turns out that I feel like I need to prove that I'm not getting old. My mind is telling me I'm not, but everything else is headed in that direction. On our family vacation this summer, we went to Colorado and on my birthday we happened to go rafting down the Colorado River. Half way down in an attempt to stay young, I decided I wanted to go cliff diving.."I've done this before...when I was younger" I say to myself. "It will be so fun!" I rallied Brent to go with me and so did the girls. Brent & I jumped off 30 ft cliffs and the girls went off a 5 ft cliff. As I'm standing on the cliff I decide I will wait till I am just about to hit the water to get my breath of air. I jump. The drop scared me so much that I couldn't catch my breath. Once I hit the water, I think I went into shock. When I came up I still couldn't catch my breath. "This isn't what happened last time" I'm thinking. Again it was cold but still so much fun! I am hoping that if I keep telling my body that I'm not getting old maybe my body will listen?!

There ARE reasons to smile!

It's been a hard week. With the passing of Brent's Dad, this will be the first Christmas without him and I'm having a hard time, I really miss him. Even shopping hasn't been fun and that is never the case. Well...last night at 3:00am Danielle woke me up to tell me she had wet the bed. She hasn't done that since she was 2 so this was a surprise to the both of us. Instead of her being upset, she was still happy & smiling! Her great attitude got me thinking. I laid awake for the next two hours thinking of things that make me smile. I want to share with you in no particular order:

Chocolate covered strawberries
Having Brent come home
A Sunday nap
A Rainbow
Hearing my girls sing primary songs
The first snowfall of the year
The Mountains
My Mom
My Grandpa
Cuddling with my girls
Date night with Brent
Snuggling under the blanket when it's cold
Fall
Seeing a Temple
Going to the Temple
Girls Night Out
A clean house (especially the bathrooms)
Clean Teeth
Clean sheets
A good hair day
Finding jeans that fit
My Birthday (each and every one of them)
High School Musical
Watching my kids sleep
Flying in an airplane
Tan lines
Chocolate Milk (full fat of course!)
Hearing my girls giggle
Anything 'Twilight' (except Jacob, I can't stand him!)
Peppermint Hot Chocolate
The movie Enchanted
80's music
A good tight hug!
Having the Gospel in my life
Being around people who are happy

I will stop there. I want to Thank Danielle and anyone else who has a positive attitude, you've helped me see that there is so much that I can be happy about and that so much in the world does make me smile!

"It's Laura's fault..."

As all you Mother's out there know...according to our kids, everything is "our" fault. No matter what happens they fail to take blame for anything, at least at my house. This is what happened at breakfast Saturday morning. We were having eggs and toast and my children insist on having ketchup with this meal. I put the ketchup bottle on the table. Hannah who is 8 opens the ketchup bottle and starts to squeeze. The liquid comes out onto her plate instead of the thicker ketchup and she says to me "It's Mommy's fault" (apparently, it was my job to shake it first?!) I'm in awe. I respond with "It's Mommy's fault" to the tune of one of Veggie Tales songs. She comes back with "well in this case "It's Laura's fault" to the same tune (which is the actual title of the Veggie Tales song.) Even I could not resist laughing! Here's the link to the song on the Veggie Tales website. http://bigidea.com/products/shows/shows_songs.aspx?pid=18

She is how old?

So...we really didn't understand how old Hannah is getting until well...last night. You'd have thought it would have hit us when she was baptized (in May), but so much was going on at that time. It has taken us a good 6 months to finally get our heads above water and we realize the time is going way too fast! We figured another 8 years and she will be driving & DATING! In 10 years, she will be graduating from High School. Then off to College. I dread that day of her leaving!! It brings tears to my eyes! I've been thinking of when I was 8 and it's all coming back to me so clearly now...thanks to Facebook...and I've caught up with so many of my friends whom I ran around with back then. Those were "good times." So much has changed! But then some things don't. Yes, my friends have all "grown up" now and they all have different names (at least the girls do) but deep inside they are who I remember them to be back then. It makes me happy to think they are all still out there and they can "come out and play" with me...most on Facebook...but some in my own backyard! So, Hannah, slow down! Before we know it you'll be all "grown up" and changing your name too, and that is OK as long as you "come out and play" with us...

Halloween 2008

I've become so relaxed in my parenting between child #1 and #2. This is just one example: Danielle (4) is a crossing guard 2 years in a row at her request. She liked being able to run in the street and stop the cars with her homemade stop sign and her whistle. (Granted there were no cars in the road) And with Hannah (8), There is no way I would:
1) allow her to be anything 2 years in a row and
2) let her run in the street not holding my hand.

It's about time!

For the past year and a half, friends and family have asked me if I have a blog. I didn't think I was creative enough to have one and so I resisted....until now! No, I'm still not creative but I can no longer resist! For those of you who know me well, know I don't like to be left out of anything and certainly not left in the dark. Over the past 6 months I've had my eyes opened and I have decided that I need to know how to do things...like bill pay, and how to download pictures from my camera onto the computer just to name a few. I can't rely on other people to do these things for me. I'm a smart girl, I can figure it out if I really wanted to. Well...I do know how to do bill pay and download pictures onto the computer thanks to my wonderful husband, Brent. He even tried to teach me how to run our automatic sprinklers but to my surprise and his too, probably, I already taught myself how to do that. It does take me some time to learn things as my teachers and parents have already learned from my past but sooner or later I come around. As most of my friends here in Allen know, I never wanted to read a book about Vampires but once I caved in I read all 4 Twilight books in 10 days. My poor Family! They were so neglected! Just be patient while I learn how to do this too!