Why do I buy toys?

Lately Gwen has been playing with the pots' and pans' lids and I thought I'd catch her in the act! She is embarrassed that's why she's laying down in the cupboard. Yesterday she put her doll on the lid rack! So why do I buy toys? I think that I am hoping they will distract her from my lids, the flour, the cereal, the broom, the dental floss and the vacuum attachments!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Here is the spectacular view from my porch! It was a beautiful day!!!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

So I realize I've posted a ton of photos but it's been a great, busy time! We have had a blast going to Christmas concerts: Timo's (seen with Louw grandparents and Aunt Teresa), Taran's (not in the photo but Pew grandparents with Emily), The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert (Emily with Louw grandparents), Lone Peak High School Chamber Singers came to our ward party and Taran and I went to the Madrigal Feaste at the high school put on by the Chamber Singers and the Acapella Choir. All the concerts were amazing! Taran and I loved the food and we were right in front of the 'stage', we had to eat with our hands since we didn't buy a fork. They sang and put on a clever skit. It was an incredible experience. My mom's friend had 4 tickets to the MOTAB so Tim and Emily went with since I was busy with Enrichment that night. They loved it, I included a photo of the lights at Temple Square that Tim took with his camera phone. We enjoyed our ward party (Timo & Jonah, Emily won a candy bar and the Chamber Singers) until Santa made his appearance at the end and Gwen freaked. So I naturally took her picture as Tim consoled her and took her home. The other kids were eager to get their photo taken with Santa. When we got home someone had left a bag as part of the 12 days of Christmas, we have been getting stuff everyday and it has been so fun! We went to the lights at Thanksgiving Point, our nephews Jeremy and Ammon went with us. It was really fun to be with kids who get excited by the lights and everything. Last Saturday we had a storm blow in and it dumped on us today (Tuesday) so it was actually enough to sled in and attempt a snowman. The kids loved it! I didn't get the kids sledding since I had to make dinner. We've been doing some secret service stuff too and that seems to have helped spread Christmas cheer around here. It's been fairly relaxing and exciting all at once how? I am not sure how to else to explain it! I hope you are enjoying your holidays too! I hope I can get a good photo tomorrow of the mountains with the snow, they are so beautiful!

No more naps ;(

If you click on the photos of Gwen in her room you will see the mess she made instead of sleeping. You can't really see the disaster her bed was! So, I let her paint instead. It was the second day in a row--the rest of the week she wouldn't (she'd yell from her room and I could hear her getting the puzzles out & etc.) so I gave up trying. My baby isn't going to be a baby much longer:(!

Random Updates, Again

So the top photo is from Tim's new cell phone that has a little camera on it. He took Timo and some friends and Taran to a Jazz Basketball game. I found a great deal on the internet for this game so it was what Timo wanted to do in honor of his birthday. The Jazz won and they had a lot of fun.

Izak got his Wolf award at Pack Meeting. I am not there because I went to a choir thing at the high school with Taran--more on that later. I was so proud of Izak he really worked hard and got several arrow points as well. It was tough not to go.

Emily (the blond with her eyes closed) had her school program in November. All the grandparents and Aunt Teresa came. It was really good! They did some really cool dancing along with their singing.

Izak also had his program last month. It was cute and he is hugging his buddy Matthew who stood next to him in it. Unfortunately we couldn't see them unless we stood up in the aisle.

The last photo is a scan of the family photo at my brother Keith's wedding. It turned out pretty good.

Christmas Traditions

I've been meaning to post this for awhile, inspired by others' who are sharing their traditions. We do quite a lot of traditions that most people do a daily advent--scripture reading about Christ and singing a Christmas Carol, gift exchanges with family, our neighborhood doesn't do 'neighbor gifts' anymore we donate our budget for that to the needy, we send books to a family in Argentina (an old mission companion of mine) since books are very expensive for them to buy, we try to go to Temple Square when it's not too cold, see the lights around the neighborhood and visit a nearby light display (this usually costs so we don't always do it), we are fortunate that our older sons are in choir at school so we get to go to their free Christmas concerts, painting Christmas cookies, white elephant parties, new jammies on Christmas Eve. . .

But I was thinking the most meaningful tradition is one I got on my mission. An elder told me how they were going to the church members' and those listening to the discussions and share with them this idea. They would talk about the gift of Jesus Christ from our Heavenly Father, then about the gifts Jesus Christ had given us (salvation, Holy Ghost. . .). Then he would challenge each person to write a gift they were going to give Jesus this year. It was private, then put it in an empty film container (remember those?). Then he left it with them to open the next year and see if they followed through and could make a new gift or keep it. So we have been doing it now and I finally bought this cute box last year to put them in--before the papers were in a plastic star ornament which stopped closing-it's been 14 years! Anyway, some years I have failed miserably to give sufficiently my 'gift' which really is a gift to myself (and my family) in the end. I begin to think about what my gift might be when this season rolls around and I evaluate my past gift. It has helped me keep Christ the focus. If you decide you want to do this I suggest a Family Night because we used to do it Christmas Day and sometimes it got forgotten in the HUB BUB and we would do it but later. This present is the only one under our tree for awhile. I am so grateful to that elder for sharing that idea with me!

Great Christmas Website

Pikes Pickles shared this (and many more) great website http://christcenteredtraditions.blogspot.com/ So if you are feeling like it's not CHRISTmas check it out!