Just the Kids

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I Love Christmas!

Tag for anyone that loves Christmas as much as I do.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping presents is the best. I love making them pretty with ribbon and bows.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial with built in lights. Love the smell of a real tree, but the shedding is a nightmare and we travel too much to water it well.
3. When do you put up the tree? Day after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever I start missing the space in my living room, but atleast after the 1st of January
5. Do you like eggnog? Love it, every single fat-laden calorie of it
6. Favorite gift received as a child? So many: pound puppy, snail secret keeper, big teddy from Ev, Blanket from Juleen
7. Hardest person to buy for? Grown-ups
8. Easiest person to buy for? My Husband, just walk down the toy isle and possibilities are endless.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? a couple, I love nativities, One of my favorite Christmas decorations I have is of a Santa kneeling in front of baby Jesus, you wind it up and it plays OH Come All Ye Faithful. Love it alot. Thanks Julia for sharing this with me.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Not a card but mail our letter with a pic of the kids.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Howie the Manatee, Alan said he was purposely trying to give me something lame. It was fun , just really unexpected.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie(s)? Muppet Christmas Carol, It's A Wonderful Life
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year round, I have some left-over gifts for Matt from last year that I never gave him.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Does Salvation Army count?
15 .Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Ham, Orange Jello, Grandma Freda's fruit salad, Cinnimon Rolls, Chocolate Oranges, Pistacios
16. Lights on the tree? Color, I have fond memories of listening to my parents read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever with most of the lights off except the colored Christmas lights. Wonderful memories.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh, Come All Ye Faithful; Oh Holy Night sung by my Dad; Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel; It's all so wonderful, I love music.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel, we love seeing family.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yup, you know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet, and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen, but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all ... Of course I have to sing to make sure I get them all.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We do a sibliling present exchange Christmas Eve, but the rest on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The travel, as much as I love seeing family the roads are unpredicable, kids always get sick, and it's hard to not be at home, but if we didn't go I'd miss that too.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Poisetta or something to do with the Nativity.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham-yummy, yummy, yum
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? More Cricut stuff, Thanks Matt for getting it for my B-day, it's awesome.
26. If you had to choose, presents or a stocking? Stockings, they've always been really special to me, thanks Mom for making them wonderful and something to look forward to.

Marriage

So I just read this article http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081110hate.html. It was written by a LDS cop who lives in California. He had some really good things to say about Proposition 8 and the outrage that has been shown toward the church for it not being passed. Frankly I thought that it was a little frightening but I am grateful that in a day and age where anything goes, that the principles that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints preaches still go strong among us believers. It says in scriptures that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

I believe that God instituted marriage, and that for God to approve of that marriage that it should only exist between a man and a woman. I think that there are many that believe that they can believe in God and go completely against the things that He reveals to us through scriptures and prophets to be right and wrong. We can't have it both ways. We can't be of the belief that we can do whatever we want and not have to pay any sort of consequences in the end. I know that this life can be hard. I know the desire to find enjoyment in it wherever possible. However I believe that God has greater desires for us. I believe that the joy we will find from keeping up this moral code far outways any fun we may have looking for another way.

As a married woman with children I want marriage to stay as God made it: between a man and a woman. I do understand that there are people that do not share my beliefs in God and/or that marriage should stay as it has always been. I understand the desire to feel loved and people feel that they are best loved by someone of the same gender. I don't agree with it but I understand that it happens. To them I plead, please don't take away my right to marriage. Please find a different way to get what you want without taking away what I want. Please acknowledge that you are asking all us that believe this way to change our beliefs for you. There has to be another way. Some other way of comprimise.

Alright Brittney, This One's For You

Tag Rules: Go to the 3rd folder of your pictures and select the 3rd picture in. BLOG! So, here we go!



This is it. This is Gideon five years ago at 8 or 9 months old, his first winter, and our first winter in Colorado. He looks so little and uncomfortable and completely unable to move. I wonder if he thought we were torturing him at the time.



Some of my favorite things about Gideon are:

1. The way he protects and takes care of his two little sisters.

2. How he loves to follow a story, whether in a movie or a book.

3. The way he likes to please his father with his knowledge of superheroes.

4. Seeing his desire to learn, it's very exciting and hopeful.

5. He can be very thoughtful and kind to others, he doesn't like to see others cry except for maybe his sisters.

6. He already thinks girls are cute and he often asks me who he is going to marry.

7. He is so proud of being my big helper and says that I wouldn't be able to survive without him, which is totally true.
8. I can never do my feelings as a mother justice. I have never felt such poignant feelings before. A whole range of feelings. From Love when I turn to see them smile and laugh, to downright dislike since kids seem to know exactly what buttons to push. From immense pride when they are kind to deep disappointment when they are mean. From pure frustration because I've repeated myself for the 20 time that morning to Joy in watching them grow and discover and have fun together. Then of course there are all the feelings have about myself. The tears I've shed for my disappointment in myself and my own inabilities to show the patience I have been attempting to develop for the last 5 and a half years. The pride that I feel for when I know that I am their mother and that they love me as much, though differently then I love them. The fear I have that they won't make good choices and that I won't teach them the way I should and that their failures will be all my fault. The hopes that I have for their happiness, past, present and future. I love that they so easily forgive when I lose my temper and the way they sweetly try to take care of me at times. There are just so many extremes of feelings. I am so grateful for them all. I guess I just want to be able to say at the end of the day that I'm getting a little better at this and that my kids went to bed knowing that I love them and that I helped bring us all a little closer to God. I don't quite know why I'm so thoughtful this morning, but I am. And I want my kids to know I love them always!

PS. Tag: Rachel P, Rachel S, Valerie, Sharon, M'Recia, Lisa, Abby and any one else.

A Peter Pan Halloween

Peter Pan, Wendy and Tinkerbell flying off to Neverland.

Pirates VS Kids

Pan beats Hook!

Peter Pan is the best flyer around.

We enjoyed our costumes this year. I hope that we can do a theme again some time! Happy Belated Halloween to everyone out there.

Captain Hook?

My handsome Captain Hook and all of his amazing hand options. We have the obvious favorite the Chainsaw Hand. He spent many hours tenderly crafting this hand himself.

The close second is the Hulk Hand, Hook was attracted to the power of the Hulk Hand and of course the lovely shade of green. The Light Saber Hand option was a must for my versatile pirate. He has a deep love for the 3 prequels. Now onto the more practicle Hand options we have the Flash Light Hand and the Pencil Hand. Even though it has been thought that Hook hated Peter Pan for cutting off his hand, in his prayers Hook secretly thanks God in Heaven for the opportunity to have so many different hand options. Also he does enjoy the Hook, but it was being polished the day we took these pictures.

Matt's Captain Hook Chainsaw Hand

So a couple months ago Matt and I made a deal. He agreed to be Captain Hook for our Peter Pan theme this year if he could have a chainsaw hand instead of a hook. I agreed obviously. We put it off for a long time so the day before Halloween we were up til 2 in the morning putting this together. Matt did 95% of the work and it did turn out pretty cool. He was so proud of it when all was said and done. I was cleaning stuff up when Matt called for me to come. I came to the garage door and he had me close my eyes then he opened the door to the garage slowly and the light from the kitchen fell just right on his chainsaw hand as he made some sort of Du, du, du sound. I think he can rank it in his top 10 proudest moments of his life. Coming soon a picture of the whole family in costume together.

Bob and Larry

Bob and Larry are together at last just as they always should be.

30 and Okay with It!

So I had a pretty hilarious experience at church last night. I was walking down the hallway and a lady was coming in with her teenage son. She was sporting pig-tails and sucking on a caramel apple lollipop. I stopped her and asked if she wasn't too old to her hair that way and suck on a lollipop at the same time. She laughed and said that I'd figured out that she was just not going to grow up. Funny. The whole experience made me laugh. So I guess I'm trying to say I may have turned 30, but does it really matter. I'm looking forward to alot of things, and I don't want to be young and repeat all the things I've already had to learn. I'm really hoping that I will just improve with age. I guess we will just have to wait and see.