Christmas update

Hello everyone. I hope you had a great Christmas! I just have time to post a quick page or two reviewing our week of Christmas. Enjoy!

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

What a wonderful experience we've had these last 12 days. Each day, a small gift has been left at our doorstep, leading up to today. We were certain that our Secret Santas had to be a family in our Ward. Imagine my shock when I opened the door today to 15 caroling teenagers and their seminary teacher. We were blown away that number one, they'd chosen us, and number two, that they had been able to coordinate all of these gifts for the last 12 days. We were so touched! A special thanks to each and every one of them...you have made some lasting Christmas memories for our children! Details are below...

finally, here's a recap of our last week's fun....enjoy!

ughh, pardon the typos on the first page. I seem to find them only when I post them on my blog. I'm off to fix them before I forget!

Everything is breaking!!

and the hits just keep on coming....yesterday, the dryer broke. If these thing happen in threes, I'm just waiting for the next thing to go wrong. Luckily, my hubby is willing to try and fix things himself. I did the research on what to fix and he did the labor. Tonight, after an hour of work (and $75 in replacement parts), my dryer is once again quietly drying my clothes. If only fixing the business database was that easy (and cheap)

Listen to those promptings!

Well, Casey and I learned a very hard lesson yesterday. We've been hearing these commercials for "Carbonite"; the online back up of your computer data company. Almost every day, I have received a prompting to remind Casey to back up all of his business stuff with an on line company..just in case. He has also received similar promptings, but ignored them. Yesterday, his entire business database crashed. Everything is gone...his clients, his upcoming bookings, brochures...everything. Now he has to pay another company a hefty sum to try and resurrect his database. In the meantime, we are frantically re-entering all of our contracts that we have hard copies of. A challenge and expense that could have easily been avoided. Next time you receive a prompting to do something, do it right away...there's usually a good reason!

Non Stop December

Hello everyone. I thought I'd pop on and update my blog with what's been happening over the last week. Does every December seem to get busier and busier? Casey was saying the other day (after a non-stop day of church, tithing settlements, and singing practice) that the month of December feels like a "marathon" that he can't rest from until the year ends. If he didn't enjoy being a Bishop so much, I'd feel bad for him. He is there from dawn until dusk...home for a quick dinner and back again. The good thing is that during tithing settlement time, people bring him plates of cookies and candies which he brings home to us! Yum!

Parenting, then and now

You ever get that feeling that you can't possibly be as old as your parents were when they were raising you? To me, my parents seemed so old and wise when I was a kid. They could do nothing wrong...they had all the answers, they were safe. Now that I'm a parent, I realize that they were exactly my age when they were raising me. Therefore, my kids must see me the same way that I saw my parents. For some reason, I don't feel wise and all-knowing. I feel like I'm still a very young adult...just winging it from day to day. Did my parents feel the same way about themselves? If so, they sure hid it from us kids. (or maybe they didn't and we were just too young to pick up on their insecurities.) Today was one of those days when I pondered how my kids would describe me, as their mother, when they are adults. Would they describe me as loving, patient, wise, safe? I honestly don't know.

I have the greatest parents on the planet...don't even try to compete with them, you can't. :) How was I so lucky to be born into the strong, righteous family that I was blessed with. Had I not, what would I be like now? Everything that I have, everything that I am is a direct result of their tutelage, kindness, and example. I hope that someday, my kids will feel the same way...lucky to be born into our family...it's a lot to live up to.


This is the scrapbook page that I finished today that set off my reflective mood.

this quote kind of sums up how I've been feeling today!

Thanksgiving

Hey everyone!! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We had a pretty quiet one with just a few grandparents and friends over. Casey as Bishop likes to make sure that everyone has plans for major holidays like this. We usually end up with a few Ward members at our house on Thanksgiving and Christmas...those that have no where else to go. We love getting to know people and sharing our house (and food) with them. Anyway, everything turned out great and we especially enjoyed our family tradition of putting together a big puzzle all day. I am truly grateful for the rich blessings that I have been given!

The next day, instead of braving the crowds on "Black Friday," we braved having our house stuffed with 12 kids! Our friends, the Andersons came in for a visit and the kids (who are of equal ages) spent the day riding bikes and going to the park. They had so much fun together! Einar, their father...and our friend for so many years, is reporting to basic training two days after Christmas so we're not sure when we will see him again. It was nice to spend one very quick weekend with them!

riding bikes and scooters on an absolutely gorgeous November day!

Allison rides without training wheels for the first time!

Madison (Randi and Einar's oldest) at the new playground behind Splash. This playgroud is HUGE! My kids love it! Madison and Charlotte have been friends since the day they were born!

Thanksgiving cake

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are having such a low-key holiday this year, I'm loving it! My girls and I created this cake in honor of Thanksgiving! My girls HATE pie...(what's up with that?) so I promised them they could make a cake for after the big feast. (I got the idea from Facebook). I think with more practice, I'm getting better with this fondant thing. It's really just like playing with edible play-doh...but is sure makes a mess!

Here's another Disney page. I've slowed way down...I need to learn to pace myself with scrapbooking so I don't get burnt out halfway through a book.

Dog Woes

So, we have this great dog...she's a Labradoodle named Sweet Pea. She doesnt stink, doesn't shed and is GREAT with kids! We really love her to death but this weekend, I've reached my limit! Before heading off to the kids' school carnival, I had baked an 8X8 cake, cooled it off, wrapped it in plastic wrap and set it up on my rather high counter. You guessed it, when we came home, 3/4ths of the cake was gone! The plastic wrap was there but the cake had disappeared. The dog was the only culprit! She must have put her front paws on the counter and eaten as much as she could reach. I feed this dog twice a day...she's not starving! Then, today, I discovered that she had shredded one of Jillian's bears and she started to shred my throw rug in my family room. She also snatched Lydia's lunch right off of her plate! What am I to do? It's been so rainy lately that I haven't been able to get her outside to run. Perhaps she's bored??? I had to scold the poor thing three times today and most of the time she looks at me like "what did I do?" Dog ownership...such a joy! Any advice would be welcome!

finally...I finished a few more pages..

Charlotte's baby book finally finished!!

Well ladies...I did it! After one year of procrastinating finishing this project, I finally got Charlotte's baby book done. Yes, Charlotte...my first born. (who is 11:) I did her book right after she was born but it was the first book I had ever scrapbooked (the traditional way) and quite frankly, it was awful! Once I went digital I thought it would be so nice to rip everything out of the old book, scan it into my computer and give her a digital scrapbook for Christmas. I completed the last page today and hopefully can get the book ordered and here before Christmas. Next up... re-doing Jillian's book (Which is equally awful) Maybe i'll have it done by next year!

I scanned everything in...birth certificates, congratulations cards, notes from my doctor etc..

We were so naive as new parents. Charlotte wouldn't nurse so we had to "finger" feed her from a tube attached to our finger. Why? so that she would eventually transition to breast feeding. Good in theory but honestly, it took forever! She never did nurse and went to a bottle at 2 months old. (My other kids had no problem nursing...oh the things we learn!)

don't we look lovely...Casey in his Tigger hat and me with my permed hair...aah, the 90's.

this is the last page in her book. I just finished it today. This was taken in Spokane (where I grew up) 10 years ago. Seems like yesterday...sigh...

Almost done. I'm getting sick of Disney stuff!!!

More Disney

Well, I'm almost done with this book! I had some quiet time today so I finished a few more Disney pages. Enjoy!

In my opinion, this was one of the best rides in California Adventure. Long lines, but lots of fun!

Hey everyone...I've got a few more pages for you. Yesterday was the simplest, and best day. Casey was actually home for the entire day! He hibernated in his room, finishing his Ward Conference talk and then, we went to Walmart as a family. In the meantime, I made some rocking spaghetti with homemade meatballs and processed two of the pumpkins on the front porch. I now have two freezer bags worth of smooth pumpkin meat, ready for pies, breads, and whatever! I LOVE days like yesterday.

More Disney

Hey guys...I got a few more Disney pages done. Let me know what you think. Think I can get this book done by Christmas? We'll see!!! Enjoy!

the kids went on Splash Mountain at least 8 times!! We went at night when the lines were really short for this ride. They kept riding over and over again!!! It really is one of the greatest rides in the park!

and finally, one of my favorites, the haunted "holiday" mansion. If you haven't visited from October to December, you probably have never seen the mansion all decorated for Christmas. It is really, really cute and great for kids...not too scary!!

Haunted Mansion embellishments and alphabet found at Scrapmatters.com...type in "Disney" for some GREAT Disney stuff....not free though :)

Laziness

You ever have one of those weeks where you just want to be lazy? I've been pushing so hard the last few weeks to accomplish all of my tasks that this week, I just crashed. I took the kids to the movies yesterday...and didn't do much else. I've been rewatching season one of "Heroes" (love that show)...and that's pretty much my night last night. Sometimes, you just have to have a few lazy days right? I did manage to finish last week's project 365. Enjoy

Sacred Ordinances

What a huge weekend it's been! Before we left for Disneyland, Maggie turned eight years old. This Saturday, was her big day...baptism day! She has been so excited for this day. The night before, her daddy took her over to the church and gave her the official Bishop's interview. We insist that our girls get dressed in their Sunday clothes for these meetings with the Bishop...even though their Bishop is their dad. The next day, we had a special dinner with 22 of our friends and family. (I decided that in order to entertain at that level, I need a bigger house!!) Maggie blew out her candles on her ladybug cake and got a new set of scriptures.



Anyway, right after dinner, we headed over for a 6:00 baptism. Maggie and her dad took a few pictures. She is wearing the same dress that all of her Westover aunts wore and all of her girl cousins have worn.












(Oh, Jillian, take a serious picture please......)

The baptismal service was wonderful. Her Grandpa Millar gave the talk on baptism, the four girls sang "When Jesus Christ Was Baptized" and then, Maggie was baptized by her dad. Maggie was just radiant when I met her in the bathroom to change out of her wet clothes. Her Grandma Walburger gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and then, her dad confirmed her a member of the church and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a wonderful evening...one of the best. Thanks to all that came to support Maggie; she felt your love! I'm so grateful to be able to raise my children in the Gospel!



Following the baptism, all of the sisters and their cousins gathered in our bedroom to watch a movie. Note the big grin on Maggie's face!