Happy 34th Jenn!

Today is Jenn's 34th birthday so we (minus Jana who is out of town) got together for breakfast at IHOP this morning. Since Jenn's birthday falls on a holiday and so close to Christmas we try harder to recognize the day and make it special, than we tend to do for the rest of us with regular-ole birthdays.


I made a list of 33 things I love about Jenn last year for her birthday, so I'm reposting it and adding one more to it.



She has 5 cute kids!


She is the primary president of a huge primary. {She got released yesterday 12/30/07}
She is incredibly creative.
She not only has good ideas, she actually follows through with them.
She's very generous.
She loves to give gifts.
She cries when she laughs, even if she's not laughing very hard.
She loves babies, and has excellent baby-whisper type skills.


She has an awesome craft room. {Which is dismantled and in storage while they sell their house. So sad.}
She loves the color red.
She grew up in Washington.
She is an excellent gift receiver because she's tickled by whatever she gets.
She is the oldest of 8 children.
She loves her family.

She is a reader.
She graduated from BYU in elementary education.
She worked at Campus Craft and Floral and made their Valentine flower deliveries run smoothly.
She will do anything to help a friend.


She hates to clean, but loves a clean house.
She has the quietest sneeze I've ever heard.
She has a girl-crush on Jennifer Garner.
She loves to watch movies and tv shows at night with her husband Kelly.
She wants a bigger house so badly she can taste it.
She drives a maroon minivan that's always full of kids.
She manages to cram a lot into her days.
She always presents gifts in an aesthetically pleasing and often innovative way.


She is best friends with her youngest sister (who is also her clone) Angela.
She is highly competitive and therefore doesn't like to play games.
She loves the "Never On Sundae" dessert at Pizza Factory.
She doesn't drink soda.
She is the fondue queen.


She loves to send & receive good mail.
She is excellent at taking care of life's details.

All she wanted from our Paris trip was a picture of all of us in front of the Eiffel Tower.

**What do you love about Jenn??**

Sunday Thoughts

It's the last Sunday of 2007, and with my new calling in the Primary Presidency we are all-about planning for 2008. None of our new teachers have been called yet (hopefully that will happen today) so we're feeling like we're on stand-by still. We had a meeting this morning and I've spent the last hour 3-hole punching things to put in my binder (I need a binder!) so I can keep myself organized. (By the way, please email me any good primary ideas you have.)


I have high expectations for our incoming primary teachers and feel super motivated about the new year. So much of the success of these classes depends on the teachers...their level of weekly preparation, their attitude, their testimonies, their desire to serve. It seems so clear to me because I have always felt this way with every calling I've had, and it makes me want to light a fire under everyone else. I can't help but think how great it would be if I could transfer this focus and enthusiasm to the other areas of my life.

The first Sunday of last year (January 7th) I set some spiritual goals here on my blog (yet another reason I'm so thrilled to be a consistent blogger, I found this post in one search).

1. Read the entire Book of Mormon by July 9th (my birthday)
2. Attend the temple once a month (this will be huge for me)
3. 100% visiting teaching
4. More thoughtful prayers
5. Family Home Evening every week

• I'm happy to report that goals 1, 4, and 5 were achieved entirely! (I'm actually almost finished with the New Testament too.) Hooray for the scripture calculator.
• Goal #3 was 11 visits out of a possible 12, but I did talk to the sisters I visit teach that month and was always connected with them.
• It's goal #2 that gave me some trouble, I did pretty well at the beginning of the year and went to the temple 3 times, but then missed a month and let my goal unravel from there. Rather than dwell on this failure, I'm recommitting to it for 2008 with absolute resolve.

The thing I'm so happy about is that I accomplished 4 out 5 goals really well (I never do that!). It's no small thing to have Family Home Evening every week, but we did it and found that it was much easier to actually do it than to feel guilty or discouraged that we didn't do it! I think this is probably true for every intention of mine. Rather than thinking about going to the gym, it's just easier to go. Rather than planning on writing a note to someone, it's easier to just write it and not feel bad about it later.


I hope this makes sense to more than just myself, but my point is that I'm finally understanding that it's easier, more beneficial, more energizing, more inspiring, more useful to follow through and make things happen than to make excuses and feel badly for not doing the things I want to do. It's embarrassing, cowardly and just plain weak to continually let myself maintain the status quo.

Happy Birthday
Sarah, Melinda & Faye!!!

**What do you think??**

Giggle Twins & Game Night

Since Robyn decided to have all the girl cousins over for a sleepover Thursday night that meant Austin needed to evacuate the premises and come to our house for a boys' night of sorts. Austin and Landon are the only boy cousins in our family so they're outnumbered 6-2; they're 2 years and 4 months apart, but get along splendidly.


Poor Landon was lost without Austin for the 20 months his family lived in Australia. I didn't realize how much Landon missed him until I've seen them playing together and laughing so much since Austin's return in November.


I let the boys play Game Cube in bed that night and it was like Christmas all over again for them. They both looked at me in disbelief and said, "Really??!" It seemed like fodder for good memories to me and such a rare chance for them to have a sleepover without Whitney around, I wasn't about to be a stickler about bedtime.


They fell asleep with the tv still on, both wearing sleep masks (so funny) and Austin had the controller cord wrapped around his leg.


Last night was the return of game night after several weeks off for our shmanniversary and Randy's work Christmas party. We got take-out from Rib City Grill then played a memorable round of Settlers of Catan in which Lori was the victor. She usually finds this game boring (don't ask me how) so we were all a little shocked that she not only participated, but ended up winning by a lot! (Amy attempted to crack Lori's back for her, but didn't weigh enough to do any good, I had to help out.)


We also played Rummy, Speed and Clue...good times. At one point Amy said something that sounded like something highly inappropriate and ended up causing the kind of laughter that counts as a workout. I seriously couldn't breathe and had rock hard abs from laughing so hard. Accidental humor is one of my favorites to witness.


This morning I met up early with Lori to accompany her as she scouted out a potential new living situation. We got done early and went to the movie theater to buy our tickets for a later show and then realized one had just started 4 minutes earlier so we ended up seeing a movie at 10:35 on a Saturday morning, kind of funny. (That didn't stop us from eating popcorn and M&Ms.) We saw "Juno" and absolutely loved it. Lori had already seen it a couple nights ago, but liked it enough to see it again. I laughed and I cried and left there feeling sad that it was over; I love movies like that.

**Do you have any giggle twins?
Do you ever need your back cracked?
Do you find accidental humor hilarious?
Have you seen Juno?**

A Plethora of Exclamation Points

I really don't know what possessed me to wait 3 days after Christmas to open my gifts from Michelle, Amie, Susan (Michelle's mom) and my Pink Christmas pal Sherrie, but whatever the reason I didn't open them until this morning alone on my family room floor. The gifts certainly did NOT disappoint and I'm glad I waited because it extended Christmas and the feeling of gratitude I've felt this week.


This is how our tree has looked these few days AFTER Christmas. Can you blame me for not wanting to open these beauties? Is it wrong that I was ridiculously giddy knowing they were all for me (apparently I'm still 9)?


My Pink Christmas pal Sherrie made this amazing wall art on a magnet board from IKEA (genius idea). She decoupaged paper onto it and embellished it to match the color scheme of our home (so thoughtful). She made magnets too (not pictured) so I can put photos onto the matte spaces and change them out whenever I want. I'm blown away by her planning, creativity, effort and thoughtfulness. I love it!! I already hung it up and will be hanging pictures on it today (I'll post another photo later.)

Michelle's mom Susan is always generous with me and often includes a little something for me along with her many shipments of gifts to Michelle (you wouldn't believe how big the boxes she sends are). Michelle gave me a very heavy present from Susan last week, so it has been sitting under our tree looking lovely and teasing me. Opening it today I found a box with 4 cute dessert plates with sayings about chocolate on them. They're darling, and of course I don't have anything like this. Thanks Susan!!

Amie surprised me with a new candle warmer (much more stylish than my old one) and the mother lode of melts. She had led me to believe the company she gets these from was out of the scents I like, so I wasn't expecting to have any all winter. When I slid the box over to unwrap it I caught a whiff of lemony goodness and had to smile. Thanks Amie!!!

Michelle had 3 wrapped gifts for me, so that was a treat. She gave me this darling apron which matches our kitchen and is so cute I want to hang it up in there. (The note says a monogram will be added after Christmas.)

She also gave me these darling tea towels. She has so many cute ones at her house that she has instilled a great affection for these in me. I'm delighted.

The last gift I opened was this great pie plate. It's totally fitting that she would give me one of these since she's the one who taught me how to make pie. It's a heavy duty ceramic dish and matches our kitchen too. How nice is that?? Thanks Michelle!!!


My sister Lori had my name for Christmas this year (we draw names in our family) and went all out for me. She knew early-on what she wanted to give me and said, "I don't even want it myself" which meant it was all about me (delightful). I was officially intrigued and wondered all month what she had come up with. She called me multiple times while shopping, so she was always reminding me of the possibilities. She gave me a huge hat box full of gift-giving and good mail supplies!


There are 2 rolls of wrapping paper (toile even), many packages of tissue paper, envelopes, lots of cute take-out boxes, ribbon, tape, a paper cutter, labels, stickers, and cards, what a bounty of goodness! I don't know why she wouldn't want this for herself, but I'm delighted to have it. Thanks Lori!!!!!!!


My big gift from Randy was new lens for my camera! It's a 75-300mm zoom and is fabulous. Thanks Babe!!!

I better start making thank you notes eh? I'll add that to my ever-growing list of birthday gifts to make. Here's an update/reminder for those of you who like to send to people on the good mail list. That's a lot of birthdays!

Sarah Bollenbaugh--December 30th
Melinda Taylor--December 30th
Jennifer Nielsen--December 31st
Mandy Torgerson--January 3rd
Shawna Borg--January 5th
Kristi Cutler--January 8th
Jordan Mangum--January 12th
Bridget Mahalek--January 14th
Kacey McLendon--January 17th
Tasha Adams--January 23rd
Jen McDonald--January 28th

**Will you post about your gifts?
Do you ever wait to open presents?
Can you believe all these birthdays?**

Order Restored

I spent my entire day yesterday shoveling out from Christmas and restoring order, it was a beautiful thing. Randy was at work, Whitney was at Adam & Amy's house, and Landon was home for most of the day but was gone for a few hours with my mom, so that meant I had the house to myself and no new messes were being made. Ahhhh.


I flattened boxes, put toys away, opened new board games and put them away, dusted and organized the kids' bookshelves (they have A LOT of books), did laundry, dishes, vacuumed and even made dinner. What in the world? My craft room took the brunt of the messes, since I have lots of project-related items to put away and just kept piling them in here. I'm okay with that because I always like being in here and I got Season 4 of Seinfeld for Christmas to keep me company in here.

My presidency meeting for this morning got canceled 15 minutes before it was supposed to start, so I'm all showered and dressed. I've got a bunch of errands I want to run, but am not really keen on dragging the kids with me so we'll see. This is a riveting post for sure.

Happy Birthday Heather!!!

**Have you shoveled out from Christmas yet?
Do you love having order restored?
Do you shop after-Christmas sales?**

Merry Christmas 2007

I'm always a little disappointed when Christmas is over, and have decided I like the build up much better than the actual day. I'm glad we have another week until the new year because I'm not ready to be done with it all yet (though by then I may be sick of it all).


Yesterday's Christmas Eve gathering with the whole family went well. I wasn't in the best form for about half of it, but ended up feeling better after our tasty steak dinner and once we started playing Sing Star on the PS2. I'm officially hooked! Only Robyn's husband Jared, my mom, Amy and surprisingly Randy can sing decently so the rest of us felt like we were really squeaking it out, but couldn't stop ourselves.

{photo cropped for your safety}

I don't know if it's the power of holding the microphone, the fun of the real videos being played on the screen, or thrill of actually getting some of the notes right but something about is addictive. This may be the lure that brings me out to freakin Eagle Mountain for real (either that or will make me buy a ps2 for our house). I left there last night tired, but full of good will for my family and mankind.


My mom gave Whitney and Bella tap shoes and leotards and then gave them a little lesson in her exercise/dance room. She recently had a couple barres hung in there so she's all decked out with the floor, mirrored wall and such. The girls couldn't stop looking at themselves in their new ensembles. Hopefully they'll be over that the next time they go there so they can learn more from my mom, she's a great tapper (or should I say hoofer?).


I wasn't feeling any good will this morning when the kids woke me out of a dream. I was so out of it that I felt like I couldn't wake all the way up. At one point I told Randy not to take a picture of me because my face hadn't woken up yet!


The kids' excitement for Christmas morning was palpable. They were so thrilled they could hardly stay on the ground. After Whitney surveyed all the stuff Santa brought her she said, "How did Santa know what I wanted, I didn't even write him a letter?"


I thought that was a pretty great compliment. She seemed so sincerely happy with everything that my heart felt like it was growing a size bigger (ala The Grinch).


We were done opening presents by 8:15am, so Whitney started watching a dvd she'd received, while Randy helped Landon put his Bionicles together so I headed back to bed. I felt wasted and just had to cocoon myself in the cozy for another couple of hours before I had to get up and make pies and take a shower.


I redeemed my Pecan Pie making skills and ended up with this beauty. I decided my Thanksgiving attempt was a bust because the pie plate I used was too small and I had poured the entire batter into it, so it overflowed. Not this time, apparently I CAN learn new tricks.


I had also committed to bringing a chocolate cream pie today but had run out of time to make the filling yesterday and thought I'd have to come up with something else instead. But while Michelle and her kids were here seeking refuge from their frigid house yesterday she made the custard for me!!! I came home last night at 10:30 and found this note on the counter. It was a Christmas miracle! What a friend.


This morning's pie crust making and Pecan Pie baking took way longer than I had anticipated so we didn't leave for Adam and Amy's house until 2:oopm (which is when we were supposed to be arriving there). It all worked out great though since the turkey wasn't done yet, so we didn't eat for another half hour after we arrived at their house.


I was in excellent form today (moodiness is the bane of my existence) so that was a blessing. I totally felt like channeling Tiny Tim and saying, "God bless us every one!" My poor family just never knows what they're going to get from me, but then again neither do I.

{Jammie pants made by my mom}

There was much eating, lounging, A Christmas Story watching, card playing and then xbox Rock Band playing. I am seriously impaired with the guitar and had to stick to singing off-key vocals, but even that was a struggle because I didn't know most of the songs. It was hilarious watching everyone (even my mom) playing drums or guitars. The xbox is a recent acquisition for Adam and Amy so they're more excited than their girls are to play with it.


Whitney is sleeping over with the girls, so hopefully I'll be able to shovel out the house and organize the new stuff without any interference from her tomorrow. She loves being with Adam and Amy's girls so much that she didn't think twice about leaving her new toys to go there. Apparently she doesn't have the hermit-gene I possess.


I'm oh so weary and overwhelmed by the thought of this day. I haven't even opened my Pink Christmas gift or my presents from Michelle and Amie. I was saving the best for last this morning and then was so tired I ended up going to bed. I'm enjoying the anticipation of opening them so much I fear I may hold out another whole day or two. Who knows?? I'll probably give in and open them in the morning.

**How was your Christmas?
Are you disappointed when it's over?
Do you save friend gifts for last?
Are you a fan of in-home karaoke?
What's the best thing you ate today?**

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and I'm feeling anti-family...what's up with that? I think it's mainly because there's more holiday prep I want to do and I'm officially out of time so now I'm resenting the deadline. Clearly I have problems.

{Click to enlarge}

No doubt I'll return home from our family gathering tonight with good will toward men, but for right now I'm grumpy.

P.S. The photo isn't too shabby considering we used my camera's self-timer and a tripod right? We only took 4 shots.

**Do you get mental before gatherings too?**

Sunday Thoughts

Today is our first Sunday acting as the new primary presidency. The President is out of town visiting family, so that means I'm conducting. Fortunately the outgoing presidency has Sharing Time planned so I just need to get things going. I'm not nervous about it, but do feel a little clueless and am hoping not to embarrass myself.


I'm very happy about this new calling because I have a great love for Primary. I have taught primary for 4 years (ages 8, 9, 10, & 11) and been doing Activity Days for 2 years. I always fall in love with the kids I teach and am invested in their well-being. I'm sure it will be this way now for ALL the primary kids (that's a lot of kids). I think this capacity to love them is a great blessing and I'm looking forward to feeling it.


I have strong feelings about the benefit of primary attendance and am so grateful our kids get to attend each week. I'm always a little sad for the kids whose attendance is sporadic because they miss out on so many great lessons and don't learn all the songs we sing. I always feel the Spirit when we sing in primary, often times I can't get through the whole song without welling up with tears. I would never want to deprive our children from this opportunity and blessing. I feel like each week strengthens them against future challenges they will face. Wish me luck!

**What do you think??**

Creative Friday--Christmas Break

Yesterday was the first day of Christmas break for the kids so that meant they got to go to Michelle's house with me for Creative Friday. This is how it always used to be, but Michelle and I have gotten very comfortable with it being just us with Eva. Fortunately the kids played board games in the boys' room and then played outside in the snow so it didn't feel like they were right next us eavesdropping or adding to the noise level with their video games.


Michelle worked on one of her brilliant gifts for Marc while I wrote 4 thank you notes and then made some cards. I also played with Eva and held her until she fell asleep (a first!). I haven't had a child fall asleep in my arms for years, so that was rather sweet.


After Creative Friday the kids and I met Randy at home just in time for Randy's parents to pick them up so that Randy and I could go out to dinner for shmanniversary. We went to La Dolce Vida for a very tasty, but loud dinner. We were seated by a party of 4 couples with 7 little kids, so the noise level was deafening. I think the acoustics in the restaurant are pretty bad because it was crazy loud in there. One of the babies was ready for bed and pretty adamant about it, but the parents just kept talking. I've been there myself, so I know they're able to tune it out, but for a childless couple out on the town it was torture.


We came home after dinner because I couldn't stomach the thought of shopping. It was so cold last night and the stores were so crowded I just couldn't bring myself to get out of the car. We came home and got our jammies on and watched the last disc of Season 1 of Project Runway. We kept thinking the kids would be home any time, but they didn't get home until 11:00!! Good grief. They were half asleep and totally wasted. They had gone to McDonald's for dinner, then to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point, and then drove all the way to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square and then came all the way home. Sheesh.


So today is the last shopping day for us (we don't shop on Sundays) until Christmas. I guess Monday is an emergency possibility, but it's Christmas Eve so hopefully we'll get everything done today. We're pretty much finished, but I have a few more stops for Randy and for friends so I'm going to have to go out today. I'm sure it will be nightmarish, but I've done it to myself.

**Do you have more shopping to do?
When was the last time a child fell asleep in your arms?
Do loud restaurants annoy you?
Do you watch Project Runway?**