Conner turns 11

Today is Conner's 11th birthday. We celebrated it yesterday. Last year he had a big birthday party with a bunch of friends, so this year was his family party. Steve and I took Conner to Tepanyaki with a friend. Tepanyaki is a chinese restaurant where they cook the food in front of you. They flip things, and throw things, and light things on fire. I think Conner really had a fun time. Steve's parents and Grandparents met us there, it was really fun to spend time with them celebrating this cool kid of ours. After dinner we took the boys to see College Road Trip. It was such a funny movie, we were laughing out loud.

Caitlyn's having a baby!

We had a baby shower yesterday for my sister-in-law, Caitylyn. It was really fun to see family members I haven't seen in years. Marcia's brother Tom's wife Elaine, and her daughters, Shelly, Cathy, & Candy were there. Marcia's sister Debbie and her daughters Stacy, and Brooke were actually the one's to put on the shower, they did such a great job. The decorations were amazing, the food was great, and we had a really nice time. We played a really cute game; it was actually the memory game, but depending on what baby shower words you found, you got a really cute prize to go along with it. Caitlyn has about 6 weeks left, and looks so cute. We are really excited for them. It's a girl, and will be named Zoe (we think).

B-ball Party

Conner's basketball team decided they wanted to have an "end of season" party. They planned it for Friday night. Steve had planned to go to the temple with the Stake Presidency, so I got to be in charge of it. I recruited Stephen Jr. and his friend LaRon Johnson. They came over and just played basketball for a couple of hours. Sage and her boyfriend went to Tooele to purchase pizzas for the party. I think they had a really good time. I got some fun pictures. One with Conner taking the ball down, and the other with Stephen blocking a shot.

Conner to Garret, Skyler with the rebound

WHERE WERE YOU? TAG

I got this tag from Erin, I think it will be fun.

20 YEARS AGO


I was a senior at Woods Cross High School. I was in Madrigals, and on the Seminary Council. I was accepted to Ricks college, and went there several times to visit Sheri Clark (my friend), and Wendy Dickson (my cousin). I was royalty at the Sweetheart Ball, and was ready to take on the world. I met Steve in July and we were married in December.

10 YEARS AGO


I lived in my little house in Tooele, and had no intentions of ever moving again. I had all 4 kids, Conner was almost a year old. Steve had sold his janitorial company and was working for Varsity Contractors again. I was a stay at home mom. Stephen went to first grade, and Jessica was in 3rd grade. Kaylea was in joy school, which was a pre-school co-op. There were about 8 kids in the group, so each mom took a turn teaching every 8 weeks. We were ripping out our old chicken coop, and a lot of cement in our back yard and putting in sod, and a nice vinyl fence for the horses we had just bought. Steve was in the bishopric, and I was put in as the primary president in my ward, life was a little bit busy.

5 YEARS AGO


We had moved into our home in Grantsville, a little bit older, and a little bit wiser. Steve worked for Varsity Contractors and NSC out of our home. I was his secretary. He traveled a lot and had just been put on the High Council. I was in the primary presidency. I still considered myself a stay at home mom, just with a few extra bills to pay for the company. The kids were growing up. Jessica at age 13, started Jr. High School and Young Women's. Steve was 11, Kaylea 9, and Conner had just started first grade.

1 YEAR AGO

My years all blur together, but last year I was in my second year of college (still considered a Freshman). I decided to go back and try to become a nurse. Steve was put in as the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency. I was put in as the 1st Counselor in the Young Women's Presidency in my ward. Steve and I had the opportunity to attend the dedication of the new and improved Tabernacle.

THIS YEAR


Steve was made Stake President, I am still in YW. I have my niece Sage living with us. She and Jessica are both seniors in high school. They have been dealing with senior pictures, graduation announcements, school dances, etc. Jessica has been accepted to SUU, and I think will go there in the Fall. Steve is pursuing his Associates Degree, he is working, saving his money, spends most days on his computer. Kaylea is in 8th grade, with boys, make up, music, EMOTIONS! She is always smiling, and will probably get her braces off in the next month or two. Conner is 10, he'll have a birthday in about a week. He's been working hard in basketball, good grades in school, loves the computer with Steve.

YESTERDAY

Spent the morning taking Kaylea to the eye doctor. Apparently sleeping in daily wear contacts for a month, and never cleaning them causes eye infections. Her eye was swollen, and bright red, and she couldn't even open it because of the pain. Steve bought me a pass to a 24 hour fitness place so I ran down there and used the weight machines. Probably had my daily talk with Jamie...Made dinner for the family, and spent about 3 hours visiting teaching.

TOMORROW

Thankfully, tomorrow is Saturday. It's the last basketball game for Steve and Conner. It has been such nice weather that I'd like to get out in the yard, but I hear it will most likely rain. I may just have to kick back and read a book, or BLOG!

I tag Molly and Victoria! Have fun!

My basketball superstars

Conner and Steve have been in Jr. Jazz this season. They both are getting pretty good. Steve has mastered the dribbling, he goes between the legs or around the back when he's trying to sneak past a competetor who is guarding him. He makes more than half of the 3 point shots he tries for, and is a pretty good foul shooter. Conner's age group now plays full court, he is one of the best players on his team, he always makes a few points a game. His best was 9 points one week. Conner is also an expert dribbler. He can out-maneuver the guards any day. It's been a great season. Next Saturday will be their last game. I got pictures yesterday, but was really unhappy with how Conner's turned out, this is about the only one where he isn't blurry (because he's such a fast runner). I have several great videos of both boys, but when I upload them, they don't work on my blog. Anyone out there who knows what I can do to fix this problem, please let me know, I'd love to show the videos I took.

I am Vanilla

I thought this would be a fun quiz to take. Victoria is Rocky Road, and Molly is Coffee, both exciting, unique flavors. When I wondered what flavor they would come up for me, I thougt, watch it be vanilla, plain, simple, boring. I shouldn't be surprised, I should be proud...I AM THE MOST COMMON FLAVOR....I AM THE SAFEST FLAVOR...I MAY BE PLAIN AND BORING, BUT I'M STILL SWEET! It's a fun quiz to take. You should all try it.

3 pounds of CHEEKS

So Jessica has swoolen up quite well. She weighed herself today and has gained 3 pounds. I'm sure it's all in the cheeks. Here are some fun pictures.

Wisdom Teeth

Jessica went in for major surgery today,(oooh poor Precious!!) she had to get her wisdom teeth removed. She has been recouperating today, trying to watch about 6 chic flicks that she rented, and eating mashed potatoes. All went well, we decided to name each tooth; they removed Raphael, Donnatello, Leonardo, and Michael Angelo(we had to call Jared to remind us of the last ninja turtle name, we almost named the last one Bill).

I did post a picture of me!

I am the person with the red bandana on my head in the previous post. Here are all of my mia maids. They were all really good sports last night.

Send in the clowns!

This month for Young Women's we are focusing on Physical Health in the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet. This week I decided to let the Mia Maids have a little fun with a SPA day. I looked online to find some products I could make at home and let them use. I was surprised how many recipes there are online. Of course before the girls use the homemade products, I decided I'd better make sure they work. So I decided it would be a fun Family Home Evening activity. Jess, Kaylea, and Sage thought it was a fun idea, but I couldn't get the boys to try. The fun thing about using a chocolate mask is it is totally edible. If you get it on your lips, just lick it off. It felt like putting brownie mix on my face, but it really ended up making our faces baby soft. We made home made facial cleanser, chocolate mask, and flavored lip gloss (the girls will be able to flavor their own.)

Jess thinks I need to post the recipe for the Chocolate mask, so here goes.

Chocolate Facial Mask

This decadent mask is actually an excellent moisturizer, it leaves your skin baby soft, and the honey's antimicrobial properties can help ward off breakouts. A touch of honey is all you need for healthy, glowing skin. (That's what it says online)

1/3 cup cocoa powder
3 Tbs heavy cream
2 tsp cottage cheese
1/4 cup honey
3 tsp oatmeal

Mix all ingredients together in a blender or food processor and smooth onto face. Relax for 10 to 15 minutes then rinse with warm water.

ENJOY!

New Calling

I have tried to make phone calls and hope I haven't missed contacting anyone, but wanted to let you all know that Steve was called as the new Stake President of our Stake today. Our lives over the past 48 hours have been like a roller coaster ride, a very exciting, humbling, spiritual one.

Steve had to go in for an interview with Elder Quinton L. Cook of the quorum of the twelve apostles at 8:00am yesterday morning. Then we had Steve's basketball game at 9:00, and Steve had to coach Conner's basketball game at 11:00. He knew they would be done with the interviews at around noon, and Steve said if he received a phone call before 1:00 he would be nervous, if he received a phone call around 2:00, he knew it would just be a counselor, and he was fine with that. Conner's team played so hard, and it was such an exciting game, they lost by 1 point. We were on our way up the hallway leaving the High School at noon when Steve's phone rang. He looked at the number listed, and turned white as a sheet. Sure enough they wanted the two of us in the Stake President's office as soon as we possibly could.

Steve and I spent the next 2 1/2 hours with Elder Cook, and Elder Price, an area authority seventy, calling the two counselors, and being taught about what would be required of them. They told us that each President and his wife would have to bear their testimony in Stake Conference, ending with the new Stake President... my husband(It's still hard to believe). The session was broadcast simultaneously to our Ward building, and our Stake Center was packed. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck, I've never spoken in front of so many people before. I realize they were there to hear from our Stake President who was leaving, and our new Stake President, I just made it short and sweet, and my mind is in a fuzz as to what I said.

Overall it was an amazing day. Elder Cook set Steve apart. We had Lee, Dallin, and Sage from my family attend, and Steve's mom and dad, grandparents, Adam and Caitlyn, Aunt Debbie,and all of our kids. We also have Steve's uncle, aunt, all of their kids and all of their kids spouses who live in our stake, who attended the conference. It really touched me when they were all made official, Elder Cook had the new Stake Presidency all sit down again, and he gave each person in attendance and Apostalic Blessing.

I hope I don't forget this day.

LET IT SNOW!!!

So if I complain about no snow, apparently we get dumped on!! On Wednesday night when all of Utah County was in a traffic snarl, and the entire state saw more snow, after we were teased with a couple of warm spring days, WE GOT SNOW!! This is the first real time we had to shovel. When we woke up Thursday morning we had a foot of snow. All the schools in Tooele county were closed, and the kids got to have a snow day. Steve's snow crews were up to their ears in snow, so they asked if my kids and some of their friends could help shovel walks at a couple of apartment complexes. The apartments in Tooele had snow drifts so high that it came up to my hip. It took them about 5 hours to do all of the shoveling that was necessary, and their supervisor had to come back with a 4 wheeler and snow blowers to clean up.


After they got home, I decided it isn't a real snow day until you have made a snow sculpture. We started out with grand ideas, we were going to make snowmen representing our entire family. Then we decided we'd do a dragon instead (my kids have seen pictures of the giant, pink dragon that my brothers and sisters and I made up at a cabin in Liberty) Once we got started, we realized it's an easier task when the sculptors are older and wiser, so our amazing dragon turned into a gecko with a mohawk. It was definately a memory, definately too cold to color it pink, and once the yellow eyes were in place we were definately done.


Last year for Valentine's Day, Jessica had two young men in tuxedos come to the door and serenade her. This year, I'm not sure if she took a step up, or a step backward. She had 3 young men come to the door, one dressed in UPS shorts and shirt carrying a large cardboard box. Another young man jumped out of the box wearing wings, and depends! She was again serenaded, it was quite frightening. I'm afraid for next year...6 cupids, all in diapers?

Happy Valentine's Day

New do

We had a dramatic day yesterday. Kaylea has had her hair in braids for the past 3 days, and we noticed why yesterday. She cuts and layers her own hair, and that of her friends. She has done such a good job, she really has a knack for it. Last weekend she had a friend come over, and I guess Kaylea thinks it's just as easy for everyone to do hair. She had her friend cut in a few more layers. Well, they didn't turn out as she hoped, and she didn't say anything to me or anyone else, she just dealt with it the best way she knew how. The braids were cute, but she would have had to do her hair that way for the next few months for it to not show. After a few tears, and laughs, and the word mullett coming up now and then, we decided this was a job for the professionals.


Last night Jessica took her to straighten out this little mess. Here is the end result. I can't believe how great she looks. She hated it at first because she has really enjoyed long hair, but I think she realizes it looks really classy.

Snow?

I have been watching the news for the past few weeks, and I realize this winter is one that a lot of people will remember for a long time. I remember when I was a kid and the snow would be 3 feet deep, it seemed to tower over my head as I would walk to the bus stop. Interestingly enough, we really haven't received a lot of snow in Grantsville. I love it out here. We have had an inch or two of snow every storm,(which is 2 or 3 times a week) but the snow melts before we get another storm. Yesterday I looked out in my front yard and I could see more grass than snow. This morning as the kids went to school it had just started to snow. Again, we got about 2 inches, and it has already started melting off the driveways. As I look at the snow percentage totals for the different areas, the mountains behind our house are 144% of normal, so we aren't in any drought trouble. I guess we are just lucky, my trouble is usually with TUMBLEWEEDS!!

New First Presidency

This has been an emotional weekend for me. I spent most of the day Saturday, and all day Sunday watching BYU TV. There were biographies of President Hinckley, talks he gave in Devotionals and Conferences, and coverage of the funeral ran several times throughtout the 2 days. It was nice to get my final fix of President Hinckley. Then today I was able to watch the press conference when they told us who the new first presidency is. I'm so excited to have President Monson as our new Prophet, and Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf will be really nice to get to know better. When Steve came home from school today, I told him that Elder Uchtdorf had been called to the first presidency, he said, "he always was my favorite." On their way to the BYU football game in Las Vegas they bumped into him at the hotel where they stayed in St. George, Steve pointed him out to his dad. They were able to say hi. He's a neat man.

Quilting

I have been in the process of making a quilt for our Stake President. He will be released on February 17th. The Stake Presidency and High Council got together and decided they wanted a memory quilt to say thank you for your service. Of course Steve volunteered me to sew it. Well, the executive secretary and stake clerk had the job of delivering all of the quilt squares. We gave them to members of the High Council, and Bishops (Past and Present). I wrote a letter asking them to have all of the quilt squares to me by January 25th, and the quilt would be presented to President Hales on February 1st at a dinner.

January 25th came, and I had received a whopping 6 quilt squares, by the 26th I was up to 14, and the 27th I had 31. I have realized how difficult it is to work around people who procrastinate... I kept thinking "I really need to get started on this quilt" then I would have someone call and say they would bring it to me tomorrow. Well, today is the 30th, I had 2 people who definately were going to get their squares to me today, so I would have a total of 40, a perfect number for the style I am doing. One person came through, and the 2nd I ended up calling, she said she would not be able to get me the final square. I had to get it done, so I took a blank square to a neighbor who does embroidery on her sewing machine, and she put a nice design on the final square. I spent the afternoon sewing all the squares together, and started binding the quilt when I had 2 separate ladies call and ask me if it was too late to get a square to me. The first was okay with my answer, she hadn't started yet, but would do it today if possible. The second lady told me she had it done last night, but couldn't find my house. She tried to call me, but didn't leave a message; I was at New Beginnings. I apologized, and she seemed really frustrated with me when she hung up, I decided I would unpick the last square that I had had stitched, and put hers in it's place, but when I tried to call her back (4 times) a fax machine kept picking up. I felt really bad, but I have had to tell myself "She was 5 days late, I had no way of knowing she had done a square."

We are presenting this quilt in 2 days! I am the first to admit I am no seamstress, and definately not a quilter... this quilt has brought me down to the depths of humility, I am posting a picture from a distance, but was practically in tears today with frustration because it would not cooperate with me. I think I am intimidated with the recepient of this gift. I called Erin, on the verge of tears and she helped me realize, he won't be looking at the quilting, he'll look at the squares and appreciate the memories... Thank you Erin, you always know just what to say.

My Significant Other Tag

Hi All,

Erin tagged me, this looks like kind of a fun tag, here goes.

His name: Stephen Howard Collings

How long have you been married?: 19 years I can't be that old!

How long did you date?: Our first date was the end of July; we were engaged in September, and married by December. I think that makes a total of 5 months.

How old is he: 40

Who eats more? Tonight me, but mostly he does, only because he goes out to lunch and dinner all of the time with work. He eats at some great restaurants!

Who said "I love you" first? I did, he was the only boyfriend I said I love you to, and that was after he proposed.

Who is taller? Steve at 5'10, I am 5'4

Who sings better? I don't think this is a fair question.

Who is smarter? Definately he is, I will go to him when my head is just spinning and I need advice, and he makes it seem so easy to solve, I wonder why I didn't think of it.

Whose temper is worse? Lately? Me...
Who does the laundry? Me, unless I have slacked off and he needs some clothes, or when I'm in school he keeps it going.

Who does the dishes? The whole family does the dinner dishes, I usually do the other meals.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does, but every couple of years he switches just to throw me off. I prefer the left side.

Who pays the bills? I do, but he knows exactly where we're at.

Who mows the lawn? One of the perks with having older kids, they do. I divide it up between all 5 of them.

Who cooks dinner? Me.

Who drives when you are together? On a nice date, he does, but just to go somewhere, the last person in the car drives. It's a race to get into the passenger side. I don't think either of us like to drive. It takes us a lot longer to get most places than the rest of you.

Who is more stubborn? I think we both are, he probably thinks I am. I'm not sure on this one.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Well, I'm never wrong.

Whose parents do you see the most? Steve's, they are in Ogden. My mom and dad are in Nauvoo.

Who proposed? He did.

Who has more friends? He does, I'm a little bit hard to get to know. With his calling in the stake, it seems like everyone knows him. I'm not as sociable.

Who has more siblings? I do by 1. There were 7 boys in his family, and there were 8 kids in mine.

Who wears the pants in the family? That's his place, but we do pretty well together.

What can I say, my significant other is pretty great. This was a fun tag to do. Makes me appreciate him more. I don't have a lot of blogger friends... see above, but I tag MOLLY.

Getting Busy

Never complain about having nothing to do, it will come back to bite you. We just started up basketball season again, both on the ward level and Jr Jazz. My family is crazy about basketball; Dad has decided to coach Conner's Jr Jazz team this season, and young Steve is also playing. Steve and Kaylea also are involved in church basketball, so our week goes as follows, Steve has practice on Monday nights (he doesn't go due to family night), Kaylea and Steve have church ball practice Tuesday night, Conner and Dad have practice on Thursday night, and Steve and Kaylea have separate YM/YW games (also on Thursday night). Saturday morning Conner and Steve have separate basketball games. This goes on every week until the end of March. Our Ward Young Men are going in 2nd place to region, they and another ward won all of the games they played, but when they played each other, the other ward beat them.

Our Stake President has reached the end of his term coming up in February, the members of the Stake Presidency and High Council thought it would be a great idea to have me make him a memory quilt with squares from Previous and Present High Council members, and Previous and Present members of the Stake Presidency. I am really happy to do it, but I am also making another memory quilt for another special day coming up. (I don't think they read my blog, but just in case.)

Then there's my calling in the Young Women, we have New Beginnings coming up next week, and we clean the Church on Saturday. On both occasions, I will be the only member of the YW presidency there.

Don't get me wrong, I love being busy and would prefer it to being bored, I just hope I can be organized enough to remember everything, and not drop the ball.


Kaylea spoke in church today, I was so proud of her, she didn't ask for any help at all, she read quotes and scriptures, and spent a lot of time making eye contact and telling personal experiences. Her talk was on the importance of choosing uplifting things in the media. She read from a talk by Spencer Condie about how magazines, music, and movies are alot like mushrooms. There are so many varieties, and many of the varieties are really good for you, but some are very dangerous, and even deadly, and it's important to only use those that are good and uplifting. She did a great job. I think she's growing up.

Back to life

I was told I'm not writing enough, I've decided my life isn't really that exciting. Sage came back, and we realized letting her car sit for 3 weeks in the winter is not a good idea, it broke down. Jessica's car broke down too, so she drives Steve's truck to her internship and school. Steve and I towed both cars to a place here in town, and are waiting for the verdict. That's what you get with old beater cars, but I can't complain, for the most part these vehicles are great.

It was fun having mom and dad come into town. Erin and I spent the day with mom going to Market Square and Savers. I had a great time, I love when I find really nice outfits! I found two skirts, a sweater, and a blouse. They all look like brand new, what a blast.

The kids are all back in school. We are finishing up the term this week, they are out of school Friday and Monday for report cards and the Martin Luther King holiday. It's good to have life back to normal.

Steve and I have been doing odds and ends around the house. Last week we had such a wind storm that it blew our mail box over, blew off about 8 pieces of siding, and blew the shingles off the roof of the shed. We were able to find all of the siding in our yard, and spent that Saturday reattaching it, it really got us in the mood to do some other projects around the house. We had a man come in and finish the carpet in the hallway. When we finished the office there was carpet that needed to be tucked in where the hardwood meets the carpet, and along one wall that used to be a door. He took care of that and patched a spot where ink had been spilled and smeared (down to the pad). I have noticed after 7 years, the grout is getting ugly around the base of the tubs, and showers, so we cleaned that up and caulked it. I painted the outside door casings and tried to paint the front door. I ran into a problem, I bought the darkest green I could find and painted it that color, but it looked bright green when I painted it on. It did dry darker, but it's still pretty bright. I have had several people tell me they thought the door and shutters were black, but there is no doubt the door, at least, is green.

I have really enjoyed participating in the biggest loser. I have been running 3 days a week and have done a mixture of pilates, tae bo, and yoga every morning and night. I may not lose 20 pounds, but I am really motivated to tone up what I have.

Christmas morning

It's nice when you can sleep in on Christmas morning. The kids are excited, but prefer their sleep. We had such a nice morning, the highlights were the gifts from Santa. Conner wanted a mountain bike, Kaylea spends so much time with my digital camera, I can't find it. The sales this time of year are great, it makes thes things so affordable. It helped us pay for the other gifts. Steve got the Jared's red truck. We got it running safe again, and I think he was really excited. Jess got a laptop, she bought one last year for $50.00, it really can't do anything. We thought she could use a new one for college.

We spent the morning relaxing at home, then went to Salt Lake to visit Steve's grandparents. LoaJean had a really nice meal waiting for us, and we spent time talking, and looking at scrapbooks from whenSteve was a boy, his dad Dave was a boy, and even pictures of Steve's Grandma Collings as a girl. It was really neat.



This evening we took the kids to see the movie "National Treasure" and I am ending the day perfectly in my new cozy jammies, eating smoked oysters in front of the fire, and playing on my blog again. This has been such a relaxing holiday, it was fun to talk with mom and dad. Love you guys.

Can't Sleep

Well, it's about 2:00 am, Christmas morning, and I'm wide awake. I was driving Steve crazy tossing and turning. So I thought I heard my blog calling... Tonight we went to Steve's parents' house for our annual Christmas eve dinner. It was a little bit different this year because of the weather. It usually takes us an hour to get there, tonight it took 2 hours through a snowstorm, but we had a wonderful time with good food, and good company. Steve's parents gave Jessica a birthday present, it was a diamond ring that grandma promised to her when she was young. It's so beautiful. We did a nativity with all the cousins. Conner was Joseph, Kaylea was the star of Bethlehem, Steve was a shepherd, and Jessica sang to us. I'll post a couple of pictures, but most will be on flickr. Then I'll try sleeping again... wish me luck.

MY BABY'S 18!!!

Wow! I can't believe it's Jessica's 18th birthday today. This is kind of a weird day, because Steve and the boys are on their way to the BYU football game in Las Vegas. Kaylea is in Logan with Tera and her cousins. I got up early this morning for a "Day before Christmas Program, Choir Practice, Brunch", and left Jessica to sleep in. Because it was a brunch, I brought Jess home some breakfast casserole, and a couple of cinnamon rolls. She was sitting at her desk doing her hair, but I made her get back in bed and lay down so I could 'wake her up' and give her breakfast in bed. Then I decided I would make the ultimate sacrifice and CLEAN her ROOM for her birthday. For those of you do not understand the kind of sacrifice I'm talking about need to understand that she is a lot like I was when I was living at home with mom and dad (Messy doesn't adequately describe it). It was a frightening thing, but you only turn 18 once. After 3 hours of work, two DI bags, and 3 trips to the dumpster, I finished it! Happy Birthday Jess!

Mornings with Conner

I just wanted to give you a little idea of what I go through every morning with Conner. He is permanently attached to his blanket from the time he wakes up until he walks out the door on the way to school. I wake him up and he drags the blanket to the bathroom door; there he drops it and goes in to take a bath. When bath time is over I usually have to go encourage him to keep getting ready. I usually find him wrapped back in his blanket sleeping back on his bed without anything on. I wake him again and tell him to get his clothes on and come up for breakfast. A couple of minutes later, he's at the table eating... again wrapped in his blanket. Then if I'm not watching really close he ends up on the furnace vent, in a corner, where he won't be seen. Sometimes, I'm busy doing other things and end up waking him just in time to put his shoes on and run out the door to catch the bus. It has turned into a routine with him. I usually have the blanket left in the living room when he leaves. I put it back in his room, ready for tomorrow morning.

Enjoying Christmas

I have to say, I have enjoyed this Christmas season more than any in recent memory. I think getting through school was so stressful toward the end of the semester this time, that having it over with, and having nothing pressing to do is really refreshing. I actually enjoyed sending out Christmas cards, and putting together neighbor gifts. On Monday the girls and I made Christmas cookies (something I usually dread!). Steve took this week off work, and we have just spent every day together shopping, going to lunch, and just hanging out. I feel like it's Christmas already.

Last weekend (Thursday)Erin got Steve and me tickets to the Tabernacle Choir concert with the King's Singers. That was such a neat evening, I was THRILLED to be in the audience with the King's singers. I think every Madrigal in Woods Cross had those songs ingrained into their brains forever. We were with Lee and Tricia, Erin and Brayden, and Tera. We also bumped into Ken and Ireta Jensen from Woods Cross with their oldest son Jerold's family. I guess they just got a mission call to Kenya, so Lee had a great conversation with them.

On Friday Steve and I decided to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. We went with our friends the Gowans to Wendover. I can happily say nobody gambled. The men each had a massage, and the ladies each had a facial. Then we went to the buffett, we had all you can eat King crab, shrimp, steak, prime rib, and desserts. We spent the evening playing games, and watching the Jazz lose. The next morning we had planned to take the road to Ibapah, then the pony express trail through the mountains and back to the Tooele Valley, but the roads were snowpacked, so we ended up coming home early.

Today we went christmas caroling as a ward. We all got on the back of a trailer, and sat on hay bales. We drove around the neighborhood singing, and having a great time. The weather couldn't be better, the snow all melted today, it was breezy, but definately not too cold.

Steve bought tickets to the BYU UCLA bowl game. It should be a lot of fun. He is taking Steve, and Conner on a road trip. He is letting Steve jr. drive a lot of the way. By then he should have his license. He just needs to take the test with his instructor, it should be done this week. Kaylea is traveling to Logan to help Tera babysit her kids and Erin's kids while their parents go to the game. Sounds like a party!

It's hard to believe Christmas is less than a week away... Merry Christmas!

Pictures

I have had several requests to see the nativity Tera gave me for Christmas. I finally found batteries for my camera, so here are pictures of my nativity from Tera, the nativity I bought in Mexice, my Christmas tree, and my front door. I'm definately feeling festive! Merry Christmas!

Life...

I finally did it! I decorated for Christmas this weekend! Because we waited so long, there was a snow storm raging outside, so we weren't able to get up lights outside. But if you walk into my house... CHRISTMAS!!

I added the nativity that Tera's family gave me to the rest in my curio cabinet. They look so neat, thanks so much Tera! I went Friday up to Midway with Erin and Casi to see the Holiday Creche. It was so nice. There were over 800 nativities from all over the world. I took my camera because I wanted to show how amazing each of the rooms are, totally full of nativities, but they had signs up all over saying "No cameras or video recorders". My little collection is not nearly as elaborate as the Creche in Midway, but I love the nativities I have. I would like to say they are from all over the world, I guess they kind of are, but mostly they are from China.:)

Steve's parents took us out to dinner for our Christmas present from them. We went out Saturday night to The Outback Steakhouse. It was so fun to have all of the brothers and their wives there. We played a game around the table as we ate, it's called 2 truths and a lie. You come up with 2 things about yourself and make up another, then everyone has to guess the lie. It was interresting to see how well we knew each other...I was kind of clueless. Many of the truths had us laughing so hard. It was a lot of fun.

This is finals week for me. I have Chemistry and Physiology, if I can pass both of them with a C+ or better, I can apply to the nursing program next week. This last semester has been really hard for me, almost overwhelming. I said several times that I should just withdraw from the classes and try again when life settles down a bit, but Steve has been behind me all the way, encouraging me, telling me don't give up...you're almost there, even doing housework, cooking, homework with the kids, and taxiing them around to give me time to study, or just relax a bit. I have the best husband in the world!