For Robert - TOFW

For all those who actually read this, you know I haven't posted in over a year. I didn't remember this fact, I just know it has been a while. However, my nephew, Robert, realized this and pointed it out to me for the last 2 weeks. Please keep in mind that I am writing him often. (He's on a mission in Zimbabwe, Africa.) This is, for me, quite an accomplishment as I am not fond of writing letters. I do LOVE to read them however. :)

So, for Robert, I thought about what I could blog about: TOFW, otherwise known as Time Out For Women.

I was especially excited to go this year as my Mom and Wendy were able to go, both for the first time. In addition, my friends, Michelle and Cathy, were able to go with us as well. I was really looking forward to Friday night, as Shari Dew was to be the speaker. However, she was ill and unable to be there. John Bytheway was the unexpected, but very welcome speaker. He was awesome.

My Mom, Me, John, Bytheway, & my sister Wendy

On Friday, Dallyn Vail Bayles was there. He has a very beautiful voice. He is known for many roles, but some of my favorites are Hyrum in Emma Smith: My Story as well as Joseph Smith The Prophet of the Restoration. On one of his CDs there is a beautiful rendition of Bring Him Home from Les Misérables.

Saturday the presenters were: Hilary Weeks, DeAnne Flynn, Kris Belcher, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Wendy Ulrich and Anthony Sweat.

One of my favorite thoughts was from Bro. Bytheway. He spoke of how recently his wife made this delicious chicken. He asked what made it so good and she explained that she marinaded it. To do this you put in wonderful ingredients and have them sit in them for an extended period of time before cooking. He reflected that the chicken was good because of the ingredients. If you marinated chicken in gasoline, it would be disgusting.

Then he said, "What are we marinading in? What are we surrounding ourselves with? Those things will have an impact on us."

I just love that thought.

I had such a good time and was very uplifted.

Hiking in June

In late June a friend called me up and we took the kids out hiking. We had tons of fun and I hope we can do it again. I have lots of great pics, but I will include ones that don't include them as I haven't checked to see how they feel about such things.

There was a lot of water and I let the kids get in it. Here S. is walking through the water.



Here is K.


OK. This needs explaining. J. wore these shoes and by this time had taken his socks off. He had obviously gone in the water. He told me that his shoes had so much water he had to dump them out. I had wondered why because I thought the water would just leak out. However he took off his shoes and proceeded showing me the water pouring from his shoes! I was very surprised that the shoes held so much water. Who would have thought that? Unfortunately by the end of the trip the shoes had rubbed his foot so much they left a blister. :( Poor boy. (Also sorry that the pic wouldn't rotate. A bit weird, but that's life.)




Here is S. She had climbed up in the tree.




The following pics are of J walking in or near the water.






Here is J. eating lunch.


We had a fantastic time and look forward to doing it again!

New Haircut

Last week I got my hair cut and colored. I've been a slacker in getting the pics up, but here they are.

The first 2 are before pictures. The second one I hadn't planned on getting my pic taken, have no makeup on and look like I normally looked if I didn't do any hair/makeup etc.





This is me after. Luckily K. got a straightener for her birthday, so I can borrow it to keep up the look.

I Felt the Love

Tonight I went to a meeting for the Young Scholars program in our school. I got home excited to see my family and excited to talk with Wayne as I haven't seen him much today. I talked with S. about the program and then Wayne and I talked. I glanced over at the TV and realized that a show that I very much enjoy was just finishing and I hadn't recorded it! At first I was bummed, but then I thought, "Oh well, it's just a TV show."

I went downstairs and as I'm talking with the girls, I found out that they (or one of them - I'm not sure which) recorded it for me without me even mentioning it.

Please keep in mind that I normally watch this show alone, so they are not invested in it at all.

They taped it just for me because they knew I liked it. Awww... I think that they showed their love for me in an act of kindness that would not benefit them at all. I love my kiddos. :)

Blogging

I have realized that I haven't blogged in a very long time. This is for many reasons. One being that blogging is like journaling and when I get "behind", it's really hard for me to keep writing because I always want to catch up.

However, I have a sister (and her family) that moved far away (although it could be further and I'm glad it's not!) and that is my motivation for writing tonight.

I have decided that I will write when I want even if it's without pictures. (That one is harder for me as I love pics!).

So - hopefully I'll be blogging a bit more than I have recently! (It shouldn't be that hard of a goal, since I haven't been doing too much lately!)

Christmas time 2009

I haven't blogged since the middle of December, so this is a picture catch up post.

S. with her cello, Wayne


J.


K., J. and S.


Wayne works outside a considerable amount. Wayne's parents bought him this mask so he can be warmer. They did tell him not to wear it inside a bank though!


J. putting his feet behind his head. How's that for flexibility?

The morning we had our Christmas (as opposed to Christmas morning, which we spent at my parents' house).

The quilt that I made for J. It finally is finished and is now on his bed.

Mom and Claire

Sledding K., Jocelyn and S.

Sledding on a later date. J., S., Jocelyn and K.

The second pic is J., Wendy and Jocelyn.


Sandy taught K. how to make pumpkin roll. They had a great time making it and I had a great time eating it!

My mom bought a gingerbread house for my kids to decorate. The awesome thing is this one came assembled! That means they could immediately decorate.

One night Dad made a fire and he and S. sat and watched it for a while. I thought it was very sweet.

Megan and S.

Dad smiling!

A sweet Claire face and a funny Claire face.

Chris, Sandy, Claire, Dad, Mom and Grandma and Grandpa

S. Wayne, me, Dad, Mom, K., J. and Grandma and Grandpa.

One morning while at my Mom and Dad's house, we woke up to find beautiful designs on the car. To me it looks like the Tree of Life. Beautiful!

Wonder of Wonder, Miracle of Miracles

Tonight we were driving home from celebrating Christmas with the Aldrich side of the family. We were traveling at 55 mph when we saw four deer standing in the road two car lengths in front of us. Wayne slammed on the brakes and headed for a six foot opening between two of the deer. At 40 mph our mirror connected with one of the deer (which I hope is ok), but we sustained no damage to the car. The cupcakes that were on my lap became casualties, and I jammed my hands into the glove box trying to stop their flying departure from my lap. I jammed about 3 fingers on one hand and bent back 1/2 of one fingernail.

We feel that this is a Christmas miracle of which we are still in awe. Heavenly Father totally blessed us. I have no idea how we fit between the deer. So many things could have happened differently and this story could have had an unhappy ending.

So here is a list in no particular order of some of the ways we were blessed:

1. No damage to the car.
2. No repair bills.
3. No physical damage to us.
4. We're alive (as Wayne says, there was river close by and if we had hit them at 55 and the airbags deployed with a lot of force...)
5. We feel more gratitude for our Father in Heaven.