Quilts 101

In about October I came up with a brilliant idea to make quilts for my girls for Christmas. I thought.. I've got some time on my hands and a few months to get them done, why not. So off to fabric store I went. Mind you, I have NEVER made a quilt before but thought it couldn't be that hard! We'll I did it. I finished the girls and then didn't want Shayne to be left out so...

All four in their new quilts.

Megan and Emily share a room so naturally...matching was a must!

Ashley

Emily

Megan

Shayne

So, I guess I really did learn something from my Grandma! Grandma Emma is the real seamstress in the family...but someday with LOTS of practice, I hope to catch some of her talent! The kids have overlooked my little "oops" in each quilt. I prefer to call it quilts with character!

My young prodigies

Shayne, Megan, Emily and Ashley

Following in their mother's footsteps....my children LOVE to cook! YEAH!! Tonight they cooked for us one of Todd's favorite desserts....hot chocolate pudding with mint ice cream. Todd grew up eating this yummy favorite and he is SO happy that his kids can now make it for him! Good stuff!

Way to go Shayne..

We finished up with the last band concert of the year. Shayne is playing the trumpet again this year. He's following in Todd's footsteps except I don't think he'll play the trumpet into his high school years.

Todd's brother Kevin and his wife Laura were in town so they along with Grandpa and Grandma Smith came for the show.

We are so proud of Shayne for sticking with the trumpet...even though it is NOT his favorite thing!

Christmas or Fall?

A typical December day in Arizona..... a pile of fallen leaves with Christmas decorations. Got to love Arizona!

Seeing Red and Green

I love Christmas time. I love everything about it...the lights, the smells, the cheer, the colors, the giving, the reflection. I'm pretty one sided with my holiday loves. Christmas is far and away my favorite. From the time our tree goes up until the sad day when it comes down, I love it!

Our Tree..

the staircase (with Ashley)

We have a tradition, I guess, in our home that I hang the lights outside and inside for that matter. Todd has few things in life that he hates. Hanging Christmas lights and Disneyland top his lists of "things I hope to never do in my lifetime" with not many other things below them. Sad huh? I mean WHO doesn't like those two things?? I actually don't mind. I get out the ladder and get to it. Because we have to have Christmas lights! My neighbors aren't quit sure how he "trained' me to do this. I've only almost fell off the roof 1 year. 1 out of 6 years..that's not to bad if you ask me!

So for the rest of the month I'm counting on the smells, sights and sounds that only happen at this time of year!

Love Letters and Glasses

So apparently something strange happens when kids are about the reach that magical age of 12. In our case, two things. First, Shayne got glasses. He'd been having headaches for weeks and wouldn't ya know it.. the Dr said my boy was having trouble relaxing the eyes. Todd was the one who took him to the Dr so he and Shayne picked out his first pair on Nike eye wear. Ya can't go wrong with a boy if it has the label Nike right? He's lookin good.

The next big change that has taken place about made me fall off my chair. We got doorbell ditched one night, which has been happening a lot lately, and we found a vase of freshly yard picked flowers and a note..... to SHAYNE! He would seriously die if he knew I was blogging about this so lets just keep it one of those blogger secrets ok? Girls...... for real??? My friends have always told me that in 6th grade everything starts to change. But for my 24 /7 sports minded little boy!! It was a cute little note that turned his face about 10 shades of red. I guess he has a mystery admirer out there somewhere. Am I really that old that this could be happening to my first born? Oh boy.... I'm starting to hold on to my hat. With three girls waiting in the wings... I'm so not ready for any of this!!

November 4th

Never would I have imagined that would be explaining to my young kids why God created Adam and Eve....not Adam and Steve. I feel like I've robbed them of some of their innocence. We've had the sign in our yard for several weeks now and had the basic conversation, but last night for family night we got into it a little deeper. On one hand it angers me beyond words that my kids at their tender ages have been exposed to such a prevalent issue in today's world. On the other hand it brings me so much joy to be able to share my testimony with my kids on why marriage has been ordained to be between one man and one women since the beginning of time. I'm so thankful for the knowledge that we as members of Heavenly Fathers church about His great plan. Sometimes "unpopular" issues are hard to talk about with kids and are avoided at all costs. I knew that today at school our kids were going to be talking about the election and different issues that are being voted on. We wanted to "arm" our kids with as much knowledge as possible. We had a great conversation that led into many other issues that are being discussed this election. I'm so glad that we have scriptures and a living Prophet that have armed us with the knowledge that we needed to teach our kids.

While I feel so bad that kids these days can't be the innocence kids of yesterday, knowledge is power. I hope that in the long run, my kids will always remember to stand up and be counted and not be afraid to voice their opinion. Because there is nothing worse than people who complain about issues that they had the power to change, and instead choose not to.