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.

Halloween Time

We went to our ward party last night and a great time was had by all. I love when our ward party is before Halloween so we can have a "dry run" of costumes. Besides, the kids want to get as much time in costumes as possible. I'm not the biggest fan of Halloween to be honest. I guess maybe its because I seem to have people that LOVE to scare the crap out of me every year! ! And yes, I am a big ol wimp with scary stuff! But besides my own personal fears....costumes in general are getting more skimpy, scary, gory and just cost to darn much! This year I told the kids to hone their inner creative being and dumped out the dress-up box. I think they did a pretty great job! It also doesn't hurt to have cousins and friends that are willing to lend out costumes. I'm preparing myself now for a weekend full of sugar rushes and crashes!

Hats

These past few months have caused a great deal of reflection for me. I've been a bit overloaded with stress, to say the least.

I was feeling the weight of all the "hats" that as mothers in Zion we wear. Most of the "hats" I've brought upon myself, thanks to the gene inherited from my mother. That gene that makes me say yes to everything and everyone. Not that I think that's a bad thing. Lets see... YW 2nd counselor, Ptso president, wife, mom, room mom for 2 of my kids classes and then I feel so bad that I didn't volunteer for the other 2 classes that I go help as much as humanly possible and the list goes on. I know that really compared to so many others around me, my list is nothing. I don't know how some people do it and make it all look so easy!

I've learned so much from having this gene. These "hats" that I wear have given me something else to think about, worry about and do something about when other things are out of my control. My mom is the best example to me. She is always out and about doing service for someone in her ward. There is hardly ever a time that I call that she is not "on her way out" or "just got back" from helping someone. I hope to someday be like that! What are we always told? Lose ourselves in service. So simple, yet so life changing.

I guess as I've been "sifting" thru my "hats". I really had to refocus my priorities to what matters the most, and they all sit around my dinner table every night. I really wish that I would put all the time and energy that I spend on "perfecting" everything else into becoming a kinder more thoughtful, funner mom. These past few months we've all, and I mean all, have been home a lot more. While I'm not going to lie and say that having an unemployed husband for the last 6 months has been a party, I've noticed so many little changes in our family. We've had to become more creative with fun activities, we've had to change to way we see things, we've had to teach and reteach the differences between wants and needs. I also been able to see and be apart of so many "tender mercies" and countless blessings and little acts of thoughtful service.

I'm so, so grateful.

It seems to me that when everything around is spinning out of control, the only thing that is in perfect view is family. And while I love to help at the school and love to be that mom that teachers know they can count on, and while I try to do "extras" for my friends, family and neighbors, it has all taken a back seat this year. This year, for a short amount of time, its all about those people who sit around my dinner table that mean the most to me. That "hat" is the most precious of all "hats" to me. The hat of mother and wife.

Beauty rest in progress

Isn't this a hoot? I was going around doing my last check on all the kids before I climbed into my own bed, and this is how I found Emily. She was out cold, mask and all! The sun wasn't going to wake her up!! When I went in this morning to wake her up, she pulled the mask off and said "oooh..it's so bright in here." Oh boy.. 5 going on 15!