Welcome 2009

I hope that 2009 is a much better year for me.

I lost a lot of people in my life in 2008, it's been really rough on me. I have tried to be strong and not let it show how much it's affected me, but I think that the winter blues are making me crash. I haven't really talked about it with anyone, not even my husband. Maybe I have stuffed too much and not got it out like I should have.

The year wasn't all bad.

It has been a good year for many reasons. I've gotten to shoot a bunch of weddings on my own and with another photographer. I got to see my parents. I've gotten to go out and do fun things periodically. My kids are fantabulous! I have some really great friends who I've had some great times with. I've had some funny stuff happen, some great laughs, some special times.

Happy New Year and here's to hoping 2009 is better.

I spit my pop

When I saw this...

To me you'll always be

....hmmmm..... maybe 36? Is that how old you were when we met?

I hope that someone out there takes you out to celebrate! (and not your mom, lol!)

Thanks for being a true blue friend. Love ya girl!

Oh and don't eat these all at once!

Cleaning

Nothing like the Christmas season to make you realize how much stuff you hold onto that you don't really need to as you try to find room for all the new stuff. It's also a good time of year to re-evaluate things in your life.
I've come up with some pretty good worth while goals for me in the coming year, through my evaluating.
I also would like to do a big overhaul of this house and throw out all unnecessary stuff! (Joel- that also means some of your stuff too.)
I think that cleaning out my life is something I do once a year too. Evaluate the activities I've been participating in, are they worth my time or money? I also evaluate the people I'm in contact with and decide if I want to be closer to some or distance from others. Who is enriching my life the most? And lastly I evaluate where I am on a personal level spiritually and in what kind of mother/wife I have been and want to be in the coming year.
I'm ready to get started, but....
first I have to tackle my Tupperware cupboard!


Joy: "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Rogin laid an egg. Batman bills lost her wheels and joker got away! Hey!"

I can't wait!!!

Only 22 more days!

Oh Brother

I just came across this one today when looking back through some unused images.

Brothers.

We had a really great weekend. On Friday, after I picked Jacob up from wrestling, we drove up to an old 4-H campsite to meet up with other members of our ward for a camp out. We got there at about 11:30pm, when people were just coming in from ice skating on the lake. We first checked into our cabin. Our family got a cabin to ourselves because the other family we were supposed to share with didn't show up. We then went up to the main cabin and stayed up visiting with people until about 1:30. Then we went back to our cabin and "slept" for a few hours. I think it was about 7:30am when kids started stirring. Well, it really was Josh trying to stir the other kids.
The second day we spent eating, visiting, playing games, and extreme sledding. Yes, extreme sledding. One of our Y.M. leaders drove around the compound pulling kids on sleds behind him. There were a few near accidents, that my oldest will deny (but it's been confirmed), with oncoming traffic. But all in all there were no major injuries to be spoken of.
It snowed all day, and we were happy just to stay put as long as we could.
At about 4pm we decided to pack up our cabin and head out. I took the girls to the bathroom (who's water had a horrible stench) and on our way back to the cabin a big wind came along and dumped a bunch of snow on our heads! Jake was in the right spot to just watch it dump on us, and laugh his head off.
On the way home we saw lots and lots of cars off the road in accidents. We'd even came up early on an accident where a truck was facing the wrong way and was on it's side off the road, resting on a fence, it's driver was standing up and out of his side window and talking on the phone.
We made it home safe, grabbing KFC on the way.
It was a really fun weekend.

Whoops!

Sorry people, who made comments and I forgot to publish them!
I had trouble with a troll making inappropriate comments on my blog, and had to put up the screening device, but forgot all about it quickly.
So now I hope you see your comments :)

Christmas Meme

I saw this on Arf's Michelle's blog and wanted to do it. :)


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. Otherwise people could peek!

2. Real tree or artificial? Real.


3. When do you put up the tree? Before Christmas.


4. When do you take the tree down? After the new year.

5. Do you like eggnog? Gag.


6. Favorite gift received as a child? A huge lifesized doll.


7. Hardest person to buy for? My husband. Especially when he buys himself something before Christmas, and then tells me, "I don't know what I want." ARGH!


8. Easiest person to buy for? Myself.


9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Underwear, from my mother-in-law.


12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story.


13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Before Black Friday.


14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Caramel!


16. Lights on the tree? Yes.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells.

18.Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes.


20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel Moroni.


21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? How people forget the true meaning of Christmas.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? White, gold and pearl.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham.

25. What do you want for Christmas? Peace and quiet!

I saw this on another blog...

And thought it looked fun! If you do it too, post a comment so we can some see your list :)
I am just putting stars by any that I have done. It looks more fun that way. Anyone else want to join in? Copy paste if you can make it work...I have been trying for a while.

1. Started your own blog*
2. Slept under the stars*
3. Played in a band*
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower*
6. Given more than you can afford to charity*
7. Been to Disneyland*
8. Climbed a mountain*
9. Held a praying mantis*
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch*
15. Adopted a child*
16. Had food poisoning*
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables*
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight*
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill*
24. Built a snow fort*
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping* (sorry mom)
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse*
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset*
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt*
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance*
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain*
53. Played in the mud*
54. Gone to a drive-in theater*
55. Been in a movie-Wal-mart Commercial
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business *
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason*
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check *
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy*
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial*
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt*
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job*
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone*
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle*
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person*
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car*
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox*
89. Saved someone’s life*
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous*
92. Joined a book club*
93. Lost a loved one*
94. Had a baby*
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake*
97. Been involved in a law suit*
98. Owned a cell phone*
99. Been stung by a bee*


How about you?

Well

Since I started using Facebook I have totally neglected my blog!

They aren't the same thing, it's different. But I will try not to be so bad from here after.

Hmmmm... Let's see, there's so much I could write about today, I don't know where to begin.

Jacob started wrestling last week. We went to his meet on Friday against Cooper HS, there wasn't enough kids in his weight class to have him wrestle, but it was good to see how they do the points and how it all goes. We stuck around and watched Junior Varsity (Jake's JV) and Varsity. The skinny kids were fast and all over the place and it was really exciting watching them. I had to spit my gum out because my jaw was getting tired from chomping my enthusiasm out. The bigger kids were slower and more weight throwing around than moves. Jake's a heavy weight. He's almost 6 feet and weighs 250, but he's lost 4 lbs. since he started working out for wrestling. I think he needs to stretch more, some of these kids had to pretzel themselves to keep from being pinned.



Then we had our ward Christmas party and Joyanna's class sang Jingle Bells, and Rudolph. They were soooo cute!

Jaeden was Cindy Lou Who in the reading of the Grinch. My husband and son took the first one.

Her line was, "Santy Clause, why? Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why!?"

One fun thing they had at the children's table was some plaster ornaments for the kids to color, and then a Christmas tree the kids could hang their ornaments on until the party was done.

Then Sunday we did break the sabbath and get our Christmas tree. If we waited until there was a day all of us could go (our family tradition is to go cut one down) we wouldn't be able to go until the 20th, and that's just too late to make it worth it to me. So here we are cutting our tree down. The kids tried to smile but it was so freezing, it was hard.

Here's my manly men after they took down our 6 foot solid wood spruce.

I really like this picture I took of Jake

Last year after Christmas I stocked up on ornaments that weren't glass. I got tired of the balls breaking and leaving glass all over. I'll post pictures later of the tree.