Christmas

We had a great Christmas. All of my family came to our house this year. I am the oldest of 5 kids. So we had a very full house which included, My mom and dad, my brother Kirk and his wife Heather and daughter Hazel, my brother DJ, brother Sam and my sister Bethanie and of course all of us that usually live here. My family trickled in between Tuesday and late Wednesday night. We had dinner then opened the traditional PJ's. This year I made my kid's jammies and I thought they turned out pretty cute. (I think that the picture above captures my kids perfectly, Lillie laughing, Joseph being a know it all and Van with a big mischeiviouse smile on his face!) My mom supplied everyone else's pj's. Then the kids were off to bed and the rest of us stayed up visiting. It was so fun to be with all of my family at one time, it has been a long time since we were all together there is always someone that is missing for one reason or another. So after we were sure the kids were asleep "Santa" paid his visit.

The next morning we were awakened not by our own kids but by my married brother. Our kids slept in until 8:00. What kind of kids sleep in until 8 on Chrismas morning? Awesome kids! So we got up and woke the kids up. Then had the difficult task of getting them from our room to the theature room downstairs without them seeing the living room in between. Once downstairs we read the Christmas story in Luke. Then back upstairs for presents. It was a very laid back day and we didn't have anywhere we had to be until that night when we headed over to my uncles house for Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. That is when the monster of all storms hit and we had to cut our visit short so we could head home before the already aweful storm got worse. We made it home fine and enjoyed the rest of our night.

The next morning the sickness hit and all the fun we had been having came to a screaching halt for half of us. And then for the rest over the next couple of days. So Christmas was great, but the 3 days afterward were not so great. I am very grateful my family could all be together on Christmas and that no one got sick until after Christmas...just a side not my mom was sick the day after Christmas, which happens to ber her birthday and my sister was sick 2 days after Christmas which happens to be her birthday. I felt so bad that they were sick on their birthdays!

We'll call it my Arizona

When I was about 10 years old my family moved to Arizona. We planned to live with my uncle while my parents got jobs and found a place to live. Well two weeks later we were on our way back to Utah. My mom likes to call it "the time we went on vacation with our furniture." I don't remember much about our 2 weeks in Arizona other than it was very hot, I passed out a few times and living with my uncle's family was not so fun. So in my young mind these were the reasons for our move back. Now that I am an adult I realize that there were probably much more adult and substantial reasons for our departure.

Fast forward (almost) 20 years; Ben and I decide to get a puppy. We had high hopes and grand visions of what this puppy would mean to Joseph. Well hopes and visions do not always become reality and sometimes you have to turn back, furniture and all and say, for what ever reason, we just aren't ready for Arizona (or a puppy).

I am sure you can see where this is going...

We have decided that we are not ready for a puppy. Our intentions were good but sometimes rather than forcing something to work that clearly isn't, it is best to say "we made a mistake." This becomes much tougher when emotions are involved and this has been a tough decision for us to make. And I am sure there are people out there who will say that having a puppy or living in Arizona for only 2 weeks is not enough time to make a rational decision. To those people I would say, sometimes you just know when to quit even if your ego is a little bruised.

So today we say so long to shivers. He is going to a loving home with 2 older girls and built in pet friends. I will admit that I shed some tears but I still feel like this is the right decision.

So what have I learned:
1. It's ok to try new things
2. It's ok to make mistakes
3. It's ok to get attached to animals
4. If you change your mind about something you have always thought (I mean a total 180) then it might be in your best interest to think about that change of heart for more than 24 hours before making a decision. Or if you have said for the last 10 years you would never have a pet then one night decide maybe that is an option, do not buy a puppy the next day!
5. If you do decide to do something spontaneous, have fun with it while it lasts...if you never go out on a limb, you will never reach the fruit!
6. Don't take your self so seriously...this is a lesson that I have to relearn way too often, but between 3 kids, my husband and a short stint with a puppy, I will eventually learn this lesson.
7. While our kids may not understand all of the reasons for this decision, hopefully they will understand we did what we thought was best for all of us.

There you have it MY ARIZONA!

Happy Holidays!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

This is how Ben spends his time.
So go ahead laugh at our expense.

Happy Birthday Joseph!

I have been a bit of a slacker with my blogging, there has been a lot going on here, so this is the first of 3 new posts.

The big news around here is Joseph is 9. And he is not letting anyone forget it! He really wanted to go to Asian Star, a Chinese restaurant in town that we had not been to. So we went to dinner and then came home for dessert and presents. It was a fun night and very low key. After all the parties I have thrown this year it was a welcomed change. I should mention that he decided what we did, I didn't give him the shaft because I was partied out. I would have thrown him a big party, but he is too much like his dad to want that. Anyway I digress...

It is hard to believe he is 9. He is growing up so fast. He has taught Ben and I so much about being parents and about how to love unconditionally. He is a great kid with so much to offer. It is fun to see him grow and develop into his (more) grown-up self. He likes to try new things now which has been difficult for him in the past. He is also developing a Ben like sense of humor. It is fun to see him trying to be funny and watching for peoples reactions. He is very smart and very stubborn which can be a difficult mix in a personality but he is also very sweet and has moments of great tenderness. I am grateful to be his mom.





SHIVERS UPDATE
I thought that some of you might enjoy an update on our puppy. It has been an interesting week and a half with plenty of ups and downs. We are all finding our selves getting attached to shivers. In some ways having a puppy is not as bad as I thought it would be, but there are plenty of times when it is as bad and worse than I thought it would be. There have not been any major incidents...but lots of little accidents! I will keep you posted on the puppy front.

And the winner is...

Just over a month ago I wrote about a photograph that Joseph submitted to Reflections. Last week we got a call telling us that Joseph was getting an award for his photo and that we should plan on attending the assembly. I did not know how the awards worked, but was excited to see him get whatever it was. Once I got there I realized there were two types of awards, an honorable mention metal and a trophy for the top 5 in each category. Those top 5 also got a pizza party and they each go on to compete at the district level of Reflections. First they had everyone who participated in each category stand, then they read the honorable mentions then they got to the top 5 from each category and handed out trophy's.

The photography category ended up being more popular than I thought it would be and there we quite a few entries. It turns out that Joseph was one of the top 5 for photography. He was so excited to get his first trophy. I was so proud of him. I know that winning isn't everything, and we try really hard to teach our kids good sportsmanship and how to handle disappointment, but it was so great to see him get recognition for something he was so proud of.

Hello, we are missing one!

Van is a very smart little man. Although he doesn't talk much he has great non-verbal communication. Here is just one example...

A few days ago Joseph and Lillie put up Christmas trees in their bedrooms; a tradition that we started last year. Van was of course fascinated with them. So the next day he grabbed my hand and drug me down to Joseph's room, stood in the doorway and said "Tree." I said something like "Yes, do you like the tree?" Then he grabbed my hand again and took me back upstairs to Lillie's room, stood in the doorway and said "Tree." Then he walked over to his door way and stood there for a second then turned to me and asked "Tree?"

We had neglected to realize that not putting a tree in Van's room would be a problem. Apparently this over site did not go unnoticed. After telling my grandma this story, she very sweetly donated a small table tree to Van's cause. We put it up and decorated it today. He was so excited and wanted to sit right next to it, he even laid down for a nap without complaint because I told him I would leave the Christmas lights on. I love it when they are this easy to please!