Monday, December 29, 2008

Dream

Love this song by Priscilla Ahn




I was a little girl alone in my little world who dreamed of a little home for me.
I played pretend between the trees, and fed my houseguests bark and leaves, and laughed in my pretty bed of green.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest swing.
I had a dream.

Long walks in the dark through woods grown behind the park, I asked God who I'm supposed to be.
The stars smiled down on me, God answered in silent reverie. I said a prayer and fell asleep.

I had a dream
That I could fly from the highest tree.
I had a dream.

Now I'm old and feeling grey. I don't know what's left to say about this life I'm willing to leave.
I lived it full and I lived it well, there's many tales I've lived to tell. I'm ready now, I'm ready now, I'm ready now to fly from the highest wing.

I had a dream

Saturday, December 27, 2008

She melts my heart

You know that feeling when your heart is about to burst because you are filled with so much love. That's how I feel about my first granddaughter.

I'm Sick

I'm not feeling good today. I am having one of those days when you want to stuff kleenex up your nose and leave it there because if you don't it runs all day and your nose gets so sore you can't even blow it one more time. This song fits perfectly with how I'm feeling

Ingrid Michaelson BE OK

Friday, December 26, 2008

Danish Christmas Party

Here's the page I scrapbooked of our Christmas Eve party.

Journaling reads: Every year we get together with Grandpa Ted and Grandma Marie’s family on Christmas Eve. We have a Danish Christmas celebration that includes singing and dancing around the tree. We hold hands and even take our song and dance outside through the yard. Sometimes we wonder what the neighbors think of all our craziness.

Staying Together

I love this song that I found here. Take a listen.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas Eve and for the first time in the history of our family, we stayed home all day on Christmas Day! We sat and watched the snow fall. We didn't even have to go out in it. Grandpa Alan and Grandma Janiel came to visit us! I feel so tired and even though it is only 8:30 p.m. I think I'll head to bed, Love you all!!!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Breath of Heaven


Thanks for sharing, April.

Try to get this out of your head

Okay, I have this song stuck in my head. That's what I get for clicking on a link in the Sweet Shoppe forum

Oh no!!! Hope this doesn't last all day.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

To Build a Home

I found this photography website and it had the most hauntingly beautiful song playing as you looked at the photos.

There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls and window sills...
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust..
This is a place that I don't feel alone
This is a place that I call my home.......

And I built a home
for you
for me

Until it disappeared
from me
from you

And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust........

Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree as old as me
By the cracks of it's skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When a gust of wind came to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held on me
I held on as tightly as you held on me......

Cause, I built a home
for you
for me

Until it disappeared
from you
from me

And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust........

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Husband

Have you ever made a wordle Here is one I made for the most important person in my life. Love you so much sweetie!!!

LMBO

My sister. Liz, and I were designing her Christmas Card the other day and while we were waiting for her daughter to e-mail some photos, we opened her e-mails(she has no speed internet) and goofed around. Here's a video that we stumbled upon

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Two Robbers


My kids were sitting by me at the computer looking at the blog when my five year old, Breanna, says "Mom, there's two robbers on your blog." I didn't quite understand what she meant until she pointed to the two silhouettes surrounding Tiff's pic under followers. So Melody and Garrett - I love that you are following the blog but Breanna thinks you are blog robbers. I agree - you're robbing us of your smiling faces. Love ya - Post a pic soon.

In honor of last night's beautiful moon!

My friend, Karen, sent me this story and I thought it was too cute not to share.


It's a romantic full moon, when Pedro said, "Hey, mamacita, let's do Weeweechu."

Oh no, not now, let's look at the moon!" said Rosita.

Oh, c'mon baby, let's you and I do Weeweechu. I love you and it's the perfect time," Pedro begged.

"But I wanna just hold your hand and watch the moon." replied Rosita.

Please, corazoncito, just once, do Weeweechu with me."



Rosita looked at Pedro and said, "OK, one time, we'll do Weeweechu."

Pedro grabbed his guitar and they both sang.....

"Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Love this e-mail I got from Brett today

I've gotten this one before, but it makes me laugh every time!

Tough Love vs. Spanking - Good Argument

Most of the American populace thinks it is improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of "those moments." One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk. Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc.

Either way, my kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car
ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too.

I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.

Sincerely,
Your Friend

This works with grandchildren, nieces, and nephews as well.

SCROLL DOWN FOR PIC












































Friday, December 12, 2008

Touching

I read this story this morning and it really touched me. Thanks, Christy for sending it to me!


JUST A LITTLE CHRISTMAS STORY


In September 1960, I woke up one morning with six hungry babies and just 75 cents in my pocket.

Their father was gone.

The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister was two.

Their Dad had never been much more than a presence they feared.

Whenever they heard his tires crunch on the gravel driveway they would scramble to hide under their beds.

He did manage to leave $15 a week to buy groceries.

Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, but no food either.

If there was a welfare system in effect in southern Indiana at that time, I certainly knew nothing about it.

I scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then put on my best homemade dress, loaded them into the rusty old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.

The seven of us went to every factory, store and restaurant in our small town.

No luck.

The kids stayed crammed into the car and tried to be quiet while I tried to convince who ever would listen that I was willing to learn or do anything. I had to have a job.

Still no luck. The last place we went to, just a few miles out of town, was an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted to a truck stop.

It was called the Big Wheel.

An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of the window from time to time at all those kids.

She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until seven in the morning.

She paid 65 cents an hour, and I could start that night.

I raced home and called the teenager down the street that baby-sat for people.

I bargained with her to come and sleep on my sofa for a dollar a night.

She could arrive with her pajamas on and the kids would already be asleep

This seemed like a good arrangement to her, so we made a deal.

That night when the little ones and I knelt to say our prayers, we all thanked God for finding Mommy a job. And so I started at the Big Wheel.

When I got home in the mornings I woke the baby-sitter up and sent her home with one dollar of my tip money-- fully half of what I averaged every night.

As the weeks went by, heating bills added a strain to my meager wage.

The tires on the old Chevy had the consistency of penny balloons and began to leak. I had to fill them with air on the way to work and again every morning before I could go home.

One bleak fall morning, I dragged myself to the car to go home and found four tires in the back seat. New tires!

There was no note, no nothing, just those beautiful brand new tires.

Had angels taken up residence in Indiana? I wondered.

I made a deal with the local service station.

In exchange for his mounting the new tires, I would clean up his office.

I remember it took me a lot longer to scrub his floor than it did for him to do the tires.

I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn't enough.

Christmas was coming and I knew there would be no money for toys for the kids.

I found a can of red paint and started repairing and painting some old toys. Then I hid them in the basement so there would be something for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.

Clothes were a worry too. I was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys pants and soon they would be too far gone to repair.

On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim, and a state trooper named Joe.

A few musicians were hanging around after a gig at the Legion and were dropping nickels in the pinball machine.

The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee hours of the morning and then left to get home before the sun came up.

When it was time for me to go home at seven o'clock on Christmas morning, to my amazement, my old battered Chevy was filled full to the top with boxes of all shapes and sizes.


I quickly opened the driver's side door, crawled inside and kneeled in the front facing the back seat.

Reaching back, I pulled off the lid of the top box.

Inside was whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10!

I looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go with the jeans.

Then I peeked inside some of the other boxes. There was candy and nuts and bananas and bags of groceries. There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables and potatoes.
There was pudding and Jell-O and cookies, pie filling and flour. There was a whole bag of laundry supplies and cleaning items.

And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.

As I drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of my life, I was sobbing with gratitude.

And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that precious morning.

Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop..

THE POWER OF PRAYER. I believe that God only gives three answers to prayer:

1. "Yes!"
2. "Not yet."
3. "I have something better in mind."

God still sits on the throne, the devil is a liar.

You maybe going through a tough time right now but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that you cannot imagine.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Charlie Bit Me

My kids are walking around the house saying "Charlie bit me" with a strange accent. It comes from watching this video over and over. LOL

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Sister Shopping Day Photos

Just got the photos from Sister Shopping Day
Here they are





Tuesday, December 9, 2008

"Sister-Mother-Daughter-Cousin Shopping Day"

Yesterday was our sister shopping day. Jen and Madison, Kelsey and Brynn, Joy, Liz, Stephanie, and I all got together for our newly revised "Sister-Mother-Daughter-Cousin Shopping Day" We had so much fun traipsing around the outlet stores in Park City. We ate lunch at Cafe Rio and even got some cute photos. What a great day!

Happy Birthday Joy!!!

I just wanted to give a shout/sing-out to one of my favorite people in the whole wide world

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
Your my favorite dear cousin
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

Love you,

Anna

Monday, December 8, 2008

3:46 a.m. WHAT?

I woke up and am sitting at the computer when I looked at the clock-What?!!! How could it possibly be. Like I told you, I am an early riser.

One of my favorite things to do is digital scrapbooking. I spend time every day! It's another addiction. Yesterday, I made the cutest quickpage based on the cover of the Nov-Dec edition of "Simple Scrapbooks"


Brett just finished performing in his Christmas Play last night. I am so proud of him. He did a great job. We went to dinner afterwards - here. I was so full when we left that I actually felt sick. I didn't even eat this much on Thanskgiving Day.
I'm ready to go exercise it off! See ya!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Jacob


I just created this fun scrapbook page and thought I would share.

Create Your Own Happiness

When we got up this morning Brett said "It doesn't seem like December. We still don't need a coat. So nice." Perfect way to start the day. I even washed my suburban today and then while Angela and I were in the salon downstairs making gift packs these little drops of something ashy and wet fell all over my burb. This validates my excuse for never washing it - lol.

Still enjoying my tree being up on December 2nd Woohoo!!! Earliest ever - YIPPEE! The kids even started putting some ornaments on it. The tree still needs a little more work-lol but it makes me happy just seeing it lit up.
I was at Sam's Club yesterday and bought these for myself because they make me happy. The last time I was at Costco shopping with Lizette(my sis), I bought flowers and she said, "Shouldn't Brett be buying those for you." I looked at her and said. "Why should I depend on someone else to make me happy. These flowers make me happy and I don't need Brett to buy them for me. I can just buy them for myself." For too many years I didn't realize that you make your own happiness. You can't depend on someone else to make you happy. You have it within you to create your own joy! Find a way to make yourself happy today! I did!!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

My Health Goal for December



I am writing this here knowing that if I do, I will follow through. "I want to make December a month where I feel great and have unlimited energy - SO - my goal is to exercise every day this month!!!" I CAN DO IT! Brett and I are hoping to take a cruise here in January. I want to feel good and look better by then. I am on my way. In fact, here's a pic of me this morning on the elliptical. Don't I look like I can do it - YOU BET!!!

To Mom's Everywhere

This had me ROTFLOL!

December 1st

Wow, where did the year go?

On the first day of Christmas (which was a Monday) I had the day off and I went to my favorite place to go every Monday at 9 am. Yes, I will admit I AM ADDICTED. I love finding all kinds of fun items for really cheap. Kelsey met me at the store for our kid exchange and I took my two incredible grandkids home while she went to her class. (She is working on a nursing degree at the University of Utah.) Brynn was so happy and smiley when we got home but after I was done changing her diaper she started to cry. and cry and cry and cry. She wouldn't take her bottle. I couldn't get her to stop crying so this grandma did the only thing I could think of which was text Kelsey and ask her what to do LOL. As soon as I started texting, she began to settle down. It was as if she knew I was communicating with her mom. She cried a little more but as soon as her mom walked through the door she was perfectly happy.
That Brynn is a Momma's girl


Later that day, Braden and I went to Grace and Dallin Robert's (my longtime customers and friends) house. We picked up a Christmas tree and lights they were wanting to get rid of. Then they added in two outside lit decorations. When we got home we set up the tree and put up the outside decorations. Even without ornaments, the tree looks great. This is the first year in my life that I have had the tree up by December 1st! YIPPEE!!! We have always had a real tree which takes forever to get because it's hard to find time for all of us to go get it. Yeah-no pine needles all over my house this year! Yeah-no tree to keep watered and spill all over my hardwood floor! Yeah-no dead tree to drag to the garbage and leave a trail of pine needles. There is one great thing about an evergreen in your house and that is the wonderful fragrance! But hey - this year I think we'll just light a candle (ha ha)!

Thanksgiving

In October, I found out that our family was in charge of the Thanksgiving dinner this year. Alan and Janiel's family is getting so big that it is hard to fit them all into any of our houses. I wondered how they were going to fit in ours. I thought long and hard about a way to make the dinner nicer and I think it actually turned out great. Instead of having the dinner buffet-style like we have in the past, we set up seven tables and had all of the teenagers help bring the food around. I liked this better and it seemed like everyone else enjoyed it more, too. Here are some fun pages that I scrapped from that day

Two Page Spread


Did U watch the game?

I actually didn't get a chance to go to the Utah vs. BYU game, but I had so much fun scrapping the photos of my family that I had to do a post and show you the pages I made.




Page 1 Closeup


Page 2 Closeup.

Can you believe the wild and crazy hair on Kelsey and Hailey!!! They were even seen on the news later that night.

Birthday Update

Hi all,
I had the best birthday ever. We took family pictures at Wheeler Farm and this one was one of my favorites


I also scrapped these three pages with some of the great photos


We ended up going to Market Street with Brad, Melody, Brett, Helena and I. MMMM the salmon was my delicious choice although everyone's prime rib and halibut looked fabulous, too! The body World's Exhibit was amazing. It was all so intricate. It is amazing that they can plastinate the human body like that. I learned a lot like I'm so thankful that I'm not a smoker. I think the human body is a miracle. I now have a much greater appreciation and respect for my body. Now let's just see if I can avoid that chocolate - LOL!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Happy Birthday to me

Happy forty second birthday to me
Happy birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear Anna
Happy birthday to me.

Yesterday, Lizette, Stephanie, Jennifer, Madison and I had a sister shopping day. We went to Park City and had a blast!. I took my camera but was having so much fun laughing and talking that I forgot to use it. It was not cold. This year there was no new snow-just a tiny bit of old plowed over stuff in the corners of the parking lots. What a gorgeous day! The girls brought me a beautiful Christmas wreath (that I had been admiring in Steph's shoppe.) and a great new saute pan that I picked out at Costco. I love it! Thanks girls!

What will I be doing this birthday? I am taking the day off! No working for me!!! Brett also took the day off so we will be spending it together. We are getting family pictures at 3:45. I'll let you know how that goes. Tonight we will be seeing the Body Worlds exhibit. Kelsey and Luke have been volunteering there and they invited us.

This video was the perfect way to start out my birthday ROTFL!!!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

My hour

Okay so I've spent 20 minutes of my hour looking at all the cute photos from Halloween night

Here they are:Our sweet little Geisha Girl, Breanna

We were finished trick or treating and were driving to the Halloween Party when she said "This is the best day, ever!!!"



Charles Before and After



Braden and Charles Luke



Brent

and the other 40 minutes I've spent learning how to upload to Blogger. More photos to come when I can find another hour.


What will I do with my extra hour?

I am sitting at the computer on a peaceful Sunday morning. It's daylight savings time and we get an extra hour for free!!! So even though my clock says it's 8:16 (I haven't changed them yet) it is only 7:16 woohooo! I could go through the Halloween pics from Oct 31st. I could straighten up the house and get my morning routine done. I could make an omelet (I only allow myself to have one when there is unlimited time in the morning and I don't have to be anywhere). I could read. I could straighten up my scrap room. I could clean out my purse. I could spend the whole time writing this blog. So I'm off to see what I can accomplish in an extra hour.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Rush Rush Rush

What a hectic and hurried morning. I couldn't sleep last night. Needless to say, when my eyes opened and looked at the alarm clock - aarggh - it was 7:15 am. Oh no, the kids have to be outside for carpool in 15 minutes. Breanna (my five year old) still needed a shower because she talked me out of doing one last night. And, it was orange day for Spirit Week at the school. I was running through the house like a raving lunatic. At 7:33, they were out the door and I took a deep breath. Now I can relax and enjoy my usual breakfast (an egg with salsa & oats with some kind of fruit; today it's strawberries). What did I learn from this whole experience. GET READY THE NIGHT BEFORE!!!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Be In the Moment

Okay, I am still thinking about this so I figured that I would add it.
I was so touched.

Dreaming...

Wow, I have been dreaming about having a blog and I can't believe it was so easy to get started. Now what will I have to do to make it look good. hmmmm, let me think on that one.

For now I will jabber a bit about what is going on. I am up early in the morning. My clock on the computer says it is 4:34 am. I'm an "early to bed, early to rise" kind of girl. In fact, some are afraid to call me after 8 pm for fear I will be asleep. If they called right now, I'm buzzing, but at 8:05 pm, forget it (although I am pretty funny when I stay awake past my bedtime).

As I was driving down our driveway last night, the windows to the car were open. The fresh autumn air was blowing in. I noticed the gorgeous apricot trees in our orchard. The leaves are simply stunning. I didn't get out there to take a picture yet, but I'll post it later. You will be amazed. With that beautiful sunset shining down. It was exhilarating.

This is all new to me but I am going to post a pic of a little angel who brings me so much joy.




















This is my sweet new granddaughter "Brynn" I am blessed to be able to tend her every Monday. She and her wonderful brother, Charles, are at our house nearly every day. What a blessing it is to be called "Grandma."