The Great Tree Hunt
Dec 13th
Today we finally got the time to go out to the u-cut lot and get our tree. It snowed over night and dusted our home and yard. The kids were anxious to get our christmas tree and play in the snow. Excitement buzzed around the house as I double layered the kids socks and pants. As we drove to the lot the snow became deeper and more beautiful. We were rather early and had the place pretty much to ourselves, no real worries about someone snatching the perfect tree right our from under our noses. Shane and I decided to drive out to a different part of the lot and get a taller tree than last years. We parked and searched four forty five minutes to an hour. Nothing quite satisfied us and it was hard to see the real shapes of the trees under all the snow. Now what were the kids doing all that time? I packed Peter in the kelty so he was turoughly entertained the kids knocked snow off of the little trees. Whenever we were out of sight I could hear Marie calling out to us to wait for her. The snow slowed down their little legs. Not quite satisfied, and running out of patient children we went ot another part of the lot and Shane searched while we warmed up and ate crackers. Shane didn’t find anything so I ran off and within 2 minutes found THE tree. Perfect height and shape even to please Shane. We made it home without mishap and enjoyed decorating our marvelous tree. There is nothing quite as nice as the smell of fresh pine and I love the fun memories we have going out to cut down a tree. The pictures of our adventure are here. Enjoy!
Cleaning House
Dec 8th
An interesting thought occurred to me today as I was preparing the house for some guests to come over. I was in the kitchen looking around me as I prepared a snack for the kids. I began to take an inventory of all the things that needed cleaning, just as I had in the other rooms. I noticed the little sauce splatters on the wall behind the stove and that grimy dirt that gathers on top of the exhaust hood. The toaster needed to be wiped down, the oven door needed a good scrub and heaven forbid that anyone look into my oven. I began to think about how I looked at my home differently in the light of someone coming as opposed to the daily look over before I go to bed, usually tossing up my hands at an unswept floor and chalking it up for tomorrows work. I thought about my spiritual house cleaning and how I causally overlook more hidden aspects of my life that could use a good scrub. My attitude would definitely change if I were expecting the Savior to come by to see me, and yet he does when I make the room. I think he would come be near me more if I regularly prepared in anticipation of having him around. There would be a clean spirit ready to hear his footsteps and a happy face free from the “I should haves” ready to smile and welcome him in despite the loads of laundry to fold and the kitchen floor to be mopped.
Friday Night Date
Dec 5th
Friday was not a grade A day. The kids and I went out shopping to three different stores. My main purpose was to replenish the refrigerator and buy wreaths and lights for the house. Although the kids tried their best the Christmas isles we were perusing were too much and I had to practically drag them out of the stores. I felt like the meanest broken Mom record in the world, “Don’t touch, come on, please listen” Tired out from shopping I put the kids down for quiet time and managed to lay down myself for about an hour. I heard Oliver calling for me and to my horror found him and his surroundings covered in poop. I woke Peter up when I yelled at Oliver and so I cleaned for an hour with Peter crying in the living room. After cooking dinner I sat down to read a Christmas card and heard the water running, Marie had decided to fill a ziplock bag full of water and was desperately trying to clean up her mess with one measly paper towel. Poor thing. Needless to say the children were banished to their rooms. When Shane got home to find me in a wreck he calmly grounded the kids after dinner to give me a break. We spent the evening together putting up the Christmas lights. It was one of the best date nights we have had in a while. There is something fun about working together to get something done. When we were done I felt almost like I was back home in Pennsylvania looking at 18th century homes decked out in the classic style with red bows, wreaths, lights and garlands. During the Christmas season when I was a kid we would have contests counting all of the wreaths on the houses whenever we drove somewhere. I guess sometimes there is no place like home.
Thanksgiving Day
Nov 28th
We had a nice Thanksgiving at home this year. The evening before we cooked up some pies as a family. Marie kept on sneaking frozen blueberries out of the bag when she thought we weren’t looking. After the kids were in bed we cleaned and put our large turkey in to brine. I also learned the difference between table salt and kosher salt, something important to know when adding salt to your brine. The next morning I spent getting the turkey in the oven on time despite Peter’s best efforts to thwart me by insisting on having me nurse him to sleep for his morning nap. Shane commented to me as he basted the bird near the end of cooking, “I hope no one does this to me.”
This was the second time I have made the majority of the Thanksgiving dinner and thanks to some good old standy by recipes, some new improved recipes and a little more experience everything come out hot and yummy all at the same time. Shane ate so much his ribs hurt. He said he comforted himself with blaming his aching belly on me as he lied on the sofa. After all it was my fault that the food was so good. We had some friends over and enjoyed chatting and relaxing. The kids watched a movie and mostly ate deserts, although Marie’s personal favorite was my cranberry sauce and rolls. She would live off of the stuff if she could. 
Today we have relaxed and started a new Christmas tradition, getting all of our Christmas cards ready. Marie even helped draw pictures on the back of some of them. My missionary brother Jacob got the funniest one. It was a drawing of a bad boy who pushed Marie off of a boat and she was getting eaten by a shark. Hahahah. Now the cards just have to be mailed. Thanks to everyone who sent us their addresses at my request. May the Christmas season officially begin!
Deck the Dog with…
Nov 28th
A few days ago I went through all the socks in the house and matched them up again. As I put Marie’s pile in her drawer I had second thoughts. She loves to play with socks and wear them as gloves etc… (thus one of the reasons for having to match up a large pile of socks). In the afternoon I went to her room to let her up from quiet time and found that true to form she had found the matched socks and dressed her dog in style. She finished off the effect with some underwear. I couldn’t help laughing hilariously at the finished affect. Hope it gives you a smile as well.
Thanksgiving Tree
Nov 20th
This past Family Home Evening we had a lesson on thankfulness that I based around my Mom’s thankfulness tree idea from the previous post. First we sang about all the things were have been given. Then we read about the ten lepers and talked about the one who came back and said thank you. This man was the only one who was made whole although all the others were healed. I held up my fingers to show them how many people there were and compared it to how many came back to say thank you. (Luke 17:11-19).
Then I showed them the tree without any leaves on it and told them how this tree was not whole or happy like those 9 men who went away with out saying thank you. Then we drew pictures on cut out leaves of what we were thankful for. The kids were so excited to draw what they were thankful for. Then we taped them to the tree. Marie was so excited she was hopping up and down. We looked at the tree all finished and taught them about how much happier the tree was with leaves. An extra thought that I had was that because the tree was whole through thankfulness it could give shelter and sustinance to others. Thus when we are thankful we are more prepared to care for those around us.
On another note Peter is 8 months old tomorrow! I can’t belive how fast the time goes by and I try to enjoy every cuddly, smiley moment with my little one. He is such a pleasure to hold and play with. Babyhood goes by so fast.
Holiday gift ideas.
Nov 14th
Sorry to disappoint, but no this post is not filled with great holiday gift ideas, it’s just the opposite. I was wondering if any of you had good simple craft or gift ideas that a 3 and 2 year old could make for their Dad and each other. We like to encourage the kids to get into the idea of giving of ourselves at Christmas time. At the moment I am at a lack of ideas of what they could make for each other.
On another note we did make turkeys out of tracings of the kids hands and feet and decorated our door early for Thanksgiving. I hope you like the picture! I put the quote by Robert Browning on the door for Shane to see when he comes home from work. We are doing well and would love to hear from you. To comment on our blog click on the tab to the left of the post right underneath the date and write away. This is also how you can view anyone elses comments as well.
26262 Views!
Nov 8th
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuF5bAwy4B0]
THIS IS PROOF THAT YOUTUBE IS PATHETIC. 26,262 VIEWS AND CLIMBING. AT 20 SECONDS A VIEWING THAT EQUALS OVER 145 WASTED HOURS.
Funny Things Kids Do.
Nov 8th
Recently we switched the children’s rooms around to give Marie her own room. We moved Peter’s crib and my rocking chair into Oliver’s room. Previously Oliver had pretty much given up taking naps, but since the room change Oliver now curls up in the rocking chair to play and takes a nap. Now we have a happy boy again during the second half of the day. Oliver also insists on kissing both my cheeks and giving me a big hug when I tuck him in at night, as I close the door and call out I love him I can hear his little voice calling out he loves me too.
Marie learned how to blow kisses while Daddy was in Texas. I showed her how to give Daddy kisses over Skype. Now she blows us kisses all the time. Last night I was reaing the Book of Mormon to the children over dinner since we had missed it in the morning. The chapter we read covered how when Jesus visited the Nephites they were filled with the Holy Ghost. Oliver told me that ghosts were scary and so we had a little lesson on who the Holy Ghost was and how special and important he was. Then I told them that the Holy Ghost was here in the room telling them that what I was teaching them was true. Oliver called out, “The Holy Ghost is in my room!”, to which Marie responded, “The Holy Ghost is in MY room.” At least now they aren’t afraid of the Holy Ghost.
Peter continues to play happily and bring lots of smiles into our lives. He likes to give me big slobbery kisses. The other day he gave me some kisses and then smiled at Shane as if to say, “Look Daddy, I do what you do.” He made me laugh. He loves opening and closing the doors on the kids little kitchen set and will amuse himself for quite sometime before he pulls it down on himself to his dismay. It’s so light my almost 20 pound boy definitely isn’t hurt, just startled.
Have a great day!
Proposition 8
Nov 6th
This commercial aired on election day.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q28UwAyzUkE]
This video summarizes my opinion.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewXaVmfOj2w]
This is what the First Presidency had to say.
30 June 2008 The following letter was sent from the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Church leaders in California to be read to all congregations on 29 June 2008:
Preserving Traditional Marriage and Strengthening Families
In March 2000 California voters overwhelmingly approved a state law providing that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The California Supreme Court recently reversed this vote of the people. On November 4, 2 008, Californians will vote on a proposed amendment to the California state constitution that will now restore the March 2000 definition of marriage approved by the voters.
The Church’s teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan for His children. Children are entitled to be born within this bond of marriage.
A broad-based coalition of churches and other organizations placed the proposed amendment on the ballot. The Church will participate with this coalition in seeking its passage. Local Church leaders will provide information about how you may become involved in this important cause.
We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage.
Being a Californian, I voted for Proposition 22 in 2000.
On the March 7, 2000 primary election, Proposition 22 was adopted by a vote of 61.4% to 38%, thus adding § 308.5 to the Family Code. The one-sentence code section explicitly defines the union of a man and a woman as the only valid or recognizable form of marriage in the State of California.
If you want to read a nasty bit of “Judicial Legislation,” about when and how the California Supreme Court created all this mess in the first place then read this.
Where do we go from here?
We hope that now and in the future all parties involved in this issue will be well informed and act in a spirit of mutual respect and civility toward those with a different position. No one on any side of the question should be vilified, intimidated, harassed or subject to erroneous information.
It is important to understand that this issue for the Church has always been about the sacred and divine institution of marriage — a union between a man and a woman.
Allegations of bigotry or persecution made against the Church were and are simply wrong. The Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage neither constitutes nor condones any kind of hostility toward gays and lesbians. Even more, the Church does not object to rights for same-sex couples regarding hospitalization and medical care, fair housing and employment rights, or probate rights, so long as these do not infringe on the integrity of the traditional family or the constitutional rights of churches. [FULL STATEMENT]
Every Latter-day Saint has to decide where they stand and for what they stand. I would think it is common sense for Latter-day Saints to not affiliate (have membership) with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or to sympathize with the precepts of any such group or individual. — Just my humble oppion, offered without judgment or prejudice.
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