Apple Grove Light Decorating Contest

I forgot to blog about Rick's excitement this year. He spent quite a bit of time decorating outside in our small area out front. We came home on Sunday afternoon on December 21st and we had a fun sign out in front of our house. Here are some fun pictures to show the sign and look at the level of the snow:

SNOW and MORE SNOW. . .and pictures of our dog

I left my house this morning at 10 a.m. and that was it. It is 10:50 p.m. and the snow has finally stopped and it is lightly raining. On the news it said that Pleasant Grove got 11" of snow in the last 24 hours. Today I had cubscouts at 4:15 p.m. and as my scouts showed up they went to work clearing my long driveway of snow. I have to say that it impressed me a ton and I was so grateful for my wonderful scouts!!! As they were clearing the snow Daniel Holdaway showed up with his 4 wheeler and helped even more with clearing the snow. It's just another blessing given to me today. Here are some pictures of the snow levels tonight:

Tonight my kids were playing with our dog and took my camera and took several pictures. Here are some pictures of our dog taken by my children.

Brayden and Ellie

One of Brayden's friends moved to Chicago about a year ago and they have been able to keep in touch. Whenever they have come into town to see family Brayden and Ellie have been able to get together. She was baptized while they were in town over Christmas which made Brayden even more excited for his baptism coming up in the next few weeks. Here are some of the fun pictures from while she was in town:

New Years Eve DDR

About 10 minutes before the New Year rang in 2 of my brother-in-laws were playing the Wii and trying out Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii. Everyone joined in and it was alot of fun. Enjoy the slow motion and the fast motion:

2 Weeks of Crazy Fun

I was thinking about all of the things we did in 2 weeks and it's amazing and no wonder we are TIRED!!!

Here is a list of some of the things we did in 2 weeks . . .
1. 2 Family Christmas Parties
2. Thanksgiving Point Christmas Lights (and the boys got to each drive with dad)
3. Spanish Fork Lights (and the boys got to each drive with dad)
4. Go to the mall and make Build a Bears (dogs)
5. Celebrate dad's (Rick's) birthday
6. Polar Express train rides for friends and family
7. Go see Bolt, the Disney movie (on Gift Certificates)
8. Christmas Eve at Grandma Hardman's and Grandma Anderson's and visited a couple families with Santa
9. Delivered Gifts to family and friends
10. Christmas day visited both grandparents and 2 sets of Great Grandparents

11. Spoiled by grandparents, family and friends for Christmas (count our many blessings :)
12. Had a friend visit from Illinois
13. Played the Wii for HOURS!!!
14. Ate Dinner at Los Hermanos (on Gift Certificates)
15. Ate Dinner at Mimi's (on Gift Certificates)
16. Ate Lunch at Olive Garden (on Gift Certificates)
17. Kids spent money they got for Christmas at the Mall
18. Had a New Years Eve Party at Grandma Anderson's until 3 a.m.
19. Clark Planetarium (saw Flies to the Moon in 3D - used tickets from Reflections)
20. Slept over at our Uncle Scott's house and played games until 2:00 a.m. and then watched a movie
21. Played at Kangaroo Zoo for 4 hours with Cousins (mom had a family pass from earlier in the year)
22. Played games with family everywhere
23. Went to a baptism
24. Michael had his first Basketball game

25. Michael and Brayden had Piano Recitals

26. Ate TONS of food and treats everywhere we went

27. Talked to their aunt Tawnya in Hungary on Christmas morning (she is serving a mission)

All of this fun and it hardly cost mom and dad any money. It was GREAT!!! It was a fun packed couple of weeks and now we will get to regular schedules and maybe some sleep.

The end of Christmas Day

I was going through my pictures from the holidays and decided that I found the perfect picture that shows how I felt at the end of Christmas day and I am betting that it represents several others :), especially Santa. Happy memories of this year and 11 months and 20 days until the next Christmas. . .

Hopefully we can carry the true spirit of giving, service and love throughout the whole year and not forget the spirit of Christmas throughout the year.

Holidays and fun activities

This year we decided to do something fun with the kids for a gift from Rick and I. Our kids have asked for a long time to go to Build a Bear, but we had always heard that it was really expensive so we have avoided it. We went to the mall to walk around and just for fun and Build a Bear had several animals for $10 a piece. I was worried about what that included and how much it would add up to be.

Once we got looking into it we decided that it would be a fun and memorable activity and gift for Christmas. We were AMAZED at the experience that Build a Bear created for these kids. We gave them a budget of $10 to pick out an outfit or accessories. They got to fill their dog, put a heart and sound inside and bathe their dogs. Then they got to dress them and create a birth certificate. We were in there for over an hour and the kids had a blast. The animals came home in their own boxes.

Since they were for Christmas the boys had to put them under the Christmas tree until Christmas. They were such good kids that we gave them to them on Christmas Eve. They were so excited.

Here are some fun pictures from Build a Bear:

Beginning of a New Year. . .

Alright, I am not one that sets goals or one that sets New Years Resolutions, but this year I decided to make a list of things that would make my life better. Not necessarily goals, but things that can make our home, family and my life better. I feel like I have set goals in the past, not accomplished them and then thrown in the towel. I have found that I am looking at life in a more positive light. Waking up each morning knowing that I am working at each day to be a little better. I don't have to perfect things instantly, but that each day our lives will get better.

Today the kids were heading back to school after a nice 2 week break and I didn't want them to go back. I am finding that I am really enjoying my time with my children. I was working at being positive when Rick let me know that the computer wasn't working. The computer is now down for a few days, but hopefully will be fixed. We rely too much on our computer. Then there were a couple of other problems that came up within the first few hours of the day.

At first I started to feel down and discouraged and had the thought that I was worried today would be a bad day. Then I decided to take each problem one at a time and recognize my blessings and it turned out to be a great day! Nothing miraculous happened, but it was a blessing to have time with my children and everyone was safe and happy. I got to enjoy the day at home and the problems worked out by addressing them one at a time.

There are a few things in our lives that we urgently need to come together and work out quickly, but I have decided it is in the Lord's time and have to put full faith in the Lord and make every effort on our part to make it happen. I have been surprised at the things I have learned over the last 5 months. There have been many blessings that have come and experiences that we would have never enjoyed as a family and strengthening our testimonies.

Life is good and there are blessings in everything that we go through.

Snow, more SNow and more SNOW!

I have to say that I don't live in Utah for the snow. I am not a sledder, skiier nor do I like driving in the snow. If I can sit in my home and watch it fall I love it! I also always wish for snow on Christmas day. When I was on my mission in Arizona I arrived in November and realized that snow adds alot to the winter and actually missed it for the first time in my life.

We had an abundance of snow on Christmas day and it definately doesn't seem to be slowing down. It has come down nonstop since noon. I was going to go to a family dinner tonight, but am relieved that they changed it to tomorrow night. Hopefully the snow slows down tomorrow. I am guessing that we are just at the beginning of SNOW :).

Glad the holidays are over and we can enjoy the time we have inside. I will post a picture of the snow from tonight later tonight.