Thankful for

Haven't done a post about this lately, so here's my favorites!
1. brownies. Mmmmmm!
2. A working furnace.
3. my husband :) he got up an hour early to shovel the snow that fell last night.
4. knitting. Because I feel so crafty!
5. snow days.
6. hot cocoa.
7. naps.
8. Itunes.


Oh, yesterday on the weather at 10pm, I found out that we have plenty of snow :) See, we don't have a lot of annual rainfall, but thankfully most of the snow that falls in the mountains will melt come spring, and that's what we use to water our lawns and gardens and farms all through the spring, summer, and fall. We've got more snow right now than we get in a normal winter. Hah! No drought this year.

More fluffy white stuff

:)and I don't mean quilt batting :)
new header- looked out the window this morning, and watched a whole flock of chickadees hop [because they couldn't fly against the wind] from the tree on the east side of our yard to underneath the boy scout storage trailer in the middle of our yard. Lucky for them, our bird-hunting dogs are waiting out the weather inside *grinning*.

This morning we lost power about 3am, and it came back on about 7:30am, just in time for the kids' breakfast. But that was from the wind- the snow came around 10am. I took the kids to school this morning- Morgen is "student of the week" in her classroom, and we had a huge poster collaged with about 50 pictures of her that I've taken since she was born. Anyway, after I delivered kids and poster to school, I dropped some letters at the post office, then high-tailed it home. I knew this storm was coming, and while I do have 4WD, I'm not stupid! I have snow caked between my screen and the glass of my windows. The swing in the front yard is pretty much stuck at a 45-degree angle; which happens to be the same angle the snow is falling, with the wind blowing so hard. The windows have steam on them [and part of that is they're old and leaky] because it is so much warmer [65 degrees] inside than outside. BRRRRR!!!!!

:)and in non-related but much happier news: Walmart is carrying the cherry cordial-filled Hershey's Kisses again. Mmmmmmm! I got some to make Valentines for the kids, but hey! since I threw in an extra bag [or three], there's plenty in case I need a snack ;)

*click* *click*

I have a new hobby. Well, a dedication to stick w/the hobby this time *grinning*. About 4 years ago, when Hyrum was a wee little boy with a yen for sharp things, I took up knitting. I had almost finished a hot pad, when my adorable helper completely destroyed 2 days' work pulled the needles out of the hot pad. He wandered around with one in his mouth, and I debated letting him administer his own tonsillectomy as punishment. I vetoed the idea after I imagined the conversation at the ER...
Anyway, I'm now knitting again. This time it's a scarf, and I'm using fat, blunted wooden needles, instead of long skinny sharp metal ones.
And, in random but sort of related news, knitting needles are now on the 'allowed' list at the airport screening site. Hooray!

Jared went hunting again last Friday. He hates to go, but I make him. heh. heh. Anyway, he took our two dogs and one of his friends. They went after the red-legged devil birds chukar again; the season actually ends this coming weekend, but he's giving up that last opportunity to chase after birds [and possibly fall over a cliff and break something] because I'm going to Iowa!! No, really, that's a good thing. Lots of wonderful women live there [scrapping buddies, my sister Emily, the best darn neighbors on the planet]. Plus [and this is BIG], there are no children belonging to *me* that live there. Yet. :)

Oh, and this picture? Well, Jared got 4 of those chukar, and their little naked carcasses are now sitting in our freezer, waiting to be eaten.

Free Stuff!!!

You may [or may not] remember that I won a page contest on Gettin' Sketchy back in November. Well, it took a little time [holidays, finding the prize, feeling well enough to brave the terrible weather and go to the post office], but I finally got my prize!!!!

Hooray!!!





Here it is:

I am so excited to use these new supplies ;)
Thank you!

So much snow

:) and as long as I can enjoy it from inside, I love it!! Jared spent most of yesterday shoveling snow- our driveway and sidewalks, then a bunch of other people in our neighborhood who aren't able to do it themselves. He does this each time it snows. Luckily, our big snowstorms have fallen on the weekends, or on holidays [like MLK day], so he isn't out there after dark shoveling. Yesterday, somebody offered him a snowblower, just to borrow, and that sped things up considerably ;)
And Walker got a chance to ski last week, through the "Ski Utah" program at his school. He had a blast, and did a pretty good job according to him. WTG, buddy!

No wonder!

Yesterday, while trying to comfort my [normally cheerful] clingy, crying toddler, I noticed something. He has 2 upper molars! Hah. No wonder he's been extra-fussy lately. And, of course, the lower ones are not yet through his gums, but they are swollen and sore. Poor little tyke. That, BTW, brings his total of teeth up to 9. 4 front top, 2 top molar, and 3 front bottom. And 3 teeth coming in: 2 bottom molars and one bottom front. *sigh*

:)family

First of all, we celebrated our 12th anniversary yesterday! And we went out to eat, and to a sports store to check out shotgun stocks for my shotgun, which was "our" anniversary present ;). I told Jared I'd let him borrow the gun, if he promised he'd take me shooting. I didn't have to work real hard to convince him...
Then we spent an hour or so walking a trail and talking. We don't get enough of that. Oh, and then we went grocery shopping *grin*. We needed milk LOL.

Today was actually almost warm! We loaded up all the kids and went to a walking path near our house. It runs roughly North to South along the Jordan River. Every so often along the trail, there will be a little play area. We walked about 1/2 mile down the trail, then Jared spent another 30 minutes chasing the kids around the playground. They really *really* needed to get out of the house and run around- all of them, including Jared LOL. When they started to whine, we chased them back down the trail to our car. Jared was the hunter, snowballs were his ammo, and Myles and I were the moving rabbit-hole that was 'safe' from the snowballs. Gotta love my kids' imaginations!

Mischief managed

or almost. This little squirt [who is rather short for his age] has discovered doorknobs. Thankfully, he has to stand on tiptoe with his arm completely extended above his head in order to place his hand on the doorknob. This means he cannot exert enough torque to actually turn the knob :) for small blessings, we are truly grateful!

This is new behavior as of Thursday- I had a planning meeting for the women's group at church. At my house, since Jared is in Pennsylvania [or is it Georgia?- he's visiting both...] this week, and the CPS frowns on leaving 9,7,4,and/or 1-year-olds home without adult supervision. We were in the midst of a rather serious discussion when I heard clicking. I look down the stairs to the front door, and there was my smallest child trying to escape :). "Myles!" and he turned around and said "hmmm?" and then *grinned* his 'showing all my teeth' grin. I am SO glad our entire yard is fenced. Of course, Myles can climb... *sigh* that's the problem w/kids. You figure out how to contain them, and they figure out how to escape. And I'm at a disadvantage, since I'm outnumbered :).

Oh, and I just have to document, in writing, that Walker was awesome today. He was a great help- did his jobs and homework, and helped Hyrum get his jobs done, too. What a great kid he is!

Resolutions

:) first off, if you haven't seen National Treasure: Book of Secrets, I'd spend the $$ and go. Totally cool movie, and awesome cinematography. And, one of the major clues they're hunting down centers on the Resolution- a boat [ship?] which was eventually made into 2 desks- one for the Queen/King of England, and one for the President of the United States of America. So there's a scene where Nicholas Cage's character is repeating "Resolution" over and over, which kind of kicked me into wondering what I would resolve to do [or not do] this year.

I already posted about my word of the year: Focus. [directly below this post]

I looked at everything I was trying to do and got a little panicked:
*once-a-month lunch date out w/church group
*once-a-month playdate w/church group
*once-a-month book club w/church group
*once-a-month book club at B&N
*twice-a-month scrapbooking w/friends
*once-a-week meeting about women's group at church
*once-a-week family activity
*twice-a-month city council meeting
*Index names for Family History
*make things for Humanitarian Aid
*take kids to library once a week
*take Morgen to piano lessons once a week
*Walker's scouts once a week [also helping him w/projects the rest of the week]

plus laundry, dinner, cleaning house, making cards for about 20 ppl a month, scrapbooking, reading, exercising, preschool w/Hyrum, grocery shopping, paying bills, balancing checkbook...
Can you see why I suddenly felt a little overwhelmed?

**here's my "steps" LO, detailing all the journaling above, and w/a list of the activities I'm keeping and the ones I'm dropping.

So, in keeping with the "Focus" theme, my first resolution is to focus my efforts on what I believe are the essentials, and drop the activities that leave me feeling harried or guilty. :)

2. Daily morning scripture study.
3. Exercise 4-5 times weekly.
4. Follow my cleaning plan for the house.
5. Stick to the budget so we can realize our dream of being debt-free.
6. Scrapbook every day.
7. Work on my own music lessons.
8. Make a weekly plan and stick to it.

These are my steps to [hopefully] a more sane life.

New Year

Last year, in response to a challenge, I chose the word "Joy" to describe what I wanted to happen in my life in 2007. This year the challenge went out again, and after I'd thought long and hard, I chose another word: "Focus."
Focus on family.
Focus on God.
Focus on tasks until they are complete.
keep myself Focused, instead of scattering my efforts and time.
So, for this year, I am FOCUSED.
:)

Watch out for that tree!

Is one of my kids' favorite sayings, from the movie "George of the Jungle." True to our life, while they were sledding, Walker ran into a tree. The sled survived, and so did he. Thankfully he was only bruised- no broken bones, dislocated shoulders, or bloody gashes in his face.