Once Upon a Time....

Once upon a time, there was a lovely, wonderful Mother, who loved to take pictures of her adorable children and all of their adventures. Unfortunately, she was held captive by a evil curse, put on her by the wicked Computer Overlords. So every day, in order to share her pictures, she was forced to endure hours at her kitchen chair, downloading pictures on a computer that was invented the same year as the toothbrush. As the years went by and her life slowly wasted away, as all hope seemed lost, she knew in her heart that someday, someone would come and release her from her prison....

So, if I post about Christmas, will you think I'm crazy? I'm only two months behind. I think most of the pictures speak for themselves. And since I have spent most of my morning performing my daily devotions and rituals to the computer gods just to get the pictures on here, I won't spend much time explaining them. Or I may never get caught up!!! 

(This is Emme and Leto, sharing their lunch. ) 

Christmas morning!! Yeahhh!!! We had lots of people, including, but not limited to- our family, Justin, Phillip, Mommy and Doc and Leto. We tried to convince Seth to come, but he was already all planned out in Pocatello. :(   Do you see all the stockings? That was fun!

This is Alex, after refusing any packages that weren't shaped like a Bigfoot box. He knew what he was looking for! And yes, I did comb his hair while we were waiting for Phillip to come upstairs. Danny thought I was silly, but why should I just stand there when I could be brushing their hair?!

 Princess clothes!! Yeah!!

 

 There were lots of people and lots of presents and it was just a really fun time!! Afterwards, we went to the Campbells for dinner and everyone else went to Ben and Linda's for food. It was too long ago now for me to remember enough details. But I remember the kids were all super excited and fun and it seemed like everyone had a great time!

This is the sad part later in the day when we had to tell Grandma and Grandpa bye for a while. You'll notice Alex isn't giving any hugs. I think he just waved and said, "Bye, Grandma!"

So, on to New Year's Eve. We had Chris and Laura and their kids over for a few days, and then on New Year's Eve Phillip and Brock and Kattie and Josh came over, too and Haley and Dallin. We had food and played games and talked and then watched Inception. It was really fun, but we were all so tired by the time we got to the movie!! At some point someone said, "Hey, it's 12 o'clock!" We all just kind of said, "Oh, yeah," and went back to snoozing or watching the movie. But I do wish I had gotten some pictures!!

The next day we took all the kids sledding at Freeman Park. I prefer to call it "Kid Bowling", as that seemed to be the main point of it. No matter how many times we told them to walk back up on the side, they always walked up the middle, and then sure enough, like a magnet to metal- Swoosh!! They would get their feet knocked out from under them!! I tried to get a picture of it at least once, but could never capture it. Too bad, it was funny!!

The human chain- This was FUN!!

 Yes, Alex is wearing pink snowpants. They were the only ones we could find for him. And, it did make it really easy to spot him!

 We all looked rather dorkish in our winterwear, but Kattie somehow managed to still look stylish and rather "magazine photo-sessionish".

This picture is exactly what I remember about Tristan that day. He was all business and would go down all by himself, walk back up and then go down again. He hardly talked or asked questions. (Which, if you know him, is unusual.) But you could tell he was really having fun.

 This is Laura with Avonlea on her lap. It takes a lot of muscle to hold a kid on your lap and keep your feet off the ground while you sled!

Afterwards, we came home and made hot chocolate and lunch. Yummy!!

I think it was the next night, Phillip wanted Danny and me and Justin to go see Tron: Legacy with him at the movies. I wasn't dying ot see that movie, but it sounded fun to go with Phillip, so we got Kattie to come over and be here while the kids were in bed. As we were getting ready to leave, Danny picked up this hat of Alaina's and just being silly put it on his head. Phillip said, "I dare you to wear that to the movie." Well, Danny has some standards, so of course he said, "No way!" Then Phillip offered to pay for his ticket. Then he offered to pay for both of our tickets if Danny would wear it. By now, I was telling Danny that he would just have to wear it, as I couldn't pass up free tickets!! Then Phillip sinched the deal by offering to get both of our tickets and drinks and popcorn. I think Danny would have worn a purple velvet suit for that! So this is how he went to the movies. I could not stop laughing!!

 He got some very strange looks, but the movie was a late showing, so luckily for him there weren't too many people. It was in 3-D, which is always fun, so I had to get a picture of how "cool" Justin, Phillip and Danny looked! Haha! I think next time Phillip comes, we should do it again, but go to a movie that has just come out and is packed!!

 To end, here is a picture of Kittle-Litty, who went missing after Christmas for like 3 weeks. We were sooo sad and missed her so much and called all over and put fliers up. Then suddenly she just showed up again one day, looking fine and all cuddly and snuggly. She has a new collar now, with our phone number on it. Here is a picture of her looking like we felt after the holidays- tired, but happy!!

Big Time Rewind!!

Sooo....... our camera is still missing, our laptop is officially on the fritz, and I'm sorry, because I know how hard this has been on all of you. The waiting, wondering if I am going to write, hoping every day that you will get on your little computers and there will be a new title by my blog name. So here are some happenings from about forever ago that I have been trying to write about and put on here. I hope it makes you happy. :)

For Thanksgiving, we decided to have all of our family get together the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so that there weren't conflicts with in-laws, etc. Danny decided this was the perfect time to try making a Turduckin, which he has talked about making for a long time. It is a chicken, inside a duck, inside a turkey, all with stuffing and suasage and other stuff inside. This was a good time to try it, since everyone had already had their turkey, so if this was horrible, we didn't ruin their turkey fantasies.

We had to start two days before de-boning all the meat, then on Saturday we started assembling all the parts. It was quite the labor of love.

 The future of cooking. This is Danny watching a clip on his iTouch of how to make a Turduckin.

We called him Frankenbird, Frank for short, because he was so..., well, you can see why. This was after we sewed him up with all of his layers inside. It felt kind of weird when we were shoving stuffing up the back end. Tasty! 

I think it cooked for 12 hours, and you can see it is much improved after that. 

We had Tyler and his family over, Benda and kid, Dalley and kid, the Darringtons, Kattie and Josh and Seth. Here are some of the other sides.

This is just like Bro. Darrington to place himself at the kids' table! 

Alex just ate chips and potato salad. And yes, he is wearing a Santa costume.

Chillin' out afterwards, always my favorite part. 

Oh, and how did the turduckin turn out, you ask? Really, quite good. It was really moist and you could taste all the different meats inside of it. But, it did take a lot of time and cost more. So, I think it will be a rare occasion when we make it again. The best part of the day was just getting together with everyone and being together. I love fun friends and family!!

Then not too long after that was the Ward Christmas Chalet, which Misty was in charge of with Melanie and I helping. It was a huuge job, but it all went soo great! I am just kicking myself that I didn't get pictures of the decorations. The whole theme was a gingerbread/ candy wonderland. The centerpieces looked like big suckers and lollipops and there were large gingerbread boys and girls all around and big candy canes. We had at least 4 full sized Christmas trees and a gazillion little ones, with soooo many other decorations, hung on the walls, in each cormer, on the stage, everywhere. We brought in all the velvet chairs and had big fake presents and lights everywhere and poinsettieas on the piano and it was absolutely magical. I don't think I have ever seen it that full- and we didn't rent a thing!! We either made it or brought it. (Misty and I both have a ton of Christmas decorations and we combined with the other ward, too, which was great!)

We really shook things up this year and had it for all ages, instead of 16 and over. It was still Sunday dress and we had a place set up on the stage for families to get their pictures all taken together.

We had two tables for appetizers and there were lots, thank goodness! We left them out all evening and people came back to it throughout the night.  We also had someone playing Christmas music on the piano throughout the night.

This was behind the scenes. The other ward serves us and we serve them the next night. It is always really fun to trade off with them and they are really great! 

I was so glad Mommy and Seth were there, but mostly Doc!! We flew him in from Las Vegas to oversee our kitchen and we looved him for it! He was so great! Misty thought it was so cool and kept telling people, "We're flying in our cook," in her smuggest voice.

Proof that Seth was there!! He helped us a ton!

 I wish that this would rotate! But this is Kattie and her friend Joe who were so totally wonderful and came dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Claus' cousins, from the South Pole. They were so funny and used funny accents and stayed in character all night, plus they did a skit, that added so much fun to the night!! Kattie said soo many kids told them their Christmas lists for them to give to Santa! 

 See, I did sit down at one point, at least.

We had a table set up for people to bring their gingerbread houses to display.

 For dinner we had appetizers, then caesar salad with grapes and apples on the side, and then lasagna with green beans with onions and bacon and garlic bread, and then a dessert buffet table with all kinds of different desserts on it from the stores and that people brought. It was all soo super tasty!!

For entertainment we had the skit from Kattie and Joe, then we had the choir from Idaho Falls high school, who were really good. Then the Bishopric was going to do a special reading of the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon and the Bible, but it was getting late fast, so we decided to skip it and get right to what everyone really wanted.

 SANTA!!!!! It was soo fun to see the kids reactions when he came out! They had all the kids gathered up around the front and asked them if they were good this year, etc. Almost funner than seeing the kids was seeing the older people there watching the kids! A lot of them probably don't get to see that very often any more. In fact, I had comments from people later that that was really fun for them to see.

 He was a great Santa and took time with each kid and they each got a sack of candy. Yea!!  

 I thought it was such a fun night and just seemed like a great Ward Christmas Party. There was a lot of good food, and lot of fun people, and Santa. What more could you ask for? Maybe just better pictures of how great it all looked, too!!

Finding Balance

A friend sent me this in an e-mail, taken from someone else's blog, I think. I thought it was so great and I really wanted to share it with others, too. I think finding a balance in life is so difficult and so important!! I can't find my camera (I saw it somewhere and thought, "That's an odd place for the camera, but at least Alex won't bother it." Now I can't remember where that odd place was!) so no pictures for now, but after this I will put some funny things that the kids have said. So here goes-

Finding Balance
Posted: 03 Jan 2011 07:35 AM PST



  I think it was the day I became a mother, I became completely obsessed with balance. I’m not sure why that is. I had been busy before that. But maybe I became obsessed with balance because I suddenly had this little person who was going to grow up so fast, and I wanted to hold on to every moment. But I didn’t want to lose myself. Maybe that is what started my endless fascination with “finding balance.”
 The only problem with the words “finding balance” is that they make balance sound like a lost set of keys. Something you uncover once and then you’re set. But from everything I’ve heard and lived, I’m pretty certain that is not how it works.
 So today, as I mull over my dreams for the new year, I’m going to share with you the 4 favorite things anyone has ever taught me about balance. If you have any pieces of wisdom to add, I would absolutely love to hear.


1. Life is tricky when you’re a capable person.


A very wise friend taught me this one. (This friend, by the way, is a super capable mother of six.) The problem is, when you’re competent, you know how well you could play every part in your life. Your pantry could be organized, your dinners could be delicious and interesting, you could show up with warm chicken noodle soup at the door step of anyone who needs it, then go home and have a meaningful phone call with a friend. But as you are picturing all this, you neglect to notice that all those things take not only competence, but hours. Lots and lots of hours. So unless you want to make an organized pantry your life’s work (and let me just say I think that is a worthy goal), it’s okay to let your standards drop a little. It’s okay have a partly organized pantry.




2. “You can have it all, just not at the same time.”
This lesson comes from Tina Seelig, Stanford Business Professor and author of What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20. After saying the above, she goes on to quote two other very wise women:
“[There is no such thing as a balanced life, or perfection.] I’m adamantly opposed to a balanced life, because that’s back to perfection and I’ve already told you there is none. Then you are perfect so therefore you can’t possibly stay in this state. That’s not possible. There’s always going to be something that happens. You’ve got a big project at work, your kid’s sick, you’ve got to go home to your parents. I don’t know what it is, but something’s going to happen. What I’m saying is, learn first of all to consider balance over a longer period of time, and secondly, just catch it before it hits the floor. That’s all you really have to do. You know, if you haven’t been home for a while, go home, and don’t think about work when you’re there. If you didn’t study for one subject, get on it.” –Carol Barts.
“You’re work life is really long, and your kids are little for really only a short time” –Sandra de O'Connor.




3. There is satisfaction in simplicity.


This comes from a talk from someone in my church, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, that really captured my attention: “It’s rather easy to be busy…. [When some people] unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives….Leonardo Divinci is quoted as saying, ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.’”




4. “Spend the most time on things that are important, even if they are not urgent.”


This one comes from the immortal Steven Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:“Remember your own priorities rather than imposing unrealistic social scripts on yourself…I see many parents, particularly mothers with small children often frustrated in their desire to accomplish a lot because all they seem to do is meet the needs of little children all day. Remember, frustration is a function of our expectations, and our expectations are often a reflection of the social mirror rather than our own values and priorities.”






So...
It has been almost 8 years now that I’ve been pursuing balance. And I do feel like I have tasted it on some days. But the problem is, balance arrives unexpectedly, and then it leaves just as suddenly and unexpectedly as it came.
So I’ve come to a point in this new year where I think I will continue to work on balance in the back of my mind. But in the front and center I am going to work on something different. I feel like it’s time to leave the frantic feeling behind and get serious about living life for the moment. And I have a hunch that maybe, while I am so busy worrying less about balance, I will find balance more often. Do you think it will work?

Don't you think those are great words of advice?! They really struck a chord with me. So, here are a few of the funny things the kids have said:

Danny and I woke up in the morning and while lying in bed could hear Alex and Tristan talking. This was the conversation-

Tristan - "You're so stinky Alex!"

Alex- "I'm not stinky."

Tristan- "Yes, you are stinky. Why are you always stinky Alex?"

Alex- "I'm stinky for you, Tristan!"

On the way to that animal shelter to look for Kittle Litty (who has since returned) Tristan said, "Let's pretend we're on the way to my school." "Okay," I said. This is what Tristan said next, and I think it reveals too much about my life- "Oh no! Hurry! We're going to be late!!!"

Alaina was wearing a Spiderman costume with a big muscle chest. She kept saying over and over, "My chest is big like yours, Mommy!" Later, while wearing a princess costume, she said in a very sad voice, "My chest isn't big like yours, Mommy." I just hope they never invent princess costumes with built-in chests!

Tristan and Alaina at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Alaina says, "I'm Dora. You're Diego, Tristan."

"No!" says Tristan vehemently. "I'm Dora!"

"No! I'm Dora, Tristan. You're Diego!"

Then Tristan hit upon the perfect solution. In a very calm voice he told Alaina, "You're Dora. But I'm the Snow Princess."

Mommy, this is for you. I think Alaina was looking for Alex and couldn't find him. She looked at me and asked, "Is Alex in Wonderland?" If I ever write a book about living with Alex, that will be the title. Alex in Wonderland. It sure explains a lot!