My magnum opus...

Tuesday, January 27

I resolve to take more self-portraits doing things I enjoy.

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I am my worst critic (can you relate?) so I often talk myself away from what I enjoy the very most~ writing.

Some years ago I started writing a novel. Never do I feel more alive than when I am working on it. It feels me with such joy and is a testament to the fact that I am indeed a daughter of God, of divine nature, born to create.

As President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS church, explained at the last women's conference:

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The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.
Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.
Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.

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I know that this is true and yet so often I tell myself--whether the excuse be a lack of time, inspiration, or talent--that I cannot create. So my novel gets tucked away in my top drawer for months, even years at a time. Until those quiet moments of reflection when the spirit whispers to me, "Finish your book."

This has happened to me on several occasions as I have pondered and prayed about my life. "Finish your book." The counsel is clear, unmistakable, but even with this perfect, loving reassurance I let my self-doubt win.

"Why?" I wonder. "Why should I finish it? Who am I to think that I can write a book? And what does it matter anyway?"

And yet the promptings keep coming. "Finish your book. Finish your book."

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So this is where you'll find me in the coming months,

doing what I enjoy the most and...

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Finishing my book!

Talks, sick kids, and a broken garage...

Marlee got to speak in church yesterday, lucky girl. She spoke on gratitude and did a fantastic job. I was very impressed. Who knew she was that good at public speaking. After her talk Landon took Jamie home because she said she felt like she was going to throw up. Shortly after that Waylon started fussing that he also felt sick. He didn't look very good so I took him home to join Landon and Jamie.
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I then went back and taught my first lesson as an "official" relief society teacher. I love being the teaching for our times instructor because I love the conference talks and the women in my class make the best comments. I've already read next month's talk "Come to Zion" by Elder Christofferson. Wow, what a great talk! Really great food for thought. I can't wait to study it further.
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After church Rick and Landon went out to try and fix the garage door that Rick accidentally broke as we headed out that morning. Apparently he was staring at my legs instead of focusing on driving. What can you do when your husband of almost 19 years still loves your legs enough to get in an accident over them? You certainly can't get mad over a broken garage door I'll tell you that much. You just can't. Even if I do have to park outside in the cold now. It's worth it to know I'm so loved.
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Jamie and Waylon are still so, so sick. Rick and I were up all night with them and they're not doing well this morning either. Hope we don't pass this one around. So not fun.

a HAPPY birthday party...

Now this is what a birthday party should look like...

Happy crafts,

Happy pizza,

Happy games,

a very happy little girl,
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And a happy momma too.
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Everyone got along so nicely, they loved the games (especially dressing up to make a movie then watching it), and no party crashers! Only sweet little invited guests showed up this time. It was wonderful.

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Can you tell that I still haven't gotten over Jamie's party? Well I haven't. I'm quite traumatized. But more on that later.

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For now I will focus on my renewed faith in the joy of birthday parties.

Good times I tells ya, good times.

Birthday girl...

Today is Miss E's birthday

It started with a birthday breakfast

Then cotton candy treats for her class.
That's a box of happy birthday goodness right there.


Then after a meal of homemade fried chicken (a family favorite)
she ended the day by checking out her new loot.

And she was sooo happy (of course she always is).

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The cake and wishes part of her birthday will take place at a later date during her birthday party.

Happy birthday Woogs! We love you!

Remember I love you...

Tuesday January 13~

I resolve to take more self-portraits with people I love

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I love this picture of my dad and me. It is one of my all time favorite Christmas gifts. This picture combined with this weeks SPT challenge got me thinking about how priceless pictures taken with the ones we love become when the ones we love are no longer with us. So I decided to take this opportunity to snap an individual picture with all those I love so that when I'm 98 and getting ready to kick it out of here I can give these photos as special Christmas gifts to each one of my special gifts.

I hope they appreciate it because posting all of these pictures of my mug is rather unsettling. Unsettling indeed.

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Especially this late night beauty. Yikes. But I had to include it because what would a post about taking pictures with the ones I love be without the one I love the mostest in the whole wide world...

Man I love this guy!

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And I Love SPT too.

Without this challenge I would never have taken these pictures.

Thank you Lelly for helping me to become a documented part of my family's history.

Sun-kissed...

Rick and I both come from generations of Arizona natives and we love it. We love, love, love everything about Arizona especially the climate. Unfortunately though, that perfect sunny climate can come with a price. Premature aging (blah), dry skin and wrinkles (blah), and worst of all the dreaded, dun, dun, duh- SKIN CANCER. We have always known that it was just a matter of time before it caught one of us and caught it did. It came and bit Rick right in the back of the neck (my poor baby).

He had to get quite a chunk cut out of his neck today, but the good news is that the doctor doesn't think it is anything too serious and he should make a complete recovery.
But oh is he in pain and has to stay pretty hopped up on drugs for now (my poor baby).

To help ease his pain I got his sports channels turned back on today (we had switched to the basic cable package to save money-no sports in that package-my poor baby) and I dare say that watching the Suns game did indeed help a bit.
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So it looks like the time has come for us to keep a much more careful watch over our forever changing, forever aging Arizona skin.
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How 'bout you?
Have you checked your skin today?

Back to normal...

January's challenge as explained by Lelly:
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i love a new year. i love the chance to start over. and i know you do, too!! so, if you've been absent from spt, or if you haven't gotten up the nerve to link up, or if you are lurking and haven't yet picked up that camera, now is the time to come along! how about you make a resolution to join in the fun?
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tuesday, january 6 i resolve to take more self-portraits
tuesday, january 13 i resolve to take more self-portraits with people i love
tuesday, january 20 i resolve to take more self-portraits while trying new things
tuesday, january 27 i resolve to take more self-portraits doing things i enjoy.
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what have you got to lose? absolutely nothing!what have you got to gain? a whole lotta self-portraits! (and so much more...)
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This was a day


for getting

things back

to normal

and it feels so good.

Whew...

And so ends our two weeks of

PARTY-ING!!!

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I'm exhausted.

Christmas...

Our Christmas season started off with a trip to our mountain lot to fetch a tree. We learned two things on that trip
1. Trees growing wild on a mountain lot are not pretty triangularly perfect pointed picturesque things. They're kind of like big crazy bushes. And...
2. Trees growing wild on a mountain lot appear to be much smaller before you bring them indoors.

But it was a fun experience and we really love our ginormous crazy tree.
We have really been enjoying our Christmas holiday as you can tell by the fact that I haven't blogged in forever. We took a fun trip with all of Rick's family to the polar express (got pictures but didn't post), we went to Tucson for my family's annual Christmas party (so fun, love seeing my family), and we had our traditional go out for Chinese food Christmas eve dinner (last time for that tradition. Only one Chinese restaurant was opened and it was EXPENSIVE! It was a much easier tradition to have in the city. We'll have to come up with something new for next year.)
But Christmas morning was lovely.

We had action heroes...

Waylon loves "the Hook" (Hulk). He talks about him constantly. "Mom can the Hook pick up our house? What about our town? Can the Hook pick up our whole town? Can Superman beat up the Hook? Can all of the superheros together beat up the Hook? What if my dad was the Hook?" And on and on and on. So you can probably guess that he L-O-V-E-D his present.

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real live heroes...

My kids are amazing people and expressed such sincere gratitude for their gifts even though we had a much smaller Christmas this year. In fact they told us that we didn't have to get them anything at all. But of course I had to get them something and they loved everything they got, which is one of the many reasons I love, love, love them (they're messing around with some of the younger sibs' gifts in this picture).

favorite gifts...

Paige got a new doll for her doll collection (LOVED!) along with the surprise return of her beloved Sam the monkey, her favorite since she was itty bitty, which was believed to have been lost in the move, but was recently found and hidden away for Christmas. So fun.

more favorite gifts...

Jamie loved her soda and special "soda cup" more than the Heelys that Santa brought her. Of course that has since changed as she has been heard to say, and I quote, "I am addicted to Heelys."

and happy hearts.

Easton loved her heelys right from the get go. Of course even if she had gotten a lump of coal she would have exclaimed, "Woo-Hoo!" and gone out to use it as sidewalk chalk. She is a delightful child with a happy, grateful heart.

I on the other hand am a little more spoiled as I received all of these amazing gifts in my favorite shade of red. A teddy bear, a new dress, some shoes, a new KitchenAid, a Polaris Ranger, and a convertible Mercedes. Okay, well it is the thought that counts, which is exactly why Rick and I decided to save our money and give each other pictures of what we would have bought for each other if we could. It was fun and sweet and when you've already gotten the gift of the best guy ever, what else do you need?


I got Rick an xbox 360 and Fable II (my picture is not as nice as his, but I don't have access to all of that fancy smancy sign making equipment).
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It was a wonderful, wonderful Christmas and I thank my Savior for his continuous gifts to me. He is my joy, my hope and my peace. He makes my heart soar at a time when the world would tell me that it should break. What greater gift is there than that?
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I must also mention that my precious little guy turned 4 the week before Christmas. What a delight he has been to my life. What a gift. He makes me smile everyday and I am so thankful for him.


He wanted a doughnut cake for his birthday so we just piled them high on a plate. How fun is that? And easy too.

Happy Birthday Buddy-roo

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And a very Merry Christmas and

Happy New Year to all of you!

Comfort Food...

Tuesday December 16~ COMFORT

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Last night I walked into Basha's to buy some milk and was surprised by the hoards of people there. I was surprised again upon finding that the milk had been nearly cleaned out.

"Why are all of these people buying food?" A young boy asked his mother the same question that filled my mind.

"Because there is going to be a blizzard." His mom replied, "And that's what people do when there's going to be a blizzard, they buy food."

It was a bit eerie watching the food fly off of the shelves and I didn't very much enjoy standing in a long line for the few items I needed either. But I felt comfort knowing that I had a surplus of food at home if we should ever need it.

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With our troubled economy I have often thought of what I can and can't control in my life. I honestly don't know where we will be a year or two from now. I hope things don't get really bad, but I feel such comfort knowing that whatever happens my children will not go to bed with empty bellies because I have followed the counsel of a living prophet and have stored up a supply of food for the rainy (or blizzardy) days that may come in life.

Our food supply is still a work in progress. Right now I'm working on getting a three month supply of the foods we eat most and I'm also working on getting toiletries, cleaning supplies and such, but I'm comforted to know that even as it stands right now we are in pretty good shape and won't starve.

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But my greatest comfort of all comes from knowing that God lives and that he still leads and guides us through a prophet just as he did in times of old. I have a testimony of a living prophet and I know that if I follow his counsel I can find comfort in any storm.

This pantry had us at hello!

This is just a small corner of it. It's ginormous and was one of the greatest selling points in our decision to purchase this house.
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And P.S. We didn't have a blizzard (yet).

I see an angel...

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” ~Michelangelo

I heard this quote tonight and I loved it. It made me think of myself and my life. Though in many ways I am still a simple hunk of marble I know that if I keep carving away, working everyday to improve and grow, someday the angel, the daughter of God that I really am will be set free and I will soar.

Joy...

Tuesday December 9~ JOY

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As I listen to Christmas songs this season I am filled with immeasurable JOY.

When I hear songs about my Savior it's as if the heavens burst open, showering me with peace, hope and more JOY than I can express.

It feels at times like the whole world is falling down around me,

and yet I still have JOY.

JOY in Him

My Savior

My King.

Christmas ears...

Well I told Rick that I wanted plastic surgery for Christmas and his expression was a mixture of confusion and disgust when he asked me, "What are you talking about?"
I laughed and asked, "What do you think I'm talking about?"
He said, "Well it sure as heck isn't your nose." He likes my nose.
So I said, "So what do you think it is?"
He then shot me a look that said, "No way am I walking into that one."
I mean just imagine if he would have said, "I guess you might want plastic surgery on A, B, or C."
To which I might reply, "Why would you think that I might want surgery on A, B, or C? Do you think I need surgery on A, B, or C? Oh my gosh! You don't like my A, B, or C!" Then there might be great weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. That is if I were the weeping and wailing type, which I'm not, but still you can see why a man might shy away from such subjects.
Rick then gave me the standard smart husband answer, shall we say it together on three--1,2,3-- "YOU DON'T NEED ANY PLASTIC SURGERY. YOU'RE PERFECT THE WAY YOU ARE."
You see a smart husband knows that a flattered wife is a happy wife so Rick makes it a point to compliment me quite regularly. What a guy.
I told him that yes I do need plastic surgery so he frowned and again asked me what I was talking about. I lifted my hair, wiggled my little earlobes and said, "I need to get these sewn."
Boy was he relieved, and very accommodating.
So it looks like I'm on my way to my first plastic surgery. Yippee skippy!

Plastic surgery for the winner...

I need plastic surgery. No, it's not what you're thinking although I could really use that too. I am speaking of my terribly stretched out (now what are you thinking?) pierced earlobes. A combination of the ridiculously heavy earrings of my eighties youth and the curious and quick hands of many a foster baby who grabbed hold of those ridiculously heavy earrings of my eighties youth while they were still attached to my poor little ears, has left me with ugly ear holes that are stretched almost clear through. I'm afraid that just one more bump or snag from Waylon and--RIP!--it'll be a flapping double earlobe for me (I apologize to the squeamish folks in the audience). Waylon accidentally snagged my right lobe tonight so you can thank him for this post.
So I'm thinking that I'll tell my Love that I want plastic surgery for Christmas.
Any guesses on what he'll think I'm referring to?
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Now onto a totally unrelated subject. I must announce that I can now say that I am a...

That's right I am finally a winner. Today while Christmas shopping for Marlee, artist extraordinaire, I found an awesome art supply store, bought some fabulous items that just happened to be on sale (bonus) and entered a daily raffle drawing. Well much to my surprise the owner called me tonight to tell me that I won. Yippee! So tomorrow I get to go choose a free item from the exciting raffle section of the store and give it to miss Easton, my other artist extraordinaire, for Christmas. A free Christmas present, SCORE!
It's great being a winner. And don't you worry, I promise not to forget those of you who knew me when...

Love...

December's SPT Challenges:

Tuesday, December 2~ love
Tuesday, December 9~ joy
Tuesday, December 16~ comfort
Tuesday, December 23~ joy
Tuesday, December 30~ hope

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LOVE

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I want to participate in SPT today, but I don't know how well I'll do. I want to share my thoughts on the wonderful subject of LOVE, but right now my heart is so full and so empty all at the same time so it makes it hard to sort my thoughts.

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Today we took a quick day trip to my beloved valley home, but today it wasn't fun.

Today we attended the funeral of a dear friend.

Today I saw and hugged her family, her family that I LOVE.

Today I saw and felt their strength and was touched by the LOVE they have for each other.

Today I went to the cemetery and watched this family say goodbye to the one they LOVE the most and my heart ached for them.

Today I visited my father's grave, my father who I LOVE, and remembered when I had to say goodbye to him.

Today I can still feel his LOVE, and can smile when I think of him.

I know that because of eternal LOVE our friends will smile again too.

But tonight...

Tonight it hurts.

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I didn't have it in me to take a self portrait this time, but here is a picture of some people that I LOVE.