today

LOL!! Happee Friday!! That is all.

sense of relief

They say "only a guilty man sleeps in prison". It's such a sense of "relief" I guess to not feel the stress I guess of running, and hiding and worrying. I don't know why but that saying has been going thru my mind the last couple of days. Not so much the prison part but the being able to sleep because of the "relief" that you feel. Many of you know I have to take Nyquil most of the time to get any kind of decent sleep thru the night. Well the last couple of nights I have slept like a baby and it has felt good!! I am SO relieved and can finally calm down a bit. Christmas shopping is DONE! We have everything set in order and finalized to move. AND Rob had yesterday off!I feel happy and light and ready for the next two days of Christmas excitement!! I love listening to the kids talk about presents, and Santa, and for some reason this morning China and whether there is a Chinese Santa or not. It's so funny feeling there excitement as they try and figure it all out.

 A few happenings;

 Each of our little babies have taken their turns with holiday sickness :( Is it bad that I love how cute and cuddely they are when they are sick?

Rob won these sexy jammies at work and thought it was hilarious.  I'm surprised he is still not wearing them!!

A really good friend of mine came by one night to share a little Christmas cheer with me. Her daughter took scissors to her own hair and chopped it.... the result.... an adorable pixie cut that is super cute :)

Our nephew Aaron had a "nerf gun war" birthday party. It was so cute. The kids (and adults) had a blast. And check out that cake Sharon made!! It is incredible!!

2025??!!

After Luke's Kindergarten Christmas program, the school district gave them these shirts that they had made for all the Kindergarteners. They also sent home a letter to the parents to remind us that it is never to early to start talking about the importance of high school graduation. I remember being in a Community council meeting earlier this year going over some statistics. One of which was showing where we lose kids is 8th and 9th grade. Everyone in the meeting was shocked and saying how sad that is. It made perfect sense to me. 8th and 9th are like the hardest years as far as figuring out who you are and who you wanna be. How cool to get them excited and focused on graduation at 6 years old! I love it. Fun fact: Rob and I  graduated in 2000, our oldest child will graduate exactly 25 years after us! So crazy to think about!!

I got what I wanted

Remember how I said all I kept praying for was "peace and strength"? I got it :) Well at lest the peace part. Yesterday was such a breeze. A breathe of fresh air if you will. We were busy but everything flowed so smoothly. We  went from one thing to the next with out a struggle and I felt well--at peace. With myself, with my surroundings, with everything. It was....nice.

Coco and I started the day off nice and early with our favorite little Annie. She had a friends and family dance recital to end the year and showcase what they have been working so hard on. Annie is my little babysitter and we all just LOVE her to pieces. When I see her and Coco together I could swear they were sisters, except for I am Coco's mom and know that they are not :) She is so great to my kids and so influential to my Coco. She is a wonderful, inspiring role model, not just for my kids, but also for me.

Next up was our Weaver temple day. This time we met for lunch at Lionhouse---yummmm, and did a session at Salt Lake Temple. We met up at 11:30 and were not headed out of the parking lot until about 4:00.To be able to fill the day like that with family, and good feelings was awesome. I forgot how BEAUTIFUL Salt lake is inside. Each room is prettier than the last. It's humongous to say the least, yet so comfy and cozy. I love it here. It's so nice to take a little time to get your heart, mind, and will set on the same path, in a straight line. Get some good perspective and re-evaluate your priorities. I think I even felt some of that strength I've been searching for creeping up on me :)

We finished the day off with a late-late showing of The Hobbit. Rob has been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for this. It was well worth the wait. It was great. I even loved it. Some friends we were with might not believe me....I kept having to wake myself up...BUT I want it noted I was not falling asleep because it was boring...I was just soooooooo tired! I absolutely loved it and keep replaying parts of it in my mind. The dwarf- king -guy, now there is some die hard, will and strength if I have ever seen some. Hmmmm...I should pin him on pinterest on my "people that I love" board...LOL!!

The real thing

This post needs to be sung, loudly, not read, enojoy :)

Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
Your heart is true your a pal and a confidant.

And if you through a party
Invited everyone you ever knew
You would see the biggest gift would be from me
And the card attached would say thank you for being a friend.

Love my girlies!! :):):)

My Strength

 This week has been sososo hard! My Dad taught us to suffer in silence. But this week I have not been able to hold back the tears. My prayers have been for two things; "peace and strength, peace and strength, peace and strength". That's all I want. Is that really too much to ask for? Part of what has been so hard is preparing for my final Relief Society activity (we are moving), which was our Christmas dinner last night. It is one of the most stressful, time consuming activities of the year anyway, on top of everything else that is happening right now in my life anyway, added with the fact that I wanted everything to be PERFECT, are all the perfect ingredients for a great anxiety attack. I made it thru the night with a smile on my face. It was honestly so hard. I have not had such bittersweet feelings since my mission. My love for people here is so great I feel like at some moment my heart will burst. Yet at the same time I am so looking forward to moving on with things and leaving certain things behind, I feel as if my heart will break. Does that make any sense?? I read somewhere once that "strong, great people come from strong, great families" I know that my strength, the little that I have has definitely come from my "strong, great" family. Especially this last little bit. I have felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. I feel as tho some people have these expectations of me, like strength, support and guidance. Sometimes it is just so overwhelming. I can't even begin to help others sometimes because I am need of someone to same me. Save me from myself. My craziness. My crazy, crazy emotions, wants and desires. I am sososososo lucky to have my family. They are so much more than a crutch. They are literally my strength.

I would not have made it through this particular night without these wonderful, wonderful girls there to support me. My mom, sister, mother-in law, sister-in-law and two nieces. Half of them probably didn't even realize how badly I needed them, but I did. And thank you to Sharon, Cyndi, and Linzi for singing it was beautiful. I love all of you special ladies so much!!

princess Eve

Our little friend Eve turned one on Sunday. She is such a little princess Coco and I decided to make her a princess outfit! Coco has now officially made her first tutu and she did great!!

 I got the crown idea from pinterest of course. You use lace and fabric stiffiner and whoa- la you have a legit royal crown. It is NOT as easy as it sounds so beware!! Everything on pinterest says how easy and quick it is. It is a process and MESSY, but I must say the results are rewarding. You can't tell from the pics but it is the cutest most delicate thing I (and Coco) have ever made.

 Her present was made complete by putting it in a black and white Paris box. Her room is so adorable, decorated all in black and white. So we knew it would match perfectly.

 Coco loves, loves, loves baby Eve. I think she thinks she is a doll to play with :)

 Eve even looks precious with cake all over her face!!

 They had a hot chocolate bar. Cutest idea ever!! The kids could not get enough marshmellows.

Jonah enjoying Daddy actually being with us at a birthday party! He usually has to work, but we love it when we get him all to ourselves!

play time

 For Rob's bday Shay and Rachel got us tickets for "The Christmas Carol" at Hale Center Theater. It was such a great play, so well done. Everyone in it was amazing. Once again hanging out with them was full of laughs. All thru dinner, the show, and in the parking lot. You guys freaking crack me up a wall LOL

Oh my these was so funny. Shay was slipping around the snow like he was Micheal Jackson dancing, Rachel and I look like stone cold killers, and Rob is well Rob.

GOODBYE NOVEMBER!

I'm not gonna lie (today, this second) November was a very, very hard month for me. It was emotionally draining and I had to deal with things I hate dealing with. My poor family got the brunt of my stress. I am so thankful to all of the many wonderful people I have in my life to lean on and who never give up on me and who are, well, just there. Inspite of all the chaos November also had some hands down very happy, memorable moments, here are a few.....

ARIZONA/BREAKING DAWN TRIP WHAAAT???

sound crazy?? so what?!!! This was sooooo fun! I literally laughed for four days straight and it was much much needed. April, Mari, Rachel, Amanda and I took off to AZ to meet up with my other two sisters Mindi and Cami (and Will) for a Twilight marathon and of course the much anticipated Breaking Dawn 2!!

Why do my fingers look like that??? hmmmmm

die hards lol

beautiful AZ view and beautiful April :)

tickets for our marathon yay!!

me and cams...I hate my face

Sushi lunch yummy

tired little sweethearts

so precious

ugh! I'm so mad this pic is so dark! Will took us to an amazing restaurant I wish you could so how cool it was! 

We hiked the Mormon trail (some of it) I love Arizona!!

Mindi is the mastermind behind all the Twilight stuff. It was such a blast.

This is the end of the night, we watched 5 movies together! If thats not love I don't what is. We are fam-i-ly!
BTW part 2 was AMAZING!




THANKSGIVING

Cami and Will were here for Thanksgiving. This was one of my favorite by far. We had our Turduckin and Will made his yummy lasagna. We laughed and played games, it was perfect. The next day we took Cami and Will to CityCreek , they didn't know what it was lol, and went to the temple to watch the lights get turned on. Just so you know there is no ceremony or anything, the lights literally just turn on lol. The day after that was Cami's bday we went to Tsunami and saw the new James Bond, whatever it is called. It was an absolutely perfect holiday. I love being with my family.



                                        JONAH IS ONE!!

 

My little Bubba is getting so old! It makes me so sad! He such a little cutie I want him to stay a baby forever. I've been promised that my children "will be a joy and a comfort" to me and as much as they drive me crazy they truly are my joy and are always, always there to comfort me. They are real sweethearts when they wanna be. Jonah has added so much to our family, I don't know where we would be with out him.

I also enjoyed our monthly Weaver temple trip. We went to Jordan River and Geckos for dinner afterwards. I wanted a picture, but once again my pphone is LAME! Anyway Rob had to work so I went without him. I love our temple nights and am so glad we do them. I really, really lucked out on the "inlaw" department. I love that I can confide in them and trust them. I love you guys!