For Christmas this year, Doug and the kids decided to give me a day out... isn't that cool? It is so fun to have Daughter-in- laws to help guide my darling husband in these directions! Yesterday was my day to spend with my cute daughters and do nothing but girl stuff. I have to say, I thought I have done stuff like this before, but turns out I have NEVER in my entire life had a girl day.
We went shopping for clothes, ( I haven't actually purchased clothes for myself since... well can't remember- thanks Mom for all your hand me downs, otherwise I'd be neked!) shoes, girl stuff, had a great lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, and the finale- pedicures all around!
It was fun to see the girls in thier own element away from the brothers, as this RARELY happens. It was fun to visit and giggle and I will admit- a time or two they actually embarrased me ( you know I am 42 years old and have never set foot in Victoria Secret!) As Amanda said last night when parting- if there were boundaries set before, they are gone now!
Thanks girls for the funnest day ever!! I can't wait until we can do it again! Having daughters is sooo cool!!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
The dry spell...
When we put the Orchard to rest for the winter I really felt like I didn't have anything to write about anymore. So I stopped writing- then one day when talking to a family member about this, she got after me and said," you need to write everyday!". I laughed and shrugged it off as nonsense, write everyday, come on, that is nuts, I couldn't possibly think of enough stuff to write about every day.
Then I really thought about it. My life matters- everyday! Even the little stuff matters and quite grateful for it frankly-after all if it was BIG stuff all the time that couldn't be good! I have resolved to look for something good to write about every day, not that I will actually write everyday, but looking for the good stuff along the way and sharing it with you all when I can.
Today's good stuff came from home and followed me to church. Kasey and Natti and Jaqai spent the night last night. We stayed up too late playing games, visiting, and laughing. So with my game night "hangover" I dragged myself and the kids to church. We had a new family in our ward that talked about truth, family and personal revelation! Now don't those things all go perfectly together? It was an amazing spiritual meeting and just what the soul needed! Of course it made me reflect on my own family and the season that brings us all together!
I think I might just make it through the week!
Then I really thought about it. My life matters- everyday! Even the little stuff matters and quite grateful for it frankly-after all if it was BIG stuff all the time that couldn't be good! I have resolved to look for something good to write about every day, not that I will actually write everyday, but looking for the good stuff along the way and sharing it with you all when I can.
Today's good stuff came from home and followed me to church. Kasey and Natti and Jaqai spent the night last night. We stayed up too late playing games, visiting, and laughing. So with my game night "hangover" I dragged myself and the kids to church. We had a new family in our ward that talked about truth, family and personal revelation! Now don't those things all go perfectly together? It was an amazing spiritual meeting and just what the soul needed! Of course it made me reflect on my own family and the season that brings us all together!
I think I might just make it through the week!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Remembering Christmas...
As the holiday season approached this year, I found myself starting to feel the anxiety creep up my spine. I was feeling stressed about the expense of the holiday, ( you know we are in a "recession" after all!) also feeling overwhelmed with all the "to do's" that the season brings. It was one of these days when we recieved in the mail an unexpected bill, followed by an unexpected and expensive car repair while sporting the flu ( just the regular kind, not the swine kind) that I thought I might just forget about the season and let the family fend for themselves. They are totally capable I am sure, if left on thier own, Christmas would still happen- right?
Last year we decided to start a new tradition of going on a sort of mini vacation with our kids the weekend before Christmas. We had so much fun doing it last year that we decided to do it again this year. Everyone was so excited... everyone but me, I was still feeling a bit hum buggy and felt the pressure of getting everything ready to go... was there enough food, snow gear, sleds for every one, enough clean skivies to get us through the weekend(remember... FLU) and now, how were we going to get there as we still had the car repair issue? I thought we could probably fit everything into Doug and Jordon's cars, but it would be tight with all the food and gear... oh and the people that we needed to get up the mountain!
Being the fix it person that I am ( secretly, I am feeling like I am the only one with these concerns so obviously I am the ONLY one who could possibly fix the problem!) I decided the truck would be a much better choice, we could split the "people" up between the two vehicles and throw the gear in the back. Problem solved.. just about... we hadn't taken the truck outside of Tooele County in a VERY long time. There was the issue of overheating on me the day before when picking up the kids from school, but we decided that the problem was fixed as we noticed that the poor thing was dehydrated! Nothing that a few gallons of antifreeze couldn't fix. So we loaded her up and off we went.. all the way to Auto Zone on a 1000 North! An old plug was leaking so we hurried a bought a new one and slapped it on and THEN off we went...ALL the way to Flying J in Lake Point! You would think at this point we would turn around and go get the dependable car.. OH NO.. not us, we were sure after one more gallon of antifreeze we definitely could make it now. When approaching Bountiful (destination- Wolf Creek, Ogden Canyon) we noticed that the gauge was getting up there again. We kept plugging away and watching the temperature as we went, after a bit we were able to keep it managed by turning the heat up full blast and rolling down the windows so we could breath. I am sure we were getting the looks on the freeway as it was a whopping 30 degrees outside!
The good news is that we made it. The bad news is, the truck was getting worse and couldn't bring us home. So here is where the Christmas Miriacle happened- we had sooo much fun! We were cooking together, playing games together, watching movies together, sledding together, laughing, teasing, and generally enjoying each other so much it hurt (literally- sledding is brutal at 40!) . I felt ashamed for all bad Christmas feelings I was having previously, my heart changed, you know like on the Grinch when his heart grows up! My heart grew up and thank heavens! Think of what I would have missed, skipping out on Christmas! I could'nt bear the thought of going through the whole season without feeling that sweet spirit that only our Saviour can offer. It was in the midst of these feelings when we had all gathered together, our last night there, to decide on what to do about getting us all home. We had just started our discussion when my sweet daughter-in-law suggested we pray about it, this was not a new concept as Doug and I had just had a private prayer in the truck when test driving it one last time, but it moved me so much my little family of faith- yeah that's what its all about friends- really, we were working together, with our Heavenly Father, to solve the problem. We didn't run out to the truck and have it all of sudden start running, it didn't even matter quite honestly, but the solution we all came up with worked and we eventually all got home safe and sound. So turns out that little Miss Fix It doesn't have to fix everything on her own, I am also pretty sure she doesn't have to even worry about everything on her own either!
I am so grateful for the lessons I am still able to learn, I am ever grateful for a gracious Father in Heaven who is patient, loving and kind and is still willing to teach me when I am continually making mistakes.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Last year we decided to start a new tradition of going on a sort of mini vacation with our kids the weekend before Christmas. We had so much fun doing it last year that we decided to do it again this year. Everyone was so excited... everyone but me, I was still feeling a bit hum buggy and felt the pressure of getting everything ready to go... was there enough food, snow gear, sleds for every one, enough clean skivies to get us through the weekend(remember... FLU) and now, how were we going to get there as we still had the car repair issue? I thought we could probably fit everything into Doug and Jordon's cars, but it would be tight with all the food and gear... oh and the people that we needed to get up the mountain!
Being the fix it person that I am ( secretly, I am feeling like I am the only one with these concerns so obviously I am the ONLY one who could possibly fix the problem!) I decided the truck would be a much better choice, we could split the "people" up between the two vehicles and throw the gear in the back. Problem solved.. just about... we hadn't taken the truck outside of Tooele County in a VERY long time. There was the issue of overheating on me the day before when picking up the kids from school, but we decided that the problem was fixed as we noticed that the poor thing was dehydrated! Nothing that a few gallons of antifreeze couldn't fix. So we loaded her up and off we went.. all the way to Auto Zone on a 1000 North! An old plug was leaking so we hurried a bought a new one and slapped it on and THEN off we went...ALL the way to Flying J in Lake Point! You would think at this point we would turn around and go get the dependable car.. OH NO.. not us, we were sure after one more gallon of antifreeze we definitely could make it now. When approaching Bountiful (destination- Wolf Creek, Ogden Canyon) we noticed that the gauge was getting up there again. We kept plugging away and watching the temperature as we went, after a bit we were able to keep it managed by turning the heat up full blast and rolling down the windows so we could breath. I am sure we were getting the looks on the freeway as it was a whopping 30 degrees outside!
The good news is that we made it. The bad news is, the truck was getting worse and couldn't bring us home. So here is where the Christmas Miriacle happened- we had sooo much fun! We were cooking together, playing games together, watching movies together, sledding together, laughing, teasing, and generally enjoying each other so much it hurt (literally- sledding is brutal at 40!) . I felt ashamed for all bad Christmas feelings I was having previously, my heart changed, you know like on the Grinch when his heart grows up! My heart grew up and thank heavens! Think of what I would have missed, skipping out on Christmas! I could'nt bear the thought of going through the whole season without feeling that sweet spirit that only our Saviour can offer. It was in the midst of these feelings when we had all gathered together, our last night there, to decide on what to do about getting us all home. We had just started our discussion when my sweet daughter-in-law suggested we pray about it, this was not a new concept as Doug and I had just had a private prayer in the truck when test driving it one last time, but it moved me so much my little family of faith- yeah that's what its all about friends- really, we were working together, with our Heavenly Father, to solve the problem. We didn't run out to the truck and have it all of sudden start running, it didn't even matter quite honestly, but the solution we all came up with worked and we eventually all got home safe and sound. So turns out that little Miss Fix It doesn't have to fix everything on her own, I am also pretty sure she doesn't have to even worry about everything on her own either!
I am so grateful for the lessons I am still able to learn, I am ever grateful for a gracious Father in Heaven who is patient, loving and kind and is still willing to teach me when I am continually making mistakes.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)