Unplugged

Last night I did it, I called and cancelled our Directv. Do my kids know any other life than one with 100's of channels to choose from and a plethora of shows recorded on our DVR to be watched over and over again whenever they want. NO. Have they even cared this morning, no not really. After some careful consideration we realized that we could get 2 movies from redbox every night for the entire month and still not come very close to what we were spending on satellite TV. It was also really becoming a crutch to me. "Here sit here and watch a show, while I get something done" I have said that more times than I want to admit. So here we embark on a journey of no satellite television, its not like they wont be able to watch TV cause we will still have all the local channels with our trusty digital tuner. I'm really hopeful that we become a family that spends way less time in front of the tube and more time outside, reading, being creative, and doing other things that don't involve the television. I will let you know how we adapt to this major change for our family.

Piggy Tails

FINALLY!!! Abbie's hair is long enough to do something with other than just putting gel in to make the curls last longer. She sat and watched TV while I played with her hair last weekend and I got these two tiny pig tails in her hair. Hope her hair will finally start growing long, and stay so curly.

Note to self....

DO NOT CUT YOUR OWN KIDS HAIR!!! Especially when you have a very talented hairdresser in the family, that is always willing to cut yours or your kids hair. This is the after picture, AFTER Maren had saved my disaster.
I saved him the future humiliation of taking a before picture that would have eventually surfaced in some sort of remember when video. There are many things that I am good at, or so I am told. But cutting hair is definitely NOT one of those things. It is one thing I would be better off leaving to a profession who knows what they are doing. It would be different if this were the first time that Maren had had to save Ashton from a "mommy cut" but hopefully it will be the last. Thanks a million Maren (especially for not laughing to my face at how bad his hair looked.)

Going Private

I have decided that I am going private. There are just too many hits from foreign countries and places that I don't recognize as somebody that I know. So on February 1, 2010 I am going private. If you want to keep up on what we are doing, and I really want everyone to, please email me or contact me through facebook so I can add you to the list.

New Year

I can't say that I am sad to sees 2009 gone. It was a hard year for our family in so many ways. In the past I haven't looked forward to the coming year with as much hope for the future as I am this year. But things (hopefully) can only get better. The one quote that keeps coming to my mind is "Come what may, and love it!" from Elder Wirthlin's talk from conference October 2008. Hopefully there will be many things to love in the coming year!!

I found this quote on another blog and it really made me think about how it applies to my life and how I can improve upon what I have been given each day to receive more the next.
President Brigham Young said that the Lord “gives a little to his humble followers today, and if they improve upon it, tomorrow he will give them a little more, and the next day a little more. He does not add to that which they do not improve upon” (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1941], 90

With the Lord's help I CAN improve. I just need to be still enough to listen, humble enough to accept, strong enough to do what He asks of me.

Holiday Fun

We had a great Christmas and enjoyed getting to spend time with family and friends. It was especially good because Jake got most of the week off to be home with us. (Hopefully he will be coming back to a job in the Salt Lake Valley soon.) The kids got lots of presents and are happily playing with them, almost to the point of forgoing food and sleep. Guess thats a good thing though, it means they got what they wanted. We have been abundantly blessed this year, we love all of our family and friends and hope that the coming year brings much love, happiness and well being.

Look at those two kids!!

I had the idea of posting our wedding announcement picture and the one that we just had taken together the first time that I saw the new pic. It has just taken me a while to dig out the old one and get it scanned into the computer so I could. When I look at the old picture I really see two kids I can't believe that we have been married for 13 and 1/2 years...

Vernal

My whole family (well except Rhett's family in Texas, wish you could have come) went to Vernal on Saturday to decorate Trisha's grave for Christmas. It was freezing cold, so cold that the kids didn't even want to decorate the little tree. But it was good to go as a family and do it together. Then we went to both my Grandparents houses to visit. My Grandma T made wonderful homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls for us and it was good to visit with them. She gave me the recipe for the rolls and I am going to try and attempt them for my family. (I'll let you know how that turns out)

This is what happens when you let Jake help...

We decorated a gingerbread house last night for FHE, this was the first time I can remember that Jake has been home to help with the decorating (we usually do this during the day when he is at work, can you imagine why?) Even though everyone was a total mess we had a great time. I don't think that I will ever forger this night. And I don't know what that is on Jake I think it might be frosting on the lens of the camera!!! But as you can see we did get the house decorated, even Abbie helped, it was really cute. Sometimes she used frosting as the glue and sometime she sucked on the candy then put it on the house. And she put every piece on the one side of the roof. No one is going to be eating this house..

Family Pics--a got a copy!!

I have a digital copy of our family picture that I can post FINALLY. I would have had them sooner if I had gotten my act together and ordered my pictures sooner. Anyway here are some others we took that day. I will be posting more on my other site later when I get the whole shoot on disk, these are the ones that we ordered but there were so many cute ones that I will put them up when I have them.