This Snow Storm Has Left Me Husband-Less

When I heard about this snowstorm about a week and a half ago I was excited about the chance to play in snow. We really looked forward to it and the first couple of days that it snowed we were so excited and loved every second of it.

The girls played with playdough and decided to make a nativity with Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, A manger, A Star, Three Wise Men, Gifts and an Angel. They also played games and put together puzzles.

It is not so much fun now.

On Saturday night my lights started to flicker so I knew I was in for a cold night if my power went out. At that time I was on the phone with my sister and she told me that her husband will come to pick us up because if the power went out I would be warmer there and they had propane heaters for us to keep warm. Well, my nights stay became two nights stay and it would have been three nights, but Paul was able to drive me home because he just bought snow tires for his car. THANK YOU! We had a great time at Heathers house but I was really dumb before I left my home and did not turn on my heater for my pets. I had Teddy locked in the bathroom and our cat was left to roam the house. Once Mitchell heard that I did not leave the heater on he sent one of our neighbors to break into our house to turn it on and my house was 38 degrees!!!!!!!! OH MY! I could have done some major damage, but luckily my pets are still alive, including the fish (we were picturing a frozen fish like in Horton Hears A Who), and my pipes did not freeze. WHEW!

We have had so many things canceled due to this weeks storm including:

School for an entire week
The girls school parties (this made me happy because I was in charge of Lindsays and it is very stressful to do)
Ashley's Fieldtrip
The girls piano lessons
Our Work Party
Our Ward Christmas Party
Enrichment Night
Church
Christmas Ships (It was not canceled but I could not drive to them because it was so icy)
there may be more but the biggest one was my husbands flight home from California!!!!! All planes were canceled yesterday and mostly today. So, I get to trudge out in this snow and drive to California all by myself. Tomorrow looks like my best shot so we shall see what happens.


I know that these pictures are nothing like you get in Utah but this storm has shut down the city due to the ice that has formed becuase of the cold. I pray that I will be able to get to my sunny destination soon!

Now to go figure out how to put on snow tires. Oh how fun that one will be!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

My ANGELS want to show you something..........it SNOWED in Oregon! YIPPEE. I love the snow but only to a point. There is a huge difference between snow in Oregon and snow in Utah. We had about an inch and church was cancelled mainly due to very icy roads. We have a lot of the families in our ward live in the mountains and it would not be fun to drive in the bad weather.

We are bracing for a cold week. Last night the wind chill got down to 5 degrees which is not something that I am used to but it is fun to remind myself why I do not live in Utah anymore. :)

School was canceled today due to the icy road conditions so the girls had a blast sledding, having snow ball fights and just playing in the snow.

It is beginning to feel a little bit more like Christmas is right around the corner!

Gift to Jesus Tag - Thanks Tiffani

What gift can I give you for Christmas this year?

What gift can I give to bring love and good cheer?

What gift can I give you to tell you I care,

A gift you’ll remember, a gift we can share?

The gift that I’ll give can’t be bought in a store,

It doesn’t cost money—it’s worth much, much more!

The gift that I’ll give doesn’t come from a shelf.

The gift that I’ll give is a gift of myself!

The gift of charity, the pure love of Christ.

The best gift that we can give this holiday season.

Tag Rules:
1.) Post this tag on your blog.
2.) Between now and Christmas do a secret service for someone in need.
3.) Tag everyone!!

A Writer and a Performer

November is NaNoWriMo which means National Novel Writing Month. Lindsay's teacher challenged all of her students to write their own novel. Each of the students set a goal as to how many words their novel would be and Lindsay set the impressive goal of 7500 words which was the second highest for the whole school.

I am happy to say that she completed her novel, "The Haunted House" and passed her goal by 55 words!

(Lindsay's teacher, Mrs. Kinion is in pink alongside Mr. Corliss, the Principal and a lady from the School Board)

Last week the school had an awards assembly where they gave out pins and certificates for all of the participants. Great job Lindsay, we are so proud of your accomplishment. YOU DID IT!
Last night we had the honor of watching a performance at the girls school by the 1st and 2nd Graders. They learned songs about manners. Ashley was able to be one of the main parts where she had a couple of skits with her friends. She was pretty nervous, but did a great job.

Whenever my brother Jared is involved he is sure to do something silly. He stood up waving at Ashley for the first couple of minutes, just to embarrass her. I actually think she kinda liked it since she did not complain. Thanks for coming Jared, Danielle, Heather and Paul and Family! It truly meant a lot to her and it always makes things an adventure.
Below the kids learned sign language to one of their songs. I had Ashley sing it over and over until she got sick of it because I liked it so much.

Here Ashley is able to perform her skit with her friend.

I am so proud of my girls. They are growing up to become their own individuals with different likes and aspirations in life. I can not wait to see what the next 20 years hold in store for them.

The Countdown has Begun

December is my favorite time of the year. I love everything about it. I love the sights, smells, and the sounds and for this reason I get my Christmas Season started the day after Thanksgiving where bring out the Christmas music, put up the Christmas Tree and set out all of the decorations.

My girls had a great time putting up the tree.

I love my manger scene. My parents had this when I was growing up and I remember wanting to be the one to set it up on the piano. I am so glad that my Mom gave it to me because it brings back a lot of childhood memories.

Last year I made a Christmas Countdown for my girls. I thought it would be a lot of fun to put something other than candy on it so I decided to do something different this year. I attatched notes that say something like "Open one family gift from under the Christmas Tree" or "Tonight we will go as a family to The Forgotten Carols" or "Tonight we will go and see Christmas Lights as a Family". It has been so much fun. Today they were able to open a gift from under the tree.

We are really trying to focus on the true meaning of Christmas this year. We want to teach our girls the importance of Christ's Birth and the importance of serving one another. Mitchell has such a big heart. He noticed that some people in our ward were struggling and would not have Christmas Trees this year so he thought that it would be a fun service project to pick up trees for those that might need them and have the Young Men in our ward deliver them.

I was able to go to a Christmas Tree farm and choose the trees.

(This was my favorite one. It was so full and beautiful.)

The guy who owned the farm was curious as to why we needed so many trees, 6 in all, so I told him what we were doing and he was really impressed. He wanted to help so he got out his chain saw and cut the trees down himself (usually you have to cut down your own and that would have taken forever so we were truly thankful). I am so glad that he was able to help the six families to feel a little bit of the Christmas Spirit this year and I know they were so grateful.

The words of Ralph Waldo Emerson seemed to acquire a new depth of meaning: “Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself.”