Anxiously waiting....at 8/7 central!

Finally, our trip to Oregon for Christmas!!!

If you have been anxiously awaiting our Christmas Trip to Oregon slide show, click here and you will be taken to the entry and slide show. (I know about 3 if you are on pins and needles...) If not, here are a few photo highlights...

Prophet, Seer, Revelator

We received the news last night with a phone call from my friend, Marty. I had just come from a Stake Primary Meeting and no one there had yet heard that the President of our church, our Prophet, had passed away during our meeting time. We as a family feel so grateful for our knowledge of the Plan of our Heavenly Father and imagined last night the sweet reunion of President Hinckley with his lovely wife, Marjorie. We feel it a privilege to have been taught by him as he shared his testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a spirit of tenderness, kindness, good cheer, and eternal optimism.

Dabbling...

...in digital scrapbooking. I am getting new software for my birthday so now I have been "making do" to create what I want, it is just harder and trickier because what I have been using is not as nimble or flexible so it takes a lot longer. I have done 12 layouts for calendar for some Christmas gifts with my sister, a little on my blog and for my sisters' blogs, just a little here and there. I really like this one I did today. I am going to put it in a frame to send to work with daddy...

Edited to add: I think Lindsay looks so much like my mom in this photograph - she has my mom's nose and my mom was notorious for a small, barely there smile in pictures.

Our 3 Day Holiday Weekend

We Like to call this "Child Labor Law Violation" at its finest.

Actually, they had a lot of fun helping Mommy and Daddy (for a little while anyway) dig out our front shrub bed...until they got preoccupied with earth worms. They don't dig in the dirt much so it was kind of a novelty for them. Here's the deal with the front yard. We moved in 5 1/2 years ago and had a desert landscape we hated. So, after much thought and next to no research, we decided to rip it all out and put in grass. We had these huge beautiful ficus trees and built our front lawn around the tree and decided to put in a shrub bed along the driveway. We didn't know at all what we were doing when we started the whole project but soon were skilled in sprinkler system installation and laying sod!
But the last couple years of dealing with the dang Lantana we put in the shrub bed really got to us. They grow LIKE CRAZY and require constant trimming. And, if we get a cold day or two, they FREEZE into very ugly skeletons of their former selves. They attract bees and wasps so we were always having to get rid of a wasp nest. These tiny white flies live in them and often swarm in clouds. Yuck. We had had enough. So we came up with a new plan, again, we didn't know what we were doing, but decided to rip out all the shrubs and replace it with a flagstone pathway along the driveway and leave a tiny border for a small, tight, SLOW growing annual of some sort. (My friend and her husband are Landscape architects and she has some good ideas of what to choose - she is taking me to her wholesale nursery this week!) We knew we would have to dig out down a couple inches and grade and level it and figure out a map of our dripper lines so we didn't accidentally cut one. I said to Steve, as I knew we were nearing the source of some of those lines "we better grab a small trowel - we are getting close." "Yeah, you are right...HOLY CRAP!" And he hit a PVC sprinkler line with his next shovel dig and we were treated to a geyser shower! So, that repair took 3 hours out of our day (well, we cleaned the garage while the PVC cement cured) and we had to adjourn until Monday.
So we broke out the fire pit Steve got for Christmas. He admits he was skeptical at first - he actually wanted to take it back but I kept explaining that it really was a gift for the whole family to enjoy. So we assembled it and got to work figuring out how to build a fire. You see, for some reason, Steve is never the one asked at a ward campout to get the big bond fire going! He had bought a bundle of wood so we at least had a start. The girls were anxiously waiting so we could do what you do with a backyard fire pit - roast marshmallows and make s'mores! We actually had so much fun, trying to keep the fire going - we eventually did - discussing the finer points of roasting marshmallows. Now I think our back patio is screaming for some real patio furniture but I want furniture INSIDE the house, oh, what to do, what to do...

We also had a very lovely, age appropriate discussion, led mostly by Lindsay, about Martin Luther King Jr. and what he did and why we memorialize him this month. She told us what she had learned at school about him - that he made the world a better place by bring white and black people together. So I then decided it was time for some real world application. I asked Lindsay about some of her friends (Lizzie, Zyan, Ron, Nicholas) from school and our neighborhood and if they would have been able to be her friends if we had lived in certain places during segregation. She thought about it and it made her very sad that the play dates she loves and the girls she plays at recess with may not have been her friends 50 years ago. She then remembered how she had learned that some kids didn't get nice new schools or have books in a library or desks that weren't falling apart and she was grateful for MLK Jr. and all he did to lead the fight for civil rights.

So Monday we got to work again on our little yard project. The girls got invited to go and see a movie with a friend so Steve and I were able to work on it. We ended up that day going to two stone yards to find a color of flagstone that was sold by the pound and I liked the color that wasn't sold by the 2 ton pallet. (We ended up buying about 500 lbs .) We found a stone we liked, got it home and realized...we needed something under all this stone...so I went back with two Rubbermaid tubs to buy sand. Steve stayed and got some other work done and sent me, the preggo one, to buy 400 lbs of sand! Always play the pregnancy card - then you get a cute guy at the stone yard to shovel it and load it up for you! (I think Steve had an idea this would happen....that is why he sent me, well, maybe not the cute guy part...) Caroline was funny - as we started to level out the area with the sand, she said "This stuff is just like beach dirt!" Girl needs to get to the beach more often to play in the sand! So, here is our work in progress. We got about 1/2 the stones down before it got dark. It will wait until Saturday to be finished. Crossing our fingers that it works out and looks good!

I'm Thinking About This for my new Diaper Bag...

Update - OK - now I am thinking this one! Same bag style but patchwork instead and I am in love. And I am not usually an obsessive purse girl! It is my birthday tomorrow, I think I will take care of ordering it!

Super cute, right? It is handmade by a seller in Etsy from South Jordan, Utah and all her bags are darling! They are priced well for the work I KNOW it takes to make one. I just don't have it in me to come up with a bag. But I totally dig this one. It has 5 interior pockets, multi-layers of interior facings and fleece to make a stable, sturdy, yet soft bag. And she will make a "quick trip diaper and wipe" bag to match. Check out Janie and Clutterbags on Etsy.

100th Day of School! (And some cute puppies)

Update - Lindsay brought home some of her classwork from the 100th day of school - we all got a kick out of her illustrations and answers on the "100" list. We all took turns answering - it was a fun little game. For the record, Daddy would save his $100 for a new TV. Mommy would eat 100 Whoppers Candies, and Caroline would like 100 Tinkerbell things. (I think she is already there.) We do love Lindsay's self portrait at 100, complete with a wheel chair and cane and rain and sunshine.

Lindsay's 100 List!
I can eat 100: ice cream sckoopss
I would not want: 100 Ovucotoh (avocado)
I wish I had 100: Swing setts
I could never eat 100: sweet chairies
I can make 100: cookies
If I had $100.00 I would buy: pritty, fancy cloas (clothes)
In 100 years I hope that I can: fly

Today is the 100th day of school and apparently this is an opportunity to celebrate. I don't remember this being a big deal when I was a kid but it is now. (I guess the administration has all kinds of 100 day reports as well so there is some official business.)

This year Lindsay was asked to bring 100 snacks in a bag. She chose sour gummy lifesavers. I would have taken a picture of her counting them out but I was too busy doing her "100 day hair." (Not required but still fun!) Last year, we put 100 hair ribbons in her hair and it was a big hit. She wanted something different this year so she asked for 100 ponies. That takes a little while. She was up before me - she came to me in bed and said "Mommy - get up - we have a lot to do this morning!" This hairstyle is a variation of one she and Aunt Shelly do on each other when they are together. Though I doubt even Shelly has ever done 100 ponies!
Here is her picture from last year - she was supposed to bring a collection of 100 things (in addition to the 100 snack items - she chose Cheetos) in some sort of display - she wanted to do pennies in the shape of 100 on a poster (not terribly original) but a lot of our pennies were icky and not at all shiny so we googled how to polish pennies and the most fun Kindergarten way to do it was with Ketchup. So we polished and it smelled kinda yuck - the metal of the pennies, the acidic tomato ketchup, yeah, kinda yuck. But it was fun!

My Dad and Debbie have 3 dogs - about a year old Miniature Dachshunds and they just bred Chloe, the oldest. The 6 puppies were born last week and we got to go and see them last night. (We were supposed to see them Monday night for Family Night but another case of me being the meanest mom in the world - they didn't get a couple of certain chores done in the alloted time so we canceled for the night and went Tuesday instead.) They are darling and tiny - the girls love them. It really is too bad their mama is not a dog person because there is not a chance at all we are bringing one home. Anyone interested? I think they still have 3 that are not already purchased/committed to families.

Christmas in Oregon 2007

The song...Caroline's Favorite Christmas song, of course! (Click on the box to minimize the song image from the slide show.)

Highlights of our trip to Oregon:
*Flying out on Christmas Eve - not too busy!
*Chinese Food Take-Out for Christmas Eve dinner, a family tradition!
*Aunt Shelly's Christmas House...6 trees and villages EVERYWHERE! (The girls only broke one ornament.)
*Santa hiding a few gifts in the various trees around the house
*Christmas Morning Brunch...a family favorite
*SNOW on Christmas day! (Not Utah snow but enough to play for a bit!)
*Favorite gifts for the girls included: jewelry boxes, Tinkerbell wings, Belle Christmas dress, Tink and Belle Dolls, Hannah Montana T-shirt, Remote control car, tons of art project stuff and a Tinkerbell backback! (Oh, and so many more...)
*Trip to the Oregon Coast beach front rental house
*Hot cocoa with breakfast
*Frigid walks on the beach
*Hot Tubbing at night
*Caroline's bonus Birthday party at the beach
*Trip to Oregon Coast Aquarium
*Visit to the Pitock Mansion that was decorated for Christmas in story book themes. Favorites? Of course Beauty and the Beast and Tinkerbell!
*Several games of Skiball on Aunt Shelly and Uncle Joe's "vintage" relic in the garage rescued from a Chuck- E. Cheese that was being remodeled.
*Visit with Aunt Marsha
*The girls performing a show and opening their own "Tatoo Parlor" (seriously - they made a menu board with their selection of drawings they would apply to arms and feet with markers) the night before we went home.
*Lunch at Burgerville (YUM!) with Adi, Lee, Emma, and Tenley

Christmas Eve "Eve"

The girls were so beautiful for church the Sunday before Christmas. They were asked to sing with a small group of children (8 or so) as the opening number for the Choir's Christmas presentation. Caroline joined the group near the end - she insisted on staying for the last practice day when we dropped Lindsay off so Julie said she was welcome to join in. She sang both verses of the song just as if she had been to several practices like Lindsay. Lindsay has a higher voice, Caroline's is lower - they are so darling when they sing together. Nothing fancy, probably no vocal careers in their future, but they were excited to be a part of such a special day.

Christmas Eve "Eve" with The McGuire's, The Simpson's, and The Ashton's

Since we were leaving for Oregon Christmas Eve Morning, we spent Christmas Eve "Eve" with Molly's family, my Dad, and Debbie. Molly hosted a beautiful and delicious Roast Beef Dinner - oh my gosh - our family can make some great holiday meals if I do say so myself! No plastic molded ham, bag-o-salad, or instant mashed potatoes for us! You could practically smell the garlic from the Roast down the street. Molly has some beautiful holiday place settings and it is always a treat to be able to use them. A little something sparkle-y to drink...you had to roll us from the table. Molly asked me to make a Trifle for dessert - it was light and delicious after we were thru opening gifts.

The girls had so much fun with their cousins opening gifts and afterwards, playing int he mountains of gift wrap and tissue and ribbons. (They called it "Snow.") Lindsay was thrilled with the Polly Pocket sets she got from Grandpa and Debbie. (Mommy is not a fan - we all laughed about it - most parts get eaten by the vacuum - but she loves it!) Caroline is really enjoying her Ponyville play set as well. Molly made huge fluffy tutus for the girls - purple for Lindsay, blue for Caroline. Steve & I are very grateful for the emergency radio and pressure canner - helping towards our goals of emergency preparedness and my continuing interest in home canning. Tons of fun movies and we are good to go for a while! Debbie has a tradition of giving each family member a personalized ornament - it is a darling tradition. We (Molly and I) made several members of our family a personalized calendar. We decided to do a photo shoot last June in Colorado when we were visiting Meghan and knew we would use the pictures for Christmas gifts some how. We settled on the calendar and quickly ramped up our digital scrapbooking skills to make a really lovely calendar.

We like a UPS Christmas (Though not as much as we love being with Grandma & Grandpa Simpson)

We had so much fun opening our big package that came from Grandma & Grandpa Simpson. Caroline obviously had fun in the box of peanuts! Each of the girls received games, books, and a darling dress - they loved them - the skirts have a fluffy tulle layer which makes them super fun to wear. We always appreciate the thoughtful gifts from Steve's family. I think we have spent 6 out of 10 years with Steve's family - it almost feels weird not to go. So this year we had to celebrate our little Simpson Family Christmas without them.

We took pictures in the wrapping paper to make sure Grandma and Grandpa knew we made plenty of mess - just like usual! Thank you and we love you!

Santa's Workshop/Kitchen is officially closed!

I started this post right before Christmas when I has looking at my disaster of a kitchen and wondering what had happened. I took a quick inventory - 260+ homemade/handmade/hand assembled gifts/goodies/treats went thru my kitchen for the Holidays.

So, Since I almost have our Christmas trip entry done, here is a pre-Christmas one to make me feel like I have actually accomplished something.
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Last night, as Steve was very strategically using his entire 5'11" frame to hold down the sofa, he said something to the effect of "Whew - I can't wait for this to all be over!" Huh? OK, I gotta hand it to him for helping with the primary treat bags. The rest has been lots of moral support! Thank you Steve!! There will be at least one cheesecake left for you!!

I am not complaining - I really love all of it and thrive on the projects. Really, if it wasn't these treats and little gifts, it would be some other obsession.

Stick a fork in me, Jerry, I'm done!!! (Kramer - Seinfeld)

These cute 10 little bundles above have about 75 more friends. For our primary Christmas gift, we give each child a CD of all the music for 2008 and of course some candies. Our chorister's husband burned the CD;'s, one of my counselor labeled the CD's and stuffed the candy and Steve and I tied and tagged all the cellophane bags.

For our entire primary board - teachers, scout leaders, etc., we gave each a bag of yummy dipped pretzels made by one of my counselors and secretary. My other counselor and I packed them - tying the bows, packing in holiday themed Chinese take-out containers. The big problem here? I bought these really pretty deep green and gold containers after Christmas last year cheap to use for this year. I bought 40. So I thought. Turns out either I can't count or they are tricky to count. We had 20! So I had to run out and buy more. Didn't love the holly print as much but it worked.

I decided to do a simpler version of my usual hand made card. Semi-handmade is what I called it this year! I made a digital collage photo with a pre-printed sentiment and still HAD to card stock mount it and tie it. I couldn't help myself. That is what I do! BUT this year it was not layers and layers of cutting and piecing - definitely a simplified version. A few years back I significantly simplified the envelope process with a spreadsheet and with Microsoft Word mail merge - printing the envelopes! I highly recommend this part.

Birthday Party treat bags . Cute, inexpensive Tinkerbell stuff from the Dollar Store. I assembled while I was at gymnastics with the girls. Multi-tasking...

Two Teacher gifts - I was at Target and in the Dollar Spot, they had the plastic popcorn containers that look like paper bags. I bought enough for each teacher's family, bundled up some microwave popcorn bags, added some movie theatre style boxes of candy and a gift card to Blockbuster.

Several years ago I started making caramels for my Christmas treats for friends and neighbors. I used Martha Stewart's recipe and for years, perfect caramels. Boxed perfectly, wrapped with a band of paper and a monogram style label. The last three years have yielded failures - too hard, too soft, buying new candy thermometers and everything! One year, I even sent Steve to the store for some jelly jars and I made "'Oops my caramels didn't set' sauce!" Years of perfect caramels...now this! So, trying to find something uniquely "me" I decided to call on one of my tried and true...Cheesecake. This year I went to Crate and Barrel and bought 6 mini spring form pans and now, I am making tons of mini cheesecakes! (OK, 38.) Who knew my "world/ward famous" recipe would yield exactly SIX 4 1/2 inch cheesecakes? I need to work on the packaging, I started simple this year with a clear plate and cellophane. Next year? 6 more pans to speed up the process and maybe the perfect box!!

Oh my gosh - are you kidding me?

Regarding hotel drinking glasses...we travel a lot and this thought has never crossed my mind! Other hotel creepy crawlies yes, this one, no. (Click on the title for the link...)

Thursday Dates

Or, "Fursday Dates" as Caroline calls it! I decided about a year ago that poor Caroline was really suffering from 2nd child syndrome, getting dragged here and there, to errands and appointments and just starring at the back of the headrest in the car and not getting enough quality time alone with Mommy. First children are lucky - moms make time for trips to the library, the zoo, the mall, the park, or just take time to blow bubbles together. Sure, I did these things with Caroline but WAY LESS OFTEN than when Lindsay was the only one.

So, I decided that once a week I was going to be a decent mom to Caroline and the "Thursday Date" was born and we stick to it most weeks. She is in AM preschool Tues/Thurs and we go on our date on Thursday after preschool and before we pick Lindsay up from school. We have fun planning things that will be fun date - dates have included:

*a lunch out that she gets to choose the restaurant
*a trip to the zoo (membership comes in handy)
*library story time (this we need to do more often)
*choose a mall and play and shop
*take a picnic to a park and watch ducks
*visit Daddy at work and have lunch

Today, I was thinking of how special of a time we have together. I was invited to lunch for friend's birthday celebration today (actually invited to two celebratory lunches today - how popular am I?!?) but had already committed to our Thursday Date. I gave Caroline the option of going to the lunch with Mama's friends and she said she would rather go to McDonald's with "just Mama." Not sure if it is the quality alone time with Mommy or the fact that she knew she had a better chance of getting chicken nuggets and french fries at McD's (probably the latter) but I like to think that maybe it is because she likes having alone Mommy time.

Today she had to have a cavity filled. We found out at her dental check up on Monday. I was nervous that it was going to be a big deal so I told her for Thursday Date we would first go to lunch where she wanted (chose McD's) and then go to the dentist and as soon as we were done at the dentist we would go to the Carousel Mall and get a treat and ride the carousel. (Each of the malls around here has a designated nick name by my kids - so much better than remembering it is "Superstition Springs Mall.") She did great at the dentist - we were in and out in 15 minutes, no numbing required and they said she was one of the most cooperative 4 year old patients they have ever had! So, Caroline was excited for 2 "Fursday Dates" in one day, before AND after the dentist.

It is always a lot of fun and I get to spend time doing meaningful/adventurous/fun/educational things with Caroline and feel less guilty about ignoring my kids for a couple of hours per week!

Why no Blog updates?

Simply this: Because I have been keeping a promise - my kids and I have been working on a lot of sorting and organizing and cleaning (we gutted and organized their room and they even learned to mop) after traveling and the holidays. We made a bargain that included no TV/Movies for the kids, no computer time for me. (Except for mission critical emails like planning a family reunion!)

So now that we are full swing into rolling out the new church year for primary, with our first activity day tomorrow, first Sunday of the new year with an *almost* full staff of teachers and preparing my Sharing Time lesson (and new year birthday treats and new teacher packets etc.), I am a little swamped. So, watch for a fabulous entry about our Super Duper fun Christmas vacation to Oregon sometime after Sunday at 4pm when it will all be over.

And for the poll? My super funny brother in law aside who says I write too much, thanks for the responses. I will be making my collages with no more than 4 pictures in a larger size, I will mix it up with full size photos as well.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

I finished "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"

I had a friend tell me she read this book in a weekend - couldn't put it down! I really enjoyed this book but had to take it in small doses - when I read I sometimes ignore my world around me (my children, cleaning my house, cooking dinner, etc.) so I kept this book in my purse and read it while waiting for the girls at gymnastics, waiting for Chinese take-out, that sort of thing. Finally, with a week on vacation in Oregon, with a few of those mornings spent waking up to the stormy surf of the Oregon Coast with a mug of cinnamon hot chocolate, I finally finished it. My grandma was watching me read it and asked if there was anything "bad" in it. (Sex, language, that sort of thing.) Not really I told her. It is mostly a story so heart wrenching that you can sympathize with every choice the characters make, whether you would agree with them or not. I found myself identifying with each of the characters in some way, I at times have felt like Nora, straddling two different worlds and social groups not sure which one I fit in to, I found myself identifying with Paul, wanting to disassociate myself from my parents during my teen years (though not too often!!) I found myself knowing I have had my Caroline moments, nurturing and encouraging, and even with David, who, made the difficult choice and kept the secret that sent these 4 people on paths that ultimately defined and scarred them for a lifetime. I found the resolution to be both beautiful however exasperating it was - but it really changed the whole tone of the novel for the last 30 pages or so.

Very well done. I understand it is being made into a movie next year.