snow fun

I've been told the hat is dorky but it keeps me warm :) (and I am actually taller than both these two girls I don't know why I look so short;) )

We are so lucky to have an awesome playground right across the street from our house. We love it!

H playing in the imprint that S's car made when we dug it out :)

Brother demonstrating the snow slide!

2-4inches

that was our forecast...they were wrong.

Marylanders lie about the weather. Everyone told us "it NEVER snows here", then they say "well, last year it snowed a foot in March and school was closed in Jan and we had a white Christmas...but it doesn't stay" and the year before that....

We had a good day yesterday. Cleaned, played, watched movies.

Today we will have a family church meeting, play, watch movies, take a walk in the snow, make vegetable soup and this morning I succumbed and made pancakes:)

I am reading the cutest book "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" it is a sweet story, has clever writing, I am laughing out loud several times a chapter at a clever turn of phrase or funny saying, and I love the voice. Tori, you would love it.

snow

her only defense is to lay there like a slug....

our little work crew

"supervisor"

the whole gang headed out to sled..and the best part? Beloved took them and I am inside watching "Fiddler on the Roof"

Snow

We woke up to this...

it was not unexpected

it is a little unwelcome

Brrr!

yesterday all the moms huddled in a circle waiting for the bus

and for a full 10 minutes complained about the cold

it really was SO freakin cold

made me glad I wasn't a pioneer

how did they make it across the plains???

another problem with this weather...

it makes me want to cook up a delicious fluffy batch of pancakes

do you know how much trek training it takes to balance that??

too much:(

silver lining:

the kids are THRILLED

we went grocery shopping yesterday

I am reading not one but two delightful books,

so I won't be bored.

I am grateful for a warm house

a fire in the fire place

and no where to go today.

Family Math Night

We went to Family Math Night yesterday. It was really fun. We went from room to room and did different math games.

Here is the problem Brother was working on, that BTW he solved and I could not:

Foolish Farmer Logan gives his son Fred lollipops to get him to help around the farm. He needs his help to plant and tend the spring garden, so he's thought of this foolhardy plan:

"I'll give Fred one lollipop on the first day, and, for the other days, I'll give him as many lollipops as I've given on all the previous days plus one more."

How many lollipops will Foolish Farmer Logan give away on the 12th day?

Lu

This is one fun five year old. She loves to write and to be read to, she loves to scooter and ride her jeep, she loves "Max and Ruby" and playing with friends, she loves to help "took" in the "tichen".

She is still unable to sit through a movie or sacrament meeting without a lot of wiggles (but I am hoping that energy will be an asset to her as she grows) and has a very keen sense of "fair". She loves babies, real and doll and loves to play games.

She is a joy.

This morning I got to help in her class and to see her shine, very fun. This afternoon she has Julia over to play and they are calling me for a game of Pictureka! so I am off :)

we felt like Michalangelo

J has been wanting to do up her room so we finally got some paints and tape and went to town.

We bought a few colors and then mixed them to get lots of shades of blue.

It looks so awesome! I can't wait for the rest of the room to be done :)

American Patriot's Bible

For Christmas I got "the American Patriot's Bible" from my MIL. I have really been enjoying reading it and seeing how much the word of God really shaped the forming of our country and the ideals it is founded on. Many,probably most, of our founding fathers and many of our nations leaders through the years have been religious men who were really trying to do what's right and establish a country that would be under God's watchcare.

It's sad how far we have strayed.

I found these quotes so interesting.

My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!
Benjamin Rush

We recognize no sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus!
John Hancock and John Adams

In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength.
Robert E. Lee

A Bible and a newspaper in every house, a good school in every district- all studied and appreciated as they merit- are the principle support of virtue, morality and civil liberty.
Benjamin Franklin

Unless we form the habit of going to the Bible in bright moments as well as in trouble, we cannot fully respond to its consolations because we lack equilibrium between light and darkness.
Helen Keller

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more then those of the United States.
George Washington


These and many more interesting and inspiring quotes and thoughts are in this book and I am really enjoying reading it.

time flies

busy is the theme of our life
Thursday night we had our monthly night of ministry.
Thursday during the day Lu went to play at Julia's and Jeffrey came over to play with me:)
Friday was an off Friday. I took J to the doctor, we trek trained, washed the dog, did the grocery shopping for the week.
Friday night Beloved and I went to the temple. It was very nice. After we went out to dinner at Baja Fresh, one of my favs, with several of our friends; so yummy!
Saturday Beloved had to work. The kids had a primary activity in the morning, J and I spent 3 hours back tracking our expenses so we could make a good budget (yeah, that was fun), we painted J's room.
Today was church and we had the missionaries over for dinner. Tonight I had all the young women's class presidencies over for meetings, which went really well.

Not much exciting to write but busy with kids and sports and YW and running the house and ....

the party

after school we came home and decorated and vacuumed. Lucy's friends came over. We played lots of fun games.

opened up some cute presents. Ate cake and ice cream.

played together.

then after everyone left Lu gave Julia a ride home :)

It was a great birthday!!

celebration

We started celebrating by bringing in pink princess cupcakes to share with her classmates.

5 years old!!!

Today is the day she's been waiting for, 5 is such an exciting birthday!!! Yesterday we made her a cute little birthday outfit and went to the store to buy party stuff and today is the big day. My baby is 5!... can you really say you have a baby if she's already 5 years old?

Sunday it rained and we had lots of meetings after church, Beloved got a new calling (now we'll both be busy) and we got asked to be a "Ma and Pa" for the trek this summer. I am kind of excited, I love to be with the youth where ever they are and I've never trekked and it will be fun for us to do it together....but I am a fatty pants and will probably die along the way, at least then they can have the real life experience of burying someone on the plains. We are going to trek train...started today. S and I did a two mile walk/run ~heavy on the walk. I didn't die. at least not literally. If I do that every day until the trek I might be okay.

Yesterday was a busy fun MLK day. We thought about going to the zoo, instead we cleaned the garage. It really needed it and we made a good dent. I also visit taught, which was very fun. B2 ran some errands and little b got to see big B's office. S and H went to the mall. We did some grocery shopping. J did lots of homework. Had FHE.

Today I went to pre-K, it was my usual volunteer day. I got to paint their little feet and stamp them on paper to make snowmen out of. The kids giggled and had fun. Most of the feet were clean, so that was nice. Feet are not my fav, unless they are baby toes.

and on that note: look how purplicious pumpkin face is!!!

living the dream

New bike, good friend, jeep, dog...warm day to take a walk.

checking the mail.

the big girls played tennis this morning, now they are heading off to the pool (indoor), H went to a birthday party, Brother has a soccer game then a party, tonight S has to work, J will baby sit and Beloved and I are going on a date.

I love Saturdays that are play days.

a little patience

For Christmas H got money to get a new bike. She was so excited. We went to the store and they were out of the one she wanted, she was sorely tempted to get one "right now!" but waited and we checked back and checked back.
Finally today was the day, the long dreamed of purple bike was there and we were there and we got it!!! Yeah!!!!!

Also Lu has wanted a jeep for about two years. When we moved here the wanting was even worse because several of the little kids in the neighborhood have them and they drive them to the mail boxes to pick up mail and tool around together. For Christmas Lu got some money but not enough, she saved it and yesterday got a birthday check and now she had enough!! and it was on sale !~ $50 less than it was at Christmas!!!

Some assembly required but she will soon be getting the mail for us every day, and riding around in style and she said there was enough room for Tatum to ride with her! when she comes to visit.

waiting makes the getting even that much sweeter :)

Girl Time

Last night I went to homemaking, home family and personal enrichment, relief society. It was a lot of fun. We had a getting to know you kind of night with a pot luck salad and dessert dinner first, where I told myself I would only have a salad because I am trying to loose a few, but sadly that didn't go so well. Everything was super yummy.

Then we played a few games that were really fun. We had a bingo game, then "speed friending" and then a candy bar game. For the speed friending we sat at tables placed in a circle and the inside group moved and the outside group stayed put and then every 3 minutes we changed partners. We had a question to talk about during each round and I found out so many neat and fun things. I think even if I had known these sisters for 6 years instead of 6 months it would have still been a night of learning new things. Some of the questions were "what is the weirdest thing you ever ate?", or "what did you dream of being when you were young?", or "where have you been?". It was very very fun. After that everyone drew a candy bar from a bag. If you got a milky way you had to tell something you dreamed about or a goal for the future, if you got a snickers you had to tell an embarrassing or funny story about yourself, if you got an almond joy you told something that made you happy and if you got a kit kat you told something you liked to do in your free time.

Very fun.

I had a milky way and said that the happiest day for me was when Dani went to the temple and made eternal covenants and my goal is to do that 5 more times, once with each my children.

I need to do something like this with the YW, they would love it.

afternoon fun

Addie

We got to spend the day with this little cutie, she's so good and lots of fun. The kids didn't want to go to school this morning because they wanted to stay and play with her:)
Lu is very excited to be the big kid and Millie is following her around hoping she'll drop something tasty:)

seeing the sun

we walked down to the bus stop this morning and it actually wasn't too bad. In fact instead of our traditional morning greeting of "it's soooo cold" or some variation on the theme with added expletives or not depending on the neighbor, we were saying, "look the sun", or "it's kind of warm-ish out here".

When I got home I checked the temp, it's 24. The sun is out, the air is still and I guess we are crazy because while we were wearing jackets and boots and hats and gloves we thought it was "nice out".

more hair fun

Before
After

hair cut day

Lucy's been wanting to cut her hair, mostly because she hates to shampoo and condition her hair. Beloved has been for it but I have hesitated because she's been growing her hair out and it's so cute.

She hates to style it, and hates to wash it and it is, technically, her head; so off we went.

And she loves it.

and I don't, but she is still cute, and it will grow.

Tal & Tate

Yesterday my darling little niece turned 1! She had a big birthday bash at Aunt Val's. Here she is with Dani and Tate, don't they look so cute in their celebratory hats!!

I wish I was there. I miss living by my family a lot. Sometimes I am jealous when I see sisters who live near each other and cousins who get to be best friends and grandmas who have their perfect grandchildren over all the time.

Well, maybe someday we'll live closer together. For now I will just have to be grateful for the times we do get to spend together. (like this next Christmas~ I am already planning and I think all my brothers and sisters and their families and my mom and dad will all be in Utah together!!!We haven't done that in I don't know how many Christmas' ~ over a decade +. Sad. )

morning surprise

5:45 am, my alarm "gently "roused me from my bed of slumber. I walked to the bathroom and saw an unusual glistening at the window. Why is is sparkly outside? I looked closer and saw snow. Yeah a snow day!! Nothing is more welcome in the pre dawn moments than a chance to go back to your warm bed!

This morning before Beloved went to work we headed outside for a few runs down the slope outside our door.

After breakfast we will go find bigger hills.

bring on that global warming :)

not about the weather, entirely anyway

Went to buy a snow shovel today. I had to make three stops before I found one but finally I did and now we are the owners of 3 fancy snow shovels. We will not be caught unprepared again. The forecast is calling for snow this week. And next week. I'm just stating the facts, not making a commentary at all. Except to say that it is supposed to be 80 degrees in San Diego tomorrow. And is in the balmy high 70's today and why oh why doesn't the navy flight test there??

So other than the weather things here are pretty much quid pro quo. I do a lot of laundry. The kids make messes. They go to school. Last night Dave Boyce came to dinner, we had a nice visit. He and Beloved played Querkle with the kids after dinner, H won.

Yesterday S, Lu and I went out to lunch with some friends. It was a happy birthday lunch and we had a fun time. I was supposed to meet with Liz to talk about New Beginnings but Izzy was sick so we chatted on the phone instead and then I was free to go. Lu still wants to play with Izzy so we'll have to do that, but NB is under way and I am excited about our cute plans.

We took the Christmas tree down yesterday. I was not sad to see it go. The place looks fresh and clean with Christmas (almost) put away.

Beloved called me on his way home earlier this week and said there was a new Kohl's sign up on the mystery building down by the base! Yeah!! and I saw an Olive Garden sign on another mystery building. It's becoming quite the thriving metropolis down in California (the city not the state)

not to belabor the point...

but it is sooo cold. This morning Lu looked like a little pink marshmallow man with her pink sweats, pink fluffy jacket, pink knit hat, pink outer hat, pink gloves and little pink nose! Brrrr!

and what do the Amish wear under their dresses in the winter? Do they sneak to wal mart and buy snowsuits or what?

love the weather

19 degrees outside. Nice.

went to the airport today to pick up Jenna. She had a super fabulous time and didn't want to come home, I was happy to see her though.

We had a nice drive home, all the horrible traffic and two errands to do on the way gave us lots of time to chat.

One interesting thing. Last year when Beloved and I came here house hunting we saw tons of "I love Obama" billboards, hats, shirts, bumper stickers. Even the airport was full of them. This was a huge Obama love fest town.
Now not so much. At the airport I saw many more "keep the change" and "don't blame me I voted for McCain/Palin" shirts and paraphernalia than Obama love. Also the billboards are gone and the feel is distinctly different. ...hopefully it's not too late to matter.

restorative

the sun was kind of peeking through the clouds today. I really wanted to get outside and do something in the fresh air.
It took a little convincing but I finally got everyone bundled up and out the door. We drove to a nearby park and spent some time playing on the playground and walking on the path. It was a lovely, peaceful day and we chatted pleasantly together and listened to the leaves crunch under our feet and the birds call in the sky.

New Years Eve

To celebrate the start of a new year we invited some of our new cute friends over to spend the evening with us. Everyone brought food and we played games and ate and visited.

at midnight we went outside and played with sparklers!

Happy 2010!!