Merry Christmas from sunny Southern Utah!

(Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors weather...)

We are slowly getting settled, and so far we are loving our new house, neighbrhood, and ward.  

I managed to get the kitchen, living room, and dining room unpacked (and decorated), but in the bathrooms and bedrooms we are still living out of boxes.  Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon.

This picture makes me laugh. It may take awhile to "grow into" our new house.
(We have our projector downstairs for movies and Wii, but our only TV is a 17"-er)

We are enjoying our holiday (and break from unpacking) immensely.  This morning (before church) we went through our stockings and saw what Santa brought us, then we attended a wonderful sacrament meeting (I love Christmas on Sunday). Now we're relaxing and waiting to skype with Grandma before opening the rest of our gifts.

Dillon has mentioned over and over (and over) how badly he needed a red scooter now that we have such a scooter-friendly yard.  Taking turns with Caleb's blue scooter was such an inconvenience.  He was thrilled  (and very lucky) that Santa got the message on such late notice!

Caleb got a ripstick.  These pictures give the false impression that he actually knows how to ride it.

He doesn't...but I have a feeling that it won't be too long before he's "rippin'" it up out there.

Santa brought Brayden a new bike.  It has hand brakes and 21 speeds.  With this gift, his brothers each got a "new-to-them" bike handed down, and now they can all ride bikes together.  They haven't been able to do that ever since "nobody" rode Dillon's bike into the middle of the driveway and parked it behind Dad's truck...

Justin got new sand toys, and some sidewalk chalk.  We haven't tried the chalk yet, but the sandbox has been a raging success since the minute we arrived in the moving truck.

Christmas with a 16 mos. old has been one adventure after another.  We re-decorate the tree daily, and we are dilligently trying to teach Justin to take the candy OUT of the wrapper before he eats it.

After Brayden rode his bike for awhile, I caught him out on the lawn trying to figure out his new maze game, "Perplexus".  

Have I mentioned that I love the weather here?

This helicopter arrived from Amazon a few weeks ago (to Todd; from Todd) and I wrapped it up before he had a chance to see it.  After a mad search for batteries this morning, he was finally able to get it off the ground.

I don't have a picture of it, but Todd surprised me with an ipod touch!  Someone (who already had an iphone) won it at Todd's Christmas work party and gave him a deal.  Now if I can just figure out how to use it...

I can't even begin to name all the blessings we've had this year, especially in the last couple months, but I hope to somehow convey my gratitude in a future post.  It's just too hard to think right now with all the unpacking/Christmas chaos/kids out of school.

I didn't get Christmas cards out this year (again), but we've loved hearing from many of you, and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed new year.

Blog headers of 2011

just an update

We are closing on our house tomorrow!  We can't move until the seller leaves (probably the 16th-19th) so it's going to be an interesting Christmas for us.  

We've all had the stomach flu this week.  Yuck.  At least it's over now.  Dillon was the last to get it and he's up and running now.  Poor Todd drove through horrible weather to come home last Friday night, only to spend Saturday packing by himself and taking care of me and Brayden while we were sick. He returned home to the trailer on Sunday at 7:00, and was sick himself by 11:00.

Moving is a pain.  I've been throwing away, giving away, and selling things for weeks. We've made a dent, but there's still so much to do.  I'm waiting for the last of our Christmas stuff to come from Amazon so I can wrap everything up, and pack it to go.  

The other day, I asked Brayden to watch Justin in the tub while I ran to get his towel.  When I returned, he had been entertaining the baby with equations. Oh, how I love my Brayden :o)

I found 17 rolls of dental floss when I cleaned out my bathroom closet a couple weeks ago.  Then we had dentist appts. and brought home another 3 rolls.  It's funny the things you find when you move.  We also had around 25 shirts with the name of our town, county, or school on them.  Between the soccer, basketball, baseball, 4-H, and 5 years worth of "Falcon Friday" elementary school shirts that I'm not taking with us, I just took a huge chunk out of my future laundry pile!

Beautiful Heartbreaks

A few weeks ago I gave a talk at a Relief Society meeting on dealing with discouragement.  I have thought more than once that I need to put it on my blog, so here it is:

In a recent talk given by Sister Julie B. Beck, she stated:

“In the past year I have met thousands of Latter-day Saint women in many countries. The list of challenges these sisters face is lengthy and sobering. There are family troubles, economic tests, calamities, accidents, and illnesses. There is much distraction and not enough peace and joy. Despite popular media messages to the contrary, no one is rich enough, beautiful enough, or clever enough to avoid a mortal experience.”

Sometimes our trials come because of our own poor choices.  Sometimes it's because of the choices of those around us.  Other times, it's nobody's "fault", it's just a part of our mortal experience. So, how do we deal with the discouragement that comes from having a "mortal experience"?

Several years ago, after the birth of my second child, I experienced post-partum depression.  At the time, Todd was in graduate school and working two jobs. In addition to a new baby, I had an 18 mos. old, I did daycare in my home, and I worked as an artist (from home) for 20 hours a week.  

At first I didn't realize I was depressed.  I had never had two kids before, and I figured that maybe it was supposed to be that hard.  I was extremely sleep deprived, and took out my frustrations on those closest to me. After about a year of trying to run faster than I had strength, I found myself crying daily, and I began to have panic attacks.  I knew something needed to change, but I didn’t know what to do to help myself.

One night, while reading my scriptures, I came across a scripture in Ether that answered my question.  

24 For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.

25 And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare
you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea? 

These scriptures helped me to realize that I needed to work out my own "salvation" before the Lord.  The solution came in many different ways: medical help, prayer, a change in jobs (from painting to longarm quilting and quitting daycare), prayer, faith (and action), and the support of many friends and family members.

The bible dictionary says this about prayer:

Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings.

Recently I had the opportunity to attend Time Out for Women.  One of the speakers talked about the story of Joseph of Egypt in a way that had never occurred to me before, and I think about it often.

At a fairly young age, Joseph had a dream that helped him to understand a little bit about what God had in store for him.  He dreamed that he would one day rule over his brothers. However, it wasn't too long after catching that glimpse of Heavenly Father’s plan for him, that his brothers threw him in a pit.

Now I don’t know about you, but I think if I found myself thrown into a pit by my own siblings, I might start to question that dream.  

Maybe I was wrong all along? or Huh (raise shoulders), maybe I’m just supposed to be in a pit.

Joseph eventually got out of that pit, and was sold to be a slave. 

I think if it were me, I'd question my dream again.  Things weren't getting better...in fact, they were getting worse.  I'd probably resign myself to the fact that it was my destiny to be a slave.

We all know the end of the story.  Joseph worked hard and found favor with the king, and ended up saving his family from famine.  I wonder what would have happened if he had given up on his dream while he was in that pit, and "settled" for less than his true potential?

Sometimes our trials have a tendency to distract us from becoming all that Heavenly Father wants us to be.  Ironically, those very trials are the things that humble us and shape our lives so that we CAN become what he wants us to be.  

I know that Heavenly Father loves each one of us, and he hears and answers our prayers.  I don’t believe that he sent us here to be stuck in a pit!  He has bigger and better plans for us, but He needs us to dig our way out of that pit because it makes us stronger, and helps us to become what He needs us to be. 

Sometimes all we have to do is ask.  Sometimes we have to wait on the Lord and His timing.

This summer, as I was struggling with our current situation (Todd living three hours away and our inability to sell our house) I watched “The Other Side of Heaven” and a quote stuck out to me.  It said, “Sometimes the Lord calms the storm; Other times he calms the Sailor….and sometimes He just lets us swim.”

That was how I felt.  I was swimming.  And I’m not a very good swimmer.  I couldn’t see the shore; in fact, I didn’t even know the direction of the shore.  All I could do was pray to know His will, and try to have faith in His plan for me.  And while it wasn’t easy to wait for the answers, I have been so blessed in what I have learned.  For the first time in my life, I find myself really wanting to pray…and pray often.  My prayers have gone from 2 minute prayers to 20 minute prayers, and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.

As Elder Hales said in his most recent conference address, “Too often we pray to have patience, but we want it right now.”  I have come to understand that it is those times that we are “swimming” that teach us the most.

It is my testimony that if we can learn to use our trials to humble ourselves, always striving to make our will in line with His, we will be able to dig our way out of the “pits” of life, and become who He would have us become.  I know that doing so will bring happiness and peace that cannot come in any other way.

I have a dear friend who is struggling with such a hard trial right now, and it's one that won't be resolved in a few months like mine has.  I have cried for her, and prayed for her, and wished so many times that she didn't have to deal with the problems she is facing. 

I saw this video from Hilary Weeks on facebook a few weeks ago, but I saw it again this weekend (at Time Out For Women) where Hilary Weeks was actually singing it on stage while the video played on a huge screen....and I cried.

I cried for the hard days I had this summer.  I cried for my babies that I never got to carry to term.  I cried for everyone out there who has ever suffered from post-partum depression and/or hormone imbalance.  I cried for all those who have ever had to watch a love one die of cancer.  I cried for my friend.  And I cried because  through all of these "Beautiful Heartbreaks" I have felt the hand of the Lord in my life.

Our offer was accepted!

Unless we run into unforeseen problems, this is going to be our new house!

I will admit that I do not love the 80's look of the outside--too many vertical lines for me, but this house meets our needs in every way and we feel very blessed to have found it.

You can't see it, but there is a mailbox at the end of the driveway.  I've never lived in a place with a mailbox, and now I can check it off my bucket list. :o)

Dad and Melece:  Will mums grow in the desert?  I would love to plant mums in that spot next to the circle drive.  The house faces North.  Is there any shade loving plant that would grow if we put planter boxes under the windows to break up the vertical lines?

The inside has been completely re-done, and I absolutely love the off-set kitchen cabinets. The house has four-ish bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, an office, and a room in the garage for quilting.  I say four-ish bedrooms because one of the basement rooms is actually two rooms (in an L-shape) but one of those "rooms" has a closet but no window, and the other "room" has the window but no closet so you can't really call it a 5th room.  It's a little strange but I can work with it.

 The yard has automatic sprinklers :o) and just enough grass to feel like a yard, without too much to water in the desert heat.  We will do square foot gardening in the built in planter boxes all across the back. If you look closely at the back of the picture, you can see landscaping bricks beyond "the courtyard"--it is a sandbox.
The driveway extends to the back of the property, where a foundation is ready for Todd's future wood shop.

 This is the room in the garage that will be my quilting studio.  It is barely long enough to hold my machine, so we will be knocking the wall out and extending the room so that it's the entire width of the garage.
BTW, Have you ever seen a cleaner garage in all your life?  I think you could eat off the floor...

Oh, and one more thing.  This house is in my Great Uncle Mark and Aunt Joan's stake.  Their daughter (my 2nd cousin) is currently in the ward we'll be moving into, so we'll have family there!  Also, we'll be a mere 5 1/2 hours away from my brother and we are excited to be able to visit his family and their ocean :o)

Halloween

Harry Potter, with Fred and Ron Weasley

The boys wore their suit pants and church shoes in the evening for Trunk or Treat, 

but I made them wear jeans to school. 

Close up of Caleb's scar

I had planned to make Jusin a golden snitch hat, but I knew he wouldn't wear it so I didn't waste the time making it.  Instead, he wore his glow in the dark pajama's.  

His favorite part of Halloween was discovering Dum Dum suckers, and Rice Krispie treats.

We attended the Halloween Carnival at the school, and Brayden won this cake at the cake walk.

Before and After

I am feeling nostalgic tonight after looking through the pictures of our house that we just sold.  

Rumor has it that the power company has plans to tear it down.

I have mixed emotions. This house was never my dream house, but we have put our blood, sweat, and tears into fixing it up...one dollar at a time.  We had so many more plans that will never be realized.  

Going through these pictures has helped me to see that even though we lost all the money we put into it (due to the current situation of our local economy), we have learned a lot, and you can't put a price on life experience.

Taken the week we moved in.  July 2006

When we were getting ready to move here, we had a tough time finding a place to live.  I remember sitting in our Honda CR-V across the street, knowing that this was the house that Heavenly Father had prepared for us, but not being overly thrilled about it.

This is how our house looked after Todd pressure washed it to get it ready to paint.

This isn't a very good picture (taken with an old cell phone), but it shows the new paint, the new front door(s), and the window boxes that Todd made. 

 Although our new front door was a huge improvement over the metal, diarrhea brown door that the house came with, I've always regretted it.  I went into Home Depot knowing that I did not want a window in my front door.  I wanted a plain door so I could hang a wreath from it (centered in the window of the screen door).

Instead, I let the weird employee with velcro shoes talk me into a door with a window. 

 
Never listen to decorating advice from a middle-aged man wearing velcro shoes.