I am really trying to get out of this rut that I have been in all month. This morning I got up, cleaned house, did my bills and planned a menu for two weeks. (After cereal, bagels or melted cheese tortillas for dinner all week, it was about time.) I was feeling so efficient!!!

I got ready and Matea and I went to a Visiting Teaching conference that I thought started at noon. When we walked in at about 12:03, a lady was up speaking. I thought, "Wow, they must have started right on time." Several people kept asking if we wanted them to dish us up some soup. No one else had any and I kept thinking, "I really would rather just wait until everyone else is eating." Duh, I must have gotten up too early this morning. Finally Matea asked a lady next to us when it started and she said 11:00. That was the first that it had dawned on me that we were late.

I came home to throw my bedding in the dryer and they were still sopping wet so I tried spinning them twice more and they were still just about as wet (the ongoing saga of my washing machine) so I gave up and threw them in the dryer and went to do my two weeks worth of grocery shopping. All I can say is that I hope it saves some money and time because I was just a little horrified at how much I spent today.

At this point I was so late that I didn’t feel like cooking dinner so I came home and talked Mike into going to Sagebrush Grill for dinner.

Came home and made German Chocolate cake for Matea’s birthday tomorrow and still trying to get my bedding dry.

Here it is 10:00 and I finally just got the bedding dry and the bed made. I haven’t started on my Primary lesson yet and I’m on the computer instead. Let’s just say that I’m not feeling quite so efficient tonight.

??Happy New Year??

I guess it's about time that I change my Christmas background and move on with life. I don't know what is wrong with me this year. Normally I am so excited to get Christmas over with and get back to a routine and set all my resolutions. Not this year! I was excited to get Christmas over with, but I really hated to get back to reality. Here we are two weeks into the new year and I am still hating it. Christmas break was just so nice, having a few days off and sleeping in and relaxing. It is hard to go back to getting up at 6:15 and going out in the cold and dark to deliver McKade to school by 7:00.

I haven't set any firm resolutions. I had vague ideas about the typical things like losing weight, getting organized, doing better at reading my scriptures, etc. etc.

Hopefully I'll soon get my act together. Who knows, maybe I'll decide on my resolutions about the time I am usually losing excitement and I'll manage to stick with them this year.

*DISCLAIMER*

For those of you who received our Christmas newsletter. Mike says he sounds like a rotton sonofagun (sp?) when it talks about not expecting too much out of my blog. Those were my words, not his. Mike is always very nice and doesn't say rude things about my attempts! I take all of the credit for that.

Merry Christmas

Ready or not, Christmas came and it has been a nice, enjoyable day. Last Christmas I wrote notes to myself about how I was going to do things this year so it would be a more relaxed, less-stressful Christmas season. If anything, this year was even worse.

I began December by getting bronchitis and spending the month trying to drag myself around and keep up with the bare minimum. I missed the ward party, enrichment night and my niece Shelby’s wedding because of not feeling good.

I told myself to have our Christmas cards already to go out by Thanksgiving. Didn’t happen. I was lucky to get them in the mail by 4:00 yesterday (Christmas eve). Mike ended up writing the letter this year and I think he now has a new job

I made suitcases for all of my grandkids this year. (I made them for their mothers when they were little and we took a trip to Alaska and they have been wanting me to make them for quite awhile. I think Marisa wanted them for their trips back home from Idaho and that didn’t happen either.) Anyway, I was going to have them done a month ago. I finally finished those up at 11:00 p.m. on the 23rd.

Now that they have suitcases, we are going to have to take everyone on a little trip.

I try to make each grandchild a Christmas pillow case when they are old enough to start using a pillow. McCall’s got finished at 11:30 p.m. on the 23rd just as soon as I finished the suitcases.

Poem that goes with:

December the first starts a magical time,

With all sorts of colors, ribbons and rhyme...

Sugar plum fairies will dance in your head...

If you put this special pillocase on your bed,

The reason it's special, as you will soon see

Is that it's been dusted with Christmas fantasy!

Visions of candy canes, Santa and treasures

Will fill each dream with sweetness and pleasures.

When the time comes for it to be washed,

Do it quickly so no magic is lost.

I made a note to myself to not deliver neighbor’s gifts any later than the 2nd weekend. Ha ha, the neighbors were lucky to get gifts. In fact not all of them did. Some of them got store-bought candy and some finally did get a bowl of popcorn, but not until the 23rd or 24th. It was good popcorn though, (thanks to Angie Chappell for her recipe) or at least I hope it was by the time I forgot to put the vanilla in several batches. I have discovered that I am no longer so good at multi-tasking.

I had to recruit McKade and McKenna to wrap my presents because that was undone at the last minute. But you know what, it might not have been how I planned, but that worked out ok too.

I was very sad to not have Merridee and Ben with us for Christmas Eve. It is our very first year without our entire family. Merridee was going to have to work at Primary Children’s Hospital on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The best surprise I received all day was when Merridee called this morning at 7:00 and said they were on their way home. The hospital had called and she didn’t have to work.

Even though this didn’t turn to be the relaxed, stress-free Christmas season I was hoping for, today we have everything that matters, our family and our faith in Jesus Christ, so it has been a great day!

Red Letter Day for McKade

Today is a Red Letter Day for McKade. He got his Learner's Permit - YIKES! and he got his hair cut. I'm not sure which is more important to him. He was in the school play, Fiddler on the Roof and the director ask that they not cut their hair until the play was over. McKade HATES when his hair gets even remotely long. He thinks it gets in his eyes, tickles his ears and whistles when he rides the 4-wheeler. Of course, the importance of being able to legally drive goes without saying.

Happy 20th Birthday Miranda!!!

Our beatiful "baby girl" is now 20! How did that happen?

By the time a person turns 20 years old, they will and should have left an indelible impression on the people among them. Sometimes it's for good and sometimes it isn't. Parents delight in the child who distinguishes themselves as one of the "good kids". It's a heartache when they don't. I am happy to report that one of those kids that we know has just turned 20 and is still a good kid.

That's not to say that she is perfect, but all around she has been very self-reliant, studious, hard-working, determined, dependable, not a follower, judicious (most of the time--sliding on trays down concrete in the rain and dark was a serious lack of judgment), humorous and "cute".

We are very pleased with Miranda. She has secured our trust in her to make good and righteous decisions. She has come a long way from the pale, frail, white-haired little girl to what she is today. We believe that she has built a very secure foundation that will carry her through all of the difficulties that she might encounter in life. The one trait that needs to be worked on is PATIENCE, but that's a life-long endeavor where we can all do a little better. We love Miranda!!! She is one of our (5) favorite children. We hope she can always be prepared for opportunities when they arrive and seek our Heavenly Father's direction for every decision. (She won't be able to ask any of her earthly family as none of us have any opinions and Miranda isn't known for having opinions of her own. haha) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIRANDA!!! WE LOVE YOU.

As you can tell, someone much better spoken than I wrote that, but it speaks for both your dad and I.

Actual birthday is tomorrow, the 19th. We posted early because we're headed to Idaho.

We hope you have a great day, Miranda!

Thankful Turkey

This turkey doesn't look all that fancy, but it sure brings back some good memories. Back in 1991 when we lived in California, we made these "Thankful Turkeys" for all of the women in the ward. I was the lucky one that got to cut the turkeys out of burlap. I even broke my favorite pair of scissors doing them. Each year we cut out new feathers and have everyone date the feather and write what they are thankful for that year.

It is so much fun to look back at the feathers through the years and see what everyone was thankful for and how our perspectives have changed. We have a lot of the typical things like the Gospel, family, friends, our country and our house. We have some not quite as traditional like the cats and dogs, books, bottles, McKade's place in-between mom and dad in bed. (That has been a few years ago and he probably had help with that one.)

Tonight for FHE we filled out our feathers again. Since we are down to just three of us left at home, we now have to be thankful for a lot more so we don't have a bald turkey. This year we stuck with pretty typical things other than Mike is so very grateful to have finally paid off his student loan and McKade is grateful that he doesn't have to go to school seven days a week. (Today was a hard, tiring day at school.)

We would also like to take this opportunity to say that we are very grateful for each of you, our family and friends!!!