Dear Grandma & Papa

As you know, it's Christmas. We've been making candy. Lots of it. Our fudge is great, mom even made a new kind this year...cookies and cream. She made all kinds of goodies: peppermint creams, orange creams, caramels, and even divinty. We can't really repeat some of the things she mumbled when the mixer got super hot and the candy wasn't done yet...something about too much moisture in the air and a few potty words :) We had some delish pumpkin craisin bread for breakfast today and tomorrow we are going to have crepes. Our mom must really love us.

We are crazy excited for Santa to come. I hope he doesn't bring us any coal...we've been trying to be good helpers for the last couple of days. Is Santa still watching?

At grandma Irene's house tonight we did the nativity. Lincoln played the baby Jesus. He was wrapped up in a silky pink blanket. Libby and Izzy sand some songs together and noone could stop laughing when Libby started to sneeze and couldn't sing anymore. My mom asked dad to record it so you could see it but it wouldn't work. She's been trying to think of something special to send to you but the best thing she could think of is to share us with you. Memories to put in your hearts, instead of something to dust on your shelf.

Please think about us watching Home Alone and hear us laughing.

Please think about us in the kitchen, rolling candy and licking chocolate-covered spoons and getting chocolate covered faces.

Please think of us, bundled in our winter clothes, delivering plates of treats to our neighbors.

Please think of us, cuddled on the couch watching Christmas movies and listening to music.

We had a blackout for a few hours last week. We lit all the candles in the house and sang songs about Jesus.

We've been having handstand contests so we practice alll day long.

We have everything we could ever need. We are happy and having fun.

We wish you were here. We love you.

Olivia, Lincoln, Isabel, Ty

me, izzy, and other assorted whatnots

Insert lots of smart and witty comments here...I can't think of any.

BAD DOG!

So, here's the thing. It's about 100 degrees below zero. It's so cold, I can't stand it.
I'd hate it with a fiery passion if I thought my anger would raise the temps but it won't, so, for now all I can do is allow Duke to be inside for a while.

I grew up on kind of a busy road. As a child, every pet we ever owned got ran over by some sort of motorized vehicle. Jaren once rescued a dog named pirate who had just had it's hind legs ran over by one car and was in danger of being smashed by a semi-truck. Our parakeet got eaten by a stray dog and Bandit even got shot by our crabby old neighbor, Bud. Lots of tears were shed. We had quite the pet cemetery out there on the archer/lyman highway. Full pet cemetery = Apathy/Indifference to pets.

Brittnay, my office manager at work, is an avid pet lover and is also very adept at making me feel guilty. I made the mistake of mentioning my lackluster feelings about pets to her and the sad puppy dog look she gave me induced me to start spending more time with Duke. I've been taking him running, going for walks, and letting him spend some time inside.



Duke can be annoyingly endearing and sometimes just plain annoying. He lays on Jimmy and the kids like he's a human and has inched his way into our laps and our hearts and leaves remnants of his love all over our clothes and carpet.

But today, takes the cake!

He was sleeping on his towel (Good Doggy!) when Olivia called for a ride home and being blinded by his serene appearance I left him there for 10 minutes while I drove down to pick her up. This is what I found when I got back.



Ummm, Sorry about your slippers, Linc.

RANDOM DELIGHTS

LIFE IS FULL!

BLINDSIDE

I've been struggling lately with all the excess. Excess clothes. Excess food. Excess apathy. It's just too much! A couple of my children needed some pants that would cover their ankles so we went shopping last week and one of them kept asking for more, more, more. (In an effort to protect her first grade feelings...I won't tell you which child it was.) Anyway, I said no and with an arm-full of soon to be purchased stuff, she pouted "I never get anything!"

I was doing the laundry this morning and somewhere hidden in the huge pile of excess, I found those same pants, tags still attached, unworn and forgotten.

For weeks, we've been planning to see the movie, BLINDSIDE, to entertain us after we gorged ourselves with holiday delights. I was really excited to see this movie for two reasons...one, it looked really good and two, I thought it could illustrate to my children how blessed and lucky they truly are.

The movie is about Michael Oher, a BIG dude who, basically, has no one to take care of him or care about him until, this family (played by Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw) with lots of excess, takes him in. He learns how to study, he learns how to be loved, and he learns how to play football. On the field one day as he is struggling to learn his place, his "new" mother stalks out and shows him how to protect his quarterbacks' BLINDSIDE like he was his "family."

Well, Michael does more for this family, in teaching them about what is truly important than they do for him by buying him some new big & tall clothes. And in so doing, Michael, protects them from their own excess-driven blindsides.

The movie is great! I would recommend it to anyone. There were a few little situational naughties that were too much for small ears but still worth the lesson that can be taught.

See the movie. Let me know what you think.


Picture borrowed from the world wide web! Thanks

crazy busy!

We are all slammed with stuff to do. It's nuts! But I'm excited for Jaren and his family to move back here.

I wonder if he'll get out of bed early enough to work out with me. :)

IZZY RAKES LEAVES

Where the wild things are

I'm on the fence. Maybe, I'm just emotional. There's kind of a lot going on lately. I was talking movies recently with a co-worker when we decided that some movies just should not be seen when emotions are wacko to begin with and maybe this is one of them.

Linc and I disagreed about which movie we should see. Actually, Linc and I disagree about pretty much everything so when we were making plans, he threw a fit and chose to stay home and read instead of going to the movie with me. But I was going to have none of that, so, as punishment for his beligerance I made him attend the movie anyway. I felt hurt, and guilty, and inadequate when we got there.

So, Max, is kind of an angry, lonely, uncontroll-able kid who doesn't know how to express himself. "I'm going to eat you!" And the wild things have all kinds of different issues going on, many of which, I found myself relating to for different reasons. Judith is a perpetual downer. Carol is filled with fear-driven anger. The goat character has an invisibilty complex. (Funny, I can't remember it's name...) Some of them isolate, some of them ignore their own needs, and some of them run away when things get hard. "It's hard to have a family."

Anyway, after all the chaos, sleeping in a pile, and dirt clod fights, Max learns his lesson and goes home to his mother and they have this sweet bonding moment and all becomes right with the world.

I may have to wait longer.

View the movie. See for yourself.


Ummm, I stole this picture from the world wide web! Just so you know.

NEED I SAY MORE?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OLIVIA

Tuscon Marathon

I have a brother named Jaren. He's training for his first marathon. Between now and Dec. 13th he will pound out a few hundred miles in preparation for the priviledge of lining up with 1000's of other runners elbowing their way through the streets of Tuscon from one O named place to another. Along the route, he will probably experience some profuse sweating, some serious joint aches, and even some....ahem...stomach disturbances. About mile 22 is when his body will start to REALLY hurt and the mental battle to just. keep. moving. to. that. finish. line. will begin. And when he gets to that little hill located about mile 23.5 and it feels like it might as well be Everest he'll be tempted to walk and it's o.k. if he does. I'm going to tell you right now...at least once he's going to question his whole, "I'm gonna run a marathon" thought process and for a few days afterward he might even pray for some sort of mercy from the heaven's. He'll have to keep reminding himself what it felt like to cross that finish line and to know that he picked a pretty darn challenging goal, worked for it, got tougher, and followed through.

AND HE'S GOING TO PAY FOR THIS EXPERIENCE!!!.




I think I'll do it with him. :)

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?

That we get to have so much fun????

BIG WEEKEND!

HURRICANE PASS

Yes. Those are Tetons behind me. I kind of like to climb mountains. Can you see why?