Friday, December 26, 2008
Merry Christmas to All!
After 2 very simple and quiet Christmases overseas, we reveled this year in being surrounded by family. We spend Christmas Eve at my parents home and spent the night there with my sisters and their families. With Quinn home from his mission and us back from NZ, it was the perfect way to spend the holiday. I worried a little that it would be crazy chaos and hard to transfer Christmas for 7, but it all turned out beautifully. After a wonderful dinner we decorated stockings with the kids. After putting them to bed the adults laughed our way through the movie Elf and finished our Christmas preparations. What fun to have Santa come to Grandma's house for everyone! 
The kids trying to convince Grandpa it's time to open presents with some convincing foot and hand rubs.
Our traditional "waiting on the stairs while Dad (Grandpa) goes to see if Santa came" picture has sure grown over the years!
Santa always wraps his presents in red and green tissue at our house.
After opening our gifts at my parents we went to Steve's parents for Christmas dinner and celebrated Christmas #2. Yummy food, playing with cousins, and Kung Fu Panda were all on the menu. The men even went and found a Geocache nearby to break-in Grandpa's new GPS device.
Emily made these adorable Mrs. Claus aprons for all the women in the family!
Cousins exchanged gifts (each had drawn the name of one cousin and bought a special gift for them) and Mrs. Claus (Grandma) handed out her presents.
Merry Christmas!
Emily made these adorable Mrs. Claus aprons for all the women in the family!
Cousins exchanged gifts (each had drawn the name of one cousin and bought a special gift for them) and Mrs. Claus (Grandma) handed out her presents.
Merry Christmas!Friday, December 19, 2008
Christmas Greetings!
Merry Christmas from our home to yours! We wish you the very best for the coming year. Please drop us a line and let us know how you are doing this holiday season.Encore
Here are a few pictures from Whitney’s choir concert last week at Temple Square, that I was too tired to upload last issue. They sang again last night at the school choir concert and they sound great!
The Merit Badge Haul
Merit Badges Steve L. earned this quarter:
Top row: Scholarship, Sculpture, Art
Bottom row: Theater, Personal Management, Personal Fitness
Steve L. just left for a winter scout camp and I forgot to have him tell you about his new merit badges. I am so proud of how hard he worked earning these merit badges. He really owned the process and saw all six of them tenaciously through to the end. I think the Personal Fitness and Personal Management – both required – are two of the hardest merit badges to earn. A big thanks to Grandpa Andy for helping Steve earn his Scholarship merit badge!
Here’s to 16 years!
This week Steve and I celebrated 16 wonderful years of marriage. I’m not sure where the time has gone, but we have 5 beautiful children to show for it. Steve had business trips to Georgia and Minnesota this week and is off to scout camp this weekend, but managed to be in town on our anniversary. (He doesn’t always travel so much, the trips just always seem to come back to back.) We went to Tucano’s Brazilian Grill at the Gateway for dinner (sooo good) and to the movies.
These pictures were taken last week before we went to Steve’s fancy work Christmas Party. I was feeling like I needed a pick me up from a rough week, so I had my hair done up for the first time. It was just the lift I needed.
These pictures were taken last week before we went to Steve’s fancy work Christmas Party. I was feeling like I needed a pick me up from a rough week, so I had my hair done up for the first time. It was just the lift I needed.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Anatomy by Janey
I consider the creative projects and artwork my kids come up with, on their own, my salary for this full time mothering job of mine. I have found them to be especially inspired at bedtime and my requests for lights out are often met with begging for just a few more minutes to complete some project or other. Janey came up with this 4 page masterpiece while we were on a date the other night.
Create by Noreen
At the start of the new school year I found myself searching for the next thing to stretch myself and inspire my children. Steve suggested taking up painting (which he knows I have always wanted to do), but I dismissed it saying I needed something more academic right now. Then I attended the Women’s Session of General Conference at the end of September and President Uchtdorf spoke right to me. In his talk he said, "The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before. Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty. Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty. . . "
And so, my ever wise husband knew what I needed all along. By the first week of November I was enrolled in an oil painting class one night a week and it has been a joy to create. In a high school art class I did a black and white oil painting, but this is my first ever color oil. I hope to improve a lot over time, but it has been satisfying to finally start on this life long dream.
And so, my ever wise husband knew what I needed all along. By the first week of November I was enrolled in an oil painting class one night a week and it has been a joy to create. In a high school art class I did a black and white oil painting, but this is my first ever color oil. I hope to improve a lot over time, but it has been satisfying to finally start on this life long dream.
New Zealand
While staying at the Bay of Islands we took the kids on a boat tour out to "Hole in the Rock" and a dolphin watching cruise.
A view of The Bay of Islands
Hole in the rock. We saw (and could almost touch) dozens of playful dolphins on our way to the rock. We took lots of video, but didn't get any great dolphin pics.
A view of The Bay of Islands
Hole in the rock. We saw (and could almost touch) dozens of playful dolphins on our way to the rock. We took lots of video, but didn't get any great dolphin pics.
A natural rock formation that looks just like a woman's profile.
To see a map of the places we traveled so far in this series, click on this link: <http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&ie=UTF8&ll=-40.359103,172.875366&spn=8.067848,12.128906&z=6&msid=116765397961150020384.000451b63510a46db34d4>
Friday, December 12, 2008
Focus on the Founders by Steve L.
For Focus on the Founders we had a speech competition and a keynote speaker, Benjamin Franklin (impersonator), came a gave us a lot of information and did experiments with electricity.
I prepared a two minute speech on Benjamin Franklin and gave it in front of everyone there. The judges rated me and I came in 7th place out of 22 contestants. I didn't feel nervous when I gave my speech. It was fun.
Singing at Temple Square by Whitney
This week I was able to perform with my school choir at Temple Square! It was really neat. At my school there are three choirs, the concert choir that anyone can be in, The Madrigals (you have to try out to get into this one), and then Bel Conto (You have to try out for this one, and only girls are in it.) I'm in Bel Conto. When we were driving there, the parking was horrendous, because there was a Jazz game and a Tabernacle choir performance that night along with the lights. I actually hopped out of the car a block away because walking there would be much faster than driving! We performed twice that night and we all had an awesome time. The Bel Conto and the madrigals performed at temple square, and I can't wait until the next concert!
Friday, December 5, 2008
A Painful Week
Publishing this weekly blog newsletter helps our family reach many goals, one of these is to keep a consistent family history record. Because of this, I feel the need to record the painful and hard along with the fun and eventful.
This week was a painful one emotionally and physically as we experienced our first miscarriage. I was in a lot of pain over the weekend. Monday I contacted the doctor who wanted to see me right away. In the same afternoon I found out I was pregnant and that I couldn't keep the baby. The pregnancy was an ectopic or tubal pregnancy, meaning the baby was growing in my tube instead of my uterus. This is a serious condition because the tube will quickly rupture if it is not caught in time. My choices were invasive surgery and likely losing my fallopian tube or an injection of a low dose of a chemo drug, and the rare chance of losing my hair. I have to say it wasn't the funnest decision we've ever had to make. Because I have had 5 c-sections the surgery was an even higher risk for me, so we opted for the drug route. Steve was scheduled to leave out of town an hour before the procedure, and I thought I'd be brave and have him go anyway. My wise mother encouraged me to have him cancel his trip, and he let me know he would have anyway. I was so grateful to have him with me through the ordeal, and he was able to work from home the next two days to care for me. The procedure itself was pretty simple (two massive shots of a neon yellow liquid) but the experience was crushing. It is not very comforting to weep into a pillow that is covered with doctor's office crunchy tissue paper, but the nurses were sweet, the doctor caring and Steve held my hand through it all. With ultra sounds and doctors appointments it took the bulk of the day Tuesday and my mother graciously cared for the kids at our home. Wednesday was the worst of it, with nausea and cramping and generally feeling lousy from the drug injection. It also made my brain fuzzy and I couldn't sleep. As I lay wide awake in the early morning hours on Wednesday I thought of all the sweet children I know that have had to or are currently going through the chemo process. I wanted to hug Jacob and Serenity and Tyler to me and kiss them for being so brave. A huge thanks to my sister Bree and sister-in-law Becca and my Mom for caring for my children while I recovered. Wednesday I was at 100% yuck, Thursday 50%, but today, Friday, I'm feeling mostly myself again - about 10% left to full recovery. Tonight my gold wedding ring turned my finger green. Is that bad? We will have to wait awhile to try again because of the chemical in my system.
Thank you everyone for your kindness and prayers. I am so grateful we caught the problem early and that we have the medical technology to solve the problem (women have died from ectopic pregnancy's in the past.) We would love to have another baby and trust in the Lord's timing for our family.
This week was a painful one emotionally and physically as we experienced our first miscarriage. I was in a lot of pain over the weekend. Monday I contacted the doctor who wanted to see me right away. In the same afternoon I found out I was pregnant and that I couldn't keep the baby. The pregnancy was an ectopic or tubal pregnancy, meaning the baby was growing in my tube instead of my uterus. This is a serious condition because the tube will quickly rupture if it is not caught in time. My choices were invasive surgery and likely losing my fallopian tube or an injection of a low dose of a chemo drug, and the rare chance of losing my hair. I have to say it wasn't the funnest decision we've ever had to make. Because I have had 5 c-sections the surgery was an even higher risk for me, so we opted for the drug route. Steve was scheduled to leave out of town an hour before the procedure, and I thought I'd be brave and have him go anyway. My wise mother encouraged me to have him cancel his trip, and he let me know he would have anyway. I was so grateful to have him with me through the ordeal, and he was able to work from home the next two days to care for me. The procedure itself was pretty simple (two massive shots of a neon yellow liquid) but the experience was crushing. It is not very comforting to weep into a pillow that is covered with doctor's office crunchy tissue paper, but the nurses were sweet, the doctor caring and Steve held my hand through it all. With ultra sounds and doctors appointments it took the bulk of the day Tuesday and my mother graciously cared for the kids at our home. Wednesday was the worst of it, with nausea and cramping and generally feeling lousy from the drug injection. It also made my brain fuzzy and I couldn't sleep. As I lay wide awake in the early morning hours on Wednesday I thought of all the sweet children I know that have had to or are currently going through the chemo process. I wanted to hug Jacob and Serenity and Tyler to me and kiss them for being so brave. A huge thanks to my sister Bree and sister-in-law Becca and my Mom for caring for my children while I recovered. Wednesday I was at 100% yuck, Thursday 50%, but today, Friday, I'm feeling mostly myself again - about 10% left to full recovery. Tonight my gold wedding ring turned my finger green. Is that bad? We will have to wait awhile to try again because of the chemical in my system.
Thank you everyone for your kindness and prayers. I am so grateful we caught the problem early and that we have the medical technology to solve the problem (women have died from ectopic pregnancy's in the past.) We would love to have another baby and trust in the Lord's timing for our family.
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