It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I had some fun avoiding real life for an hour by putting together this new blog layout today. I hope it helps you to feel a little more festive! We've been busy decking the halls and rocking around the Christmas tree. Our tree is 12 feet tall so it's kind of a pain to set up and decorate but once it's done, it's gorgeous. One of the biggest challenges was keeping the kids off the ladder. Aside from multiple ladder incidents, the kids had a great time decorating the tree last night. I had to make a few adjustments--four ornaments hanging on one branch is not going to work and neither are six red balls right next to each other. I just wait to fix it until the kids are snoozing and thenthey never notice. There are still a few odd placements but I think they add to the charm of the tree.

This weekend should be a lot of fun. On Friday, my favorite, Katherine, arrives from Brazil to stay for a few days with her girls. That evening we will enjoy a delicious dinner and dancing at a wedding. On Saturday, we are hosting the ward high priest dinner at our house. This year, it's going to be less formal than last year and I'm having people bring more of the food so it should be a bit easier than last year. I'm trying to get excited about it. . . I actually love hosting parties, just not dinners. There are just so many details to worry about. Things like drinks, salt and pepper shakers, tablecloths and paperware always end up being last minute things that I haven't considered and then they stress me out right before the party's about to begin. I'm sure it will turn out great. . . at least I hope so!

I've Got a Little Mountain Fever

Bridal Veil Falls (a waterfall just minutes from my parents' home)

Mount Timpanogos

Sometimes I get homesick. I especially miss the mountains. Out my parents' living room window is a stunning view of Timp. I saw this photo today of Mount Timpanogos and it made me wish I was sitting in the living room laughing and joking with my family. I never realized how great it was having mountains in my backyard until I moved 2000 miles away from home. Growing up, I didn't think it was unique having a huge waterfall seven minutes away or hiking trails within minutes of my house or unbelievable views of canyons, valleys and craggy cliffs so close to home. I didn't appreciate being able to get to Sundance in fifteen minutes. I do now. Yes, I do now.

Don't get me wrong. . .we have many beauties here that rival Utah. We have forests, gorgeous wildflowers, great trails and even mountains (although they're like foothills to me.) But as far as I'm concerned, there's no match for the mountains of home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Three pretty princesses--I especially love Caitlin's lei, Rachel's shirt made out of a bandana, her irish step dancing-like hairpiece and Courtney's "puhple puhse" filled with her "stuff" That white puff next to Rachel is Sugar. She wanted to be in on the picture. Oh, now I see. . she actually wanted to eat whatever Caitlin had in her hand.
The table before the food and the kids entered the picture. I picked the greens, berries and old hydrangeas from the yard. I thought it looked Thanksgivingy but Rachel thought it looked Christmasy. Whatever--we had a centerpiece. The kids all blew out the candle together at the end of the meal. Better than fighting or having each kid blow it out (relighting it between blows). Yes, we've tried each technique. We really just need to have four candles!

See the broken crust and the hole on top!


Apparently it's finger-lickin' good!

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving. Despite the fact that everyone in our entire house is sick, we still had a great day! Spencer has an ear infection and strep and everyone else has the never ending flu/cough thing. I've had it for three weeks and counting!

Yesterday, the girls got up at their usual ridiculously early hour: 5:30 a.m. Paul and I stayed in bed and listened to them run and around and giggle for a while. Keep in mind, it's still pitch dark. I'm not quite sure why they're waking up so early! I finally dragged myself out of bed to discover they'd had a little snack. A few tastes of pumpkin pie and a bit of crust from the apple pie. I didn't mind. After all, we only had our own little family to feed today so no big deal. But I thought it made a great picture!

Our dinner was divine. I made all the traditional food. The kids especially loved the homemade rolls and the green bean casserole (which has a bunch of mozzarella cheese and those fried onion thingees in it, need I say more?) Everything turned out great. The only casualty was the camera which fell off the counter and broke. Thus, no after pictures. Bummer! As usual, we shared what we were grateful for around the table. Spencer's one thing: the food. His favorite food is stuffing so Thanksgiving is definitely a great holiday for him. Yep, a way to my boy's heart is through his stomach, that's for sure.

Isn't there a band-aid for this kind of bleeding?

Yesterday as I was taking the clothes out of the dryer I realized the clothes had a pinkish hue to them including the formerly white collar of one of my newest shirts. Argh!

This is what I get for my "out of sight out of mind" wicked ways. On Saturday night, a guy from our ward called during the BYU game and asked if he could come over and watch the rest of the game with us. Well, of course, there was a quick pick-up in the family room. I noticed that one of the throws we have was full of leaves the kids had collected. So I gathered up the throw and stuck it in the laundry room, thinking I'd shake it out later. Oops! I remember wondering why the throw had to be washed when I put it in the washer as the reason it was in the laundry room was forgotten. I washed the load in cold water but it didn't matter--it bled and I didn't notice until I was folding the clothes! I also have a bunch of leaves mixed in with my dirty laundry now. Sometimes I only have myself to blame for a mess.

This and that. . .

Look at today's beautiful sunrise. The twins are waking up about 5:30 every morning so I get to see the sunrise everyday.

This is a picture I took this morning before the kids had their hair done (actually they still don't have their hair done)


Here's the little celebrities taking their bows at center stage!

Rachel and Lauren at the talent show. As you can tell, we were sitting in the back so we didn't disturb the other parents who were watching.




Don't you love those 80s styles? I feel like I'm going back to my junior high years when I see the dance outfits they picked out.

More back row pictures! Oh well. . . at least I attempted to take pictures!

Thursday was Rachel's big day--she and her friend Lauren danced in the school talent show. About 100 acts auditioned for the show and they selected around 20 to perform so it was an honor just to be in the show. They performed for the school during the day. When Rachel arrived home and I asked her how it went, she said, "It was like we were celebrities" because everyone congratulated them for a job well done and total strangers were complimenting them. She loved it! Ah, the joys of performing. . . ! That evening we took the entire family to watch the show. Aside from many fruitless attempts to keep Caitlin from dancing and singing along, we really enjoyed it. I was amazed at the talent exhibited.

After taking Rachel to basketball practice and to a friend's house for movie night, I settled in for what I thought would be another boring Friday night. But Paul came home with "Get Smart" from Blockbuster. We forgot how funny that movie is. We enjoyed having an "at home date" after the kids went to bed.

By Saturday, Paul was really getting sick again. He just can't shake the flu. . . probably because he has to keep working instead of resting. I am starting to get better but I'm still not completely over it. So we stayed home, cleaned the basement (it took four hours of non-stop cleaning) and watched the BYU-Utah game. Poor Max Hall, I feel bad for him--he really blew it. Thankfully, I missed five of the interceptions while I was putting the kids to bed so I didn't waste my energy getting upset. I really can't stand watching BYU play poorly. It truly messes with my emotions so when they start shooting themselves in the foot, I have to leave the room. Personal foul penalties particularly make me gasp in dismay. Anyway, after the game, I headed to the grocery store. By the time I got all the groceries stowed in their proper places, it was very late so I collapsed into bed.

Yesterday, Spencer told me he was not feeling well. I thought he was faking so he wouldn't have to go to church but suddenly his face turned a little green and he said "I have to throw up." I picked him up (ugh, he's heavy!) and ran him to the bathroom and let's just say his prediction was accurate. So Paul stayed home with him and they spent the day being sick together. I took the girls early in order to run through our choir number before our Sacrament Meeting performance. They did a nice job. Whew! Now we just have to get our Christmas stuff perfected. After the choir sang, one of my friends told me she loves to watch me conduct because it looks like a dance. Funny, I don't feel very graceful--my heart races and I am trying to remember each cut-off, to bring people in at the right time, to conduct the dynamics and not be so expansive that I hit the organ music stand. I once did that during a song and the big hymn book crashed onto the floor right during a quiet part of the performance.

I also taught the lesson in Relief Society. I love being a substitute teacher for any class. The Bishop won't call me to the be the 4th Sunday teacher because I have too many other callings but the Relief Society keeps asking me to teach that week. I've taught three out of the last four months. The lesson was on a perfect talk for our day, "We Will Not Yield, We Cannot Yield" by Elder Craig Zwick. Take a minute to read it if you haven't read it recently. It is so timely considering the attacks our church is experiencing at the moment so I was happy to be teaching it.

Choir practice went well yesterday. We are progressing well in our quest to learn our Christmas program music. We have nearly five of our songs learned. I was particularly pleased with the good turn-out. Let's hope it continues as we get closer to Christmas.

I am the luckiest!

Yesterday as we were driving Rachel to basketball practice, Spencer and I had the following conversation:

Spencer: "Mommy, why are you older than all your brothers?"

Me: "Because I'm the oldest kid in my family. Just like Rachel's the oldest child in our family. I'm the firstborn."

Spencer: "Ah, you're the firstborn. You are the luckiest one in your family! You have had the most birthdays!"

I guess I am the luckiest kid in my family! To Spencer, birthdays=presents. I never looked at being the oldest (aging) kid in my family as the luckiest. Kids remind us our lives are pretty awesome.

Vacuuming and painting the carpet.

Yesterday or two days ago, (I don't remember which. . . the days all run together) the twins were playing in the basement and I was vacuuming the stairs to the second floor. I thought to myself, "Wow, if the kids stay in the basement playing with toys all morning, I can really get a lot of housework done!" Suddenly, Caitlin ran up the stairs with brown paint all over her foot, leaving footprints all the way up the basement stairs. She said, "I have to wash my foot. I got paint on it." I, of course, panicked and ran down to the basement to find acrylic craft paint squeezed out in puddles in several places on the basement carpet. Well, Caitlin, Courtney and I scrubbed and cleaned and scrubbed and cleaned some more and we thought it looked a lot better. I then left it, feeling like I had gotten most of it off the floor. I guess it looked better compared with how it started out but when I went back to the basement later that evening, I realized it still looked absolutely horrible! It will not come out! I haven't used that craft paint for about 6 years. Why, oh why did I keep it in the top cupboard of the basement kitchenette? I had forgotten all about it. On the bright side, my stairs to the second floor got vacuumed while my kids were playing so happily and quietly albeit destructively.