Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We got together with a few friends for Christmas eve

at my house. We even had the missionaries over.
I don't think the missionaries knew what they

were in for with all of us. We sure had a crazy fun

time! Thank you everyone for being my family

away from family!

We acted out the nativity with 21 kids. It

reminded me of my family Christmas parties!

I sure loved it!

Christmas Morning!
We had such a great day on Christmas.

We played games, ate good food, talked

on the phone, and slept. It was fun!

After Christmas!

My mom and my Brother's family came after

Christmas to visit us. I loved having some family

come!

Let the Good Times Roll!

Back in December we had the Thomas girls over
before they moved. They were having such a
great time I had to take some pictures! We
then invited the Watkin's kids over to make
a gingerbread house. Thanks for the good times
everyone! We sure will miss you Thomas girls!

Happy Anniversary!

Rick and I just celebrated 10 years of marriage.

Woo hoo! We certainly have grown in our love and

understanding of each other. I love him now

more than I did 10 years ago. I can't wait to

See what the next 10 years brings! Here are

some pictures of us at our wedding, 5 years

later, and now.

Here are some of my favorite Marriage quotes

and scriptures.

"Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always

hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."

(1cor13:7)

"A Happy marriage is union of two good forgivers."

--Ruth Bell Graham

"Marriage halves our griefs, doubles our joys, and

quadruples our expenses."

-- Old English Proverb

"Marriage is a meal where the soup is better than

the dessert."

--Austin O' Malley

"Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads,

hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together

through the years."

---Simone Signoret

"Beloved, let us love one another:for love is of God.

Everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth

God"(1Jn4:7).

"So ought men love their wives as their own bodies.

He that loveth his wife loveth himself"(Eph5:28).

"Find the Good-- and Praise it!

--Alex Haley

Snow in Vegas?

I couldn't believe it! We had the worst storm that Vegas
has had in 30 years! The airport had to shut down
because of all the snow. They had to wait for it to melt
because of no snow plows. Some friends suggested we
should go to a park for family home evening and take
advantage of the snow. We drank hot chocolate and had
such a great time!

Christmas Traditions!

Last night we started a new tradition for Christmas.
We began with the scripture in John 21:15. It reads
"...Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me more than these? He saith unto him. Yea Lord:
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him. Feed
my lambs." We then talked about what that meant.
I then read the story of the "Last Straw." The story talks
about service being "gifts to Christ." We then decided
to do secret acts of service for each other. We drew
names. Each kid got their own envelope of Straw like
material. We found a basket for a manger. Each act
of service a person does for their secret person they put
one piece of straw in the manger. Every week we evaluate
our progress and draw new names. By Christmas Eve we
hopefully have a manger full of straw where baby Jesus
can lay. We then will act out the Nativity!

My kids were very excited about this. They already have
started their secret acts of service.

I really love to hear what other people do for Christmas.
So I'm wondering what Christmas traditions do you have?

Happy Thanksgiving!

What a great holiday Thanksgiving is! I love
to eat yummy food, be with good company,
reflect on what I'm thankful for, and play
games. That is just what we did! We ended
up staying here in Las Vegas and got together
with friends. We had a Great Time!

We made these turkey hats for Family Home
Evening prior to Thanksgiving. We put what
we were thankful for on the feathers. Then
we acted like turkeys with our gobbles and
wobbles. The middle turkey had too much
of the gobbling!

I'm Thankful for...
Jenna-family, friends, pets, back yard, Jesus
Mindy-water, family, plants, animals, Jesus, love
Brittany-my bed, my flowers, my Jesus, my scooter

Surgery?

I went under the knife on the 14th of November for Surgery.
The name of it is a septoplasty which means I had surgery to
clear out the extra bone and cartilage in my nose so I can
breath better and hopefully help with my headaches. My
kids are telling everyone I had nose surgery. Now days
people question what "nose surgery" is all about. I
experienced this first hand when I went to my kids
parent teacher conferences. The teachers had been
wondering what was this nose surgery I had done.
I assured them it wasn't a "nose job". It's a medical
not cosmetic procedure. I still have my God given
state of the art Merryweather nose inherited by my
mother. Thanks Mom!

So How am I doing? I feel I am getting better everyday.
I feel blessed to have such a great support system. I
had my husband for four days. What a great help he
was. My family couldn't be here to help after that so I
have had to rely on great friends. I'm thankful to
everyone who brought food, their love, and support.
I wish I had great pictures of the surgery, but I don't.
So I guess it's left to the imagination. I also feel blessed
to not have much bruising. Some people who have
had it look like a raccoon with their black eyes. Can
you imagine the stories you could tell! So now I can
breath out of both nostrils. Yippee!! I haven't been able
to for as long as I can remember. The pain, pressure,
and headaches I will have to give more time. All and
all the I think the surgery will be a success!