2 days til Christmas

Next year, I'm going to really research all the symbolism of Christmas.  I'm also going to plan ahead with neighbor and coworker gifts.  I want to learn how to sew soooooo bad. 

My Christmas Letter

Dear Loved Ones,

I would like to take a minute and express my love and gratitude for you in my life.  Thankyou, my oldest daughter who will probably be the only person that reads this.  I love talking to you everyday.  Even when my voice is almost gone I'll still pick up the phone to hear how things are going.  Thank you for including me.

Thank you middle daughter for being patient with me while I learn my boundaries as a grandma.  It's so tempting to spoil those cute boys.  You need to reign me in.

Thank you youngest daughter for hanging in there with me for the last year, while it's mostly just been the two of us. 

Thank you husband for working so so hard to get us secure financially.  Your being gone is a big concern and I wish you would find something closer.

Thank you mother in law for always loving me all these years while I was growing up.

Thank you mom for always listening to me.  Also for teaching me how to make bread.  One of my favorite treats.

Thank you God for not letting my house burn down that time I left the burner on.  Thank you for the health of my family.  Thank you for the snow and thank you for the hot hot bubble bath.

Thank you for sore throat for reminding me how much I enjoy my health.

Thank you new years resolutions, we're going to get it done this year!!!!!

I just wish somebody would come teach me how to update my blog.  I need inspiration!

In August, we went down to St George for my mom's 70th birthday.  So Me and Mike and Macayla drove down in the trailblazer and Amanda and the Saafi's went down in their car.  We stayed at Jake's house.  Rob and Courtney and their girls went too.  Liz went too.  She brought her boyfriend Rand and his 2 daughters.  It was a full house!  It was fun and I am so lucky that I was able to go and see my mom.  She has been having such a hard time recovering from her knee surgery.  I wish I could go down more often.  I love my mom.  I would be lost without her.

I love spending time with my nieces and nephews.  We slept in Sara's room.  This is the note she left on her bed for us. 

Jaxson's favorite movies are Cars and Toy Story 3, but when McDonalds came out with the minions in their kids meals we showed him Despicable Me.  And thus began the quest for the minions.  I ate several kids meals by myself just to get a toy for baby J.  I'm not complaining, I'm  just sayin...  I love the boy.  Toward the end of the minion promotion, all of the McDonalds started giving away the same minion.  But Amanda would ask them to go back and check their inventory to make sure they didn't have the one we still needed.  Finally we got the whole collection and decided to go watch Despicable Me 2 at the drive in with Jaxson.  He watched half the movie standing up and staring at the giant screen.  But it wasn't too long before he lost interest so maybe I'll wait another year or two before we try the drive in again.

Now the kids meal toy is Smurfs, so we got Jax a kids meal and ended up with Smurfette.  Amanda opened up the kids meal and handed him the toy.  He stared at it for a minute and turned it over in his hand.  He might have been expecting another minion but after a moments inspection he nodded his head and giggled with delight.  I hate to tell you, there will be no Smurfs saga.  I think McDonalds makes my clothes shrink so I'm trying to keep my distance!

6 months from now

Six months from now I'm going to look back today and be so proud of what I've accomplished.  Six months from now the tears I've cried will be a memory.

My tips for taking care of house plants (random babbling)

As you all know, I am a fabulous grower of live things.  I grew 3 kids.  I have a lawn.  Grass even grows in the rocks at the side of the house. Oh the things I can grow.  The eyes on the potatoes in my pantry grow like a tuber obtaining limbs to make their escape.  Don't even get me started on the spider web garden I'm growing in the living room window.  Anyway, let me introduce you to my plants.  The plant in my room is actually Amanda's.  It's an orchid.  It was given to her when she still lived at home ( I think, I don't know why else it would be at my house.)  Well, it is so tall and it has 2 flowers on it.  I wish I would have a picture of it but I'm not prepared.  The flowers are white and purple.

I have a poinsettia on my stairs.  It is my goal to keep it alive all the way til Christmas.  So far so good!  It's turning green, it only has a few red leaves left on it. 

I have one of those cool planter flower things that you buy at walmart that is full of flowers.  The kind you hang out by your front door.  But I can't find what to hang it from so it's in my living room.  It's not doing so good. :/  Amanda told me to give it to her before I killed it but it was a gift to me soooooo no. 

I have a money tree.  It currently is just a stick poking out of dirt but I'm not giving up hope that I can bring it back to life.  I send it positive energy and talk to it.  I think it is disappointed in me.  That money tree really thrived when I had it over by the desk by some boxes and I forgot about it.  Now it is by my mom's sewing machine and it stubbornly insists on being a stick.

The plant in my kitchen window is my favorite.  It is the most random crazy collection of plants.  It has it's own personality and is a mismatch of memories.  The main plant in it is one of those green plants with the long grassy leaves and woody stem (body?).  That plant is from the planter we got when Grandma McDonald died.  There is a lily in it that I got from my visiting teacher last year.  There is some flower, possibly a gerber daisy, from the church on mothers day last year.  I need to pull all the dead leaves off of it because it's coming back to life.

So here is how I care for my plants.  When Stella's water bowl is empty I fill my waterer full of water and then fill up her bowl.  I use the remaining water to water the plants. Ouila!  There you have it.  More housekeeping tips to come!

Mothers Day

I want to take a minute and recognize my mom for being a great mom.  I think she feels bad a lot about being a bad mom.  Now that I'm a mom, I totally get that.  But I want my mom to know that she did a great job.  She taught me the value of being a good worker and to be responsible.  This has lead me to the job that I have now that I love.  She also taught me her testimony which is very strong.  She is a very good example of compassion.  She is always willing to help anyone.  I don't want this blog to be like a mothers day talk.  I know my mom hates those.  So I'll talk about some of her other not so glowing virtues.  Her sick sense of humor (which she has passed on to me and my children).  Nothing is funnier to her than the sound of someone falling down stairs or running into a glass door.  Her love of German potato pancakes is hard to understand. (Gross)  Don't even get me started on Shepherds Pie.  Oh but her ice cream cake!  So good!  It's my favorite.  She also makes excellent home made bread and taught me how to make excellent home made bread too. 

Now I don't want to forget MOM (My Other Mom), my mother in law.  She has put up with so much from me.  I know I drive her crazy with my indecisiveness.  She just needs to understand that where we eat is not as important to me as just getting to spend time with her.  Also my getting tired early is kind of a joke but in this case she needs to understand that being married to her son takes quite a bit of energy.  Just kidding, I'm just lazy.  But I appreciate everything she has done for me over the years.  She always made me feel accepted and loved. 

The next moms I want to recognize are my daughters' mothers in law.  I feel like they both have great mothers in law that care for them when I can't because they don't live with me anymore.  I am lucky to have that peace of mind.

April 2013

I am inspired by Kasara's re commitment to blogging.  I wanted to put up a post, just a quick update.  Obviously, Takai is here and that's a pretty big deal in my life.  He's a beautiful boy and Jaxson seems to be accepting him just fine.  They make such a cute little family.  I had the privilege of keeping Jaxson while Amanda was in the hospital.  I love him so much.  I'll never forget the morning he woke up with freezing feet so we snuggled up in the blankets and ate cheerios and watched Lady and the Tramp. 

On a more personal note, I saw a quote the other day that really hit home.  It said." I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."Bill Cosby   Wow, I like pleasing everybody.  But it is exhausting!  Especially when what it takes to please one person contradicts what it takes to please another person.  Sometimes my head gets so spinning that I can't even remember my own personal values.  I need to re evaluate my priorities.  I think I would have been a better mom if I wasn't trying so hard to keep everyone happy but then my kids wouldn't feel the same about me, but then maybe they would be better off....See what I mean about my head spinning?!

Anyway, that's what's on my mind right now.  Pleasing everybody or sticking to my values.  I HATE CONFLICT!

• Who has two thumbs and is grouchy?  This girl! 
  
  Reasons to not be grouchy...
• I'm obviously pretty
• I'm smarter than I let on 
• It's a winter wonderland outside and maybe I'll have grass this year.
• I'm healthy
• I have a job
• I have friends
• My family loves me
• I can't really be that mad when everything is a joke to me.
• My car works
• I still have my house
• Jaxson

Reasons to be grouchy...

• Cause I feel like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Kasara,

Remember that day you were born and you kept crying?  That was weird.  Remember how we got you to walk by bribing you with fruit flavored marshmallows?  Do you remember your first day of school and you wore that red, white and blue dress with your shiny pink barbie back pack?  You were so proud!  Remember playing American Idol in the car?  You always wanted to be Paula Abdul.  Remember singing duets in the car and you always made me be Tim McGraw and you were Faith Hill?  Remember that time we went to the safe kids fair or something and I spilt hot chocolate all over your friends white tennis shoes that she had borrowed from her sister?  I still cringe.  Remember how you always had to reset my clock in the car at time change and how you helped me program stations on the radio.  You taught me how to do numbers when texting.  You taught me how to hold the mirror and bend over after cutting someone's hair.  I wish I could find the old videos on my old phones of you singing Silent Night and when we did those crazy makeovers.  We would laugh so hard.  Oh my gosh, remember the time you were making waffles and you forgot to wait for it to cook and you opened it to soon and then got mad...at who?  Remember when you were learning how to drive and that giant spider attacked us?  Remember when I had to come get you because the snow storm was too bad to drive in?  Remember that time you got married and I cried because I thought you left without saying good bye?  What happened to the girl that loved to wear stretch pants and business dresses?  Who let a girl be her friend even though she was brown?  Happy Birthday to you, the original Belle.

Love,
Mom