Here Comes the Sun

I am happy. The sun is OUT again. And yes, I have spent some time on the tile floor in my kitchen just soaking it up. I am doing laundry and folding socks(which I dislike immensely), and I decided to just fold socks on the kitchen floor. I am also happy because I just got my dream calling of being the Camp Director in our ward. I have wanted to go to camp with the girls for a long time and finally I get to go. I am just giddy. I am also the Mia Maid advisor which will be fun too. By the way, what does Mia Maid even stand for? And for those of you at the Girls Night Out, I got my callings on Saturday morning, so I was not trying to be tricky! I've got to get back to my sunshine tile.

Solar Power

I really do love the snow. I want it snow a ton. Until January 1st, then it all must go. I don't mind the cold as long as there is sunshine. You see, I am solar powered. I don't function well if there are too many days of clouds. What is even worse is the dreaded inversion. It is like pure misery pushing down on us. Everything loses it's color. The past two years have been great as far as inversions go. But now after two weeks of gray dreariness I am ready to move to Arizona! A few years ago, we had a long inversion and when it was over, I remember sunshine pouring in my kitchen window. I sat on the tile in a puddle of sunshine and just soaked it in. I could feel it bring me back to life. I am ready for the sun. Although I love my Alaskan, I could never be one. Juneau gets about 30 pure sunshine days a YEAR. I am ready for flowers and sunburns and sunsets on the beach.

Cousins

What is it about cousins? My kids have just spent this holiday season with all of their cousins. Including our cousins from Virginia. It was a continual sleepover. Boy cousins at one house. Girl cousins at another. All cousins at Grandma's. Really they could have spent every waking and non-waking minutes together. I was thinking about my own cousins and how important they are to me. Cousins play a special role in my life. They are the ones I played with, fought with, laughed with and got into trouble with. These are the people who helped me learn the finer points of pinochle and how to cheat the younger players. We camped and cross-country skied together. We cheered each other on when learning to waterski. They are the ones who love me and support me and would drop everything to help me. We share a history. We took care of our Grandpa as he struggled with Alzheimers. We love and take care of our funny Grandma. We share inside jokes. They get me. As we left our Cousins Christmas Party this year, my heart was so full. I thought of how lucky I am to call these great people MY FAMILY.

One Perfect Day

Stephanie gave a great lesson in Relief Society yesterday. It was about tuning out the world and tuning in your family. I was sitting there thinking about what we could do to tune in more to our family. I came up with no-screen Sundays. This means on Sunday, we will not watch movies or tv. There will be no blog checking or spider solitare. No playstation. Just us. I made my family a nice brunch and then I proposed this crazy scheme. Probably lots of people all ready do this. I must say that my favorite thing to do on Sunday is pile everyone on our bed and watch a movie together. So this plan is going to be hard for me. Also, I can't go to sleep at night without listening to a movie. I think I must have some sleep disorder. If the tv isn't on, my mind will not go to sleep. I just keep thinking and planning and worrying about silly things. With the tv on, I am out in less than 5 minutes. So back to our day. Everyone somewhat reluctantly agreed. We played Quiddler and I laughed so hard my ribs hurt and tears were running down my face. Then Emily suggested the Corn on the Cob game. After a bit of investigating, we realized she was talking about Pit. So we played a few rounds of that game. We did a small family service project. I put curlers in both of the girls hair. Michael read his new fishing magazine and had a nap. We all went to bed at a reasonable time. And I even went to sleep to the sweet sounds of Norah Jones. Now I am not so delusional to think that every Sunday will be like this. But it was One Perfect Day.

Tubing in the Snow

We love the snow. One of our favorite things to do in the snow is a kind of KING of the TUBE game. We tie a rope to a giant inner tube and then attach it to the back of the 4-wheeler. The driver then pulls the tube in a circle. All the kids try to jump on and stay on the longest. It is so funny. The kids fly everywhere. The kids had been in the house playing video games and really needed the excersise. By the time we were finished, everyone was tired and rosy cheeked. These were the lucky participants, Christopher, Kyle, Shelby, Emily, Josh, Jacob, Abby, Jon and his brother-in-law, Eric. I know that this can be a little dangerous, but so far we have only had one broken arm!

Christmas Compromise

When we first got married , we bought real Christmas trees. Michael was always afraid of our tree catching on fire because lot trees are so dry. Then for years we put up a fake tree. And I cried because I needed the tree smell and needles on the floor. We came up with a great compromise. We go to the mountains and cut our tree. It is great memory making stuff. We bring chili and hot chocolate. We sled if there is snow and just enjoy the whole adventure. This year we took Jon and Miles with us. Rachel and Sean stayed home and relaxed, however, I did notice a freshly vacuumed house when we returned.

Shelby and Miles


Jon's Pick

Someone forgot to bring bowls for the chili so we just took turns slurping up the stuff

All loaded up and ready to go

Velma Springs

We have a secret place, well not so secret, that we visit in the fall. It is a little place on the Payette River. Several years ago, Kyle caught a fish there and Emily named it Velma (right before we ate it). Since then the place is known in our family as Velma Springs. The Springs part is because there is a nice hot springs right by the river. It is blocked off with rocks and there are nice little tubs formed. My kids love to sit in the hot springs when it is sooo cold outside. Well, we needed a break this weekend and we went to our place of peace and family fun. We brought foil dinners to cook and marshmellows to roast. Unfortunately, it had just rained there. A LOT. So the fire pit was soaked. We would build a nice fire then the ground would start to steam and put the fire out. We never did get a really good fire going. Luckily, I brought a cook stove and a pot and we were able to put all of our foil dinners together and make a stew. It was hot and so yummy. I did forget a large spoon or ladle. Emily made one for me. She had Michael cut off the bottom of a pop bottle. She then used electrical tape and secured it to a stick. She is my mini McGyver. (for any of you old enough to know who that is) We rode the 4-wheelers around in the mud and generally had a wonderful time.