Merry Christmas!

I was watching a Christmas movie with my little pal, Sarah, and heard this song (first one on my playlist) and couldn't help but to find it right now. She does such a beautiful job. I love Christmas. I am so grateful to be having my sister's family and my mom come to our house for Christmas this year. We got an answer to our prayers last week as Jonathan got a new position within the company he is now working for that puts him in MUCH safer conditions. I don't fear for his life anymore. :o) I am thankful to all my dear friends who have helped us (me) in the last couple of weeks while coping with Jonathan being gone. It's been an emotional ride and I'm sure glad to have someone to count on, to help support me in all the sticky situations I've been in lately!
The second song on our playlist is one of Jonathan's favorite this season. I've never really appreciated this song until this past year, and Josh Groban does it so beautifully. Merry Christmas everyone!

Tagged

Tagged

My sister in law, Bridgett tagged me and so here goes...

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:

* Graduating from Ricks College
* Commuting from Rexburg to Pocatello, going to Idaho State University
* Working with my Dad in the Photo Lab, what a blast! Thanks Dad, for all the memories....
* Playing Scrabble with Mom and Dad nearly every night after work.
* Waiting for a missionary...long miserable story....

5 Things I have to do today:
* Pack up Jonathan and send him on his way to work... :o(
* Say Goodbye to the Zurchers. Have a blast in Norway, I hope to make it there someday!
* Go to Church
* Put together two Strawberry Shortcake puzzles with my girls.
* Make yummy treats for the Zurchers.

5 Snacks I love:
* celery and ranch!
* rolls with butter and jam!
* Something warm with ice cream
* Cookies
* Red Pepper Jelly with cream cheese and crackers!

5 Things I would do if I were a Millionaire:
* Invest
* Travel
* Make my Mom retire!
* Pay off all our debt (house, cars, etc.)
* Put kids in a private school

5 Places I have lived:
* Rexburg
* Logan
* Provo
* Canada
* Salt Lake City

5 Jobs I have had
* Arbys--gotta love it!
* Ray's Chevron--got a lot of dates! ;o)
* Artco, with my mom and dad
* K-TEC--home of Jamba Juice's blender!
* First Federal Mortgage

5 People I tag
* Andrea
* Mandee
* Alecia
* Paula
* Sharlynn

It SNOWED!

Sarah LOVES the first snowfall. She knows that it's one step closer to her birthday. I made the girls wait for Samuel to go down for a nap before I bundled them up for fun in the backyard. After fifteen minutes of bundling (I hate bundling...) they finally got to go play! Sarah jumped right in for a snow angel. HAPPY WINTER!

Recognizing the Spirit

Tonight for family home evening, we talked about how to recognize the Spirit. With small children, these sort of discussions do not last long but we did our best. Bibs was tired for lack of nap today, thus making her grouchy and distracted. When we started to sing the closing song, I am a Child of God, she sat in my lap with her blankie. When the song was over, she said, excitedly, "Mom, I'm not sad anymore! Mom, I'm not sad anymore!" I was so happy, it was a perfect moment to explain the feelings of the Spirit, and how to recognize it. It was a perfect ending to a somewhat imperfect Family Home Evening.

HaLlOwEeN fUn!!

This year for Halloween we went to visit some good friends of ours, the Gibbs Family, in Cedar Hills. Sarah and Olivia had a blast trick or treating with their friends. Here are some pics...

Here's Samuel, He didin't like wearing his costume....
Here's the Princess Posse, and Bibs!
Bib's is our little Pirate, ARGH!
Sarah, our ballerina, is ALWAYS on her toes.

Thriving Ivory

Last Saturday, Jonathan and I took my nieces and nephew and their friends to a Thriving Ivory Concert. It was awesome. One of the best concerts I've been to. (The best being Bare Naked Ladies, by far.) However, being the band is fairly new, they stayed after the concert and signed anything we wanted them to. I'm a big fan of concert t-shirts. I was able to get video of their concert, but haven't figured out how to get it on to my blog, sorry. We had a blast. Taking my nieces and nephew reminded me of being in high school. Wow, I'm getting old!

Thought this was a fun picture.....
Liz (neice), Amanda, and Mellisa, then Mary (neice) and Taylor(nephew).

Carving Pumpkins!

We had a lot of fun when Grandpa Leavitt and Marlene came to visit last week. We ate dinner, halloween cookies, and carved pumpkins. If it wasn't for Grandpa and Marlene, Jonathan and I wouldn't have ever made it through the pumpkin carving phase! Sarah and Olivia chose the most difficult designs to carve. Go figure. Sarah wanted Cinderella, and Olivia wanted good 'ol Lucifer (the cat on Cinderella). Good Times.

Our Basement is taking shape...

It's been a while since I've written. Busy lives. This past week our basement got drywall! I've been loving all the noise accompanied with it! :o) We've picked out paint and carpet, so we hope to have this all done within a month! This would be the best Christmas present ever! :o) .... a place for the kids to make a mess and not make Mom freak out. :o) I am sure they are looking forward to it also.

We loved General Conference. It always goes too fast. I think it brings a lot of peace into our home just listening to their voices. I am sad that I have to wait SIX more months to do this again.

TAG! You're it!

Who are you? Hit forward and place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not. This is for your entire life!
This is about Katie (x) Skipped school (x ) Gone on a blind date ( ) Watched someone die (x ) Been to Canada () Been to Mexico () Been to Florida (x) Been on a plane (x) Been lost (x) Used a GPS (x) Been on the opposite side of the country (x) Gone to Washington, DC (x) Swam in the ocean: (x) Cried yourself to sleep (x) Played cops and robber (x) Recently colored with crayons: ( ) Sang Karaoke (x) Paid for a meal with coins only (x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't (x) Made prank phone calls () Exercised today (x) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose: (x) Caught a snowflake on your tongue: (x) Danced in the rain () Used a Palm Pilot: (x) Written a letter to Santa Claus: (x) Been kissed under the mistletoe ( ) Shaken a movie stars hand (x) Watched the sunrise with someone you care about (x) Blown bubbles (x) Gone ice-skating: ( x ) Watched a sonogram ( x) Been skinny dipping outdoors (x) Gone to the drive-in movies 1. Any nickname? Katydid, Katie Lady 2. Sisters name? Sharon and Jenny3. Favorite drink? Water, lame-I know 4. Tattoo? no way 5. Body Piercings: my ears 6. How much do you love your job? A lot 7. Birthplace: Rexburg, ID 8. Favorite vacation spot? what's a vacation? 9. Ever been to Africa? Not yet 10. Ever eaten cookies for dinner? yes 11. Ever been on TV? Yes the news:) 12. Ever steal any traffic signs? kind of 13. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, several 14. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? 4-door 15. Favorite salad dressing? doesn't have a name...-it's home made 16. Favorite number? 5 17. Favorite movie? Pride and Prejudice, it still gives me butterflies 18. Favorite holiday? Christmas 19. Favorite dessert? Too many to name 20. Favorite day of the week? Friday 21. Favorite brand of body wash? just soap, i'm cheap in many ways... 22. Favorite Toothpaste? PASTE, not gel 23. Favorite smell? clean laundry, or Christmas time 24. What do you do to relax? watch HGTV or Friends re-runs 25. How do you see yourself in 10 Years? at the rate things are going, will we (all of us) BE HERE in 10 years? 26. Furthest place you will send this message? Canada 27. Who will respond to this the fastest? Who Knows?

How Church is Supposed To Be...

Today we went to a friend's missionary "farewell". This friend is a student at BYU. We took our wonderful little family of five, stoller and all, across the BYU campus and attended a wonderful student-ward sacrament meeting. We were the ONLY people at this meeting with children. Imagine that. We were the only ones with cheerios, sippy cups, coloring books, cars, pacifiers, diapers, etc. The funny part of this story is at the beginning of the meeting. Sarah looks up at me and asks: "Why is everyone being so quiet?"
And I say, "Because that is how church is supposed to be."
And she says, "Not at OUR church!"

So true. It was a perfect moment to teach our children how reverent we are supposed to be. It never occured to me how often I must tell my children each week to be reverent, that it must be contradicting or confusing to them. No one else is being reverent or quiet. :o) The kids were definitely the quietest they'd ever been today, but that's because they could hear themselves so well. :o) Thank you for such a reverent Sacrament meeting today. A valuable lesson I hope my children remember. :o)

I love My little Samuel

Got this snap shot while Samuel was anxious for the cookies to come out of the oven. I couldn't resisit! Sarah said something funny the other day.... Olivia sneezed on my arm and I said, "Oh, Thanks, Olivia." and Sarah said, "You mean NO Thanks!" Thanks Sarah. Thought it was funny.

Guess what I did last night!!

I CANNED PEACHES FOR THE FIRST TIME! This is so great! I loved it and it only took an hour. :o) I only did five quart size jars though. I had fun remembering all the times I helped my mom can peaches when I was little. My favorite part was peeling the skins off. It was great. They all sealed perfectly. It was kind of an impulse thing. I drove by a peach stand yesterday, bought some. Then ran to DI to look for an old bench to refinish and I found canning jars for only 25 cents a piece. I felt inspired. So I bought them. :o) And now I have home canned peaches! I love it. I truly feel like I accomplished something. Now I want to can other stuff! Peach Jam?

Utah State Fair

Here is our annual tradition of going to the Utah State fair with my mom and brother. I look forward to it every year. This year we saw a really cool goat with a chinny-chin-chin! :o)--a big 'ol beard. It was pretty cool Sarah and Olivia are kind of scared of rides. They did okay on one, and another not so great. :o) We saw all kinds of animals. We love "Little Hands On The Farm". Every year they get to go through a little maze sort of thing pretending to be farmers. They plant seeds and harvest them, they shear a sheep, milk a cow, drive a tractor, bale hay, and take their harvest to the market to trade for a real treat. This year Sarah and Olivia chose chocolate milk and Samuel got crackers. Just in time for lunch. :o) We saw a clown show that was cute and funny for the kids. We always have lots of fun.

Thanks to the Grundvigs!

We had a blast visiting with you guys! It's always fun to have sleepovers! Sarah and Olivia had a blast! It was so fun to see how Ryan and Sarah got along so well! She doesn't hang out with boys much, you know, cooties and all... :o) Ryan must have something special about him. She just had so much fun playing video games and pretending outside. Somehow they thought our backyard was a jungle! :o) TerriLyn, now you have to go back to IKEA! Let me know when you do, and I'll meetchya there! Thanks for the laughs and keeping us up to speed with the good 'ol University Ward! We sure miss it up there!

Thanks Jon for the visit!

It sure was great to see you! We were so glad we could snag you for a bit while you were visiting Utah! You help inspire Jonathan to do great things. Thanks for keeping us laughing. You're Great!

BAG TAG?!

Well, thanks to Bridgett, I now have a CLEANED OUT purse. It also inspired me to switch purses for a while. :o) I hate carrying a diaper bag, so the only things in it are diapers, wipes, and sunblock. There ya go. However, my purse is a different story....papers, tons of papers. You know receipts and coupons (which never get used), three pens, two chapsticks, immunization charts x3, wallet, notepad, microfiber cloth for glasses, two paperclips (not being used), lotion, tide pen, pocket knife (I use it surprisingly often), nail clippers, bandaids, and tissues! Thanks Bridgett for helping me clean out my purse! I now tag: Andrea, Mandy, Sharlynn, Alecia, and Mandee!

Our Garden

Yippee! These are carrots from my garden! Some of them grew kind of funky. This is the first year I have had a real garden. It's pretty small, just on the side of our house, but next year I want to tear out all that grass and grow a bigger garden. We had onions and I picked all those, then I have tons of green onions. Too many, so if you need any, let me know! Rhubarb is in the middle and I've cut it down once this year and now I need to do it again. That thing grows like a weed! Strawberries, transplanted raspberries, and a rosemary plant on the very end (can't see). I love the smell of rosemary. Samuel thought the carrots were pretty neat. That's what I'll be doing today is slicing/shredding carrots and putting them in the freezer. I love to watch things grow!

My Dad

I was just thinking, while just sitting on the couch reading, I want to introduce you all to MY DAD. First off, he passed away two years ago on July 4th of Thyroid Cancer that got into his lungs. My Dad was the first person, I've ever been this close to, that has passed away. I miss him terribly still. I love talking about him. I loved talking TO him. I wish all the time that I could just TALK to him. Jonathan and I always laughed at him for how many jobs he's had and how many odd things he's done and knows how to do, and now Jonathan is creating the same funny list of jobs that my dad has had. :o) My dad loved going for drives. He loved the mountains and loved taking pictures of them. My mom and dad would drive all over, camping and taking pictures. He was very funny and always made me laugh. I still remember the last time I saw him. He was just sitting there smiling at everyone. It got hard for him to talk very much because he had a hard time breathing because of all the cancer. I remember though, that he said something funny that made me laugh so hard. I just WISH I could remember what it was! My one wish.... Sometimes I feel pretty cheated. I feel way too young to lose my dad. But him passing has only made me stronger. Knowing he's on the other side being a missionary to all those people we are doing work for in the temple. It surely motivates me to go to the temple! I can't wait to see him again. I love him so much. The one picture is of my dad standing there while I am the one fishing. yes, I look like a boy, most of my young years I did. :o) The other picture is when my mom and dad took us out to eat one night as they were passing through Salt Lake City and we had to rush out the door to meet them while Sarah still had on her dress-up clothes! Oh well. It's become my most favorite picture of my dad now. (yeah, he had a crooked/crazy eye, due to surgery done to it when he was a child.) :o) So there ya go, that's MY DAD. ;o)

Payson Lake

We went down to drive around the Nebo Loop yesterday (Saturday), and we made it as far as Payson Lakes. We stopped there for a picnic and a walk around the lake. It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to go back. They have terrific places for picnics and tons of fun in the water. Sarah fed the ducks the bread left over from her sandwich. :o) There was a paved trail all around the lake. Made me want a dog even more! I'm not a pet person, but it looked like a lot of fun to take a pet out there. It was nice to get away from it all. I did this kind of stuff growing up all the time. But Jonathan didn't, so we don't get into the mountains as much as I would like. The kids loved it.

Pedicure for Jonathan!!

Jonathan loves to have his feet rubbed. So this year for his birthday I got him a spa pedicure. He had it done today. It was his first pedicure. He LOVED it! He thought it was great. He was worried that he would like it so much, he would always want them done and I said GREAT! We'll go on a date! :o) I have to admit, that I was excited for him to have a pedicure done because I wanted someone else to appreciate how nice his feet are. Sounds lame, huh? But I'm serious! The pedicure lady even said that he had the nicest feet she's ever seen for a man. :o) That's my man!

It's been a while...

It's been a while... Sorry about that, there's been a lot going on. We just celebrated Jonathan's 29th birthday on friday, saturday, sunday, and again on tuesday. Tuesday was his actual birthday, but we had to have a date night, friends party, family party, and dinner with dad. Whew! How would it be to have your birthday last nearly a week! :o) Thanks to everyone who made it so special. Jonathan is just so social and loves visiting. Most of you know that already! :o)

More good news.... Samuel is finally walking. Mostly. He walks about 70-75% of the time. It's been so fun this time around to sit and just watch him slowly waddle around. He had the biggest smile and gets so excited and worked up that he can only make it across one room before he falls and has to get back up again.

Jonathan is done working in Vernal for the time being. It's nice to have him around more often. :o) I don't get so lonely anymore! :o) I'll try to be better at posting. I lost my camera for a while there, so it wasn't any fun. :o)

all around handy.... lady!

Okay, today I learned something new. I didn't WANT to learn how to do this, but it was necessary! I changed the oil in our lawnmower today. I have to say, I'm embarrassed that I didn't try before. It was the simplest thing. So there you go, I can change the oil in my lawnmower!

Days of '47 Parade....

Okay, this is the only way to parade. No big crowds, up close views of the floats, no kids running into the street, and no candy (i'm a mean mom). They had all the parade floats on display at the Sandy Expo Center today. Free Admission. We loved it. They had bands playing so you still got to hear the sound of a parade. They had free face painting and clowns making things out of balloons. It was great. We got to vote on our favorite floats. Sarah's was the Day's of '47 Royalty Float. It was very purple, pink, and flowery. :o) What a great little adventure for our family tonight, and it was FREE! :o)

I think i'm getting it...

I'm so excited! With the help and support of great friends, I finally am not ashamed of my lame blog. :o) Hopefully, I will be get this thing going like I want and make it a habit to post things about our great little family frequently.

i don't know what i am doing...

just checking to see if this works....