If I didn't already have enough to do....

Before... and After
Sorry about the dark shot. McCray was my photographer, and I feel pretty lucky that I made it in there at all! It took an hour and a half to do this, and it still wasn't a great job.

The nerve! It snowed yesterday, on a weekday. That is bad for me. Kent leaves for work at 6 am and gets home at 7 pm because of overtime right now, so if it snows during the week, I am the lucky shoveler. Or unlucky shoveler, I guess. It snowed about 8 inches yesterday morning. It was a really windy, bad storm. The news said there was over 200 accidents in the valley. Unbelieveable! I got out and shoveled, and survived. BUT... I am going to keep praying for storms only on the weekends! :) ( And pining for St George and Las Vegas winters)

The Price you Pay....

We decided to hold McCray back a year and not have him start Kindergarten until next year. We are VERY happy with our decision. McCray is a gentle guy and loves being home with his Mom. We thought that letting him mature for another year would help him socially and academically. He is a smart kid, but just has not been interested much in coloring, writing, etc. We have worried about him being taller than his kindergarten teacher if we hold him back, but he is going to be big no matter when he starts school. Preschool would have been wonderful for him, just not financially possible for us this year. So, we have preschool at home 2 days a week, and lucky guys, Mom is their teacher. We have had fun, and McCray eats it up! He LOVES every minute of it. Reed likes it for about 5 minutes, and then he has had enough. It's an age thing. Lately McCray is not satisfied with just a lesson, an activity and a craft. He wants to do crafts all day long. It wears me out some days. Just this week, he has made a dinosaur diorama, we've made and played with play doh, we've made jabber jabbers, done lacing cards, colored, made cookies, and on and on...... He is continually wanting to DO something. I guess this is the price I have to pay for keeping McCray home for an extra year. He keeps me busy, but what a great way to spend my time- playing with my kids. And the rewards? Priceless.

"The List"

I have made some "resolutions" for the New Year, and many of them are projects that I want to accomplish. I have so many things that I want to get done, who knows when and if they will ever all get done, but I figure that if I never set a goal and try, they really won't get done. I have been inspired by many of you and the goals that you all have set this year.

I have set some resolutions in the past- and actually stuck to them perfectly. One year, I didn't drink anything carbonated for the whole year. That was hard. I don't drink it a lot anyways, but it was when I was playing ball in college, and I thought it would be good for me. On the next New Year's Eve, as soon as it turned 12:00, I had a rootbeer. It about burned my head off. Another year, I wrote in my journal every night for a whole year. That was a great thing to do. I have to laugh at myself though- it was a year when I was seriously dating someone else, not Kent, and I have every last detail of it. When I was dating Kent, when it really mattered, I didn't do quite as well. Not too bad though. Another goal was to not cut my hair for a whole year. This was back when it was SHORT, and I kept trying to grow it out. I would get to a certain point, and I couldn't stand it, so I would get it cut. So for that year, I just lived with it, and eventually, my hair was long again. It took more than just that year.

All of those resolutions were when I was younger, and maybe I had more guts to stick them out. It was fun to set a goal, and accomplish it.

These are my goals for this year:

• Complete my misc. project list- way too long to list. I will just chip away at it little by little.
• Earn my Young Womanhood Recognition Award that Leaders can get. I have served in YW for 9 years now, and I think it is about time I just did it. (I was so close as a teenager, and just never completed one of my projects.) I have wondered if that is the reason I keep getting called into YW? Because I just need to buckle down and get that award? I doubt it, but when did setting and accomplishing some spiritual and personal goals ever hurt anyone? :)
• Be better at recognizing others needs, and try to do acts of service when I see the need, not just when I am asked. I really want to teach our kids this too- to look for ways that we can give service or help others. I think that the way they learn it is by seeing us do it, and by taking them with us and having them help. We are trying to do that.
• Catch up all of the kids photo albums. It will take some time, but it can happen. Camille and McCray's books stop when Reed was born. I think I got a little overwhelmed for awhile. :) I have some catching up to do.
• Be more thoughtful of my extended family. Sometimes I get so caught up in the things that I am doing that I forget or don't call to say hello, check on someone, send a thank you note, a birthday card, etc. I want to improve, because I think I have the best family (Payne and Miles) EVER, and I want them to know it!
• Be more grateful, and look for the blessings that our family receives each day. When I take time to do this, I am so much happier. I realize all of the good things in my life, and all that I have to be thankful for.

Ok, there they are. Now, each of you can hold me to them. When I was at Rick's we used to have a saying when we huddled after practice- "Every day, in every way, we get a little better." That is what I want- to be a little better every day. Ready....Set....GO!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

Wow, I can't believe that another year has come and gone. It went so fast! I mentioned that to Kent, and he said that when you get older time goes more quickly. I guess we must be getting old. Wasn't it just yesterday when we were all worrying about Y2K?

We had a great day today. We started it by sleeping in until 9 o'clock! Can you believe that people with 4 kids were able to sleep in until 9. It was heavenly! Poor Morgan sat in her crib for quite awhile. She was happy though. Good girl! We pretty much hung out at home. We had lunch, and then played boys against girls in Battleship. The boys got lucky and won. We were doing ok, until Reed came to sit by me..... and knocked into me and made all of our markers fall out. Good excuse. We would have still lost, but we were close.

Erin &Kelly came over tonight for dinner. We had chili and cornbread, and lemon pudding pie. Lemon pie and chili don't really go together, but I was craving something sweet. It did the trick. The kids always try to show off for them, and tonight was no exception. They are good sports about it though. I am at work now. It is pretty dead tonight, so I have time to get this updated, which needed to be done.

I have been thinking of my New Years "Resolutions". There seems to be one resolution that keeps getting repeated. Be more organized, and get a better routine. I think I have been working on that for the past 20 years, and probably the next 20 as well. I am trying, and hopefully getting a little better each year.

Christmas 2007

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was different than any other in that we were at home, just with our own little family. We had a nice time, but of course we would always choose to be with family, if we had a choice. We did get together with Erin&Kelly, Carter, Jay and Ilene, and baby Andrew for Christmas dinner. We went to their house (E&K) for dinner, which was amazing, like always. It is so nice to live close to the gourmet chef's in the family! We really enjoyed visiting, and Kelly showed the kids his trains, which were really neat. What would we do without family?

The kids had fun with all of their presents. We just played most of the day with the new toys. Camille got some new Littlest Pet Shop toys, and she and I played that for awhile. The boys got their "toy weapons." They also got some flashlights and cheapo walkie talkies and they were happily "spying" on us all and going on secret missions. They have been having fun with those. Kent and I were relishing the fact of how great it is when you can purchase most of your kids Christmas at the Dollar store, and they are in heaven. The good thing for us, is that the stuff usually breaks in a month or so, and then you don't have to look at the mess anymore. It won't last long, but while it does, we will enjoy it. Morgan got a little umbrella stroller, and has been enjoying pushing her stuffed animals around in it. She is walking most of the time now, although it is still pretty shaky.

Uncle Carter came and hung out with us Wed and Thurs mornings, and we all really enjoyed that. Lucky guy, he got mauled by the kids, and I talked his ear off. He played games with the kids, and they had fun.

This Christmas was very special. We have been so touched by others kindness and Christlike love and service. I think that I better learned the true meaning of Christmas. We had wonderful opportunities to serve, and also be served. We had opportunities to lighten others load, as well as have ours lightened. It was truly an amazing Christmas, one that I won't ever forget. We are blessed. Not just at Christmas, but all the time. We have had a great 2007, with many changes, but so many blessings as well. I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas, and that the coming year brings us all together at some time, as well as the blessings we all need.