To Create

I saw this video on Mahon's blog today and I absolutely loved it! Who couldn't love President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk from the General Relief Society meeting back in September of 2008. At the beginning of 2009 I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what my goals should be for the year. We often set high expectations and fall short...or at least I do. I asked tons of people what their goals were for the year trying to find inspiration of what is REALLY important. After much thought I came up with two goals that I really wanted to accomplish this year. 1. To spend less money than we make. 2. To finish all of my unfinished sewing projects.

This video reminded me why I love to do so many things. I find so much joy in sewing, cooking, and writing. I know that I am not very good at any of these things, but they make me happy anyway. I also figured out that if I finish one of my unfinished projects each month I will be done with all of my sewing projects by the end of the year. (That is if I don't add any new projects to the pile...which is hard not to do.) It has been so much fun to pull out almost done projects that were stopped for some reason and to fall in love with them again. Last month I finished this fun quilt that I did for my quilt class. I must say it has become my favorite quilt to snuggle up in.

I have a whole corner in my sewing room full of projects just waiting their turn to be finished. Isn't it great how we all can find something to create, something that brings us joy.

The More The Merrier

Today we had a delightful change from our normal routine of life. We have recently started attending church at the stake center. In our previous ward building the chapel had smaller benches on the sides, which we loved since there are only three of us. But the stake center is much, Much, MUCH bigger. Even the side benches are huge. We have staked our claim on the 2nd bench on the right hand side of the chapel, right in front of the sacrament table. I like our bench, I like our spot...but it feels really empty most weeks. I'm sure it is even more empty feeling when I leave to feed Anna. Imagine if you will, Devin all alone on this bench for most of sacrament meeting.

Today was a different story. Today we had guests on our bench. Visitors. Friends! We were delighted to add Braxton, Luke, Jake, and Callie to our bench today. Both sets of parents were at other wards today and they declared us their adopted parents. It was quite the change going from 3 to 7. Our bench was full. It was WONDERFUL! Maybe someday we will fill up our bench without the assistance of our friends, but for now I guess I am the "mother" of 3 teenage boys, 1 teenage girl, and my little Anna.

We had a similar experience several weeks ago with my brother David's kids. Nothing beats piling up all the kids and reading stories. I look forward to having a good sized family someday.

The Simple Things

I'm blogging today to publicly thank my sister-in-law Missy, also know as Melissa...weird! :), for being one of the most thoughtful people I know. A week or so ago Missy called us up and asked if they could watch Anna on the 13th so we could go out on a early Valentine's Day date. Missy and her husband Briant would be down for the weekend and they thought it would be nice to give us a night out. How thoughtful is that?
Thanks to Missy and Briant for being our Baby Monitor Watchers (that is what we call anyone who babysits because Anna goes to bed at 7pm and really anyone that watches her just watches the baby monitor) we had a fun evening. We haven't gone on a non temple date since Anna has been born.

We went to Rumbi Grill for dinner. Luckily they were out of pork so Devin got to have this great shrimp chicken dinner for 25% off. We told him the morning shift guys could forget to cook extra pork every day.
We walked around the mall for a bit. We didn't get very far. We laughed at how expensive kid's clothes are at Nordstrom and Baby Gab. I am way too big of a tight wad to spend $$$$$ big bucks on clothes that my kid will grow out of in 3 months. On the other hand we couldn't pass up drooling over the clothes at Eddie Bauer, our favorite store. They were having a 50% off all clearance items. Devin got a new pair of gloves for $6. Coming from Eddie Bauer that is quite the deal.

The highlight of the evening was going to the dollar movie, which is actually $1.75 We looked at all the movies out and we really couldn't find anything that we just had to see. We decided to go see Bolt. It was really cute. Very quotable.
Overall we had a great time. Thanks Missy and Briant for being so thoughtful. We hope to be able to return the favor someday soon.
And these are just stinking cute pictures that Devin took of Anna today. Isn't she BEAUTIFUL!!!

At Least 365 Things

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  There are at least 365 things that I love about Devin.  What do you love about Devin?

Anna's First Temple Trip

We feel so blessed to live so close to so many temples. I remember as a little girl watching for the Salt Lake temple as we were traveling to my Grandma's house. I loved looking for it as we drove North on I-15. Likewise I remember looking out the windows at her house down onto the Salt Lake valley and trying to pick out the temple among all of the bright city lights. On the way home we loved finding the Jordan River temple too. I never get sick of trying to find the temple as we are driving. Several weeks ago I was thrilled to see that the Draper Temple was now "lit up." And just last week as we were driving we saw the new Oquirrh Mountain temple shining at night. How cool is it to drive North and pass SO many temples!
Since we love the temple so much, we could not pass up the chance to go to the Draper Temple Open House. The best part is that we got to take Anna with us. We debated taking our stroller with us, but we were so glad that we didn't. Devin was able to hold Anna up so she could see stuff better. She was so good and didn't make a peep. (Though she did decided that the Celestial Room was the place to spit up part of her breakfast. Good thing Dad is fast with the burp cloth.) It was great to go to the temple as a family.

We are excited to go back and do a session. Because this temple serves 60,000 members and only has sessions every hour and the rooms only holds 50 people you have to call and schedule an appointment. If you'd like to go the number is 801-576-4240. I just got off the phone with the cute little temple operator lady and Devin and I are scheduled to be on the 8pm session on Wednesday, March 25th. WOOOHOO!!!

She's Contagious

You can't help but smile and laugh when Anna is happy.

What Luck!

When I quit teaching I had many people ask me, "So, what are you going to do with your time?" Well, I don't sit around watching TV that is for sure. I have many jobs. Wife, Mother, House Cleaner, Dish Washer, Organizer, Family Accountant, . . . the list goes on and on. Lately I have added a new job to my list, Travel Agent. My family loves Disney World with an amazing crazy passion. The last time we went was in 2004. As we were traveling home we decided that 2010 would be our next trip. The years have flown by and now that it is 2009 it is time to make reservations and get things going. Long story short, after a few long phone calls and some time spent on the Walt Disney World web site, I was able to collect enough valuable information to be nominated as our families official travel agent. It is really easy and the Disney people are so helpful. Last week I was digging around trying to see what things were going on the week that we are going and I was DELIGHTED to find out that we will be there for Marathon Weekend. I could hardly contain my excitement as I found out more and more about the race. How much fun would it be to run through the Disney parks? This was an opportunity of a lifetime! The best part is that Devin is going to run with me!

Three cheers for Marathon Weekend! We may only be running the Half Marathon but it is going to be SO much fun. Look at the fun course we will run. I can't wait until January 2010.