In the Name of Love

Disclosure:  All the following are pictures from my cell phone and are very low quality/blurry.  But - they all are so special to me, because they were ALL moments I can truly say were in the name in love.

1.  Devotion:  ACTD (Tyler and Jeremy's business that is STILL trying to get rolling) moved to Orem last month on a VERY early Saturday morning.  These kiddos were so excited to see each other that they all woke up early just for a chance to be together for a bit.  I thought that was so sweet, and had Tyler text me a picture of them.  :)

2.  Commitment:  Marissa spent over a week planning a shopping spree with her two best buddies, and they had a super fun day together.  Cuties.

3.  Hugs:  Aaron loves LOVES his cousins.  This little Megan is so sweet to him - giving him lots of loves. :)

 

4.  Buddies:  I'm pretty sure there is no better word to describe these two:

5.  Carefree:  These four girlies are so sweet and cute!  Marissa is so lucky to have such great "girlfriend" cousins:

6.  Refinement:  This girl will whup us all into shape before we know it.  She is very "style" sensitive, and likes to strut her stuff.  She likes her hair styled just so, and makes me take pictures of the back so she can see it and approve.  :)  She is THE best cleaner/organizer - and keeps everyone in line.  Between her busy-body attitude and my (minimal, of course) OCD - refinement is bound to happen.  ;)

 

7.  Sincerity:  How often do we find that true friend - lifelong?  Well, I am quite confident that Krystal is one of the lucky ones that has found her "soul mate" BFF at a young age - a sincere friendship that will last through the years.  She and Aeryn are the cutest friends:

 

8.  Unity:  Sisters.  Honestly there is nothing better in life.  Period.

9.  Peaceful:  These guys take care of each other.  They are so good to each other.  I am one lucky Mom.

10.  Adoration:  I took this picture in the middle of Sacrament Meeting (how bad is that?) - Krystal came over to sit on my lap with tears just streaming down her face, and when I asked her what in the world was wrong, she said, "I just miss my Daddy so much."  (Tyler was in New Mexico for the BYU football game).    So, I had her draw Tyler a picture, and we texted it to him.  Yep - in the middle of Sacrament Meeting!  This picture is so sweet - with her puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks - putting on her happy face to show her Daddy the picture she drew.

10 Habits of Harmony ... In the Name of Love.

Secret Agent Boogie

February brings with it multiple birthdays, Valentine's Day, continued gray-ness, and Piano Festival.  Here is Aaron performing his "required piece", Secret Agent Boogie,  in preparation for his festival slot:

After Christmas Elf-ish-ness

Because of the snow day right before Christmas break, the kindergarteners had to miss their "Elf-Party".  So, they got to have it the week in January that they went back to school.  Here's Krystal in her elf costume made with a green t-shirt, felt, and jingle bells.  Plus, she spotted this "leprechaun" hat at the store the day before the party.  So - bonus!  She kept calling herself a "goblin", and told Tyler, "I'm SO excited for my goblin party at school!!!!"  haha.  :)  Needless to say, she had a great day.

Later that same day was Pack Meeting.  It was so nice and fun to be there without having to plan ANYTHING!! Here's Aaron with his Wolf Den acting out their skit for the night:

The value this month was "Faith" - and everyone got to participate in relay-style activities where they had to have a "helper" they could count on to make it through.  Here's Aaron getting ready to guide Chandler to the right pair of shoes:

Here's Chandler trying desperately to help Aaron walk across the balance beam.  :D!  Marissa was a great cheer-leader.

And, finally - putting together a "lego" building while blind-folded - with verbal instructions only.  How intense does this look?  It was QUITE intense ...

Here's Krystal putting her building together ... a little more happy-go-lucky style.  ;)

That was a SUPER fun pack meeting.  Funny enough - tonight is the Blue and Gold Banquet.  My camera has been out of commision for several weeks (I lost my battery charger), so I've felt kind of out of the loop in the blog world, and I'm about a month behind.  But - my new charger came in the mail, and I'm back to picture extravaganza!!

Builders and Buddies

Don't know if I say it enough, but we are so grateful for good friends!

Dee's Room Re-Do

So, Santa did pretty darn good with Marissa's "fun room stuff", don'tcha think? Marissa is very excited about her new, fun decorations.

Both she and I had such a great time putting it all together!  I can't believe she's in her teen years!  (Makes for fun Christmas gifts :))

Christmas with the Fam

Oh, how I love Christmastime!  Not just the day of ... but the WHOLE season.  Any chance we can get together is heavenly!

Mom and Dad got Ty-n-I an electric fireplace/heater.  We love it and have used it EVERY day since.  Mom really out-did herself this year and made so many darling things for the kids.  Here are Aaron and Ethan in their homemade race car hat.  Adorable, yeah?

 

Mom made Hanna and Krystal fancy scarves and purses that fold into doll cradles (they were both in LOVE with those - still are!)  Look at the darling hat she made Marissa (I've borrowed it a few times already), and the "scripture bag" that Marissa loves.  She also made Aaron a bag full of marbles, and Ethan a looooooong snake.  The kids love all of them.

Grandma and her girlies.  Marissa is almost as tall as her Grandma Pat!  AGH!

After a fabulous morning with the Millers, we headed over to Tyler's parents for the traditional Swedish pancake extravaganza!  

Here are Tina and I cookin' and ready-a-fyin'!  :)

Here are the kiddos enjoying the start of the feast.  Krystal was SO happy that both she and Anaka got twinner vests.  :)

Mmmmmmmm!  Tyler and Brandon cooked the pancakes this year, and did a great job.  Check out that stack!  (that's only half of 'em  :)!!)

 

Here are the gorgeous girlies!

And the crazy boys.  

Tyler and his nephew, Ryan.  This might be our last Christmas with him for a few years as he should be leaving on a mission soon.  

Anyway - we had a fantastic day with the family.

More Christmas Eve Adventures

We spent Christmas Eve with my parentals this year ... and we really had a good time. We kind of broke tradition of the "musical program", and just hung out - opened presents - played games - ate yummy food. It. was. FABULOUS!

The kids got to open some toys for the basement gramps recently finished - to put in their playroom.

They were ecstatic, to say the least.

The princesses and their daddy-princess-ees.  :)

We played this super fun game (I can't remember what it's called) - but, we each payed $3.00 to play.  We then rolled dice (for however many dollar bills we were holding - up to 3) and certain numbers determined what you did with each dollar (pass right, pass left, put in the middle).  SO. FUN!!  Even Marissa and Aaron got into it.  I pretty much lost all 3 of my dollars with one roll of the dice ...

... but ended up winning in the end!!!  $27.00!  That was a nice dinner out - thankyouverymuch.  :)

Mom and Dad surprised the kiddos with a ...  newwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww car!

 

Pretty sweet, eh?  The kids just died.  They are in heaven.  Now when Hanna and Krystal play house, there is a Mom and a teenager (that can drive) - no one wants to be the baby anymore.  hahaha!

Marissa enjoyed her Meggie-roo.  (we all do! just can't help it!)

And, we're grateful to have each other ... especially over the holidays.  The love and support of family is irreplaceable.  We miss Kent and Leisy EXTRA this time of year.

Here are the kiddos in their new jammies from G-ma and G-pa:

Ahhhh - I've been dreading finishing the Christmas posts,  but I'm so glad that I saved them.  These memories really warm my heart and make me glad.  I'm so grateful for my family and my Savior, and the warmth and joy that fills my soul through them.

Christmas Eve Sledding!

Gramps took us all out to a snowy field for sledding behind the four-wheeler on Christmas Eve day.  Talk about an AWESOME day.  I'm not sure if you can tell how much fun we all had by the looks on our faces ...

 

I really think Krystal had her mouth open most of the time.  haha!

Cute girlies:

The gramps and his boys.  Aren't those mountains incredibly beautiful?!  The day was just gorgeous!

They each could NOT get enough turns!  Good thing gramps had two sleds going.

I seriously couldn't get over how gorgeous everything looked.  Snow isn't ALL bad :)!

Here's Kris and Miss with their twinner "Black Friday" coats they got.  Pretty stylin', eh?

 

It just wouldn't be truthful to say that Tyler and James didn't have AT LEAST as much fun as the kids.  Granted - BrentO went all out wild for them.  :)

Sent Tyler flying right off into the mud ... didn't get it on film, of course.  Oh - we all had such a blast!

Counting down the days 'til we get to do it again!  Thanks Mom and Dad for such a fabulous day.  More Christmas Eve pics coming up soon!

1-1-11

What a cool date, huh?  I have several posts to put together still from December 2010, but I couldn't resists posting on 1/1/11.

Tyler and I have been talking a lot lately about what goals we want to work on this new year.  Change is really hard for me - and, I don't think I'm necessarily lazy, but trying to set goals seems a little overwhelming for me each year.  Tyler and I talked about making little changes and improvements ... not something COMPLETELY different, but being better at what we're already doing.  We also talked about the importance of still being specific with what we want to work on.  I really like that idea.  It seems more realistic to me.  So, here are my "baby step" goals for 2011:

1.  The theme in Primary this year is "I Know the Scriptures Are True".  I have felt SO strongly about this theme and making it important in my own life as well as the primary kids (in Singing Time) this year.  So my number one goal for 2011 is to read the scriptures EVERY DAY, and study and ponder specific scriptures (that relate to the songs I'm teaching) every week.


2.  Magnify my callings.  I love being the Singing Time leader in my ward, and being the Stake Primary Music Leader has been very challenging.  That being said - I get a "burned out" attitude on a monthly basis.  This wouldn't happen if I stayed more prepared - so, that's what I'm going to work on.  I'm introducing the new theme and song tomorrow in Primary, and I'm anxious for it to go well.

3.  Exercise "officially" once a week.  (Man - just typing that makes me nervous!!)  I hope this is a realistic goal.  I gotta start somewhere.  I always rationalize and say that I got enough exercise cleaning the house, running errands, or (haha) doing singing time.  I have so admired those around me (Leisy and Linz!!) that make exercise a priority.  I know it's important.

4.  Keep my house clean.  This may seem like a silly goal, and really - I'm already pretty anal about how clean my house is.  I like my house CLEAN (drives Marissa particularly crazy).  But - keeping a house clean is quite time consuming.  And now that our house is three years old - things are adding up (cleaning the blinds, baseboards, ceiling corners, cupboards, closets) - plus the usual stuff.  And I want to keep up on that.  So - I'm making it a goal!  :)

5.  Blog.  hahaha!  This blog is important to me, because I feel like it keeps track of my family - and, I think that is important for my kiddos.  Sometimes I like to blog - and sometimes I hate it.  I ALWAYS like to go back and read it.  :) And I KNOW I love reading others' blogs.  But, ya know - it's time consuming - so, on my goal list it goes.  ;)

I'd like to know how others work through New Year Resolutions, so please feel free to share.  And Happy New Year!