New Toy

I got one of these for Christmas. Amazon calls it a Kindle. I call it fabulous. It is an electronic book...as many of them as I could ever want, right at my fingertips and downloaded instantly. I took it to the park today and it fit right in my little purse without having to take anything out first. (I think I need a cover for it though so I don't scratch my new little friend). Matt pulled through again and surprised me with exactly what I didn't even know I wanted.

Christmas was great. They all loved their homemade gifts. I had a hard time keeping the stress level low and the spirit high though so I may rethink that one next year. Above is the card no one received even though the photo was taken in August. Again, maybe next year. As soon as I find my memory stick adapter I'll update with pictures.

Better With {YOU}

I surprised Matt with a weekend trip to California to celebrate our anniversary. He had no idea until we were parked at the airport and I gave him his ticket. So fun. We went to Magic Mountain and spent the day being kids again. The thrill factor is on a much higher scale than it was when we were in high school and we had a blast. He took my hand at every opportunity and I loved every minute of it.
Because of complications we didn't take any pictures at MM, but we reenacted those that were taken while on the rides. We only need one because they all looked just like this:

The next day we went to Santa Monica Pier and then caught a movie before we headed to the airport. It was really nice to be together- without phones, kids, or real-life stressors to get in the way.

It is hard to believe we have been together for 12 years, but only because that seems like such a BIG number. If you take into account that we finish each others sentences or just don't finish our own cuz we know the other knows the rest, or that we pick up on body language before anything is said, or can order for the other at any restaurant, or that we are perfectly content to be in the same room yet doing completely different things-me reading a scrap booking magazine, him watching coyote hunting videos, then it seems like every minute of that twelve years. Although we have grown and molded to each other the one thing that hasn't changed...even at my best, I'm better with you! I love you, Matt.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

The writers of Friends were nothing short of brilliant. Almost everything in life can be traced back to a Friends episode. Julia and I are constantly saying, "remember that Friends episode when..." Matt and I had one of those moments in CA. We were trying to take a nice self portrait with the ocean in the background and Matt was seriously not making the cut. Finally after deleting the first two, I told him he needed to smile. I laughed out loud when I viewed this:

After questioning him, Matt said he was having a Chandler moment. "Remember the episode when Monica wants to get couple pictures taken and Chandler canNOT smile?"

I sure do! So we composed ourselves and tried again. Well, one of us tried again.

Man, I love this guy!

Play time

I haven't done much paper scrapbooking lately-just haven't had the desire. But my sisters gave me the opportunity to make some digital pages for their kids' big day. So much fun!

So hard to believe that these cuties are grown up, graduating and getting married. Does NOT mean I am getting old.

Coming Clean

The first blessing came when I didn't overreact....no tears, no fits, no anger. Huge these days.

The second being that there isn't any leftover residue in my brand new dryer to do more damage.

The biggest however is that it all came out in the wash. Pun completely intended.

What a relief that my boys won't go to school tomorrow in their undies or more likely purple zebra pants.

The purple crayon that tagged along with the eight pair of jeans I crammed into the wash left a huge mess but wasn't the victor. Phew. What a blessing.

And to think I was trying to save time.

He's got it all

David's new primary teacher, who stricks me as a tough judge of character, came up to me after class to tell me that "your son, David is everything. He's handsome, smart, obedient, just everything. You should be very proud."

She's right. And I am.

Too Close

There are those moments when your heart skips a beat, your breath seems stuck half way between the lungs and mouth, and tears begin to rush down your face. As I held this shirt I had one of these moments. The picture doesn't even begin to show the destruction or the magnitude of the blessing we received. But I felt it. This handsome guy, my nephew Ty, was thrown 72 feet from the back of a truck and across a busy main road. He is covered in painful road rash (this was the only smile he could muster the entire time we were there) and has a small sore on the top of his head. That's it. No concussion. No brain damage. Not even sores on his face.

We are so thankful that this dumb choice was not his last. I can't wring his neck until he's a little more healed, but he knows it's coming.
Some of the things that were said that have stayed with me:

Ty: We were only going a mile-I didn't think it was that bad. It all happened so fast.

Officers/doctors: We don't know why or how but you can take your son home tonight.

Sister: Every time he c-r-y-s (I didn't say it) from the pain of changing the bandages I'm just so glad that he still feels pain; that he's still alive.

We all are. I just hope that he realizes that Heavenly Father has a plan for him and he is still needed on this earth to do great things.