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Aren’t computers great?  They make life easier.  I can do work for AMM at home in my pajamas (with or without my hair done and other necessities!) and no one knows.  I’m just efficient.  However, for all the good computers do, there is a downside.  They only do what we tell them to!  On the 10th I was posting my last holiday update and being super efficient by starting the post for the next day.  However, I got distracted.  I saved them and never came back to finish.  (Does anyone else do this?)  I really thought I’d finished.

Tonight our scrapbooking friend, Amanda (she’s probably been in a class of yours if you frequent the classes at AMM), posted a comment asking if she needed to register to read the posts.  No registration is needed … I just need to find my brain!  So … since Amanda has helped me on my road to recovery I will be sending her a prize!  That leads us to …

Baseball.  I hope that if my boys ever become professional baseball players their names don’t appear in an investigation as steroid users!  They both began using this week and I authorized it!  Neal was diagnosed with Croup on Wednesday and Riley on Friday.  It’s been an interesting week.  I hope all is well with your families!  Please check back on Monday when I PROMISE to finish the last two posts.  Oh, and it was only one dose each … for medicinal purposes! 

Hugs!

4 Amazing pages.

Cost: $20

This class will be taught 3 times.

Class times:

10 am – 12 pm

1 – 3 pm

4 – 6 pm

***Sign up for this class, & you will be entered into a drawing for an amazing Basic Grey basket.***

Don’t we look fabulous?  At least Neal looks great.  Did I wash off my eye make up? 

We’re lucky … the boys sleep until about 7:30 am every Christmas morning.  We even had to wake them up last year.

As was tradition in my family growing up, we read the Story of the birth of Christ from Luke 2 together.  I think it’s important to do it in the morning before you start opening presents.  I think it helps us to remember the purpose of the holiday.

We were lucky to have my parents came to watch the boys open their gifts.  (My dad gave us their tripod after we took this photo) 

The boys and Bryan gave me a blow dryer and the boys and I gave Bryan NCAA College Football for Playstation2.  The boys were happy with what they got. 

Funny Notes:  We lost a Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitrix at one of the Grandparent’s houses (it may still be in the package … we’re not sure) and the New Goblin’s sword was lost during breakfast. 

I also forgot to give Neal two presents.  I hid them so well I couldn’t find them until last Saturday.  He didn’t mind being surprised with two more presents.  (no wonder I thought Riley got more on Christmas morning)  It’s a good thing Neal’s friend Cole bought a Ben 10 ship with his Christmas money or I don’t think I’d remember these two gifts now.  I even remember thinking “I should write down what I’m buying for the boys so I don’t forget anything or over spend” when I bought them in October.  I guess I should have listened to myself!

It snowed a lot on Christmas Eve.  It was a lot of fun to come home and see "elf" tracks in our front yard!  The boys were thrilled!  You never know when Santa’s Helpers will be checking on us!  This has been (by far) the best year so far because both boys "get it".

While Bryan was out shoveling our walks, Neal came up to me and said he was going to do something really funny … wear his pajamas from LAST year THIS year.  I knew what he was hinting at but, I didn’t want Bryan to miss the big moment.  (It’s amazing how fast kids will get ready for bed on Christmas Eve!) 

The boys LOVED their pajamas.  (I found the BEN 10 pajamas on eBay)  We baked our cookies, read a story, put out the cookies with milk, said our prayers and got both boys in bed … and then it happened … at midnight, I heard someone in the bathroom.  Bryan and I were in the family room wrapping presents and finishing projects.  It had to be Neal! 

I went down the hall to help him hurry back to bed.  I tried to subtly ask him if he’d seen anything.  The smarty pants told me that he didn’t look!  I had laid in bed with him for a few minutes when he started crying.  I asked him why and he was worried that Santa would come when he was awake and he wouldn’t come back when he was asleep.  I showed him the Santa Tracker on the Internet and Santa was in Minneapolis.  That meant that he wouldn’t be here until between 3 and 4 am and he had plenty of time to get to sleep.  He went to bed and everything was okay until we were unwrapping presents the next day.  Riley opened a gift from Santa and Neal said that he’d seen that gift in the family room the night before.  He also let it slip that he’d peeked in the front room and LUCKILY there were no presents under the tree and nothing in the stockings!  Man, did we have to thing fast!  We told Neal that as we were wrapping the night before, we’d decided not to give it to Riley.  And that it was a good thing, too because Santa gave it to him.  I think we survived that one!  

Is there anyone else who sometimes has a hard time with this?  Is it really okay?  Does it affect my integrity?  hugs.

We are very lucky to have most of our families live close to us.  We still have three Grandmothers and one Grandfather alive.  Thus, we are the ultimate party-goers! and we get to go to three extended and two immediate family parties.  There are many family traditions that we look forward to.  My favorites:

Playing Chimes.  It always takes us time to warm up.

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Singing Songs.  Mele Kalikimaka (see video) & the 12 Days of Christmas – Hawaiian Style are all time favorites!

Piñata.  Apparently I need to teach my sons to be more aggressive.  Riley tried to get in, but was pushed out of the pile (by his favorite cousin!).  Hey, all is fair when it comes to Piñata!

The Nativity Dress Up.  When did my boys get too “cool” for the Nativity?  I can’t bribe Neal to do it.  We did hear some great one-liners from Riley this year: “I don’t want to be married” and “I don’t want to wear this dress anymore” (see photo at left) 

In the past we’ve heard these from Neal: “I don’t want to be Joseph Smith” and “I’m the King Angel”.  Look at my cute nephew, Caleb … I guess he’s too young to protest!

Aunt Janine’s Stories on Christmas Eve.  This year she didn’t bring How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Neal was so upset that she promised to bring it every year.

Stories by Grandma.  Every Christmas Eve-Eve, Bryan’s mom reads a new story and gives us a book of our own!  (No more angels)

Food.  As I’ve said before, we have Cinnamon Rolls and Breakfast Casserole on Christmas Morning.  It’s also tradition to have Chicken Cordon Bleu on Christmas Eve-Eve with Bryan’s.

I hope you’ve enjoyed a glimpse into our families.  Aren’t we lucky!?

Wow! I just ran full speed into a wall & I’m just recovering from my injuries! 😉 I’ve covered all the “business” stuff in my previous posts, but none of the really fun things.  I love Christmas … even though there are so many directions you can head, in the end it’s all to the same place … focusing on family and the birth of Christ.  In the midst of it all, I had two chances to slow down, sit (by myself) and regenerate.

Dec. 18:  The first was at the annual Relief Society Dinner.  I am lucky to live in the same ward (congregation) as Gary Cook. He produced the film The Testaments that shows daily in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (Salt Lake City, UT).  He spoke on his current project: Emma Smith: My Story.  (Coming to theatres March 2008)  Emma organized the songs for the first hymnal.  She loved music.  One thing Gary said that struck me the most was that “we all have a song in our hearts.  Even though some of them are unsung the Lord hears them”.  I needed to hear that. 

Dec. 24:  At 7:00 am every Christmas Eve our Stake (six smaller congregations) has a Fireside for the Young Men, Young Women and their leaders.  As you know, I am NOT a morning person!  However, I have been to the fireside before and know how good it is.  That morning, I woke up half an hour early in a panic.  I had forgotten to do something extremely important the day before.  It’s not fun panicking yourself out of bed, but it was that kind of morning.  Then I go to the fireside and was reminded of the “gift” that was given to all of us through Christ’s Sacrifice:

• He will heal our broken hearts
• Give us strength where we have weakness
• Take upon Him our sorrow
• Blot out our sins (if we repent)
• He broke the bands of death
• Satan will have no power over us
• He will NEVER forsake us or leave us alone.

All we have to do is accept the gift.  Again, just what I needed to hear.  I think we all do.  No matter what your personal beliefs, I hope we can all find a way to sing the songs in our hearts! 

(I will post more on my holidays in the upcoming days)

2008, really!?  Weird.

I hate to rush this, but I’m heading out of town (semi-spur of the moment).  Two weeks ago we decided we’d hitch a ride to San Luis Obispo to watch SUU play Cal Poly.  It didn’t take us long to realize we would be a mere 3 hours away from Anaheim, California and DISNEYLAND!  We’re leaving tomorrow.  We’ll watch the game on Saturday, drive to Anaheim on Sunday, wake up bright and early on Monday and spend the entire day at Disneyland.  We’ll head home on Tuesday in time for me to finish getting the Open House ready for Thursday night.

Anyway, you’ll get no “fluffy” description of my pages this time.  I hope you’ll join us on Thursday, January 3rd from 6 – 9 PM for the Open House.  I  look forward to seeing you again at my class{es}.

One more thing, as you read in my previous post, the Magnet Board Class has been postponed until 2nd quarter.  But, I will be teaching all three classes during Basic Grey Day on March 14.________________

Dates:

• Tuesday, January 22
• Tuesday, February 26
• Thursday, March 27

Times:  6 – 8:30 PM

Cost:    $30

Dear Friends,

I have some really sad news about the magnet board class I was going to teach this quarter.  It is being postponed until the next quarter (April, May & June) due to product availability.  The magnet board will not be available from our supplier until the beginning of April.  I’ve been checking on other options and could get the boards done for this quarter, however, they will cost more and will thus increase the cost of the class.  We have already had to tweek things to get the cost of this class down to an acceptable level ($60).  Jorjana (our owner) and I  have decided that it would be better to wait a quarter and keep the costs down as much as possible.

Thank you for your interest in my classes.  I know how excited everyone was for it and tried to not disappoint anyone.  I guess some things are just out of our control.  I hope you will understand why it was put on hold.  I look forward to teaching the class next quarter. 

Luckily, I will still be teaching “Possibilities!”  Check back this weekend to see the pages I’ll be teaching.

Hugs!

Click here to watch this project on Good Things Utah

Click here to Download traditions_album_instructions.doc

Cover:  Cut Green Paper to 9 x 9, Red paper to 7 x 7, Holly paper to 6 ½ x 6 ½, and red paper to ½ x 9. Rip 3 x 9 reverse side of green paper. Layer patterned papers as shown (using green paper as the base). Add Basic Grey Magnetic Tie to right side & wrap ribbon across the back of the album. Mount on cover with a strong glue and Xacto knife the square peek hole.

Using Xacto knife, cut slits every ½” down left spine of cover & tie ribbon through slits.

With Making Memories foam stamps, stamp Christmas, “{“, and 25 circle. Add bling, rub-ons and Glitter Glue.

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