Christmas Eve

So on Christmas Eve we went to my parents' house and pulled the sled around in the fields with my dad's snowmachine. That's me with Grace and Emma in the sled. We had fun in the snow!

We brought the kid's Christmas Eve presents with us and let them open them early at Grandma and Grandpa Jeppesen's house. They were of course their Christmas jammies! We always got to open one present Christmas Eve growing up and it was always new pajamas to wear to bed. We have continued that tradition on with our kids and we love it. We added a new tradition to go with it and we get changed into our jammies and go look at Christmas lights before going home to go to bed. Here Grace and Emmalee are in their new pajamas and Joe is changing into his!

After we changed into our pajamas, we went to my Grandma's house. My Grandma's house was always the place to be on Christmas Eve! I have been going to her place as long as I can remember, even every year since I've been married. It's one place I have to go every Christmas Eve. My aunts and uncles always come. All my cousins used to come too, but needless to say, that is hard now that we are all grown and spread out all over the place. Since we are close, we get to be there every year and I'm very grateful for that. You can see the screen in the background....while we were there my uncle Kyle showed us some slides that he has. Most of them were of my Grandma and Grandpa and their kids and some extended family. It was so much fun to see my dad when he was little! He was so cute! I can defintely see some similarities between him when he was little and in some of my kids and some neices and nephews.

Here's my beautiful Grandma, my dad, my uncle Darwin and Aunt Brenda all hanging out together and enjoying each others company.

Here is Sierra in her Christmas pajamas, all sorts of relaxed in her aunt Amanda's lap, ready to go home and wait for Santa to come! After we left Grandma's, we drove up by the Rexburg Temple, looked at some Christmas lights, went home and set out some beautifully decorated Christmas cookies for Santa and went to bed!

Christmas Cookies

We made Christmas cookies together...it's become a tradition with us at Christmas time. Plus I get some great pics of the kids while we are doing it. I love this pic of the kids' hands on the dough. I think I'm gonna try to do this one every year also to see their hands grow and change.

The kids love the cut out the cookies!

It's always hard to decide which one to do next. At least they are pretty good at taking turns with all of them.

They are always covered with flour at the end! Of course a couple of them think they need to "add a little more"! Wonder which ones that could be!

Here are some of our beautiful cookies after we decorated them!

Only one week left!!!

AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only one week left until Christmas is here. I should be prepared by now, but I'm not. I'm getting there, slowly but surely. This happens every year I think. I never get completely ready until the last minute. I don't know why. I always think that "next year I'll do better", that I'll get ready early and not have to worry about it. It never happens. I am getting some great deals on-line, with free shipping of course. I do still need to go to some stores, but I am trying my hardest to get away with the least amount of town shopping as possible. To all of you who are ready for Christmas, I'm so proud of you. For the rest of you who are still scrambling, Good Luck!

One flaw in women

The One Flaw In Women

By the time the Lord made woman, He was into his sixth day of working overtime. An angel appeared and said,"Why are you spending so much time on this one?" And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec sheet on her? She has to be completely washable, but not plastic,have over 200 movable parts, all replaceableand able to run on diet coke and leftovers,have a lap that can hold four children at one time,have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart-and she will do everythingwith only two hands." The angel was astounded at the requirements." Only two hands!? No way! And that's just on the standard model? That's too much work for one day. Wait until tomorrow to finish." "But I won't, " the Lord protested. "I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart. She already heals herself when she is sick AND can work 18 hour days. "The angel moved closer and touched the woman."But you have made her so soft, Lord." "She is soft," the Lord agreed,"but I have also made her tough. You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish." "Will she be able to think?", asked the angel. The Lord replied,"Not only will she be able to think, she will be able to reason and negotiate." The angel then noticed something,and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek. "Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model.I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one." "That's not a leak,"the Lord corrected,"that's a tear!" "What's the tear for?" the angel asked. The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy,her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love,her loneliness, her grief and her pride." The angel was impressed. "You are a genius, Lord.You thought of everything! Woman is truly amazing." And she is! Women have strengths that amaze men.They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they hold happiness,love and joy. They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happyand laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand up to injustice. They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution. They go without so their family can have. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend. They love unconditionally. They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards. They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding. Their hearts break when a friend dies. They grieve at the loss of a family member, yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left. They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart. Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors. They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show how much they care about you. The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning. They bring joy, hope and love. They have compassion and ideals. They give moral support to their family and friends. Women have vital things to say and everything to give HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE TINY FLAW IN WOMEN,IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.
May all the women in my life know how much I love them and know their their true personal worth to everyone around them.

O Christmas Tree!

So I really wasn't kidding when I said we were cutting our Christmas down from our front yard! I'm so happy it is gone from there. We still have a little bit of it to pull out, but we'll wait until spring to do that. It was a Big tree. I had to do a lot of trimming to get it to look okay in my little house. But now it looks great. Yesterday Gary cut it down and I put the lights on it. That is my job every year, I'm kinda picky about how it gets done

Since the kids didn't get their rooms clean last night, they had to wait until after breakfast this morning before they got to decorate the tree. And they did a wonderful job. As always it is bright and beautiful, full of homemade decorations, decorations from their grandparents and a few things I've added over the years.

After I got done with the tree, I went' through the rest of the lights and put them all on the house outside. I don't have pics of it yet, but one of these days when it is dark, I will get a picture of it and show you all. I did take a couple of pics of our stockings and some of my decorations. Most of the decorations I do have are gifts given to me from my mom or my friends. One of these days I really will start getting some more things to go with it all. For now this is as good as it gets, and that is just fine with me!

Need to do

So the only Christmas decorating I've done so far this year is changing the background and music on this blog! Ugh! It really is on my "to do" list for today, I've just been putting it off for some unknown reason. I really do like Christmas, I just hate getting everything out and trying to keep my kids from leaving it all alone. They are getting better, no more babies running around here, just a 2 and 4 year old who don't listen so well. Oh well, I'd better get to it so we can get our tree this weekend. Actually we are cheating this year with our tree. Gary is gonna cut down one that is in our front yard that I hate. I actually don't hate the tree, it's really nice, it's just in a horrible place and my hubby refuses to move it to a different place in the yard, The last one we tried to move died. So we are going to use it for our Christmas tree this year! I need to go through my lights and make sure they still work, yada yada yada. I'm more excited about putting pics in my new frames I have. I'm order some pics today to put in the frame my Visit Teachers gave me for my birthday(Thanks ladies, Love ya!) Anyway, wish me luck.....I'm not really looking forward to my "chores" today. Maybe if I blast some great Christmas music it will help get me going. That should help, music always helps get me going. Hope ya'll have a great day!

I'm 30

So I have officially been 30 for a day now and I don't feel much different, thank goodness. I know a lot of people have issues with turning 30, but I don't. I don't think 30 is old. I'm just in an awsome place in my life. I have a wonderful husband, 4 beautiful children, a house, warmth, job, security, love, family, friends and the list goes on and on and on. I love the point of my life I'm in now. If that means I'm 30, more power to me!!! Wooohoooo! I love being a year older. I've learned so much in the last year. I have so many memories because of it. My children amaze me everyday. They are so funny and insiteful and they see the world in so many ways that I learn new things from them all the time. I wouldn't have that now if I wasn't 30. I'm going to celebrate the number and all the things that it means to me now.