New year, new challenge...

Ok, this challenge will take some time....a year to be exact.

Take one picture every day for the next year. You can record them however you wish, I am going to buy Becky Higgin's kit of the month off of lisabearnson.com. Her kits are amazing because they include everything you need. I read the idea out of the January issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine and got excited. Just think, a picture a day.....what will your life look like after 365 of them?

Holiday snippets of joy...

1. Christmas season also means basketball season for us. Two years ago, Dale told Shay that he was going to have to step it up if he wanted to make the High School team. Shay has. He has spent hours at the rec center & hours shooting in the driveway. Long story short....hard work is paying off for him. He made the basketball team and is playing on the Sophomore, JV and Varsity teams. We are having a ball watching him. Which leads me to the next snippet....

2. We are also having a ball watching Baylee play. It is her first year. Dribbling the ball is a new concept, zone? what's a zone?, and full court press it just plain hard to grasp. Since the refs weren't calling anything, and since our girls were being too nice....I told Baylee to just get in there and take the ball away from the other team. She has taken it to a new level. All I can say is that it is a good thing that they don't call fouls, because she would be sitting on the bench.

3. A son with a creative knack. Tanner purchased the yarn & made hats & scarves for all of his cousins....

(His mom is lame & hasn't sent them yet, but they are coming)

4. Gingerbread houses with the family. Who can't be happy when surrounded with that much candy...

5. A mom that brought over a Christmas bag with gifts for the kids to open each day. The gifts had special notes & thoughts about the true meaning of Christmas....

Yep, she's pretty much an awesome Mom & Grandma!!!

6. The shopping prowess of one fabulous friend completed my willow tree nativity this year. Happy, happy....

7. Enjoying putting up the Christmas decor, the cards from friends, the yummy treats from neighbors, game nights with family, the shopping, the wrapping, the lights....

8. Being serenaded by my new Sarah McLachlan CD while putting it all away, vacuuming, organizing & finding my table in the craft room once again...

Ho, ho, ho...

"You were wrong, Grandma!! He is the real Santa!"

Saturday, we got to meet him...
he remembered the kids from last year & couldn't believe how
they had grown.
Baylee asked for a motor scooter, with a seat.
Keaton asked for an ipod!!??
Santa said he couldn't promise anything (thank you Santa)
and gave them a candy cane...they were thrilled!!

I
It snowed all day today....in St. George. I shopped, listened to Christmas music
and made potato soup for dinner.

People here say I'm crazy because I like the cold,
maybe I only like it because I know it won't last long,
or because I don't have to deal with boots & coats & muddy floors everyday,
or maybe I like it because it reminds me of trips to the cabin when I was young,
of chili & hot chocolate & going out late to ride down through the
trees on Grandpa's old skis,
with the lights reflecting off the snow....
of flying off the back of a snowmobile,
of Christmas day on the slopes of Brianhead, cheering as family
members did crazy things,
of rosy cheeks, cold feet & fun clothes to bundle up in,
of Christmas pageants (and practices),
of the house on the hill that played music from the chimney & lit up
the sky with lights, of NOEL spelled out across the front,
of stockings hung all over the fireplace,
of not being able to sleep & trying to sneak in to see what Santa
had left, & being caught by a Dad who wanted to seem fierce...but wasn't.
of Christmas morning, being so excited that I couldn't stand it
any longer & seeing the clock turn to 6 am & finally getting
to wake up Mom & Dad...
of being convinced one Christmas that I had, in fact, seen
the real Santa,
riding in his real sleigh,
with his real reindeers...
and really saying Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas!!!

Watch out...

I love Christmas, but it really does suck the life out of me.
I look at my ceiling fans collecting absurd amounts of dust,
my craft room is so out of control
and just the other day, Dale wondered, aloud, if we could tackle our closet.
(He can't get to his church clothes anymore, being that they are behind the hamper)

Happy to see it come, happy to see it go.

Basically, I am tired.

My Creating Keepsakes magazine came in the mail today. Usually, I read it, ear mark the pages I want to copy, make fun of what people spend time scrapbooking, feel inadequate for my lack thereof, and then go back to ignoring my pile of pictures that keep...piling up.

Well, not this month....I have great plans for the new year. I might even feel rejuvenated!! Of course, that could also be the Diet Coke talking, but I'm going with it.

Organizing, cleaning, scrapbooking friends beware, there are some new challenges on the horizon...

Good times...

Last night I told Keaton that we were going to GG's (Great Grandma's) for Family Home Evening to help her set up her Christmas tree.

His reply...

"Who is GG? Is she that old girl?....The one with the stick?"




I was a bit hesitant to tell my Grandma this story but realized that she was in her 90's and
must be aware that she is, in fact an old girl...with a stick.

Incidentally, she laughed, a lot, & said that she needed to put it in her history.
So, I figured that I needed to put it in mine too.