Relax.

We had a wonderful Christmas with our family. Lots of parties, lots of visiting, lots of white elephant gift exchanges! The kids love the white elephant fun but still need to learn you don't always end up with something you'd really like!

Big Mister and I are enjoying alone time in beautiful San Diego. We are relaxing, shopping and enjoying the beautiful sites of the ocean around us. We can see it right from our hotel window. Pictures to come!

We don't want to leave our vacation, but we are anxious to get back to our kids. Parents definitely need little breaks, but we miss those kiddos so much! Thanks to friends and family for taking our kids while we are gone. They have so much fun with their cousins.

We have enjoyed our time away but we are all anxious to get home to Utah.

I'll be back blogging again soon.

Stuff.

 

I just love this picture. 

Little Misses first day of Kindergarten 5 1/2 yrs ago.  Such a tiny little thing.

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Last Friday was Big Misters birthday.  He worked.  I shopped.

I made his favorite meal from his youth, stacked enchiladas and apple dumplings for dessert.  He also got two new books.    Happy Birthday Big Mister!

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I got my hair cut…about 5 inches taken off.  So much better!

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We woke up to snow today, finally…and it’s still snowing.  It’s beautiful.  I had to drive in it to get Little Mister to choir at 7 a.m. 

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I found a new chiropractor in Utah.  He is wonderful and I have a diagnosis.  In simple terms, the top of my spine is straight rather than a nice pretty curve in my neck.  Yikes!  It’s bad.  My problems are all in my neck, which affects everything else.  I am going in for daily exercises, traction (scary) and adjustments.  I hope to be feeling better real soon.  And really, I am just hoping this condition can be fixed.

My 2 cents from dealing with this…pay attention to your posture when you are on the computer, etc.   Don’t hunch, keep your shoulders back and get up and move, rotate your arms and shoulders around a bit.  Your ears should be over your shoulders.  If they are not, go see your chiropractor before it gets worse.

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The kids are praying to find a home to buy in our current neighborhood.  They love their school and have made lots of friends that they don’t want to leave.   Problem is, people stay here for a long time, not too many of these houses come up for sale.  

We’ll try.

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My niece and nephew and their families are coming over Saturday morning for a fun family get-together.  So glad we have some family here.

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I have lots to post, but little time.  I may not get caught up until January.

We can’t wait to be in AZ with our family for Christmas.

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Every night we read a new Christmas story.  Here’s one of my favorites for ya!

Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun.

- Mary Lou Cook

It’s said that you can never have too many friends, but Christmas was just a week away and I had five people left to shop for on my Christmas list and only three dollars to my name.  How do you tell your mother, brother and three friends that you can only spend sixty cents on each of them?

“Let’s set a price limit on our gifts this year, “ I suggested to my best friend, Joanie.

“That’s a good idea,” Joanie agreed.  “How about nothing over five dollars?”

“How about nothing over sixty cents?”  I felt like the biggest cheapskate in the world.

“I guess this is where I’m supposed to say it’s not the gift, it’s the thought that counts,” Joanie smiled. “But don’t blame me if all you get is a stick of gum!”

It is almost impossible to buy anything for under sixty cents, so it was really going to have to be very small gifts with very big thoughts.  I’d never spent so much time or effort trying to come up with the right gift for the right person.

Finally, Christmas day arrived, and I was worried how people would feel about my “cheap” gifts.

I gave my mother a scented candle with a note that said, “You are the brightest light in my life.”  She almost cried when she read the note.

I gave my brother a wooden ruler.  On the back of it I’d painted, “No brother in the world could measure up to you.”  He gave me a bag of sugar and had written on it, “You’re sweet.”  He’d never said anything like that to me before.

For Joanie, I painted an old pair of shoes gold and stuck dried flowers in them with a note that said, “No one could ever fill your shoes.”    She gave me a feather and a Band-Aid.  She said I always tickled her funny bone and made her laugh until her sides ached.

To my other two friends, I gave one a paper fan and wrote on it, “I’m your biggest fan,”  To the other, I gave a calculator that cost one dollar and I painted a message on the back, “You can always count on me,”  They gave me a rusty horseshoe for luck and a bundle of sticks tied with a red ribbon because “friends stick together.”

I don’t remember all the other gifts that I got from people last Christmas, but I remember every one of the “cheap” gifts.

My brother thinks I’m sweet.  My mother knows she is the most important person in my life.  Joanie thinks I’m funny and I make her laugh, which is important because her dad moved away last year and she misses him and is sad sometimes.

I was worried I wouldn’t have enough money for Christmas gifts, but I gave gifts to five people and still had twenty cents left over.  We all still talk about our “cheap” gifts and how much fun it was to come up with a gift that cost pennies but told someone how we really felt about them.  On my bookshelf, I still have a bag of sugar, a feather, a horseshoe and a bundle of sticks…and they are priceless.

- Storm Stafford

City Lights

  We love to visit the “city” especially at this time of the year.  It’s so festive and fun and there is so much to see and do!

On a side note, a few weeks ago we really had an adventure and rode the Trax (light rail) into the city.  The Trax station is just a five minute drive from our house.  Parking in the city is at a premium, so riding the Trax was nice in that respect.  Plus, the kids really wanted to see what the Trax was all about.  Big Mister and the kids dropped me off at one stop for a conference I was attending and they went on for shopping and dinner at the Gateway. 

Unfortunately, my camera battery died so I did not get all the pictures I wanted at beautiful Temple Square.  Next time.

We went at the end of November before it got too cold.  Big Mister’s Office is at the Gateway so we met him for dinner and then enjoyed the lights of the city.

The ever changing tree lights at the Gateway Mall.

In the forefront is the Olympic Legacy Plaza Water Fountain, a very popular spot for kids to visit in the summer.  It’s actually fun to sit and watch the water spout up in choreography to the Olympic music.

We think this tree is awesome.  It is a light show on its own. 

See how it changes?

These next two pictures are from the top of two huge walls inside the Salt Lake City Union Pacific Depot.  It is no longer used as a train depot.  We were there to visit a Christmas show.  It’s such a cool old building.

1847 depicting when the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley

1863 – depicting the railroad arriving in Utah

Ps.  For breakfast Little Miss wanted toast with a side of Christmas presents!

I’ll have that, too!

A different Thanksgiving

We stayed home for Thanksgiving.  It was calm and stress free.  I did a bit of cooking and baking, but not much.

It was just the four of us.

It was different.

For as long as we have been married we have been able to enjoy both my family and Big Misters family on Thanksgiving Day.  That’s a lot of people and a lot of cousins for the kids to play with.

We were most concerned about the kids missing their cousins but they were fine.

I got up early to get the turkey in the oven. Then I began scouring the ads.  Not much this year that I was interested it.

We lazily prepared a few side dishes while the kids played and watched the parade.  Big Mister forgot there was only four of us and made enough mashed potatoes to feed his family and mine! 

Charlie and his girls visited for a couple of hours about noon time.  At least we had some visitors so it made it seem more like Thanksgiving.  They were headed out for a Thanksgiving Feast at a hotel in Salt Lake City.

We ate our Thanksgiving Feast about 2:30.  We set the table all nice with a cloth and decorations.   

It was good, but I think it’s true what is said about food tasting best when it’s shared!  Next year we will rethink just having the four of us.

As long as our little family is together though….life is good:)

After we cleaned up we took a nice long walk. 

About a two hour walk.  We did not intend to be gone that long, but we took our time watching and waiting for Little Miss to do all her cartwheels, splits and hand springs.  Of course, Little Mister had to show us tricks with his roller blades.  

Leaves were everywhere!

Our goal was to walk to one of our favorite spots. 

We drive past this almost every day. The Jordan River Temple.

The gates were locked so the picture is way far back with trees in the way!

Want to see a way better picture of this temple? Taken in spring time, for sure!

We made our way back home in time for hot chocolate and a movie.

The kids are WAY in to hot chocolate these days.  Have you tried this?

Oh my, it is so good.  We get it at Wallyworld Wal-Mart. 

I can hardly think about Thanksgiving without the rush of excitement for Black Friday.  I don’t go shopping with any anticipation of getting anything.  It’s just fun to go and see what deals I can find.  I didn’t even get out of bed until 6:30 a.m. on Black Friday!  I was out the door by 7:00 and back home by 10:00 to pick up the family. 

We love to get out on Black Friday, the kids think it’s so fun.

Actually,  my best shopping day for good deals was online the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Can’t wait for the packages to start arriving.  Shopping from the comfort of my own home…I can almost get used to that.

Late Friday afternoon Big Mister’s niece came to visit us from Orem.  We ate some dinner and then drove to Salt Lake City to see all the Christmas lights in the city and at Temple Square.

She spent the night and it was so nice to have her with us. 

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Our Thanksgiving (construction paper) tree has come down.

The advent calendars are up.

The Christmas Tree is up.

The stockings are hung.

Christmas has arrived at our house.

And we can’t wait to be in Arizona with our family for Christmas.