Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me! I usually don't really want to draw attention to myself intentionally...on purpose....on my birthday. However, I have been feeling some "stuff" today that I wanted to share and wanted to document.

My grandpa (Papa) called me today to wish me a happy birthday. It is adorable that he has started calling everyone on their birthday. He is just a smile on my face. He is always loving, witty, cute and sweet all at the same time. He said something to me today that I have been telling everyone about and I think I keep doing so because it is probably something that affected me, especially today on my birthday. In Papa's true fashion, he asked me how I was feeling being one year older, and after I told him that I didn't mind being one year older-he told me that he doesn't get one year older anymore, he gets one year "closer". I got after him for even mentioning that his time may be getting closer. I seriously wouldn't know what I would do without him around. I know that it is inevitable, but I will miss him when it does happen. However, after he said that, I thought a lot about me being one year older. I always look forward to my birthdays. Not because of the attention, maybe a little for the cake, but mostly because I really do enjoy each year more than the last. This year has been a year full of more challenges than I would have even thought possible-let alone more than I thought I could survive! So how could I even fathom this being a better year than the last? With that, my Grandpa's comment about being one year "closer" means a lot to me this year. My Grandpa intended to refer to it as closer to being gone physically. For me, I would like to think about it as being one year closer to who I would like to be. One year closer to who my Heavenly Father would have me be. One year closer to knowing who I am and where I am going. One year closer to knowing my Savior in a more intimate way. So today on my birthday I have been given some amazing gifts from those that I love. I have received some wonderful words of Birthday wishes. But after thinking long and hard about what my Grandpa said, the best birthday gift that I felt I got today was when I decided that I am proud of who I am and who I am becoming and for that, I am grateful for the challenges (gifts) that have come to my doorstep to mold me and help me become one year closer to who I am. Here's to 36 (plus) more years of learning and growing!

Calli Skiing

The school offers a Ski Club option to the kids that are in fourth grade and up for four weeks. They take the bus up to Kelly's Canyon Ski resport together after school on 4 consecutive Wednesdays, and offers a discounted price for the group. Calli really wanted to do it this year. All of her friends were doing it and so we worked out a financial deal that I would pay for the first time and then if she wanted to keep doing it, then she would have to pay for the other times with her own money. She ended up LOVING it and kept going. It was as if one of her best friends had died when it was over. She was so sad. My brother Michael took her up with his youth group a couple of weeks ago too. She really took to it and really enjoyed it! She has been waiting for her Uncle to come home from his mission to go snowboarding with him. That would be the next thing that she wants to try. It is so fun for her to have such good friends and enjoy something like that together. I love it when you have them try something and they enjoy it so much.

My little snow bunny and friends...

Bountiful Basket!!

I was doing my trade at The Apple the other day and the girls were all talking about Bountiful Basket. I inquired about it and consequently spent all week dreaming about it. It you would like more info go to http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

Here's what I did: You can only order online starting at 12:00 Noon on Monday. The baskets are a limited quantity and so you need to get on right away and make your order ASAP. The baskets are sold out by 12:30-12:45 usually so you need to order quick! FYI...There are so many people on the website that it goes really slow. You purchase the basket online and then on Saturday you go to the assigned place where you ordered your basket to pick up your goods! The local areas that do it are Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Iona, Rexburg and Rigby. It is in other states and areas too. It does request that you volunteer some time but it is not a requirement. I will help out sometime when I can. Today I just wanted to "try" it and check out what it was all about.

Thanks to my sister-in-law that wanted to do it too, she got online while I was working and ordered our baskets Monday. Today I hauled my two little ones with me because I was warned that it was a lot of food so I would need some reinforcements. I took 4 recycled grocery bags and filled all four of them with produce! (2 for me and 2 for my SIL)It was so much fun! It is random produce each week. You get what you get...and that is part of the fun. We have been living off of our food storage since Jeff got laid off and so I have missed fresh produce especially. I am so excited to have a stocked fridge with fresh fruits and veggies! Oh! I forgot the best part. It is $15.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Probably $40-50 worth for $15! There is a one time 3.00 fee when you first sign up-but worth every penny! I don't think we can eat all of it in one week-but I will definitely be going back in a couple of weeks!

Included in my bountiful basket:

2 bunches of asparagus

tub of strawberries

2 tubs of blueberries

9 mini cucumbers

7 zuchinni

head of cabbage

2 bunches of bananas

15 Mandarin oranges

10 apples

5 pears

2 bunches of spinach

HUGE bunch of lettuce

Nelson Christmas...a little late

I know that this a little late, but I haven't posted our Christmas with the Nelson's yet. Here's a few of our exciting events...

From my terrible memory and a few photos that I have, we gathered together as a family after Christmas. It was nice to have another Christmas after we had already celebrated. It was fun to have Alex and Anna and Ryan and Becca and their family here visiting. It is always fun to have everyone around. The kids always have so much fun! We all get together and Quenalee always does such a good job putting Christmas together for all of us with thoughtful gifts for everyone! My favorite were the SNUGGIES that the boyz got. It was fun one night...she usually does the "greedy game" where we all fight over some really fun or funny gifts as a game-but instead this year, she gave us each an envelope with a photo and some money. The photo was a picture of a child who was an orphan. Andy has a really good friend who has gone to volunteer at this orphanage and she sent Quenalee all of the photos. There was a description of the child and their talents and personalities. We could choose whether we wanted to keep the money or to give it away to the orphanage. It was neat to hear about it and to watch all of the family give their money. The kids were cute about it too. It was nice to do something that was giving back. What a special idea.

After we had that night, we had a riveting arm wrestling match and leg wrestling match which both Calli and Mack got into. It was hard not to when they have a very competitive aunt Anna who got into it much more than they did.

Anger

We had a Relief Society dinner the other night and while we were there, we had a guest speaker that came and spoke to us about Family Relationships. A topic that all of us need some lessons on-I am sure. He mentioned a few things that I really felt that I have been benefit ting from since he spoke that night. The first thing that he talked about that I appreciated was a story that he told about a tree in an isolated area where a tribe of people wanted to remove the tree from close to their homes. They were creative in their method because they didn’t have advanced heavy duty equipment to remove the tree. They believed that if they woke up every morning and gathered around the tree and yelled as loudly as they could at the tree, the tree would die. Eventually, the trees roots broke down and it fell. He spoke about how sometimes we do this with our loved ones. I especially thought of my children. This morning, for instance, I managed to yell at each one of them before they left our home. I yelled at Mack because he continues to try to escape the house in the morning with his new vest on and it is too cold to JUST wear a vest. I am not sure why he continues to try to get away with it without me noticing… Calli asked me if I had a baby picture of her to take to school 2 minutes after she should have already been out the door. Quentin was playing solitaire this morning when I reminded him it was his morning to do the dishes and he continued to play numerous games before I finally had to raise my voice to get him to come and do what I asked (highly unusual for him-but happening more and more now that he is a teenager!) So I have not perfected this practice-but I do understand that if I continually yelled at my children like that everyday-all day, their roots would crumble and their spirits would die. I am definitely going to work on this. I got angry at all three of my children this morning, but after they left, I thought about exactly what triggered my anger. Another thing that this gentleman spoke about was that anger is an emotion that never stands alone! It was interesting for me to hear from him that anger is always brought on first by another emotion. Fear, sadness, frustration, and exhaustion, are just a few examples that he gave. The times that I have been angry since I heard him speak, I have stopped and wondered what brought on my anger. It has been an interesting exercise for me to do. I have been able to pinpoint the other emotion really quickly and nipped that emotion in the bud instead of continuing to be angry and lashing out at someone. This morning, I was first disappointed in one of the kids and then it just snowballed from there. I was also in a hurry because I was trying to get out of the door as well to get to my sub job. This afternoon when I get home, I am making an assertive effort to complement each on of my children at least three times to try to repair the roots I may have damaged with my angry that was brought on by my rushed disappointment.