Christmas Recap

Christmas Eve day began with a trip to the vet which resulted in...

THE CONE OF SHAME.

Poor Scout!

Excessive licking of her paws (because of allergies) led to an infection. I knew before I saw her after the vet visit with Dan, that she was donning the cone because Dan walked in laughing.

On a happier note, Christmas Eve afternoon,
the girls decided to exchange their gifts with each other.


Oh the anticipation...

Julia didn't take off this adorable knit hat the next two days.

The actual evening was spent with family and yummy food.

We read from Charles Dicken's book, The Life of Our Lord,

something we haven't done on Christmas Eve before, but I highly recommend.

The annual photos of the parents with the girls.

Christmas Eve night all the girls created a contraption to sleep underneath

in the basement family room. I pretty sure that there wasn't a lot of sleeping going on.

Julia woke the family up around 8:30 a.m. to see what Santa left under the tree.

Presents were opened and shared and more delicious food was consumed.

The entire holiday was perfect!

19

'19' has been a good number for me.

I was 19 (and a half) when I got married.

Today, I have been married 19 years.

One word...AWESOME!

I have loved being married to this guy and I consider myself

the luckiest girl in the world.
I pray every night that each of my girls will find someone
to marry who makes them as happy as I am.

I love you tons Dan!

xoxo

Out of nowhere it began snowing in our house...

sometime after 10:00 p.m. (notice the news in the background).

A pile of construction paper and a plethora of scissors emerged from
drawers and cupboards yielding dozens of beautiful, colorful snowflakes.

It all literally happened as I scurried from here to there and before I even realized what was happening, the tables were covered, windows were plastered and scraps of what would make perfect confetti for a New Year's celebration were strewn across the floors.

I'm amazed at how much fun a pile of paper and some scissors can produce.

Rainy Day in the Orchard

Emily is really good at convincing her sisters to let her practice

her photography skills on them.

Today's setting was the apple orchard near our home.

(Notice the deer in the back center)




Seriously, this look on Hannah's face is identical to the look she gave me when I got to hold her for the first time in the NICU and see her up close (she was 5 days old then and 40 miles separated our home and San Diego Children's Hospital where she had been life flighted after her birth). Of course her face was smaller, but the big brown eyes and wrinkled forehead are just the same. I will never forget that look!

I'm so glad that Emily likes to take photos and I am even happier that my girls are usually in the mood to let her.

Dear Princeton University and the like,

Please cease your weekly emails, perpetual catalogs, and tantalizing letters to my eldest child. Because you see, the more you send, the more she considers you and all the others as a possible academic adventure. Frankly, her family would like to see her gaining her college education a mere mile or two away from home. I continue my bribing methods for attending BYU (like doing her laundry, automatic Sunday dinner, providing a fun hangout when needed at home with all the new friends she'll meet, unceasing love and adoration from her little sisters).

The rest of the family literally can't talk about college starting in a few mere months without getting misty eyed. As a mom, I can see this new phase in my life as the absolute hardest yet (taking them to kindergarten was a piece of cake in comparison).

Yet, I am so very, very grateful for such a wonderful, good and dedicated daughter and yes, one of my best friends!

P.S. Can I recycle your mail yet?

Winter Wonderland

If there was a hint of doubt that we may not have a white Christmas,

well, my fears have been put to rest.

One morning last week, the mountains and everything in between

transformed over night into a white canvas.

Winter is here.

Those kids that are currently not sick

took advantage of it today while Dan and I carted a sick child

to the doctor (again) and finished (almost) the Christmas shopping.

I have to say, that it is really nice having my own camera girl around

(thanks Emily for the great photos, once again).

And perhaps when I get sick of the snow and the cold,

I'll have to bundle up and roll around in it like the kids,

to remind myself just how amazing it is to have four seasons!

Ethics Reform

I am really not one to talk about politics on my blog,

but there is an important issue being discussed and debated in

Utah politics.

My amazing father-in-law, Karl Snow, a well respected and devoted

citizen and previous Utah state senator, was one of the individuals appointed by

former Governor Jon Huntsman

to analyze ethics in Utah politics.

The conclusion of this non partisan, diverse group of Utahns is that reforms are necessary and needed in Utah politics. However, the current legislature is unwilling to implement the recommendations.

Petitions are being circulated which would put the issue on the ballot next year for voters to decide.

KSL -TV gave Karl some good air time on the news tonight

and they did a decent job reporting on the issue.

You can find the link here...

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=8989510

I hope you'll watch the short segment.

If you are interested in signing a petition just let me know.

I have one you can sign!

Christmas Choir Concert

I love Christmas music! What a treat to get to hear Julia sing in the school's Concert Choir last night. They sang in English (of course) and French and Latin.

The entire program was well done and enjoyable to watch.

And of course a picture was in order for these "Two Peas in a Pod."

Broadway Review

After 12 weeks of practice and rehearsals,

Julia and the drama group she performs with twice a year,

put on a low-key, but fun and entertaining

review of Broadway musicals.

Her older sisters always support her by

enthusiastically attending her performances.

A huge bonus was having Grandpa and Grandma Clark

be able to attend. We've enjoyed having them "local" for the

last four weeks. I must say the time has gone far too quickly!

Dan skipped out on this performance--he's been quarantined--by me.

I'm very sure he has the flu.

Thanksgiving 2009

Today was a beautiful day--warm enough to roll around in the leaves.

We had Thanksgiving dinner this year with the Snow side of the family.

Emily was the designated photographer
and then the time got away from me
and we ended up with a lot of single shots of just our family.
Oh well...

These girls are pretty cute.

I got off easy this year...

Dan prepared the turkey and the gravy.

My only contribution was a homemade gluten-free chocolate cake for Hilary,

which she graciously shared with everyone.

Nothing better than Thanksgiving...great food and great people to share it with.

And the fact never ceases to escape me that this child will be in

college next Thanksgiving! (I know...I need to give over it already)!

Thanksgiving is...

Thanksgiving is living like a queen.

Thanksgiving is eating like pigs.

Thanksgiving is a holiday.

Thanksgiving is not liking the scale.

Thanksgiving is family.

I found this little poem in Julia's book bag today and it made me laugh.

Procrastination versus Preparation

As a mother, I am still learning that procrastination is not always a bad thing and that it actually works better for some people--just not me.

You see, Emily takes after her dad. He may procrastinate at times, but he works

well under these conditions. I, on the other hand, prefer to prepare because procrastination only leads me to stress... a lot.

I am trying to exercise patience as I sit back and watch (without too much talking), Emily prepare or is it procrastinate her college admission deadlines and scholarship deadlines?

I want her to have it all done yesterday. However, she prefers to put the final touches on everything the night before. And you know what, it always works for her!

Any pressure=great success for this one and in many ways I admire it.

So dearest Emily, I will try to show more appreciation for the wonderful virtue of procrastination.

Counting My Blessings

I love Thanksgiving because it is a time of reflection.

A time to count our blessings...and there are so many!

Today and everyday, I am grateful for these four wonderful girls in my life!

We all pretty much share everything with each other.

I love every moment of being their mother, even the more dramatic moments, which are quite common in a household of hormones.

I am one very grateful mom!

It's been a bad week for this one...

She came home from her grooming appointment looking, well, if you've seen Pinocchio,

there is a definite resemblance to the little wooden boy and Scout when he is transforming into a donkey.

You see, our adorable Westie was "blessed" with large ears--batman-like ears.

When she is properly groomed, the ears don't look so bad, they are actually endearing.

This week the groomer, in her haste, decided to shave Scout's face and leave the rest of her hair long. When Dan picked her up with the twins, they nearly died at the way she looked!

Scout must have sensed her hideous haircut because she literally kept her face down after we brought her home. We are all adjusting to her new look, including Scout.

We can't wait for her to look like her breed again!

This is why I love my job...

Geek is Chic

Tonight is Timpview's Sadie Hawkins Dance and the theme is...

Nerds and Geeks...

so Emily and her group came up with their own version, Geek is Chic.

Emily's date is the awesome Daniel Winters from Atlanta

who flew all the way to Utah for Sadie Hawkins.

My favorite moment of the evening... when Daniel pulled out

a corsage made out of graph paper for Emily!

Don't you love the nerdy glasses they sported?

We got to host Emily's group for dinner--which we loved--except that they were an hour and a half late for dinner.

If Daniel's amazing family is reading this...thank you for letting him come!

We only wish you all lived closer because we miss you guys tons!!!

Order

This picture has nothing to do with this post but it does look like a Polaroid...pretty cool...my creative eldest child did this for her blog.

This post is actually about ORDER. I recently (with the help of this guy) put our food storage room in order. It has only taken years, but it has happened and it has made me so happy! I now have a nice big room to put all the long term food storage and water. The pantry overflow also has its own place. My favorite part is my new refrigerator that sits next to the deep freezer. No more tip toeing into a dark garage early in the morning for another gallon of milk. While the room is not complete, it is a great start. AND to be completely transparent, I must thank my parents for their very orderly genes that they've passed on to me, because without them, this project might have never happened!

Halloween 2009

Halloween lasted two days this year. Friday, Julia and I dressed up for Wasatch's annual Halloween Parade. I sported a fairly bland witch costume and at the last minute, Julia made a costume change and decided to be a Polynesian girl. I have to say she was a cute one!

Halloween night Julia met up with cousins and friends to trick or treat together.
This cute group of girls had a great time and scored loads of candy.

Dan and I commented on how strange this Halloween was because we only had one child who actually trick or treated and she preferred to do it with friends.

The highlight of the night was getting to see so many friends, neighbors and ward members with their adorable kids in their costumes!