MAYLIN2007

Here are some of the 10 things that I think made 2010. 10. Time at our family cabin. We hiked, worked, floated the river and had camp fires. 9. Jay's business started off very shaky in 2010. The first few months sucked, but it picked up and things are getting back to normal now. Knock on wood. 8. We had a great turn out in our garden. Austin's potato patch was so fun! 7. Kenzie and Jay's trip to D.C. and Austin's trip to Israel. 6. Jay's nephew's wedding. 5. Loosing 10 pounds. Since I didn't get to go on a trip, that is my happy moment. 4. Most of the family read some really good books this year. They were awesome! 3. No major health concerns, hospital stays or surgery/stitches!!! We appreciate the Lord's blessings. 2. We were able to see some of our friends and family this year. We loved that, but missed those we weren't able to see. 1. I loved watching my kids grow to 18, 14, 12 and 4. These ages brought fun new times; high school, Senior year, fir...

Christmas morning started at about 2:30 with Alex asking if it was time to get up yet. We told him no. He again asked at 4. Then Kenzie asked at 5:30. By 8 am Kens was asking again. So we told her fine, get everyone else up. She easily got up Alex, but struggled with Maylin and Austin. Finally at about 8:30, she had them up and they were out to see what Santa had brought. We take turns at our house so everyone can see what the other got. It was great to watch each child. Everyone got a kick out of Maylin. She LOVED her bike and her Barbies. We had our traditional breakfast of Christmas Morning Casserole and cinnamon rolls. It was Yum We then spent hours playing on the XBOX kinect. That techonolgy is amazing. That system is so fun and SO fun to watch!!! Maylin even got in the action, but no one really wanted to be on her team because she wasn't very good at it and she was more fun to watch.I was her partner most of the time. We also put a puzzle together and we went and saw the late...

I have to say that our week of service turned out better than I ever dreamed. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were even better because of our time serving together the days before. We did a lot of great things. I will only share the details of one. On Thursday we made little gift bags with an orange, a banana and some chocolate in each. We tied them with cute ribbon. I made 16, knowing there was an old folks home near-by that had a small group like this. I had hoped a small group would offer my kids more one on one time. We went to each room and left the gift. Some residents were asleep so we just left them, others we said hello to and had small talk with, but there were 2 residents that really touched our hearts. The first lady was named Katie. She was 97 years old! She was such a fireball. Her memory and her vigor were inspiring. She got out her scrapbook and showed us pictures of her as a child and her as a married woman. She showed us pictures of her son who died when he was 4 and ...

YouTube Video Maylin wanted to fly

If you haven't got a card from us this year, its just because I haven't got them out yet. So until then, here is our blog card. Today, I thought about the Christmas spirit I was feeling and decided it was ZERO. I have been too busy to feel it at all. So tonight, I have tried to spend time by our trees, listen to music and we went to the church to have Austin play some Christmas songs on the organ. It helped a lot. Then we met together to make a plan to help us feel the spirit of the season. We listed some of the things the Savior did here on earth. The kids listed: raised the dead, healed the sick, fed the 5,000, worked with the poor and needy,loved children and those who were alone or old. We then made a list of things we could do everyday this week that would represent something He did while on the earth. So one day we plan to go to the cemetery and clean off the headstones (our town's cemetery is small) and then go put wreaths on my grandparents' graves and others wh...

Its not my give-away, but it is a great one! Go to Honeyville Farms - Cookin' cousins blog and check out the give-away. It is awesome. I have used all of their food storage items and regular everyday items for years. Love it! Their dried fruit is amazing and their scone mix rocks!!! Check them out.

Austin celebrated his 18th b-day today! I can't believe it. I am so grateful he is alive and that he is doing so well. With all he has been through it is a blessing. It has been hard thinking that we have an 18 year old. I can't believe he will be leaving the house soon. We got his draft registration card yesterday....that had me in tears. I can't believe my little boy is an adult. He is a sweet adult and I feel so blessed. Monday we had Jay's nephew Jason and his wife over for a Christmas/b-day party. Jason's wife's b-day was just days before, so it was a great combined b-day. We had Rubio's Mexican Grill and we made sugar cookies.!!!     These are pictures of Austin opening his presents tonight. Today, Austin took candy bars to his class and I sent a small cake for him to eat at lunch. Oh yes, I also made him breakfast which only happens on your b-day or on a holiday....okay, not all b-day's either. Tonight after homework was done we went to Costa Vida...

Today at church, Alex pulled me out of my class to tell me he was in the men's restroom when an older gentleman had a heart attack and fell to the floor. Luckily, we have a paramedic in our church who worked on him until the ambulance got there. Alex watched for a minute as this man worked on the gentleman. Alex was pretty shaken up and was scared how terrible the man looked. The paramedic from our ward, didn't think chances were good for him. Alex needed a lot of hugs and we have been talking about it all afternoon. I don't want it to frighten him. I can easily see how upsetting it would be. My sweet little boy!

I used to have a clean house and I was organized....somewhat. But those days are just dreams now. My house is no longer clean for more than 30 minutes and organization is no longer a somewhat, but a what is that? It all started getting hazy back when we got Maylin. Things started to slide a bit as it was difficult to keep up with a toddler and teenagers. I could still do it though. At least, for a day. Now a day is a dream. A dream that I wish would come true once again. I wake up early everyday and I start working and I work at things A.L.L. day long, but at the end of the day it doesn't look like I did one thing. I am not kidding you. I think the difference lately is busier kids, yes, but mainly it is the dog. I am not kidding here. That dog has put an extra kick to my behind and it has won. Seriously. I clean up more wet footprints and accidents than every before. I find my living room/formal dining room is never clean. I couldn't figure it out for awhile. It just seemed lik...

Yesterday, while leaving a most exhausting shopping trip, I am sure those of you with kids have had at least one exhausting trip, I said to Maylin, "You have worn me out." She said: "What did I do?" I said: "You are just young and I am too old." She said: "Yeah. You are old. You are going to be dead soon." I said: "I hope not too soon. I think I have quite a while." She said: "If you are dead, I'll pray for you." I didn't say anything here. What do you say? A few minutes later she said: "I've been thinking. If you are dead, whose hair will I rub? You have the softest hair in the world." I told her I may feel old sometimes, but that I am not going anywhere, anytime soon. She can rub my hair until she is too old to want too.