Almost New Year's!

I have just 24 hours to hit my first couple goals for 2010. . . I want to have done 200 posts - - very silly little goal, but oh well.

I'm currently working on cleaning my room, cuz I think it'd be cool to go into 2010 with a clean bedroom. (I'm quite messy, by the way).

We had an awesome Primary Presidency meeting this morning, planning for the coming year. I'm excited about it!

Kid meet and greet

My former teacher and pal, Mrs. Beth Taylor, has and continues to be an important influence in my life. . .tonight we got together with Laura, her husband and our assorted kids to hang out for a bit and go to dinner. Unfortunately my computer apparently has a multitude of viruses and won't cooperate for uploading much right now. . .but the pic above is me with Anne Claire, her daughter. . .we have the same birthday! YAY! and this year, I'm 30 and she's 3. It's fantastic.
Below is Mrs. Taylor with Jacob, Anne Claire, and Laura's 2, Ethan and Evan.

Baptism Day/Cake Day

I'm gonna try to get to 200 posts by New Year's Day! :)

Kaleigh's Cake!

Kaleigh will be baptized tomorrow!!!
This will be on the cover of her baptismal program!

(Her mom took the pics)

And here's the cake her mom and I made!

Christmas 2009!

Jacob and the Articles of Faith

Jacob just ran in (yeah, so it's 11pm, oh well) and said, "I can do the 13th Article of Faith!" and sang it, only missing a couple words. . . I love that:
1. he was so excited that he could do it
2. that he could do it
3. that I followed through with having "8 is Great" last week, where one of the gifts he got was an Articles of Faith card.
4. That he found the card and studied by himself
5. That he's getting ready to be baptized this coming year.
6. That his dad is getting ready to be able to baptize him. This should be an amazing experience for BOTH of them.
and so many more things. . .

Carter's Hunting Cake

Happy Birthday to Carter, who turned 6!

This is my first cake JOB! (as in, I was paid. :)

8 is Great!

The program went really well -- all 6 "8 is Great" kids were there along with their families. 2/3 members of our Bishopric, both my counselors. . .it was . . .well. . .GREAT. :)

"Choose your identity"

I was just leaving a comment on a friend's blog and when I got to the part where i had to sign in, I thought the instruction, "choose your identity" was somewhat funny: wow? who do I want to be? Hmmm the options are endless! I guess I will be me.

I AM 30 YEARS OLD TODAY!

I cannot believe it.

The kids at school were funny. Kids totally understand the birthday thing - and tell them it's your birthday and they will break out in song, hug you, try to give you things, and TRY (for like 20 seconds) to be "good." It was a CRAZY school day - off schedule because of collaborative teacher meetings, but it was still a pretty good birthday.

Facebook is fabulous for helping you to feel cared about you on your birthday. And emails are fabulous too. Received one or two unexpected birthday wishes - including calls from my brothers - Michael and Robert - and Robert's family, and even a nice email from my ex husband, who is currently deployed to Iraq.

8 is Great!

When I lived in Columbus, Robin Harrell used to do AMAZING "8 is Great" programs/firesides for the kids that would be turning 8 in that coming year. This year, Jesup has SIX kids turning 8, which - for Jesup, is amazing. And Jacob is one of them. So - - I decided now would be a great time to try to do one of these firesides. I'm really happy with the way that these invites turned out. I designed them, and my dad designed the corresponding envelopes.

First Video-Video

I bought myself a (cheap) camcorder this morning at 5am! It came with software to do video/music/videos. . . I'm excited to try it out. My first one:

Thanksgiving!

November thus far. . .

These pics are in no particular order - in fact - they are in backwards-no-particular order. :) Maybe one day, I'll insert them into the text at the appropriate times, but for now, I'm just glad they're uploaded.

First, we have . . .Tyler and Annabelle (Cathy and Jason's youngest)

Then Cathy, Brianna, and I

Tyler and Annabelle again

The Mount Oquirrh Temple (IN CATHY's NEIGHBORHOOD!)

Pensive Tyler

Salt Lake Temple at night

Lance and I

In the SNOW!

awwww

Tyler and I on Temple Square

Poster from the Memorial at Banfield

My siblings and I and mom

My gorgeous sister-in-law, Lucero and Sebastian

Tyler, looking fabulous, in downtown Portland

This has been the most hectic, difficult, sad, exciting, dynamic month I can ever remember.
On Tuesday, November 3, we found out that my brother, Sean, had not been to work Monday or Tuesday without calling in. Efforts to have the police break in to his apartment were unsuccessful, so on Wednesday morning, dad, Tyler, and I decided to fly to Portland to do it ourselves. Upon arrival, we were notified that law enforcement had broken in to his apartment and found him dead. From there began probably the busiest, hardest, most sleepless 4 days of my life. I am SO grateful that Tyler was there with us - to help mentally, physically, and for me, most of all - emotionally.
Thursday was spent cleaning out Sean's apartment, renting a storage unit, and handling initial plans for services in Jesup.
Friday was spent finishing up the apartment, beginning to handle legal issues, finding his car, handling his cats, and attending a memorial service held at his place of employment (they were amazing).
Saturday, we flew home - Tyler to his, dad and I to Jesup - with 2 cats! on three flights. Whew.
Sunday was the funeral. I saw all of my siblings + their families for the first time in years.
Monday, I went back to work -
Tuesday - I went to work and ended up helping Mrs. Taylor at the HS for many hours that evening/night - which was probably a good distraction for me.
Wednesday - I went to work. Then came home and started to pack.
Thursday - I went to work, but left to go to the Dr. and found out that I had bronchitus, went home and slept for several hours, then got on a plane to meet Tyler in SLC - for a trip we had already planned.
Friday - we went to a trade show (The Salt Lake Family Holiday Gift Show in Sandy) to purchase stuff for Tyler's shop. Then, met some friends of his for dinner.
Saturday - we did the Temple Square stuff. It SNOWED! Then met Lance for late lunch/dinner, then shopped some, then hung out.
Sunday - we went to church in the JSMemorial building, then had lunch at CATHY's! then met back up with his friends, hung out, went to a Linger Later at their ward, then back to their apt to chat. THEN had to find a FedEx that was open at 11pm on a Sunday! We did it and shipped his purchases to his shop.
Monday - we flew home to our respective homes.

WHEW!

Cake for after Primary Program

Sooo our Ward's Primary Program is tomorrow morning. In 8 hours. (I should probably go to sleep!) Anyway - I made the kids a cake for us to eat in lieu of Sharing Time tomorrow. :)