No Need For A Flashlight!

There is something about the moon that intrigues me.   I am not sure exactly what it is, but I have always loved the moon  

ONE:  when I was younger, I would open my blinds in my bedroom at night and fall asleep in the moonlight.  I don't know why, but I loved to lay in bed and look up at the moon.  I have tried doing that now, but my bedroom window never gets the full moonshine so I feel cheated.

TWO:  I think it is so magnificent when it first rises and it is soooooooo big on the horizon-when the sky is just barely starting to get dark.  It looks so huge and pictures just don't do it justice.

THREE:  In college, we would go camping and hiking at night sometimes (can you say HOT POTS!) and it was my most favorite thing when the moon was out and so bright that we didn't even need a flashlight to see where we were going.  We would sit in the hot pools and be able to see each other's faces and the water around us.

Did you notice the moon last night?  It was a WOLF MOON and it was the brightest moon this year-no other night will it be this bright for the rest of the year.  I saw it when it first came up and it was already so bright, but then as the sky got darker, it got even brighter.  It was gorgeous!

You Go Girl!

Okay, I must say that I have a super smart daughter and she proves it time and again.

This morning she was honored for getting all A's for the first semester of this school year, AGAIN.  She has always done excellent in her classes and has strived to get the best grades she can.  It all started when she left elementary school with the Presidential Award (one of only 5 if I remember right).  When she got all A's in 6th grade, she made a goal to get only A's every year while in middle school.  So far so good--only one more semester to go and she will have done it.  Something that not many students do, so we are all very excited.  Keep it up girl-you can do it!     

I love you M & M!!

Everyone Wants To Know

Okay-well maybe not EVERYONE

There were a lot of comments on my last post about my blog book and almost all were wanting information about where I got my book done, how much and so on. So I thought rather than comment back, I would just write another post and let everyone in on the secret. SHHHHHHH!

It was from Blurb.com.  They have different types and sizes of books starting at around $5 for the smallest one with less than 20 pages.  My book was the 8X10 hardcover with the image wrap cover with 124 pages and it cost me $53.  I was going to go with the softcover, but my hubby made me get the better one and I am glad he did.  It was a bit more money than I wanted to spend but I justified it by knowing that it was part of my journal and would sit nicely with my scrapbooks.  They were quick in their shipping and I was so surprised at how great it looked.  It was worth all the many (and I mean many) hours that I put in to making it my own way.  If I wouldn't post so much, it would have been cheaper.  :)

Anyone is welcome to come by and see it to get the full effect of it's greatness!   I would love to show it off to you!

TADAH!

Here it is--after 4 days of sitting in front of my computer, cutting and pasting, resizing, organizing the layouts and making sure everything is just perfect--it is done.

                              My first Blog Book

I love it.  It turned out great and very professional looking and I am so excited about it.  I can hardly wait until next January when I can do 2010 the same way.  Does this mean I can skip the scrapbooking???

In case you didn't know:  you can take all your blog posts and publish them in a book.  Believe it or not, you can even sell it online.  It has all my posts from the time I started my blog in Oct 08 until New Year's eve 09.  What a great way to journal and keep those memories at your fingertips.  And there are no worries that those posts will be lost if something ever happens to Blogger.  (heaven forbid)  And you can add whatever you want to it too.  The friend that told me about this site added her kid's pictures from school and pictures of their artwork from that year.  You can make it as big or as little as you want and as many pages too.  It is such a great idea and I am glad I heard about it.  I am going to make one every year.

"FREE" Holiday

Two of my favorite words are holiday and free.   So when they happen to come together, it is wonderful.  Today, of course, is a holiday.  In our family, that means kids are off of school but hubby still has to work.  It has always been that way, so we have just learned to celebrate the holiday different than everyone else.  Most of the time, it is me taking the kids somewhere fun and so today was it.  Now add the free to that and it is even better.  It just happened that one of the free days for the Denver Zoo fell on a holiday, so we filled the car to the max and headed out.  Now mind you, when free and holiday fall together, that also means LOTS of people, so today was no different.  We got up there close to opening and we still had to park forever away. (as we were leaving in the afternoon, we noticed how far away cars were parked and thought that we were lucky to have parked so close!)  With a zoo that big, you really don't notice the crowds (at least I don't have a problem with it) and so we had a great time looking at all the animals--and what a gorgeous day it was.  One of my favorites is the polar bears, but they were snoozing so they were quite boring.  I also like the lions and tigers.  J wanted to see the flamingos, but there were none to be found.  We figured it was too cold for them.  K loved the grizzlies the best and was quite sad when we had to leave them. Who knows what the boys liked or the big girls....I was just happy they wanted to go (being able to bring a friend must of been the clincher).  I love having bigger kids cuz we can get through the zoo faster.  No struggling with strollers and temper tantrums or "I'm hungry" sounds all the time.  A potty stop at the beginning and one at the end and we are good to go. 

It was a fun day even though the traffic was horrible.  It took us forever to get down Colorado Blvd, but it seems to be that way no matter what time of day you are on that road, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  We made it back in time to get friends where they needed to go and on time even.  I would say this was a great end to a great weekend for me.  Hope everyone else enjoyed the time off.

I Needed That!

Those January blues are killers sometimes and so in my last post I challenged myself to do better in the areas of my life.  I can honestly say, I have done that.  Not in all the areas, mind you, but it is a good start.  And it has made a big difference.  So I will continue in my quest to get through January with a smile and some energy.

Now for the real reason for this post.  I love it when Christmas starts early and ends later---in the gift giving department, that is!. 

We celebrated early when this was delivered a week before Christmas.........

It was very much needed since our old ones sunk to the ground when you sat in them and you couldn't get out without a great deal of effort.  So, needless to say, we are enjoying this with all its perks.


And we celebrated later when we went here this weekend........

I had given my sweet hubby theater tickets for Christmas.  I made up a certificate and placed that in the tree for Christmas morning.  The certificate was for a "Road Trip" no more than 120 miles, to be taken with his wife only, and was only good for a certain date.  He was quite curious since the date on the card had listed TWO days.  Then I gave him the card with the tickets in it.  He was thrilled of course---not necessarily about the show we were seeing, but at the idea of getting away from the rat race for a couple of days.

So after many arrangements, and scrambling to make different arrangements when there were changes in those plans, and making sure the kids were ready to be on their own, we were off and had a blast!  We ate at yummy places, we stayed in a nice hotel (even though there was no jacuzzi), we walked around and saw some great places and heard some good music, we saw a good show, and we made it home to find the house still standing and all was safe inside, including the kids.  So I guess you can call it a successful trip!

Everyone needs time away from their busy life every once in awhile and mine came at a time I needed it the most.  I must have been inspired when I purchased those tickets several months ago.  I guess I knew what January was going to offer and it was heavenly.  Thanks honey for a great weekend-wish we could have stayed longer.  Thanks kids for taking care of things and each other--hope you had a good time without your parents- And thanks for no rowdy parties.

The Blues

Does anyone ever get the "January Blues"? 

I don't know what my problem is these days, but I am in a funk!  I can't seem to focus and get much done.  I want to blame it on being January and the cold weather (except for today - it was gorgeous) and the let down from the holidays and..... and......, but I am not sure what it is.  I am not motivated to do anything and let me tell you, there is so much that I want to get done from my To Do List.

I must confess (and I really shouldn't admit this to everyone, but...)--about a week ago, I woke up not feeling very good and started out laying on the couch watching tv wrapped in a blanket.  And the couch is where I stayed all day long.  No breakfast, no lunch--just snacks--until I had to go pick up carpool after school.  On top of that, I played our new WII game the whole time.  AND, get this........ I felt guilty about it afterwards.  What is up with that?  I think I deserve a day off for myself once in awhile without the guilt, don't I?.  We moms sure have some mixed up thoughts about that, don't we?!  Why shouldn't we take a break and enjoy life a bit.  We always seem to be running around all the time shuffling kids here and there, grocery shopping, doing laundry, cleaning the house, baking and cooking, volunteering, doing church callings, watching the kids in their various activities and so on.  The list is never ending and it is overwhelming at times too.  So why not relax on the couch for a day to rejuvinate?  I LIKE IT!

So whatever they want to call this "lack of interest in things", I hate the feeling of BLAHness.  So I am going to make a strong effort for the rest of the month to pick myself up and get to the gym.  And cook better dinners.  And eat better.  And get caught up on scrapbooks.  And paint the little girl's room.  And clean out my closet.  And organize things better.  And read my scriptures every single day without missing a day.  And make my house "a house of order".  And BE HAPPY!  That shouldn't be too hard....right??!!  I guess this could be called a new years resolution, but I would prefer to call it just plain and simple---
MOTIVATION!   (wish me luck)

Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam.........Teacher!

I thought this background was fitting for the new calling that I start tomorrow.  I was called a couple of weeks ago to be a Sunbeam teacher in the Primary to start the new year.  I have not been a Primary teacher since J was a baby and I taught T's CTR 6 class.  I am looking forward to the break from the huge, busy callings I have had over the last 5 years.  As with any new calling for me, I have mixed emotions.  I get used to a calling and when it is time to move on, I have a hard time adjusting.  That is how I felt when I was called to Boy Scout Troop Committee Chairman 2 years ago--I had been happy not being in scouts and wasn't thrilled with the idea of getting back into it.  But now that I will be released from this calling soon, I am sad to give it up.  I have the knowledge that I did the calling well and I am happy with the experiences that I have had (like working with my hubby and son for those years and getting T to Eagle).  And so it will be with this calling.  I am unsure about it right now, but when it comes times to give it up, I will be sad again.  That is the way it is for me every time.

I met 3 of the kids that will be in my class at the "Meet your Teacher" activity and they are too cute.  There are a total of 8 kids on my class list although only 4 of those are active.  I am excited to get to know these sweet little ones seeing them every week.  It will be a challenge to get them use to sitting still and listening to a lesson rather than playing and eating snack like in nursery class.  But I know eventually things will work out and they will do just fine.  I guess I better brush up on all the Primary songs again.