Thursday, December 31, 2009

Highlights of 2009

Tonight at dinner we reviewed our year and thought of "high points" of the year. (We usually talk about the high point of our day at dinner.)

Here are some of the things we came up with:

*Several trips to Disneyland-especially our first one in May for 2 days
*Summer break-filled with swim lessons and the beach
*Santa Claus bringing scooters and nutcrackers
*The Cruise for Josh and I (the boys said they liked having Grandma and Grandpa visit)
*The string of visits from family this fall-all 4 grandparents and Uncle Scott (and Jason in April, great grandparents in January, etc.)
*Laura and Sam (my cousin and her husband) moving to San Diego
*The 4th of July-fun BBQ and then fireworks over the ocean in La Jolla cove
*For me-the trip to Madison
*Josh mentioned the trip to Denver. The rest of us groaned. Let's just say that lots of sickness sort of put a damper on that trip. Otherwise it would have been great.

We are excited to see what 2010 brings.
Jack is excited that this is the year he will start Kindergarten! I keep telling him he can't go-that he is my baby, but he insists. :)

2009 Goal

In the beginning of 2009 I set a New Year's Goal. I like to set goals each year and I like to call them goals instead of resolutions-seems more substantial somehow.

I set a goal to find joy in the journey and to be of good cheer. I prayed nearly every morning for help with that and I am happy to say that it has gone so well. I feel like I am more able to focus on the joy of motherhood and spending my days with these adorable, wild, dirty little people that we call children rather than focusing on how many diapers I had to change in a day, who was in a bad mood, who whined or made messes. Sometimes I can even look at a mess that one of them has made and see the sweet childhood motivation behind it ("I was seeing what would happen if I poured salt on ice mom") rather than just the mess.

It feels great! Tomorrow I will tell you my 2010 goal.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

R-A-T-S

For a while now we have had problems with vermin of various kinds. There are the millions of little ants that find their way into every nook and cranny of our home, there are the little lizards in the backyard that Jack likes to catch (those we don't mind-we think they are cute), there are the spiders that form their webs in every single corner of our house, and then there are the RATS.

OK, we have been referring to them as mice for that last few months. We knew we had some in the garage. We caught and killed 4. And when I say we, I mean Josh. We blocked their entrance to the garage. (This was my contribution-I blocked their entrance). We thought we had them taken care of. Poop littered our garage floor, Josh swept it up. We thought we were good.

Josh's dad came to visit us for Christmas and one day we found him cleaning out our garage. Josh guiltily went out to help him and as they cleaned, the two of them soon found more and more evidence of the "mice." Mouse dropping were everywhere. Everywhere. We found a peanut butter container they had gnawed through, food they had ransacked, it was a mess.

Then, as Josh's mom and I stood watching, Josh and his dad pulled a water barrel out from the wall so they could sweep behind it and out ran a big, fat "mouse." It quickly ran to where we couldn't get to it. Moments later another one appeared from behind the water barrels. Josh cornered it and tried to kill it with a shovel but it escaped.

This is my favorite part although it certainly doesn't win me any daughter in law points. The "mouse" ran through that garage to the exact spot that my mother in law (who is no fan of any sort of small creature) was standing. He then proceeded to run around and through her feet while she yelped "It's a rat! It's a rat!!!!" I will tell the truth. I laughed. Like is said, no daughter in law points that day.

Anyway, over the course of the next few days we found one more RAT in the garage (these things are huge by the way) which Josh and his dad disposed of. All the poop has been swept up and the garage is clean.

So tonight when Nathan mentioned seeing a RAT in the backyard I didn't believe him-I thought he was just teasing me. But then there he was-a big fat rat. While I tried to BBQ our kabobs he hid under the grill. At least he isn't in our garage anymore.

(One thing I failed to mention-Josh's grandma was also in town. If Josh's mom doesn't like rats, Josh's grandma loathes even the very thought. I think she almost didn't come back to our house when she found out we had rats in the garage.)

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Today I went to the park with some of my favorite people...

Superman:An Astronaut:


One great daddy:


And my little sweetie:We climbed ladders:


and trees:

we swung:

We rode scooters (brand new care of Santa):
or sat on scooters in some cases:

and mama? She played with her brand new camera. Could you tell? :) Got some learning to do but this is a far cry from my point and click. Mama is a happy girl.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Merry Christmas...

from Dallen:
Jack:

and Nathan:

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Exercise TV

This is my new favorite thing. Thanks to my friend Yerika who told me about it:

Exercise TV

I keep hoping to become one of those people who really loves to workout, but so far no luck. BUT, this is the closest I have come to loving it. You can go to this website and they have tons of free exercise videos that you can watch from your computer and exercise with. And the best part is that they have a HUGE variety of types-everything from yoga to kickboxing, ab strengthening to cardio bootcamp.

Every morning (ok, well not every morning), but most mornings I pick one 20 minute video and do it. I was thrilled the other day when I found a ballet workout. And it was killer. Loved it. My favorite is a 30 minute cardio bootcamp. I have discovered that I am in better shape than I thought and it has to be pretty intense for me to really get my heartrate up and I guess I like jumping around a lot-otherwise I just don't feel like I am getting enough of a workout.

Anyway, this is how I justify eating all the Christmas baking I am doing. :)

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Christmas Cards

Can you all please send me your address so I can send you a lovely Christmas card? :) I have my old Mad 4th ward roster but if you have moved in the last year or 2 could you give it to me? Anyone and everyone else as well, if you want a card to arrive in your mailbox, make my life easier by giving me your address now so I don't have to search for it. And believe me, Josh has been working his magic and this year's poem will wow you. :) You want one of these cards.