Mom and Dad

Here's a picture of my mom and dad. This June will be my parent's 40th anniversary. We're not having a party this year because my brother is getting married. So next year we'll have a big huge party. With mints that really are mints and not pats of butter in fancy shapes. Maybe I'll go nuts and get chocolate transfer sheets. You should check them out--pretty dang cool. Now would be a good time for me to wax gushy about my wonderful parents because they are wonderful. But I'm a private person (don't laugh, I really am about personal things) and I try to tell them that I love them and appreciate them as often as possible by note or by phone. So here's to long happy marriages!

Master of Nothing

Most days I just do my thing and if there is time leftover, I do something I like doing. Then there are days when I realize that for all the things I've tried (and bought equipment for), I'm not really good at any of them. My birthday cakes will never be on a magazine, my sewing should never be closely inspected, my scrapbooks fall just short, my singing is only for choir, my cello is elementary (0r worse), my blogging just gets the job done. My pictures require heavy editing, my cross stitch projects have gone off the grid, my woodworking actually falls apart. Now mind you, I am not fishing for compliments. That is not my point. My point is, making a hobby of collecting hobbies sometimes leaves me wishing for more. There are days when I wish I was really good at one thing. I realize, of course, that such success would require extensive effort on my part and that is just not going to happen. How could I pick? The repetition would become monotonous for me. So there I am. Don't worry, I'm not asking you to fix this for me, I just wanted to tell you about it. Will the next thing I try be my thing? Should I get rid of that calligraphy stuff since I never really caught on? At least I got rid of my latch hook rugs when I went off to college....

A bit of this and that.

Above and below are just two examples of all the lovely flowers I received. Thanks, everyone!
What was left of my cool fall display in Mid November.
Typical snow time: Mike shovels and the younger two play. Note the curved sled track.
Our Christmas village. It's small, but we add something every year from the after Christmas sales.
Mike is a way nice daddy. He makes grilled cheese for Tate almost every Saturday, and most times he makes it artistic. I won't do it. Too much pressure.
Sadly, this is an all-too-common sight: Kids attached to a DS. Even at Grandma Julie's house.
Grandma Julie and Grandpa Dave working on dinner.
The kids all bundled up at Temple Square. The kind Greenhalgh family loaned us their sporty little wheelchair so Mike could push me around. haha
PS I learned to spell miscellaneous by working hard in school. Get the hint, kids? Hard work?
PPS I went to physical therapy today. I can only do little baby exercises for a while, being very careful to keep my spine immobile. This could take a while.

The Good old Hockey game, it's the best game you can name!

I decided that I would fix Tate's red-eye, even though it gave the picture an awesome creepy effect.
See how Mike and Tate are both watching the game, just at different ends of the arena. Also how Hayden got so bored he had to play his DS and kept asking what happened when people would cheer.
The game. But not an exciting part. I would have been too busy watching to take a pic.

We got tickets to a Utah Grizzlies game last night. The Grizz lost, but my, what a high scoring game: 5 to 8. It's fun to cheer when they score, so that's all good. It was my first big outing without my brace and I was glad to sit in seats with a back on them. The churros cost three times as much as at Costco and aren't any more tasty. We saw Elder L. Tom Perry outside and inside the arena. It was a fun time, as the pictures depict. Next time on our blog: miscellaneous pictures and how I came to spell miscellaneous properly the first time.

Yes, Virginia, there really is beauty in Idaho!

These are just a few scenic shots of Mackay, Idaho. I've never really found Idaho to be a lovely place, but now I know why Mom and Dave got a place there. It's pretty! And who doesn't love riding a four-wheeler to the grocery store???

New Pics of the kids and an experiment

Mike happened to be walking past and I told him to stop and be in the pic--the overall effect wasn't what I wanted, but the smile on Mike's face is. That's the kind of smile I have trouble getting from him when I take his pic alone. But that's a real smile, and it's for Emily!


They all need some more editing, but I wanted to put something up on the blog that was cheerful.
PS thanks for all your love and support and kind words. I can't say how much I appreciate it. Really.

Not REALLY a pity party

still no pictures. I've had a setback trying to find a drug to manage the pain without killing the rest of me. It's been pretty dark in my prison bed lately. I have lost a lot of weight, but that is not really worth it, when it feels like I've lost a lot of days and weeks too. Days just gone that can't be redone or gotten back. Christmas seems like a particularly cruel time to be in this position. I'm thinking there will be no cards or pithy comic book letter this year. there will also be no chocolates, even though the cute little take out boxes were bought months ago. The house will only get partially decorated. Thank goodness for internet shopping. So, just when you think this is a pity party for me that you didn't want an invitation to, I hope that I can share some things I've learned this weekend.




*We all have to make choices. For one, is the end goal ( to live with God again) worth the price we have to pay? I think so. I really really hope so.
*Stuff like this, in one shape or another, happens to everyone.
*There's stuff we're supposed to learn.
*We're supposed to endure it well and bare it cheerfully. Haven't figured out how yet. Let me know if you already have.
*Apparently, we forget things we already knew. Like how bad stuff eventually gets better. I seem to recall that that has happened in the past, but it doesn't seem to apply now.
*As much as I hate depending on other people, it seems to be part of the learning process. I don't even want anyone else picking up or dropping off my children, but I don't have a choice and by the way, I am grateful.
*Who you marry is just about one of the most important things you can decide in this life. Thank you, Mike. I can't type much more for crying.

So, until I learn some more or someone else logs on to blog, I'll wave to you from my hospital bed covered in pink princess sheets in the middle of my living room.