Going to the temple with Sariah

We had a wonderful time at the temple with Sariah.  Jared and Jesse and other relatives were able to go also.  It is a wonderful thing to be in the temple with our children.  It brings me joy that they are choosing to make covenants with Heavenly Father.  The blessings he promises in return are so incredible and beautiful.  I cried like a baby...tears of joy and gratitude.  :)

Sariah gets her mission call!

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all worthy and able young men are asked to serve a mission.  It is their choice if they accept or not.  Young ladies are not under the same obligation to serve, but may go if they would like to.  Sariah has decided that she would like to serve a mission, and we are SOOO excited and happy for her.  She has an awesome blog post about it, if you would like to read about it first hand:  http://sariahmarie.blogspot.com/2013/12/im-going-on-mission.html . 

 Checking her mission out on Google maps.

Merry Christmas! :)

Busy week....

Last week was one we really enjoyed, but I am glad it is over, as it was a touch on the stressful side.  O.k. who am I kidding?  I was hyperventilating and have a nervous breakdown:)
Monday afternoon we had the pleasure of joining the 4-H group to take the pillowcases the girls made to the to the elderly.  We also sang them Christmas carols.  It was a lot of fun and the girls really liked it.  We want to go again!  Monday night we attempted to make wreaths out of the branches we cut from the bottom of the tree. 






Tues. night Nathan took the bus out with the kids caroling, as I already mentioned.
Thursday was Nathan's 46th birthday.  He wanted to keep it low key, so we did.  

It was also our learning co-op Christmas party, at our house.  If we were neater people, it wouldn't be so hard to get things in order for things like that, but the house was a wreck and we had to clean for hours to get it company ready.  We also cooked a ham for the occasion.  It was lots of fun, and I love having the opportunity to spend time with good people who have similar interests.  We had lunch, a planning meeting, a candy ball game, and a white elephant gift exchange.  We invited Carmen, our art teacher to join us, and that was a treat to have her come.




 











Friday was our church Christmas party.  Ada was an angel, Jed was a sheep.  We hot glued cotton balls to an old sheet for his outfit.  I was also in charge of the music and we invited the kids in the ward who are learning piano to come and play their Christmas songs for background music.  That was fun.

My friend Connie made this really cool broccoli tree, and we got to take the leftovers home.  It was very cute.  Lots of the stuff is missing in this picture, but she did a fabulous job on it!

Sat. was my big stress day, which was all stuff I totally brought on myself, so I have no one to blame but myself.  I have wanted to try participating in a craft fair for many years, but never know when they are, or if I do hear, it's always on a day when I have other things going on and can't make it.  So, this year I signed up, knowing I could only be there in the morning.  My friend Laura traded me off for the afternoon, as we were selling her husband's woodwork as well.  Natalee came and helped me set up, and we were good and ready.  Too bad hardly anyone came.  In the first 3 hours I was there, only about 3 people came.  Fortuntaley, a friend had mercy on us and bought $20 worth of stuff.  That paid for the table fee of $15.  After Laura traded me off, we made $14 more dollars.  Not at all what I was hoping for.  What a laugh on me:)

I hurried home to help Jane finish making pizzas and we had lunch together before Kim and I headed for Fernley for the dress rehearsal for "The Forgotten Carols" that we were playing our violins in and I was also in the choir.  That was my first time to play my violin in public, so I was nervous.  But, it was dark and nobody really looked at us, since it was background music to what the actors were doing, so that helped make it less stressful.
Too big firsts for me in one day!  Wasn't a real good idea, but I survived it, thanks to my family for all their help:)

 

The old bus rumbles again...

Nathan did his yearly Christmas caroling with the church youth in the bus.  It was VERY COLD, and old Betsy just didn't want to work.  The breaks kept locking on, the doors didn't want to shut.  I begged him to leave it home and have everyone take their suburbans.  But, he is very brave and decided to go forward, in spite of the cold and ice.  I was one VERY happy and grateful momma when, after many prayers,  I heard old Betsy rumbling into the driveway and knew that everything had turned out o.k.

This is the bus trying to back up:  breaks locked on, icy road-I think that's what we call a double negative?  

We also had a gorgeous sunset.

 Natalee's group got to make gingerbread houses; what fun that was!  And Jed and Ada were happy as could be to get some leftovers to work on as well.

This week at our house...

Sun Bonnet Sue doing her school:)

 The kids with their lego creations.

 What Jed looks like when he gets himself ready for church:)

 Jane is growing up!  I think she is beautiful!

 Trouble 1 and 2 with their innocent faces on-almost!

 Pillowcases for 4-H

 Bags made in 4-H

 Setting up the tree

Jed working on his reading with Dad.