Officer Jeremy...

Jeremy has become a political nerd over the last little while and decided to run for Legislative District Education Officer last Saturday. To his surprise he was uncontested and so he was accepted by the District Caucus of Precinct Chairs by acclimation to the position. He had to stand up and give a speech of sorts as well as answer questions about his views on immigration, entitlement programs and parent choice in education. He has served as a Precinct Secretary and County Delegate for the past 2 years but decided that he wants to be more involved in the political process in our community.

He was so excited to tell me but I wasn't too surprised since he has said that he wants to become the Mayor of a city one day.

I don't think he has any idea what he is getting himself into... but I am trying to be a supportive wife :) I am really glad that he has such a desire to serve, and to try to make things better. I admire that a lot.

My favorite Food Blogs

Today I thought I would share a few of my favorite food blogs!!

The first two come from my visiting teacher. She is the lady behind the World Wide Ward Cookbooks, and a fabulous series called 30 meals in one day.

http://30mealsinoneday.blogspot.com

http://worldwidewardcookbook.blogspot.com

I got the Our Best Bites cookbook for Christmas and I have been loving every recipe! (Click on Recipe Index, then Soups, then check out the Chicken Tortilla Soup. SO GOOD!!!!!

http://www.ourbestbites.com/

Snowy Morning

On Tuesday morning we finally got to enjoy some of the white stuff!!!

Boston working so hard to shovel our driveway!

Hadley getting snow and throwing onto the driveway!

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The best part was we set a new sledding record. Me and the kids hoped onto our sled and went zooming down the sidewalk all the way to the bottom! I think we past 9 houses. Oh man it was fun!!

Stake Conference

We had a wonderful Stake Conference this weekend. My favorite was the Adult Session on Saturday night. I wanted to share a few things that were spoken, cause if I share it, i have a better chance of remembering it :)

*Are we puppets?? Do we let the world dress us and tell us how to act?? Or do we make our own choices based on what WE KNOW?

*They talked a lot about Virtue. I love all the synonyms for Virtue; dynamic, power, strength, chastity, cleanliness, purity, sacred, moral excellence, and an attribute of godliness.

*Read. Pray. Serve.... with a GOOD ATTITUDE!!!

*We need to be as concerned (if not more!) about our kids spiritual health and protection, as we are about their physical health and protection.

*Don't work to much, Don't play to much. Find a Balance, and make sure you make time for Family.

*In reference to Modesty- We need to worry less about being "Hot" and more about being Holy.

Our Stake President referenced both of these talks. I love them. They are sooooooo good. I would encourage everyone to take the time to listen/read them.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland - To Young Women
"Be a women of Christ. Cherish your esteemed place in the sight of God. He needs you. This Church needs you. The world needs you."
"One would truly need a great and spacious makeup kit to compete with beauty as protrayed in media all around us"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xomYmjPVAF0

D. Todd Christofferson - A Sense of the Sacred
"The importance of having a sense of the sacred is simply this—if one does not appreciate holy things, he will lose them. Absent a feeling of reverence, he will grow increasingly casual in attitude and lax in conduct. He will drift from the moorings that his covenants with God could provide. His feeling of accountability to God will diminish and then be forgotten. Thereafter, he will care only about his own comfort and satisfying his uncontrolled appetites. Finally, he will come to despise sacred things, even God, and then he will despise himself.
On the other hand, with a sense of the sacred, one grows in understanding and truth. The Holy Spirit becomes his frequent and then constant companion. More and more he will stand in holy places and be entrusted with holy things. Just the opposite of cynicism and despair, his end is eternal life. "
http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=8555

Popcorn Day!

How did you celebrate National Popcorn Day on January 19th?

We celebrated with my favorite Carmel Corn!

Marshmallow Carmel Corn

-1 Cube Margarine
-1 Cup Brown Sugar
-30 Large Marshmellows
-12 Cups Popped Pop Corn

Melt margarine, brown sugar, and marshmallows for 1-2 minutes in microwave or until creamy. Poor over popcorn! Enjoy the sticky goodness!!

Oh my yummyness!

We are Ready... Let it SNOW!!!!

Yesterday I felt the NEED to create! I pick up a little bit of fleece from the store, and went to town making the kids some new winter hats!

I LOVE Boston's football hat! I got the idea from here http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2012/01/fleece-football-hat.html

Do me a favor and don't click on the link... if you do, you will realize how BAD my version of the hat looks!! Oh well! Not bad for one of the worlds worst sewers! Seriously, you should make one. If I can do it, ANYONE can!!

The kids LOVE them, and refuse to take them off! :)

Internet Safety

I am really exited about this. My friend Scott recently posted on his blog about K9 Web Protection. I think everyone should download it. Its free. Its easy to use. Once you download it, you can monitor internet activity, set limits for when the internet can be used, and block material you don’t want. Get all the details on his blog;

http://impressivetechnology.blogspot.com/

Family Home Evening

I think Monday's just might be my favorite day. I stay home all day doing laundry, blogging, and I just take the day off from never ending to do list. Another reason is because of Family Night! We are all home and get to enjoy being together. Last night Boston was in charge. He told us the story of Jonah and the Whale and how he choose the wrong, but then he repented and choose the right. For our treat we made these CTR pretzels from the friend magazine. They were surprisingly delicious. http://lds.org/friend/2012/01/ctr-pretzels?lang=eng

Boston LOVES being in his CTR 4 class at church. I think we will be doing a lot of CTR activities. Hadley is still loving her nursery class! Oh man, they grow up to quickley!

Let the Potty Training Games Begin!!

If you wonder where we are this week... this is what we are doing. Wish us luck!!!

Weekend Fun

We had a super fun weekend. On Friday night we had our kid date nights. Jeremy and Boston went to Classic Skating... Boston lasted 2 minutes skating, so they played arcades. Hadley wanted to go to the mall playground and to the Disney Store. So that is what we did! It's always nice to spend some one on one time together.
On Saturday night we went bowling. I. Love. Bowling. When my kids are all in school I am going to join a bowling league. I'm not good at it, but I just love it.

My kids love it too... but I really think they just like the shoes!

After a Crazy Town Sunday, I caught this moment. Hadley climbing on her Daddy. So Precious.

Scripture Chain Celebration

In January 2011 our primary started our Scripture Chain.

In January 2012, we were able to celebrate it!

The kids and leaders all met in the Bishop's yard, and then we strung the chain all the way around his house!! We had the kids all stand in the front yard and hold the chain. We had the kids start singing "Scripture Power" while we rang the door bell. The Bishop acted surprised (I'm sure he had heard us out there...)

The kids went with the Bishop to see that the chain did indeed go all the way around his house!!

The Bishop and all the kiddos!!

Then we celebrated the kids scripture reading with Hot Chocolate and Donuts!! I think all the kids that came had a really good time. I know it meant a lot to our Bishop... He thanked them in Sacrament meeting, and hung the chain up around his house until "the weather decideds otherwise."

(Click the pictures to see them bigger!! Boston insisted he needed a costume for the party. So he went as a cowboy!)

Peregrine Falcons

This is what Boston and Hadley have been up to lately... being Peregrine Falcons. Boston is obsessed with the show Wild Kratts and he learned about the Peregrine Falcon being the fastest bird on earth. Now everything is about the Peregrine Falcon at our house!

Best Grandparents EVER!

On Saturday we woke up to a skiff of snow. We drove out to my parents where they had a few inches of snow!! My parents watched our kids while we went to the temple... while we were gone, they had A LOT of fun!

I think all that hard work deserves them the title of BEST. GRANDPARENTS. EVER.

Thanks Mom and Dad! It's probably the only snow my kids will see this year.

Nothing Better...

Is there anything better then enjoying

CHOCOLATE

and flowers.
Nope. Nothing Better.

January??

Yes, these pictures were taken the 1st week of January. Yes, they were taken in Utah.

I refused to enjoy the sunshine at first, just wishing for snow... finally I decided to embrace it and took the kids to the park. Crazy weather. CRAZY!!!!

Happy New Year!

New Years Eve was such a wonderful day. In the afternoon we went to the production Savior of the World. It was fabulous. If you haven't ever been, you really shoud go. It really touched me, and it was nice to spend some time with just adults! :) The best part was seeing my cousin Martha in the play! She did awesome!

My kids were SO EXCITED for the party! They could hardly wait!

Our friends Nicole and Preston joined my parents and us, and we all went out to Chinese food!! It's our tradition! Oh man, it was SO YUMMY!!!

We got home, played a game, and around 8:00 declared it time to celebrate!!

The kiddos thought the fireworks were so great! They still can't stop talking about them!

WAHOO!! They were dancing and blowing their horns and yelling Happy New Year! I'm sure the neighbors thought we were crazy, but hey my kids were happy the next day because they actually got some sleep!!

After we put the kids to bed, the real fun began! We played lots of games...

ate lots of good food/treats!

Then we rang in the new year at the appropriate time once again!! Happy New Year!!

Primary Crazyness

The week between Christmas and New Years is always insanely busy with Primary stuff. No matter how hard I try to prepare early, there is just lots to do THAT week. My biggest project was to redue the bulletin boards. I am really happy with how they turned out! (a HUGE thank you to my awesome counsler Kristie for helping me put them up... she is the bulletin board master!)

Oh I wish the pictures were better. Jeremy took them on his phone for me. I love this bulletin board the best. I really love the scripture hero posters they sell at seagull book. I love teaching the kids to look to the scriptures for Hero's to follow!!

This board is mainly just functional. To put all the themes up for the month!

They are bright. They are happy. They are functional. I am just so thankful I got my Cricut just in time to cut all the letters out! I don't know what I would have done without it!!

Last year our primary's challange was to learn the Prophet and Apostles names and faces. They had to learn them well, because we tested them in random order. 33 people completed the challange, which I would consider a success. This is our Apostle wall. We love it. The kids love it. You can also see our scripture chain hanging above it. Each week the kids wrote their name on a link if they read their scriptures that week. We are going to celebrate the chain by putting it around the Bishop's house! Should be fun!

This year our primary's challange will be to learn all 13 articles of faith! This will also help them complete their Faith in God. I am really excited about this challange!

Another thing my awesome new toy (Cricut) did was the letters for these class dismissal signs. Oh man, I am so glad I jumped on the deal to get a cricut for 50 bucks. I am in love.

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I know primary stuff probably isn't very exciting to read about, but it is a huge portion of what I do with my life... so I think it deserves a post or two. :)

1st Jazz Game of the Season!

On December 30th, we went to the 1st Jazz home game!! Oh man, it was great to back!! It's hard not knowing ANY of the players except Millsap. But we will learn...

It was great to have a date, and great the Jazz won!! YIPEE!!

As we rode TRAX to the game, we drove by the lights at temple square... that is as close to the lights as I got this year. =( From what I saw, they were beautiful!

Dec = Exciting Mail... Jan= Junk Mail

One of my favorite parts about December is checking the mail! I just love love love all the fun Christmas cards!! I love the pictures, the updates, but mostly just hearing from people I love. It is always so hard for me to take down my card wall. I just makes me happy.