Tagged - 7 random things about myself

1. I HATE the word belly. I think it is the most awful word in the human language (up there with all cuss words). It gives me the creeps to hear that word, I just can't stand it. It was all I could do to type it.

2. I LOVE recipes. I collect them (I get this from my mom). I have drawers and a storeroom full of books and printed recipes. I know I will never get around to trying most of them, but it makes me feel good I will always have something if I need it.

3. I really, really dislike talking on the phone. Even to my hubby. I don't think he appreciates it much, but I just really don't like talking on the phone.

4. I absolutely, positively LOVE to bake! I should have gone to culinary school instead of becoming a paralegal - oh well. I love to bake so much I usually have to give most of it away, because there is so much.

5. I am obsessed with The Biggest Loser!! I LOVE that show and could watch it every day. I am so happy Bill won the latest one and am counting the days for the new one, happy that I don't have to wait months for another one to start!

6. I detest fish, but love tuna fish sandwiches.

7. I LOVE going grocery shopping (as long as it is by myself). I think it is because I love food so much, but I just really look forward to grocery shopping :)

I tag anyone reading my blog :)

Christmas Quilt Finished!!

Hooray! I finally finished my Christmas quilt on Christmas! I didn't have enough of that border, so I went to the fabric store to get more - and they were out! I freaked out. But, I called my mom and she went to her store in CO and found it there - whew! Then she mailed it to me, so thanks to her I was able to finish my quilt. Here is a picture of it. I have now made 4 quilts, all of the same design. I am trying to branch out and try a different pattern, I am still just not very confident in my quilting abilities. I know I can make this pattern, so why try another one? But, I am going to go outside of my comfort zone and just do it. I am thinking of trying a pinwheel pattern next.

Christmas morning

Christmas Eve

We had a nice Christmas Eve. A friend in the ward invited us to her family dinner, the kids had a blast. When we got home they got to open their pj's, then we read the Night Before Christmas and the 2nd chapter of Luke. The kids were good and went right to bed. Thank goodness we didn't have to stay up late doing much. Just set Santa's stuff out and filled stockings and we got to go to bed ourselves. I love Christmas and am so excited the kids are having so much fun.

All spiffied up

Well, I had to take pictures of the kids in their Christmas outfits before church today. Yeah, Tyler got the short end of the stick and didn't really get a Christmas outfit this year, I don't know where my brain is sometimes. But, they still look cute. Tyler and I were eating cereal this morning and he said "mom, do you know what I love about the wonderful Christmas season?" I am still trying to figure out if this is my 4-year old talking or what. And then he finishes and says "that I get to spend time with my family especially my nana and papa." He just cracks me up. It is funny too because he talks like spending time with his family is something that rarely happens when in reality, we are all usually together 24/7. Except for Nana and Papa, but they will be here in 6 days. Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope everyone gets to spend this wonderful Christmas season with their family.

Funny story - but not so funny story

This morning at about 7am the phone rang and it was the RS pres. She was crying and told me she had really bad news. One of the families in our ward just had their 18 y.o. daughter, Rachel, go away to college over in AL. Last night she was abducted after she got off work. Her roommate woke up about 3am and called the police when she realized Rachel wasn't home yet. The police called her parents about 5am and they went right away up to AL. I was crying all morning, I called my mom and sisters and told them to pray they would find her, I even emailed Andrea in Italy because they were friends when they lived here. Well about 11 or so I got another call they had found Rachel. She had spent the night at a friend's house. Obviously we were all relieved. But still, to get that kind of a phone call - can you even imagine???? Anyways, all is well. I was even being extra loving to my kids all morning, thinking how grateful I was they were safe and sound with me :) And I have a card update - I have gotten lots more Christmas cards now - yeah! Oh, and an update on Piper who swallowed the penny...she did have surgery and they got the penny out and she is fine - we just had lunch with them today. I also got Christmas presents from my parents and grandparents in the mail today - life is good! 8 days 'till Christmas and 12 days 'till mom and dad get here.

Christmas Party

Last night was our ward Christmas Party and we did a Night in Bethlehem. It was pretty neat. We were all supposed to dress like biblical times. We all got tax notices (cans of food that will go to needy families) and we paid our taxes to the centurions and got a bag of 10 gold coins. Then we went into the market place where we paid to buy our dinner. There were different booths set up, like the Dairy Mart, Meat Market, Pita's Inn, Toy Shop, Winery (we had sprite with apple juice), etc. The kids could spend their gold coins on all toys, or food, or a mix, but once your coins were gone, they were gone. Then we went into the gathering place and ate. Then we had our program. It was different, I have never done anything like that. Tyler had a blast buying things. He kept buying his sister necklaces and grapes :) The kids got a special silver rock that they took to the Gift of the Magi booth and got a little sack of goodies because there was no Santa there.

Christmas Cards!

Yeah! I finally got a Christmas Card in the mail :) It made me happy to see it. Isn't it cute?? It is from my friend Jenn. Thanks Jenn! I now have 3 Christmas cards, one is from my Dad. My dad is an awesome stamper. He makes my mom's and his Christmas cards every year. My dad's card is the one one the bottom, Jenn's is on the top.

Scrapbooking

I finally got some scrap booking done! It was so nice to be able to sit and do some pages. I am now only about 20 months behind! I have to scrapbook in chronological order, I can't do it out of order for some reason. Here are some pages I got done.

Self-Cleaning Oven??

Yesterday I had a fire in my oven. I have never had a fire in my oven before. It scared me. I was yelling outside to TJ to come in quick! I knew my oven needed to be cleaned, I just have never cleaned an oven before, besides turning the oven to "clean." I actually didn't even know there were ovens that weren't self cleaning! So I wrote oven cleaner on the grocery list and checked on my hamburger buns (another story) in the oven. And there was a fire! I turned the oven off and TJ came in and put it out for me. All is well now, I am cleaning the oven today. My hamburger buns were a little smokey tasting :) Do you have a self cleaning oven?

First Solo Flight

TJ did his first solo flight on Monday! Yeah! I am so proud of him for not crashing :) No, seriously, he said it was awesome and he just loves flying. So as a tradition after you do your first solo flight they cut the back of your shirt off and you write the date of your first solo flight and it hangs like as a flag with all the other t-shirts somewhere. I was upset because he forgot they would do that so he had one of his nicer t-shirts on and it got all cut up. Oh well. He has now done 2 solo flights I believe. He has to do a cross-country flight in the next few weeks and his cross-country flight is all the way over to Alabama! That is a joke because AL is only about 30 minutes from here. They call it a cross country flight for some reason but the students are not allowed to go more than a certain distance from their training spot. He will finish this part of flight training mid-December then in January go onto another training.

Silly stuff

You Are Christmas

More than most people, you are able to find magic in life's small moments.

Traditions mean a lot to you, and you tend to be quite nostalgic.

You are a giving, kind person who really understands the true meaning of holidays.

You inspire others to be as altruistic and caring as you are.

What makes you celebrate: Tradition and a generous spirit.

At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The storyteller.

You like to recount memories with everyone.

On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Give a gift to everyone you know

What Holiday Are You?

Quilt MADNESS

AAAHHHH!!!! I got the top of my Christmas wall hanging quilt almost done, I can't believe I didn't have enough material for the last border piece, and do you know how short I was??? I had another piece and I thought it was big enough, it needed to be 3 1/2" wide, the only piece I have left is 3 1/4" wide!! And do you know why it isn't long enough, yep because of the mess up I did earlier, which there is pictures of a couple of posts down. Oh well, another trip to the fabric store :)

Knitting

I decided to do some knitted dish cloths to go with some Christmas presents for people this year. I am going to put them with a cute little poem about dishes and then a white wheat mix of some kind in a jar. I decided I needed about 15 dish cloths. I have 5 1/2 done. I am whipping one out every couple of days, I don't know if I will have them all done by Christmas or not, I might have to cut some people off the list - isn't that horrible? They looked all cute stacked up, so I thought I'd show my progress.

Elf dance

I had to do the elf dance for our family. Found it on Jenn's blog, and it was so cute! Here is our elf dancin' family!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1133099083

Mess up

Ok, so do you see the first picture? It is the front entry way and other than the shoes and junk everywhere it is decorated for Christmas. Then I looked closer and the quilt wall hanging just doesn't go. So I decided to hurry up and do a Christmas wall hanging to go there. I started and was half way done with the top when I messed up the design and I am not picking it all out and sewing it over. I also didn't really like the fabrics I chose to go together, they were too similar in value and didn't really show the pattern very well. So I am starting all over with the new pattern, picture #3. I don't like it either, but at least the pattern will really show up. I am thinking I will turn the mess up wall hanging into a table runner somehow.