December 2010

This past month has been fun, exciting, relaxing and peaceful. Minus our computer being out of commission for 2 weeks everything else has been wonderful. In the years that Kiel and I have been together we’ve had some very different Christmas holidays. The First year we drove up to Utah and surprised everyone for a short weekend. The next year we spent at home with Kiel’s 2 younger brothers. Very mellow and relaxing. The Next year we spent at home with our baby Connor, again very quiet and relaxing… The 4th year….. We spent in the hospital with Connor.. not as much fun…. but all ended up ok. Last year we spent in Park City playing in the snow with baby Chloe. Now that the kids are getting bigger Christmas is getting more fun for us. Christmas Eve we spent having dinner and opening presents at Kiel’s Mom’s house… it was a very nice dinner and the kids had a blast with their gifts. It was really nice to be at home and do things our way and allow the kids to run the show for once. Connor loved being the emcee and going and getting all the presents for everyone.  After all the presents were open on Christmas and after Chloe had a very short nap we made our way to Kiel’s dads' place to drop off gifts… then on to Sean’s house for dinner. And before we knew it the day was gone. In a blink of an eye it seemed. It was a wonderful weekend. I don’t think the kids have been able to play with each and every toy they got from Christmas but I am sure they will. Here are the long awaited pictures!!!!

*Only the top half of our Christmas tree was decorated due to our little terrorizer, Chloe!              *We made cookie trains with Sean and Michelle (and their kiddos), Marc and Mikia, and Alan.   *Kiel couldn’t wait until Christmas eve to dig in… so our train was gone a couple of days later…*Chloe let me do double French braids on her for Christmas Eve.. so adorable!!

*At Grandma Theresa’s house for Christmas Eve.. opening presents… Chloe was all about the candy!!!

*Christmas Morning… we all slept in until 8am and slowly made our way downstairs and then the madness started!! Once again .. Chloe passed up on her baby doll for Chocolates… hmm….. and with every toy that was opened.. it needed to be put together and tested. The present opening time went by a little too slow dad.

Once again…. while Connor is playing with his new toys… where is Chloe??? The boys were excited about their matching jerseys.. Connor goes, “I like Daddy now!” Plus I heard there was IronMan in Utah.. but in Arizona we had SuperMan.. a costume like 4 sizes too big for him..but he loved it. And lastly with a new big bike to grow into.. Connor had an amazing Christmas. As well as us all. We were all spoiled rotten and loved every minute of it!!

Hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas 2010

Mesa Temple Lights

Tuesday night we ventured out in the cold and saw the lights at the Mesa Temple. Every year it’s really special to go see the lights. It was fun watching Connor run around asking “what’s that?, Who’s that?” When we asked him if he wanted to go to the temple, he said “I can’t go to the temple, I’m too little. I have to be big, like Daddy!” They both marveled at the lights and the nativity scenes. I am sure we’ll go out and see them again before Christmas. The temple is so beautiful and it’s a blessing to only like 8 minutes away.

“Kissel-Toe”

My Mom made me one of these a couple of years back and while opening my boxes the other night.. I noticed it was a little warped from being in my garage… so I decided to make a new one today… It’s really huge.. but once I started I couldn’t stop… maybe next year we will make a couple of small ones and give them away as gifts….

Chloe was a little camera shy.. she wouldn’t give daddy kisses.. but she gives the best kind:)

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

This year it all started with some cute little goodies… I think my eyes are bigger than actual talent… but they turned out ok…

These are my little Turkey’s that gave me a lot of grief. It took me much effort to find the silly candy corn and then I gave up half way through. They are supposed to have heads and arms and eyes… whatever. They were cute enough…

Next… these are sugar cookies in the shape of corn with Reeses’ pieces and then fruit by the foot as the husks. I think these are what I am going to make again for my young women on Sunday’s lesson.

 

And Last these are my pilgrim hats with chocolate covered mint cookies and Reese's peanut butter cups and a skittle. We took some of these goodies to Sean and Michelle and their family.

Thanksgiving “To Go”

About 30minutes before dinner was ready, Kiel turned and said to me, “What about bringing dinner to someone?” I didn’t know what he was talking about… He told me that one of the managers at one of his stores was going through a rough time… A recent divorce.. his little girl was spending Thanksgiving with her mom so he signed up to work all day. Kiel asked if we could bring him some food. So quickly we packed up his own Thanksgiving dinner and took it up to him. He was so surprised and appreciative. Another reason why I love Kiel. He is very thoughtful and always looks for ways to serve others. Thank you Kiel for the opportunity to serve.

Our dinner this year.. Instead of a huge Turkey we did little Cornish Game Hens. They turned out really great. The kids gobbled them up like candy. We had a great dinner, Homemade rolls.. that turned out…. uhh…. ok.. but everything else was delicious! Plus Connor and I shared a small glass of eggnog. He called it his “special Milk” It has been a great day. Happy Thanksgiving!

“Thanks”

Ladies in my ward have started this tradition of getting together and having a “craft day”. The Amazing Jen Wilson gathers different craft ideas.. gives us all options and prices and we choose what we want to do or just come with crafts they need to finish and we just socialize. Love the ladies in our ward!! So.. with the theme of Thanksgiving I came home with 3 projects..This Thanks Board… I helped everyone who made one cut their letters out with my cricut… (came in handy for these projects..) and I helped cut the vinyl for the Thanks Jars… they turned out really cute..

That day I came home and while Chloe was down for a nap Kiel and I sat on the floor and colored pictures with Connor of things we are thankful for. Silly things like our house, our country, our family, of course Buzz lightyear and McQueen, Phineas and Ferb, and Dinosaurs…etc. etc. etc … It was fun.

This last project is a wreath made with Corn Husks. I went to Michaels and spiced it up with the orange flower. It turned out Pretty cute.

On Wednesday night at Mutual we had a simple dinner for the Young Women and Young Men but as they came down the line to get their food they had to stop at each person and say one thing they were thankful for. So through the line each youth had to say at least 6 things they were thankful for .. then some came back for 2nds, 3rds and even 4ths…. so.. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is my turn to recognize the things that I am most thankful for. Just a couple of things.. I feel so blest that my list could go on and on… but here are a couple…

1. I am so grateful for my little family. I have an amazingly hard working husband, who is my best friend and the most amazing partner I could ask for in this life. He has blessed me with 2 of the most beautiful children. They have enriched my life so much already.

2. Not that I don’t love Connor… he is my best friend but I Love having a little girl. My Chloe is so sassy at times and she has such a little attitude but every morning when I go get her from her crib she just nestles me for a minute. I love the time I have with my little girl.

 

3. I am so grateful for my ward family. The women in my ward are so amazing and loving. Whenever I feel like Utah, Las Vegas, or Boston are so far away (where my family is) it seems like my ward family hugs me even tighter. The ladies live such faithful and uplifting lives that it has blest mine. I truly feel at home with these loving women.

4. I am grateful to live in Arizona. Even though the summers are a little rough and I do complain about them, I am grateful to assess to anything and everything I need. 2 Christmas’s ago when Connor was having seizures Kiel and I rushed to get into the car and Kiel took off I told him to go to the hospital… Well a mile down the road I frantically said “why are you in the right lane? we are going to Banner Dessert!” He wasn’t sure which hospital we needed to go to… Where we live we have 3 hospitals within a 15 mile radius. It’s nice having everything just a hop, skip and jump away.

I know my list could go on and on but I am grateful for so many things especially now more than ever. My testimony of where our blessings come from has grown increasingly over the past several months. I am grateful for my testimony. The people who help me and have helped me strengthen it will always have a sacred place in my heart.

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Holiday!

Amazing Faith

Being in the Young Women’s program has already been such a blessing in my life in so many ways…There has been so many opportunities for growth not only from the young women but from the other leaders. One in particular has strengthened my testimony in such a profound way that I will never be the same. One of the leaders has had this amazing struggle and test of faith, but through her trial she has come out so strong and shown such faith and courage. She has blogged about her entire story and the struggle she had faced with her little baby Lilly. From early on in her pregnancy they knew they were facing a baby with very special needs and knew that there wasn’t a very high chance of this baby making it through the pregnancy alive. This is little girl.. not only survived the 9 months of pregnancy but came out prepared to fight for her life. Long story, short she had Turner’s syndrome and had a cyst on her brain. With many ups and downs..she fought for her life for 12 weeks but, then Lilly Grace passed away on Monday night peacefully with her family.

Today Kiel and I attended the funeral for this beautiful little girl. Even though there was so much grief and heartache for this faithful family there was also this overwhelming feeling of peace. As Kim says in her blog… Lilly peacefully returned to Heavenly Father because her mission on this earth was completed.

Over the past month as I’ve gotten to know Kim and her family.. from day one I have been amazed at her strength and hope for her angel baby. She always spoke of her with such love and grace. Watching her look at her Lilly in the casket today I could only think of her strength and how much she was hurting inside. I thought to myself, how would I handle a situation like this? Could I be as faithful and have such courage? I don’t know.

Last Sunday, Kim (the mother) spoke to the young women on gratitude. This women stood in front of us all and spoke of her gratitude for her Lilly. I have learned so much from this woman and her attitude. She is my hero, my beacon of strength right now. It truly is a blessing knowing as members of the church that we can be sealed together as a family and be reunited once again. I can only imagine the joy that Kim will feel when she is able to wrap her loving arms around her Lilly once again.

I am thankful for those people I am surrounded by that are examples to me of true faith and strength. There is so much hardship out there but it’s our attitude that makes all the difference. I really can’t handle people complaining about things that are so insignificant anymore. Their jobs, Their pay, Where They Live, Whatever it may be. We need to show more gratitude for the blessings we’ve received and move forward. We need to lift each other up.

Kim’s Blog and her story are at…. http://lillygracejones.blogspot.com/

Sara Lee to sell bakery unit for nearly $1 billion - San Jose Mercury News

Sara Lee to sell bakery unit for nearly $1 billion - San Jose Mercury News