Photography Class

So the boys and I are taking an online photography class as part of homeschooling. I wanted to stick up some of the photos they've taken. These were taken by Tyler.

And here's some of Jake's creations:

They really did an amazing job with their first creations. They aren't liking the next assignment where they don't get to choose the subject. We'll see how it goes!

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa in Utah!

 The day after Christmas found us driving  to Utah. We decided to go by way of Nebraska and Wyoming because there would essentially be less mountains. What we didn't plan on was a 17 hour drive turning into a 24 1/2 hour drive. We felt what -10 feels like in Nebraska and across the Utah border at 1am we felt how warm 18 could feel in comparison. After the scariest drive of our lives we made it to my parent's house at about 2:00am and promptly crashed.

We got to see my brother and his family on their way back to Kansas, the kids played in snow. I took some yoga at the South Valley Lifetime(which made me really sad that I didn't live there anymore)and had a great family visit.

My parents have a new puppy, Annie who is the fluffiest, cutest, wildest little thing I've ever seen! She was the star of the trip and left us really wishing we had(and grateful we didn't have) a puppy.

I thought this would be a nice time to take a couple photos of my parents so I've included those as well.

The Last Santa Letter

Here is the last letter Santa wrote for the dudes. Sniff.

Dear Tyler and Jake,                                                                                  December 24, 2012

                  Merry Christmas boys! You have grown into such wonderful young men this year. I have loved watching you learn about service and friendship this year. It has come to my attention that you have grown up enough to realize that I am not what you have always thought I am, I would like to tell you my thoughts on that…

As your testimony of the Savior grows, it is time for me to move into the background and memories of your Christmases, don’t be sad, if you look at it from another direction, you will see that I am always here.

I was created for this world to help you learn about Jesus By believing in me you learn for the first time what faith means. To believe in something you cannot see. So that as you grow and realize that while some things are not possible in this world, there are more amazing, miraculous things that happen every day. Celebrate Christmas every year knowing that a little baby was born in a stable to give the world hope. He was sent here to show us love and joy.

Believe in magic, it is real. It may not happen like the stories of reindeer and elves, but it is real. As a little one you experience it by writing a letter and leaving cookies for a jolly old man in a red suit. There are other times in your life you will find it. The first time you fall in love, it will feel like magic to have someone love you back. Then one day you will marry the person you Really love and looking into her eyes will feel like magic every day. Eventually you will have little children of your own and the first time you see them, it will feel like Christmas morning all over again. They will believe in me and you will get the chance to help them believe in something they cannot see, and you will know magic again. Never stop believing in wonderful, amazing things.

I love you both very, very much. You are both an example of love, kindness, and service. You take such good care of your mommy, and you are such good friends to your dad. The little animals in your home love you because of your gentle-ness and care for them. Chloe the cat, although she is wild and crazy and tried to tear up the Christmas tree last night loves to snuggle with you both because you make her feel safe. That is something very special. Fred the Gecko, even though he doesn’t show it, feels like he can depend on you, Tyler for all of his needs to be met. Jake, Tweedle-Dee feels special because you never tease him about being over-weight. You love him for who he is and he is grateful for that. Ozzie the dog wishes he could be here with you but he understands that he needs to get healthy before he can leave the shelter. He loves you both for being willing to wait for him to get better.

Remember that I love you and Christmas will still be as fun and exciting as it has always been. Merry Christmas dear children.

Love,

SANTA

Christmas Catch up

 That space between laughter and tears...yeah, I didn't ever find that space this Christmas eve. I stayed pretty much on the tears side but first lets cover the laughs. 

Each Christmas Eve the big jolly man leaves something on the tree for our pets. The obese hamster (who has been slimming down due to a New Years resolution to lay off the sunflower seeds) gets a full sized walnut. The cat gets a laser pointer. This year Santa had a brand new bag, literally. After Fred the Gecko joined us we discovered that Fred's most loved thing in the world is crickets. I felt like this was incredibly hilarious as I tied a ribbon around a bag of live, jumping crickets. The main problem was that the cat REALLY wanted to chase live crickets around the house, live crickets chirp, and Santa puts these pet gifts on the tree.

If you can't see why this would produce a really funny situation let me re-state it:

Live crickets on the tree, chirping in the middle of the night with a 9 month old kitten hearing the crickets on the tree and wanting to chase them. First we tried tying the bag tightly to the tree - No go. Then we tried locking the kitten upstairs - really no go. So we hid the crickets under the sink and figured we'd get up super early while she was asleep to put them on the tree. That worked just fine and the tree was still standing Christmas morning - Bonus.

The tears. See that letter in the photo next to the crickets? That is the last letter Santa will write to my children. Because they no longer believe. What do you say to your children, from Santa when they know it's you and they wish it wasn't? 

I spent a very long time pondering this and what I came up with was the hardest thing I've ever written to date....I will post it separately, it deserves it's own space. It was hard to let go, oh so hard. 

Christmas morning still was full of excitement  even the cat was excited, probably because she could hear the crickets....

My favorite part of the day...Tyler really wanted a BB Gun but never thought he would get one. He always said if he had a BB gun he'd want a Justin Beiber poster for target practice. Well we decided that sounded like fun. Christmas morning when he opened a Justin Beiber poster he knew exactly what was in the gift tied to it and he freaked out! It was awesome seeing him get so excited!

Jake was dying for a couple wii games and Ninjago legos, we were happy to comply, I love legos like nobody's business so I was thrilled to have a new lego lover in the family.

Funny side note---yes that is our T.V. It is as small as it looks. If it concerns you that our TV is less than 1,000 inches across let me tell you couple things about our family that will ease you mind about how "deprived" we must be.

We made a decision a long time ago that Television would not be part of our lives. We do not now, nor will we ever have cable. I don't recognize the names of the shows people watch on TV because I've never seen them and my life moves forward very peacefully. I would rather spend my evenings interacting with the people sitting next to me than zoning out. That being said. I love movies and we do watch our share of those. Not enough to warrant a TV that could feed a small country, so we stick with our perfectly fine, working TV.

That being said, my disclaimer is this...if ever the cable company offers a way for Brian to see football, me to see basketball, and everyone to watch baseball without all the garbage and add on channels, I will be purchasing whatever TV makes me feel like I'm courtside at a Jazz game the next morning. :) Everyone has their weaknesses.

"Gingerbread" houses

We went for a stress free decorating year and used graham crackers. Loved it! Here's the new thing, pretzels. They are all the rage for cool gingerbread houses around the world. (At least around our world). We built towers, columns, Turrets (don't ask, I think Tyler and Brian's creation was some sort of fortress complete with gummy bear soldiers.)

We had gold coins as stair steps, M&M walkways, and Hershey kiss trees going up and it was wonderful. What a different a year or two makes! Decorating these was actually really fun since the boys got a little older and more capable. When you don't have to do every little step for them it actually becomes quite the creative process!

Family photos...in 22 degrees

Why is it that every time we take family photos it's below freezing? Maybe that should be my goal for the year, no more winter photos! Especially since my home is so "Summer", you'd think I would have thought that thru earlier in my life.

This year I wanted to really expand my photography skills and do our own. I figured worse case scenario was that I try to do them and they bomb so I hire someone anyways.

I didn't have to go scrambling for a photographer, as luck would have it, because they turned out great! With the help of the boys we got every shot I was hoping to get. Jake took all the couple photos, Tyler did the setting for a few of the family photos as well as the "push the button and run man".

I must be blinking too much

I got up early today, hit the gym, showered and was sitting my my table drinking a chocolate peanut butter protein shake reading the ensign when I flipped a page and it was filled with pictures. Not just any pictures, mom and sons. 18 year-old sons who were grinning from ear to ear due to the recent change in church policy that worthy young men may serve at 18 rather than wait until 19. It made me think of conference morning when my 10 1/2 year old son got a similar grin and turned to me, oblivious of my welling tears and said "MOM! I've only got 7 years to go until my papers go in!". Cue sobbing mom to enter stage left.

Maybe it's because I've been away from my blog for so long but last night as I was working on catching things up I watched the slide show at the bottom and listened to the playlist, although I was a little cranky that it was no longer imbedded and I had to go to a different site for it. Anywho, watching that playlist I realized that they have grown up drastically in the last two years. Suddenly I felt like all those "older moms" that tried to tell me it goes by so fast weren't fervent enough in helping me understand this. They said things like "it will go so fast" and "You'll blink and they will be grown up". I feel like what they should have said is something like this:

• Wake up every day and notice the little changes that happened over night. 
• Look into their eyes when they speak, every time. Even when you're busy.
• Hug them as often as they let you.
• Never be too busy to play legos and trucks.
• When they start having opinions about the world they live in, realize that they are not an extension of you, they are themselves, you are lucky if they want to share that with you.
• Someday they will come to you and tell you they know there isn't a Santa, you will cry more than they do because to you that discovery is a loss, to them it is a milestone that they are growing and living life in a way that is open to discovering new things. 
• Some mornings you will wake up and feel grumpy at everything they do, those moments pass and as they start dropping some of their most annoying habits you will miss the feel of a lego breaking skin on the bottom of your foot and the sound of someone jumping down the last 5 stairs on their way to breakfast just because they can.
• They will eventually leave you in a display of excitement and courage while you stand at the airport or the curbside feeling like your heart got ripped out of your chest wondering if you should call the cardiologist for a check up. 

I have yet to experience that last one, but the anticipation leaves me feeling like it's time to find a family cardiologist in preparation for that moment. 

No, today it's smaller things like kids who can make their own lunch and the fact that no one in my home believes in magic anymore. It's the thought that with 7 and 9 years to go, my sons are anticipating the day they will walk out my door and serve the Lord for 2 years of their lives. It's realizing that I have passed the halfway point of having children in my home and it's painful. 

So instead of spending the day wallowing in self pity that will leave me a little grumpy and weepy I will get it all out on the blog and then spend my day trying to just enjoy every minute of them.