Happy New Year to YOU

and happy 9th anniversary to us!
i'll die if my kids get married at 21. i'm SO glad my parents had complete trust in me and never questioned or doubted my decision (i know some were skeptical since we only dated 6 months before we were married and i became mormon to boot). i couldn't have found a more perfect man had i searched the world over. and how cool is it that i met him when i was 12 and got to watch him live his life for 9 years before i ever dated him. i was well-informed and he's exceeded the potential i saw in him another 9 years later! what a testament to the benefits of living the gospel.

this year i want to exercise regularly even it's only once a week.
i want to focus on the good things in people even if it's just their shoes at the moment.
i want to enjoy each day with my little family even when it's hard.

i'm grateful for where i am at the end of this year and look forward to the growth and experiences the new year will bring.

a great christmas story:

and i just heard this christmas song, children, go where i send thee by mary chapin carpenter on the radio (for what I thought was the first time) and loved it! so we got it on itunes and have enjoyed it so much. in fact, we were listening to it tonight as the boys were going to bed and jaden got up to request we put it on his shuffle for him.

here's the funny part, i was trying to figure out how to post it here so you could hear it and when i searched for it, it came up w/ natalie merchant singing it and i immediately recognized it from her cd--one of my favorites! but it sounds so different i had no idea it was the same song.

check em' out. what do you think?

have you seen this awesome website:

Personalized Christmas Story Books

we made some today and even laminated them.
the boys loved it and were so excited!

Thankfully...

• we got to go to moscow, idaho w/ the other 22 members of my family (more than half were kids) for a thanksgiving gathering. it was cold but we were in the comfort of my sister's beautiful, cozy home and didn't even notice. we had such a great time! the kids played tirelessly in the basement (which is bigger than my house) while we a-dults cooked (or watched others cook), visited, cleaned-up and played games. i talked a group into going to see twilight with me again and i loved it just the same. so did micah and everyone else, especially my 14 year old niece. (everything was so beautiful, i didn't take any pictures. that happens to me a lot. i don't know where to even start so i just don't. i'm sorry. i call it "just enjoying the moment" not "just being a slacker")
  
• (did you remember to insert "thankfully" after each bullet) they didn't lose mine and asher's luggage until the return flight and we'd planned on staying overnight in sac w/ some of our best cousins, who are always SO hospitable and gracious. and our luggage was found in the morning while we attended the davis ward (so.much.fun to see good old friends). and the airline reimbursed us for my cute new church dress, shoes, outfit for asher and toiletries we had to buy!
• when the christmas tree slid off the roof of the car tonight on the freeway at 5 o'clock, instead of tumbling off into oncoming traffic, it dangled perilously on the side of the car hovering too close to the pavement, giving the boys and i a good laugh until i could pull over. and while i awaited the arrival of my knight in shining armor, a nice chp officer showed up, inched his way between the tree and the whizzing cars to hoist it back on top. micah arrived shortly thereafter w/ bungie cords in hand and we made the short jaunt safely back home (when jaden proclaimed, "that's the last time we let some kid tie our christmas tree to the roof of the car." he was at least 18.) amazingly the tree is unscathed standing proudly in the living room as i type!
• jaden informed me tonight, "mom, i'd rather not read my "pretend" reading books from school. i like reading real books like the scriptures where i can get good information."

REVISED

• i didn't get sick on thanksgiving, which has happened to me too many times.
• beckam started puking tonight--not on our trip and not in costco today before the christmas tree incident and it wasn't on jaden's head (you know trundle beds are good for that when you're on top. my sister and i had them. i slept on top and i'm sure janie still remembers the fateful night i got the flu). it was just all over his bed.

things could always be worse, right?!