Friday, December 28, 2012

The Good, The Bad, and The Hopeful

My dear Year 2012,
        We started out the beginning of you by lining our little town streets in red, white, and blue to honor our fallen hero taken from this world by the actions of another.  Our eyes were wet as we drove around that day.  Then we ended you by lining our little town once again, but only with pink to honor the little one taken from this world by the actions of another.  Our eyes are wet again as we drive around.  And each month in between was filled with some failings and some stress and some hard work and some joys and some lessons learned.  With everything that we experienced this year we have a deeper love for our Savior Jesus Christ and his Atonement, we have hope in Him.  We know the tremendous healing power that fasting, prayer, and priesthood blessings can bring.  We have our family and our home and our gospel and we have hope in these things and are happy because of these things.  You were a trying year and I am glad that you are almost over.  To Year 2013, please be awesome.

Sincerely,
Jewels

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

These scary things

The area in which we live is also a nice place for these crows to live also.  There are so many of them at times that they darken the skies.  They especially love this time of year where it snows and melts and then snows again.  They scare me. I have never been very fond of birds, they are cute from a distance and I love the songs they sing, but they also give me the chills when they get too close.  But these crows are big and scary and sound awful when they crow, that's why I took a picture of them from inside my house.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Rare Opportunities

Last night my friend called me because she had an extra ticket to the Music and the Spoken Word/Christmas Program at the LDS Conference Center for this morning.  I have watched it on TV before, but have never had tickets to go see it live and in person.  It was absolutely amazing.  Alfie Boe was their guest singer and he sang many songs including Bring Him Home, which sounds WAY better in the center than on this video. Which is still really good. What a beautiful song.  The performance was fantastic.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Feet can barely touch the ground

Our little little Christmas tree.  Cost: $15.00  Setup time: 3 min  Decorating time: 5 min. Truly a very simple Christmas this year.


Thursday, December 6, 2012

the bells are ringing out

Obviously I need a little help changing my blog header.  I always forget what I need to do to make the picture smaller and I feel really computer illiterate when I try to read the help columns.  Maybe later I will be able to get it all figured out.  But for now, it will have to do.

I printed off some free printables for my easel.  I love how chalkboard is totally in this year, but was it ever really out?  I have had chalkboards all over my house for years now and I feel like they never go out of style.  So here is my little easel.  Isn't he cute?


Eme came home from school with a new instrument to practice.  The infamous recorder.  I will never forget how awesome it was to bring home a recorder from school and get to "practice at home" every night.  It's so awesome now to see how excited she is to be doing the same thing I did when I was her age.


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Stillness

There is just something that I love about how calming and still and dark the nights are at Christmas time.  The house is quiet and the lights give off their glow.  It is magical.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

the fun he has with a camera

Ignore the date on the picture, these were actually taken on December 3rd





Monday, December 3, 2012

Just random ramblings

Been decorating for Christmas, realizing I have WAY too much stuff so I asked myself on each thing "do I really love this and if I do, do I have a perfect spot for it?" if no was said just once for that question it went into the donation bag.  I filled the bag!  I am almost done with the decorating, just need to go to the store, again, for replacement lights.  And then we can go and get our tree.  I'm wanting a tree similar to the one we had last year, it was a little shorter and much easier to decorate.  And this year I want to put it in an old metal mop bucket I found at a yard sale.  We'll see how it goes.

My boys turned 13 and 5 years old yesterday and the day before.  I'm in a little bit of shock that I have an official teenager and my youngest is 5.  It's a bit scary, but I like it.  Being a mother is certainly an adventure.

I finally got some of our family photos framed.  I found this music stand, although I didn't realize it was a music stand when I found it also at the same yard sale where I found the mop bucket.  I thought it would make a great picture frame and it does.



Emeline's Christmas Neighborhood homes

My Christmas Neighborhood

And the stockings were hung... Although they belong to Seiyon, Mom, Avrie, Victoria and Kendall.


 Need to search the internet for ideas on what I want to do with this little thing. Oh how I love pinterest. I'll take an after picture when it is all finished.





Friday, November 16, 2012

But, it's what I really wanted

I may be a sorry excuse for a girl, but this is what I really wanted for my one and only Christmas present this year.  I got it early too.  I have already used it a few times and so has Jon.   I smile whenever I see it there in the garage, it's like it's always calling out to me, "I love you and let me help you with the yard work".  A leaf blower gives me joy.  I will be using it again today.  The weather is mild and the leaves have dried from the snow.  Did I mention that is also a vacuum AND it mulches?!  So awesome.

Also, here are the five things I am grateful for today:
1.  Mr. Jewels came home last night, safe and sound.
2.  Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
3.  My playlist of Christmas music.
4.  Exercise, I'm trying the CrossFit Mamas WODs.
5.  Food Storage

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Before and afters

Last year on Jon's birthday we had a terrible terrible windstorm that knocked out power, tore out trees, sent roofs flying, fences crumbled, tree branches flying.  There was even a tree that was torn in half and landed on a car parked on the street and crushed it.  Luckily no one was inside.  For the most part our home was pretty well protected.  We had some damage to the roof, the front screen door, the awning over that door and our vinyl fence.  So after some negotiating we were able to get those things fixed.  We love the outcome.  The company we hired to do the roof suggested to us metal for the turret.  That way we wouldn't have to replace it again in 30 years.  The finial was taken down and we painted it to match the color of the front door and the metal on the turret, it really makes it stand out.  With the awning we choose black with white trim and we changed the lanterns on the door.
The castle or otherwise known as the "witch's house" before the roof redo.
And here are the afters.






The finished castle

Monday, November 12, 2012

empty hearts

Taking it solo this week.  Mr. Jewels is at what we like to call a "nerd conference" and will be presenting his project on wednesday to a bunch of fellow professional nerds.  My heart feels empty without him here.  So I am listening to this song and that song over and over again, the way I like it best.


Saturday, November 10, 2012

Going through life

Sometimes we just have to accept what we receive with a glad and willing heart and remember that the best is yet to come.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Over and done with

Halloween, over and done with.  I waited all month to put up the decorations around the outside of our home and finally got it decorated a few days before the holiday. I was waiting for our roof to be completely finished and it is.  I will post pictures soon.  It really looks amazing.  Anyways, back to Halloween, I had a lot of fun being Eme's Room Mom for the party.    We played Last Man Standing, Pass the Eyeball, Witch Toss, and made mummies from toilet paper rolls and marshmellow ghosts and owl cupcakes.  The kids drank swamp water and ate poison apples and had witches brew, Mary's blood and spider venom candy sticks.  It was a lot of fun.  The kids are so cute and have fun with whatever games or crafts and foods you have them do and they all look so fun in their costumes.  I think the best part of the day was walking her to school and seeing all the kids run to school in their costumes.

Robin, Hip Hop Dancer, Himself

Monday, October 29, 2012

Riding around the block

Riding around the block were words that came out of my mouth pretty much on a daily basis growing up when the weather was good and I wanted to ride my bike.  I find that I am saying it again, but not as often as I wish and should for my kids who don't get kicked out of house to play outside often enough. That is something I will be working on.  Yesterday we did get out and were riding around the block.
I love that trees that live around our block


Picture of the kids elementary school.  I love that it is tucked away into some beautiful old trees.





The giant silver maple across the street from our home.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Love the trees

Oh sweet homemade apple juice.  You smell delightful and taste delicious and make the kitchen a sticky mess.  Autumn not only is a beautiful time of year, but brings with it a harvest that makes the kitchen and those in it work all day and into the early night to put up bottles and bottles of apple and grape juice before the winter storms make their presence known.  "Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year." -Chad Slugg


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

When golden leaves fall

The fall season is not complete until a trip out to the farm has been taken.  Every year we have gone out with moms and kids, but this year we went out as a family.  The kids love the slides, mini donuts, bottled water that costs a fortune, the pig races, the tractor ride and picking a perfect pumpkin.  It ended with mom and dad getting headaches and wanting to go home and take a nap, but overall it was a delightful day.

Jon feels a little too old to be posing for this picture.



the only slide Sam felt comfortable going down

I really liked the colors of this lady's outfit so I took a picture,
 it lasts longer


Waiting for the pig races









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