Holiday 4" x 8" Cards by Vistaprint

Hmm... It's been a while

Guess who broke their leg.....

Aurora. She fell off a playground ladder and fractured her Tibia and Filia. She's been tough threw the whole experience. (Except for the x-rays she hates taking.) She's even finding ways to walk when she's not supposed to. She's just so busy! We love her lots! :-)

Turning Back Time

Do you ever wish you can turn back time and change one moment? I never have until now. Last Sunday I accidentally erased the last four months of family videos off of our flash drive. They're gone. Forever. Aurora's first Christmas and all. I am extremely devastated and wish more than anything that I can turn back time to that day. It's been a week and a half and I still replay the moment in my mind over and over again thinking about how I could have made different decisions in that moment. I'm beating myself up about it. It's very frustrating! Especially since I can't do anything about it and I don't have anyone to mourn with me.  How can I ease my sorrow?

New Calling

After a year of not having one, (and feeling useless-church wise) I finally got a calling last week! I am a CTR 6 primary teacher! Yeah! They're the same age as my oldest students. :-) The last time I was in primary was when I team taught CTR 4 with my parents back when I had just graduated from high school. I am very excited about this calling. I've only been with the group of kids once, and I already love them to pieces. And I was amazed at how knowledgeable of the scripture stories they are. (They know more than me!) When I shared the news of my new calling with a certain individual (I won't name names) she made a comment about me having to be with kids enough already. But honestly, I love kids!!! So I really don't mind. I just hope Steve survives having to take care of Aurora during Sunday school and priesthood. But that will only be until October. (So weird to think about.) I must admit though, I felt a little unsure about the idea when I was sitting in sharing time for the first time. But once I got into the classroom, it all fell into place. I can't wait to see what this new chapter in my life brings. Maybe it will help me be a better religion teacher for Cooper. I already know I will be learning so much from them even though I'm the one that's supposed to be doing the teaching.  Primary, here we come!

I've lost my voice!

So... my voice is gone! Can you imagine trying to teach 2 classes of 14 preschoolers with no voice? It was difficult. But doable. Let's just say a lot of things went unsaid and I had to rely on some students and my aides to relay messages and answer the phone for me. Even though I whispered the whole day, my throat is exhausted. We'll see how tomorrow goes. Then if it's not back by Tuesday, I'm taking the day off. I have the wrong profession for not having a voice. :-)

I had a lot of students ask me why I was whispering. They didn't believe me when I told them my voice was gone. They thought I was teasing them. Or perhaps they just have never heard that phrase before... Now they have. My morning class went searching for my voice during recess with no luck. :-)

I'm not sure why my voice is gone. I don't feel sick. I had a froggy voice yesterday then I woke up this morning with it gone and sounding really quiet and squeaky.  I've been whispering ever since. It sounds REALLY funny when I laugh. I should record myself. I've never had my voice go away like this before. Unless I was yelling a lot at a game or something. But that was several years ago and not this bad. I sure hope my voice comes back soon. I wasn't really worried about it until my zumba instructor told me to be careful not to damage my vocal chords permanently. I hope it's not contagious either. One of my classroom aides thinks it might be laryngitis and the other said last time she lost her voice, it was for 4 days. Ergh! I don't want to do this for 4 days. I guess I should go see the doctor sometime soon. Although, I don't have a voice to talk over the phone with so I'm going to have to find someone else to make the appointment for me. That should be interesting.

It's amazing how much we use our voices. Voices are so unique and they can change so quickly. It's fascinating really. It's even amazing that we can learn to recognize people based on the sound of their voice. We can even recognize babies cries. I think it'd be hard to be mute. I'm grateful for my voice.

Well, wish me luck.

Growing Up

Something interesting to think about...
When you're a child and teenager, you always dream of finally growing up. Growing up so you don't have to worry about all the ups and downs of the growing. But in reality, when you "grow up", you're really not done growing. Even as an adult you still go through ups and downs, you still struggle with self esteem, relationships, decisions, friendships, impressions, and mistakes. You're still maturing. I remember thinking none of that would be a part of adulthood. But I was wrong, it very much is! We're all still growing and changing in every aspect no matter how old we are. It's a never ending process And I'm just now realizing it.

Cooper's Cougar Fight Song

At a BYU football game back in September...

 I love it!

She's officially walking!

At 9 1/2 months, Aurora can do this...

I can't believe it!

P.S. Isn't she SO cute!?!

P.P.S. We had to bribe her with a cup of juice, :-) Cooper hates all the attention she's getting lately, and the guy she is walking to is our basement renter and really good friend and babysitter, Jaren. 

Our Holidays

Here's a summary of our Holiday happenings...

 

We got to make Gingerbread Houses with Emma.

 

 Cooper wasn't all that interested in it. So it was more Emma's house and aunt Jessie's house. I like Emma's personal touch of Pascal on her roof. :-) 

To add to my craftiness this holiday season,

I made homemade banana bread and these cute reindeer for my neighbors...

We didn't get our Christmas tree until the Monday before Christmas. And Cooper got to see Mator at the tree lot...

 

 The kids had fun watching me decorate it. 

Aurora was fascinated with the lights. 

For some reason Steve wasn't really into the tree this year. He helped me pick it out but I'm the one that bought it, put it up, decorated it, took it down, and took it to the dump. I need all the lifting and everything. Go muscles! :-) I think next year we might give in and buy a pre-lit artificial one.

On the eve of Christmas Eve we had a Christmas dinner and presents at our house with my family. Steve cooked delicious steaks. That's why I decided to give him his present a few days early...

 He loved it!

 Cooper & Emma enjoying their Christmas Eve dinner

 Opening the first present-it was life saver gummies from Nana

 Presents time

 Cooper & Emma were so excited!

They had a lot of fun opening the gifts.

Surprisingly, Aurora was more interested in the observing then the unwrapping. 

Cooper got a Lightening McQueen cars set and a pots and pens set from Emma.

Nana gave him some play food and Christmas pajamas. 

Aurora got a really cute little play kitchen and tea pot set. 

Steve and I got gift cards and tickets to see a play for a date night.

Thank you family!

Do you notice my unfinished tree with only a few ornaments?

Ya, I never finished putting up my ornaments this year. 

Here's what I made for my sister...

 She loved them! And they look so good in her living room.

 This is what my sister and I got for our parents.

A blue one for dad and a pink one for mom.

I think they turned out adorable. 

Here's a plethora of pictures of our matching Christmas Jammies...

 Enjoying our family gift-the ipad-before we even officially opened it. 

 I think we look like twins!

Here's the kid's Sunday Christmas outfits...

 Adorable Aurora

 With dad

 With mom

 And Handsome Coop Dawg

He wouldn't pose for me so I had to chase him around the house to try to get a good picture of him. Silly boy. :-)

Then on Christmas Eve we headed over to the Scholle's house. We put on a Christmas story skit, the boys played Wii on the projector, and me and the kids had a sleepover in Mary's room. I didn't sleep much that night. At all. Aurora kept waking up and Mary's bed is very small and uncomfortable. But I survived.

Here's pictures from our Christmas Story skit...

 King Harod & his soldier Cooper

 Mary and baby Jesus & Cooper decided to play Joseph too. :-)

 An adorable sheep and the shepherd 

 The 3 Wisemen

 Ta Da

 Now Aurora's baby Jesus

 Just kidding-she's an adorable sheep

It ended up being a fun and silly production. 

Joseph (Steve) kept complaining that he didn't have enough speaking parts. 

I think next year I'll revise the speaking parts and give it to them a week in advanced so they can practice. :-)

More pics of Christmas day to come...

Snow, Snow, Snow

Where has all the snow been this winter? It feels like spring! You can see the yellow grass in everyones yard and it's been mostly sunny and in the 50s. Practically jacket, not coat, weather. And it makes it difficult to teach my unit on snow. :-) Cooper yearns for it too. We've had a little patch of it in our shaded part of the yard and he loves to play in it and throw it at us and say, "Got you!" I'm anxious to go sledding. I wasn't ready for the snow at first but now I miss it. We didn't even have a white Christmas! Oh, snow where are you? I just hope the snow doesn't decide to come late and stay late. I still want my real summer. :-)