Okay, so I know this is after the fact, but K is working late and I am waiting up for him so I thought I'd blog. These pictures were actually taken 12/21. We went to Temple Square and before hand thought we'd use a coupon from our Happenings book at a Chilean Resturant. Yahoo! How fun was that for me! Now the food was bland (very Chilean---) of course, the cheese empanadas were great! Even though they wouldn't accept the coupon (go figure!) It was just fun to take the family to a Chilean resturant so they could have a taste of Chile. It was so fun for me, even though I really don't like Chilean food (except of course for the empanadas--and the bread of course!)
Salt Lake Temple
It was chilly--I don't remember exactly but I'm thinking 15 degrees or so.
All decked out in our winter gear...we had a good time and were glad we went despite the cold.

Life---

Deer by Grandma's Closet

L playing (yahoo!) and with her Great Grandpa's bow!
CE #11
J #22






Today when I was getting my mail from the mail box my neighbor stopped and told me that I might like to take my kids down to Grandma's Closet (a gift shop on the corner) and see all the deer. There were probably about 20 total. It was fun to see them. We used to see them around all the time. When we first moved here one morning we woke up to four in our backyard. The funniest thing was the day I was on my computer and in the reflection on my screen from the back window I saw a HORSE! I turned thinking that it couldn't be, but sure enough, it was a horse in the backyard. It was a neighbors that got out and wondered over. It stayed in the yard for a half hour or so and then wondered back home.

So we have just been keeping busy here and trying to stay afloat. Basketball season has started for the boys. CE is playing both on the city league and the church team. J is just playing church ball (because the our city stops after 6th grade--the neighboring city where he played that last couple years stops after 9th) I enjoy watching them play--although I am not so hip with the 8:00 games!

President Hinckley

---Sunday night K and I were with our three middle children at a fireside about the Martin and Willie handcart companies. Our youth group is going to Martin's Cove for Youth Conference in June. Of course after hearing several journal entries, the spirit was strong. Just before the closing prayer the bishop stood and asked for Bro. Torres to stand and share his information with us. This is out of the ordinary so all ears were listening. He shared with us the information of President Hinckley's passing. It was silent as the closing song was changed to "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet". It was very hard to sing but we could not have been at a better place when hearing the news. It seemed so appropriate to be there with others in the ward and sing with them. When we came home to L and CD, CD was on the couch in tears. Late that night she when I was in bed trying to sleep, she came in wanting to sing "Constant as a North Star" about Pres. Hinckley. Neither one of us could remember all the words and so we hummed and sang what we could and I promised her that on Monday we would find the music and sing it. Monday night after she was sent to bed she came back down with tears in her eyes and carrying the photo of President Hinckley that she had put on her wall and said "Remember you said we could sing his son song today?" So we did. We found the music and we went to the piano and sang through all three verses--twice. Just to sit beside her as we sang I could feel her testimony that President Hinckley truely was a prophet of God and her love for him. It was very touching to me, as a mother, to hear her sing the song to honor a man she honored and respected. When K and I went to his mission president's wife's funeral, we were surprized that the main --speaker was President Hinckley. We were so glad to be there -- he was very personable, funny, caring etc. What a great man--

Whee! We have our Wii!

CE is being the commontator for the game
Notice our dog trying to get the same attention as the Wii
Now notice the holes in the wall behind the couch. Yes, when our basement was finished the finishers walled in our main water valve and we had to go find in order to try and fix our sink---now someday we will get around to fixing our wall.
CD and T go bowling
CE and J box it out
Oops--how did this get in here twice!

To end our family night last night we went downstairs and tried out our Wii fresh from the factory. It is nice to have it back and working. The kids are having fun with it! (I enjoyed playing last night too!)

A few more pictures

CD with ice for the "ice graveyard"
So I was wrong--there is jumping today!

BHI called early and had me pick up J since the roads are so horrid (save us from doing it tonight in the dark and when the roads are ice). When I returned I noticed that now our newspaper box is half covered with snow, it is that deep (the plow keeps it flying in that direction although it is not far behind without the plow. We have got about 2 feet of new snow today. CE measured in the parking lot at school with his friend's grandma who teaches there and they measured 26 inches. It is still coming down steady.

Just Kidding---Now there is SNOW! SNOW! and still more snow coming!

It's hard to tell, but this is the snowman almost completely buried!

Hurray for snowblowers!


I hope we the mailman can get to the box today!

No jumping on the trampoline today!


We woke up today to at least a foot of snow. K and I both shoveled for about an hour when I left to take J to BHI. What a mess--it took over an hour for the 1/2 hour drive. By the time I got back K had just finished the driveway just to look back and find there was another 4-5 inches behind him. He had taken the others to school and when I returned I took him to the store for a bolt to fix our snow blower and some gas for it and then he used the snow blower. He finish at noon (so much for work today!) and now it is 1:50 and there is another 4 inches out on the driveway. It is a good thing we got the thing fixed! L went out and helped him finish while I made pancakes, eggs and hot chocolate for breakfast/lunch.

SNOW! SNOW! And more SNOW!

T and CE working on a snowman

Missy playing catch with snowballs
CD and her snowman

We woke up to a couple of inches of snow this morning. K went outside and shoveled while we started to stir. He then took the dog for a run (K on his bike). We started the 9:30-12-30 church today and struggled getting there on time. We were about 10 minutes late. Next week we will have to start stirring earlier. While we were in church it snowed another six inches or so. We had a lot of shoveling to do when we got home. K and CE went to go collect fast offerings. One road they needed to go on didn't get plowed and they had to hike in. (That is the advantage we have on our "main" street. We always get plowed out first! ) CD recruited T to help start a snowman and I helped her finish up. She did a great job and had fun building it.

No pictures today, but...

So I don't have any pictures to share---I have lost my camera. It is just misplaced, I am sure. CD lost a tooth on the 3rd. She still has it in her cup trying to grow money. It is like magic you know. As she was explaining it to her cousin who was over as she put it in a cup of water. "Did you know if you put your tooth in water it grows money?" "It does? Are you sure?" "Yea, I do it all the time. Have you ever tried it?" "No. How do you know that it works?" Because I have done it with lots of teeth. I learned it when we went to Nauvoo." (she was off on that info.) "But how does it work?" "The Canadian tooth fairy comes and puts money in your cup." "She does?" "Yea! You just leave it in there and she puts all kinds of money in there. But then she stops. And you can still put it under your pillow and get money that way too!" Her tooth has since grown several coins, but I think the Canadian tooth fairy is done coming for now, but CD wants to leave it in another day or so just to be sure. J has been enjoying the electric guitar, having friends over daily to practice. One brought a huge amp that is real loud. It is good we have a door to the basement. Today when I was upstairs on the top floor in my room, I was real glad to have a floor in between me and the basement. He has learned the intro. to "Smoke on the Water" and is starting to pick out "Stairway to Heaven" I have heard a lot of "Smoke on the Water". CE has been spending a lot of time at his friend's this weekend. He has a working game system with Guitar Hero that they have been playing lots of. They also have been skateboarding today. We woke up to snow and heard it would storm all day but instead the snow stopped at about 10:00am and we were up to about 45 degrees and the foot of snow we had in our front yard as about all melted away today. We hear it will storm all day tomorrow now. I hope it storms like today. I went back to work Weds. but the kids came on Thurs. Both Thurs. and Fri. I went to the elementary and substituted for the afternoon. It is a little extra pay which will come in handy when we start getting all of J's hospital bills. Plus, L needs her wisdom teeth out so I am glad I have my new job. I sure feel busy though! And it is only 3 hours a day!

Happy New Year!

Chalisse with a mouthful of sausage and her "8" pancake.

L and Tiffany after the dance. Playing monopoly and sippin' cider.

Last night T surfed the Internet while K, CD, and I played Monopoly. We tried to get T to play, but no such luck. She did sit with my laptop at our side though, so she was in on the visiting. L and her cousin went to to the Young Adult Region dance and had a great time. J went to the YM/YW multi-stake dance with several of his friends. He had a great time and brought some of it home with three friends coming over afterwards until 2:45 when I took them home. That is when CE arrived home. He went with his friend's family to a party in Roy. It was a bunch of firemen and their families. They had game systems set up for everybody and lots of food and he had a blast. Needless to say, I was sooo tired when I finally made to bed that I couldn't fall asleep! Around 4:30 I finally dozed off and K and I were the first up at 9:45. We woke up the boys at 11:45! It will be hard to get back to school and work tomorrow morning! I made sausages and pancakes for everyone this morning. Chalisse wanted a special "8" pancake for the new year.