Picture a Christmas

Here's a little about our Christmas eve and Christmas-

Christmas eve at my sister, Heidi's house. We had the nativity play while Grandpa read the story from the bible.

Playing 'Pass the Present', everyone's favorite activity.

Noah, the penguin.













My kids are really fascinated with babies.
Good thing we have 2 of them to play with-
and 3 more on the way!

Christmas Day- Santa came through again!

No words needed.

Hope you had a merry day as well.

Happy Christmas Eve!!

Today is my very favorite day of the whole year.

Hope yours is fabulous!!

(No, this isn't my living room, but wouldn't it be fun if it was?)

New Tradition

I spent an hour wrapping gifts today, trying to get done before the kids got home. I took an armload of them down to the tree when Jacob came in the door.
"What are those?" he asked.
"Are you serious?"
Blank stare.
"They're presents. You know, pre-e-e-sents."
"What are you doing with them?"
Ok, clearly, we've had too many years of having little ones who won't leave the gifts alone. We normally put everything out on Christmas eve. My kids honestly don't know what it's like to have gifts under the tree. That's one of the best parts of Christmas, I think. So, new tradition in our house. I hope. Noah is napping. We'll see what happens when he wakes up and sees the bright boxes.

Happy 19

If you asked Guy what he would want for our anniversary, he'd probably say to NOT be on my blog. Sorry, sweetie, it's my blog and since I'm the one who takes all the pictures....
19 years is nothing to sneeze at. In Hollywood terms we've been married at least 50! It seems weird that it's been that long. Time really does fly when you're having fun.

When I count my blessings, he's right at the top of the list!

Kindness for Kailie

This is Kailie and Bentley, my friend's daughter and grandaughter. Kailie is the one who passed away in October. There is a Silent Auction/Boutique tomorrow, the 4th, at the Davis Conference Center. (800 Heritage Park Blvd., Layton) It is from 12 to 2pm. There will be lots of items and a great chance to do some Christmas shopping while helping out a family in need. There is also an account at America First Credit Union under the name ' Kindness for Kailie and Bentley', if you feel so inlcined. You can read more about her here.

These are a few...

..of my favorite things.

Watched both of Oprah's favorite things last week. While I'd have loved to be there for either show, I do have alot of things in my life already. I've been doing gratitude posts on my other blog, but thought I'd add a few things here.

Naps. Come on, is there anything better?
Scouts. I have 4 in with 2 more to go.
I cannot say enough about this program.
This is my very 'unsocial' boy getting his Bear.
I'm not sure if he loves scouts because his brothers
are in, or because he has such great leaders.
Doesn't matter because he loves it.
My in-laws.
My family and my husband's are polar opposites.
But, after 19 years, I can tell you
that my in-laws love their family-
me included.
What more can I ask for?

Jr. Jazz

Max is playing Jr. Jazz. It's a little scary how easily sports come to him. He took up the ball and began dribbling like he did it everyday. He loves it and even came to terms with having girls on his team.

Happy #10, Hunter!

Hunter came in my room this morning, like he does most days. Instead of saying, 'Morning, Mom', he just sat on the edge of my bed, waiting. It took me a minute, then I said, "Happy Birthday, Hunter!" He grinned and went downstairs, happy to know I remembered.
Hunter has grown so much, both physically and emotionally. I don't miss the days when he wore the same outfit for months, when he would cry and throw a fit if I changed the furniture, or if we sat on a different bench at church. It's easy for me to think he's just like all the other kids, because he interacts with us at home. Then, I see him at school or scouts and I remember that Autism is still there. His biggest challenge is social. He doesn't play with friends, preferring to play in his own pretend world. This bothers my husband. It doens't bother me as much, because-so far- he doesn't seem to mind not playing with others. He prefers to be alone. Someday that may change.

For now, he goes to resource several times a week where they help him learn social skills. He's a smart kid. He gets frustrated easily and has a hard time dealing with the frustration, but he's learning. He has started giving me a hug before school and tells me he loves me- HUGE step forward! He reads well, if he can find a book that interests him. Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants are his favorites. For his birthday, he asked for Super Mario Galaxy 2, which he's been playing since Friday.

I love this kid and all of his quirks.

Happy Birthday, Hunter!

So Long Halloween

I'm so happy that Halloween is over! I don't hate it, and I really like decorating for it. But, since our ward Halloween carnival is the second Tuesday of the month (put on by the youth), by the time the actual holiday gets here, I'm done. I didn't get any good pictures because it was raining and my kids all had coats on over their costumes. Oh, well. Noah had a party and program at his preschool. He has this wonderful teacher who convinced him to sing with his class. He loved trick-or-treating and asks me everyday if he can go again.

Spencer was in a "Thriller" performance with the 6th graders at his school. It was quite impressive. He had such a great time dancing and every now and then, I catch him dancing around the house.

I threw away the pumpkins and am putting away the fall decor. Bring on the holidays!!!!!!!!!!!

Sadie-kins

Last night, Sadie noticed my necklace clasp was in the front and said, "Make a wish." I said, "I wish I wasn't going to cry." It was true. I'd been holding it in all day and knew I wouldn't make it much longer. (We had a friend pass away.) An hour or so later, I heard her downstairs way past bedtime. She was looking for an envelope. I got her one and she went to bed.
This morning, I found the envelope addressed to me. It was a note from this sweet girl. In it, she told me she was inspired to write and share her testimony. I don't know if I cried more from her words of comfort or her very mature testimony of the Savior. I've known since she was a baby that this daughter of mine is probably much older and more advanced than me in pre-existance terms. Today she made that very clear. I feel blessed and humbled to be her mother here on earth.

Once-a-Month Meals Cont'd

So, here's an update on how things went with my once-a-month cooking. For the most part, it was GREAT! Being able to just pull things out of the freezer in the morning made my day so nice. One thing I learned was that freezing fresh broccoli and cauliflower gives it a very strong taste when you cook it. My family didn't seem to mind, but I couldn't eat it. I didn't get some of the meals out of the freezer soon enough, so they needed more time to cook. I worried about the potatoes I froze for beef stew, but I vacuum-sealed them and they were fine. The main thing is that on the nights when I did have to do some cooking, even just pasta, I didn't want to do it. This month, I'm going to try to have more meals completely prepared. If you have any recipes that would freeze well, I'd love to have them.

Noah

One of Noah's favorite things is to take my phone and take pictures. Here's his latest photo spread.

I Believe

"Our lives begin to end when we become silent about the things that matter." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

(I didn't want to re-type the whole thing, so you can go here for my thoughts.)

Once a Month Cooking

For most of my married life, I loved to cook dinner. Really. I got such satisfaction from the whole process. I'd make menus and be so excited to go grocery shopping. Well, it's been almost 19 years and the truth is, I hate cooking dinner. I don't know what happened, but it just doesn't do it for me anymore. I dread it everyday. So, a couple weeks ago, I got the inspiration to try 'once-a-month-cooking'. I looked it up on the internet and got lots of good ideas and hints. Then, last week, I started my experiment.
It's only supposed to take one day to do all the cooking. Since I was doing it during the week, it took me longer. Between kids and errands, it ended up taking me 3 days. Let me tell you, after those 3 days, I didn't want to even think about cooking. But, the end result is wonderful!!!
Just look-

When I was done, I had:

Lasagna (2)

Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Pot Pie (soooo good, if you want the recipe, let me know!)

BBQ Pork Chops

BBQ Chicken

Chicken Rolls

Tex Mex Chicken

Stir Fry Beef

Beef Stew

Roast

Also, hamburger cooked for:

El Pato

Burritos

Spanish Mac

Manwich

Stroganoff

Taco Soup

So, a few of the meals will take some preparation, like cooking pasta. And, some of them will be put in the crock pot. The stir fry is just all the ingredients cut up and ready to cook. Some of them really are experiments. Like the beef stew- I wasn't sure if I froze peeled potatoes if they would go brown. We'll see. The best part is that my menu calendar for the month of September is full and the meals are either ready to bake or most of the prep is taken care of. We've already used 4 of them and it's been great. I definitely plan to continue this- with a few changes. I'll cook on a Saturday, when Guy is home and can watch the kids. That way I can get it all done in one day. I'll also be better prepared with the groceries so I don 't have to run to the store to get something I forgot. I'll keep you posted on how the meals turn out.

Photo Update

Here's some pictures to update what's been going on recently:

Jacob earned his Life rank. I could do a whole post about Mike, the camp director

for Kiesel where my kids worked this summer. Jake has a few

merit badges and his Eagle project, then he'll get his Eagle.

I'm so proud of him and all his hard work!

Spencer earned his Tenderfoot rank. Not bad considering he's 11.

He's very excited about scouting.

Noah and I are enjoying having all the bigger kids in school.
We've had fun playing and going places. Here he is playing 'football' with me.

(Oh, yeah, going to pre-school!)

He started pre-school this week. After a little shyness and uncertainty

on the first day, he decided he likes it. Every day, when we drive

home, he says, "That was so fun!"

Every time I tried to take his picture, he'd strike some crazy pose.

The first day I came home and had 2 whole hours all to myself,

I felt like striking some crazy poses myself!

(Sadie and Jenae discussing strategy, or boys, not sure which.)

Our Young Women started volleyball last week and

our Young Men showed up to be their cheering squad. My teenage boys were

part of this. The girls seemed to enjoy it and the boys even bought

pom-poms to cheer them this week.

(Jake serves.)

But, when the team we were supposed to play didn't show, the boys played the girls instead.

They had a great time. It makes me smile to see them all getting along.

The Cabin

I wanted to post pictures of the cabin because it was so amazing. They say that the place at the top is the best (like the penthouse) and this cabin proved it. My family talked alot over the weekend about how much we'd love to have one for us. We'd have it someplace a little easier to get to, though. The road up was long, windy and most of it unpaved. It was worth it once we got there, though.

These were the last pictures I took. Noah had such a great time. There's something about being in the mountains that's magical, especially with kids.

He also got a lot of use out of the game room. The boy loves to play!

Doane Family Reunion 2010

After months of planning and worrying, our reunion went off last weekend without a hitch. We had a really great time.
We started at 7 Peaks on Friday. Eight hours of fun in the sun was about all I could take. My back hasn't started peeling yet, but I will look like a molting snake any day now.
Saturday, we had a picnic up Provo Canyon, then walked around Cascade Springs. I highly recommend that, it's just gorgeous.

Once at the cabin, the kids found the zip line, and some of them were on it almost all weekend. I tried it once and have to say, it was fun.

The cabin was fabulous! (My pictures of the cabin are on my camera in West Valley, I'll post them when I get it back.) There was a game room and a theater room. Plus, lots of room for playing, eating and sleeping. It was at the very top of the timberlakes above Heber. So beautiful!

Sunday was our DI Fashion Show. Always good for a laugh.

We also played 'Minute to Win It', which was great.

Did you know you can put an Oreo on your forehead and get it in your mouth using just your facial muscles? We proved it can be done.
One of the funnest things was courtesy of a pair of pantyhose. It doesn't take much to entertain us, and we all took turns putting the hose on our heads. I promised not to put any of the pictures on the internet, and I'm keeping that promise. Trust me, they're hilarious. If you need something fun to do, try it.


Thanks to all my family for showing up and for putting up with my lack of organizing and planning skills. It was a blast and I can't wait for next year- especially because I can just show up!

Love your guts!!!