You never know...

...when you're gonna get caught...

Dear Santa...

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the pediatrician’s office more than the pediatrician, and sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground. I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases since I had to write this letter with my daughter's red crayon on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find any more free time in the next 18 years, so now without further delay…

Here are my Christmas wishes:

* I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

* I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

* If you're hauling big-ticket items this year, I'd like fingerprint-resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music, a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals, and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

* On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, “Yes, Mommy” to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

* I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting, 'Don't eat in the living room' and 'Take your hands off your sister,' because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog (sometimes).

If it's too late for you to bring me any of these items, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning, or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.
If you don't mind, I could also use a few miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? That would clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children into helping around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing, and my daughter just caught a glimpse of my feet under the laundry room door. I think she wants his red crayon back. Have a safe trip Santa, and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table, but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours always with love and appreciation,

a Mom

P.S. One more thing . . . you can cancel all my requests if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

The sounds of the Season

Today was the BIG day.

Jackie and the rest of the Elementary School performed their Christmas program this afternoon during school.

Tonight the Jr. High Orchestra and Choir gave their Christmas Concert. They did a great job. We especially got a kick out of their rendition of "I'm getting Nuthin for Christmas". The kids got a good chuckle out of it, too. You could see them crack-up laughing as they were singing.

Amanda eventually forgave me for embarrassing her by finding her before the concert so I could take this picture.

She and Jackie will have to get used to it. I'm afraid I'll always be the cheering-mom at their activities with the camera in front of my face, telling them to, "Look at me, and SMILE!!!"

It's a "Mom-thing". Someday they'll be the ones behind the camera and they'll finally understand.

Brace yourself...

At 1:45pm, a grinning Amanda skipped happily into the orthodontist to get braces on her teeth.


An hour later, a sore and slightly cranky Amanda growled at her mom, "Just take the picture, PLEASE!!!"



By 7:00pm, dressed and ready to go to the Church for Mutual, a smiling-Amanda gave us a charming preview of BEAUTIFUL things to come.

"Oh, The First Snowfall...

...Of The Winter..."

It makes our house look like a "Winter-Wonderland". I LOVE it!!!

Frosty and friends look a little chilly, but he's used to it, right?

The snow, candy-canes, and tree get me singing..."It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"

It gets Jackie out to play... with Sassy????

It makes Sassy run back into the house to find a warm spot in front of the fireplace.

I think I'll join Sassy. I'll sit in front of the fire with the Christmas lights on, and watch the snowfall from the warmth of my house. Then we can all sing..."Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!"

Whacky-Jackie Strikes Again...

This morning on the way to school, we were admiring the dusting of snow that we received over- night. Amanda commented on a frozen pond that we passed and how she'd love to go ice skating. I told her that she could skate on "Jake's water bucket". Jake is our golden retriever, and the water in the metal wash-tub we use for his water is frozen solid. Jackie said, "What's Jake's Water Bucket, and where is it?". I told her it was in the dog kennel in the backyard. To which Jackie replied.....

"OH!! I thought it was a lake somewhere around here."

At that time, we were just passing Utah Lake, so everyone pointed out the window and told her that the lake was "Jake's Water Bucket".

Guess Utah Lake now has a new name.... Way to go, Jackie!!!!!!!!!!!

Things for which I am thankful...

Kevin, and his mom who made it possible for him to be here and married to me.

Fairy-tales and Happily-Ever-Afters...

My girls (and Jared)

...and... ...family...

....family...

.................family...................

........and more family.....



...Oh, and a sense of humor to keep it all together...

...AAANNNNNDDDD THEY'RE OFF.....

...Like a herd of turtles in a cloud of dust!!! Driving off into an autumn sunset...or sunrise, since we're leaving early...





No really, here we go again. This has definitely been our year of car-travel. Between trips from Boise to Arizona and Utah, then trips from Utah to Arizona, we've logged a good bit of highway time. So as the song says: 'On the road again', we go back to Arizona...



Two months ago we trekked down to Prescott Valley for our niece (Chelsea's) wedding. This Saturday (the 17th) we're heading back for Chelsea's sister(Sylvia's) wedding.

It will be good to be with family to celebrate Thanksgiving (thanks, Aunt Linda), and to see Sylvia marry her sweetheart, Dusty, on the 24th (Happy Birthday to Kevin, too).

When we're done with all the festivities and visiting, it will be good to come back and settle into our home for the Holidays.

...after all, there's no place like home.

Trick-OR-Treat!!!

From pre-production set-up,



To sitting in the make-up-chair...



The Halloween Production at Happy Acres was a roaring success...

Whether you were a psycho-vampire:

OR - Hollyweird's latest Golden-Glamor-Girl...

From all the inmates of Happy Acres...Happy Halloween!!!!

BOO!!!!!

Six little pumpkins sitting on a step...

Every year around Halloween, we do what most people do, and carve our pumpkins into Jack-O-Lanterns. Every year, the kids choose a pattern, and I do the rest. I'm still not ready to let them loose with sharp implements. With Jackie's record of injuries, she'd end up carving herself.

That being said, here are the latest Webster Jack-O-Lanterns.

Amanda wanted hers to be "girlie" and not scary. If you look closely, you can see this one has eye-lashes, earrings, and a bow on top. Pretty girlie...



Jackie wanted hers to reflect the true nature of her kitty, Sassy. We call this one Psycho-Sassy:



Auntie-Debra (Marc's wife) chose a traditional Halloween image. Wonder if that's a 'Nimbus 2000' or a 'Firebolt'?


My brother, Marc, designed and carved this one, himself. Pretty good job, huh?



Kev wanted his as scary as possible...think we managed that request.



I just wanted mine to be different.



That's the end of our "Jack-O-Lanterns on parade". Until next year. Happy Halloween, everybody!!!! Don't let the little ghouls and boos run you ragged.

Someday...

I heard this story in Relief Society, today. It was too great not to share. Hope it makes you think as much as I did.


Let me tell you all a story of two sisters… They both sat on the porch and rocked back and forth looking out over their weed-ridden yard. The one looked at the other and said, “Someday I’m going to have to get this grass mowed.” The second sister said, “Well, it’s not so bad, we can still see the street.”

The first sister spoke again, “Someday I’ll have to call and set my visiting teacher appointments.” The second sister answered, “I’ve done so much visiting teaching, I think I’ll sit this month out.”

They sighed and continued to rock back and forth in silence for awhile. The first sister muttered quietly, “We’re going to have to forgive our other sister someday.” The second sister said, “We can do that a bit later, besides, she’s dead.”

The sisters looked at each other and realized the magnitude of what they had just spoken… Procrastination and Complacency got up and walked back inside the decaying house. They passed their unopened scriptures and empty journals as they climbed the stairs to their bedrooms. They looked at each other and bid each other a good night… Someday never came and they didn’t even notice.

Heroes

This past Friday Kevin and I attended a Ward Social. It was a costume party where we were supposed to dress our hero. Hummmmmm....what to do? What to do?

Kevin and I were discussing who we would regard as a hero. I thought of Queen Esther or Ruth from the Scriptures. We both decided that our #1 hero would be the Savior.

Since Kevin's already got the beard (and I don't haha) he dressed as the Savior. We even painted his hair and beard with temporary hair-paint, since Jesus didn't have gray hair.



I had things a little easier. The next hero in my life would be my dad. Kevin suggested that I get a skull-cap and go bald for accuracy. I won't write my response to THAT suggestion... Here's what I came up with...



I had my dad's missionary tag, so I dressed as a missionary and pinned this picture to my jacket, using the missionary tag as a pin.



The rest of the party-goers came as heroes of many varieties. From scriptural heroes, to TV heroes (Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty), to Eowyn and Farimir from Lord of the Rings. There was even one sister who came as her mom. It was fun to see where everyone got their inspiration and to listen to why they chose that particular hero.

Hopefully I'll get through the rest of the Halloween festivities without having to do any more dress-up.

Birthday - Birthday - Birthday!!

I meant to post this right after Amanda's actual birthday, but got distracted by the pictures of my Dad that I found. Plus, I had to wait for the battery on my camera to re-charge so I could get these pictures off the camera. *sigh* Seems that we can get so married to our technology that we can't function when it isn't functioning. Oh well, that's a post for another time.

There's a family-fun-center north of us called "Boondocks". We didn't have birthday parties this year, so Amanda chose "Boondocks" as her Birthday-activity. This is a great place. They have mini-golf, go-carts, rock wall-climbing, laser-tag, bumper-boats, a HUGE jungle-gym, and tons of arcade games. We had SO much fun.

Here are a few pictures of the Birthday festivities.

The fun started at dinner.



The kids (all three of them) had a blast on the go-carts...

Kev drove Amanda around the bend..hahaha



Hot-Rod-Webster, aka Jackie, drove herself.


After an epic bumper-boat water-battle:


The girls headed inside to dry-off, get warm, and try their luck at the arcade. Kevin challenged me to a round of mini-golf. I LOVE to play mini-golf, but I'm pretty lousy, so Kev won. Only by two strokes. I was shocked it wasn't more. I'm really bad at this game.

After the golf tournament, Kev and I worked together to defeat the "Borg" on the Star-Trek Voyager arcade game. We ran out of tokens before we ran out of "Borg", so I guess we were assimilated. Resistance was futile. hahahahahaha

So ended the Birthday-Bash...and a fun time was truly had by all...

...and then we ate cake. (Made by Mom - decorated by Uncle Marc)