Three of my favorite people

This is what the holidays are all about- relaxing together. :) I caught the three of them napping and they were just so stinking cute I had to take a picture. I love how Eric and Troy are like mirror images of each other, and Lara's just nestled in between them.

Christmas, etc.

Wow, I can't believe Christmas has come and gone. It was wonderful- lots of fun with family. We went to Troy's parents on Christmas Eve day and had a yummy turkey dinner with all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa. Then back to our house for our Christmas Eve party with my siblings (except for Lise and Andrew who just moved down to Arizona-we missed them!). We FINALLY got the kids to bed, except for Eric who wanted to help the elfs. :)
An interesting conclusion to Kelson and "Beedle": On Christmas morning, I was surprised that a certain book-shaped gift was nowhere to be found. I looked under and behind the couches, and tried to discreetly get Troy's attention. Just as I was starting to panic, Eric looked over at me and could tell that something was awry. "Hey, are you looking for that book? I stuck it in the tree last night," he offered. We quickly grabbed it and handed it over to Kelson, who thankfully hadn't yet realized that something was missing.

Banned from Beedle. . .

A slight Christmas mishap ocurred in our family yesterday. Kelson's class had library time and he was overjoyed to see that "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" was available for checkout as he just finished Book 7. Unfortunately for him, Troy spotted him with the treasured tome and ordered it back to the library. There was some juvenile resistance. So Troy had to pull the book from my boy's passionate clutches and hand it back to our librarian Mrs. Fyffe. "Why oh why?" pleaded the boy. A discomforting juncture for my beloved husband: Santa is, in ALL likelihood, bringing this child this book. But how to explain to our young believer? He suggested to Kelson that Santa likely knew of his desires and would furnish the book in his own time. Reluctantly Kelson relented. (I'm pretty proud of that sentence.) While relating his tale of woe to me this morning, Kelson offered his opinion that if Santa doesn't make good, there's going to be real trouble.

Hooray for Julie!

Have you noticed that my blog doesn't look so much like a 4 year old is in charge of it now? That's all thanks to my good buddy Julie Blanchard, exercise friend and blogger extraordinaire! She even showed me how to put the cute little reindeer on- I love how he floats around. Of course, in a few weeks I'll have to figure out how to make him go away, but for now I'm happy.
And while I'm on the subject of happy things, here are some more:
1)Troy and I are going tonight to my work Christmas party at La Caille.
2) I'm just about done with Christmas shopping and even with the wrapping.
3) I get to go to the MoTab concert on Thursday with my mom.
4) My Lara has complete faith in Santa's ability to provide her with a toy which Mom can't locate in any store or online. I hope he can do it! :)
5)Maddie's Musical Express performances start this week- all of her hard work finally paying off! And she did a great job at her piano recital last week.
6)Kelson has a new hedgehog named Lucy that entertains us all.
7)My hubby and I have been watching a TV series that we love based on the Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell. We are so excited when there's a new Netflix envelope in the mail.
8)It's snowing today!

My Facebook addiction/Gustafson Day/When is "Twilight" going to go away?

I know it's been a while since I posted here. And the main reason for that is, I am addicted to Facebook. When I'm at work, I just have a Facebook window open all day, just so I can instantly see when any of my friends have decided to take a nap or clean their houses or rant and rave. It's instant gratification. I've noticed how crucial knowing these things about people to whom I have not spoken in 20 years has suddenly become, whereas a month ago I had no idea where they were and what they were up to and I didn't really care to know.
Last Saturday we had Gustafson Day. I love that we made up our own holiday. It's so fun to wear tacky homemade t-shirts all over the place and do goofy things together. Breeanne and Averie weren't able to come (we were all sad about that) but we had fun anyway.
We went to breakfast then over to Lara's first basketball game. She was a little nervous about being on the court with nine other little girls, 2 coaches, a teenage referee, and a fast moving basketball. Most of the time, she looked pretty terrified and hung out around the midcourt line as far from the action as she could get. She likes practice, though, so we're hopeful that she'll get more comfortable by the end of the season.
After the game, we headed up to the District to see Madagascar 2. I never saw the first one, although apparently we have it on DVD. I thought this one was alright for a kids' show. Even though we stuffed ourselves with popcorn in the movie, we were able to manage lunch at Red Robin. We hit the grocery store and PayLess and then home. I'll post some pictures when I have my camera with me so you can share in all our fun.
Ok, finally- Twilight! What the heck is going on with this book/movie? I read the book and it was okay, but all the time I kept thinking, why doesn't he just bite her and get it over with? I am amazed at how many of my normally sane friends have gone bonkers over this series. He is a VAMPIRE, guys. And FICTIONAL. I wasn't interested enough after the first book to read any more, but I'm glad so many people have enjoyed it. But please, enough with the craziness already!

Sunday evening and there's no school tomorrow

Today my Primary lesson was about being reverent during Sacrament Meeting. I teach the CTR 6 class with my friend Sara. Reverence is a fun topic for us. We watched one of the girls in our class spend half an hour putting a package of M&Ms in between her toes. When she was done, she asked me to open the package for her. Oh, yucky. Hard to set the tone for a reverence lesson after that. :)
But anyway, I've been thinking that I need to be more proactive in sharing my testimony here. I am so grateful for the Gospel. I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that through his Atonement, we have the opportunity to be with our Heavenly Father again someday. I know that the fulness of the Gospel was restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know we have a living prophet on the earth today, President Thomas S. Monson. And I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I don't know why these are hard things for me to share- it's not like I'm bawling at the pulpit on Fast and Testimony Meeting. Maybe it's just because they're so close to my heart. I appreciate all of you in my life who lift and inspire me and help me to be a better person, many of you without even realizing you're doing it.

It's Eric's Birthday!

I can't believe my little boy is 16!!! He hasn't been too interested in driving yet, but he's plenty interested in the womenfolk. Apparently the bishop gave him the green light for kissing at his interview last week- I told him he might be broadly interpreting whatever the bishop actually said. :) In any case, I love this kid so much- he is one of my best friends (I know that sounds corny) but we have so much fun together. Our brains work on the same wavelength- kind of a dangerous situation. . .

Last night his friends Michelle and Olivia stuck hearts all over in our front yard. I'm posting a picture- I think it's called a heart attack. Troy, Eric, and I went out for breakfast (took a little break from school) and then another surprise at school from Aunt Tiffany. More fun awaits tonight- we're going to Olive Garden. . .