It's Chile!

My little sister decided to serve a mission.  She will be the 7th from our family, I am sure she felt a little pressure, but she kept us guessing and decided to go when she felt like it.  Which is exactly what she should do.  She opened her call last night at our house.  She has been called to serve in the Chile Vina del Mar mission.  She will be an awesome missionary and I am so excited for her.  I remember getting a letter from a friend when I was on my mission.  It said something like, "since you've been gone I have brushed my teeth 425 times, gone to the store 193 times, tied my shoes 379 times, "  you get the idea.  I remember this letter because of its truthfulness.  Life just goes on day to day and while it may seem like you are missing a lot or giving up something, you really aren't at all.  My mission has blessed my life probably more than I will ever know.  I still look back to it with great emotion and am continually strengthened because of it.  There will never be an 18 months of my life like it.  But I have a lifetime to do the things that I could have done during that 18 months had I stayed home.  I know a mission is not right for every young woman, but I am so glad that I had the opportunity and so glad my sister does as well!  Congratulations Kaitlin, we are soooo excited for you!

We had video chat and speaker phones all over the place

Oh, and I am so glad she gets to go to a foreign country, Chile is lucky to have her:)

Christmas 2010

Christmas Eve in their new pajamas

Christmas morning, waiting to go downstairs

We had a wonderful Christmas!

Now if I ever get this new blasted software figured out, I might be able to actually post some more pictures....

12 Years

My wedding anniversary was on the 19th and I have officially been married for 12 whole years!  Getting married during December was lovely!  I have always thought Christmas was so romantic anyways.  That is probably because of all those silly Christmas songs and I have always loved Christmas music.  Anyway, December wedding = perfect!  December wedding anniversary = disaster!  We are always so busy, busy buying gifts for other people, going to Christmas parties, and trying to get ready for Christmas.  So, when an opportunity to take a quick little weekend to London came up, I couldn't pass it up and I told myself, it was for our anniversary.  So just before Thanksgiving, I joined Kirk in London for a weekend.  London = perfect, anytime:)  I slept in a lot and we shopped a lot, it was awesome.  Our anniversary fell on Sunday this year and it was pretty anti climatic.  My parents were in town for the weekend, we were babysitting 2 extra children, and we had the ward Christmas party.  Not really a romantic weekend, but we did enjoy a wonderful dinner with my parents on Friday night.  And I still think my husband is wonderful and most important, I am happy.  Life is good:)

 The Christmas lights were beautiful.  Last time I went there were all hung up, but I never got to see them lit up. 

 It was very crowded, out on the streets, lot and lots of shoppers.

 We went to down Regent Street to Picadilly Circus (I think that is what is was called, but don't you just love their names?) to get discount tickets to a show.  Everything we wanted to see was sold out, so we spent the day shopping:)

 These were the lights on Regent Street.  The lights were stars draped over the streets.  It was dark by about 4:00 everyday.

 Lights on Oxford Street.  Our hotel was right off of Oxford street this time, it was a great place to stay.

 And our hotel was right near the Belgian waffle place that I fell in love with last time I went, we of course went again and they were still just as yummy!

 After a day of shopping.

 Hyde Park

 They were having a big Christmas carnival in the park.  It was so much fun to walk through and see everything and hear the Christmas music playing.  I loved this double decker bus on the merry go round and the reindeer ride below.

 We met my exotic friend Rebecca for diner.  She is lovely.

We only had a few days together, but it was the best!

Tyler Turns 6

We got back from London the night before Tyler's birthday.  My flight was delayed (Kirk and I were on different flights) and I didn't even get home until after 1:00am.  So Kirk and I were really tired the next morning, but not too tired to celebrate.  It was like Christmas morning to see the boys and then Tyler got to open presents.  It was a fun day that ended with a big snow storm.  

Tyler is a fun kid to have around.  I especially like hearing him sing Christmas songs right now.  He has come up with nick names for all of his brothers and is usually the life of the party and the cause of most the wrestling matches.  We sure do love him!

Halloween 2010

Halloween came and went and these are the only pictures I got.  I am going to commit to being a better blogger so that I will also take more pictures.  The kids had a lot of fun even though we had rain for trick or treating.  Kirk dressed up as Bob Ross at work, it was great, but sadly the only photo I have of that is on his phone.  I tried to be festive this year and made a pumpkin curry soup for dinner.  I thought it was yummy, but I think Kirk and I were the only ones.  

 Tyler as Mario

 Ethan as Rocky Balboa again.  I don't know who that other kid is.

 David as a mummy

Jake is thrilled to be a skeleton:)

Getting Our Lives Back, Kind of...

Earlier this year, we lost our lives.  We had football practice everyday for 2 hours after school with games on Saturday.  Add a soccer practice to that, soccer games,  and young mens for Kirk and I had a miserable September and October.  Football finally ended in November.  All the boys had winning seasons and got huge trophies for winning their championship games.  And they all loved it.  Really loved it.  And I guess that is the reason I subject myself to the craziness.  

 Ethan

 David

 Jacob

Tyler had his first year of soccer.  It was interesting.  He did make a few goals and loved going to his practices and games.  

Now we are into the basketball season.  4 boys on 3 different teams.  Things are a little less crazy, but I have lost my weekends.  The boys have practice on Friday nights and games on Saturday nights.  It stinks!  I told Kirk it was ok, he can take me out on a date next year:)  It better be a good one!  

Sunny Days

This summer Tyler decided to dig a hole to China.  Since our dirt consists mostly of rocks, it was a difficult task.  Somewhere along the way, the hole turned into a hut, which later turned into a neighborhood get together as they scavenged the shed for all sorts of scraps.  Eventually they got their hut, which was lovely and easily taken apart and put back in the shed.  

Being Blue and Other Thoughts

I took a personality test this week and turns out I am blue.  I read a little about it here and I think they described me pretty well, the good and the bad.  Obviously it is not a perfect description, like it says I may be prone to feeling guilty.  I haven't ever really thought of myself as guilt ridden or the kind of person that lets guilt get in the way, until last week.  


My husband is traveling to London again.  It just so happens that he is going to be in London for a long time, like a week.  He has sufficient frequent flier miles to get me there, the motel would be paid for, and I absolutely love London.  It makes perfect sense for me to go with him.  And so I am!  But then I start to feel guilty.  I am still going to London, but I start to wonder if I should just take off on trips like I do.  I know it is not easy on my kids or the people who have to take care of them.  At the same time, it is so good for my marriage.  Being away from each other that long is so hard and I know it doesn't happen all the time, but the excitement of the planning and meeting up in a new land is so wonderful and gives us both something to look forward to.  My little excursions have kept our marriage good despite the travel that goes on during the year.  And that is good for the kids, right?  I hope it is.  I hope I am not damaging my children.  I guess I do feel guilt.  And the past couple of days I am feeling guilty about not being a good mom.


On to the next random thought.  


We just finished up the football season.  It has taken quite the toll on us this year having 2 separate teams.  I fought with Kirk just over a year ago about even signing up the kids because I worried about over scheduling.  When David begged us, and was practically in tears, we agreed to let him sign up last year.  Jake also wanted to play, so they did and we had a wonderful experience.  So good in fact, I had no hesitation is signing them up this year.  Two different teams is harder though.  Although they all had positive experiences and want to do it again, I sometimes wonder about the over scheduling.  With different teams, we had different practice schedules and game times and that is what made life hard.  But what if your kids really want to play?  Do you sacrifice your family life for a couple of months?  I don't know.  It was just fine when we only had 1 team, so if I told the boys they couldn't play, I feel like they would be punished for all being boys and so close in age.  Honestly, I am sure we will be doing football again, they love it too much and I not sure I should take away all the positive experiences they are having.  Ethan is on the fence a little and there might be some serious consideration and persuasion to pick up golf or another sport.  


To sum it all up, I guess I just worry about being a mom and wonder if I am doing it all wrong.  I know I am making mistakes and I know I am not perfect, I just hope all the imperfections don't have lasting effects on my boys.  They really are good and I want them to stay that way.

Oh Happy Day!

It has been raining/snowing today.  Nothing is sticking, but it is so fun to be inside and watch it falling outside.  Halloween is over so now I can hear Christmas music on the radio whenever I want.  I love it!  Yesterday we listened to Garth Brooks Christmas album while I made apple cake with carmel sauce, it was great!  The music and the cake.  Today we had a peppermint milkshake from Chik-fil-a.  Don't even remind me how many calories are in there.  I still haven't recovered from Olive Garden in New York where all of the calories are listed on the menu.  Anyway, it was for Tyler and I just had a taste and it was amazing.  Right now we are listening to Neil Diamond on the radio, "I'll be Home for Christmas," and getting out a few decorations.   I love this time of year.  In a perfect life, my husband and kids would be home, we would drink hot chocolate with lots of cream, and lay around in our stretchy pants with a fire.   

Note to Future Self....

I remember serving in the primary and having the realization that cub scout leaders were some of the most special people on earth.  I still think that, but had never realized it until I was trying to get help with that program.  Those wonderful people who make time and take effort to plan and carry out activities for those boys are amazing!  And so are those women who do activity days.  They are under appreciated and sometimes made to seem like "dumb" callings, but they are so, so important!  Same goes for all those little primary callings.  There have been times in my life when I have felt like I could be doing more and have often wondered if there were needs I could be helping with.  I might have even wished I was in the loop and "knew" more what was going on.  Well just as I realized the importance of what seems like "little" primary callings, I am now learning the importance of being a good visiting teacher.  It should never be taken lightly.  I think if we were all a little more prayerful and diligent about our visiting teaching, the world would be a better place.  So note to self-take visiting teaching seriously and always get it done.

YUM!

My Dad sent us apples from his tree.  At first they didn't look so good, you know, like the pretty ones at the store that are waxed and shiny (also because I am lazy and just took the picture with my laptop), but these apples are delicious!  I baked apple crisp last night and it was to die for!  I think it is my new favorite dessert!  We ate it right out of the oven with vanilla ice cream.  And you know what else I discovered, these apples are super yummy to eat as well.  Tyler and I ate quite a few during the preparation:)