CHRISTMAS IN FLORIDA

I know, I know, It's about time I posted up our pictures from Christmas. I've been feeling under the weather and haven't had the energy to post anything until now.

Where to start.... We left Virginia on the 19th and drove to St. Louis where we stayed the night at Lacey and Ryan's place. We drove out with them to Virginia the following day. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Smith for a day and got to have a little Christmas of our own. We were able to go to church and see all our old friends, which was wonderful to say the least. It felt like we hadn't really left. I was able to try out Ryan's new Rock band game, and found out that It took me like 4 or 5 times to get the hang of the guitar. Lacey put me to shame as she was more of a natural with the guitar. The boys had fun opening their presents and riding on Grandpa Smith's bull. :) Owen was a little roughed up after his first ride, but then he decided he wanted to try it again. We left the next day to Florida and made it in good time and without running into any traffic. We were all too happy to be out of the car and done traveling for a while. Owen was at first shy with my parents since he hasn't seen them in 2 years! But it didn't take long for him to warm up, and he was bouncing around all over the house, jumping on Grandpa and asking him to throw him in the air over and over again. :) The following day we went to Disney World. My brother's friend's mother works for Disney and got us all free tickets to go there! We were so excited! We went to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. Ethan and Dallin went on a Dinosaur ride with Heber and my brother and sisters, while My mom and I went on a flying Dinosaur ride with Owen. We found out after our rides, that Ethan and Dallin just about peed their pants during the dinosaur ride, especially the part when the T-Rex comes into view and tries to eat them. :) They were able to laugh about it when it was over. We weren't able to go on many rides because the park was SO packed, but we had fun with the rides we were able to go on. We all got pooped out around the same time and decided to go home. The rest of our trip was filled with playing bump at the basketball court, volley ball in the sand, tennis, a trip to the beach, a ride on my Dad's new motorcycle, and R movies played on my parents new clear play DVD player. Ethan was in 7 year old heaven while at my parents, because they had the wii and the new x-box 360. Dallin also played some video games and played with his toys from Christmas. Owen was the entertainer during our whole trip. There is never a dull moment around that kid. :) He mostly entertained us with his hulk impersonations. My sister, Kelly and her husband Nathan brought their dogs, Zoey and Buddy. The boys absolutely loved them and couldn't get enough of them, especially Owen. The weather was great there, 70's-80 degrees. I was not ready to go back home to our 20 degree weather. All in all we were blessed to have been able to come see my family. We missed them terribly and are so thankful for letting us stay with them during our trip and letting us wreck their house with all our stuff. :) Thank you Bethanie for letting Heber and I stay in your room and trash it. (I over packed). Thank you to all of our families for all of your love and support. We miss you and can't wait to see you again.

As for our pictures... Our pictures were erased from our memory card because it wasn't ejected properly. So we do not have pictures from our christmas in Florida or Virgnia, or our trip to the beach or Disney world. :(

P.S. I couldn't figure out how to get my pictures to look neater and well organized!

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS

I saw this on my friend Megan's blog and I just loved it.  I'd like to print it off on a nice sheet of paper and have it framed so that I can look at it every day. :)  If I could check all of these off on a daily basis, plus keep my house clean every day and have my kids on daily schedules.... I'd be the ideal me.  

1.  Take a 10-30 minute walk every day.  And While you walk, smile.

2.  Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.  Have a chat with yourself about what is going on in your life.  Buy a lock if you have to. 

3.  When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement,

"My purpose today is _________________. "

"I am thankful for ___________________. "

4.  Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

5.  Drink green tea and plenty of water.  Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

6.  Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7.  Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control.  Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8.  Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9.  Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10.  Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11.  Don't take yourself too seriously.  No one else does.

12.  You are not so important that you have to win every argument.  Agree to disagree.

13.  Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14.  Don't compare your life to others.  You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15.  No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16.  Frame every so-called disaster with these words: " In fiver years, will this matter?"

17.  Forgive everyone for everything.

18.  What other people think of you is none of your business. 

19.  The Universe heals everything-but you have to ask it.  (Instead of Universe, I think of the Savior). 

20.  However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

21.  Your job won't take care of you when you are sick.  Your friends will.  Stay in touch!!!

22.  Envy is a waste of time.  You already have all you need.

23.  Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:

" I am thankful for ____________________."

" Today I accomplished _________________."

24.  Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25.  When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings.  You'll be smiling before you know it.  

 

IT'S FINALLY HERE!!

TWILIGHT has FINALLY hit theaters! 1 year ago was when we had our first book club to discuss Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse. When I found out that they were making a movie shortly after I read all 3 of the books, I became interested, or as Heber would put it, "Obsessed", with finding out all the details of the movie, like who was directing it, who was going to play Bella and Edward and all the rest of the characters. I joined the website called twilightmoms.com, and then found that through them I could get all the newest updates about the movie, Stephenie Meyer, and the cast of Twilight. So every day for a whole year, I have checked their website to get my "Twilight fix". Sounds a little obsessed? I suppose, but I garuntee that there are other fans of the movie who are MORE "obsessed" than I am. Here's a couple of examples.. There were fans who drove 20+ hours to the Twilght movie set in Oregon and Washington. Have I done that? NO, would I have done that if the oportunity presented itself? Maybe. Another example of people being more obsessed than myself is, people getting tatoos of quotes from the book or their own quotes, and women who were naming their new babies after a character in Twilight. First, I don't have tattoos, nor would I ever get one of anything! Second, even though I like the name Bella, My better half would have his say in the matter, and that would be a resounding NO. So there you have it. I am not ashamed to admit that I'm a little "obsessed" about the Twilght movie. I liked the movie, despite a few things that could have been better. Yes I was one of the screaming girls in the theater. :) I am even more excited about the New Moon coming out because I know that they will have a MUCH bigger budget to work with and it will be even better than Twilight. Here are some pictures of our trip to the midnight showing of Twilight. :)Whitney... I caught her off gaurd. LOL!
Kirsten's fabulous belly with the perfect phrase. :)
This is my attempt at getting a picture of the line we were in. I didn't want to go out into the middle of it and attempt another picture.. these people gave me a look like "did you just take my picture without my permission?" Then I had to explain what I was doing and then they were cool with it.
This is part of our group sitting on the floor while waiting for our line to move. We got there around 10pm. Thank goodness we didn't get there any later. 4 more people were added to our group later. Making a total of 10.
Mari and I, the two most enthusiastic about the Twilght movie. :) Well, when it came close to the movie coming out, more of our friends came "out of the closet" with their enthusiasm about the movie. :)
Whitney and I
Mari and Kristi (her shirt says, "My husband wishes he was a vampire)
Kristi and I.. Thanks for making our shirts Kristi! And thank you Heber for helping me come up with a logo for my shirt. (Edward for President) I got a few reactions to my shirt. :) good ones.
Whitney's phrase on her shirt. too cute.

The saddest thing to hear.....

Today Ethan came up the stairs crying.  I asked him what was wrong and he said that his tooth was hurting.  I gave him some motrin and then I put some ambesol gel on his tooth.  5 minutes later, he started crying harder and louder and saying that his tooth is hurting really bad.  I told him that the medicine should start working in 15 minutes.  Ethan continued to agonize in pain.  Heber came upstairs and asked Ethan if he had said a prayer and Ethan said yes.  Heber told him to get in the shower because it will help him feel better, so he did.  While I was sitting here at the computer, Ethan was in the shower crying some more, then I hear him crying out loud " Heavenly Father, Please make it stop!"  And then " Heavenly Father, PLEASE, I'm begging you!"  It was the saddest thing to hear my son cry out to Heavenly Father to help his pain go away.  5 minutes passed, and he stopped crying.  Something funny to end this sad story is that While Ethan was in the shower he was saying " Why do we have cavities!", " I wish there wasn't such a thing!"  LOL!  I remember having a serious toothache, it made me want to smash my head against the wall over and over! Some how I thought that might make the pain go away.  LOL!

My little helpers

    I wish I could say that this is what it's like every night at my house.... But it's not. :)  I really SHOULD have them help like this every night while they are at the age where they are willing to do it without a fuss. :)  They did do this a few nights in a  row which was a GREAT help to me.  This was a Sunday night. Heber and the boys helped clean the kitchen, which was so nice. :)  Ethan did a great job putting the dishes away in the right spots and Dallin did a great job doing the dishes. :) Thanks boys. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!  

Lacey & the girls come to visit

Lacey and the girls came to visit us the week before Halloween.  Ryan went out of town for business, and so they came to Kansas to visit us while he was gone.  The time flew by so fast while they were here!  You know the saying "Time flies by while your having fun".  Well, we  had a lot of fun!  

I was trying to get Eva to smile, and every time she did, she would put her hands in her face. :)
I put this bow in her hair. :)  I couldn't help it. 
Aubrey LOVED Bella, but Bella did NOT love Aubrey for some reason. 
Lacey says that Owen looks like Moguely from the Jungle book. :)  
Playing rough. :)  Aubrey sure is a tough girl.  She can hold her own while playing with Owen
I love the look on her face!
Tarzan meets Jane.  
Funny kids. :)