The Birds

It's almost like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. We have these swarms of birds that live in the trees around our house. They dart from tree to tree than up to the power lines and back again. It is intriguing to watch as they play dart and chase all over the neighborhood.

I want to be like Mom

Bekah loves to have her hair done. She especially likes it when Mommy puts pretties in her hair. Her she is wearing one of my headbands and she was so cute that I had to take pictures.

Charlynn's Pictures of Temple Square Lights

Michael's Pictures of Temple Square Lights

Thanksgiving

So I completely spaced posting pictures from our Thanksgiving get together. All of Michael's siblings got together with his parents at his sister Victoria's house for Thanksgiving this year. It was a little hectic with 8 grandkids, 5 siblings, 4 spouses, 2 parents, and 1 Great-Grandma. The meal was wonderful and it was nice to spend time with everyone.

The Whole Family

Our Bekah with her youngest cousin, Spencer, and Grandma J.

All of the cousins and Aunt Katie getting ready to watch a movie.

Grandpa J. holding Bekah and McKayla

Benjamin and Bekah loved spending time with cousins, building gingerbread houses with Grandma, and watching Kung Fu Panda. They weren't too excited about taking pictures but quickly got over that when we exchanged presents just before going home.

Benjamin wanted his cousins to stay forever. He loves having family around and going places. It was good to have everyone together. Thank you to everyone who traveled to be their. We enjoyed sharing the holiday with you.

Released!

I had my last doctor's appointment yesterday. At least it became my last at the conclusion of my visit. The doctor said that it was nice to have a patient who was so motivated to get better. He even said that I do not need to go to physical therapy any more. Yeah!

My X-rays showed that my break was completely healed. No visual cracks of any kind just a nice metal plate. I may need another surgery in a few months to remove the metal plate, but if having an extra sensitive elbow doesn't bother me, I won't need the surgery.

I am so grateful to have had an excellent surgeon and physical therapist to help me recover from my roller blading accident. I did not expect to be back on my feet, so to speak, this soon. I still have to rebuild my strength and work up to lifting like I was before but at least I am past the biggest bumps in the recovery process.

Mary's Engaged!

My sister, Mary, got engaged to her boyfriend, Gary, this last Saturday. I borrowed these pictures from her Facebook page. We are excited for them! The wedding will be at the end of January if all goes according to planned. Congratulations, Mary & Gary! We love you!

Our Little Artisit

Benjamin loves to paint! He is very good at mixing colors. He is so good at exploring new ideas and being creative. The other day he painted a dinosaur. On another occasion he painted fire. He will sit and paint as long as we will provide him with paint and paper.

Christmas Trees

One of the most valuable things I learned from college was about Christmas trees. Now, I want everyone to remember that I majored in Marriage, Family, and Human Development with an emphasis in Child Development.

In my Parenting class, my teacher discussed creating a kid friendly environment. One such factor was having a toy box or drawer in every room of your house so that the children will have something safe to play with when they are in the same room with you. Another factor was having age appropriate toys, books, and other discovery tools like scissors and glue. We also discussed Christmas traditions. What my teacher mentioned was having two Christmas trees in his home. One was upstairs in a room the children did not play in that held the fragile ornaments. The other one was downstairs (where the kids play room was) that had kid friendly ornaments which the children could rearrange as much as they liked.

For the last two years we have had two Christmas trees and it has been very helpful in keeping my special and fragile ornaments safe. It has also been a fun project because the children and I, and Dad if he isn't busy, make ornaments together. Benjamin and Bekah love playing with and redecorating the tree and since they have one of their own they leave the other one alone. I love it!

The other plus is that our house is that much more festive because we have more than one tree. I love Christmas decorations, especially nativities! It is my favorite time of year.

And there you have it, one of the most valuable things I learned from college. :D

A Ripple in a Pond

One thing I am learning is that our actions and choices are like ripples in a pond. Just like a pebble does not affect a pond until it is thrown in, our thoughts do not affect others until they become words and actions. And, once those thoughts become words and actions they have a lasting effect just like throwing the pebble in the pond creates ripples that spread out over the entire surface of the pond.

Sometimes the ripples we cause can even last for generations. Through my own struggles to find new ways of doing things and new coping methods I have come to realize that just because something has been done the same way for generations does not make it the only way to do things, regardless of whether it is good or bad.

Sometimes the ripples are so strong that we feel the need to conform to them in order to avoid being knocked over by trying to swim against the tide. It is often difficult to turn into a rock that sends the ripples around or away from it instead of continuing to be water and follow the wave of ripples throughout my life.

I also have realized that my reactions to life's situations become ripples as well. If I resent another driver for cutting me off, I find myself being very pessimistic about the human race. Not right away, but a single negative thought starts a ripple that leads to bigger and bigger pessimistic views and perceptions. On the other hand, if I smile at a stranger and he or she smiles back, I find myself enjoying life and finding pleasure in my routine and activities. I have found that a single positive act or experience creates the opportunity for more and more of such experiences to occur just like a single pebble creates larger and larger ripples the farther the ripples are from the initiating point.

Such an analysis has lead me to think about the kinds of ripples I want to have surrounding my life. What do I want to do or say that will have a positive effect on the generations to come or on the people around me? What have I done to cause negative 'ripples' and what can I do to correct that? In what areas of my life do I need to become more of a stone and in what areas do I need to become more of a ripple? Something to think about when the world seems to be leaning towards more doom and gloom rather than looking at the positive things life has to offer.

Like Brother, Like Son?

My brother, David, is serving a mission right now. One of the pictures below is from just before his mission and the other one is from last month that he emailed to my Mom. Can you tell which two pictures are of my son and which two pictures are off my brother?

Bekah Explores

It is very entertaining to take Bekah to places we haven't been to since she started walking and watch her explore. I thought for sure she would run away from me at Farm Country like she does at the Dinosaur Museum, but for some reason she didn't wander too far away. There was too much for her to look at and explore. It also helps that she loves animals and she spent more time watching the animals than she did staring at the dinosaurs.

It is amazing the things the children notice that I take for granted or don't notice. What an eye opening experience!

Let it Snow?

Okay, it's December. The time for "The Greatest Snow on Earth" if you live in Utah, right? The weather outside is crazy. I have worn my winter coat once, and that was to be outside at NIGHT for over two hours and I still didn't have to wear my hood or gloves. This week my kids have worn their light jackets I have worn long sleeves shirts to run our errands during the day. The weather is in the 40s and higher, not your normal December weather. And, while I am loving that it is still warm outside, I am missing the snow that makes it feel like Christmas time.


To illustrate my point

The backyard looks a lot like this except the grass is browner. We turned off the sprinklers in October.

Snow fell from the sky the first week of November and our street looked like this, but we haven't seen any since then.

Why the Pioneers Didn't Use Cameras While Traveling

We took a wagon ride the other day and I tried to take some pictures while the horse pulled wagon was moving. Here are the kind of pictures I took.

I now have a better understanding of why the pioneers didn't use cameras while traveling. Everything would have been blurry and unviewable. :D

Ride 'em Cowgirl

The first time we went to Farm Country, about 8 months ago, Bekah loved her ride on a pony. Since then, we haven't been able to get her to sit on a horse for the entire ride. Last week we took my sister, Mary, to Farm Country and while we were there Bekah decided that the ponies were okay to ride. She even was comfortable enough to hang on the the saddle horn and let go of Aunt Mary while she was riding. I think we even saw her smile once or twice.

Hunters, Eat Your Heart Out

How close do you get to a pheasant before you shoot it? Well, I shot these using my camera from less than 10 feet away . . . .

. . . . Granted, these were in a cage at Farm Country, but the close up shots through the netting are great! I didn't realize that the male pheasant was so colorful. Happy Hunting!

It's Christmas Time!

Christmas time has arrived! I love this time of year! I love the decorations and the snow. I love the opportunity to give gifts and share with others. I love being able to remember our Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and example. I love being reminded of the closing of one year paves the way through the door to the next year. I love the opportunity to take the time to think about others and show them that you care. Christmas time is my absolute favorite time of year!

By the way, this picture was taken by using a really slow shutter speed (1/5 of a second or so) and rotating the zooming lense out while the camera is taking the picture. One of the cool things I have learned from my Photography class. Michael thinks this technique is called "Lense Blur" but we are not exactly sure if that is the correct terminology. Michael took some amazing pictures the other night at temple square. I'll post more about that later.

Marshmellow Kids

We have marshmellows for children! Both the kids needed new coats this year so I bought them coats that are one size too big. This works great when the coats have elastic cuffs so the children can where the coats for two years instead of one. The funny part is that this year they look like big, fluffy marshmellows and they are still trying to get used to having coats that are a little big. In the last picture, the children's hands can't be seen coming out of one of their sleeves .

Our children are so cute! I love their bright personalities and cheerful attitudes in experiencing our world. Their simple joys become my joys and I love sharing my world with them and looking for new things for them to experience. There is nothing in the world like experiencing something through the eyes of a child when they discover something new for the first time.