Can you imagine???!!!!

Can you imagine if this happened to you?

3 yr old opens all the presents Christmas morning before the rest of the family is awake!

*Jawdrop!*

http://myfourcrazykids.blogspot.com/2009/12/story-of-carson-and-christmas.html

I'm going to say it out loud. . .

(Stephanie, Robbie and Natalie Bullen, Christmas Day 1983)

I've already told my mom. She said my brother said the same thing in the car on the way home today from my uncles funeral so I know I'm not the only one thinking it. . .

It was so nice to be together today as a family just the 5 of us without our spouses or children. Maybe that makes me a totally rotten wife but it was nice to get back down to the level of just us. It hasn't been just us together for 14 years. Thanks Mom, Dad, Rob and Nat for a great day! I really enjoyed spending time with you.

25 random things about me

So I KNOW it's Christmas and I could show you a bazillion things we've been doing, talk about Christmas stuff, etc. But I have about zero time right now. I know I've been rather scarce so here's something that is already saved on my computer.

1. Until moving last year I have never lived more than 15 minutes from my parents, siblings or all my in-laws.

2. My weaknesses are See's Chocolates nuts & chews.

3. I was a gymnast until I was 14 and sprained my back.

4. I ran my first 5K at the age of 7. I ran on the high school varsity cross country team and lettered in cross country in Jr High. I don't even think I can run a mile now.

5. I've sold crap on ebay for 5 years.

6. I used to have a shopping addiction. I was in Gymboree at least twice a week every week for 2 years! Happy to say I've been over it since July 2006

7. When we moved to Petersboro it was the first time in my entire adult life I was not taking care of anyone else’s children. It lasted for about 8 months.

8. I miss teaching terribly.

9. We've owned a Wii for almost 2 years and I've only played it twice.

10. Growing up I had hair past my butt. It was waist length until after Christian was born. I used to spend 2 hours every morning doing my hair.

11. I always wanted 6 children.

12. I am addicted to Star Gate SG-1. We own every season and Brandon and I have spent most Fridays watching past episodes for 4 years.

13. I make several lists every day. I have lists for my lists.

14. My biggest pet peeve is rain drops left on the windshield. Brandon refuses to use the wipers until he almost can't see and it's worse than nails on the chalkboard!

15. I LOVE movie popcorn with LOTS of butter. I buy it even when I'm not going to see a show. Maybe this should be added to the weaknesses?

16. I bake something at least once a week usually from scratch.

17. I am a total sentimental sap and am emotionally attached to everything my children have ever owned. Up until 2 years ago I had never sold or given away one piece of clothing or toy. We are talking 8 years worth of kids stuff!

18. I have a ginormous porcelain doll collection that now lives in Rubbermaid totes.

19. My Beanie Baby Collection is even bigger. Also in permanent moratorium in totes.

20. I almost never go to bed before mid-night and it makes me really tired.

21. I am a Disney Vacation lover. I've been to Disneyland over 30 times. Probably 40 I’ve lost track

22. Brandon and I honeymooned in Disney World with my entire family, extended too. LOL

23. I can't name my children until I see them. My cat has never received a name. Her name has been Kitty for 11 years.

24. Brandon and I are high school sweethearts. We started dating in 1992.

25. I am a laundry Nazi. Everything besides underwear and linens is washed in cold and line dried. It has been really hard in this house but I have not given it up. I iron everyone’s clothes every single day. Even t-shirts and jeans.

Proud Mommy Moment

Last night was definitely a proud mommy moment. Christian had his first orchestra concert. I tried all night to upload these clips to Facebook for the grandparents who were unable to make it to the concert but after an hour of being unsuccessful I gave up. This seems like a better place anyway. Let me first tell you about the program Christian is in.

Mountain West String Academy (MWSA for short) was started 10 years ago by Dr. James McWhorter. A long time resident of Logan, Dr. McWhorter is an accomplished string player. He too is a cellist and has played with the Utah Symphony and the Boston Pops. He is a professor at USU and travels the country speaking and teaching all different kinds of groups and at universities and conducting orchestras for young people. He saw the need in Cache Valley for a quality string program for children. 10 years ago MWSA was started on a shoe string budget with 11 children.

Through generous private donations from many area companies and the support of Cache County School District MWSA now has an orchestra program in every elementary school, with 2 teachers and one aide at each and 400 students district wide. Children can register for orchestra starting in the 4th grade because the optimal age for learning a string instrument is 8-9 years old.

At the beginning of the year Christian came home with papers about MWSA. He BEGGED us to let him sign-up and try. You could see it in his eyes it was something he REALLY wanted to do. If you know Christian he has some frustration issues with lots of things. He gets so frustrated with himself and some situations he cannot be reasoned with. We have been told by a pediatrician he has some OCD tendencies and with age he has been getting worse. We were very hesitant to start an instrument. Especially a string instrument that takes hours of practice before you actually sound like you are playing something. We agreed to let him start and were bracing ourselves for many long nights. Christian chose to play the cello and for a one time $30 registration fee which included all his books, a one time $40 instrument rental fee, and $15 to purchase a music stand he was ready to start.

Guess what? The opposite has happened at our house. Christian loves the cello. He is not frustrated when he can't play it perfectly. He is patient and happy to learn and be taught. The cello has helped him, it's been a form of therapy in a way, and his "freak outs" have been far and in between. What a blessing! Guess what else? Christian has always been an excellent reader reading 3 grade levels ahead since 1st grade but math has not come quite as easy. He has not struggled per say but has been more of average B+ student and found math more challenging. After just a few weeks of playing the cello math came easy! It is a proven fact that when children start playing a string instrument their math and reading scores increase by 2 grades, so C to A. We have seen in happen here. At the beginning of the school year his teacher asked us to write down a goal for the Christian and the only thing I could think of was, "Christian needs to be more positive about math and become more proficient." Math is no longer an issue.

Christian attends orchestra for 1 hour each Monday after school, 1 hour each Wednesday morning before school and we pay $2 on the Saturday's we are able for him to go to a 1 hour "Cello Lab Class" at USU taught by Dr. McWhorter and a few USU string students.

Last nights program featured all 400 string students from across Cache Valley. 2/3 of them like Christian have only been playing for 2 months. The rest have been playing for 14 months. They are all 4th and 5th graders, 9-11 years old. When you consider the short amount of time these children have been playing it is pretty impressive. We were one of the VERY lucky parents to have our child on the front row last night where he could be seen. It was a sea of black and white and moving bows. We were also VERY lucky to get such a great seat. The concert was held at Kent Concert Hall on USU's campus, every seat was filled and it was standing room only!

These clips were taken with my digital camera not a camcorder. There is quite a bit of shaking so sorry. I was also next to Parker who Would. Not. Sit. Still. So there is even more shaking from getting bumped by him. They did play a couple more songs but for whatever reason they didn't turn out. I think it is hilarious how serious Christian is. His bowing is more than cute and watch his hand when he finishes his last "pluck" on the last piece.

Isn't he handsome? Look at his killer tie which I picked out for him yesterday at Dillards. His dad is in love with it too and if it was a little bigger would probably steal it. He also tied that tie himself with zero help. I am absolutely in love with this little boy. He is growing up so fast now. :) and :(

The night we call Family Home Evening

. . . or FHE for short. In most LDS families, each Monday night is set aside as "family home evening." This is a time for families to study the gospel together and to do other activities that strengthen the family spiritually, create family memories, and increase unity and love. Last night was special because we were invited to join our Bishop's family for FHE. All the children were looking forward to it. I think just the fact that they got to go to someone else's house was exciting.

As soon as the Parker got home from school and Christian got home from his orchestra class I started drilling them on proper behavior. . .

"We don't run around their home."

"We don't call names or say bad words."

"We sit quietly and listen."

"We have good manners."

"We don't ask for food."

See, I KNOW my children.

Then I start preparing myself in my mind.

"I have to start dinner at 5pm."

"We have to eat at 6 no later."

"I need to make sure I change Ella's shirt it's a mess."

"I need to make time to change out of my velour pants & t-shirt and get some eye make-up on."

5 o'clock comes. I put a tablespoon of olive oil in my wok to make stir-fry. I walk off to do something else and realize the grease is getting too hot. I run back over and quickly pull it off the burner when the 3 million degree grease sloshes up the side of the wok and onto the floor and my FOOT. I rip off my sock and hobble to the bathtub to run cold water over it. I then realize I have left the burner on. This is a bad Ella combo. I hobble back to the kitchen in burning agony and turn it off. I realize it is 5:20 and it's getting late. I don't have time to lay around in pain soaking my burn so I stumble to find a wash wrag in the drawer. I get it wet and wrap it around my food as I try to finish preparing dinner. As I stand there chopping vegetables I can feel the blister growing and growing and growing. I am thinking, "Honestly of all nights!"

At exactly 6pm by some sort of miracle dinner was ready but where was Brandon? I wait until 6:10. Still no Brandon. So I call the kids in to eat without him. Again before I will give them any food I drill them on proper behavior while visiting someone's home. This conversation was followed by, "Do you understand!?" Since everyone understood, dinner was served. Christian asked to bless it. I said, "Sure." Ella ran into the other room screaming. Christian proceeded with the blessing. Ella continued screaming. The boys started eating. Ella continued screaming. (If you are someone who knows my daughter you know this is not unusual behavior.) I go in to try and coax her back to dinner and she explains that she wanted to say the blessing. She won't come back in the kitchen so I tell her she can bless the food again. The boys fold their arms and bow their heads with their mouths full of food and Ella blesses our dinner for a second time. I am thinking, "Honestly of all nights!"

Brandon finally arrives a little after 6:30. I hobble around and clean myself up. I find some shoes I can wear with my still growing and very painful blister. I manage to find Ella some clean clothes, fix her hair, and get everyone's shoes and coats on. Brandon quickly eats and changes.

At exactly 6:55 we are ready to head down the street to the Bishop's house. As we open the door a stray cat decides it's tired of the snow and runs in the house. Brandon continues out the door with the kids and I start to hobble after the cat. I am thinking, "Honestly of all nights!"

I find the cat, get her out, get into the car and we are on our way. We get just to the end of the street and guess what? The van dies! The engine shuts off. Brandon puts the car in park and starts to try and get it going again. This time I am thinking, "Dang the adversary is working hard tonight to keep us from family home evening tonight!"

Brandon gets the van started again and we head down the hill towards the bishop's house.

When we finally arrive we are of course late. We are greeted with love and warmth. We sang and prayed and learned about missionary work and played a very fun Starburst game. Parker spent much of the lesson upside down on their couch but other than that behavior issues were at a minimum. We had a yummy rice crispie snack for a treat and guess what? Both Christian AND Ella got to say a prayer. We had a great time and got to know the Durfey's a little better.

As we were driving home Christan started giving out assignments, "Next week we are going to read the scripture. And Mom we should probably do the lesson too and Sister Durfey can make more rice crispie treats and. . ." All three children wanted to go back to Bishop's house next Monday. It was a good night.

Worship

Worship [wur-ship]

1. Reverent honor and homage paid to God or a sacred personage, or to any object regarded as sacred.

"Born in a stable, cradled in a manger, He came forth from heaven to live on earth as mortal man and to establish the kingdom of God. During His earthly ministry, He taught men the higher law. His glorious gospel reshaped the thinking of the world. He blessed the sick. He caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear. He even raised the dead to life.

What was the reaction to His message of mercy, His words of wisdom, His lessons of life? There were a precious few who appreciated Him. They bathed His feet. They learned His word. They followed His example.

Down through the generations of time, the message from Jesus has been the same. To Peter by the shores of beautiful Galilee, He said, “Follow me.” To Philip of old came the call, “Follow me.” To the Levite who sat at receipt of customs came the instruction, “Follow me.” And to you and to me, if we but listen, shall come that same beckoning invitation, “Follow me.”

As we follow in His steps today, we too will have an opportunity to bless the lives of others. Jesus invites us to give of ourselves. Our opportunities to give of ourselves are indeed limitless, but they are also perishable. There are hearts to gladden. There are kind words to say. There are gifts to be given. There are deeds to be done. There are souls to be saved.

There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ. It is the time to love the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbors as ourselves. It is well to remember that he who gives money gives much, he who gives time gives more, but he who gives of himself gives all.
Someone has appropriately said, “We make a living by what we get, but we build a life by what we give.” It is through giving, rather than getting, that the Spirit of Christ enters our lives.
Let us listen for the sound of His sandaled feet. Let us reach out for the Carpenter’s hand." (President Thomas S. Monson)

(Brandon teaching the boys the parable of the Good Samaritan)

(The Christmas Story narration is always wonderful except Ella kept SCREAMING, "DAD! That baby is naked at the TEMPLE!!!")