Wii

I just love our Wii. We haven't had any type of game thing before so this is quite exciting for us!!! Amazingly, Ster hasn't spent all his waking time on it - which is what I was afraid of. So far we only have 5 games, but only 3 of them really get used right now. And let me tell you - I can't keep from crashing into the sides of all the race tracks. It is a good thing I don't drive like that in real life - I wouldn't be able to drive! But, it is fun and we are loving it - spending a lot of family time bowling or racing and seeing who really stinks that time. It is great!

And, I had a really great night bowling. REALLY great night. 236! 5 strikes in a row. It was great. Too bad my actual bowling score at an alley would be more like 36.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful and fabulous Christmas - just like my little family. We spent an enjoyable two days relaxing and enjoying each others company. I think we may have a new tradition of having my parents and sister spend the night at our house. It was wonderful to have them spend the day with us and I'll look forward to having them again next year.

I remember as a child being so excited for Christmas that I wouldn't be able to sleep. And every year my grandparents and my uncle would spend the night. Every morning my and my sister had to wait until everyone else in the house was ready and sitting there to see our expressions as we ran into the living room to see what Santa brought. Being unable to sleep ended a long time ago - but I sure couldn't sleep last night and it brought back the memories of having my big brother tell me and my sister to shut up and go to sleep.

Ster is at the best age for Christmas - he was so excited and all week long he has been asking to open just one present. He told me that he was going to stay up all night long so he could see Santa. I didn't know what to think! Whenever he tells me he is going to wake up at a certain time (say, when daddy leaves at 5 am), he will wake up at that time. Without an alarm. So I was a bit worried that he'd wake up way early or actually stay up late. And I didn't sleep very well. Ster did fall asleep - but woke up at 4:30 a.m. telling us that Santa left us a Wii and a camera. He stayed in our bed until 6 a.m. when Tim told him to go watch TV for a while so that we could sleep a bit longer. This is what we woke up to at 7:30 a.m.-



He didn't touch any of the gifts from Santa (which I think is amazing) and woke up to find all of us watching him and giggling cuz it was just so darn cute! We spent the day enjoying our new Wii and watching movies and eating tons of food. Here are some pictures of our fun day:






Merry Christmas everyone!

My mind is elsewhere...

not on blogging, but on family history. Instead of checking out the blogs, I've been checking out ancestors. I have found some of Tim's ancestors that need their work done and I'm so excited! It is thrilling to know that we'll be able to go to the Temple to do their temple work =) Now we need to find the time to do it.

So, if you don't see very many ramblings from me it is because I'm stalking ancestors and not my friends and neighbors!

Family History - long post!

I'm addicted - to Family History Research! Instead of going to bed lately, I haven't been up watching TV, blogging, facebooking, or surfing the internet. I've been researching our family! Here's my story:

For as long as I can remember, I've never worried about family history or having my genealogy done. I've known my family history has been done for my mom and dad's family. How far back? I couldn't tell you. Someone, somewhere has a book with all the information in it. I didn't care. It was done. In my p. blessing, it mentioned doing my family history. I didn't care. It was done.

About a month ago, Scott (my brother) asked if I'd been on new.familysearch.org and looked around the site. I hadn't. Why should I? It's been done. So he explains abit about it and it did spark my interest. But not enough to run home and check it out.

The following Sunday, there was a lesson on Temple Work. Once again, I thought to myself "It's been done". Good heavens, my family has been members of the church for a few generations and there have been plenty of temple-going family members and I assumed that they had all done the work. As I was sitting there, the thought came to me: Tim's family. It was like a bell went off. Hello! Tim's family is not like my family - they are not Latter-Day Saints several generations back. The thought that I needed to research into Tim's family history to see what needs to be done just kept coming back. I couldn't stop thinking about it. Someone on the other side gave me a kick in the behind to start getting the work done!

That night, I went to Scott's house and he physically showed me the website and how to check on things. Guess what? Some family member's temple work had not been completed. Wow! I had assumed it was all done - but there was work to do. In my own family! After we left, I started to get antsy about getting on the website and to start looking for Tim's family. I registered and started to look around to see what I could find and I'm now addicted! Every night, I'm surfing the web trying to find some information on a great-grandfather or great-grandmother. I've researched information to add his grandparents and great-grandparents and to get the temple work for them started.

I can't express how happy I am right now. I have a purpose to go to the Temple that I haven't had before - I am actually going to be doing temple work for Tim's family and that makes me so happy. This is special to me! Not that going for someone else isn't special or important, but this is closer to my heart.

A few nights ago, I kept telling myself that I needed to go to bed but I just couldn't get off the internet. I kept looking "one more time" for someone. Well, after a few "one more time" tries, I found tim's great-grandpa and great-grandma's death certificates. Their names haven't been submitted for temple work yet. So guess what we are going to be doing soon? When I found that information, I was like a little kid Christmas morning - you couldn't wipe the smile off my face!

I'm addicted! I feel so happy right now.

BYU vs UTAH

I'm not much of a sports-watcher. I don't care to watch - but if I do watch, then my team struggles. So why am I watching the BYU game? I don't know. I'm a glutten for punishment, I guess. I really want to change the channel - it is 2 minutes left in the game and Utah has gotten their groove on and are starting to kick our butts! Can't do it. Just can't watch it. Channel changed.

I thought the long holiday weekend was supposed to be relaxing. NOT! I've worked my tail end off cleaning my parents apartment and I'm feeling each and every day of my 35 years. Oh, I hurt. I really hurt. At least their showers are clean. Their oven is spotless. floors mopped and vacuumed. Windows clean. Merry Christmas mom and dad! Oh, I can't wait to go to sleep =)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving. I know I did - but I only had to do a veggie tray and how hard is that? (Drive to Fresh Market - yeah, hard) My brother invited us all to his house and his wife was so kind as to cook cook cook all morning long to feed us.

I really, really love Thanksgiving (although i eat waaaayyyyy too much). The whole month everyone is always expressing what they are grateful for. And to have it all end in a wonderful meal with family is just the best.

Where do I begin? I am so very thankful for everything that Heavenly Father has blessed me with. I have an amazing husband. Tim is just the best - he puts up with me and my moodiness (wait - me moody? Ha!) and takes such good care of me. Even with a knee that is killing him he goes out and rakes up the leaves/branches. And he still runs up and down the stairs doing things (can't seem to get him to stay put). What a wonderful man. And my son. I love that little stinker and I can't imagine my life without him. Even though he likes to get me upset and yelling at him, he loves me unconditionally and always gives me hugs and kisses. My family - I have loving, kind parents and wonderful siblings (even though my brothers tease me and my sister endlessly, they are wonderful and would do anything for us.). And I can't forget Tim's family - they raised a wonderful man and I am so thankful for that! They, too, are kind and loving. I love my family.

You can't forget the gospel. How lucky am I to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? To know of Heavenly Father's plan and to know that if we live righteously we will be an eternal family. How amazing is that? And repentance - we all know I'm not perfect and the knowledge that I can be forgiven for my sins feels me with such peace. I am so grateful that my precious son has chosen to be baptized. In just over a week he'll enter the waters of baptism and I'll be an emotional mess watching my husband perform that wonderful ordinance. How lucky am I! We are also blessed to be able to hear from a living prophet on a regular basis. And to hear from the apostles as they share with us important messages. The Temple - without that where would we be? It is such a beautiful place and I can't wait to go there and do work for Tim's family. I have struggled lately and the thought that I can go there and feel of the peace in the Temple makes me feel so good.

I'm so thankful for this wonderful country that we live in - that we have the freedoms that we have. (on a side note: does anyone out there watch House Hunters International where the homes - especially the bathrooms/kitchens - are itty bitty? how blessed are we to have nice homes that you piddle on a pot and then step into a shower rather than having the shower smack dab next to the piddle pot?) And I'm thankful for my friends and co-workers - they, too, put up with my silliness and crankiness. We have jobs - there are families out there that can't say that and who have been without jobs for awhile. And toilet paper - I'd rather go hungry than without toilet paper. I'm grateful for running water and flushing toilets. And heat - I'm sitting here enjoying the fire that Tim built and enjoying the 93 degrees it is in our family room (I know - I'm not one for heat but for some reason can sit by a fire and melt - but get me in 70 degree weather outside and I'm itching for the air conditioning!)


Whew! I could go on and on about what I am thankful for. I'm also thankful for my blogging buddies who just read through all of this!

Thanks for your support and love. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

toilet paper

I just read my cousins blog about what she is thankful for.

I'm so glad someone else is willing to list Toilet Paper on their list of things to be grateful for!

Veterans Day

What kind of wife would I be if I didn't thank my husband and all the other soldiers, both past and present, for their military service? I am so proud of our soldiers and can't thank them enough for their service.

My husband was raised to believe that every man should service his country - whether it be 4 years or 20 years or a lifetime. We've been blessed with a country where we have such great freedom that others do not have - and we need to serve our time. All four sons in his family have served in the military. The two daughters both wanted to join the military but for health reasons or family obligations could not join. They have such a strong sense of duty to serve and I am DANG proud of my husband for serving!

I feel for all the wives (and husbands) out there who are left at home to raise their family - worrying whether their husbands (or wives) are in harms way and whether they will return home. I know what it is like to have my husband gone for a long period of time. He left January 4, 2004, and returned home April 16, 2005, with a few short breaks home (he was home a total of 24 days during his deployment - and I felt very lucky to see him that often!). I remember going to Airport #2 to drop him off on the 4th. I felt such panic when he finally had to walk away - my heart felt constricted and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I knew he would return safe - but I was so panicked at the thought of being a single mom to a little boy who was (and still is) such a daddy's boy. But I also felt such pride knowing that my husband was serving this wonderful country - and I was proud to tell people where he was and what he was doing.

Today, I am proud to say I'm married to a soldier. I am thankful for his service. I am thankful for the example he is to our son. I am thankful for his strength and for his love and for his friendship. Tim, I love you with all my heart!

I am one of the luckiest women in the world.

My blog

Okay - so I'm starting all over again with a private blog open only to family and friends. When I joined Facebook way back when, I put my blog on there so that friends from my past could read it - I love reading their blogs and thought it would be fun for them to catch up on me. At the time, I thought about what I had written and if people would be upset about what I wrote. Then I thought I should go back and remove any posts that might offend anyone. Yes, I had my husband's ex-wife in mind. There was only one post I was concerned about - but I still didn't delete it. I should have. In fact, I never should have posted it in the first place because it did offer information about Tim's son that I shouldn't have offered. (Me and my big mouth) However, I didn't listen to that prompting (didn't listen when I was prompted to keep my mouth shut about it either) and now we are paying the price. Tim's ex-wife and kids are upset with me. However, on the bright side, his daughter is not blaming him because she knows I did it behind his back (not exactly the case, but might as well be - he doesn't read this). I had also put in innocent comments that apparently made my step-daughter look bad and that really upset her. Anywho - I deserve getting lambasted by his family and at least they are directing their anger at me and not him. Hopefully they won't extend that anger toward Sterling (although I'll never know because not only do they not call Tim but they never ask to talk to Ster either). So, this blog is dedicated to being all about me. And Ster. And Tim. I'll refrain from talking about the others. This is my last time mentioning them. Really. No more. The end.