You Get What You Pay for...and Sometimes Less

Our 20th anniversary is next week and we have been trying to put together a cruise to celebrate. For one reason or another, we haven't been able to get it done. Maybe this summer. Anyway, I didn't want the occasion to pass without some sort of celebration. I got this little offer in my email for a $350 per night hotel room for $129. The pictures looked nice so I thought "what the heck!" It's in Phoenix so we decided to go while Chelsey was still in town to take care of the family. If nothing else, this "deal" provided us with a memorable 20th.

The hotel is OLD. Doesn't even look nice from the outside. Look at those couches, doesn't it make you just want to curl up and snuggle?? The artwork was weird and the one you see above is actually a sliding window covering. Upon further investigation, I found that it was a hotspot for "hipsters, artist and the like" and a frequent gathering place for the GLTB community. Even had I not known all this, I still would have been disappointed in what we got. First, I have stayed in many Holiday Inn Express and always had a much nicer, cozier environment than this. Not to mention...breakfast! In their defense, it was clean and the man in the beret and scarf that checked us in was very nice. But seriously, $350 a night for this?? The walls were the kind that if you rubbed against it, you would certainly have an abrasion to attend to. I won't lie, I was a little creeped out by the whole thing. I was sort of expecting something a little more...

Then we (Glade) saw this in the lobby bathroom. Nice, eh? This about sums up the atmosphere at this "upscale" hotel. We did not spend much time here needless to say. We had dinner, went to a movie (How do You Know), and left first thing in the morning. Again, I won't soon forget our trip to he Clarendon!

We were supposed to take Chelsey back to Flagstaff the next day but due to winter storm advisories, we decided to leave on Tuesday and just go up and back. We packed the whole family and made the drive. It was cold up there! We settled Chelsey in and got her internet up and running (2.5 hours later) and fed the kids some pizza before heading home. Because of the difficulties getting the router to work, the kids had ample time to play outside in the snow. By snow I mean big pile of dirty snow/ice that had been plowed to the end of the parking lot. Poor Bo gets cold so easily and has a hard time warming back up. He went out twice and came back both times with bright red cheeks and purple lips. The second time he was crying so I put his jacket, gloves, socks and headband in the dryer and then wrapped him up in them a few minutes later. Katy wasn't cold but said she needed one on her cheeks like Bo.

He didn't last long in all that warmth, out like a light. We didn't get home until just after midnight, but well worth it since it began snowing in the night. We left Whitley up there with Chels so she wouldn't have to be in the storm alone. They are both coming back on Saturday to go to the Fiesta Bowl. Stay warm sweet girls!!

I'd forgotten

*really big sigh* It's been a while since my brain was at such peace. I definitely let the craziness of Christmas run my life this year, not a good thing. The last week before Christmas I swear I was having anxiety. I was even mostly ready, it was just all the last minute little things that would tug at my mind and my poor bored children stuck at home...I wasn't feeling that well. Then Christmas came. I'm procrastinating blogging that one, so many pictures. Anyway, since that day, I have slept so well!! I wake up rested, I feel relaxed..no anxiety symptoms...and mostly just normal. It feels kinda good!

I'm super excited to start my diet next week. I'm not delusional enough to think I could start right now with New Year's coming up and everything. I am, though, very ready to start eating right and feeling good again. I have about 10 lbs to get off to be back down to my lowest. I have a very positive outlook about this, I'm ready. I want to stop being so aware of how yucky I feel. I miss the energy. So, if you can remember, please remind me next year to "just say NO" so I can have a more relaxed December.

My New Beginnings

A couple of months ago, the church eliminated my calling Church wide. I was the Activities Chairman for the ward. I was responsible for planning and carrying out activities for the ward. I was very excited about some of the things I had planned for next year and a little bummed when I found out I wasn't going to get to do them. They asked me to continue on until after the Christmas party and then they would release me.

I knew a new calling was on the horizon and was at a point where I really didn't care what they called me to do. Now, I would never say no, but how happy one over another would make me is a different story! I really didn't care at this point. Of course my mind wandered here and there about what it would actually be, but I haven't had a whole lot of time to think about it, it's Christmas after all! Once the party was over, my mind started to think a little more about it and one particular calling kept coming to mind.

I pushed it out immediately because it's so far out of my comfort zone, but it kept coming back. I tried to convince myself I was just worrying about it but really knew it wasn't a possibility. The Lord must have known I would need a little advance warning and confirmation that this is what He wants me to be doing right now. Last week I got the phone call "Can we come meet with you?"

While out running the morning I was to meet with him, I couldn't get it out of my head. Sure enough, that night I heard the words "We would like you to be the new Laurel Advisor". This is a calling that puts me with the 16 and 17 year old girls. Yes, that includes my own sweet Whitley. If you don't already know, I barely like teenagers. That's Glade's gift, not mine. I get all weird and insecure and annoyed when I spend much time with them. I guess it's time for me to grow.

Whitley and I had discussed it before the call even came because I wanted to make sure if that's what it was, that she would be ok with it. She said as long as I didn't act like her "mom", she was great! We had a really great heart to heart about some of the struggles she has been having and when I commented that there must be some reason I'm supposed to be in this calling right now, she said "maybe He knew I needed you." I'm gettin all teary again. I love her and am so excited to get to be with her.

I believe He knows us each individually and knows our needs and our weaknesses and has a plan just for me. Without this knowledge, I'm not sure I could do this calling right now. Because I know it, I will do my best to love these girls and be the kind of leader I had as a 17 year old. My heart warms when I think of Carleen, Joy and Sis Parker....the times they let us just hang out at their homes being silly girls. Truly blessings in my life. I hope I can be that to someone as well. So with a very humble heart and butterflies in my tummy I start my new beginnings with the Laurels.

Christmas Eve 2010

It's here, it's finally here! Christmas has come. Well, Christmas Eve and that's just about as exciting. We spent the morning cleaning. I went upstairs, holy cow, I don't know why I'm ever shocked but always am. We basically gutted the upstairs. My trash went from completely empty to overflowing, and I don't mean the inside trash! Once that was taken care of, I had to go run a few last minute errands and go pick up the gifts I keep at my mom's house. Glade was busy working on a service project the boys had been doing all week.

The day seemed to come and go quickly. I started things for dinner as the kids gathered for our new tradition of Christmas Bingo. It's cheesy, but fun. Chelsey and Whitley got the table all pretty and when things were done, we gathered for our candle light dinner. I had done a lot of the food prep on previous days so there wasn't a lot of fuss and mess for dinner. We went through 4 bottles of Martinelli's, or apple soda as some call it.

We have had a tradition of new jammies for awhile, but now that they are bigger, not many wear actual jammies any more so last year I did away with the tradition. They were not happy! I hadn't planned on doing it this year either, but we got a last minute gift of cash so I decided that's how we would use it. They were so happy! We unwrapped jammies and ornaments and then had our traditional "program" focusing on the birth of the Savior. This year we watched a movie recreating the nativity story. It was a little long, but done in a reverent sort of humorous way. The music was beautiful and we had some laughs as well. Even a few quotes over the next day or so. A few of us then read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas before they all scrambled to get their beds ready. We checked the Santa tracker and both Katy and Bo decided they better get to bed right away!! Glade and I were in bed by 10:45, woohooo for doing things early!

New Jammies

More Christmas

Yesterday started early with laundry, blogging, a nice run and a trip to Costco. I know I said I was done, but I guess I forgot to buy food. The kids were a little hungry. The afternoon we spent cleaning up and then had a simple, non messy dinner of taquitos. Yes, they are terribly unhealthy but its a treat for my kids and I'm nice. Bro. Jensen came to issue my new church calling, which will be forthcoming. May I just say...Yikes. Then I went to Mom's to trade a few gifts and figure a few more things out.

Today was just as early. I've been up before my kids every day this week. I just lay in bed and think of all the things I need to do. So I got up and fried hamburgers for our dinner on Friday night. I figured it was one mess I won't have to make that night. Glade and I went to the temple to support a couple in our ward on their first time through. The five oldest kids went and did baptisms as well. I love that they want to do that. It was a great morning.

This afternoon I took a few kids shopping to finish sibling gifts. I found a really cute gift for my mom from Chelsey and then ended up breaking it as I took into the house. That sucks. Anyway, I wasn't up to fixing dinner so we ate....candy! Yep, whatever we had to make our gingerbread houses was what was for dinner. Another mom of the year nomination right there baby. Mom came over and helped us put together the houses. This has been a fun tradition to keep at our house. I finished the night by helping the boys get their 12 days of Christmas gifts out for almost the last time. And then...it rained. Yeah for rain!!

These are just a few of the little gingerbread ornaments we made recently. I got them from Oriental Trading Co. for a few dollars. The kids had fun with them. A few of them made theirs into missionaries. Can you see the little badge and tie? Too cute.

Tomorrow I get to go finish wrapping all the gifts for the kids. Mom has done a good job on getting me started, but there are still many to do. Only two more days!! I'm very ready.

Shop till you Drop!

Yesterday Mom and I decided to knock out every last little thing we still had to do. We started about 9:30 and thought we could get it all done by noon and maybe catch a movie. No such luck. We didn't finish until almost 7 pm. We breaked long enough to have lunch and then went right back to it. Our struggle was finding something for an awkward aged girl who is too big for toys and not big enough to enjoy big girl stuff. Once we decided on what to get, we couldn't find it anywhere! We were seriously dragging by afternoon. I'm happy to report we did accomplish what we needed! Hopefully I will not have to do ANY more shopping before Christmas. I was very ready for bed!!

My kids did great being alone all day and Glade was even home before I was. I did a little wrapping and then hit the hay. It's gonna be a great Christmas!

I survived!

BUNKO

My craziness started on Thursday with Christmas Bunko. I call it crazy only because it was one more thing on the list to do. We had "ugly sweater" bunko this year. Let me tell you, there are some UGLY sweaters out there! I was hoping Les would have posted her pics by now so I could steal them, but she had a few ERRORs. Anyway, it was a super fun night and I even got to be the big winner and take my gift home with me. This time I would have been happy taking just about anything home with me, good stuff! I didn't get home till almost 11:30. I sat and talked with my friend in the car for while when I dropped her off and she gave me the nicest compliment. I won't share cuz it feels weird, but it's something I have been working on personally and she noticed! It was really sweet.

WARD CHRISTMAS PARTY

Friday was the true craziness. I was in charge of our Ward Christmas Party that night. Lucky for me, my big kids were off school that day so I had lots of help putting things together. What didn't go so well was that I thought I would just go buy some tablecloths before we went to the church, but....what I didn't know, is that there were none at any store!! I spent about three hours driving around trying to find some. Very frustrating. Not too mention that I had a little run in with the guy at Dollar Tree about a return and my kids were stuck at the church starving the whole time I was gone. It was a wee bit stressful. We got it all put together with about an hour to spare.

The party went really well. There were tons of people, not hardly enough room to get them all in the gym. We ran out of food (everyone got something) which is actually a good thing, but we could have used about a hundred more doughnuts! Santa came and was so kind to sit for and hour and a half talking to kids and taking pictures. Chelsey was my photographer for the night and I totally forgot to get her dinner. Sorry!! The program was cute and I think everyone went home happy. As always, clean up went quickly and everyone was helpful.

After, we met with a few of our friends to try and figure out when we can get this cruise scheduled. We were hoping for earlier than later, but it's looking like summer now. Ah well, it'll come. It's always fun to gather with good friends for whatever reason!

SMITH FAMILY CHRISTMAS

On Saturday, we had our annual Smith Family Christmas at Kyle and Kristi's house. It was a little complicated this year due to busy schedules, but we squeezed it in. We ate ourselves silly on 7 layer dip, cheese ball and veggie trays before we got to the gift exchange. Once everyone arrived, the grand kids all opened their gifts from each other. Such fun to see them all so excited all at the same time! A little later, the teenagers did a dice game to exchange gift cards. They are not nearly as excitable and ended the game early cuz no one wanted to trade anymore.

Grandma Smith brought out the new tradition of chimes. Each person gets a chime and stick and we play Christmas songs with them. The little ones don't last long, but it's fun for awhile. We didn't have a program this year due to time restraints and well, it just didn't happen. This party is one of my kids favorite things all year!

Katy got a Pinkalicious doll...I think she likes it!

Bo got a remote control car which has been played with a lot!

Dalin was the lucky recipiant of a mentos bomb which requires Diet Coke. I thought I was getting lucky! He also got an airplane.

Rhett got a book about the Human Body. At first he wasn't very excited, but later they spent a lot of time looking through it and playing some of the little games it has.

Brooklyn got an adorable box with a key to hold all her important stuff. If any of you are familiar with SNL, you know what they would say she could put in it!

SUNDAY

Sunday was a nice day of rest. I spent the morning getting a little organized from the crazy few nights before. We had our big breakfast, at which Dalin stateD.."I think the best meals are when the whole family is here!". I think he's right. We had our Christmas program at church which is always one of my favorites. After church I got a short nap, then up to fix dinner. No big family dinner today since we were just together last night. This means all day jammies for me! We had a few friends stop by with treats and spent the evening wrapping gifts and playing games. It was a great day.