So Disappointing

On Friday, we took a little road trip to Salt Lake with Ty's parents. Ty's cousin Ben whom Ty hadn't seen in nearly 14 years get married. We left the house with time to spare. It was a fun trip with the parental units and us talking and laughing and singing along with the Christmas music on the radio. Then we hit the Utah border. We also hit the biggest snowstorm ever.
Ty had to slow down significantly to navigate the icy roads and crazy Utah traffic. We pulled off the freeway to the Salt Lake Temple at noon. When was the wedding? Noon. We raced into the temple doors and tried to convince the man at the front desk to let us in. These things never start on time, so it should be okay, right? Wrong. The Nazi at the desk wouldn't let us go in.
We were disappointed to miss the wedding, but we would see Ben and his lovely bride at the ring ceremony and luncheon to follow. The most disappointing part was missing the man who preformed the sealing. It was the Prophet. Yes, President Thomas S. Monson did the sealing! Can you imagine? Sitting in a room with the Prophet? Listening to him speak on such a personal level? Wow! I guess he was quite a cut-up and had the small assembly laughing several times. He had several stories about Aunt Ann and times when she used to be his secretary so many years ago. *sigh* Such a disappointment. Aunt Janet was furious when she heard how close we were and that the man wouldn't let us in. She said we would have been in plenty of time. Oh well.
I feel bad for the couple, too. Their wedding pictures are gonna be a mess. The snow was dumping and the wind was howling. Not exactly the best setting for pictures. Honestly though, they were so giddy in love with each other, they probably didn't notice. The guests, however, were freezing!
We had some time to kill between the wedding and the ring ceremony, so we walked over to the Conference Center. A nice man inside offered to give us an abbreviated tour, since we only had 40 minutes before we had to be at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for the luncheon and stuff. That place is beautiful. And HUGE! It can seat 21,000 people. The stage/pulpit area was all decorated for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas program. It was so pretty. The artwork in that building is amazing as well. Gee, I wish I could create beauty like that.
The ring ceremony and luncheon were so nice. It was fun to get to talk with Ty's family that he hadn't seen in years. I loved seeing the way Ben and Donna looked at each other. It brought back so many memories from when Ty and I got married. All of this took place on the tenth floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The view, when we could see it, was amazing. The problem was, it was snowing so hard, at times we couldn't see the buildings next door! At one point, I was sure we would have to get a hotel room and wait out the night.
We decided to risk it and try to get home. We figured, we could always stop along the way if we had to. The trip home however, was fine. The worst thing we had to deal with was SLC's rush hour traffic. The snow was light, the roads were clear, it was a beautiful trip home. If we'd had that weather on the way down, we sooo would have made it to the wedding. *sigh*

My Dog's So Smart

It's really cold here. Really cold. And Mayzee has no undercoat, so she gets cold when she goes outside. So, we got her a coat to wear when she goes out.
The other day, Mayzee rang the bell on the back door, letting us know she needed to go out. When I opened the door, a blast of cold air hit me and I looked at the thermostat: 3 degrees. So I said to Mayzee, "You want your coat?" She stopped on the porch and looked at me, cocking her head to the right. "You want your coat?" She tilted her head to the left. So I grabbed her coat off the counter and repeated the phrase. She started like she was gonna run to me, so I leaned over and repeated the phrase one more time. She raced up the porch and into the house, stopping right below my hands so I could put the coat on her. As soon as the coat was secure around her waist, she went trotting outside to do her business.
She is so proud of her coat.
Another smart thing she does, and has done since we first got her at 12 weeks, is: if she has found something to chew on and is chomping away, or holding it in her mouth, preparing to chomp and we say, "Drop it!" she will spit it out immediately and trot off to find something else to do. She's done that since the first time I said it to her.
She amazes me. She's such a smart puppy.

Gingerbread Dreams

Sometime before Thanksgiving, Ty went out to pick up a few things from the store and came back with a Wilton gingerbread house. I stored it in the back room until there was a little more room in the house (a.k.a. my parents went to Texas) and then promptly forgot about it. Then, all my friends started posting on their blogs about the cute gingerbread houses they made, so I got it out for the kids and I to decorate. (Of course, my friends are much more creative and actually made their gingerbread, but I'm just not that good!)
I was kinda grumpy when the activity started, but after a few minutes of playing with my kids, I was having just as much fun as the kids. It was so fun to see what ideas the kids had and how creative they are. We were very limited on candy pieces, but the kids came up with wonderful designs with what they had. I'm pretty proud of icicles hanging from the eaves!

The Killer Dog

My dog is simply ferocious! She is terrified of the vacuum cleaner. From the first time we got it out, she has gone ballistic at the simple sight of it. She even knows that it belongs in the hall closet and if you act like you are going to open the closet's door, she will start barking like crazy.
When the vacuum comes out, she begins growling and nipping at the wheels. She makes the strangest sound and completely freaks out. Maybe we're bad "parents" but we can't help but laugh hysterically at her. She seems to have an instinctive fear of all cleaning implements. The first time we brought out the shopvac to clean the stove, it hadn't even been turned on yet and she went nuts. Then, yesterday, I got out the mop and broom to do a little cleaning up and she started lunging and biting at the broom. I think she hates cleaning even more than I do!

Zach is 6 (can you believe it?)

I can't believe that my baby is already 6 years old. He is such an amazing kid. He is very funny, he always has us in stitches. He loves to make faces and silly little voices. He is still my little cuddle-bug. We often spend time in the morning just snuggling on the couch. He is so warm and I love wrapping my arms around his little body. He is also very sensitive to others and their needs. He looks out for everybody's feelings. He is also very creative and enjoys drawing and creating projects for us to admire.He is an incredibly grateful kid. He is so excited about everything that he is given. As you can see, he was very happy about the train from Grandma Marsha and Papa.
He does love his GeoTrax.

Saturday after his birthday, we had a little party at Leo's Place with a few of his friends and his cousin.

I guess he gets his wish! I know I got mine when he was sent into my life.

Happy birthday, baby. I love you!

The Christmas Program

On December 10th (Zach's bday), the kids' school had their Christmas program. They did it in a different way than I have ever seen done before. They sent home a program beforehand so that the parents knew when their kids were going to preform. That way, you didn't have to sit through 6 grades of singing to see your child's class do their thing. As it was, I still had three to watch, but it was worth it.

I'm always so proud when the kids do anything. I turn into such a blubberbutt because I am just so proud of the kids doing their best and having fun. (I have even been known to cry when kids I don't know perform! - hello America's Got Talent)

Zachary's class was the first to go after lunch. Zach was so funny cuz he insisted on wearing his "Christmas Sweater" for the program. I had to extract a promise from his teacher htat he would not be allowed to wear it to do anything else. I could just see it covered in green paint!

The kindergarteners were so cute when they filed in. They were so excited an dproud of themselves. They were all grinning ear-to-ear. Zachary kept looking at me and mouthing, "Take my picture!"Zachary even smiled as he sang.The kids all had little actions they did to the songs. "He sees you when he's sleeping..."This was the only good picture I got of Samantha because, when they stoop up, the girl in front of her practically blocked Samantha from view. *sigh*

Tristan was too cool to smile for the camera. This was as close to a smile as I got. I was so proud, yes, I cried a few times.

Okay, disclaimer, I know there are more pictures of Zach here than the others. I couldn't help it, those Kindie-gardners are so dang cute!

Spirit of the Season

I love this time of year. I love the music, the weather, the lights, the Spirit. If you were to ask me to name one person who exemplifies the Spirit of the season, I would have to say...
The bell ringer at WalMart. Surprise you? She is the most awesome lady. She is there every day. And if I'm right, I think she's there all day! She sits out there in her brown, insulated coveralls, ringing her bells, and singing at the tops of her lungs. I swear, she knows every Christmas song. She is not a great singer. Heck, she's not even a good singer, but that doesn't stop her. She smiles her huge smile and calls out "Merry Christmas" to everybody who passes her. I am there waaaay to often, but every time I see and hear her, I feel warm inside and can't help but smile. It's my hope that I can keep that feeling with me throughout the year. That I will remember that sweet lady and the love she obviously has for her Savior and her courage to show the world. I hope that I can be more like her!

Zachary's New Sweater

My Grandma Jensen makes beautiful sweaters for all the great-grands. She gave Zachary one for his 6th birthday. Honestly, when I saw that it was a sweater in his gift, I thought Zachary would be disappointed. You know, he's only six, he expects toys and "fun" stuff. Just take a look at the pictures to see his reaction...
He LOVES it! He calls it his "Christmas Sweater" and insisted on wearing it for his school Christmas program.

He's So Clever

My hubby cracks me up. He signed up to bring the yams to his work Christmas party, so he was making them the night before. He decided that they needed to be whipped, not just mashed. However, my parents don't have a hand mixer. Ty needed to whip those yams, so he improvised.
Yes, that is a cordless power drill with a mixer stuck in it!
He's so proud of his ingenuity.