Sledding

Remember that time we went sledding? And it was so much fun. Especially that part when I thought I was strong enough to sled down the slope even though I was only out of shoulder surgery a little over 3 weeks. Those were fun days, when I flipped out of the sled right onto my bad shoulder.

Remember how much fun that was? Remember Kyron just going up and down the 'mountain' time and time again and just happy as could be on his easy going slope while the rest of us attacked steeper slopes and continuously biffed it. Remember how much happier he was most of that day.
Remember all the laughter we as spectators enjoyed at the expense of those that biffed it.

Remember making those snow angels. And dad throwing the kids into a 'clean' patch of snow so that there were no foot prints. Remember when that scared Dax. Remember how proud he was though at the end. Remember how much Adley loved being an angel?

Remember when my camera stopped and then all the really cool things started happening...like me and Adley sledding backward down the mountain and making the 'furthest' traveled path, and Nisha and Jared experimented with all the different positions 2 people could ride down a sled together, and when we took off our snow gear and found nothing but ice in Kyron's boots. Remember all the fun we didn't capture on film.

Remember when we laughed a lot together and enjoyed being in the whiteness. Remember what a happy day that was. Remember how much I love UT winters...remember?

It's Official

Exercise

***warning: nature of this post could be considered a little too personal***

This morning as we were all getting ready for school Kyron had his hand down his pants. I didn't really think much of it as that's a normal behavior for little boys but he looked at me and said, "I have to put my hands down there because my penis is exercising." *loud laughs* so funny....all this time I just thought it was male involuntary morning erections...but nope, it's exercising!!!

Right Gift Exchange

For a family gift exchange with grandma, she put Adley and I up to writing a story including left and right directions. Each person is given a gift. As the story is read when the word "right" is said you pass that gift to the person your right. When the word "left" is read you pass to your left. It made for a very fun time. Here is the story:

The Halversen's

It all started in November. Zach left his studies to try and find the right job, He left Tess at home but she was right with that.

Gayle and Stephen also left their home and headed right for AZ. Because they left first, they arrived right in time to get Zach from the airport. They were right there to help him.

Once they all left the airport there were lots of right turns they had to make to get to Chal’s house.

Zach left to several interviews in hopes that one would be the right place for him to work. Chal knows that those interviews would be the right place for him.

Thanksgiving soon followed. It was only right to eat as much food as possible. We left the table sad to have eaten so much. It all went right to our bellies.

We left to see a movie at just the right time. There were no lines to the right or to left. So we were left to walk right into the movie. I don’t know if Hugo was the right movie for the kids but it was right enough after we left for home. Thanksgiving left us all feeling very happy.

Josh and Amber then left their home and came right to Chal’s. Right away it was a good time to be with family. Josh left to buy a new Christmas tree. He headed south, meaning he made several left turns to get there. Right after he got back they left to go home.

Stephen and Zach left next. They headed right for Idaho as Zach is still trying to find the right job. We were sad they left.

But they left Grandma behind. This left Grandma with a huge chore. She left her normal busy life to look after Janeen right after her shoulder surgery on her right side.

While Gayle was at her right side, Jeni and Nisha were right there making sure nothing was left out of the house remodeling. They even mailed samples right to the house for grandma to choose from. Everyone was left with lots of chores.

Papa was right in the middle of all the changes as he left life upstairs and lived right in a little corner barely remaining while the men worked on the floor. They were the right men because they left a beautiful new floor.

Nisha and Jared left Draper and planned the right kind of holiday. Everyone has been right happy with all the activities and fun (except when everyone left to ski, I could only stay and write this left and right story J)

Cameron and Jeni left with Sam right by their side. There were right, Grandma and Papa loved the family quilt. And grandma was right about Sam’s monkey love. It left us all laughing and enjoying Christmas.

No one has left yet but we are all happy to be right here, at the right time with the right people in the right season.

Merry Christmas ~ enjoy what’s left of our time together.

Scooter

We all love grandma's newest toy!

Reason for the Season

Thank you, thank you, thank you Gayle! My absolute favorite Christmas gift!

I have wanted a beautiful picture of Christ in my home for a very long time. The problem has been that I haven't known which print I wanted so I haven't asked. This year though, it made the list. Still I didn't know which print I wanted. But Gayle pinned me down to pick one. I am so glad that she did. I have wanted one that was not typical and that didn't depict some strange facial expression. It was important to me to feel like He was merciful and gentle and kind and that it be portrayed in the print. I also wanted just a selection of Christ, not another thing with Him such as sheep, staff, old Jerusalem, children (don't get me wrong, I like those too this was in specific selection for display at a certain point in my home though)...I wanted just Jesus Christ. So after searching several familiar artists and just not finding something I love, we randomly passed this print. I can not stop smiling as I see this hanging on my wall. I so love it! This is by far, my favorite thing about this season.

Can't Catch Me

...I'm the gingerbread man! The kidnergarten play this year was fabulous. It was fun to see Dax participate in the program. The kids are so darling and precious. I love it. Dax's line: "He knew he'd probably get eaten, so he hurried and ran away."...delivered flawlessly!

Resolve

So often I wonder what I will be when I grow up. Really, I know. But I think about it a lot. I have a lot of fun ideas and desires. I was an accountant at one time in my life. It was good to me. I don't really enjoy being an accountant although I think I was fairly good at it...numbers are nice to me. But it was kind of boring and I don't really socialize well with the stereotypical accountant type. No offense, I always loved those I worked with. But it just isn't something I have ever really wanted to return to. I haven't wanted to enter into the world and work the books.

So I have created alternatives...maybe I could be a writer and tell some fascinating story that would grip any audience (Stephanie Meyers did a pretty bang up job at it and she had no experience), maybe I would become a karate instructor (I would have to take karate first myself though), maybe I would run an orphanage or something of the sort (I know they don't really have those anymore but maybe a group home or something), maybe I would run for office (oh, maybe not, I couldn't hold up against the criticism), maybe I would go back to school and be a doctor (I mean a PhD, not an MD, I don't like blood), maybe I would be a secret shopper or something (that way all I have to do is buy things with someone else's money), maybe a critic of some sort (I always like to pick things apart, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not), maybe I would be plane and normal but maybe is always something I am not. Right now, I am not any of those things.

Right now, I am a mom. I am resolved to only be a mom. I don't use the word only synonymous with 'just a mom'. I mean only a mom and focused and make that my better career. People have their annual reviews at their jobs. They set new expectations and decide if there is a raise warranted or not. I caught myself feeding Navy and daydreaming about other things. So my resolve this year is to be only a mom. Not taking away the other things that I am...wife, sister, friend, etc. My focus will be to improve, to notice more closely, to not be multi-tasking (not that I can do that very well to begin with), to be less chaotic and more of a mom, to be faithful in the duties of mommy. I want to listen better, understand better, support them better, blame them less, comfort them more, empathize better, sympathize to their level, teach them patiently, love them better. I want to be warranted for that pay raise next year, I want to earn that accomplishment and review this year knowing I was better.

On another resolution note, in addition to improving my mom skills, we have decided to start looking into foster care. We want to do more for those that have less. We don't know the details or if we'll even quality but we desire to help and love others. Hopefully the new year will bring us great blessings.

Dinner Party

I love to dress up. It makes me feel all special and glamorous. So I was super excited when my dear friend invited us to a fantastic, fancy Christmas party. Ok, so it may have turned fancy due to some intermingling and pressure from the outside but I love how it turned out. She is an excellent party girl and it couldn't have been any better of a party. It was fabulous.

I was a little worried because I was only out of surgery 10 days when we had to be there but I wasn't going to miss this special night with our friends. We had to bring a nice gift for a couples' gift exchange. So Chal and I brought the nicest gift we could think of...a framed, autographed photo of us. It was perfect. We knew the recipient of that gift would forever cherish that little gem. Luckily, it was the host that managed to claim that sweet prize.

Even now, I am still laughing about that. Thanks dear friends for such a super and wonderful night. I really feel like you are family and that you enrich my life to levels I can't explain!

Chal and I decided to go with a 20's theme. The party wasn't themed that way but we felt the desire and ran with it. Chal wore his grandpa's old tuxedo and I made the skirt which was fun. And then my mother in law thought of adding the head piece, which was perfect! I love dates with my husband.

My Family History

I love Adley's teacher this year. Have I said that before? Without knowing it we were inspired to select her as Adley's teacher. Afterward, we found out that she's an expert teacher for reading. She has been a God send for Adley and she has grown so much. She reads excitedly now and very well.

But what I really love about this teacher is that instead of having traditional parties for holidays, she has publishing parties where the children share a story they have created and written.

This last Halloween 'party' was about Family History. Each child learned about her own country and wrote a book about the details they found most interesting. Adley chose Sweden. I love seeing this girl published!