Reflection on 2009

Time really does fly when your older. I remember when Christmas couldn't come soon enough, hours felt like days and when December 30 rolled around it felt like an eternity until my birthday exactly a month later. When I was a child I would have started the count down today until my birthday. That doesn't happen so much anymore. I can't believe where the last 4 months went. I blinked and they were gone. Another semester done in school, work, and working with the scouts and planning ward parties. I guess that is where all my time went. In between all that, I tried to make my time count with Melissa, but not always successful.

So I'm ending this year on a high note, or a dark note rather. My hair is a few shades darker which I love and most importantly I did succeed in one goal, I'm rather embarrassed to admit it though. I made it to the temple once this year, on December 30. I made a goal this time last year to make it at least once this year. I made it once. It's too bad I waited until the last day I could do it, now I can't exceed my goal. There is always next year right? I will do better.

I am very sad about not going more often. The feelings I get when I am there are so peaceful and reassuring, I need that throughout the year. I always feel so much closer to Joe when I'm doing temple work, it feels like we are working side by side getting the work done. That is my goal for this next year. Get to the temple more than just once. I'll try for once a month.

There is so many things I want to accomplish in this next year. It is so hard to believe another decade has gone by. Reflecting back 10 years ago, I was preparing for a mission. I just got my call to serve in Ireland, and was anxiously engaged in the preparations. I had just met Joe for the first time 10 years ago. Wow, a lot happens in 10 years. It's been an incredible journey with lots of growth and lessons learned. I'm thankful for every bit of it. I am a different person today than I was 10 years ago. Mostly for the better, I hope.

A new journey awaits me now, a new decade, starting my 30's. I can't wait to see what it brings for me. I have great hopes for a great decade of many great blessings in my life. I have many goals that I would like to accomplish and I look forward to all the growth and changes I get to see in Melissa the next few years.

What a great close to the 2000's. We cherish our memories always, live today the best we can, we hope for a bright future.

Creative!

I love this...she was watching her favorite station, the Sprout channel. They showed her how to make these headbands, so she went to her desk in her room and made them without any problem. I love that she can see it done and then do it herself. AWESOME! I thought they were so cute. It made me realize, if I give her the tools she needs, she could create anything she wanted anytime. I love that she is so creative and loves to do art and crafty stuff. That's my GIRL!!

Christmas Morning

I love Christmas traditions! Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Melissa and Steve standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting to come up and see what Santa brought them. This is the first year in 2 years that Melissa hasn't woken up on Christmas morning with a fever. She was more excited to look and play with the things that Santa brought her.

She had to talk to Mrs. Claus a couple of times to make sure she got on the good list, but overall she has been a really good girl this year. It's a good thing Santa takes an average of the whole year instead of just the week before Christmas, or she would have gotten a lump of coal for sure.

My personal thought is that since Christmas is about the birth of our Savior, we need to look at our kids the way the Savior looks at us. We all make mistakes, huge ones, all the time. None of us are perfect. He is merciful, He is forgiving, and he loves us unconditionally no matter what we do. He wants us to do our best and if we do, he will pour out blessings on us.

I think sometimes we can be too critical of our children's mistakes. I know I forget sometimes that they are just learning how to live and they test us to set limits for themselves. I am sure thankful that the Savior doesn't treat me like I treat Melissa sometimes. I really need to work on being more forgiving and patient with her.

I am thankful for this season and that we have the Savior to look to for peace and an example of how to live and serve people.

This semester has been pretty busy and a tough one for me...I started the semester a little rocky by losing my grandpa. I will miss his smile and the way he made me feel when I walked in the room. I always felt like he was truly excited to me every time we visited. I miss that feeling of having someone truly excited to see me and Melissa. It was the 4th funeral I'd been to in a month. The month of August, there were a lot of people that I love that have moved on.

We were supposed to drive to California for Jolynn's baptism and that was abruptly stopped when we crashed in Caldwell...the bluish greenish van didn't survive, but we all did. Mom's thumb got the worst of it. She is still in the process of getting that back to normal. My knee decided that the console between Mom and Dad shouldn't be attached anymore hence the wonderful colors in my knee. Those deep bruises take a long time to go away. I know the reason for seatbelt checks now since mine failed to work.

Melissa started Kindergarten this fall, and she absolutely loves it and her teacher. I really like her teacher also. She has learned so much and I am constantly amazed at everything she is learning. I volunteer weekly in her classroom and I love helping the kids practice all of their letters and numbers.

I am still teaching drawing classes for Young Rembrandts and I love it. I like that I go to so many different schools and get to meet so many kids. Between Melissa's class, Cub Scouts, and Young Rembrandts, I get lots of time to spend with lots of kids. I think it's to give me perspective on how Melissa acts. I understand better how normal she really is and sometimes how good she really is compared to some kids. (-:

We got to go Utah in October for my mission reunion which was a lot of fun. It's always fun to see people that you spent so much time with again. It has been a good 5 years since I'd seen any of them and I really enjoyed myself. I really enjoyed the time I spent with family too. I hadn't seen any of my cousins or my aunt Rita for a very LONG time. I really enjoyed just hanging out and getting to know them better.

Seamus is wearing the infamous neck brace, it's gotten a workout the last few months, between my pinched nerve in my neck and dad's, it gets well used. Halloween was fun, Melissa decided to be a monarch butterfly instead of yearlong plans of being Belle. She learned all about butterflies in her Kindergarten class and loves them, although her favorite animal as she has informed me is turtles.

This year has been 4 years since Joe died in October. I have learned that I still need to have a day off that day. I had plans on staying home to scrapbook, but my wise mother knew better and kept me busy with shopping. We went to the cemetery and I ended up going the same time Joe's family went. I hadn't seen any of them in a long time.

Melissa got her first filling in her tooth and was absolutely perfect for the dentist. She didn't even whimper. The dentist told her she was the best patient he's ever had. That made her so happy. I was actually in shock the whole time because I usually have to hold her down when she needs shots. She didn't even flinch when he deadened her mouth.

Thanksgiving we went to California and spent time with the California family. I love spending time with Jana and Justin and their families. I know Melissa absolutely LOVES playing with her cousins down there. I can't believe everytime I see them, how big they are getting.

This year's ward Christmas party was a huge hit. Steve made a fabulous Santa Claus. It took so much stress off of me to have him do it. Last year was such a mess trying to find Santa. He loved doing it and he was so good with the kids.

Joe's birthday was on December 8. He would have been 32 years old. We went up and had to dig in the snow to find the headstone, but it's always worth it. Melissa picked out a stop sign that said Santa STOP here for him. All she can read is STOP. So she said she needed to put it on there because he STOPPED breathing. How her brain works, always surprises me. She even made him a snow angel next to the headstone. It always surprises me what she thinks about all of this.

I promise to do better this next year with this blog. It's a lot to catch up when you wait 6 months. MY BAD! I will do better.

Yep, I'm still HERE!!

I didn't disappear completely from the radar, just in case your wondering. I've been so busy over the summer and throughout the semester, the blog kind of took a back seat to everything else. I will catch you up the best that I can before the year is over. At the beginning of June we went to Idaho Falls, for a family reunion...funny thing we ended up spending all of our time at the hotel and at Van and Debi's house feeding the animals instead. I found out later that the family reunion never happened because of rain.

I spent most of my summer planning and carrying out monthly ward picnics, monthly pack meetings for scouts, and having some fun by taking Madisyn to the Jonas Brothers concert and watching Melissa grow up and lose teeth! Can't believe it's time to lose her teeth, I remember it taking so long for her to get them, and now they are all falling out! I was so proud of her, the first one and the third one she lost, she pulled them out all by herself. The second one was painful for all involved. She was so freaked out she puked all over my hand as I held her for Grandma. Little traumatic, but we got her done.

We keep working on the house, it's a work in progress and we are all excited to get it done. We were a little slowed down a few times, but we keep going. Mom is working her tail off. I wish I could have done more to help during the semester, but if you've been a college student at all, you know your life becomes nothing but books and homework throughout the semester. I'm so excited to be done with this semester and with good grades under my belt.