End of Year Tid Bits

So much has been going on and with the little hiatus I took from blogging, I figured I better catch up before this year is over!

Did I leave you in suspense over our car? In case you were wondering, we did not buy a new one. The great news was that our car repair that we thought was going to be in the thousands of dollars was only $200! This car is a '99 Mazda 626 that I had when Jeff and I got married. It has about 164,000 miles on it and it's been a great car. Here are a couple of pictures of the beauty:



The picture on the right shows why I bought this car.

I'm not even kidding. When you turn on the fan, you can push that little button that says SWING and the little fan things swing back and forth. Isn't that the coolest thing you've ever seen? Well, in 2000 when I bought the car, I thought it was! Anyway, right now this beauty is our dream car because she is paid for. Any car that is paid for is our dream car. So, we hope she lasts us a little longer!

Now on to more important things. Christmas was great! The girls had a blast and were so cute to watch. Abby came to spend Christmas and New Year's with us and it was so fun to have her. The girls loved having her here and they had so much fun. On Christmas Eve we opened our traditional pajamas and I started a new tradition this year as well.

Every year my mom used to give me a special gift that she had either made or that was a reminder of Christ. I loved these gifts and remember them more than any others. I wanted to start the same tradition with my girls, so this year I made Lexi some little snugglies. That's what we call them. They are also called softies and taggies. My sister-in-law, Cara, made one for Lizette when she was born. Lexi inherited it and absolutely loves it. I've been worried that if we ever lose it, we'll be in trouble. So I made her a few more and she loved them! I was so happy. I also made one for Lizette and gave her a mirror that says "I am a Child of God". She also loved her special gift. I of course cried when I gave them their gifts and I think Lizette was wondering what in the world was going on!



And on to Christmas morning...







Loved having Daddy home for the break...




Fun with Aunt Abby...




And Mommy had lots of fun too...but she's definitely ready for a long winter's nap!




Well, this has been quite a year. Full of lots of ups and a few minor downs. We have good health, a loving family and a happy home to enjoy it all in. And most importantly the knowledge that there is a loving Heavenly Father watching over us all the time. He loved us so much that He sent His son and it is He that we remember most at this time of year. To be just a little more like Him is what we strive for each day.

Slump

Lately I have had no desire to blog. It's not that there aren't things happening. It's not even because I'm all that busy. I'm not sad or depressed. I just don't want to be on this computer much anymore. I want to spend time with my family and that's about it. So, I guess I'm signing off for a while. Maybe for a couple of days. Or, it might be for a couple of weeks...who knows, maybe months! I'm off to spend time with my husband and sweet girls.

When I come back I'll have to tell you our great news about our car, maybe share some fun Christmas memories, and of course post some cute pictures of my sweeties.

I hope everyone has a spiritually uplifting and very Merry Christmas!!

Love,
Jackie

Grandma Weller

I was at Target yesterday and saw a lady who struck a strong resemblance with my Grandma Weller (my mom's mom). This lady was shopping for little girls toys and looked as thrilled as ever to be shopping for probably a great-granddaughter. It was cute to watch.

I was thinking of how sweet my Grandma Weller was and how if she were still around she would probably be doing the same thing at this time of year.

I have the sweetest memories of my Grandma. She had to be about the kindest person I've ever known. When we would go visit her she would do everything possible to make sure that her grandkids were as spoiled as possible. She always bought a little 6 pack of apple juice just for me. She would get up early and make a huge breakfast and would always remember how each of us liked our eggs cooked. Then she would even heat our breakfast plates for us.

She had a box of toys that she would get out every time I came. These toys had to be so old and were not the cool, gadgety type toys that they make today. But I would play with them for hours. There was Charlie - the stuffed monkey (I still have Charlie), a toy typewriter, a JJ doll and a few other random things that she kept on hand for us.

She was so proud of her family and so pleased when we came to visit. Especially after she lost Bomp (my Grandpa). She must have been so lonely at times and I know her family was such a bright spot in her life.

I think my brother Paul was her favorite. It was pretty obvious, but I'm not bitter. :) She would always light up when talking about Paul. When he was in his 20s he went for a visit to go help her out around her house and she was absolutely thrilled. The clincher, which will forever make him the favorite, was when he was doing yard work and dug up a long lost ring of hers. I think it may have even been her engagement ring, but I'm not positive. The story of him finding this ring was shared with everyone in town.

One thing that I've always felt bad about is that I would get so bored as a kid listening to her tell stories. She was never short on words. And as you may have noticed from reading my blog, I may just have inherited this trait. She would tell story after story about her youth or old friends or family memories and I would just sit there hoping she would get done soon so we could do something else.

I would give anything today to listen to those stories. And I would give anything to go to Grandma Weller's and let her spoil me rotten one more time.

They pick up everything

As I re-read my last post about Lizette and Lexi, it reminded me of how much kids pick up from their environment.

When I first heard Lizette say this, I was a little troubled. Why is she talking about dying?! And why would she say that to her little sister?! We've talked about dying a little bit. Mostly because I have a picture of my mom hanging in our house and we talk about it pretty matter of factly. "Yep, Grandma Jackie died and she gets to be in Heaven!" We always try to put a very positive spin on this sort of scary subject. So, maybe that's why it was on her mind. Or, maybe she was playing with other kids and they said something like that. Who knows?

I guess it's just an important reminder that they pick up EVERYTHING!

Last night we were eating dinner and I put Lizette's plate in front of her. She says, "What the heck is this bread?!!"

What?!

"What the heck?" is a common saying for both Jeff and I. Of course she would say that.

One more reminder that we really need to watch what we say and what we are talking about around our kids!

"You're going to Heaven!"

This afternoon Lizette and Lexi were playing and having so much fun. Out of the blue, I hear Lizette say "Lexi, you're going to die! You're going to die!"

I said, "Let's not say that, Lizette. It's not nice to tell someone they are going to die."

Almost immediately she said, "Lexi, you're going to heaven! You're going to heaven!"

Funny Commercial

This Acura commercial makes me laugh every time I see it. Maybe it hits home a little too much? I hope not! I do like my Christmas decorations, but I don't go quite this far.

The Camera

Jeff and I have been wanting a new camera for quite some time now. The one we have doesn't hold a charge and we get lots of red eye with it. It has definitely done it's job for us, but with our two little ones growing so fast, we wanted to get something better to capture all these memories.

Jeff did his research and found a great one. We decided since this is a long term, family investment we would get something nice that will help us capture some great shots. So this camera is not a little point and shoot. It's one of those that actually has a lens and everything.

Jeff has been watching tutorials and experimenting and I think he has gotten some great shots so far. Here are a few for your viewing enjoyment:











Having a good camera really does make a difference! We have taken many similar shots to these with our old camera and the result wasn't nearly as crisp, not to mention the red eye that we usually had. This is going to be fun!

I do have to say though that for the past couple of days I feel like I have paparazzi following me around! With Jeff practicing with so many things, it seems like there is a camera in my face all the time. I didn't post all of the unflattering ones of me slouching in front of the computer or looking dead tired sitting in our family room. Kind of makes me realize I need to sit up straight and maybe get some more sleep too. It seems like I have more wrinkles with this camera. Maybe I don't like it so much after all...

Lots of snow and Santa's Elves

Just a few recent photos of the snow in Boise and my little elves.

Mothers and Christmas

After attending the Rigby Christmas party last weekend, I got to thinking about all of the effort that Marsha (my mother-in-law) went to in planning this party. I can't even guess how many hours she must have spent planning and cooking and making and doing.

She made ornaments for each of the 15 grandchildren, bought the supplies and made gingerbread for the gingerbread houses, she cut out each grand child's name with cookie cutters and gave them each their name in sugar cookies so they could decorate them, she prepared a 12 days of Christmas packet for each of us so that we could carry on this tradition. She cooked and baked and sewed and cleaned and I could go on and on and on. I know she made many of her gifts this year. She canned her famous zucchini relish and gave each of the sons a dozen jars. (And it is soooo good!) Is this woman amazing or what?!

I got to thinking that it is so easy to take all of this for granted. She works so hard to make these parties special for everyone and I don't think we always stop and think about the effort that goes into them.

I kind of think this is the case with all mothers at Christmas time. They cook and bake and shop and wrap and decorate and send cards and take packages to the needy and I could go on and on here.

When I was growing up, I remember sitting in front of the TV watching the Rudolph or Charlie Brown Christmas specials as my mom was working away in the kitchen. She would bring me treats which I thought were the best ever. But, I never stopped to think about how much time she spent making sure that Christmas was nice for the rest of us.

Now that I'm a mother, I am beginning to appreciate all of this effort more as I am doing some of the same things that my mom did. But the beautiful thing is....I absolutely love every minute of it! I think I would work 24/7 if I could to make sure that everyone had a nice Christmas. It's what mother's do, right?

So, thank you Marsha for your hours and hours of work on our behalf. The party was amazing! And thanks to my mom for all of the popcorn balls and tv crunch and fun Christmas mornings and memories. I hope that I can pass on the fun and beautiful memories that these two amazing women have given me.

Annual Rigby Christmas Party

Over Thanksgiving weekend we traveled to Soda Springs, ID for the annual Rigby Christmas party. I think this is the best idea ever. Every year we take turns hosting this family Christmas gathering. Every other year it is in Soda Springs and the off years it is at one of the kids' homes.

The party usually consists of a visit from Santa, a service, the sharing of the Nativity story and/or other meaningful Christmas stories, a nice meal(s), gifts, a slide show of pictures of each of the families throughout the past year, a fun craft for the kids, a craft for the daughters, and this year there was even a gingerbread house contest for the men of the family. It is always fun (and a little bit of controlled chaos)!

And, the other great thing is that having our family get together early in the month allows for us all to do whatever we want with our individual families for Christmas. Isn't that sometimes a struggle? Who's house do you go to? Or, we just want to stay home instead of going anywhere. So, this solves that problem! If your family isn't already doing this and it is doable for you, I highly recommend it.

Jeff's assignment each year is to create a slide show DVD of pictures from each of the families. Each family sends in 25-30 pics of their family throughout the past year. He puts the pictures to music and wa la...a beautiful little piece of family history to be enjoyed through the ages. He usually adds some type of comic relief at the beginning and this year he actually created a movie trailer. I think this turned out so great. I have a very smart and talented husband. (If I do say so myself.) Here it is:



It was great to see everyone last weekend. I really have wonderful in laws all the way around. They have welcomed me in as one of their own from the very beginning and are so much fun to be around. I love 'em all! Well, most of the time. Let's be honest. :)

Before and After

I have a little catching up to do and I thought I would start with some before and after pics of Lizette's and my recent haircuts. Our all time favorite stylist, Lisa, came over to our house a couple of days before Thanksgiving. It was so fun! If you are local, here is her info:

Starting Dec. 9th she will be located at Total Health Massage and Fitness at 4822 N. Rosepoint Way Suite B, Boise, ID 83713. It's located off McMillan between Eagle Rd. and Locust Grove.
378-1517
hrteezr@yahoo.com

She does a fantastic job and makes house calls! Think kids here. Way easier at home, I think! And her prices are very reasonable. $10 for a kids cut and style. $20 for a women's cut and style (less if you just have her cut it.)


Here we are before:

I love our before picture. I told Lizette to look really slouchy and sad. She did her best.

And here we are AFTER!

Honestly, I don't think these pictures do Lizette's new 'do' justice. It is sooooo cute! Lisa cut it in an a-line bob and I absolutely love it! She looks like such a stylin' little thing now. As for me...I got a trim and some bangs cut and I'm really liking it. Thanks Lisa!