December 3, 2018

Well…my plane landed and I hit the ground running.  Literally.  Due to some miscommunication and a series of unfortunate events John and I left one of my bags on the curb at the airport.  At midnight.  And we didn’t realize this until we got home.  So John called the airport and I drove back had had to CO clam my bag.  Thankfully it wasn’t stolen!  It had all of my souvenirs in it!  I got home and to bed well after 1:00 that morning.  My phone work me up the next morning at 11:00.  I can’t remember the last time I slept that late.  It was good to be home and see the kids though.  After giving them their gifts we dove right in to thanksgiving prep.  Plus cleaning the house.  It was a little too dirty for my taste.  We cleaned, shopped, prepped food and baked pies.  Still with no dishwasher. Ugh.

Luckily my parents let us come to their house for the big day.  We were lazy, ate, played games, looked at the ads (my thanksgiving tradition, even though the only Black Friday shopping I did this year was to the Nike outlet at 10:30 in the morning to get Owen some shoes because his had full blown holes in them.  The store was packed.  We found some shoes and cake home and decorated for Christmas instead.  Oh, and I ordered $600 in boots at the Macy’s shoe sale.  I’m going to have a bunch of shoes to return as soon as I make up my mind.  Unfortunately decisiveness is not a gift I possess.

I digress, by that night our home was decorated, our appliances were delivered, and three of the four appliances were installed.  Phew!

The kids had the entire week off of school.  We did a few fun things to keep them entertained but it was a pretty uneventful week.  We played hockey at the church with the Demars and other friends.  We went to dinner and started Christmas shopping. John and the kids put Christmas lights on the house while I gathered the rest of the leaves and tidied up the yard in preparation of the quickly approaching winter. The kids played with friends a bit. Even Ains was social and actually hung out with friends during the week! I love that she has found a couple of friends that she actually wants to be with!  It really is such a blessing.

We didn’t see much of John Thanksgiving  week.  But we don’t see much of him most of the time it seems lately.  His time at work has been a little extreme lately.  Bring the head of his division has had a learning curve and a lot of extra work.  He usually leaves the house between 6 and 7 and gets home about 12 hours or more) later. And then there’s mutual, soccer, and other activities that stretch our evening time thin.  Hopefully with time the work load will decrease as he grows accustomed to his new responsibilities.

Speaking of John, he spoke in church last Sunday.  He did a fabulous job.  He spoke on standing in holy places.  His talk taught that when we are Christlike and serving others we can create holy places.  His talk was great.  I even had people ask me to get them a copy.  Well done John!

The last Sunday of November I gave my last sharif time.  Ever.  It’s kind of bitter sweet.  I’m excited about the new primary curriculum and two hour church, but I feel like I don’t have any real interaction with the kids any more.  I just keep things running and organized while other people get to teach and be with the kids.  Which I like. I’m going to miss that.

And speaking of church, Ains joined the choir.  Which I kind of pushed her to do because they were desperate for people.  And she’s playing the violin in the Christmas program.  She’s one talented girl!

I can’t really think of anything specific to write about Emmie or Owen.  I guess they’re just plugging along going about their lives as usual.  Owen, bless his heart, I feel is slowly entering his teen years.  I can tell this because he’s becoming more and more insistent that he knows everything and enjoys arguing  questioning everything John and I say to him.  It’s great.  We love it.  Owen also just signed up for his second year of ski team.  Boise received its first snowfall yesterday and our eyes have been on the mountain hoping they get some good snowfall for a good ski year! Owen also had another jazz band concert.  I must love him a lot because I really don’t like jazz music.  And I sat through 3 school performing jazz songs for that kid.  It was hard for me. But he did great!  He’s musically inclined and I know he’ll go far with music if he sticks with it.

The Christmas season is in full swing and life is just slightly more crazy than usual because of it. I love that Emmie still brings the magic and excitement of Christmas to our home.  She was so excited for Jingle, our elf, to come this year. She woke up every day the week before he came asking if he was here yet.  Thank heavens he finally came!  I was getting tired of seeing the disappointment on her face when I had to tell her repeatedly that he wasn’t here.  We have plans to watch Christmas movies, go see Christmas lights, and make holiday treats.  I’ll be relieved when the shopping is done so I can have a little note down time to enjoy the holiday.

We watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional last night. I loved the first talk so much.  Sharon L. Eubank  talked about how sometimes in life we just muddle through and things don’t go according to plan.  But she reminded us that that doesn’t matter and we are still loved. I think I will go back and listen to her talk often.  It was such a good reminder for me.

And now I guess I should get back to the crazy that is my life at the moment.  Kids and church and house and work Christmas. Awesome and exhausting all at the same time.