Wishing it was Spring

I'm going through my work computer and getting rid of files I don't need particularly items that are of personal use. I ran across this image and it made me smile. Which I needed really bad today. I'm wishing it was spring now after looking at it.

It's just such a beautiful image. It really reminds me of spring and the joys of fresh flowers, new life and little babies. I'm so excited to have my very own little one this spring.

Christmas Wreaths

For Enrichment this month (for anyone who doesn't know Enrichment is where the ladies at our church get together to learn new things, make crafts, do service and other things together) we created wreaths. I had signed up but wound up not making one because I am picky. I wanted to make one with silver and purple Christmas ornaments but I couldn't find any purple glass ones. I guess I'll have to shop online. Anyways so I wound up just hanging out and entertaining my friend Heather's son Wyatt.

The young women I work with were invited to attend and participate also. It was last minute so we struggled to figure out how many girls were going to be there. We had a handful show up which was a lot less than I had hoped for (poor planning) so I took home six packages to make wreaths. I was okay with this because I figured we could use them to make as Christmas gifts for girls who are less active.

So yesterday afternoon I finally got tired of looking at the large bag sitting in my living room and then my craft room so I decided I would break out the glue gun and get to work. I got all six made. I finished the last one at 10:30pm. :) Whew!! It took longer than I thought it would but at least they are done and soon to be distributed and out of my house. :)

Below are the pictures of my fun time alone...along with some tricks I learned as I went.

I had six packages to make. Three were red, green and gold and three were blue and silver.

I removed the tops off of the ornaments.

Which then left this nice little bump. I didn't want little nubs sticking out so I...

Cut off the tops with some wire cutters. Since they were plastic I was able to do so relatively easily. But I learned quickly to do it into my garbage bag so pieces weren't flying every where and all over me. Now I would put the hot glue around the holes I had created and then put that straight onto the wreath but the oranments would wobble so obviously they needed to be connected. I only needed a dab and didn't want to get the glue gun involved directly. So I thought for a moment and ran upstairs to the kitchen and grabbed my container of toothpicks. I would put a dallop of glue on the end of the toothpick and carefully place it between the two ornaments and then force them together and hold it for a moment. The other part that was tricky was I was doing it in groups of three for the most part which meant one would be off the end and start to fall while I went to get the glue. So I would use the ribbon roll to hold the ornament in place. And tada!!! I have six decent looking wreaths to give away.

Oh a few last tips. When starting the ribbon on wreath and finishing it wrap the end up 2-3 times to give it a nice finished look.

Using the hot glue gun you always get the little strings everywhere right? Well the faster you move the less you have but when you do get them let it cool and then snap it off right away. If you wait too long you'll forget and then have a spider web looking wreath.

New Year's Resolution

I had so many grand ideas for Christmas. I was going to make tons of amazing homemade gifts and cards. But alas we are quickly approaching Christmas day and my plans have changed drastically (stupid job gets in the way of all my fun). I am super excited about the gifts I have come up with now though and can't wait to share them. As soon as I can I will post pictures of them because they are so adorable. :) I just have to wait though because it will spoil the surprise for those getting them.

My first New Year's resolution is to start on Christmas gifts for next year in January/February. I have almost everything I need for some of them I mostly need time.

A little over 2 more weeks and we find out the sex of the baby for sure! :)

Dream Time

I've entered my second tri-mester with the vivid and scary dreams now.

Below is a dream I had this past week. It was so real and vivid.

I was in my house (not the same set-up as the current one I live in). There were people over talking about how World War III was going to start today. I looked towards Jared and asked him about it and he said "That's sooner than I anticipated." I started trying to figure out what we needed to do. I was in this room with Megan and Jeffrey when I heard this high pitched noise and yelled "Get down!" while grabbing Jeffrey. The explosion hit and things were thrown about. I heard Megan crying and got over to her and saw her leg was bleeding from something being in it. It was high up on the leg. I grabbed at my shirt and ripped off a long strip of it and made a turnakit for her. She was crying a lot and I knew she was in pain but I was terrified and knew we had to get out of there. I told her "You need to shut up and suck it up Megan, we have to get out of here." I helped her get up and grabbed Jeffrey who was pretty scared but holding it together. We walked into another room and found Leslie, Mom, Jared and the girls. Jeffrey really wanted his mom so I switched him for one of the girls. I went out to the garage and started loading things in the car and was asking Jared where things were like the propane and the camp stove. I was telling Mom I think to get pans for cooking and food out of the fridge. It was very stressful and hard to focus but I knew I had to so we could get out and survive. I went back inside and was looking for food when Cathy was there saying "Let's get the DVD player and some movies too." I couldn't believe what I heard. "It's not about entertainment anymore Cathy. It's about survival now!" I said to her. Then all of a sudden Ed was there and was talking about the war and I was so confused. I was like Ed you are in the Army how can you be here when we are in the middle of World War III. I realized then it was a dream and woke myself up. I woke Jared up and held onto him and told him about it and then got up to go to the bathroom. While in the bathroom all the feelings and emotions from the dream came out and I started shaking and crying. I laid in bed said a prayer and calmed down but then I heard this loud noise and it freaked me out. I was like oh no please not a bomb when it happened again and I could tell it was just a train.

Christmas Angels

Ed and Leslie went to Seattle early in the morning on their last Sunday with us. Ed was racing in the Seattle Half Marathon. So we got to dress the kids for church and take them with us. I had bought the girls new dresses and coats for Christmas. They were so precious.

It was hard to get all 3 to look at me. Sometimes they would look up past me at Granny. Do you like the fogged look? I think it makes it look antique sort of. I had left my camera in the car and the house was quite warm compared to outside.

Here is Talia! She was playing with different toys next to me. After they left I was in the store a few days later and I thought I heard Talia laugh. It made me cry. They are growing up so fast.

I decided to have some ice cream and all three kids decided they wanted to have some with me too. So we took turns. I would get a bite, then Talia, Coral and Jeffrey. They would sometimes try to cut and would get impatient waiting on someone's turn.

Do you have room for the Savior?

My mother sent this to me today and I watched it and cried. It is a very touching song and the video she picked to put with it suits it well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vStl9PXWtiw

Do you have room for the Savior?

Extended Family Thanksgiving Dinner

We had an extended Family Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Ed was in town with his family and to make it a little easy on him we got everyone together.

It was held at the church building because everything else fell through.

Here is Dora and Marc. Now since Dora is here that means someone isn't. Do you know who?

Mom and her good friend Heather Boies.

Jeffrey and Mason playing together. Not sure if this is the first time for them or not. I found Talia and Coral knocking chairs over. I didn't realize that the two I saw were not the only two chairs. Here is my immediate family. We are missing Celia, Tausha, Karl, Blake and Jillian.

Here is the whole extended family. We are still missing several people.

a few parenting things we've learned so far...

Having Olga live with us has been fun so far. We've had to adjust in some ways but nothing too major. She is very helpful around the house and joins in the playful banter.

There's a few parenting things we've learned so far...

1. Adopt when they are 16 and make sure they have been raised well and are responsible.

2. They will have a first day of school and you should get up in the morning and see them off and not wait till they get home.

3. Kids are always the princess or prince in your life.

4. They will have strange friends.

5. They will go on dates and you will have to sit there awkwardly and talk to them while they get ready to go out.

7. Showing off your muscles is always fun.

8. When they sign up to do something it means you will have to get them there most likely. Even if it's at the butt crack of dawn and freezing cold outside.

9. When they do amazing things like run in the Seattle 5K it makes you very proud.

Road Trip!!!

So as you are I am a Twilight fan. I fell in love pretty hard when I finally let myself. In October I had 2 ladies here from Manila that I was training at work. They were die hard Twilight fans and were like we are so close to Forks. Olga also likes Twilight and so I figured it would be a fun trip to do on a Saturday and I knew Jared wouldn't be up for it.

I did some research online and find all the spots to visit in Forks. I borrowed Jared's parents GPS thingy and loaded up the girls and went on a road trip.

Here we are on the Ferry boat. This is Olga's 2nd time on a Ferry boat since coming here.

Olga is so photogenic.

I love these types of lights so Olga posed for me to make it more interesting. She is such a funny girl.

We made it to Forks!!!

Olga is shorter than Bella. Hmm.

I'm way too tall for both of Bella and Edward.

We went to one side of the La Push beach before going to where everyone was.

We had fun playing out on these old piers.

This is Olga's signature photo shot.

I like how the water is splashing up behind me.

Karen and Jam were playing in this first so we followed suit but I think we climbed higher than them. And yes it was awkward but so worth it.

This lady with awesome rain boots took this for us.

Pike Place Market in August

With Olga being here from Spain we are of course trying to take her to some of the sights around the greater Seattle area. Jared wasn't a huge fan of the idea of going to Seattle even though he agreed it would be good for Olga. But since mom and Cathybets were available we ladies went to Pike Place Market without Jared.

We had fun finding a place to park and getting into the stall. We just enjoyed walking around and looking at stuff and letting Olga experience the place. Lots of street musicians, crafts, food, beautiful flowers. Olga bought a bracelet and I got a bouquet of flowers and mom bought some amazing cherries.

Below is some pictures of our adventure.

This guy had 2 large hula hoops and played one guitar while balancing another one.

Cathy and Mom walking down the hill to Pike Place Market.

I really love this picture. The fruit looks amazing and I love their signs.

I tried to get a picture of Olga, Mom and Cathy with the Pike Place sign but there were too many people to get them in it too.

Mom, Olga and Cathy having a resting moment and laughing together.

I loved the lights and thought this was a cool shot.

Olga with a horse.

I do exist!

Mom is holding my bouquet of flowers I bought. I took a ton of pictures of her while she looked out over the ocean. We both have a special place in our heart for the ocean.

Cathy and Olga sitting down looking around while mom and I looked at the Ocean.