Book Club

Today I am grateful for my book clubees. We had our last book club for the year today and we had a wonderful lunch at Kara's house. It is so fun to get together with these ladies monthly and I'm so glad I am reading again! I read a lot when I was younger and then not so much when I got married. When we started our book club in 2004 I joined because I thought it would get me reading again and I have loved it. We have read some great books over the years, and some not so great books too, but that is ok! I did this layout as a challenge last month with the books I have read over the last year. I think I may have already posted it on my blog, but it goes along with this post so I am posting it again.

Quick Trip to Colorado

I made a quick trip to Denver for my uncle Darrell's funeral over the weekend. We left Thursday morning all packed in my car. Me, Heidi, Greg, Brett, Andrea and Jaron. Greg drove the whole way. It was fun to get to see grandpa and grandma's new place.

We got lost a couple of times driving around Denver, and there were a few times Greg had me laughing so hard I could hardly see to drive because my eyes were watering.

Even though it was under sad circumstances that we had to make the trip to Denver, it was so much fun to be able to travel together as siblings for the 8 hour trip. We had a great time reminiscing and laughing and having a good time together. It was fun to see my parents who have been gone on their mission for 11 months and to see Grandpa and Grandma Evers. I’d love to be able to take the kids out this summer if we can get the money and if they are feeling well enough to have us. We took a four generation picture while we were there which I will treasure always.
It was also fun to get to see Sara, I think it has been around 10 to 15 years since we have seen her so we took the opportunity to take a picture with the “Evers cousins” too.
My favorite part was getting to sit around and listen to Grandma talk about her younger years. We also spent quite a few hours with Aunt Micki listening to her tell stroies from their childhood and how my grandma took care of her when she was little. She also threw in a few stories about my dad when he was little including the one where he learned to pop paper bags and when he scared the stove deliverymen to death when he snuck up behind him, blew up his bag and popped it. All in all it was a great weekend.

Jaron got sick on the way home. Luckily he puked in the convenience store we stopped at instead of all over in the car. I felt bad for him though because Andrea didn't dare feed him anything after that because she was afraid he would get sick again. I think it was the big breakfast and then driving through the mountains. A combination of food, winding roads, and altitude didn't sit well with the little guy.

We got to eat at Uncle Ron's restaurant (The Egg and I) twice while we were there. Thanks grandpa and grandma for taking us out to eat and footing the bill. The food was great. We all had a hard time deciding on what to have. I guess we will have to go back again to try a few other menu items. The gingerbread hot chocolate was to die for.

Today I am grateful for my wonderful sister in law who sent me this video. It helped me get into the real Spirit of Christmas. Thanks Jen!

Love It/Hate It

Me and snow, we have a love/hate relationship, but today I am grateful for all of the snow we have received. Sean said it was hard to tell because it had drifted some, but he thinks we got about 18 inches over the past couple days. I love that it brings us moisture for the coming year. I love that it makes everything look so clean, pure, and pretty. I love that my boys have fun playing outside together. I love that Sean has a 4-wheeler and a plow because we have lots of driveway at our house. I hate driving in it (Sean loves driving in it, especially before it has been plowed). I hate when it gets later in the year and it is all gray and ugly. But, right now I can just be at home, so I am loving it today!

Family Traditions

Today I am grateful for family traditions and the chance it gives me to reflect on my childhood and all my parents did for me. When I was in elementary school, each year we made gingerbread houses for our teacher for Christmas. I started that same tradition with my children and it has been a fun one. This year is the last year we will make a teacher house as Trevin is in his last year of elementary school. I'm sure we will keep making houses every year though because my older boys have been out for years and still continue to make them every year. They just eat them themselves now. I think it would be fun to make them and take to older couples in our ward, maybe we will start that new tradition next year.

Tyrel made a head with spikey hair and a mullet this year instead of a house. Trevin made a house for his teacher Mrs. Dewey.

Travis made a dinosaur with his house pieces.

Travis and Trevin had fun cutting out cookies with the extra dough and they used them in their creations also.

Another Albert Einstein

Trevin had the 5th grade wax museum last Friday. He chose to be Albert Einstein. Each student picks a historical figure, reads a book about them, writes a report, makes a summary fact sheet and puts together a costume and a display. Then, on the day of the wax museum, they dress up and put up their display. The other classes in the school and the parents are invited to walk through the "museum". They sit very still like wax figures for 15 minutes, then they get a 5 minute break. They do it until lunch time so it is a lot of sitting.

I had to make a quick trip to Denver for a funeral, so I wasn't here for the day of the museum, but Sean made sure he had everything together and went to the museum and snapped some pictures. When I talked to Sean on the phone that night, he said he thought Trevin looked more like Marilyn Monroe than Albert Einstein. That gave me a good laugh. I guess we should have made sure he had a moustache, that might have helped, but I was rushed so it was as good as it could be.

I'm Starting Today

We had a wonderful Stake Conference today. I'm so glad I made it home for it. I just wanted to post a couple of my favorite parts.

President Trevort told a story about when their children were younger and they were giving them a family night lesson on helping out mom and keeping up on their chores and helping out more around home. He asked them what would happen if Jesus came to their home, would He be happy there and would He enjoy His stay. He said that his little 4 year olds eyes got big and said, "Oh yes! Jesus would be happy here. We would all sit on His lap and give Him hugs and kisses and feed Him if He was hungry." He was thinking it went straight over her head but then realized that she was the one that understood. It brought tears to my eyes and made me think about if our home was a place where Jesus would be happy if He came to the door. I think He would!

My favorite part of President Rosenbaum's talk was when he talked about some missionaries who asked President Eyring how they could be humble (I think it was him, someone correct me if I'm wrong). He gave them an answer but says now if he could do it over again he would tell them that the answer is in the Sacrament Prayer and we hear it every week, it is "To Always Remember Him." The talks that were given today got me really thinking about Christ our Savior. It helped me remember the real meaning of Christmas and I really enjoyed it.

Sister Pitts, who is he wife of the Provo mission president bore her testimony and said that when she first came on her mission she followed the counsel of President Eyring (now I don't know if he was the correct person from the other talk) of starting a gratitude journal. I remember being counseled to do that and they even gave us little notebooks at one of our Enrichment activities to do so but I never did. So, today, I decided it would be a good idea for me to make a post each day with what I'm grateful for this next year. I was going to start in January, but I may as well start now because I may forget by then.

So, today I am grateful that I was able to attend a wonderful Stake Conference and hear the talks about becoming closer to my Savior, Jesus Christ.