Word of the Year...

Last year I blogged about my word of the year (read it HERE). I did it because I had seen several people blog about their word of the year, and it seemed like a fun way to focus in on my life, and really think about something I wanted to change this year. I really think that having that word in the back of my mind all year (JOY), helped me to focus on what was really important, and really helped me to be a happier, more joyful person. I feel like I was able to enjoy my family more, and not think so much about all of the things I needed to do--but to live in the moment, and take each day to focus on what we are all really here for: "Men are that they might have JOY!" Still love that scripture!
I have been thinking about what word I wanted to use this year, what I need to work on, and I haven't been able to come up with anything. Not that I don't need to change anything--of course I do. Part of the problem is there is too much I need to change, and one word wouldn't suffice. So I was stumped...until today.
I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Second Nephi, chapter 2, where Lehi is getting ready to die, and he is talking to his posterity one last time, telling them of his love for them and his love for the gospel. I have often wondered what it would be like, if I knew I only had a certain amount of time left on this earth. What would I do? What would I say to my children, to my husband? Would I have regrets? I think that Lehi was such a trememdous example, he took each of his children, and blessed them, and gave them counsel, specific to them before he left the earth. The part that stood out to me though, was in 2 Nephi 2:30, where Lehi says:
"I have spoken these few words unto you all, my sons, in the last days of my probation; and I have chosen the good part, according to the words of the prophet. And I have none other object save it be the everlasting welfare of your souls. Amen."
It was like those words just jumped off the page, and into my heart. The question I wrote in the margin was, "Have I chosen the good part?" I think most of the time, I can answer yes, I try to choose the good part. But there are always SO many distractions...so many things that take my focus away from what is really important in this life--my family, the gospel, my testimony, and instilling that testimony in my children. I think so many times my spiritual life gets so crowded out by the every day craziness. So many times, I sit at the end of my day, and think of what I accomplished that day--and it is usually a VERY long list, but what did I do for my spiritual welfare that day? What did I do to come closer to my Heavenly Father, and my Savior that day? That is usually a much shorter list, and I need to focus more on that.
So my word for the year is CHOOSE--more specifically, "choose the good part." I really feel like if I can keep this phrase in my head, that it will help me in all aspects of my life. I can choose to be healthy, I can choose to be patient, I can choose to be kind, I can choose to be a better mother, a better wife, a better daughter. Every day is about choices, and each day I need to choose the good part--for myself, and for my family, just as Lehi did for his. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin gave a talk (HERE) on this subject a few years ago, called "Three Choices" and it came to my mind as I was writing this, part of it says:
"Our destiny and ultimate fate depend upon our daily decisions.
The great Old Testament prophet Joshua knew this when he said, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve; … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua understood how critical it is to choose without delay to be more righteous. We too should decide now. Will our lives be filled with regret and despair? Or will we repent and strive each day to make our days worthwhile and meaningful?
Tomorrow’s joy or tomorrow’s despair has its roots in decisions we make today. Perhaps some people think to themselves: “I know I need to change some things in my life. Maybe later, but not now.”
Those who stand at the threshold of life always waiting for the right time to change are like the man who stands at the bank of a river waiting for the water to pass so he can cross on dry land.
Today is the day of decision."
Today is the day of decision--I LOVE that! So I will choose today, to become closer to the Lord, to focus more on what He would have me do, on what He would have me be. I will try to "choose the good part." If I can do this, 2010 may be the best year yet!

New Years at the Cabin...

We went up to the cabin for New Years this year with Todd's sister Katie and her family. We all had a great time--except for half of our kids getting sick (and both of Karin's kids we were babysitting!). There was a little snow left, even though it was more like ice, the kids had a good time slipping around in it. It is so funny when you bring a kid to the snow who has been in Arizona most of their life. They go outside, half clothed, no gloves on, and tennis shoes, but happy as can be to go play in the snow. 10 minutes later they come back in, crying, hands frozen, nose frozen, feet frozen, and miserable as can be. Warm them up, and they are off again--so funny! I for one am SO glad to not live in the snow--it's so much work to get all of those clothes on and off 3 or 4 times a day! The snow is fun to visit--too cold to live in!







Poor baby, his hands were freezing (he took off his mittens...)

Emie wrote her name in the snow--much cleaner than the way the boys do it...

New Years Eve was tons of fun--in fact I think I spent pretty much the whole day on this couch watching football--can you tell by the way I look! Love those lazy days at the cabin! This was at midnight...





The next night while the adults were at dinner, the older girls made brownies--little Jack LOVED the brownie batter! They gave him the whole bowl!




Stosh wasn't feeling well, so he loved sitting by the fireplace...


This was a great game of "catch the blue gorilla"...the boys have fun catching just about anything!




We saw lots of deer, right by the cabin, I managed to get a picture of this big guy who was scratching his antlers on a tree right outside the kitchen window!



Poor Stosh was SO sick, and coughing so hard. Luckily, I had borrowed Katie's breathing machine and I still had medicine from Jack having pnemonia a few weeks ago, so we could give him breathing treatments. He was so cute, he would be sitting there doing a treatment, and you smile at him and he would take off the mask and smile back so big. What a trooper. He ended up going home on Sunday with Katie and Shaun, and having Uncle Greg check him out--he had double ear infections! We got home and found out that Jack and Stacia had them as well! Poor little guys! They are feeling much better now...




~HAPPY NEW YEAR~2010 WILL BE AWESOME!

Temple Lights...

We went the day after Chrismas to see the lights at the Mesa Temple. It was a beautiful cold night, and it was so much less crowded then it is before Christmas. That was nice when we were trying to keep track of all these kids! I think we will make this our tradition~!

Kissin' Cousins...

My little Jack has his little nose out of joint this week with our little Stacia staying with us. He has been a LOT jealous whenever I pay attention to her. But he does love her--I mean look at her--how could you NOT love her! Watch as he goes in for the kill when we were getting ready to go see the Temple Lights:




SO CUTE--Love these babies!

Merry Christmas 2009!

Jack woke us up at about 7:30 on Christmas morning--and I managed to snap a pic before the kids came down to open presents...SANTA CAME!


We always make the kids line up on the stairs in order before they can come into the living room to see if Santa came. Don't they look cute in their new jammies?


The GINORMOUS bean bag was Dad's idea when we got the card from my parents with a check in it! Thanks Mom and Dad--we will use this thing every day! It is super huge & super comfy!

Then came the presents! Todd always wants to do it in an orderly fashion, opening presents one at a time and taking turns--I always just say GO--and it turns into a present opening frenzy! I LOVE opening presents!





Abby got this tetherball for Christmas--and Todd told her to go outside to see if she could find a tree or something to tie it to, and wouldn't you know it--Santa was way ahead of us!


Definitely the best present came from my brother-in-law, who sent Todd this:

It got put to good use--ALL DAY!



And into the night--when we had 2 extra little ones come to stay with us--Todd's sister Karin's little Stosh and Stacia, who will be with us for 10 days while they are in Israel. See my little twins? I told Todd I should call them Jack & Jill! Ha Ha!


It was a VERY Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve...Kids Gifts!

This year we drew names for Christmas, but I tried to make it a little different so I told the kids we were doing Secret Santa this year, and they weren't supposed to tell who they drew. Then, they were supposed to do secret acts of service for this person, and whenever they did service for them or anyone else in our family, they were to write it down and put it in the white "Jesus stocking" that we have on our mantle. I had strips of red and green paper and a pen on the mantle for them to write their service down on. To my surprise, it worked pretty well. Of course the older kids are better at keeping secrets than the younger ones--and it really wasn't hard to figure out who had who after awhile, but the kids were really good sports, and our Jesus stocking is quite full of little paper slips that we will read next year! I think we will stick with this tradition! Anyway, the kids opened their gifts from each other on Christmas Eve--and they really loved them! Just look:
Abby had Ashlie--and she tried to fake her out with the little gift in the big box trick:


Meet Chloe--Ashlie's newest Webkinz. She loves these things!


Ashlie had Josh--and it seriously took her like 45 minutes in the store to find the PERFECT gift for him! Man, was she picky! This is what she settled on:



Emie had Abby, and knew just what she wanted! You see, Abby wrote 3 columns on her Christmas list this year--one for Santa, one for Mom and Dad, and one for Sibling Gifts. She was VERY organized about the whole thing! The only problem? She asked for like $1000 worth of stuff! Needless to say, we helped her whittle that thing down a bit! But the gift Emie bought was on all three lists, so she wanted to make sure she got this new robe. It is a long walk from my shower where she usually showers to her room upstairs, and now she will be cozy and warm--thanks Em!


Josh had Erin, and Todd took him shopping for her, so we really weren't sure what those two would come up with...I think the ASU shirt they picked out was so cute! I want one--it has some BLING! Good job Josh!


Jack drew Ashlie's name--and he found the perfect shirt for her at Tilly's--man, this kid sure has a sense of STYLE! Go Jack!



But the best present--hands down went to little Jack, from Erin. She was SO excited to have him open the perfect present she found at the mall--and sure enough it was a total HIT! She got him a good old fashioned Jack in the Box from a specialty store in the mall, and spent $25--even though the gift limit was $10--because she thought that he just HAD to have it! It was SO funny to watch him pop it up again and again and giggle. We all got a big kick out of it! Way to be thoughtful Erin!



Just look at the concentration--so CUTE!



After the kids presents, we always open our PJ's on Christmas Eve. I found such cute ones for the girls on Aero.com that I bought some for myself as well. My poor children were so embarrassed--apparently it isn't cool when mom dresses like them! Oh well, they were warm and cozy & super cute!


FINALLY, after a super fun, but long night--the stockings were hung, everything was ready:

And Todd and I finally got a few moments to ourselves! Santa BABY! (The teenagers will LOVE that one--HA HA!).

Merry Christmas!

Allen Family Party...

On Christmas Eve, we had the Allen Family Party at our house. This year, we decided to make it simple, and order the majority of the food from Someburros. They make these huge platters of tacquitos, and mini chimis with chips, salsa, and guacamole that feed 10-12 people for like $40. It turned out to be about $25 per large family--and $10 for the smaller families. It was SO easy--and fairly cheap when you think about how much you spend just on groceries to feed a meal to your family! I LOVED doing it this way--because we could spend the day getting things done and not just cooking! The food was good, and the company was GREAT! We played this game--where you roll the dice and if you roll doubles, you put on the oven mitts and try to unwrap a gift that someone wrapped up REALLY well. It is hilarious to see people use their teeth, and punch and hit the gift trying to get it unwrapped. It gets a little intense! When we did this for Todd's office party last year I was afraid we were going to get stuck paying people's dental bills! Katie ended up winning the adults gift--and Allie won the kids gift! Their family must have some sort of special talent!







These cousins seriously just love eachother, and we have so much fun getting together as a family--although it is CRAZY when we are all together--with over 35 kids in our family now!!





We ended the night watching the Luke II video--with Amy Grant's Breath of Heaven playing along. I love that song--it makes me feel so much love for Mary, what a beautiful woman, and a wonderful example she is to me! I am so grateful for her, for the sacrifices that she made to bring the Savior into this world, and to raise him in a righteous home. She amazes me! Then I read the book "I Believe in Santa Claus" (find it HERE). I love this book as well, it talks about the symbols of Christmas, and how everything about Christmas teaches us of Christ--even the symbol of Santa. Last, Shaun read "Twas the Night Before Christmas", as the kids read along with him. The perfect end to a great night!



It was so much fun--can't wait to do it again next year~! Thanks guys for a GREAT party!

Christmas Traditions...

This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions, from when I was a child. It's called German Stollen--and it's a recipe that my family always used to make on Christmas Eve, for breakfast on Christmas morning. If you look up recipes on the internet for German Stollen, they are all like these crappy fruitcake recipes, so I'm not really sure where my mom got this one, but it makes a really yummy sweet roll dough, and it's really pretty when you get done. I took some pictures of the process...and I will post the recipe later--(we are at the cabin, and I don't have it with me).
First, you make the dough--I use my Bosch & it makes it really easy...let it rise, (while you torture your brother and sister)and then separate it into 9 equal pieces.


On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a circle as large as your pizza pan. Place the dough circle onto your greased pizza pan and slather on plenty of butter, and the cinnamon sugar mixture. Add pecans if desired. Do this for 2 more layers--(3 total).



Do this for all 3 pizza pans, and now you are ready to make it look pretty! First, take a cup or cookie cutter, and cut a hole in the center of your dough all the way through (about 3 inches around).


Now, using clean scissors, or kitchen shears, cut the three layers up to the circle leaving about 1/2 inch space before you get to the circle you cut. Do this equally, first 4 quarters, then eighths, till you have 16 equal pieces.

Now, you are going to twist each piece 3 times around, tucking the dough under after you twist. When the pieces are all twisted, push the pieces neatly in toward the center of the pizza pan, squishing them all together.




After they are all cooked, this is what they look like:


Pretty, huh? And this was even with my kids helping me--so anyone can do it! There you have it--just put icing on, and you're ready for a YUMMY Christmas breakfast! I like mine warmed in the microwave, with a little butter!

Oh my...

Whoever you are--know this: all correspondence to my daughter will be broadcast to the worldwide web--even though they can't get the full effect of the letter, which smells of cologne--STRONG cologne. At least this is a boy who is trying to smell good! Oh my...am I ready for this? I don't think so...

Black & Blue Christmas...

The family spent some time together tonight for family night eating out, doing some errands, and some shopping. As usual, anytime we spend more than a few hours with the kids, the nerves start to get frazzled as they fight with each other, are rude, don't listen, or say things that irritate us parents to the core...(that's how it goes in our family anyway...you already know that we have model children...). Anyhoo, this is about how the conversation progressed when Josh refused to put his seatbelt on to go somewhere & Todd was about to lose his mind...
Todd: "You better put that dang seat belt on or I swear I'm going to..."
Josh: Sticks his toungue out...
Todd: Gets out of the car to kill the boy...
Josh: "Okay, Okay...fumbling to get the seat belt on as fast as he can now with the look of pure fear in his eyes watching his dad come for him...
Me: "Seriously--Josh are you that crazy--you're going to get yourself killed!"
Todd: "I swear Santa is bringing you NOTHING for Christmas...you ALL get oranges and toilet paper."
Me: "Where did the oranges and toilet paper idea come from?"
Todd: "Because oranges are food, and toilet paper is something useful."
Me: "HUH?"
Todd: "Be Quiet."
Erin: Laughing in the back seat...
Todd: "And Erin, you don't get anything either--you are ALL getting nothing for Christmas..."
Abby: "What did I do?"
Todd: "You're ALL rotten, stinkin' brats! You don't deserve anything"
Tami: "Okay, okay--we're trying to have a nice family night--be nice"
(You have to picture in your mind the radio is still playing nice Christmas music in the background--and Elvis' song "Blue Christmas" is playing right now...)
Tami: "Seriously--can't we just have a nice night with the kids without it turning into a fight--and can't you kids just be NICE to eachother and not be such ingrates...
Todd: "Tami--you just need to shut up right now and listen to the Blue Christmas song--or I'm gonna make it a BLACK AND BLUE Christmas!
We all started cracking up at that point--Todd included. Oh man--the Chrismas cheer is awesome at our house! We'll see if Santa pays the kids a visit...maybe there will be pictures of our kids with their oranges and toilet paper...stay tuned!

Crazy Christmas...

Every year I tell myself--this will be the year that I get everything done early, and take the month of December and enjoy Christmas. Enjoy the class parties, the recitals, the concerts, the decorating, the family parties, the ward parties, the visiting teaching...etc. This year will be the year that I don't feel completely stressed out, like I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off as I try to remember all of the things I need to do in a day. This year will be the year that my presents are all bought and wrapped--by November 30th. My neighbor gifts will be homemade--and delicious, and delivered on December 1st. My Christmas cards will be amazing photos of our family--captured by a REAL photographer--and not just some thrown together last minute card. And they will actually make it to people BEFORE Christmas! This year will be the year that I don't have to stress out--I will be happy, and easygoing, and my children and family will praise me. "Mom--you are amazing. I can't believe how much work you have gone to to make this the BEST Christmas ever."

Ummm...HELLO??? Why do I continue to live in a fantasy world? Then I am SO disappointed every year when REALITY hits--and NONE of those things actually happen! Oh, I get some of the shopping done, and a few of the gifts get wrapped. I forget about the class parties, until the day of--and I'm no longer the mom who makes the cute little treats--they are bought at Safeway, or whatever grocery store is on the way to school. I forget about piano lessons--two weeks in a row--even though it's the SAME day and SAME time every week. (And do you think the children remind me?--NO!--they are too busy screening the piano teacher's phone calls trying to help me remember the lesson). I forget about teacher gifts until the last day of school--and scramble trying to do something nice for them, (they DO put up with my children day in and day out for a WHOLE year--NOT an easy thing!). I think about baking something homemade and delicious for my neighbors--because believe it or not, I am a good cook--but that's as far as it gets because when the thought of baking something enters my mind, I want to go curl up in a corner somewhere and rock back and forth. TOO MUCH WORK! So I throw some candy in a dish, tie a ribbon on top and call it good for another year--all the while thinking "surely next year will be different." I make myself crazy by trying to keep the house all clean and perfect, and the tree decorated (I keep having to redecorate both of them--hmmm...someone keeps pulling EVERYTHING off the bottom half of the tree...I wonder who??). I think I have yet to actually COOK dinner for my family in the month of December--Little Caesars beckons to me on my way home from crazy errands. "$5.00--how can you beat that?" it says. And now, here we are again--less than a week before Christmas and I am wondering HOW THE HECK WILL IT ALL GET DONE?? It will be okay--I am taking a deep breath as we speak. See, I feel better already!

You see, this is just ME! Flawed? YEP. Disorganized? YEP. Scatterbrained? YEP. All of the above. But it always gets done. I think that's the point. You can say--well, why didn't you plan better? Why didn't you organize better? Why do you put yourself through the stress year after year? It just doesn't work for me, my brain thinks in the NOW, in the TODAY--(or sometimes it shuts down all together...). I have confessed before and I will say it again--I am a Mary--not a Martha. (For that post--which explains a LOT--click HERE or for last year's stressed out Christmas post--click HERE). I do the best I can--and hope my children will make it through having such a crazy mother--and not need therapy because of it! Although sometimes I think it's ME who needs the therapy. Forget therapy, I would pay someone just to let me lay on their therapy couch and have a one hour nap uninterrupted every week!

I still enjoy everything about the Christmas season--the presents, the decorations, the shopping, the parties, the concerts, the wrapping, the late nights, the early mornings--I LOVE it ALL! I love that it's magical for children, and how excited they are to see their presents. I love that they get excited about the gift they made me at school, and beg me to open it every day. I love sitting out on the couch at night and staring at the Christmas tree, and listening to Christmas music nonstop. (Speaking of that--David Archuleta has a new Christmas CD--and he sounds like a Christmas ANGEL...it is AMAZING!). I love watching Elf, and A Christmas Story (fa raa raa raa raa...)--at least 5 times--and A Charlie Brown Christmas at least once! I love that the kids like to find someone else we can help--and that they find joy in serving others, as well as getting gifts themselves. I might get stressed out--but to me, it just comes with the season--every season! Christmas is about love, about serving, about FAMILY, about Christ. I love that we celebrate His life, and His birth. I am so grateful that with Him--I can do anything. He makes it possible for me to have joy, and happiness in my life. And He loves ME--whether I'm crazy or not. That's the only thing that matters.

BUBBLES!...

We have a great new bathtub--the tub I always wanted in my other house,(read that blog HERE), but luckily we didn't splurge on it until we got into this house--it even has JETS which makes for fabulous BUBBLES!! The only problem? My kids get to use it WAY more than I do! What is it about being a mother that a long bath is too much of a splurge, and we feel like we need to be much busier than that? This year I am taking many more baths--because look how fun it is!

BOYS...

This is what a little boy does when he is left alone for 10 minutes ...kinda scary!


(You know he is the 6th kid when I stop and look for my camera to take a picture before removing him from the very high kitchen counter, and taking away the very sharp knife...it's amazing how kids live through the first year when they are the 6th child...)!

Abby's Night Out...

On Saturday, we took Abby out for a night on the town with my family. We went out for dinner, and to the Nutcracker, at Phoenix Symphony Hall. She was thrilled to be out with all of the adults, and to get to see a real ballet. The Nutcracker was AWESOME! Todd wasn't thrilled about the men in tights--but I was teasing him saying, "Check out his athletic ability--I mean you can't argue that he isn't an athlete, could Tim Tebow do those things, NO!" They make spinning around on your tippy toes look like a simple thing to do--well, try it yourself, it's NOT! I thought the stage was amazing, the costumes were so well done, and the performances were absolutely beautiful! We had a great night--and one that Abby will always remember! We love this girl!

Kids Christmas Tree...

A few weeks ago, we went to pick out a real tree for the kids to decorate on family night. I love having a real Christmas tree in the house, it makes it smell like Christmas & I love to go and try to find just the right tree. This year we stopped at a place by our house, and they even had a big jumping castle for the kids to play on while the older kids & I picked out the tree. We had a great time, and got the tree home only to figure out that the perfect tree had a HUGE base on it that wouldn't fit the tree stand that we had. Todd tried to use our ginsu knife to trim the base down, since he doesn't own a saw, or a chain saw, or many tools at all--he's not that type of "fix it" guy... Anyhoo, after an hour of whittling away, we still couldn't get it to fit so we had to bag it and leave it in the garage to decorate the next day. We went to Home Depot, and they had a large tree base to put it in, so next year we are set either way! We had a great time decorating on Tuesday night--if you don't count all the kids fighting over who got to put what on the tree, where, and when...oh the joy of Christmas! HA~ It turned out great!

Santa's Helper...

Erin and her friend Macy were Santa's Helpers for the ward party this weekend. Her costume was so cute--and I even managed to get these cute pics...



Yep, she still believes--because in this family, those who BELIEVE--RECEIVE!

Bathtime Fun...

Ashlie also had lots of fun this week with her cousin Jiselle! They were so cute, and practically inseperable! Jack loved following them around and bugging them. What's a little brother for? I got some pictures of them in the bath one night when they were goofing off--I think they really look like sisters! So cute!

Swimming at Christmas time???...

My sister Wendy's 4 kids stayed with us for a few days this week, because her husband's mother was in the hospital in Tucson. I am so sad that she was sick, but so happy that it gave us a chance to see my sister and her family--they live in Utah, and we miss them SOOO much! Here's what happens when Utah people come to Arizona for a visit... They look out at the pool, just sitting there, and notice how HOT it is outside--(only 50 degrees--I mean that is HOT for a Utah person!)--and wonder...WHY is no one SWIMMING!?!? Well, I am such a wimp that I usually won't even get into the pool until June, because it's too cold! Anyway, the boys were bugging me all day to just let them go swimming--they had put their feet in, and said that the water wasn't that cold--besides, it's HOT outside. I said, "It's WAY too cold! You guys are gonna catch pnemonia!" But they were bugging me and bugging me, so I finally said, "GO FOR IT!" Well, let's just say that when they did finally jump in, they were a little off about how cold it was. It was funny to watch them take that first breath as they came up out of the freezing cold 50 degree water! They were gasping for breath, and man they could not get out of that pool fast enough! Noah was the first one in, then Seth. Mitchell watched them and how cold they were, and had decided not to go in until I told him, "that's okay--your little brothers are just tougher than you are!" He was in within a minute--just for bragging rights! I got some fun pictures--because you know what--they jumped back in like 10 times! Yep, these Utah boys are officially NUTS! Love you guys!

Watch this...

Want to see your tax dollars at work??? Watch this video, shot undercover at a Planned Parenthood clinic. It made me want to throw up. This is going on at clinics all over America, funded by YOUR tax dollars... The video is the first in Live Action’s “Rosa Acuna Project,” a multi-state undercover audit documenting Planned Parenthood’s abortion counseling. “Planned Parenthood is a billion-dollar organization with nearly $350 million of government funding, and stands to gain hundreds of millions more from national health care,” says Rose. “Do we really want to subsidize an organization that gives women in need atrocious misinformation and predatory abortion practices?”
But Obama said that the healthcare bill would NOT cover abortions right? Actually, the amendment that would take abortions out of the picture has been voted down, and is NOT a part of the legislation. Here is a glimpse of what will be happening even MORE if Obamacare passes--more abortions, more lies, more distortions...sick. Read more HERE on the proposed Nelson amendment.