Best Christmas Ever!

The camera took a back seat this year in our celebrations so we have very few photos from Christmas. I think there are 9 in all...lol. Here are some of the best ones.

My favorite part of Christmas was having all my kids home!

Hannah was happy with her copy of "Twilight"

John is explaining the gift he gave to Tim. We told him to get something that we didn't know he would need on his mission. So John gave Tim a couple lightweight, simple games that he can play on P-day.

(I just looked at this photo closely...no, Tom is not picking his nose. He is wiping his eye!)

The next best gift, as far as I'm concerned, was the cd I got from my mom and dad. They had an album of Christmas Barbershop style music that I loved as a kid. I've been looking all over online for it and apparently it is out of print, not found anywhere. I asked mom about it several months ago and she didn't know if they still had it. Well, I guess they did because mom had that record converted to cd for me!

Pre-Christmas Fun

Tom let John have the privilege of being Santa at the ward party. He did a great job and loved every minute of talking to the kids.

And we couldn't resist the chance to sit on Santa's lap either!

Have you been naughty or good?

If you flip through those two photos quickly it looks like on of those flip books and Santa is beating James up. LOL

The Traditional Gingerbread Houses

James's house

Hannah's house


Tim's house


My house


My house found a welcome home at a friend's. This is the 5th year that I have given my house away. I decided the real fun is in the decorating and then watching the glee of the kids when I show up at the door with a house for them!



And then there was the not so traditional trip to Utah! My sister came from North Carolina for a visit so I HAD to go see her. Linda and I traveled together with 3 of the kids and stayed at Nancy's house. They had a blast playing on Nancy's slide with their other teenage cousins. It's so fun to see all those teenagers having fun together. And us grown ups had plenty of girl time to gab and enjoy each other.



On Monday we went to Temple Square to see the lights. I hadn't been there since before we moved to Boise 9.5 years ago. Can you believe it's been that long?

Hooray!

My wacky cholesterol is no longer wacky. It's nearly perfect!

hdl 43
ldl 79
triglycerides 278 (that's what needs more work, but it will come)
total 178

From here on out the regular doctor doesn't treat my heart unless it's desperately necessary.

Encouraged and frustrated

I was very disappointed when I could finally start walking again after healing from my foot injury in May because I could only go 1/4 way around the mall before my shin started hurting. I had gone from walking 2 miles five days per week to not being able to walk 1/4 mile. I was very frustrated. I've never been in that bad of shape!

My friend and I walk twice a week and just kept our pace slow while I tried to improve. Three months later I am very encouraged. I can now walk all the way around the mall at a decent pace with no pain in my shins! My heart even got pumping yesterday and I was breathing hard! Yeah!

For a long time now I have not been happy with the direction my body has been taking. Almost 2 1/2 years ago I started suspecting that my blood pressure was creeping up. I tried to control it with food for a year. Finally, I gave up and had a visit with my regular doctor. She prescribed a medication for blood pressure while discouraging any hope that I'd be able to stop taking the medication when I lost weight . She was sure I would need TWO medications to bring my blood pressure down. I showed her! After TWO WEEKS my blood pressure had come all the way from exceedingly high to normal range, and that is where it has stayed with only one medication.

However, the blood pressure was only one symptom and now that is being taken care of another symptom popped up this year. Wacky cholesterol. My regular doctor wants to make sure the cholesterol is getting under control, but I know she has more medications in mind. In the meantime I have all kinds of aches and pains and I believe that heart disease is in my future. That's why I don't like the direction my body is taking.

I have been one of the healthiest eaters for the past 6 years, but my body has been slowly wearing out. I felt better than ever when I was walking 10 miles a week, but at the same time I felt like I was falling apart. I had taken care of all emotional eating and worked on my portion control. As good as I eat I should have lost tons of weight by now, but I was maintaining despite every effort.

A while back I decided to take a community education class by a naturopath about female hormones (my hormones have been out of balance ever since I had kids). A couple weeks later I took one on balancing blood sugar. I decided that enough was enough and went to visit with the naturopath who taught the classes. He has given me supplements for my heart, liver, pancreas, and pituitary gland. He has also recommended that for two months I cut all the gluten I can from my diet. That's not too hard...I loved eating Honduran while on my mission and it won't hurt to have more rice and corn in our diets. He says I can reintroduce gluten after two months.

He says I am responding very well. The frustrating part is that he keeps finding more things to work on. I guess that's good in a way because my healing will be thorough, but it's frustrating, too. This time he added calcium and iodine for deficiencies. I really hope new things will stop popping up and we will have reached the complete cause of my problems...SOON.

In the meantime, I am encouraged. My heart feels happier, aches in my joints are gone, cravings for sweets and chocolate are gone, I have more energy and I'm slowly starting to lose weight and inches. My naturopath is telling me to consult with my regular doctor to adjust my blood pressure meds as I start not needing them! WooHoo!

Final Thankful for...

Nov 22--thankful for the gospel.

Nov 23--thankful that she and her sisters are no longer isolated, but can talk about things and work through them together.

Nov 24--thankful for some quiet time.

Nov 25--thankful she's done Christmas shopping. Have you seen the traffic out there?! I have two words for Christmas shopping..."online" and "early"

Nov 26--thankful that all her children are present, happy and safe this year. Next year we'll be missing Tim.

And most of all I'm thankful for my wonderful husband. He has put up with me for 23 years, and is a great father. I don't know what I would do without him.

Thankful for...

Nov 15--thankful for a good secretary. You don't realize how much they do until they aren't there. I'll be thanking her for all her hard work tomorrow when I see her.

Nov 16--thankful for the sisters in the ward. They are awesome. Anything need done? They do it!

Nov 17--thankful for her mission and the benefit it has been in the last few weeks.

Nov 18--thankful for a wood burning stove, lots of dry wood and boys who are willing to keep the fire stoked.

Nov 19--thankful for batteries. My mouse was running out of energy.

Nov 20--It seems I'm thankful alot for things from the past...specifically past learned knowledge. Today I am thankful for the knowledge I've gained about abuse and overcoming it as I help a loved one deal with it in her life. I'm thankful I got past my issues so I can help. I'm thankful that I KNOW Heavenly Father loves me personally so I can help her learn that HE loves HER, too.

Nov 21--is thankful for a good marriage. We're celebrating 23 years tonight since Thanksgiving is our actually anniversary this year.

Thankful for...

Nov 8--I've been too busy to decide what I'm thankful for today. So...I am thankful for a nice warm bed. Goodnight.

Nov 9--I'm thankful for telephones. Except I like them best if they keep quiet! I couldn't have done everything today if I'd had to visit everyone in person.

Nov 10--Thankful for a doctor that makes sense...finally!

Nov 11--I'm thankful for inspiration...even when it comes at 4 AM!

Nov 12--I'm thankful for our Young Women leaders and the influence they are on the girls in our ward...including ours.

Nov 13--Thankful that every week has a Friday in it, and that today was Friday. It's been a long day.

Nov 14--thankful for knowledge learned from the last decade. With my new dietary guidelines, at least I'm not starting from scratch. I have alot of good habits already in place.

Recital and thankfulness

Nov 4--I'm thankful for busy days. They sure aren't boring. Got another busy one today.

Nov 5--Thankful for long weekends.

Nov 6--Thankful for sisters, biological and otherwise.

Nov 7--Thankful for piano recitals? Thankful for a good piano teacher!

We forgot the camera tonight so I took a picture of the piece I played. I really was proud of making it through the song even with a few rough spots. When I first saw this song I couldn't figure out how I'd ever play it, but the cd sounded so intriguing. The orange notes are played by the left hand.

Family Photos

The Youngbergs did such a good job on our photos! You can see them in the slideshow above.

Thankful for...

During one of our hardest times one of my college roommates emailed me every day and told me one thing she was thankful for. They were always small things like the new sidewalk in front of her house, or the sunshine, etc. It helped me to not feel so sorry for myself and realize all the blessings I have. I like to do that especially at this time of year to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Nov 1--I was thankful Halloween was over.
Nov 2--I was thankful for holidays that remind us of the Savior.
Today I was thankful for the opportunity to vote.

This afternoon I'm thankful for church callings that somehow fill all the spare time I used to have and make it productive time without me even trying. ha ha ha

Halloween Fun

I am not a fan of Halloween. When I was a kid I loved dressing up and trick or treating as much as anyone else. Then I got into high school and mom said I couldn't do that anymore. Since we lived in a country area and houses were a mile apart, it became my job to drive the kids from house to house on Halloween, but I couldn't trick or treat with them.

As a parent I tolerated the whole dress the kids up for Halloween, but when they became pre-teens I decided that they were old enough to figure out their own costumes. So every year they get out the Halloween costume box and try to decide what they want to be.

Here's this year's results:

Tim is Sponge Bob Square pants

James is a super hero...I think Monkey Boy is the name

And Hannah is Alice from Twilight.

Isn't Hannah's haircut cute?! All that natural curl! All the kids got some of my natural curl (except Tim who got Tom's fine straight hair).

I'm glad Halloween is over. On to the other holidays...my favorites...Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!

Great Shopping

My friend Karla just opened a Etsy Shop! She's got fun, homemade items at good prices, and she does a super job making them. Check it out!

Here's just one of the items. More are at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6975091 Have fun browsing!

Procrastination

Have you noticed certain chores around the house that you hate, despise, and abhor? Does it take you forever and a day to talk yourself into doing those chores? It does me. Here are a few of the things I struggle with:

I dislike unloading the dishwasher and putting the dishes away. It only takes a few minutes when I finally talk myself into doing it. It's always been this way. While I was growing up we did all our dishes by hand. Guess who ran to WASH the dishes every time. ME, because I disliked drying them and putting them away!

I detest folding the laundry and putting it away. It's slightly better now that the kids do their own laundry, but I still don't like it.

I abhor making button holes. Seriously, I can put off making button holes for years, and then finally I get it done or I give up ever wearing the item.

And last but not least...

I absolutely hate binding quilts. I hate trimming the edges, pinning the binding and getting it ready for the machine. Once that is done I hate sewing it. It's so big and bulky.

The crazy thing about all these things is that they only take a small amount of time to do once I get started, but I waste so much time getting started. It takes 10 minutes to empty the dishwasher, 10 minutes to fold mine and Tom's laundry, 15-30 minutes to make button holes and 2 hours to bind 3 quilts, but sometimes it takes me years to get around to it.

The procrastination is the hardest part. You'd think I'd take the easy road and not procrastinate, but then, that would be too hard!

Special day

October 20, 2009

Happy Birthday, Tom!

I've been so blessed to have this wonderful man in my life for 25 years now. That's more than half my life. I truly can't think of what life would be without him. I think it would be totally boring, actually.

Thanks, Tom, for all the great adventures through the years.

Bread and Races

While we were doing all the canning a week ago my Magic Mill mixer gave up the ghost and we ordered a new Bosch. After about 5 days and I still hadn't heard a word from the company, Tom called them and found out that the order hadn't gone through. So we got online and ordered through a local company called Harvest House. It was going to cost $100 more, but we figured we'd at least have somewhere to take it if we had problems in the coming months.

That afternoon, Harvest House called to tell me that because of a special they had going they could save me $75! Then she asked when I wanted the Bosch delivered. She asked if I wanted it that day and where I lived. I gave her directions and then she said, "We'd want to beat the traffic. Will you be home in the next hour?" OF COURSE, I WILL! I was so excited! Not only that, but she called back today to see how my new machine is doing.

My favorite bread recipe:

Whole Wheat Bread

6 cups warm water

2/3 cups oil

2/3 cups honey

2 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp yeast

1/3 cup gluten flour

1 Tbsp lemon juice

16 cups whole wheat flour (approx.)

Blend water, yeast, oil, honey, salt, gluten flour and lemon juice with about 9 cups of the flour. With mixer on, continue to add more flour until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Beat on medium to high speed 10-15 minutes, until gluten is formed and dough becomes elastic. Mold and place in greased bread pans. Let rise until about an inch above the pan while preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Put bread in preheated oven and lower the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Makes 5 loaves.

Now for the racing...

Tom was talking to his aunt last time we were in Utah and she told him the best thing she ever did was start running marathons when she was 50. So he came home and found the Barber to Boise 5k run to enter.

Tom and Tim before the race


Here's Tom warming up for the race.

Below is Tim warming up (or should I say...goofing off with James)

Tim is nearing the finish line!

Here comes the old man!

After the race

Hannah said, "Mom, we should train for the 5k walk next year." I think it's a great idea.

From the frying pan, into the fire...

My motto today is..."Ready or not..."

A few weeks ago Bishop extended a new calling to me...a calling I've always known I would have the opportunity of doing, but didn't look forward to doing. In fact, I had so successfully told myself that it would be years yet before I was asked to do this, I was totally shocked when he asked. Immediately the Spirit entered the room and I knew I was supposed to do it at this time. I have been on pins and needles ever since. I've experienced such a variety of emotions and thoughts.

Today I was sustained as the new Relief Society president in our ward.

Most of the time I'm anxious, nervous, just plain scared, and feeling inadequate. The rest of the time I know I trust Heavenly Father. I know that through Christ and His atonement I can do this. I know as long as I do my best He will be there to make up the difference. That is a very good thing!

So, here we go to new experiences, new duties, new lessons. I'm nervous about the future, but I'm excited about it as well.

Whew!

60 pounds pumpkin grown in our garden = 12 quart pumpkin puree and 10 pint pumpkin pie filling

3 boxes grapes from a neighbor = 15 quart grape juice and 21.5 pints grape jelly

20 cups granola, 2 loaves zucchini bread and one pumpkin pie = happy family

all day in the kitchen = exhaustion

58.5 full bottles on the pantry shelves = priceless

7 quarts are in the cooker

pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling

juice and jelly

granola and zucchini bread

TGIF!!!

What an incredibly long week!

My kitchen manager had jury duty this week. She was called in on MONDAY morning. So I went to work 1.5 hours early.

Wouldn't you know it...she got picked for a jury. Not just a quicky jury either. They will be in court for TWO WEEKS! And that's BEFORE they start deliberations!

So all week going to work early, working with subs (not that they are bad, just different than normal), dealing with the district...It's been an interesting year already.

By Wednesday I thought it should be Thursday. Thursday should be Friday, and I nearly cried to think today wasn't Saturday, and I still had to go to work.

But it's over now!!! It's the weekend, baby! I'm going to enjoy it, finish getting rid of my cold, bottle the pumpkins and some grapes, get a nap or two, finish reading a book or two...!

Anyone got some fun date ideas for tonight?

Mini/Working Vacation

The working part was successful. Tom and the boys explored BYU-I campus so they could attend general priesthood meeting. They met an Elder who served in our stake and is now attending BYU-I. This young man is majoring in the same thing John wants to do...psychology...so John was able to talk to someone in his major. We also found an apartment for John. He just needs to apply for that now.

Here's the Vacation part...

We drove a loop from Rexburg through Driggs, Idaho Falls and back to Rexburg. It was fun to see the scenery, but didn't make listening to conference very easy.

Rexburg Temple

The Tetons

Idaho Falls Temple

We saw snow off the road so Tom stopped and the kids had a snowball fight.

Then we needed a restroom. The sign said the trailhead was 6 miles down a dirt road and we figured that was the closest restroom so we went on an adventure.

Finally!

On the way home we decided to take the back roads. We went through Arco, past Craters of the Moon, and on into Twin Falls where we attempted to watch conference with my sister in her teeny tiny apartment. Most of us slept...had the best nap! Good thing we can catch conference on the internet. It wasn't the most successful conference weekend we've had, but it was the only one we had to make the trip.

Craters of the Moon

On the way to Twin we got snow.

This is Linda's new house. She had put an offer on it when we were there Sunday. Monday she let us know that the offer had been approved. Can't wait!