Week #1: Corporal Stripes

This week...

...we rang in the new year with games and good food. I do love a good beginning. Jason had New Year's off. It was great to celebrate with him. Jason's family came over and we played some games.

Here's Jason playing Mustache Smash. We laughed a lot on this game.

Our friends Shelly and Greg Olson came over to help us make the BEST cabbage pico de gallo salsa. Shelly brought her secret squirrel kitchen devices and Greg expertly cut the cabbage. It was a team effort. As was eating it!

This year my new word is ExeRciSe. But not just because I want to be physically healthy. I gave a talk in church (Yes, in front of everyone) last week using Elder Richard G. Scott's talk "Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority" from the October 2014 conference and was so inspired. Exercise doesn't just refer to "a specific activity performed to develop or maintain fitness or a skill." It also means "to make active use of; employ, apply, or exert." Thus in terms of faith, we must make actively use of it; apply it, exert an effort and develop it. Elder Scott includes four tools that will help us make the exercise of faith our first priority - 
prayer- "Choose to converse with your Father in Heaven often. Make time every day to share your thoughts and feelings with Him. Tell Him everything that concerns you. He is interested in the most important as well as the most mundane facets of your life. Share with Him your full range of feelings and experiences."  
scripture study- "Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!" 
family home evening- "Be cautious not to make your family home evening just an afterthought of a busy day. Decide that on Monday night your family will be together at home for the evening." 
temple attendance- "While you are in the temple, listen to the words of the ordinances, ponder them, pray about them, and seek to understand their meaning. The temple is one of the best places to come to understand the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Seek Him there."

...Jason was promoted. They held a small ceremony at the Sheriff's Office for Jason and another man, Horacio Gonzalez, to promote them to Corporal and Sergeant respectively. As Corporal, Jason will be second in command over a patrol squad.

Shaking Sheriff Keene's hand (In background-Captain Vannoy, Commander John Law, Lieutenant Caughey)

Lainey and Emma worked together to pin his new Sheriff's star on his uniform. Lainey took the old one off and Emma pinned the new one on.

Jason sure loves his job. He's going to make a great Corporal.

Jason and I told the kids before it started: "You will sit down and be quiet. You will not run around or go crazy. No yelling or fighting or whining." It may or may not have worked.

...we've been playing a lot of Horse-opoly lately. Claire got the game for Christmas. I don't think she's played it once with us, but the rest of the kids love it. Benjamin is the perfect, aggressive businessman. He goes after Clydesdale and Percheron (the equivalent of Boardwalk and Park Place) and then wipes us out.

Once again Lainey falls asleep on the floor. We've been staying up way too late on this break. :)

Week #52: It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

This week...

...we celebrated Christmas! We love this time of year! Nothing beats the excitement of the kids or our own excitement to surprise them.

We spent Christmas Eve in Mattawa. Jason had to work and so I went out with the kids for lunch and presents.The kids had their fun and then they played while we exchanged our favorite things as adults.

Emma and Lainey snuggling with Aunt Cherice.

We had a great feast with lots of desserts and snacks (you can see the spread of desserts in the background). 

Picture time with Aunt Shelly

I can always count on my brother Kent for a great photo face. Julie Marie, Kent, Grandma Linda, Allie, Jenna, Blurry Ethan, Benjamin, Sydney, Trenton

Some of the group-Donnie and Darryl Jensen came to celebrate with us (right, next to Dad)

Here's the whole group in panorama

Our tomato loving girl!

They opened their Pajamas and we watched a movie - Planes Fire and Rescue. It was cute!

Claire got the game Mustache Smash and so we played it together when we got home. It is hilarious! You hold the mustache under your nose until you see the same color or shape of mustache, then you smash it down on the card. There's a suction cup that sticks to the card so you can collect it. It's basically just a fancy slap jack. But it is funny!

Then, just before we went to bed, we set out carrots for the reindeer and cookies and milk for Santa. They also wrote notes to Santa and Stewart. Stewart went home today so they wanted to write to him.

We opened presents Christmas morning once Jason got home from work. He stayed up for that hour and then went to bed. Our tree with our gifts to Jesus right in front.

  

Here's the joyous aftermath.

This is me relaxing while the kids play with their new legos and other toys. Heaven!

Benjamin received this Optimus Prime Lego set from Christmas in Mattawa. All he wanted to do the moment we got home and the minute he woke up, was build this set. He did a great job using the instructions to build it on his own. Occasionally, he would get so frustrated that he didn't know how to continue. I would help him back track in the steps to make sure that it had been assembled correctly and then he would continue on by himself. 

Analogy time!
I was preparing a talk this week on repentance. Ben's experience with his Lego set was a perfect object lesson to start out with. In life, we do pretty well on our own for a time. We can follow the instructions and put the pieces together. Sometimes, however, there are moments of great frustration and despair because of life circumstances or our own choices. Sometimes we have to retrace our steps and reconstruct if necessary. That can be hard and take more time, but it is essential to ultimately have the pieces fit together properly for the good of the overall goal. That is repentance in a nutshell. Retracing our steps in life, to make amends and correct mistakes can be hard and time consuming. But doing so will set us back on the path to happiness with reduced stress and renewed determination to succeed.

My little Lainey bug was surely tired to be able to fall asleep like this. Haha!

...we celebrated Christmas night at Jason's parents' house. Jason had to work Christmas Day as well. So I took the kids over earlier and he came over once he was on duty. He got something to eat and hung out for a bit before he had to go back to patrol.

Emma and Grace

...we attended Jason's squad Christmas party. He works with some great people. And it's always an interesting experience when they've had a lot to drink. This year it was an ugly sweater contest, that not everyone participated in. Had I known that we would be among the only ones with ugly sweaters, we wouldn't have done it. We made a fast trip to the goodwill and came away with these. Ugh! Jason's was in the men's section, but I think it was actually a women's sweater because the front was a little shorter than the back. Only women's clothing does that.

Mike Mcdermott and Jason

Jason's buds from the SO-JT (John Thompson), Dan Korten, Bruce Surplus, Shelly Olson, Mike Ramos, Mike McDermott, Jason (They have alcohol, Jason has water)

Week #51:A Nail Party

This Week...

...Lainey brought me a Christmas gift from preschool. They made super cute ornaments with their thumb prints.

...my sister-in-law, Julie Marie, gave me this stove top potpouri. I love it! It makes the house smell so good and seem so cozy.

...Emma got her nails done for her birthday. She invited a few friends, but only Zoey Orton was able to come. That actually worked out better because they got some cool patterns on their nails that wouldn't have worked with more girls. Our friend Erin Lewis, from the ward, is a nail technician. We traded  bribed her with sugar cookies...and some vinyl. She was more than happy to help out.

We also celebrated with family after Emma's friend went home. She had a great time opening presents.

She got enough art supplies to last her a good, long time. She was excited about this.

...Claire turned on the silly.

...Stewart kept popping up, much to the enjoyment of everyone. He hid next to the family photo and up on the top shelf of the pantry. That was a fun one to watch everyone's reactions when they looked up andfound him.

...we got a funny Christmas card from the Romm family. He included a great joke in light of current events in the media.

...we found a face in the paper scraps of our last minute Christmas preparations. It looks like a bull to me.

finished this sign for my sister's gift...

Week #50: Joy to the World

This Week...

...I was feeling especially grateful for this time of year. What a wonderful time to think of our Savior, coming to earth as a sweet babe, living a life on this earth for you and me.

...my sister-in-law Lara made me this beautiful wreath. I hung it on the garage door so that I could see it while I was working in the kitchen. She is certainly talented.

...Stewart was helping us count down to Christmas. And he was hiding in some pretty silly places too.

...I made some sugar cookies. I sure do love sugar cookies. Yum! I had a cookie exchange to go to...and we needed some to eat. :)

...my sister-in-law Julie Marie made me this amazing holiday stove top potpourri. I used it often. It made our house smell so good.

...Lainey was getting comfortable on our trip to Costco. And why not? Their carts are big enough.

...I had my own "Oh no!" moment. I dumped the entire container of buttons on the kitchen floor. The kids always like it when I do something like this too.

...Jason went to Emma's fifth grade class and talked about crime scenes and evidence collection. They're working on a detective unit.  It's always interesting listening to Jason's presentations. I hear new stories and learn new things about his job.

Dusting for a fingerprint

...Emma made a fairy tale board game for school. She worked together with Zoey Orton as her partner. We all played it one night as a family. It was funny at the beginning because we didn't know anything about fairy tales. But after playing several rounds, and hearing all the questions and an, we knew what we were doing.

...I made an advent for my sister. It is Christ centered. I've wanted to make one of these for a while, try three years. I'm finally making one and it's for someone else!