Hope and Love

Two things I've really been studying in the gospel are Hope and Love.  So when the Primary President gave this to me for Christmas I almost started crying.  She thanked us for our love for the children in our Primary and for serving faithfully in our callings.  She is an amazing woman and such a good example of faith and obedience to the Lord.  

So I placed this next to my Willow Tree Nativity next to my Courage Angel.  It's the perfect addition because after all,
 "John 3:16¶For ^aGod so ^bloved the ^cworld, that he ^dgave his ^eonly begotten ^fSon, that whosoever ^gbelieveth in him should not perish, but have ^heverlasting ⁱlife."
And we can be a manifestation of Christ's love as we share that love with others through service, time, pray, positive thoughts, etc, even if I am not always so love-able myself. And so as I prepare for the new year I am feeling like my goals will be centered in this.

And for the record, I have no idea how I am even going to come up with a gift that means as much as the angel or snowman ...

Christmas Gifts

I love this snowman decoration.  It is perfect because it works perfect with the colors in my home AND it can stay up all winter long.  Thank you Barbara for this beautiful home made gift and the one you made last year.  I treasure them! And yes, I opened it before Christmas because I wanted to see it before surgery.

Christmas Decorations 2011

My mother in law gave this to my wonderful husband last Christmas.  He served in Germany for 2 years as an LDS missionary so this is sentimental.  We still need to get candles so that the fan on top can spin on its own. We set it next to his nutcrackers that he picked up while living in Germany.

Christmas Decorations

I'm all prepared for Christmas because

right about now I should be having surgery.  I am confident things will turn out even better than expected.  And I am confident that I will be able to enjoy the holidays despite having surgery and staying overnight in the hospital.  What surgery you ask? None of your bees wax.  Actually, I did go to physical therapy for 6 or 8 weeks (it's all a blur) and it didn't cut it.  So the only option left is to cut things and move them into place.  Yeah Baby! Can you tell I'm a little stressed?

But the good news is (and it's important to focus on the good news) that my neighbors are willing to help with rides to the bus stop at the end of our long switch back of a lane.  My husband can work from home a lot of the time while I am in bed recovering. My in laws live across the street and my kids can stay over and still get to school on the day of the surgery and the next day since I have to stay overnight. Another neighbor wants to take my children to a kid friendly Christmas concert the end of the week.  I've had a lot of offers from friends who want to bring in meals.  Well, that's probably not going to happen, except with my awesome GF friend. I am already craving her incredible to die for breadsticks.  I'm allergic to wheat, soy, melons, and berries. Oh and nuts (walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc) will kill me in a few minutes.  My life is so exciting that I can hardly stand it!

I've been cooking like crazy.  8 lbs of chicken, 3 lbs of hamburger, taco soup, lasagna, chicken fettucini alfredo.   I just need to make 2 batches of wheat free cornbread muffins tomorrow after I get home from getting my blood drawn and last minute instructions. And I'm exhausted so I'm looking forward to sleeping a lot this week!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie

So my friend S* has the best GF (gluten free) recipes ever!  Thank you sweetie! She shared this oh so forgiving pie crust recipe and I made my own pumpkin pies this year.  3 to be exact.  No one even knew they were GF.  Even better!

I had saved some old pie tins from back in the days when I could  buy pies from the freezer section.  I used Libby's canned pumpkin (I'm curious about making my own - I think I'll buy seeds to a more edible sweet pumpkin). I also used the recipe on the back of the large Libby's pumpkin can.  

Oh and the cool thing about this is that I recently cleared my countertop left of the sink so clean up was a snap.  You see, there was this cute sign and a cutting board over there in the corner for like 3 years.  It was diving up my countertop space.  Cooking GF means you need a lot of space and easier clean up.  It can be overwhelming. Now I can toss the cornstarch into the sink with a few swipes.

 So now that I reclaimed my countertop space, I am in baking heaven.  Well, sort of.  I have to have surgery soon and so there will be no gingerbread cookies for the tree this year.

 I put off organizing a lot of stuff after we moved in.  I had after all just finished radiation treatment (and chemo a month before that). So I was in healing mode not moving and organizing mode. But I've recently conquered all the clutter. Ha Ha Ha! But seriously, my bathroom cabinets and drawers are spotless along with under the kitchen sink, laundry room sink, etc.  And I filled the recycling can. Feels great.

Did I mention what a mess cornstarch makes?

Did I mention that you need some wax paper or parchment? Oh and guess what? I like to make an extra batch of crust and make turkey pot pie afterward.  I think it'll be a new awesome tradition.  I LOVED the turkey pot pie.  And it was awesome that my in-laws cooked their bird upside down - juicy tender white meat.

Decorating for Christmas a little early

I've been trying to get a million things ready.  I'm having surgery soon and I'll be out for a few weeks.  I'm not really excited about it because it's something I've really struggled with since chemo.  So hopefully things will greatly improve and not actually get worse.  I mean, I've done physical therapy for months and it just didn't cut it. So we found the only other option and that is surgery. 

This photo turned out better than I could have expected.  Love my new lens.

Anyway, I kind of feel like I am on my own with this even though a few people have offered help.  No one can really bring meals.  I'm allergic to wheat, soy, melons, berries, and severely allergic to nuts. So I purchased aluminum pans that are recyclable and I'm making food I can stick in the freezer. I'm also trying to get as much prepared for church as possible.  I'm the Primary Secretary.  I have talks, prayers, Articles of Faith, and scripture assignments all set up through mid January. I have been organizing closets and drawers to make it easier for Tyler to find things for me if I need his help. AND I went ahead and decorated for Christmas.  I had to take apart my pre-lit tree (1/2 the lights were dead).  My daughter helped me a bunch. She loves Christmas just as much as I do. I went with the multi-color lights which I enjoyed as a kid. It's been fun and brought back a flood of memories.  I could sit and look at it for hours - which I will probably get to do after surgery. 

Here it is with the lights on, not the best angle but you get the idea.  I made that tree skirt in high school.  I really wish I could remember my home ec teacher's name.  She was an incredible teacher and loved this tree skirt (mostly the other side with the old fashioned Santa's on it) so much she made her own similar one. 

And here is my fireplace.  I'll have to take a better photo of the nativity later. Last year it was in the book shelf.  This year it's back on top of the right bookcase. You can click on any of the images to see them larger.

Anyway, I had to change my surgery date because my mom has been quite ill. She is going to have a scan done on the day I was originally going to have surgery. So we will see how it all turns out. But I finally feel like everything is falling into place and I'm as ready for surgery as it gets. Hopefully my mom will be on the road to recovery too!

It's that time of year again...

We love SNOW! Tonight my children ran outside as soon as homework was done. And they threw snowballs at the windows of our house. Then they decided to make their own snowman.  I think he is pretty cute with his chocolate chip eyes and carrot nose. 

It's a reflection of them and their abilities at this stage in their young lives. My son loves that he can see the snowman from his window. They were so pleased with their creation that they wanted me to share it on my blog asap!  I hope we get more snow soon so they can create a whole snow family.

Project Update

So my sister gave my daughter this really cute shelf about 7 years ago for Christmas. She had painted it the exact red to match the accents in her room.  The only problem is that we changed everything when we moved.  We went with lighter colors.  Mostly the pink, green, and white.  My daughter helped me paint the shelf white.  It took about 4 coats. I was worried about the white on white look but I actually love how it turned out. 

Then my daughter and I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out mismatched but color coordinating drawer pulls. I should say, I let her pick them all out.  I would have gone with 3 matching knobs but she liked all the knobs in this color range.  I think she was right.  It adds and element of fun to the project.

To be honest I think I use the drill more than my husband but I don't dare use the rest of the power tools except for the sanding mouse I purchased for working with small crafty stuff.  After I removed the hardware from the back of the shelf I hit the old knobs with the drill to knock them off.

They came the way you see on the left but I switch the brass piece around so that is would face the shelf and cover that large unpainted area where the old knobs once were. Then I attached everything to the back of the shelf. They were a little long and so my husband cut them off with the hack saw so they are flush with the back of the shelf.

You can see it a little closer here.

And my favorite.  Except now it holds her winter coat and backpack.

But that was the purpose.  Luckily it is behind her door.  I don't like stuff to be out like that usually.  If her door is closed she can see this cute shelf she helped me update even if her coat and backpack are there. After all, I want her to be happy and she is VERY happy about this shelf.

Now to update those cute deep set frames that Krysta's husband made for me a few years ago as trade for their family photos. And I have just the thing - or rather 3 things to add in.

I forgot to mention that now that I'm not taking my allergy medicine daily I am at risk for migraines.  Feel free to offer a pray for me that those don't return.  I used to get 2 to 4 a week.  But I have been way more motivated since.  I cleaned out from under the kitchen sink, the laundry room sink, and re-organized all the cabinets in my laundry room.  I need to replace my king size comforter (no more feathers). Any suggestions? I'll  have to post a photo of what my bed looks like but it's huge and painted black. My walls are a brown grey. 

PTA Reflections Grand Champion and Halloween Party!

My daughter wanted to write a poem for PTA Reflections this year.

The theme is Together We Can... 

She decided on dance.  Asked her dance teacher the names of a few steps.

Then wrote down how dance looked, etc.

She says she wants to write more poems like this but about different ideas.

This one is going to the district. Her other two won school awards.

She is pretty excited. They displayed the entries after the Halloween Parade.

She also went to a fun Halloween party with the girls in her school class.

So happy to see her making more friends.

Isn't this cute! Some room mom is AMAZING this year. 

I just couldn't make myself do that and PTA again.

That is a responsibility in addition to helping in the classroom.

I did the Easter party one year and it about killed me.

Working on more energy -trying a vitamin D supplement and gummy vitamins that are wheat and soy free! Plus I stopped taking my allergy medicine.  I was still itching and tired beyond belief.

Plus I was gaining weight even while exercising like crazy and eating more apples and grapes than anyone should. The past few days it's been easier to get up without feeling drowsy until 10 a.m.

Oh and my daughter was Astrid for Halloween (How to Train Your Dragon).

Fall Family Photos 2010

We photographed a cute family here and then the next night we ran over for our own.

Sorry Melynda but I couldn't resist. At least we live far enough apart.

Tyler set up the tripod and Grandma made the kids laugh and look in the right direction.

I love my daughter's joy in this photo.  She is so fun of life and loves to have fun.

She amazes me all the time.  She just looks like she is having so much more fun than the rest of us.

We can learn from our children all the time if we just watch them.

And of course this is the new 20x30 for our mantle this year. Hopefully it will not look as red as it looks on my other monitor. I was thinking about making it a 30x40 but we used the smaller camera.  So I am on the look out for something to replace that 30x40 -maybe a family photo, maybe a piece of art.

Happy Halloween

Hope your Halloween is a happy one.  Here we celebrate Halloween on Saturday if it happens to fall on Sunday. I mean it's a state wide thing. Seriously. So we did all of our partying yesterday.  We went to the Mall to get my son a new winter coat. They were handing out candy there. We went to Home Depot to look for a new freezer - they had a scavenger hunt there.  Then we went to Aunt K*s house and rode on Grandpa and Grandma's homemade train behind their 4-wheeler.  They rescued us from the downpour and we visited with the neighbors.  My nephew K sat with me both times in the train. 

Of course, back on the 27th we woke up to snow. Let's just say we were all very excited about that!

And my kiddos made their mark in it. I stayed on the dry sidewalk.

Setting up your photoshop pallet:

go HERE to my photography blog and I'll show you in a video!

This will help all of those taking my class.  And there is still time to sign up. Just a few days left.

Blown Glass - Oregon Coast - Seal Rock - Vacation Photos

One of the last things we did before heading to Boise on our way home was to visit a glass blowing shop along the coast.  This shop is a husband and wife partnership with an employee or two.  He creates the vases, glass bowls, and sea floats.  She creates the jewelry, decorations, and other small glass items. They make a great team.

He constantly has to roll this.

Turning it into a vase

He is shaping the bottom and using that little tube to blow air into the vase.

He is changing the color of the glass here.  It has an iridescent coating of glass on it and this makes it really show up too.

These are decorative floats

And I would still love one of the short glass pumpkins with the swirly tops.

Believe it or not, my 4 year old son didn't want to leave.

And he loved the safety glasses. He watched him make 2 vases.

I purchased this and need to get a silk cord so I can wear it.

At first I wondered why glass blowing is so popular along the Oregon Coast.  It's a hot business.  There is no need for a/c here.  Just open the doors for a cool breeze year round.

So that's about it! Our one week vacation.  Now I just need to scrapbook it so we can enjoy it over and over again!

The Lighthouses

Yaquina Head Lighthouse about 15 minutes before the park closed.

I took this one because the grass and other plants looked almost red in the sunlight.

If you are lucky enough to be on the Oregon Coast on a sunny day - enjoy the sun setting.

It was beautiful!

Yaquina Head during the day.

A fun photo by Tyler with the wide angle

The stairs inside the lighthouse - starting outside there are 116 stairs to the top.

The light from that one tiny bulb can be seen 19 miles out to see because of the use of prism to concentrate the lights into one beam.

I love details - this was near the top where the other presenter spoke to us.

There were these cool little prisms in the floor above to let light into the area just below the top.  The light was shining through one onto this map - right on the spot - Yaquina Head.  Do you think someone knew that would happen and placed it there?  It was glued down to the table.

You have to be 42 inches tall so my daughter went up with me and then later with Tyler.  My son had to stay at the bottom with one of us.

Now here is the place that inspired this trip.  I only watch blogs of wedding photographers out of state.  One of them photographed a wedding at this bed and breakfast.  This was one of Tyler's favorite spots - the steep cliffs with beach below.  My daughter and I got out here and walked out to the spot where we could photograph the lighthouse which is to the left of this house - which, by the way, used to be the Lighthouse Keeper's home.

Here are the sea gulls looking for sand dollars as the tide rolls out.

And last of all here is Yaquina Head from Cobble Beach.  You have to go and listen to the sound - it's most unusual and fascinating.  We took this photo on Friday as we were headed back home.