Chilling

For this SD family's bi-monthly (on a good month) update:

Weather -4.4 currently, predicted to be a high of -3 this afternoon. Balmy, huh? I’m trying to remember why we didn’t take the Hawaii job.

Latest family project; grass head guys. This was our family home evening activity this week. Cute, huh? We’ll see if we can get them to grow. Morgan’s is the one with the apron, Rylee’s is the one with the green plaid button-up shirt, Daniel’s is the one with the nose, and mine is Rosa Parks, in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. day (is it even PC to say that, or to admit that I ran out of lighter colored nylons? If I get hate mail from this blog then so help me . . .).

Quotes from the last few weeks are, of course, more Morganisms. She watched Ghost Busters with Rylee and some of Rylee’s friends and it put her already active imagination over the top. So now it seems like all she talks about are ghosts and things being scary. At dinner the other night she said:

“Plus, who was the first person to see a monster, because they would be famous.” (I tried to follow this up with an agreement that, yes, in fact they would be famous and it would be very well reported, therefore, since we know nothing about it, then there must not really be monsters. Sorry, Mom, no sell for logical reasoning when monsters are concerned.)

“If there are no ghosts, why do we even have the word ghost?” (Ummmm, any help here?)

Then finally yesterday, after days of arguing about going downstairs (where her new bedroom is), or into the garage, or outside alone, she finally said to me, “I’ve gotten over the whole fear of ghosts thing.” And then after a brief pause she said, “Well, mostly,” with a little giggle. I sure love that silly girl!

And as a grand finale, she was reading a book that had a picture of a young adult woman painting her nails and primping and Morgan said she must be a “college girl.” I asked her why she would be a college girl. She said, “Some college girls think they have to be fancy - - just to get a boyfriend.” And to think that it took me until I went to Ricks to figure that one out!

Proof

Just thought I would share proof that I am not exagerating about the frigid cold weather we have been having. This was the view out my kitchen window last week:

It's really pretty, but I don't want to go out in it. Of course, there's nothing like a view like this to make a person grateful to have a nice warm house, hot water, and plenty of clothes. It also makes one think of those poor first settlers in this area who came for cheap land in the hot summer and probably couldn't fathom this in the winter. Its a good thing we live in the time and place that we do because if I had to be one of those frontier women and endure a cold like this living in a sod hut I'd surely die - or wish I had!

Christmas Reverie

Life has been so crazy-busy lately that it seems that December just passed us by without us really getting to savor it. Here’s the condensed update, in picture form:

Daniel wanted us to build gingerbread houses (okay, they are graham cracker, but don't tell my mom. She used to make the real thing when she was at this stage in her life. However, just thinking about attempting to make the real thing just about brings me to tears at this point in my life.). We made a little village. In case you're curious Rylee's is in front, Morgan's is next, Daniel's has the wrap around covered porch and gazebo, and I made the outhouse in the very back. It was good fun. We thought we should introduce the girls to Daniel's and my old tradition of taking the gingerbread house out for b.b. gun target practice when we were done (yes, the house becomes the target). However, the sub-zero weather discouraged any thought of foul play. They instead went, stripped of their candy but otherwise unmolested, into the garbage can.
Taylor loved the Christmas tree and Christmas presents. She unwrapped the same three presents over and over, day after day through December. I would just tape them back up again and let her at it. Typical baby, she loved the tearing of the wrapping more than the gift itself.

Cheese! We sure love our girls.

Santa spoiled us this year. Here's the stockings all set out on Christmas morning. We spent our second Christmas here in SD with just our little family and we really enjoyed it. We had been so busy the rest of the month, so it was nice just to have a few days with no obligations at all. We were able to stay home, play with toys and games, and relax. In spite of missing our far away family, it was a great break.

As Far As It Is Translated Correctly

The funny of the week – one of my favorite yet: I was doing Sharing Time at church, and Morgan volunteered to read the scripture for me. It was the one in Genesis about Isaac and Abraham going into the wilderness to make the sacrifice. Morgan’s teacher was letting her read off of her little palm-pilot thing, which has the scriptures on it. In the middle of her reading she stopped, so I, not really paying attention to where she was at, was frantically trying to find the spot, assuming that she needed help with a word. Then I hear her teacher lean over and whisper to her “ass.” Morgan looks around for a second with big eyes and then says “ass,” and then continued on with her reading. Later when we got home she was telling me about the cool thing that Sister Walker had (the palm-pilot) and how she wanted one for Christmas. Then after a beat she said, “but I don’t know why Sister Walker’s had the 'A-word' on it.” I couldn’t contain my laughter.

‘Tis the Season

What a crazy, busy time of the year. I’m hoping to finish wrapping up (hardy-har) the loose ends so that we might have at least a week to enjoy the peace and purpose of the season.

The quick updates:

We had a fun visit with the Wards. The guys went hunting every day and Amy and I . . . well, actually, I am not really sure what we did most days, but whatever filled our time, I enjoyed it immensely. We did the “Black Friday” after Thanksgiving Day sales. I don’t think I have ever enjoyed them quite as much, and I am quite certain I have never shopped that long. We left at 5:00 am and got home just before 9:00 pm, if I remember correctly. The time between noon and when we got home was the two of us (and Taylor) wandering around in a glazed-over daze. It was strangely nice. I can only compare it to a runner’s high, back in my Cross Country days. Maybe that is how people become shopaholics.

The only drawback to the visit is that after they left, SD seemed more lonely and remote than before. As soon as I am sure we’re staying put here for a while I’m going to start offering incentives to friends and family to encourage some relocation in this direction. Considering the size of our ward I think it might be possible to get some backing from the church. However, in light of our ward budget, I am pretty sure this support wouldn’t be of the financial nature!

On the home front, Daniel and I did an exhausting push to get the rooms painted and the trim stained, varnished, and hung so that our carpet could be put in this week. It was a success and the rooms are usable now, but so far we’ve been too tired and had too many outside obligations to move anything into them. It’s kind of a sad irony actually; as they are sitting there virtually empty after all this rush to have them ready. Maybe by Christmas, or New Years, or . . . .