All I Want for Christmas...

...is to make her stop.

It's Alayna.

She is just growing way too fast.

This is the year...

...the year for me, from age 3 to age 4, that children leave any vestige of baby behind.

To me it seems like she is hurling like a bullet towards school, towards college, towards marriage.

And, I just want her to stop.



























...and to be my baby for a little while longer.

Deck the Halls

So, we are well into the Christmas season.

And, like everyone else, we have pulled out our Christmas decorations.

I love decorating for Christmas. For me the Christmas decorations are special because they are only seen once a year, others are nostalgic to me, and others, I love just because. I thought I would share a little bit of our Christmas, so my family members can see them, and maybe, just maybe pretend they are with us.

This is our art niche in our foyer. I love the live boughs.

Over the mantle of our fireplace in the family room.


My "Tiercy tree" upstairs in our loft area.


Although Steve and I have dissenting opinions on these carolers, they are staying. They remind me so much of home and the years of Christmases that I was young, single, in college and carefree. I love them. Steve thinks they are creepy. (sigh)

So, these are two new additions to our Christmas collection this year. This is where we will be Christmas eve with Steve's parents. I truly love that we host Christmas eve and that my children get this special time with Grandma and Grandpa alone.


And here is the outside of our house. I love the wreaths in the window. When I remember, there are candles in the center of the wreaths.

Family Home Evening Lesson

Each family prayer, each episode of family scripture study, and each family home evening is a brushstroke on the canvas of our souls. No one event may appear to be very impressive or memorable. But just as the yellow and gold and brown strokes of paint complement each other and produce an impressive masterpiece, so our consistency in doing seemingly small things can lead to significant spiritual results. “Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33).

-Elder Bednar

We have our Family Home Evenings on Monday nights. That means from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m....

No phone calls.

No playing sports.

No playing with friends.

No T.V.

It's our family night, and nothing gets in the way of that.

It used to be that somehow there would always be a fight, or someone crying that would ruin the evening 90% of the time. We stuck with it. Now...

...we have a great, happy family home evening 90% of the time.

And it is so worth it.

Where else would I get this lesson from my darling son, Tyler?

He drew four sheep like these (I'll tell you they are sheep in case you couldn't tell from his stellar drawing ability --lol.)

And then he hid them so we had to find them.


Afterwards he talked briefly about sheep needing a shepherd.


Then he had us turn them over and try to figure out the correct order of words written on the back to make a sentence. (Read from bottom to top.)

It was very simple.

But, very poignant.

My son is gaining his own testimony of the love the Savior has for him, and for all people. And that the Savior loves him and wants to help him succeed in this life and in the next.

I love Family Home Evenings...

90% of the time.

Just Because

Look at what I received on Saturday from my sweet husband!

He bought them for me, just because.

They totally remind me of the roses in my wedding bouquet.

Thank you for loving me Steve!!

It's Making Us All Happy

Look at these faces.



They are eating these little guys:


These are from the cake decorating class that I am taking on Saturdays at Joann's. I was so happy with how they turned out even through they aren't perfect. So it appears that while I may have inherited the princess gene, I haven't inherited the perfectionist gene.

Look at the faces of my children, do you think they minded they weren't perfect either.

Here was my less then stellar cake from the week before:


From the picture, you can't tell that the frosting was awful and smelled and tasted completely like shortening.

It was fun to tort the cake, and I used raspberry preserves on the inside. Yummy.

However, none of us could get over the flavor of the frosting, so it ended up in the trash! I wasn't happy with this cake anyway.

I got crumbs all over the top after I started frosting the sides of my cake. I was trying to spread the frosting way too thin and picked up crumbs along the way. When frosting a cake, more is better. But, I was able to get my frosting pretty smooth for my first attempt. I was happy with that.

Next week will be my second attempt at a cake. I am hoping it goes much better!

Cake decorating isn't nearly as easy as I thought it was going to be. I'm not a natural. So, in the meantime, it will be fun to practice, practice, practice.

Anyone want cake?

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Poor Laney.

She is experiencing her first breakup.

With her binky.

This past weekend we decided that it was past time for her to be a big girl without it. She is just getting way to big for it.

Actually, a few months ago, Steve wanted to get rid of it all together. I knew Laney wasn't ready yet. So, I compromised with him. She couldn't have it during the day, but she could at night for bed. That actually worked. And, she would willingly hand it over in the morning to me as we got ready for the day. So, that all worked until...

...she got sick two weeks ago.

Total set back.

She wanted her binky all the time, even after she was done being sick.

So it was time.

And, I must say, she is handling it really well. She knows Steve took them out of the house to throw them away. She even happily said goodbye to them.

That is...until bedtime that first night.

Unfortunately, the kids were with a babysitter. Steve and I were happily sitting at The Melting Pot, when my cell phone rang. It was Tyler.

"Mom, Laney isn't behaving. Here talk to her."

Whiny, tired voice, "Mommy, I want you." Boy does she know how to break a mommy heart or what. I decided to let her stay up and watch the movie that the boys were watching. It worked.

Maybe breaking up isn't so hard to do after all.

Candy, Candy. And More Candy!!!

That is what makes Halloween so fun.

But before the candy, we carved pumpkins.

Here is the start of the candy. Our Trunk-or-Treat started at 4 p.m.My boys: My Mime, Mario and Edward....oops, I mean a Vampire.

My beautiful Ballerina already eating candy.

Acting out their parts.
(After watching Martha Halloween, Ty had really perfected the behavior of a Vampire. I thought it was really cute.)

In for the night to stay with Dad, looking at her candy. What a cutie!!

Laney and Steve handed out our Halloween candy while I took the boys around the neighborhood. We were out for 2 hours and only got through about half of our neighborhood. The boys were amazed at the amount of candy they got, and so was I.