Serious Backtracking

I'm ashamed of myself and my lack of blogging lately, but it's been a crazy, whirlwind past 2 weeks. I won't even try to write in depth about our happenings for fear it might take me hours on the computer so I'll just stick to my crumpled up list from my purse that I've been jotting things down on off and on.

* Grandma Johnson asked the girls to sing at the Care Center in Idaho Falls where she was in charge of the Christmas program. The sang 2 songs, Winter Wonderland and Picture a Christmas. It was fun for them to have a singing opportunity again, since it's been a while.

* The girls were in the cutest Christmas play put on by their entire school, the Principal even played Santa which the girls thought was awesome! The music was adorable and costumes were cute and simple. I have to admit, I was near tears while Regan was giving her part, it dawned on me that this is her last year of Elementary school and her last year to be with her sisters at the same school for quite a few years. Anyway, I'm turning in to a big cry baby the older I get, it's just hard to see my kids grow up. I love this stage, right now, while I still feel like a have a little control (okay, a VERY little)

* My brother, Matt, and his cute family came for the holidays from Florida. The kids played so good together, you'd never know they had been apart for a year. We all met up at Pomerelle Ski Resort in Burley for a family ski day the Friday before Christmas. Mom and dad helped with the babies while the rest of us were either skiing or helping the little ones learn how to ski. My sister Lori proved to be the master ski instructor for the day, and she even did it w/out a set of ski's on her feet. She just spent the day running up and down the hill giving instructions to mostly Jordyn, Kaleb, and her little guy, Jack. Thanks, Aunt Lor...Jordyn now loves to ski!!

* The next day (December 19) we had the best Family Christmas Party ever!! Our Annual Rose Family Christmas Party in Park Valley. This has been a tradition in my dad's family since I was a little girl and has continued on through the years. We always have wonderful food, a fun talent show, game time, all the kids act out the Nativity with costumes for everyone right down to the donkey's and sheep. There's present opening, party favors, recipe book put together by my mom that is added to every year by everyone, and tons of laughter, eating, and fun! This year was made even better because Matt and Sara and the kids were able to be there. Thanks to my Grandma and Grandpa Rose for making this party possible, (with help from my Aunt's, of course) I love you!!!!

* The next day, after church, we headed to Blackfoot for our little Rose family Christmas party at mom and dad's. The kids had more fun together, mom and dad made their famous pot of Clam Chowder and, if I'm not mistaken, this was the best pot EVER! We had more present opening, more food, tons of visiting, and just enjoyed being together. I always miss my siblings but for some reason, this year I realized just how much I love being together and I had a bad case of the blues last week knowing that I probably wouldn't see my brother for another year. He is such a great guy and someone I've always looked up to. It was nice to give him a hug and have him say, "Hey Sis" again! I really miss that!

* Monday afternoon, mom & dad, Grandma J, Matt & Sara and the kids, came to our house to visit and the kids spent most of their time playing outside in our skiff of snow. The Florida kids loved what little snow we had and my kids were happy to have buddies to play with all afternoon. Matt spent the afternoon with Regan downloading songs on to her new mp3 player she got for Christmas, which thrilled Regan to death. She idolizes her Uncle Matt!! He even left her a few bucks for more MP3 downloads and you would've thought he'd given her the moon. Thanks Uncle Matt!!!

* Christmas Eve the girls and I spent the morning cooking a big turkey dinner and setting a fancy table, much to Regan's enjoyment. (this is the kid that LOVES to make any meal fancy) I don't do anything fancy, in fact, I think Regan's just plain sick of eating off of our plastic sectioned plates so this was extra special for her. Grandma Johnson joined us for dinner and then the kids entertained us with their talents and we ended the evening watching a DVD of the Savior. The kids drank their "magic hot chocolate potion" to help them go to sleep so Santa could come, they left oatmeal and apple chunks on the lawn for Rudolph and then quickly fixed Santa a plate of goodies and then willingly went to sleep excited to see what Santa would bring the next morning. Right before bed, they all asked if I thought they had been good kids this year, I think they had a small case of guilt for the fighting they had done the past year.

*Christmas morning was amazing! I'll hopefully blog about it later but for now, I'll just say that I enjoyed this Christmas more than any before. I really tried hard to not be stressed and to keep the my focus on the Savior this year. And, though it was busy, I was able to enjoy the whole month of December and everything that it brought. I really enjoyed my kids excitement and the fun things they did in preparation for the holidays. They made tons of paper crafts, including a Christmas countdown sign, a poster paper tree which they added homemade paper ornaments to every day, and we had Christmas music playing around the clock. The kids decorated the Chrismas tree all by themselves, I really didn't touch it at all and therefore, when the babies took ornaments off of it, it really didn't bother me! Anyway, it really was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

* Chrismas day we continued our donut making tradition. It was an all day project but the end product of 125 donuts was well worth the effort. We stuffed ourselves full of donuts and took some around to the neighbors. It was fun to hear the kids talk about this fun tradition and what it means to them, particularly Morgan! I loved visiting with her because I find out just how important little things like this mean to her.

More to come another day..... Happy New Year Everyone!

Way to go, Reg's

Regan finished up her basketball season with a bang! The last two games she's scored 4 points and she made a beautiful shot during Saturday's game that DJ somehow managed to catch on video, totally by accident! What a way to end the season! Way to go, Regan!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I was looking for Jordyn for a bit last night and Kaleb got the most concerned look on his face and said, "we have to find her, she's my sweetie pie."

What do you do when it's 2 degrees outside?

Pretend like you are going to the beach!

Sounds like a good idea to me!

If you didn't get the chance

We went to the Stake Center this evening to view the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I have been looking forward to this for a while but had no idea what I was in for this evening. The music was so beautiful it pierced my soul and I had trouble controlling my emotions throughout the whole thing. If you didn't get the chance to hear it, take a few minutes and at least listen to the music clips. The talks were fabulous as well but there was just something about the music that touched me. Please visit LDS.org and take a listen!

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Our little Kaleb turned 4 years old today! It's been a strange day, I've just spent much of it looking at this little boy wondering where the last 4 years have gone. Even though I have the twins, for some reason, he's still my baby boy. I know that sounds weird but it's the truth. I will never forget the moment he was born--I could hardly believe that we had a baby boy. I guess I just figured we'd keep on having girls since we seemed to be doing that pretty well. He was born 5 1/2 weeks early and had a bit of a rough start spending a week in the Special Care Nursery. I wasn't able to hold him much at all during that time so I spent the days sitting in the rocking chair next to him holding his tiny little hand and praying that he would be okay. The girls were dying to meet there new brother and it killed me to not be able to take him home and be together as a family. I remember being really emotional during this time, partly because of hormones being completely out of wack but I was really scared that he wouldn't get better but after a rough couple of months in and out of doctor's offices and the hospital, his little body got stronger and things got considerably better. You'd never know by looking at him now that he started out so tiny. He's a little tank, not chubby, just solid as a rock! I love him so much--I can't imagine life without him. Some of my favorite things about Kaleb are:

*his adorable smile, complete with dimples

*his sparkly eyes when he smiles

*his kindness towards his siblings

*his layed back personality

*his enthusiasm for life-he seriously gets excited about the littlest things, namely a candy bar

*his love for everything having to do with cowboys, he's got it in his blood (he's going to be a "cowboy missionary"

*his facial expressions-if eyes could talk, his would

*His love for grandma's and grandpa's

*his ability to entertain himself with a stick and a rope

*his honesty- he tells me exactly how he's feeling, what he needs, and what I should do about it

*his determination to do whatever his sisters do
*his stinking cute personality.

I love this little guy! Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Family History Friday

On what date were you married?
December 27, 1995

What are your memories of that day?
It was really a wonderful day. I still can't believe we chose to be married 2 days after Christmas. My poor mom & mother-in-law! How they ever pulled that one off, I'll never know. But I'll be forever grateful. I will never forget the feeling I had being in the temple with DJ and so many of our family members & close friends. It truly was a little slice of heaven on earth! I feel so fortunate because both sets of my grandparents were there and my Grandpa Johnson performed our sealing. Though I can't recall a lot of what he said, I can remember the spirit that was in the room while he spoke, it was so strong. I have always had a lot of respect for my Grandpa and specifically appreciated the great amount of love and respect he always showed my grandma so it meant a lot to me to have him perform our sealing. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple two days after Christmas on a very cold day. We had our wedding luncheon at the Chuck-A-Rama, yes, you read that right. The food was really great, just wish they didn't have to call it by that name. DJ and I have chuckled about this over the years and when we attend other wedding luncheons at "upscale" restaurants, DJ almost always makes the comment, "the food was WAY better at Chuck-A-Rama." Anyway, funny thing is, we had our wedding luncheon before we got married, just worked out better that way because of the time we had set in the temple for our sealing. I remember waiting for DJ at the restaurant thinking he'd be at least a few minutes early, after all, all of our guests were already there. No…he was there right on time. He had an eye appointment across town to get new contacts and had allotted just enough time to arrive at the luncheon right on time. He wasn't stressed one bit…I was because I grew up with a dad that made sure we arrived to everything at least 15 minutes and if it was any less than that, we were late. At any rate, I was happy to see him and we enjoyed a fun meal visiting with family and friends and then we were off to the temple as mentioned above. Once we got out of the temple, it was late afternoon and the weather was beautiful but really cold so we hurried to get pictures with the family. Everyone was sweet to hang around while we did the whole picture routine. I love looking back at pictures of this day because my nose is red and DJ has his shoulder's slightly shrugged with his hands tucked in his pockets in most of the pictures. He was one handsome guy in a Tux, and still is!

Jordyn's Funnies

While tucking Jordyn in to bed last night she looks at me with a big grin and says, "Mom, I was born with fashion!"

You have to know Jordyn to appreciate this comment. The girl LOVES clothes, cute hairdo's, bracelets, headbands, necklaces, etc. No, I don't foster this, in fact, it scares the heck out of me because I've never been one to buy the latest fashions in jewelry, clothing, etc. She almost always has her next days outfit put out on the floor complete with socks shoes, bracelet, headband and she is up bright getting herself all decked out for the day. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when she's a teen?? Yikes, I really try not to think about it!:)