Tis the Season....

So..its that time of year again, Christmas Carols and Christmas Programs, tinsel, lights, cards and of course piles of ornaments ready to go on that ever elusive "perfect" full bodied, evergreen tree. Typically, our family tradition has been to wait until the day before Christmas to set up and trim the tree and hurriedly get it decorated without staying up until 2 in the morning. This year, I dug in my heals and said No! I want a tree earlier than normal, not at the last minute.

My pile of Christmas ornaments

My husband , being the wonderful husband he is, ventured out to the wilderness for a total of about 4 hours over the course of 2 days seeking *THE* tree. We all seem to have differing requirements for said tree, but we can all agree on at least one thing, it has to be fuller than lasts years. Since I happened to pick last years tree, I was rather devastated that no one appreciated my previous effort, although I would be the first one to admit that I was only willing to venture out about 20 feet from the house, hence the scrawny tree. My friends all know me as someone who instantly turns into a homebody by just adding a little cold weather and snow, so just the fact that I was even willing to walk outside last year and get a tree was a major milestone in my usual Winter routine.



So now that we are in this holding pattern waiting for a tree,  I have decided I really need to get my Christmas Cards done or in the very least get them started, as Im sure everyone would enjoy getting them before Christmas at least once in a blue moon. To help me along in my endeavor are my 2 sweet daughters and this awesome 80 card, Make It Yourself set,  complete with everything needed, just  provide the adhesive.

Christmas Card Set

I dont have alot of time this year, so I thought this would be a good way to get it all done and still have a homemade touch. After 2 hours of cleaning off the table, and finding all my assorted scissors, markers, glue and etc. I was ready to go to work. Needless to say, I did not get one single card done. Turns out there were several other things that needed my immediate attention, add to that a run to the post office and store and by the time I got home I was worn out. Being a homebody during the Winter does have its draw backs, since my days consist of sitting by the warm fire in my pajamas,  homeschooling the kids,  I do believe that my muscles are becoming useless.  I am hoping to get some cards done by Saturday, in the mail and on the way to their final destinations in a timely manner.


This year has been pretty much the same as previous years, too much to do, and what seems like not enough time to do it. It is so easy to get overwhelmed and feel like nothing is getting done, or getting done the *right* way. Occasionally I seem to forget the reason I celebrate personally and our family collectively. If I'm truthful with myself though, its not about when I get a tree, when I get the cards done or what I get or what I give, its all about what God gave us, a perfect gift, the gift of his only Son. So while I panic over trees, cards and finances, I will push it aside and remember what My God did for me and for the world on that first Christmas morning, and I will pray that others will also remember, the perfect gift given on that day so long ago.
God Bless you always and Merry Christmas!

Happy Fourth Of July From Idaho

This year we were invited to celebrate Independence Day with several other families from our church. Now usually when you think of a church outing you would think nice, mellow people, everyone relaxing, kids playing quietly, maybe some hymn music playing in the background. Not so with our little group of party goers! The email I received stated this:

Happy 4th of July,

Just a couple of things in preparation for our celebration this afternoon. 

1. Parking... please drive on in to the house, unload, and then either you, I or John will take your vehicle back up the hill and park on the taxiway.  The trail down to the house has been trimmed, so its not quite like a jungle.  Consider it your very infrequent opportunity to enjoy valet parking .
2. We intend on celebrating our liberty by exercising our 2nd amendment rights to own and bear arms.  We will have a range of sorts set up away from things... so bring your firearms that you are itching to shoot... ammo would be good too.
3. Fireworks.  Feel free to bring fireworks if you would like.  When it is about dark we will restrain the children... with force if necessary... and combine our forces for a firework show!!

We look forward to celebrating with you!!

Soooo, with these guidelines in mind, we loaded the Suburban and went on our way to what was sure to be an awesome party, loaded with food and fun. Instead of writing about it though,  I am piling on the pictures and yes, some videos of the action. Hope everyone had a great 4th, I know we did

And then, let the shooting begin!

And then there were fireworks, nothing like a little total chaos to end the day !

The children ran around lighting everything they could get their hands on.

I have lots and lots of pictures of the action and want to thank the 

Primers for having us out to celebrate with them, and on that note,

Happy Independence Day America !!!!!

P.S. I will be uploading videos to Facebook in the near future so keep and eye for that!

The Awesome Lumix

This year  has been a study in life. Almost anything that could happen , did at some point or another take place. As our year draws to a close, I am reminded that even though things that are not so great happen, there are plenty of things that are fantastic that do. Through all the vehicle issues, the shed issues, the work issues, people issues, kid issues, friend issues and everything else that goes along with it, I can still find a couple high-lights to look back on in 2010. Two of my favorites are the birth of a friends baby girl and my best friends pregnancy. I am sure if I tried hard enough, I could find dozens of instances where God has blessed my family in one way or another.
Most recently would be the acquisition of a new digital camera thanks to my daughter and son-n-law in Australia. My cannon camera has been gong on the fritz for a while now, and my constant complaints of blur and battery replacement must have surely influenced their decision to impart to us such a cool gift .

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH1

At first it looks like your average normal digital camera..don't let that fool you! It is a truly awesome bit of technology. First of all, everyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I drink lots of coffee. As a result I suffer from shaky hand syndrome. This syndrome does not help my  picture taking  in the least. Thanks to the Auto-Stabilization feature on my new camera and I can drink as much coffee as I want and still take pictures! This has me totally psyched as my syndrome was slowly dwindling away my ability to be able to take a picture that was not blurry thereby ruining those "once in a lifetime moments". Here is one such example:

Yes..this is Joshua flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

 Yes, I know you are saying to yourself right now, that's awesome! I was a bit to far away, so was a tad bit blurry unfortunately,  but it is one of those "one time only deals" because as you can tell he was jumping on my couch, and that isn't gonna happen again any time soon. Here is another one of Joshua.

Joshua..again

The only thing in this picture that is blurry is him. This picture was taken before I discovered the next cool feature of my new camera, Intelligent Auto Mode! No more do I have to try and figure out what setting will give me the best picture for that situation, my camera does it for me! Although I am not totally technologically challenged, IA mode is now my new favorite setting and as easy as a push of a button.

Picture taken, in the dark, of my tree in IA Mode.

 As you can see, even with "hand shake" the Lumix takes great closeup pictures in the dark even! Here is another one of the tree in IA Mode with the Flash Turned off manually.

This looked so cool to me..look mom no blur!!!

 Another wonderful feature  my new camera has are ..RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES !!! You got it, no more running around looking for double A batteries because the kids used them all for yippy little toys, and now we have to steal from one toy to make another one work! Just plug the battery into the provided recharging unit, wait till it charges and you are good to go! I can not tell you how many times I had to change out batteries in my old camera because the kids wanted to "take pictures" of "EVERYTHING". I did manage to almost kill the battery the first time around as I was busily playing with my new toy, but I still have some battery time left, so I will be taking more pictures as the day goes on. Thank you Ashley and Aaron for the awesomely cool camera, now I can accessorize!

Coals in my wood stove.

*Disclaimer: Panasonic had nothing to do with this blog post..and this is not an advertisement for Panasonic, however if you decide to go get a Lumix after reading this I'm sure they will be happy, and Im pretty sure you will be to.
May God Bless you and yours this coming year with every good thing from above!