Witches In Heaven

A couple of years ago I read in the Ensign that a good way to teach young children the scriptures is to have them memorize a few at a time. So, as a family we have been working on doing that. I print out the scripture on card stock paper and keep them all in page protectors. It's been fun to have someone quote a scripture in church and have the kids quoting it too.
Well, we have been working on Matthew 5:16 lately, it reads: "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." We read through it a few times with the paper and then I put the paper away. As we went through it again poor Britnee got a look of complete horror on her face and said, "I never knew there were witches in heaven!"
I don't think we will ever forget this particular scripture-thanks to my beautiful little Britnee :)

the 24 hour challenge

I love my ipod!! (Does that come as a surprise to anyone?) My favorite thing to listen to on my ipod is gospel talks. I sometimes don't remember cleaning a room I get so involved with them.

Last week I was cleaning and listening to one of my favorite set of talks on building a stronger marriage by Dr. John L. Lund. In it he gives a challenge to find 24 consecutive hours in which you give no criticism, in thought or in word. You can count sleep time, but if you mess up you have to start the 24 hours over again.

I took this challenge a few years ago but since then have fallen back into bad habits, usually without even realizing it. So I'm taking the challenge again. I'm writing this little post so that if you happen to be visiting with me and hear me slip up, you can (gently) remind me of my goal. I'm not challenging anyone else to take it but if you'd like to and find ways to make it easier, I would love any help I can get. In the meantime, I'll check back in when I've conquered the 24 hour challenge. (Hopefully in weeks or months instead of years :)

My 1st ski trip...and my last!

Just kidding Brittney and Candice!

Anyway, last Wednesday was Ladies Day at Beaver Mountain. Kind of a special thing they do where you can go up, eat breakfast and lunch, and have a two hour ski lesson. Dear, sweet Candice talked me into trying it and since it was Tia's last day here we decided to go for it.

Let me pause here and add a disclaimer to the last post I did on going to Beaver Mountain- not only are we not a skiing family, I've been told basically my whole life that you get hurt skiing. So with that knowledge in my head, at the fresh, young age of 32, I put on my first pair of ski's.

I do have to say I couldn't have asked for a better teacher, her name was Deb and she was absolutely wonderful. She started us out really slow on my favorite ski slope, the bunny hill. She would ski backwards in front of me and uncross my ski's every few feet. Tia caught on quickly and was skiing by herself after just one run. I was just getting warmed up by then.

After about an hour and 45 minutes into the lesson, I felt like maybe I could ski the bunny hill with only a little help. That was when Deb said that it was time for the ski lift. Panic welled up inside me and I was just about to lose my cookies when Brittney entered the scene. Brit is my awesome friend, Candice's sister, and that day, my guardian angel. She teaches lessons too so she agreed to stay with me while Deb took the others for a run.

It was lunch time when I finally felt okay about skiing. We were just getting ready to head over to eat when Deb and Tia came back and wanted to take one more run. I don't know how I got talked into going (I'm sure it was a pride thing) but before I knew it, Brittney was helping me off the lift and the only direction from here was down. We were making progress and I felt like the worst was behind me when I looked to my right and saw that the hill dropped off. Isn't there some Murphy's law about attracting the very thing you fear? Well, long story short, I started heading for that side of the path and couldn't stop. Deb was between me and death but had turned her head at just the wrong moment. So I took her with me as we tumbled off the trail, down the hill, in front of the lodge, in ski rush hour. We didn't go far and no one was hurt but I wanted to bury myself in the snow and never have to come out again. Needless to say, we were late for lunch.

So, I survived my first ski trip (barely)! I have to say that looking back, it was pretty fun. Maybe, just maybe I'll try it again someday.

10 years Ago Today

(Okay, so I was going to post this on Wednesday, the actual day, but Matt had the pictures with him in Kemmerer so I'm posting it late to include the pictures because like the saying says, "A picture is worth a thousand words.")


Ten years ago today was a Thursday. Matt worked out in Sunnyside, Utah for Savage Trucking and we lived in Wellington. Jaycee was about 15 months old and three days before, Monday the 11th, we had found out I was pregnant with Britnee.
It was a normal go to work day for Matt- I never knew for sure when to expect him because he didn't get off at a set time. At about 6:30 p.m. I got a phone call from his car pool buddy, Dean, "Tara, don't freak out, we've been in a little accident. Matt needs a couple of stitches and then we'll be home." Click.
A couple of hours later Matt came home and told me the story of what had happened.
He and Dean were headed home at about twilight. A car was coming in the opposite direction and just as it met them, hit a deer. Somehow the deer was then launched into the air and landed on the hood of Matt's truck. (What are the chances huh?) By now the deer was traveling so fast that as it hit the door post of the truck, it was cut in half. The front part of the deer went along the bed of the truck, landing on the road just behind them. The rear end of the deer went through the windshield and out the back window, landing in the bed of the truck.
Somehow, Matt was able to keep control of the truck and drive it safely off to the edge of the road. And amazingly enough, keep his head- literally. He doesn't remember ducking.
The only scars that Matt carries are a little cut on his bottom lip and pieces of glass that he still picks out of his face every once in a while.
The next day his dad came over and helped us bring the truck home, where we sold it for parts and got one with an extended cab for our growing family.
Words cannot even begin to express the gratitude I have to a loving Heavenly Father who allowed Matt to stay here and help me raise our family. We don't dwell on the accident much, but every so often as I look at the pictures I'm reminded of how blessed we are and how much worse things could've gone.

January's Springer of the Month

Britnee loves gymnastics. She looks forward to it every week and tries her hardest all the time. Since September she's been working really hard to be "Springer of the Month." That is the award that the kids can get for going above and beyond just showing up. There's been a couple of sad months when someone else got the award but I'm so proud of Britnee for not giving up. She would just cry for a minute, wipe her tears, and get back to work. Way to go Boo!

Family Night at the Beav

Every year our ward and Laketown's ward go to Beaver Mountain Ski Resort for family night. This year though for some reason our ward didn't make arrangements to go. Did that stop us? Heck no, we just changed wards and went with Laketown. Just kidding, Candice is in the Laketown ward and invited us to go with them. I had been over in Logan all day (getting my computer back, Yeah!) and so when I got home I didn't feel too much like packing up and going. But Ben and Tia wanted to go up and so we grabbed our gear and headed up. And I'm so glad we did.

We are not a family of skiers, I've never even tried the sport. But the kids had a blast sledding down the little bunny hill. However, after they started watching all the skiers coming down, Jaycee decided she needed to learn how to ski and Cody is now dieing for a snowboard. It was a great time!

New Calling

This last Sunday morning the ringing telephone woke me up. The purpose of the call, could Matt and I please meet with the Bishop at 8:40? As we pulled out of the driveway in time for the meeting, Jaycee asked if we could have one every week, we were actually getting to church early. Anyway, the bishop had a great big grin on his face as he asked if Matt and I would work together in the nursery. I knew that if I answered yes, that I'd hear about it every week for the next year, so I turned to Matt and waited. He said that we could try it. So we are now the nursery leaders in our ward. Yeah!
On a side note, my computer got sick and has had to spend some time at the doctor. AKA- Best Buys Geek Squad. Nothing too major, just that my hard drive crashed. So, if I haven't been doing my best at keeping up with things, it's because I'm having to schedule my computer time at mom's house. I know, it's sad. I'm thinking of starting a company that deals with computer insurance. So you only have to pay a deductible to get it fixed, cuz it plugs into the wall. Believe me, it will break at some point, and the price tag can scare ya. Anyway, wish us luck for Sunday.

Christmas presents with a twist

For all of Matt's Christmas's growing up, he would go to his Grandma Hazel's house to find a card in the tree with his name on it. The card was attached to a piece of string that he would have to follow to find his gift. Matt said that the older he got, the longer the string got, and the more interesting places he'd have to go to find whatever was hidden.

We have moved away from grandma's house and don't get to go and find our gift anymore. I feel sad that our kids won't have fun memories of the present hunt. So this year the kids woke up Christmas morning to only stockings and a card, complete with string. I loved following them around with the camera, taking pictures as they followed their string.

The rest of the day was spent playing with our toys and enjoying being together as a family.

I don't see Christmas the way I did when I was young. I used to think my mom was crazy when she would say that the best part of Christmas is just to spend it with her family, she didn't even care if she got anything. Funny how I have come to think the same thing.

I think the best part of my Christmas this year was that by the end of the day, each one of my kids had come up to me, given me a hug, and said thanks so much for Christmas and for what they got. I couldn't ask for more than that. Merry Christmas everybody!!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went to Candice's house to exchange presents. Everybody got dressed up and we went and played in the snow. When the kids were done riding the sleds, Brookell (Candice's sister) somehow talked Candice and I into getting on them. They were about 4 sizes to small for us so we fell off a lot but we laughed and had a great time.

When Matt got home from work, we all went to mom and dad's house for our annual Hawaiian Haystack dinner, then up to my cousin's house for hot wassail. We didn't get to have the whole family at home this year, Bret and Heidi and Ben and Kelly were missing but I'm so glad that Bart and Michelle were here. Along with Tia, Ben, and Wyatt who got to come out and spend some time with us from Kansas.