Was it supposed to be Baby instead of Abby?

The week before Christmas Eve was Brother's big Christmas concert at the High School.

Do you remember?

...

Ya, that was the day I ranted.

I never got back to posting the pictures of what the hard work brought that day.

I could almost cry posting these pictures... for many reasons really, but I'll stick to the subject at hand...

So with me being at my play, that left Marc with the daunting task of getting Brother to his performance.

Brother didn't make it easy on him by any means.

He was upset about having to wear his white, long-sleeved shirt and was scared for a new experience of singing with the the high school choir, but they made it. They were about 20 minutes late, but the made it.

His teacher took these pictures and sent them to me and my heart made a little leap. I think it was about intermission when I got these pictures and the stress that had been sitting with me all evening had subsided and I was happier for the duration of the play.

I may have teared up a little when I got these pictures of him with his friends.

I love this kid! He's harder than I could ever dream, but also makes me happier than I could have imagined.

The night was enhanced too because my friends came to see me in the play! I was so happy to see them, maybe even more happy than they were prepared for. When you've had some of your lowest lows, your mid-way UPs can seem like the highest of highs! Thanks friends for coming!

Mike, me, Maria, and Dan... a little out of focus

So, I just had to tell you that and I was already a little bit on high emotions because Christmas has been wonderful, my brother is here from Illinois and I just got done watching Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors" on HULU.

I have to say that it was such a breath of fresh air to watch a show that was so uplifting, so family oriented and talked of God and heaven. It was beautiful! Now having said that, you really need to watch it. (Sheesh, I really wish I got paid for promoting the things that I love... if I had a dollar for every time...)

I also can't end this post without showing you what I did for the kids' teachers, aides and bus drivers. You'd think I had 10 kids with all the gifts I get ready to send out for their educators... I just wish I could afford to give more. Hopefully, even a small token lets them know how much they mean to us.

Something else I want to make sure I document is that we had a secret Santa who brought gifts for each of us... well, at least I hope they were for us. We had one with Brother's name, Sister's name and mine and Marc's name on them and one with "Abby." I'm sorry to whomever Abby is, whether it was for Baby or not, but I must say it came to the right house. The gifts that were given were absolutely perfect—Mine Craft figure for Sister, coloring books for Brother, a gift card for Marc and I to go on a date and for Baby... or Abby a Scooby Doo Lego set! Seriously were the most treasured gifts that were given. I really do wish I was able to personally thank those who make our Christmas's so special each year, but I hope that some day I can return the favor.

I'll just keeping giving what I can afford to give for now and that will be my love, my talent and my time.

My heart is so full this Christmas season and I am excited to make the time to write more about it.

Until then...

here's a teaser:

photo credit for this sweet pic of Baby goes to my nephew, J-man

Days of 365 Days of Up

Ketchup and Relish...

So, I have all these pictures I haven't shared yet, but they are how I've been journaling the last month or so.

So guess what!

I am going to Catch-up (Ketchup) and relish in my memories!

Ha! Get it!

Enjoy the view!

I was so proud of how my mohawk braid turned out that I just had to take a picture...
I know, silly, but it was one of those proud moments...

After a horrible time of taking Sister to the doctor I stopped by the side of the road to take a picture of the Provo LDS Temple because the snowy mountains were such a beautiful backdrop.

We were invited to a beautifully cold winter wedding that took place in the woods and it was so fabulous. This is one wedding I would have loved to have been the photographer of...

Marc took a couple pictures of me because he liked how I looked that day... what a sweetie.

Some of our friends that were also at the wedding (left to right)
Mike, Pam, Dan, Marc, Me and Jared (all adventure buddies)

On that same night of the wedding we went on a double date with some friends to a new Arabic restaurant and it was so much fun. I even got excited to see some of the foods we had had in Europe when we were there like this Shwarma that is roasting behind me... it's meat that cooks and glazes on this spigot/rotisserie thing.

We got a kick out of the camels that marked our customer numbers! So our friend, Jim, had to get in for a shot!

Then we went to a crepe restaurant for dessert. It was a cultural date night.



After our friends had to get home Marc and decided to run a little errand and pick up an ironing board that we were in need of.

Marc looked so debonaire and it made me laugh to watch him carry out an ironing board like it was  surf board... so I made him pose:

Before I knew my foot was broken I was going on a hike as often as I had time and I love to take shots of the valley when I get up high enough for a good one:

Ranger, our dog makes me laugh quite frequently. He is such a social dog and always has to be near me if at all possible. I was saying my prayers one morning and he decided to keep me company so I had to pause to take a shot:

I mean how do you tell these puppy dog eyes, "no" anyway?

This past Monday (3 days ago) my brother, Aaron, had what he called a "Sip-n-Sing" where we all got together at his house and had hot chocolate and wassail and sang Christmas Carols together and were treated with some performances by Aaron. It was so much fun and was a great way to bring Marc and I up from what had started off as a rough day.

Marc and my Uncle Jeff were sitting together sharing music to sing along, but Marc caught on to me trying to sneak a shot of them singing...

He even went to far as to act like he was just sipping his cider through a straw...

It was OK, though, it still melted my heart to see them both 

enjoying carols together with the rest of us.

I know this picture is sideways, but it was so precious to watch Marc teaching Sister how to play checkers with chess pieces. It was so wonderful to see.

I've been trying to notice the natural beauty all around me more often and taking pictures is a good way to remind me.

I can never do sunsets justice on my phone, but I still try:

Today my UP was having my brother and his family here today from Illinois and seeing our kids so incredible happy to be playing with them and watching Sister give Berry hugs so tight they both went pink! So cute! The only picture I have is at the end of the day when my dad and Daniel had finished a puzzle we had been working on that day:

Day 357 (and a few other days) of 365 Days of Up

A Bad School Picture

With me having been in a play during the month of December our Christmas decorations weren't as quick to come out as I would have liked, but we finally got them up with the help of the kids.

We try to decorate the tree together every year. This year, though, it ended up being in shifts—one with Dad and one with Mom. Marc took pictures after I had the tree set up for them to start decorating.

He said Baby was having a great time and was even singing as she hung the ornaments.

She's changed so much since she started Kindergarten and it is so fun to see her personality coming out into the open more and more.

She sings songs for almost everything now and she loves the songs she learns at school.

She's even been having fun putting on our token reindeer antlers so she can sing "Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer" complete with actions! Cutest thing I've ever seen!

I've also been impressed to see her write her name a handful of times, but my heart melts when I see some of the pictures she draws.

Like this one:

She told me that's a princess and I'm guessing that might be her dog to the right...

Look at those eyelashes... you know in our house our kids always say that's how you know it's a girl is if it has eyelashes... yes, people, we've explained, but thank goodness it's just eyelashes they need to draw to be able to distinguish...

Baby also has such a great imagination and she definitely shows it off when she is able to entertain herself looking at her reflection in Grandma Lynne's lamp.

This entertained her for at least 20 minutes... Oh how I love that girl!

Along with her singing she has gained an interest in "reading." I love to see her pretend to read and she finds such interest in. I hope this means that she'll start reading —at least I hopes learns something if she isn't going to get potty trained

Then there's Sister...

Yep.

She's a creative mind who always has to be busy and make messes while she's at it...

Her latest thing is cutting paper, collecting paper and yelling at us all not to touch it... Tee hee!

We have piles and piles of papers of all kinds creeping out of the nooks and crannies in her room and they're migrating to the living room often.

You can see that Brother is slightly annoyed with this obsessive activity she does all the time... I can't blame him, but I just have to keep reminding myself that she'll change hobbies in a little while and then she'll have something else to be obsessed with for a while... ah, yes, special needs problems.

My dad has saved a LOT of things from when we were little... old papers from school, drawings, toys and, oh, my glasses...

I wore glasses when I was in, I think, it was 6th grade. I didn't wear them anymore after that because I didn't seem to need them. I guess my dad held onto them for 25 years just in case I ever needed them again.

I have bad memories of these glasses, not because anyone made fun of me, they may, I just don't remember, I just remember me making fun of me after I got my school pictures back...

Oh my word! For reals people! My mom let me out of the door like this?! I don't know if it's really the glasses as much as it is the pioneer dress, bad perm and foofy bangs... good grief! I remember when I showed this picture to my dad when I got it years ago and he said something to the effect, "Well, that's not a very good picture of you is it?" Tee hee! I even remember picking out these glasses and how excited I was that they were pink AND blue! A match made in heaven...

Anyway, my dad brought these glasses up from the archives and we all had a good laugh when I tried them on again:

Brother and Baby wanted some good laughs too:

We all laughed really hard and it was great. 

Growing up, I was really close to my sisters and it has been fun watching Baby and Sister's relationship grow. I have to say that Baby seems to be with Sister more than Sister would like, but, if I remember right, that's just how little sisters are.

Marc caught Baby one night trying to sneak into Sister's room to sleep by her at bedtime.

These pictures though, are my favorite... sharing an iPod, a blanket, a couch and a dog.

My heart is a little heavy today as I witnessed a side to life that isn't fair or maybe is just hard to take.

I worry for my children often, especially because of their special needs.

That's one of the reasons I try to, at least, protect their names on the blog.

But, when a mother has the courage to stand up (literally) for her children and she is brushed aside with little regard by someone who is supposed to be there for everyone it is very disheartening, degrading, and disturbing.

I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who would never disregard my feelings for my children and that he, ultimately, will give me the peace we need to move forward in life the best way we can.

It's times like this that I am so grateful the power of The Atonement and how Christ not only took upon himself my pains and sorrows, but the sins of others and the pains and sorrows they feel because of those sins. I just hope that on my roughest of days I remember to let Him take my pain and give me the strength to do what needs to be done.

Life is tough.

It's full of twists, turns, downfalls and sometimes, heaven forbid, even bad school pictures.

The point is to learn from it all and keep a positive attitude and a humble heart.

... and don't ever wear a large, white collared dress with a big gray bow with your new glasses and perm... again...

unless you need a good laugh...

Day 355 of 365 Days of Up