Well I don't write all time because most days it's the same old thing. Ground hog day over and over, not that I mind that, that's what I love. We have been slowly getting ready for Christmas. Last week was spent in the kids' classrooms helping the teachers and attending parties, thankfully it's all over. Some fun things that happened to us over the weekend is Taylor and Ashlynn had their first piano receital. They were both so nervous. I think Taylor handled her nerves better than Ashlynn. They both played great. I unfortunately forgot the camera at the "real" receital so I made them play it agagin for me at home. Ashlynn goofed once at the receital and Taylor had a little mistake but I don't think anyone noticed but me since I heard it non-stop all week. I love to play the piano, but when I had my receitals I could never get over my nerves and my fingers stilled fumbled. On Friday Cade had his last basketball practice for the season and they played the kids against the dads, it was fun to watch and Cade and Rusty said they had a fun time playing. Cade had his last game on Saturday and he did well. He had 2 baskets, and a few steals. The coach asked Rusty to help coach next season. It's a pretty good team, they won 4 games and lost 2. Cade gets better and better every game. At the first of the month we had a Family Home Evening and watched the first presidency message. After that wonderful thing we managed to ruin it by drawing names and Cade and Taylor complained about who they had to buy for and who was buying them a gift. I was shocked, little turds. So as their punishment and before they could participate in this they had to write a page paper on the "REAL" meaning of Christmas. It was fun to read their papers and they knew what the real meaning was. I was just surprised that they were acting that way, ahh kids. Thankfully they have been better and Cade without telling him too, went and bought all the girls a Christmas gift. He did great he even got them on sale. Anyway, that is all for know, I'm sure I'll have Christmas stories to tell soon.

Crazy Kids

So after reading this you will know why I gave it the title: Crazy Kids. Yesterday (Sunday) as I lay in bed, I can hear Ashlynn running around the house screaming. Not a death scream, but a funny ha, ha, Cade is teasing me scream. I get up about 5 minutes later and remind her that while people are sleeping she needs to not be screaming. She then tells me, "Mom it was because Cade was chasing me around with a sharp knife." A look of shock comes across my face and I dart my glare to Cade's direction. He then defends himself and says, "I did it because Ashlynn had one too." I can't even think of anything logical to say, except, "Get up in your rooms, NOW!" They go off to their rooms and are there for awhile when I include Rusty in on what's going down. I tell him he needs to go talk to them, because I'm at a loss of as to why they even did it. Shortly later, Cade comes down the stairs and Ashlynn is still in her room. Pretty soon you hear, "But Cade had a knife too!" Rusty then confronts Cade about lying and Cade says, "I didn't have one." I then have to help Rusty see the truth, I tell him, "Rusty why would Ashlynn be running around the house screaming if she's the only one with a knife". (She's a little crazy in the head, but not that bad) Rusty asks cade one last time, and Cade's response is this, "I didn't have a knife... at first." So off Cade goes to his room for a very long time for lying. What on earth were they thinking when the did this! I can see if your unloading the dishwasher and all of sudden you start to do something dumb with the sharp knifes, but to go into the kitchen and just grab a knife is beyond me. And it's always these two, they are always teasing each other, getting into trouble, and fighting. (Sigh) Anyway, I'm sure this will make my mom smile as she remembers her own frustrations with things we did.

Rusty and I have to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday, and in preparing my talk I came across this story. My talk is on gratitude.

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."
"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.
"Oh yeah," said the son.
"So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end.

We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.
Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon.
We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight.

We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.
We buy our food, but they grow theirs.
We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."
The boy's father was speechless.
Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have. I have a quote that says, "The secret to having it all, is knowing that you already do."

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm on a roll with this blogging stuff. Well yesterday was Thanksgiving and we had a wonderful day. It was the first time in over 11 years that we were able to spend it with my family. My brothers, mom, sister and their families were able to drive to our house and eat here with us. (Still missing my little brother and older sister, and one sister couldn't eat with us because she was sick) We had a great time. We had all the adults eat at a table and then the kids were all together in the kitchen. I was worried the kids might spill drinks or something and all the mishaps from the day happened because of me. I spilled my drink all over Rusty as I was getting up to yell at my kids, and I broke a dish trying to get something out of the cupboard. Oh well. The turkey turned out GREAT! I've never gotten it so moist, so I was very happy about that. There was more than enough food and everyone walked away from the table groaning because they were too full. The kids did crafts, paper dolls and Aunt Ryan had a great idea to make chains as a count-down to Christmas, they all liked that idea. Tessa almost made one as a count-down to Baby P, but decided not to. Kids seemed to get along well and that's always good. The cowboys almost won the game. I didn't stress about the house and that is always nice to just be able to sit and enjoy company. It was a wonderful day and am very grateful for the family I have, the family I came from, and the people who have married into this cray family. Have a sign in my living room that says "Remember as far as anyone knows, we're a nice normal family" That's us to a T.