Oh, The Weather Outside is Delightfully Frightful!

It has been a dry winter.  So dry.  Most of us around here have been running around in flip flops and shorts, and no one thought we were crazy for it.  Until this week, it hasn't even really been cold. 

Everyone around here has been fasting and praying for moisture to sustain us in this land.  But I have to admit, my motives in praying for snow were a little more selfish.  My husband recently purchased a new smowmobile and a new truck, and all "winter" long he has been itching to get out and break in that snowmobile.  I am all for people having a hobby to relieve stress.  (My hobby is watching Netflix on my computer while making blog books and photo books, and/or playing the Settlers of Catan App on my iPad).

Anyway, it has been a loooong, dry winter.

One of the happiest sounds in the world to wake up to is hearing your young daughters exclaiming, "It snowed last night!  Dad, Rachel doesn't believe me that there is snow on the ground!" 

 
 We may or may not have made it to school on time this morning, because we had to spend a few extra moments enjoying this:

 

 

 

And you know what else?  It has been snowing off and on all day.  Oh my!  We LOVE Snow!!!

For Health and Strength and Daily Food, We Praise Thy Name, Oh Lord!

How was your Thanksgiving?

(In case you didn't know, this post is somewhat ironic.  My family had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I was in bed sick--yes, at my mother-in-law's--pretty much the whole time.  I am so grateful for wonderful family willing to take care of my family while I was down and out.  It was a good holiday.)

Tonight I am thankful for EXERCISE

I just got home from Zumba class.  My arms are tired.  It is a good kind of tired.  Beth encouraged us tonight to do as many regular pushups as we could before we switched to girls' pushups (meaning on your knees).  Well, I didn't think I needed to do girl pushups, so I stayed up the whole time, again and again.  She would break it up with lunges and curls, and then we would go back to pushups.  I was determined I was not going to do girl pushups, but I was starting to think my lofty goal was a little foolish by the time she had us do the last set of pushups.  Still, I am glad I could do it; the girl pushups just didn't feel right.

Not that there is anything wrong with girl pushups.

I am grateful that my sister Kd encouraged me months ago to start going to step aerobics with her.  I had quit my regular running routine when I started working full time for Britt, and even after we cut back my hours, I hadn't found my way back into it.  I needed it.  More than I can say I needed it.  When I was dealing with postpartum depression after Olivia was born, the Prozac was nice, but the running was what really healed my hurting soul.  Listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" while I ran probably helped too.  I think it is great to laugh while exercising.

Just not while you are trying to do pushups, whether they are the girl kind or not.

I like working out hard--I usually go in the morning--spending a productive day and then falling into bed fast asleep.  I find I sleep better, I worry less, and usually I don't dread waking up in the morning.  As much as I would like to just stay in bed sometimes, I know it is good for me to get out there and get healthy.  I like being tired in a healthy way.

Yay for exercise!

Today I am thankful for: GOOD FRIENDS

This past week has been a busy one, full of lots of good experiences.  I didn't get any pictures for most of them, but they are all definitely blog worthy.  As I have spent today recovering from our very full, very busy weekend, I thought I would take some time to reflect on how truly lucky we are to have so many wonderful people surrounding us and blessing our lives.

You may remember when I posted the pictures of my darling girls all decked out in their Halloween attire, I sent out a bit of an S.O.S. for ideas to create a Haunted House for my daughters.  Good people responded via Facebook.  Another called me all the phone and showed up at my house with some of her best not too spooky embellishments for our Haunted House-in-progress.  Thank you, Jennifer Warren.  Your assistance helped us pull off a very successful and fun Spook Alley in our basement.  And the virtual ideas were also appreciated.  Rachel's cute little friends had some tricky and tasty snacks while they watched Pirates of the Caribbean--on Stranger Tides.  The whole evening was a smashing success, complete with screaming girls and only a bit of girl drama.  I am also appreciative of parents who were willing to let their girls party with us until late that Friday night.

There are no pictures of our awesome Haunted House.  We actually had one group of girls that came through that screamed at least five or six times.  I consider that evidence that we did our job.  At least one girl refused to go through, but I promise it wasn't that scary; just a few good surprises in there.  I kind of wish I had asked my husband to take a picture of me as a spooky fortune teller with my crystal ball, but it was pretty dark, so it probably wouldn't have worked anyway.

Saturday, my husband and sons headed out in search of the elusive buck.  He was pretty hard to find, considering the best ones were already taken, either by hunters or drivers (it really was a rough week on drivers.  I heard of at least two victims of deer-in-headlightitis).  They also spent that particular day with a couple other friends, Josh Nielson and Mike Jensen.  They spent almost the entire day out there searching, searching, searching.  It just didn't work out.  It's too bad one of them couldn't have just shot the three-point buck that was a half a block away from our house Friday night at 11:30, when I was coming home after dropping off all the little girls.  Yes, we live in town, and no, my boys wouldn't really shoot at a deer in the middle of the night in the middle of town.  Those dang deer are on to us!  Anyway, my men and their friends finally returned home at 5:00 that evening, but none of them had filled their tag.

And we are actually glad they didn't, because then how would we convince them to head out on the Amazing Race Surprise Birthday Party for Mike Jensen?  When Mike's wife, Keri brought the invitation by earlier in the week, Britt sort of wondered why, since we don't socialize a lot with Mike and Keri.  I just teased him that they must have heard how much fun he is or how competitive he is.  Yeah, it was definitely the competitive thing.  At 6:00, Britt and I showed up for the party/race.  I have to say, we had a blast!  Our team ended up being one of the last to return, so obviously we did not win the Amazing Race Blanding style, but we had a fun time trying, and we are definitely ready to take the challenge should we ever have the chance again.  We are thankful that Keri thought to include us.  And thankful for fun friends, Jay and Michelle Jones who raced along with us on our team.  Thanks to them, Britt and I didn't yell at each other once.  They are such nice, easy-going people, I would have felt foolish being ornery to my husband.  I will admit I got very little sleep that night, as I stayed up thinking of the things that I would have done differently, little mistakes that slowed us down.  And scheming up other things I would do if I were planning an Amazing Race in our area.  It was a fabulous way to spend our evening together.  Even if I am a little sad we don't get any video of Britt's awesome Zumba moves.

Sunday was our Primary Program.  Each one of the girls said their parts perfectly, and the whole primary sang beautifully.  I am so grateful to the good people in our ward who do everything they can to teach our kids to value the scriptures, and to love our Savior.  I am also grateful for the quality friends my kids have at church, who help them see it is cool to be righteous.

Our home teachers invited us over for Sunday dinner and a little football.  Yes, we love our religion, and we love our Steelers, too.  We are grateful for the Macdonalds, our good friends.  They know how to keep track of us and be aware of our needs, including when those needs involve getting to watch an awesome football game, since we don't have T.V. at our house.  Thanks, Paul and Lisa.  And Preston, even though you didn't get to make Britt wear your Patriots jersey Monday, thanks for being a good sport.

I am especially grateful to good friends, friends of mine (Brooke Pehrson) and friends of my girls, who were willing to take my daughters trick-or-treating last night so I could spend the evening with my husband.  We are also thankful to the Cards for inviting us to their fun Neighborhood Halloween Party.  It was so nice not to have to worry about dinner, and I know Britt had a great time listening to Buddy Redd's crazy stories.  We so rarely get to just hang out and be social, it really was the best time.

I also have to mention, I appreciate the Macdonalds for including Cole in some of their hunting expeditions this week.  We have a lot going on at work, and Britt just couldn't always get away to take the boys hunting.  Cole would have been happy to be on the mountain every minute of daylight of this hunting season, but since he couldn't, we are just glad there were others willing to get him out there.

The fact is good friends truly are a blessing in our lives.  This week I was also able to re-establish an old friendship with some people who are very dear to me.  I look forward to that friendship growing and strengthening in time.  To be able to pick up where we left off, to be able to share in each others' experiences is such an amazing miracle!  I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who puts good people in our paths to help us experience the love and joy meant for us.