Merry Christmas Day!

Hello all! I just have to tell you about our wonderful Christmas Eve evening. After a great dinner of ham and funeral potatoes etc, we did the dishes. OK I did the dishes along with Mike. Our dishwasher is finally fixed! After clean up was complete, we went out for our traditional "lookin at the lights". I love that people are so kind at Christmas and decorate the outside of their homes for the enjoyment of others. We went up to the neighborhood in Kennewick that was the Christmas Songs neighborhood. On many, many houses in that area they have a board painted to look like a piano sheet of music and on it is a song. Then they decorate their yards accordingly. For example - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus had Marge and Homer Simpson kissing. There were many others. It was so fun. Then we went to Canyon Lakes and saw some houses up there. Beautiful. But I think the greatest light show was down on the street of Deschutes. There is a landscaping/sprinkler business there that decorates all their trees and their buildings with lights. Not only do they decorate, but if you are by their building and put your radio to 101.7 they have Christmas music and their lights go to the beats of the Christmas music. That was really a great finish to our evening. Then it was morning.

Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good afternoon nap. I know I need one and it's only 9:45 am! After staying up late to help Santa, Mykie was in at 5:30 am asking us to get up. Um, NO! Remember we said 6:00 am? Appearently, she did remember, but since she couldn't go back to sleep, we needed to get up. When you are tired and looking forward to 30 more minutes of sleep - you can get a little snappy. See you at 6:00, Mykie.

When we did get up, Santa's gifts were ready to be opened. It was so fun. All the kids enjoyed their gifts. Brigam asked Santa for a guitar. I tried that with Tyler one year. He was excited for about 10 minutes and then the guitar went into the yard sale. So this is what Brigam got instead:

He tried it once, so the interest in guitars was just as I expected for him, but Tyler, Jeremy and Mykie have been enjoying it this morning. I even tried my hand at it. I'm not very good, but I intend to get better.

One of my favorite gifts was this one bought by Tyler when we drew family names:

It's called a Cocoa Latte machine and it makes your hot cocoa for you, keeps it hot, and frothy! The cocoa is delishious. The kids say it is the best cocoa they have ever tasted!

Now for our "Badger Mountain Bazaar Gift" for Mike and I. We've been wanting one for a long time. So I finally put the money from the bazaar towards it and this is what we got:

Yea! And it's such a pretty red too. I wanted lime green or pink, but Mike nixed that right away. This is the color we agreed on. He's already playing on it. We are so excited to have our own computer that the kids are only allowed to look at - not touch. We say that because only a week ago I paid $107 to get viruses taken off one computer. Then I still had to buy a new wireless router.

Well, Brigam is filming everyone with his new camera and I think I have to check the footage to make sure that I am in the best light.

Everyone enjoy the time they have with their family today!

Merry Christmas!!!

I thought that THAT greeting would not only be appropriate for today, but it's much more interesting than that of UPDATE which I desperately need to do.

Where to start. Last I left my review of my exciting life, I was at the Twilight movie. The next day we were on our way to Utah and turkey with some homemade pumpkin pie. Lucky us!
We got to SLC on Friday evening and stayed at the Red Lion Hotel which was really nice and a great deal. Love it when that happens. We stayed there from Friday night to Wednesday afternoon. On that Saturday, Mike, Tyler and Jeremy went with Uncle Nate to be a part of the U of U slaughter of the BYU football team. The score of 48-24 all I can say as at least BYU has the gospel. :) Just kidding. But Mike is a U of U alumni and Tyler has a great desire to be one as well. I wouldn't be bragging too much if I were them, you should have seen the way Mike was dressed. He can't even have the excuse that he was dressed for warmth. It was slightly hilarious to all of us who beheld him.

Mykie, Brigam and I just went shopping which was very fun. I love Tai-Pan. Not that is not oriental cuisine. It is a great home decorating place that sells nice looking stuff for cheap. We enjoyed ourselves.

We went and visited Uncle David at his work. That was all we saw of the Anderson Family and that makes me sad. There is never enough time to do everything that you want to do.

On Sunday, we went to Music and the Spoken Word in the tabernacle on Temple Square with Nate and his wife, Amber and her parents. I lived in Utah for many years and NEVER went to this. Man, I had been missing out. The whole Mormon Tab was there and a full symphony. I had always heard that the tabernacle was set up specifically to get awesome sound, they weren't a kiddin! That place was so full of music that it felt like it was a part of me. Everyone enjoyed it - Brigam even got to go in and take in the experience. What was even better is that the message they gave was the perfect thing I was looking for for the message I wanted to give back at the RS Progressive Dinner that was in a couple of weeks. How easy the Lord made it for me. I'll talk about that later.

After the fantastic performance, we were invited over to Amber's parents house for a great breakfast. This is where Brigam found a new friend. Amber's mom took him under her wing and he was nice and cozy there. She took him to Wheeler Farm twice and played games with him. He was in "attention getting" heaven.

Sunday night we were able to travel down to Camie's house and see Mom and Dad, Alex and Sunny and Nate and Amber. We played some way silly games and had a great time.

Monday held more shopping for me and Mykie along with Brigam. Who, by the way, hates to shop now. What happened to my cute little guy who loved to find me specific colors of clothes. Is he turning into a "man-child"? I guess some things don't last forever.

Tuesday afternoon we went to visit Roxsan and her family. It was so fun to see her newest addition, Nathan. Mykie was in baby heaven. Her kids are so cute and getting so big! I still can't believe that you didn't answer my knock from the day before! Shame on you! That better be NO indication of our friendship!

Tuesday evening brought us to Austin and Becky Heywood's home (sidebar: I used to work for Austin when I lived in Utah. He has always been a great boss and an even better friend) where the manly men went outside to "fry us up a turkey" and the girls sat inside. It was great getting to know Becky better and their two adorable daughters, Zella and Lily. The turkey was delicious and the company great! I even got to see Chris who I worked with so many years before with Austin. He's getting married and I am so excited for him. It was great to see pictures of Austin's other kids and of Chris' son who have (of course) grown. All of our kids are so old now, it's amazing that I have stayed 28 all this time. Kudos to me!

On Wednesday, we left our hotel digs and headed up Ogden Canyon to the beautiful cabin/house we were staying in for Thanksgiving along with 26 others - Mom and Dad Nelson, Matt's family, Camie's family, Nate and Amber, Alex and Sunny and Joe and Chelsie - the newest Nelson in our family. Chelsie and Joe recently got married and I LOVE HER! She is perfect for the Joe and for the whole Nelson family.
Thursday was Turkey Day and it was delicious. Mom, Dad and Camie really pulled off Thanksgiving Dinner. There was plenty of food and it was yummy! The homemade pumpkin pie was yummy. I was even debating having a second piece, but then one of the nieces sneezed on the pies and that ended that debate for me. All in all I lost 4 lbs on the trip. I am sure that I lost some water weight, but I was happy to step on the scale none the less.

Here's some of the family. It was LARGE!

Mike spent most of the vacation playing racquetball with his brothers. He had a great time. I got a couple of books read and time in with family that I love, the kids got plenty of cousin time in.

Including Tyler. When he wasn't texting/talking to Paige (What? You haven't heard of Paige? Well, read on), he was spending time with this little guy.

This is Cameron (who's name goes along perfectly with his siblings, Kelsey, Kaylee, Corbin and Kendra.) He's a cutie.

On Friday night we all got together and played Celestial Companions. That was fun and revealing. Then we had a Nelson Therapy Session. I won't say too much about that except that I am glad that in the 19 years I have been in Mike's family we have NEVER had a Nelson Therapy Session like that and I hope to never have one again. Mike left the session feeling better about situations, I just left mad. I wasn't mad to begin with, so you can guess what happened after that.

Saturday we headed home. It was a great trip including the gas prices we had to pay. On our way down to Utah, the prices were smaller and smaller. It was nice.

Now I was in Badger Mountain Bazaar mode. I only had a week to prepare. I thought I was completely ready, but I can always find something else to do. I worked on stuff up until the day of the Bazaar a week later. Mykie even got into it by making these cute reindeer candy canes. She did a good job. Back to me, I did really well at the Bazaar earning enough to buy Mike and I our Christmas gift without having to dive into our Christmas savings. I won't spoil the surprise for you. I'll let you know what it was tomorrow!

The Bazaar was great. I got to see so many of my friends - especially from Pasco. You all made me feel so missed, loved and grateful to have friends like you. Mykalyn didn't attend the bazaar with me this year. Something she reminds me of on an almost daily basis. Pam spent both bazaar days with me and that was fun! We rarely get time to just sit and talk together without being interrupted by a child or a kickboxing move. It was great. Thanks Pam!

After the bazaar and putting it all away, I was ready to "Christmas" up my life, but Mike didn't get the tree out. The kids and I could hardly stand it, so we took matters into our own hands and about two weeks ago, we dove into the garage ourselves and pulled out every box that hinted it held Christmas decorations. We put up the tree, put lights on it (it doesn't glow like two years ago. I left off about 400 lights this year;), decorated it and like magic - our house was "Christmas". I think that Santa comes for Mike every year. He didn't have to dig for Christmas stuff, decorate, buy, wrap and mail gifts or sign 1 Christmas card. The problem is that I am not patient. I want to get it done and not leave it for Christmas Eve when I know that I will be too tired to stay up until 4am only to be woken at 5am. Mike is a lucky man, 'nuf said.

The next activity was our Christmas Progressive Dinner with the RS. The theme I chose was "It's a Wonderful Life". Fitting, isn't it? We started out at the church with hot cider and then went to our first house where we had squash soup, cheese and rolls. Delish! For my little presentation, we watched Luke II while listening to Amy Grant sing "Mary's Lullaby". Those two things fit perfectly. Thanks Pam! After that I shared a scripture about Mary and how she "kept all these things in her heart." Meaning (to me) journal entry time. Then we went to the next house where we had our main course. It was good eats. There I shared a Nelson Newsletter entry from Mom Nelson about her release as Stake RS president and her testimony of RS. It was fitting. I talked about how important it was to me to read of her thoughts and testimony. At the last house was dessert. The house was gorgeous. The Morgan's had just participated in a charity called the Parade of Lights for Christmas (or something like that). Their home was all decked out with Christmas trees and decorations in every room. My favorite one was the big, bushy tree that rotated. It had 8x10 framed pictures on it of all of their family Christmas photos all over it. It was so ingenious! I loved it.

This is where I finished my little talking about "It's a Wonderful Life." The theme of the Music and the Spoken Word was gratitude. The Mormon Tab sang a song called, "Count your blessings instead of sheep" it was beautiful and fitting. So I had my friend, Donna Murphy, come sing it acapella for us. It was great. Then this is what I shared with the sisters:

A few years ago, two researchers conducted what they called the Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness. They found through science what most of us know intuitively: gratitude makes people happy.
For the study, several hundred people were divided into three groups and asked to keep diaries. The first group listed the day’s events in their diaries, the second group recorded any unpleasant experiences they had during the day, and the last group made a daily list of things they were grateful for.
The researchers found that the simple act of taking time each day to count your blessings makes a person more enthusiastic, determined, optimistic, and energetic. Those who expressed gratitude experienced less depression and stress, exercised more regularly, and made more progress toward personal goals. Researchers even noted a relationship between feeling grateful and feeling loved, and they observed how gratitude inspires acts of kindness and compassion.1
Remarkable, isn’t it? All this from daily gratitude and thanksgiving.
Of course, the best way to discover the benefits of gratitude is not by observing them in an academic study but by experiencing the miracle for ourselves: When we daily count our blessings, we feel better about life, even in the midst of adversity; we garner a strength of character and largeness of soul that will help us through hard times; and we see life as basically good, despite its challenges and heartaches.
Gratitude does not need to be reserved for holidays and special events. Every day is filled with miracles and blessings. If we open our hearts and look, we’ll find reasons for gratitude and thanksgiving each day, all around us.

Then I gave out the journals that the RS board made (with big thanks to Autumn Fullmer and Andrea Smithee and the Utah help of Alex and Sunny and a little Joe). My whole point was that our lives are special and unique and if we take the time to write our experiences down, it doesn't only help us, but it helps others. All in all, it was a good night.

The snow fall really made it feel like Christmas. It started on the night of our annual attending of the Nutcracker ballet. This was the first year that Brigam went. I think he enjoyed it. I had Mykie, Jeremy and Brigam with me. We went with Brenda Weide and her boys - Cooper, Travis and Jax. It was fun. When we got out, it was snowing. Ever the gentleman, Jeremy put his arm around me to "protect" me from the flying flakes and directed me to the car. He's so cool! Mike has been busy shoveling, shoveling (so I'll forgive the non-participating-in-Christmas-prep stuff). Here's some shots of the snow. Jeremy enjoyed finding all the icicles he could. This one is about as tall as him.

So about Tyler being a boyfriend to his girlfriend Paige. They have been dating for about a month or so now. She is a really cute girl that is a Sophomore at Pasco High. Sorry, no pictures. Tyler and a bunch of friends were over here a couple of weeks ago having a gingerbread house building contest. I asked him if it was a "Kodak Moment", but he said no. I will try to get one sometime.

She and Tyler went snowboarding with Mike, Mykie and the Scouts last Monday. Tyler and Mike went snowboarding the Friday before. They are loving the snow!

Our Christmas cards got out late this year because we didn't get our family picture taken until late. I thought I would share them with you here. They turned out pretty well. I can't believe that they have grown so much! The family is really so much fun to have.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday to you! I miss her tons. She is still in Mongolia for another 8 or so months. It will be great to have them both back. I am so grateful that the package that I sent a month ago got there. It was their Christmas you know. And I felt that dad really needed some American junk food. He told me that it hit the spot.

Well, Merry Christmas! How exciting that the season is on us again. I love the feelings that you have this time of year - even perfect strangers are nice. They don't think you're weird, they just actually smile back. It's great.

And like I said before, "It's A Wonderful Life!"