All Things Christmas

Kate - not sure how we missed her opening her doll (Jake was taking pics)

Sage and her doll Kit

Zack with his legos

Christmas Eve nativity

sledding with my family (just pretend you can see everyone's faces)

I suppose I should say something about Christmas.  It was wonderful, of course.  There's nothing like Christmas with little kids.  I love it and I try to enjoy every second of it because I know it won't last.  This Christmas was the perfect blend of doing our own things, combined with extended family activities.  Its always so good to spend some extra time with family.

The kids loved their presents.  Zack got all kinds of things to put together.  He keeps himself busy for large amounts of time now:)  Kate and Sage got American Girl Dolls.  They were so excited.  Good thing, because it was pretty much their only present.  Jake continues to give me all kinds of grief about spending so much on dolls, but he is a man and cannot understand.  I held firm, and now they have their dolls.  I think Kate would take her doll to school with her if possible.  I love it.

Anyway, Christmas was good.  I don't feel like going into long, boring details of everything.  And I'm sure you don't feel like reading it.  Think of this lack of detail as my Christmas gift to you (whoever you are - all 2 of you).

Three Years

It's been three years since Mom passed away.  Seems like forever and seems like yesterday all at once.  I was reading in her journal and thought I'd share some words of wisdom she wrote:

"My thoughts continued to ponder on the adversity in life.  While I was laying down I remembered a talk someone gave me by Bruce Hafen called "When Do Angels Come?"  He reminds us of all the times angels have come to help people including Christ.  But the part I liked best is when he talked about angels ministering and nobody saw them.  Joseph Smith "saw the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb,...in foreign lands standing together in a circle, much fatigued, with their clothes in tatters and feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold Him.  The Savior looked upon them and wept."  The Prophet also "saw Elder Brigham Young in a strange land, in a desert place, upon a rock in the midst of about a dozen hostile men.  He was preaching to them in their own tongue, and the angel of God standing above his head, with a drawn sword in his hand, protecting him, but he did not see it."  And so I wondered to myself if angels and Christ himself have been in my midst and I didn't know it.  I have learned that there are times in adversity when the Lord leaves us alone for a minute perhaps so when the light comes on we will see its brightness better.  Maybe I didn't have that quite right - he doesn't leave us, we just don't know He is there.  While I was laying there thinking about all this I picked up the Ensign (Sept 2009) and read Elder Holland's talk, Lessons from Liberty Jail.  He gave this talk last September and our family felt like he was giving the talk just for us.  He says that when we feel that God has abandoned us and doesn't hear our prayer that He DOES hear and He does LOVE us and He DOES see us.  "It is imperative that we remember He is right there with us - where He has always been!  We must continue to believe, continue to have faith, continue to plead with heaven, even if we feel for a time our prayers are not heard and that God has somehow gone away.  He IS there.  Our prayers are heard.  AND WHEN WE WEEP HE AND THE ANGELS OF HEAVEN WEEP WITH US!"  And so I found myself saying 'Remember, remember," how the Lord has carried you before just like all the prophets remind people through history about how Jehovah brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt.  I must remember and the family too about how we have always been saved and sustained especially in our deepest trial of losing Lindsey.  He carried us through those dark times and continues to comfort us.  Let us not forget.  and just as the prophets told their people to 'remember' this great thing, our Spjute family needs to always remember in our history that we were saved and sustained in our greatest time of need."

She was so wise.  I love reading her words and thought they were too good not to share.

Best. Tradition. Ever.

Sometimes traditions cause a groan, or the desire to run away screaming.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a firm believer in tradition.  But some traditions are definitely better than others.  And this tradition is the best one of all.  Notice that I'm already calling it a tradition, even though its the first time we've done it. I have faith that due to the enjoyment of the activity it will be repeated every year for the rest of forever.  With my dad in charge I'm sure this will be the case as he is the king of all things tradition.

What did we do you say?  Well, we rode on a bus to Temple Square to see the lights.  So what, right?  Lots of people do that....Wrong!  Nobody does a bus like the Spjutes/Binghams do a bus.  We had a bus come to my dad's and pick us up.  That's right, kind of like a taxi, or a limo, but it was a bus.  And this wasn't just a short bus.  No way.  Spjutes/Binghams don't belong on a short bus.  This was a full-sized, real-life school bus.  Big.  Yellow.  Did I mention big?

the bus parked in out front...big right?

The kids were so excited.  Let's be honest, some of the adults were as excited as the kids.  My dad was so excited waiting for everyone to show up that I thought he might explode.  The most exciting part of the ride?  Going down the big hill by my dad's house.  It was like being on a roller coaster without the seat belts.  We all put our hands in the air and screamed.  Good times.

Sage loving life

The kids at the back of the bus

On the way to Temple Square we sang all kinds of Christmas songs, and of course included "Wheels on the Bus".  When we got to the horn on the bus Clarence, the bus driver, even honked the horn.  So cool.  Then we were dropped off right at Temple Square.  That's right, no dealing with traffic, no stress of where to park, no walking from the parking lot.  Just dropped off right there.  We were super cool.

Sage riding in style

Zack and Kate

Kate and Sage

So we walked around and enjoyed the lights.  Or at least the ones we could see through all the people.  Still beautiful though, even with lots of people.  Zack's still trying to figure out exactly how many lights there were.  I'm sure he'll be able to tell us next year.

Sage...mouth full and hot chocolate in hand

On the bus ride home we listened to Polar Express, ate cookies, and drank hot chocolate.  We went so slow up the hill to my dad's that we were hardly moving.  I thought the bus was done for.  Especially because there was a strange buzzing sound like something was going to explode.  Anyway, we made it home and all was well.  My kids were exhausted, but happy.  We're going to have to re-visit our other traditions so they maybe stand a chance against The Polar Express Bus...

Derby Time!

Zack's car being set in place

The car and the scout

Since Zack turned 8, I've entered the world of scouting.  And quite a world it is.  I feel like its a strange secret combination complete with special handshakes, cheers, vocabulary, the list goes on.  I know nothing about scouting.  I'm not sure I really want to know about scouting.  I have learned, though, that some people take scouting very seriously.  Very seriously.  There is to be no joking about scouting.  This is serious business.  Like I said, secret combination...

Anyway, surprisingly, Zack is loving scouts.  He loves every activity they do and could spend all day doing anything related to scouts.  This could be challenging for me if it wasn't for my wonderful hubby.  Jake loves doing all things scouting with Zack.  Who knew?  So now my husband and son get great bonding time, and I don't have to do scouts. This is definitely a win-win situation.

Last night we experienced our first pinewood derby.  I have a fading memory of my brother Greg coming home after his first pinewood derby with a blue ribbon for first place.  I'm not sure I ever remember my dad being so excited.  So when Zack's derby came around I figured this was a big deal.

Zack designed the car on the computer, and Jake cut it out per Zack's specifications.  Then they painted it.  Zack decided on a shark design (not sure where this came from) and the number 80 (?).  I was proud of Jake for letting Zack do the work.  When it came down to speed we weren't so fast.  Maybe we should have done a little more research on this aspect.  However, Zack had a good time and didn't seem phased by his slow car.  If Zack's happy, I'm happy.  Who needs a blue ribbon anyway?

Turkeys, Lights, and Stitches

Cute Sage

Watching the fountain show

An eventful week for sure.  Thanksgiving has come and gone.  We gathered at my dad's and ate until we couldn't move.  I decided the reason you get so full at Thanksgiving is that all of the foods have large amounts of carbs.  Major carb overload for sure.  We decided to go to the fountain at Farmington Station after dinner so that we could make room for pie.  The kids had good fun.  Really, they had good fun all weekend with their cousins.  Kate and Megan are bosom buddies and spent their time putting on plays for grandma and grandpa and playing with American Girl dolls.  Sage loves Max and Sam and follows them both around.  I think they're not quite sure what to make of her.  Zack plays with whoever is willing to build with him.  I wish we lived closer so they could play together more.

Feeding the scary geese

On Friday we decided to fit everything fun into one day.  We started by feeding the ducks at Farmington Pond.  Ducks and geese I should say.  Quite aggressive they are too.  There were moments when the kids feared for their lives due to the hissing geese.  Following this, we promptly devoured all leftovers.  The best part of Thanksgiving.  Then we hurried to the Bountiful Bubble to swim our guts out.  My poor non-swimming kids tried their best to keep up with their fish cousins.  After swimming it was on to see "Wreck It Ralph".  Super cute show for sure.  By the end of the day the kids were exhausted, but happy.

Jake dangling from the roof

Yesterday was spent doing all things Christmas.  We got the Christmas decorations up.  Not that this is a huge feat at our house.  I have maybe half the amount of decorations most people do.  Oh well, we all have our things, right?  Just not sure what my thing is yet.  Anyway, we also took a deep breath and proceeded to put up Christmas lights.  This is no easy task with our tall house.  Poor Jake dangles 20 feet in the air, risking his life as our family illumination specialist.  It's all worth it when the lights come on though.  At least, that's what I tell myself.  Not sure Jake agrees.

Sage's stitches

We added a little drama to the day yesterday.  I was outside working with Jake when Sage came out crying.  She pulled one of the stockings down, along with the heavy star that was holding it in place.  Apparently the heavy star landed on her head.  This isn't too surprising considering the size of her head.  It would have been more surprising if it had missed, really:)  Upon closer examination I saw that there was a big gash in her head.  Off to the doctor for stitches we went.  She got three stitches and was a trooper.  I realized this is the first experience we have with our kids getting stitches.  Guess our time was up.  By the way, our stockings are now on the floor.  No more heavy stars waiting to fall and smash my kids.

Anyway, deep breath, that was our weekend.  Busy, fun, good times for sure.  Now a really deep breath for Christmas....Ready, set, go!!

Snow!

Sage was ready to play - she kept her goggles on the whole time:)

I can't get up!

Hallelujah!!  My kids actually love playing in the snow!  No more taking 20 minutes to get their snow clothes on, only to have them play outside for a whole 5 minutes.  They played in the snow for hours last weekend.  Hooray!  Now we are set to really enjoy the winter:)

ps - We do have other kids besides Sage.  Guess we only got pics of her this time though.

I Choose Hope!

I just finished watching Zack's third grade program.  I found myself getting emotional through a lot of it.  How embarrassing.  In my defense, the program was all about America and what a great country we are.  It was soothing to my soul after the turmoil of this week.  How can you not have hope when you see a hundred little kids singing as loud as they can about our great country?  Sometimes I think we need to be reminded of what our country is about.  Of what our flag really means.  Of all of the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our country.  I would also like to state that I was not the only emotional person in the audience.  I think a lot of people were touched, and reminded, of what's really important in our country.

So I'm choosing to have hope.  I admit that my heart sinks when I think about the elections and how things turned out.  I know it doesn't bode well for our country.  But I've been surprised at how many people seem so willing to write our country off.  Its over.  We're doomed.  That seems to be what everyone's saying.  But I'm not ready to say that yet.  Now, I'm realistic.  I'm not denying that there are hard days ahead.  That is a known thing.  But I also realize that there are still a lot of really great people in our country.  And I have hope that when its time, all of those great people will stand together and fight for our freedoms.  I have hope for my kids' future.  I'm not writing everything off to doom and gloom yet.  Probably not ever.  Because I know that even though its going to get really hard, and is really hard, in the end the good will win.  This time the bad folks are going to get kicked out on their rears!  So I'm to teach my kids the best I can in my house.  I'm going to teach them pride for their country.  And I'm going to teach them what our country is really about. 

p.s. Sorry to get on my soapbox.  Guess if I'm going to do it I might as well do it here.

p.p.s.  I did take pics of Zack, they're still on the camera and will come later...