Winter Fun

Winter is not my favorite time of the year, but doing some winter activities definitely makes it more enjoyable. In fact, I've decided it's necessary to do some kind of winter sport to keep your sanity through our long winters.

Jake and I used our Warren Miller passes to ski at the Canyons on Monday. Tracy was super nice to come watch our kids so we could play. It was so much fun. Pretty much my favorite ski day ever. The snow wasn't awesome, but the sun was shining. For me a sunny ski day is a perfect ski day. Jake and I have both transitioned from snow boarding to skiing. I'm really liking skiing. Two feet facing forward is a good thing I think. I'm a solid blue skier, and totally happy with that. I'm pretty sure I don't care to ever do any blacks. That might change when my kids and husband take off on the blacks and leave me alone. Zack's been taking ski lessons this year and loving it. Best thing we ever did. He's totally in control now and really enjoying it. Love it. Hopefully all of our kids will grow up skiing. How can they not when we live so close to like 5 different ski resorts?

We also took the kids out to the lake to walk on the ice. They thought it was pretty cool. So did I. Very cold though. I don't understand fishing on a beautiful sunny day. Ice fishing I'll never understand.

How many of you can drive 5 minutes and walk on top of a lake? Yet another reason to live in Midway. If you come visit maybe we'll take you out too:)

The Bingham-Spjutes!

Our family keeps growing and growing. Its great. The more the merrier right? My dad got remarried to Kathy Bingham last Saturday. I'm so excited for him to not come home to an empty house with hot dogs for dinner every night. This will be a good thing.

Jake's mom is also remarried. The grand total between Jake and I is: 2 parents, 2 step-parents (they're not evil as portrayed in movies by the way), 9 siblings and siblings-in-law, 20 step-siblings and siblings-in-law, 8 nieces and nephews, and something like 25 step-nieces and nephews. I think that totals like 66 in all. Holy cow. I'm still figuring out names. I'm kind of old so my brain doesn't work like it used to. Our poor kids I think just figure they're related to about everyone. They don't question us when we tell them they're related to someone, they just nod and smile.

Anyway, the wedding was great. They were married for time in the Salt Lake Temple, and the sealer did a great job. Then we did pictures and had some yummy food. It was a good day. Somewhat bitter sweet, but mostly sweet. My dad and Kathy have been in Hawaii for the last week. I'm hoping my dad will like it so much that he'll want to take us all some day. Well, that would have to be after he wins on Minute to Win It (I was going to say the lottery but there is zero chance of that happening...and it made me smile to picture my dad on minute to win it).

Here are some pictures of the grand event. Ok, mostly they're pictures of us waiting for Dad and Kathy. I dropped the ball on getting actual pictures of the happy couple... Maybe I'll steal some from Mel's blog:)

PS At the dinner Kate told me that she thinks our new grandma is really nice. So my kids give her two thumbs up!

Christmas, Finally

Finally putting something on here about Christmas. Better late than never, or something like that. Christmas was good. We had fun. The kids of course loved it. Good times. Can you tell I'm lazy with this post? I can't figure out how to do the pics the way my sister told me. So here they are. The one of Zack in jungle attire is our nativity reenactment. Got to love our costumes. The rest are Christmas morning. I love having kids at Christmas. They make it so much fun.

525,600 Minutes

One year without Mom. About 525,600 minutes. That song has been going through my head all day. Last year I didn't know how I would make it. I couldn't imagine life without Mom. Here I am a year later, amazed that I made it this far.

I'm reminded again that I can do hard things. However, I can't do hard things on my own. This year has been one of those hard things I've done, but I definitely didn't make it this far without help. I've felt my mom close by to pick me up. I know she's there often. What I wouldn't give to have celestial eyes for a day. I've had Jake and my kids to help me smile. Poor Jake who's had to put up with random moments of sadness and tears. He's done it with great compassion. I've had my dad to help. He's trying so hard to fill the hole my mom left, and he's doing a pretty good job if I do say so myself. I've had my sisters and brother. We've managed to pull together and not apart when things have gotten tough. Family is everything. And last, but certainly not least, I've had my Savior by my side along with the assurance that because of Him my family will be together again. I don't believe I could have made it this far without that hope.

So I look back at this last year with relief that I made it this far, and gratitude for what I've learned and the people who have helped me get here. I CAN do hard things...but not on my own.

Love you Mom!

Oh Christmas Tree?

We got a permit to cut down our own Christmas tree this year. We did it a couple of years ago and it was pretty fun. This year was a little different though with all of the snow. Seeing as we live in Midway you'd think we'd know how to be prepared in the snow. Apparently we still have a lot to learn.

Sage was super excited


Because of all the snow we couldn't just drive right up to the trees. We drove in as far as we could and then ended up walking in about a mile. We at least were all in our snow clothes. We got that part right. But Jake was all excited to take his big chainsaw that he got this year. Chopping down a tree the manly way. So he carried the chain saw and I carried Sage on my shoulders. I mean, why would we bring a sled to get a Christmas tree? Zack and Kate were troopers walking, but of course Kate complained the whole way. She should have been born into a family that does nothing but watch movies.

Redneck Convention


About a mile in we came upon a whole bunch of trucks and people. Why? Because some genius guy decided to pull his huge snowmobile trailer all the way in and of course it was stuck. They had like three trucks trying to get it out. Explain to me why, if you have snowmobiles, you wouldn't park outside the snow-packed road and ride your snowmobiles in. Seriously. So I stopped to watch all the fun with Kate and Sage and sent Jake and Zack to get the tree. When they came back I thought to myself that the tree didn't look very big. I hoped it would look bigger in the house. Probably good it wasn't any bigger because Jake carried the tree and the chainsaw out while I again carried Sage on my shoulders. Another example of when a sled would have come in handy. I should have worried more about the size of the tree when on the way home I heard all about some wild hen thing they saw and would have loved to shoot. What probably happened: They followed the bird around for a while and then remembered that they still needed a tree. Didn't look at any trees but the one right in front of them because they were still mostly focused on super cool bird. Thus, the small tree.

Angel Kate


Boys with super small tree


We got the tree home and into the house. Unfortunately, the tree doesn't look any bigger in the house. It's about 6 feet tall with pretty sparse branches in a room with a big vaulted ceiling. Can you say Charlie Brown? As a further example of the size; two strands of lights was plenty to cover the tree. The poor branches are sagging with the weight of the ornaments. Might I add that it's a good thing we had the chainsaw to cut through that one-inch trunk. That would have been quite the workout.

Moral of this story: Take a sled when getting a Christmas tree. And most importantly, don't let boys pick out the tree.

Memories

I've been remembering a lot lately. The holidays do that to you I think. I've decided that the first year after you lose someone is the hardest. I mean, they're all hard, but especially that first year. I'm constantly thinking, "last year at this time...". I've been doing that a lot this year about my mom. It's still hard to believe she's gone. Lately though, the memories of last year are getting harder. This is when she started doing worse. What a blessing and miracle that she did so well for so long. When she started getting more sick, it got bad really fast. Again, I'm so grateful that the hard part was over so quickly so that she didn't have to suffer. But at the same time, it's a bit mind boggling how fast it happened. So now the memories I conjure up from a year ago are getting harder. I don't really want to remember them, but I think they're forever etched in my mind.

Now I think about this holiday season and I have to go through it without Mom. Crappy. What are the holidays without the one's you love, and two of the ones I love aren't here? Our family has some great traditions on Christmas Eve. I know Mom and Linz will be there. But I want to see and talk to them, not just feel them.

I've been thinking about Linz lately and how much it stinks that my kids don't get to play with her. She was always so much fun. Kate's hair reminds me of Linz's. Straight and beautiful golden. We always called Linz's hair her "one true beauty" (Little Women). I hope Kate's stays this way. Kate's also started saying 'oo-da-la-lee' all the time. I have no idea how she got it, but Linz used to say it all the time. I like to think that Linz whispered it in her ear.

So I'm moving forward, I really am, this holiday season. Ready and excited to create new memories with my family, but missing the family that's not here. I'm again reminded of the phrase President Monson quotes frequently:

"Memories are June roses in the December of our lives."

I'm especially grateful for those June roses this year.

Happy Holidays Mom and Linz!

It Is Done!

Just call me Martha Stewart. Or something like that. I actually sewed something. For reals. I know, it was months ago that I posted about figuring out how to thread my machine. Baby steps right? I finally took the leap, and actually made something. A quilt. A rag quilt. Probably the easiest kind of quilt to make. See? There is a method to my madness.

First I went to my friend Lisa for some starter tips. Thanks to her I had the courage to move forward. Then I went to the fabric store, with my kids. This was a momentous occasion. I am scarred from memories of fabric stores when I was little. Now I'm doing it to my kids. The circle of cruelty continues. Anyway, let's just say that I felt a little out of place in the fabric store. So did not know what I was doing. But I pretended.

I thought cutting the fabric out would be easy. Well, for most people it probably is. Not for me. I have issues, I know. Then I made my square sandwiches (as I like to call them). It took me one full hour to sew my first diagonal line. In spite of Lisa's best efforts to teach me, I for the life of me couldn't figure it out again. Once I got that first line done things moved a lot faster.

So now it's done. My first ever sewing project. I for reals have never sewed anything in my life. I think my mom just figured I was a lost cause. I am. The quilt is for Kate and Sage. No way am I going to give away my first quilt. Don't look at it too closely. The corners are so not lined up. How in the world do you do that anyway? There are too many mistakes in it to count. But there was no way I was going to undo that much sewing. Kate and Sage think its great.

Will there be other projects? I believe so. I really enjoyed making something all on my own. The frustration came in not knowing what I was doing and not being able to make it look the way I wanted. Hopefully this will come eventually. Years probably.

There were so many times I wished my mom was around to help. I'm quite sure she got a good laugh. I'm also sure she shook her head in amazement that I was actually sewing (I use the term loosely). Miracles do happen!