New Year, New Word

I know, I know, the anticipation has been killing you. Here we are almost 1/12 into 2009 and I have not yet revealed my "word". However, before we can talk about 2009, we must first take a look back at 2008. Just in case you forgot, my word for 2008 was "grow". I really wanted to focus on spiritual, mental and emotional growth.

Did I accomplish my goal? Well, I went back to school, so I think I can cross off mental growth. Spiritual growth? I think so. Because of my calling as a RS teacher, I was forced to study. Definitely a good thing. Now I am the primary chorister (weird I know), which does not at all require the same type of study and preparation. I used to study the scriptures, Ensigns, and various churchy books. Nowadays I am trying to figure out the difference between 2/4 and 4/4, practicing my "head, shoulders, knees, and toes", and cutting out paper fish. Oh boy! And emotional growth? Who knows. I'm a woman, I'm emotional.

In reality, "grow" is more of a lifetime goal. I hope to always be learning something new, reading a good book, studying, developing a stronger testimony, and maybe even learning how to control those dang hormones.

Okay, now the moment you've been waiting for:



I actually decided on this word way back in November '08 (a lifetime ago). And my main reason for choosing the word was because I really want to build up our food storage and emergency essentials. However, the more I thought about it, the more areas I found it to apply to my life. "Prepare" involves:

• finances (our savings needs a boost, and so do my kids' college funds)
  
• schooling (no room for procrastination there)
  
• my new calling (I am starting from scratch and I have loads to do)
  
• being on time (that's a toughy for me, but I am usually late because I didn't prepare well enough)
• organization (I think the two go hand-in-hand)
  
• motherhood (so much to teach and prepare my kids for in this world)

So, yes, it is a much bigger word than I had originally thought. I think I may have bit off more than I can chew. But, I'm gonna try my darned hardest. Plus: "If ye are prepared ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30), and it seems like there is an awful a lot of "fear" happening these days.

13-0

I really can't write about January without mentioning the Utes AMAZING undefeated season. Even if you bleed blue (which just seem so unnatural to me), you have to admit that the Utes had an impressive, outstanding, national-champion-worthy season. Our neighbor said he could hear Brian's screams from his house - good thing he's a Ute fan too ;0). After the BIG and somewhat unexpected win, Brian jumped in "old blue", rolled the windows down, and drove around the neighborhood honking his horn and waving his U flag. Then he came home and lit some fireworks. With a 31-17 victory over Alabama, there was definitely reason to celebrate. GO UTES!!!

Holiday Wrap-Up

I am determined to caught up with my blog this week...we'll see if I fail or succeed. First things first, I need to start where I left off and briefly recap the remainder of our 2008 holiday season. Here it goes...

*We met up with some friends at Thanksgiving Point and took the kids through the lights display.

*We had our annual grandkid party. Grandpa and Grandmom provided a yummy dinner, Grandpa read the kids a story, we decorated gingerbread houses, and all the kids got a new pair of jammies.

*Brian and I went to our first Neck & Nog party. We lucked out and borrowed the sweaters that Mindy and Marty used the week before. Thanks to Mindy's grand creations, we won us a cheese ball - for being cheese balls of course ;0)

*The days before Christmas are kind of a blur - lots and lots of projects! But everything was finished by the 23rd and I spent Christmas Eve wrapping presents while having a Christmas-movie-marathon with the kids.

*In the midst of all the boxes, paper, ribbon and tape, Ashlyn managing to get ahold of a pair of scissors. Kids and scissors and never a good idea, and I have to say that I am usually so careful to keep them out of reach. But when you are in the middle of wrapping a gazillion presents...well, what can I say? I looked over to find Ashlyn giving herself a new "do". Apparently the hair in her eyes was getting in the way of her "movie marathon" and she decided to remedy the situation herself.

Ashlyn gave herself bangs and she actually did a really good job. I barely had to even them out. I didn't think I would like bangs on her, but I do. Brian is still unsure.

*On the night of Christmas Eve, we went to my parents for our annual fondue dinner...Mmmmm. I look forward to this meal every year. It is one of my all-time favorites.

*Christmas was wonderful, perfect really. Snow, snow and more snow!!! I LOVED it! I did feel bad for all the snow plows though. But, I can't remember the last time we had such a white Christmas. So beautiful. The "big" project of the year was this:

I had really wanted to get Ashlyn a kitchen but after looking online for hours, I couldn't find one that I liked that we could afford. So, I gave up on the idea. The very next day, a neighbor came by to see if we wanted a play kitchen that his father-in-law had built in the 70s. They were going to toss it, but decided to first see if we wanted to fix it up for Ashlyn. I was so excited!! We said yes and then brought it home and realized it was going to be quite the project. It definitely looked like it was built in the 70s and desperately needed some modernization. Brian sanded, stained, and painted. The old yellow formica counter top was replaced with tile. We added the shelf to hold baskets of food and hooks to hold pans and utensils. We reused the faucet since it was still in great shape, but did replace the cupboard handles. I love the way it turned out. Brian did such a great job.

*Ashlyn and Trent got spoiled with presents from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Aunt Stacey made Ashlyn's hat and scarf - too cute! Trent got the puppy from Grandmom Lifferth - he LOVES it. Can ya tell?

*The week between Christmas and New Years was nice and relaxing. We breathed. It was great.

*Mindy and Marty hosted another fun New Years Eve party. We decided to have a "fry fest". Among lots of other non-fried foods, we had hot wings, potstickers, navajo tacos, scones, and rosettes (a deep-fried cookie covered in powdered sugar, yum!). It was delicious, but I think it definitely put us all in the mood to start diets the next day!

Well, there you have it. Thanks for reading. On to January '09 :)

Back By Popular Demand!

Okay. Not really. There has been no popular demand, no demand at all in fact. But, it has been almost an entire month since I last blogged, an entire month since I looked at any blogs, an entire month since I felt I had a moment of free time in which I could devote my attention to the blogging world.

I actually got on my google reader about three weeks ago and found that I had 71 new posts to view! Well, that scared me so bad that I just turned off my computer and didn't look back - until now. And I have to tell you, I actually enjoyed my vacation away from my computer. Alright, alright, so I didn't completely avoid my computer. I did get on occasionally to check my email, balance my check book, look up a recipe, etc. But, I did not blog. And, no, I have not gone private...yet. We'll get to that later.

For now, I just figured I'd let anyone who's interested to know that I am alive and well. Not only that, but I am happy. Life is good. Christmas was wonderful. School started again. And now we are getting back into a rountine. And so, I will be finding more time to blog - but where to begin? There is so much to say, so much has happened in a month. So, stick around. I'll do my best to catch you up to happenings of the Smiley household. And I will do my best to catch up with all of you, but I'm not making any promises. I just checked my reader again, it's up to 98! And that doesn't even count all you private folks. Oh boy! Maybe I should go back into hiding.

Crazy Busy

It's that time of year again. I am officially in my "crazy busy" phase of the holidays. I have a list of projects and activities that absolutely must happen before midnight Christmas Eve. That is less than 10 days from today - eight days to be exact!!! The holidays just wouldn't be the holidays if there wasn't so much to do. And somehow - even though it seems impossible right now - it will all get done, because it always does...somehow.

I wish I had more time to blog these days, because there has been a lot to blog about. I am going to try to briefly write about a few of the happenings in the Smiley world. Here it goes -

Thanks to Aaron, Brian and I were able to go to Body Worlds free of charge! It was awesome!!! I can't say enough about it. I would HIGHLY recommend going, you won't be disappointed. It is totally and completely worth the $22 - yes we would have paid if we hadn't been lucky enough to score free tickets. Go. Seriously, go.

The Utes STOMPED BYU with a 48-24 win!! WOOHOO! Great game. Great party.

Thanksgiving is hands down my #1 favorite day of the entire year. Why do I love this holiday so much you ask? Well, because it is a simple holiday. It is not commercialized like so many other holidays. You don't have to go to a bunch of Thanksgiving parties. You don't have to spend a lot of $. You don't have to buy costumes. You don't have to run around all day to different events. It is all about spending time with your family, eating good food, and counting your blessings. Plus, it smells fantastic! It was a great day and I have so much to be grateful for. I am truly blessed. Life is good. No, life is wonderful.

I finally went to see Twilight with my sister-in-law Stacey. We may have been the last Twilight fans to see the movie;) Thanks to all the negative reviews that I had heard/read before hand, I had very low expectations. Low expectations are great because you are never disappointed. Turns out, I loved it! The only negative thing I have to say - Edward. He's growing on me, but still. With all the "Edward" talk, the other characters have been overlooked. There were some pretty great picks, like Jacob - perfect! They nailed him. Mike Newton was a good pick too.

Karl & Paula hosted another great annual Lifferth family Christmas party. I love my family. The only problem with having such a large family is that I never get to visit with everyone - there are just too many bodies. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. Santa made a surprise visit - Ashlyn and Trent were not amused. Maybe next year.

We went to the Festival of Trees. It was crazy and crowded, but it was fun. My favorite part? The glass blown tree - beautiful.

I finished my first semester of school!! One down...many more to go. But the first step is always the hardest, and now that I have jumped in, I know that I can and WILL finish this time. I haven't ever before been as excited and dedicated to my schooling as I am at this point in my life - it makes me happy.

Brian and I decided that every year at Christmastime, we will take our kids to the movies and go all out with popcorn, drinks, candy, the works. So, we took Ashlyn (Trent opted out) to see Madagascar 2. We had the entire theatre to ourselves. Cute flick. Ashlyn had a great time. Mission accomplished.

We had our annual No-Kids-Allowed party with my parents and siblings. It was so incredibly quiet. So quiet in fact that Brian took the liberty of pounding on the piano keys to remind us how noisy it usually is with nine kids running around. We very much enjoyed the peaceful dinner and uninterupted games. It was great.

Brian and I also decided to take our little family out to dinner every year at Christmastime. This year we decided to go to the Mayan, which turned out to be a perfect choice. Ashlyn was enthraled with the atmosphere, she got a kick out of the divers, and she actually ate 3/4 of her dinner. Success! If you haven't been to the Mayan in awhile, they have changed the menu and show - both are an improvement.

And last but not least, we filled up our car last night. It was completely empty. I never imagined I'd see these numbers again. The picture speaks for itself -

Happy Holidays everyone!!

Backfired

I walked into the bathroom today to find Ashlyn rapidly unrolling the toilet paper. "Ashlyn! What are you doing?!" To which she replied, "Take a picture of me Mommy!" Crap.

Pretty Please?

Dear Professors,

I would like to be excused from taking my final exams. I have after all, gotten A's on all my exams and homework thus far. It seems only fair that I be rewarded for my good behavior and dedication. Couldn't you just take the average of my four previous exams? Please? Pretty please? I have a LOT to do before the 25th of this month and would hate to spend another week studying. Really.

Thank you for the consideration.

-Jamie