My Kitchen Helper

About a month or two ago, Jared decided to hire someone to help me with the housework. Only there is a slight problem… my new help is so so SO cute that I can’t stop watching him! It more than DOUBLES the time it would take me to do it on my own, but I just don’t mind. When he smiles at me, my heart melts. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I love him so much that I don’t even mind when he helpfully takes every dirty dish OUT of the dishwasher, to inspect it, as I put it there. He is so dashing that I don’t bat an eye when he impressively cleans out the refrigerator and throws all of its contents on the ground, requiring a 15 minute pick-up and occasionally cracking glass condiment bottles. He is so charming that I can only smile dreamily as I watch him re-wash my clean glass patio doors with his tongue, creating a blurry mess that I then have to re-clean. And I love the fun game that he creates for me, where he takes every kitchen tool/appliance/utensil that he can carry and carefully organizes them for me. In fact, he organizes so well that I often can no longer find them, even after several days of searching. Ahh, I am smitten. He is by far, the BEST housekeeper that I have ever had. I would recommend him to others but I’m afraid I’ve hired him full time for… well forever. My life is good.

First Snow Of The Year

A few weeks ago we got the first snow of the year. It started out of nowhere and kept on coming. It all melted by the end of the day of course lol, but I took Sammy outside to have fun. He was quite thrilled, just like his mommy!

On Hallows Eve….

What a fun Halloween! Our icy, frigid weather let up for a night and was just the perfect amount of warmth to let the kids stay out longer, and chill to keep the sweat off their brows during the workout that they experienced. We got to have Riley for this Halloween!!! Yay! We don’t usually get to have him when a holiday arises so this one was extra special.

We carved fabulous pumpkins, about which Riley said, “wow, we are REALLY good at this” lol. We all gutted, Jared drew the faces onto the pumpkins, and I carved them. It was a real team effort lol. We made a Halloween treat, Almond Roca Bars, that Riley said was “quite possibly the best thing I have ever tasted!” lol. We watched “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” and then wondered why we watched “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” lol It is a classic cartoon that teaches kids way too many fun “names” to call each other, like “stupid”, “idiot”, and “blockhead.” Which we get to hear constantly all throughout the film. Plus they just yell at each other the whole time, mercilessly tease each other, and are really mean. I don’t think that will be one that we watch with our kids every year lol.

We allowed the kids to steal the spotlight and look fabulous! Riley dressed up as Shaggy and I was completely SHOCKED at how many people knew who he was lol. Sammy was a gorilla and made me laugh every time I looked at his tiny hiney. We snagged a family picture and in it, you can see Sammy going crazy over the blinking, red, self-timer light on my camera lol.

Sammy didn’t exactly go “trick-or-treating” per say, but he did get dressed up and we joined his cousin Max for a walk to grandma’s which resulted in a dum dum sucker. I think Sammy thought he had died and gone to heaven lol. He had it in his hand (wrapper still on) and I turned around, took a couple of steps so that I could get a picture, and he had already put it in his mouth and sucked completely THROUGH the wrapper lol. After he tasted “sucker” it was all over lol. He refused to look at me for any pictures or pay attention to absolutely anyone around him. When he sucked the sucker right off the stick, he cried and cried that I wouldn’t let him keep sucking on the paper. It was so cute. So after a quick 45 minute neighborhood jaunt, Sammy and I came home, I peeled off his now-soaked-with-drool-from-his-sucker costume, and I snuggled him to sleep while dad took the first shift and set out with Riley on the longest Halloween night of our life. They took our neighborhood by storm and came back after a respectable 2 hour mission, only so that us “parents” could swap places and then go back out for another 2 hours lol. Riley came back with more candy than I have EVER seen a child get in one night. His bag must have weighed 25 pounds! You couldn’t wipe the grin off his face for a million bucks. He was beyond proud. But instead of racing home to “dig in”, he raced home to “count” his candy lol. Such a great kid we have! He carefully counted for what seemed like hours and then proudly proclaimed that he had a total of 275! Halloween sure is fun when you have kids.

Scarecrow Festival

Last week we checked out the Scarecrow Festival at Cornbelly’s (Thanksgiving Point) and it was so much fun! Definately recommend worthy. All sorts of activities for kids and ample carnival food for the dads.

They had what was called “the giant pillow” that all the kids could jump on. Riley and dad took their turn and then Sammy wanted to join them so dad took him up there as well. He smiled cautiously the whole time but then when dad brought him back to me, he immediately threw up all over himself and me lol. Poor little guy.

We got to watch piglet races, baby goat races, fall down slides with our legs crossed lol (we all laughed really hard that Riley was crossing his legs the whole way down), find our way through the corn maze, eat the biggest hot dogs I have ever seen in my life (I opted out of that one ), and take a hayride out to find the perfect halloween pumpkins that we could take home with us. All in all, a great day! I just LOVE fall!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Our little Sammy just didn’t want to cooperate for a family photo. We took a couple with him wailing in them and then took a couple without him. So just imagine a happy Sammy curled up on dad’s lap and there you go! Presto: Family Christmas Photo 2008! lol We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas this year, full of heart warming memories and wonderful opportunities to serve and love those around you. xo

Called To Serve

I had to dedicate a quick post this Christmas season to two of our favorite missionaries. My brother, Elder Luke Ellison, currently serving in Goiania, Brazil; and my sister, Hermana Tara Ellison, currently serving in Antofagasta, Chile. We are so proud of both of them. Jared and I both are blessed with such wonderful families. I am so proud of each member of my family for different reasons but that is for another post, another day. For now, I want to share with you a powerful story that brought tears to my eyes and was a needed reminder that we are not alone.

My sister Tara is nearing the end of her amazing mission experience as she prepares to come home in January of 2009. Luke however, is just beginning his journey. He just entered the MTC at the end of September. The MTC that Luke was sent to, was in the foreign land of Brazil so he didn’t have the 3 months of foreign language prep that most have under their belt before entering the lands where they will be serving. He was just dropped right in, as green as they get. Luke struggled with the decision to serve a mission but once he made up his mind, he was fully committed and impressed all of us with his unwavering dedication to preparing for this calling. The day came when Luke would be dropped off at the airport to begin his 2 year service. He was beyond excited despite the million hour flight with no TV. Once he landed and his new surroundings sunk in though… he was completely shell-shocked. Scared in the very essence of the word. His first email home came a week later as he shared a dream that he had had after praying for help.

“I dreamt that I was a soldier. It was a dark night and I was sitting with my men around the campfire, surrounded by our tents. There was one man who was standing guard in the tower above us. All of the sudden the man in the tower cries out that the enemy is coming. I leap to my feet and quickly start dressing myself in my battle armor but none of my men pay any heed to the watchman. I rush forward alone to face the enemy and then I stop, terrified. There is a wave of black rushing towards me. I am going to fight alone, and I am going to die. I know this, but I will do it anyways. Just then I feel a hand on my shoulder. As I turn around, my fear disappears. It is a Soldier of God. He has a Sword of Fire and a Shield of Light. He is so bright that I can’t make out his face. Then I see them. The legions of heaven are lined up behind me. I am filled with the spirit of God. As I turn forward, my fear is nonexistent as we rush the adversary forces head on.”

Luke added to his account that every time he remembers that dream, he feels the spirit so strongly, his eyes fill with tears, and he knows he is there for a purpose. He says, “With God on my side, it is impossible for me to fail.” 

What a great message for us all.