Movie Night

Last Thursday several girls who live on (and right by) our street decided we should go to the movies. This is the second time Krista has organized this, and it was so much fun. Thanks Krista! The first time we went we saw Twilight, and this past Thurday we saw Bride Wars. There were a few girls missing the second time due to morning sickness (Tiff) or just plain exhaustion (Sarah), but we hope they will be able to make it next time... there better be a next time.... :-)

Jen, Whitney, Krista, Paula, Sheramie

Jen, Whitney, Krista, Paula, Me

The Eyebrow Experience

My friend Selena is one of the most beautiful people I know, and she was telling me that part of her beauty regimen is dying her eyebrows. We blondies usually have pale skin and light eyebrows, so we get washed out pretty easily. So, Selina offered to dye and shape my eyebrows for me. I have to say that even though I trusted Selena (her brows are amazing), I was pretty freaked out when I looked in the mirror and saw this:
Sorry for the bitter look, Selena thought it would make a more dramatic shot for blog posting purposes ;-) Anyway, you can see why I was concerned. Selena, being the good friend that she is, assured me that when I washed the dye off, it would look great. So, I relaxed a bit. A few minutes later, it was time to wash the dye off. She gave me two cotton balls and told me to start scrubbing and rinsing. As soon as I was done, I looked in the mirror again, and to my absolute horror, I saw this:

Again, I apologize for the silly expression, but this was the best reenactment of the moment I saw my eyebrows that I could create for a more accurate depiction of the moment. Luckily, Selena is a compassionate person, and continued her attempts to keep me calm by explaining that she had a "stain remover" that would remove the dye left on my skin that was making me feel a bit too much like Groucho Marx.

I decided it was best to trust Selena, and hold off on the complete meltdown until she tried the stain remover. Selena got out a Q-tip and the solution, and began scrubbing my brows as hard as she could. While she was doing this she was assuring me that it was working, and that I would love the final result. So as soon as she was finished I held my breath, looked in the mirror, and saw this:
Well, almost. This is what I looked like after I hugged and thanked Selena (with much relief and excitement), and put on my make-up. Now all I have to do is find a good self tanner to complete the effect. I am pretty excited, I am a little tired of the albino look. If anyone has any recommendations for a non streaky, non orange self tanner, please share!

Christmas and Stuff

I have been so busy/ tired lately that I havent posted in a while, and I have so much I want to post. I think I will wait on some of it for a while. Here is what I have time to share now...

Christmas was really great. We spent it at Aunt Kimmie's house with Aunt Jen and Uncle Craig and all our fun cousins. Even Grammy and Grandpa were there!

Since we were snowed in on Traverse Mtn, we decided to invite Eve and her family to spend the afternoon with us. Since they are our neighbors, we figured they were snowed in too and might like some company. Because of all the snow, several family members were unable to make it, so we had plenty of food to share with their family. This photo is of the two of us making our ugliest faces!

Aunt Jen and Nyah on Christmas Day. I just really like this picture, it is so sweet.

Zane recently started basketball, and he is on the Cougars (I think). He is number 34 just like Shaq! He made 3 baskets durring his last game, and had several rebounds. He loves to play, and we love to watch.

I Love December

Wow, I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. I love Christmas time, and I have really been trying to enjoy it this year. I feel so blessed to know that Jesus is my Savior, and that in him I can be forgiven and perfected. Today in Relief Society Sister Penny (I can't remember her last name for the life of me!!!) was reminding us not to just glorify Christ, but to emulate Him. What a wonderful reminder! I should not just remember and praise Him, but I should try to pattern my life after His.

There are so many family and friends that have served us and loved us these past several months. Some have helped us with a few bills ( my medical bills have gotten a little out of hand), some have been good listeners, some have offered advice, some have even tried to help me with access to an E. Stim machine! Can you believe the generosity? Some of the sisters in my ward have even provided me a warm hug and comfort to my soul. As women, we all need that some times. I am so grateful for the love and generosity we have been shown. These people have reminded me how to be like Jesus.

... Okay, so obviously I didn't finish this post. Now Christmas has passed, but I still want post what I had written, along with a few photos of our December before Christmas. I will do a separate Christmas post in a few days. Love to you all!

Zane telling Santa that he has been good all year.

Nyah would only sit with Santa if I was with her.

By the tree.

Zane's Christmas program at Challenger School.

Zane and Ny after the program.

Me and the kids at Zane's program. Sadly, Jeff had to work and couldn't attend.

Zane's Statue if Liberty in the Hall at Challenger School.

The map where the Statue of Liberty is posted.

With Eve at Glenn Beck's Christmas Show. Thanks for the ticket, Jeff. It was the best Christmas present ever!

The Nativity at Temple Square. The kids loved the lights and the Nativity story.

Security or Love?

Jeff and I are having a little difference of opinion on something, so I figure we could settle this by getting the opinions of all the people reading this blog. Here's the question:

What is a woman's basic desire/ need from a man?

This would apply to women in general regardless of age, religion, or social status. Jeff and I agree that a man's basic desire is sex, so there is no disagreement there. Here are the arguments:

Jeff: A woman's most basic desire is security. She wants to make sure that her man will provide a good life for her. It is not sex, admiration, love, appreciation, or any other thing. Those things, although important, are secondary to security. Most women will try to deny it, but if they take a real good look at themselves, security is #1. This is not a bad thing, it is an innate desire to help women chose a mate that will be able to provide for her children, and make it possible for the mother to spend her time caring for and nurturing the children. He doesn't think all women are gold diggers, he thinks they have this desire for the purpose of creating a family that thrives.

Tara: A woman's most basic desire is love and adoration. I think that when a woman is dreaming about her future mate she thinks of a man that is totally in love with her. She dreams of a man who loves her and only her, and would be willing to sacrifice anything reasonable to make her happy. This doesn't mean that she would actually ask him to do that, she just wants a man who adores her enough to be willing to. A woman wants a man who thinks good thoughts about her, and only has nice things to say about her when he is talking to family or friends. She wants a man who loves her as much or more than she loves him, and she would take that above being secure any day of the week. The way I see it, if your hubby is completely in love with you (and treats you as such) you would be willing to endure and work through any "security" issues there might be. In a truly loving relationship, trials are much easier to fight through together.

We both agree that there are a few exceptions to the rule, such as gold diggers, or completely immature nit wits, but we are sticking by our arguments as a generality.

So, what's your opinion? Who is right, or are we both wrong? I am excited to hear what you have to say!

November

This month has had it's ups and downs, but mostly ups. The kids got to build their first snowman ever, and it was awesome. Jeff and I tried to make it as fun and cool as possible for the kids, so of course we broke out the Halloween candy and winter accessories to jazz things up a little. I have to admit that I don't have any solid memories of making a snowman, so this felt like a first for me as well. This was several weeks ago now, and we haven't had any snowfall since, but the kids are anxiously awaiting its arrival so they can build another one.

Later in the month my beautiful grandmother passed away at 94. I love her with every fiber of my being, and I feel so blessed that she was in my life. I am sure that many of my good qualities were planted and nurtured by her over the years. I felt a tiny bit of sadness at her passing, but honestly it was mostly joy. She lived a full and vibrant life, and was surely missing her husband of seventy some-odd years. My sweet grandmother suffered from Alzheimer's at least 10 years of her life, and I have been missing her all that time. I knew she was in there, but it was difficult to reach the real her. She must be thrilled to be rid of her body that was filled with restrictions, and be free to be herself once again. I am sure she will love getting her body back in it's perfected state. I'm sure we all will. I will miss her until we meet again.



The kids were so excited that Christmas is coming that they begged to put the tree up early. So Jeff went to the garage and pulled out our cool fake tree, and all the decorations to go with it, and we turned it into a two night event. I will post pics of the tree later on, but here is a couple shots of the kids playing in the tree box. They loved that box so much that we are debating wrapping up several different empty boxes and giving those to the kids for Christmas... hee, hee...

Thanksgiving was such a peaceful holiday. Judy made a delicious dinner as always, and the company was very pleasant. I made pumpkin pie and a real cheesecake (I had to bake it and everything!) for the first time by myself. I am an okay cook, but I have never baked a pie before, and it was pretty fun. I think I will try that more often.

Thanksgiving day was also our 9th anniversary, so Jeff took me to see the movie of MY choice, which was Twilight. I thought it was so sweet that he was so willing to see a chick flick with me, no questiions asked. We usually try to compromise and see a movie that we both are interested in, but he insisted on giving me the movie of my choice. After 9 years he is still as sweet as ever.

Zane's Artwork

I have been such a slacker about posting, and I have so much to post, but since I haven't loaded my new pics from my camera yet, I thought it might be fun to post a little bit of Zane's artwork. He loves to draw and paint, and I think he is pretty darn good at it.

Bat

Octopus
Dolphin

Santa Maria

Horse

T-Rex

The horse and the T-Rex were painted on the same day, and I like to think of them as a set.

The Praying Mantis is my very favorite.

I know I am his mother, but I think it is brilliant.

There are quite a few other pieces that I have put away and have not scanned yet, but I will scan a few other good ones later. Nyah loves to paint and color with Zane, but so far it is pretty much circles and lines. I will have to post a few of hers too so she can see her creations on the computer as well. I think her natural gift of art is dance. She has natural rythem, and can twirl and move with ease. We put on music just about every day and let the kids get their groove on. Jeff says poor Zane has inherited his dad's rythem. I wouldn't know since I have NEVER seen Jeff dance in the 10 years I have known him (other than basic slow dancing, of course). Anyway, he has a pretty cool way of busting a move too, and you can tell that he really gets into it. It's pretty funny to watch.

I love my kids, they bring Jeff and I so many smiles every day.