From Our Neighbor To You

Some people like to decorate for the holidays. Our neighbor's don't decorate; they do something entirely different. Thanksgiving is pretty mild compared to Halloween and especially Christmas. We often refer to our neighbor's house as "the house that Christmas threw-up on." So, here are a few Thanksgiving pictures. Our neighbor's would like to join Ammon and Me in wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving Ammon and I are thankful for many things. We are thankful for our home, our dogs, our vehicles, our jobs, and many other worldly things. We are also grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the opportunity it gives us to become more like Christ and to work toward being with our Heavenly Father forever. We are thankful for eternal families and the fact that we will be together forever. I like to tell Ammon that just MAYBE that will be long enough for us to enjoy one another. We are so thankful for both of our families and all of our great friends. Thank you for your love and support throughout the years. Happy Thanksgiving!

Doggy Number Two

We are nearly "officially" one of "those" families. For my birthday (which happens to be 2 weeks from now) Ammon agreed to get me...another dog! I felt like Sandy was probably lonely from all of her time alone and wanted a companion for her. Plus, I really like the feeling of rescuing a dog from the shelter. I know, I know, it's time to have kids.

Meet Charlie! He is our newest addition. He is great. He's house trained (but doesn't come inside, that's why we are only "nearly" one of those families), he love, love, loves to play fetch, and he can jump our fence without any thought at all, and has taught Sandy how to do the same. The joys.

Charlie

They look a lot alike. They are both a pretty good mix of things, but they both have Australian Shepherd and Border Collie in them. We are pretty sure that Charlie has some German Shorthair as well.

Sandy and Charlie. Charlie struggles with staying sat down.

Charlie (he has a lot more white on him than Sandy)

Charlie and Sandy.

Sister and brother.

Sandy, up close and personal.

A rare moment for Charlie, he's sitting!

Charlie, waiting for me to throw the ball. He loves to fetch.

Hello Charlie and welcome to the family.

I guess we are officially insane. Two dogs! But, there are very few people in our neighborhood with fewer than four dogs, so I guess we felt we had to fit in. True, one of our dogs is the size of 8 of theirs, but what can I say? We like big dogs that can actually play and have fun with us. We are excited to have two overly excited little friends to join our family. We went from no pets to two dogs, two frogs, and sixteen fish. Whew!

Better Than Yours

I realize that in this world not just one type of person is right for everyone. But I am amazed at just how perfect my husband's type is for me. I still sit in awe at the fact that we made it through our awkward high school days, his 2 year mission, and all the drama I put us through. But here we are. Happy to have one another.

Yesterday morning was the type of day that is just too much. I'm sure the ladies reading have had these days. It was a day when every little thing added up and was weighing on me. All of my personal short comings, the fact that I need a haircut, the uncleanliness of my kitchen floor, all of that was getting me down. Plus, my body hurt (not out of the ordinary, but still not fun). Then I went to pull out the rolls I had prepared for our staff meeting. Unfortunately, I had let them rise too much and had a sheet of nasty looking rolls. No big deal. I'll just pick some up on my way to work. I turned the burner on to heat up the soup and then planned to jump in the shower. The next thing I know, I can smell burnt soup. I had carefully prepared Chicken and Wild Rice soup the night before. It was perfect...the night before. I was so upset. Then, to send me over the edge, I looked out my front window where the scouts had placed a flag for Veteran's day. Sandy had shredded it! Not just a little either, the entire flag was a wreck. So, I called Ammon crying. He assured me that it would be okay to go pick up lunch and that we would worry about the flag when he got home. I skipped my shower, wrestled the flag away from Sandy, and made it to work with random food I had bought a half hour late.

Halfway through the day I got a call from Ammon, just checking in on me. I was still upset, but at least not crying. I went to my massage after work (which helped my physical stress) and then came home. I walked in to see the messy soup all cleaned up, the dishes done, and the floor swept. And then to top off the night, Ammon took me out to dinner so we wouldn't have to bother with cooking again. What a sweet heart. He knows exactly what I need when I need it. We spent the rest of the night watching funny movies on YouTube together, laughing and talking. I'm not saying that mine is better than yours. I'm just saying that mine sure knows how to treat me. When I'm having a bad day, there are only two people in this world that can fix it, Mom and Ammon. Thank you Ammon for all that you do for me. I'd be a wreck without you.

Christmas Blues

In my family it is a tradition to put up the Christmas tree on December 1st (my birthday). Up until that day we really don't listen to Christmas music or break out any decorations for Christmas. We especially don't do any of that before Thanksgiving! 

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love to see the leaves fall. I love the first and second and third snowfall of the year. I love the way it smells. I love baking. I love the feelings in the air. My family always looked forward to Halloween with great anticipation. It started off the holidays for us. Halloween was my dad's holiday. He would get so into it with us kids. It was a blast to have a chance to do some celebrating and have some fun with my dad. 

Than came Thanksgiving. When we were young we would go up to my grandparents cabin in Oregon. We would celebrate Thanksgiving and then have a mini Christmas party the next day. It was wonderful to spend four days singing AC/DC and choreographing dances to go along with the songs. 

We would come home just in time to decorate for Christmas and celebrate my birthday. The entire Fall season is sacred to us. Every Holiday gets its due. Every month has a new theme.

Well, I broke one of the rules. I have been listening to Christmas music! This year I want to skip Thanksgiving altogether and get on with Christmas. I think part of my enthusiasm is due to the fact that Ammon will finally be done with school, and we will be able to really enjoy our graduation. But I simply can't wait for December this year!

Is that wrong?

APH Conference, come and gone

For weeks I have been creating posters for the Association of Personal Historians' big conference this last weekend in Salt Lake. You  may be saying, "What is the APH?" This is an association of people that have set out to preserve the life stories and family histories of people all over the world. What a cool experience to be among other people who share my passion. 

As many of you know, I have been trying to start my own business: Stories You Share. I interviewed my Grandma once before she passed away. Since then I have thought of about a million questions that I will have to wait until the next life to ask her. And it can't be recorded on Earth. I want to save other people from having that experience. 

I now have a few new ideas for products that I hope to come out with this year. So, stay posted for details on those soon. As of right now, here are some pictures of the things I have been able to create.

I actually didn't make this. These were the cool tote bags we got at conference.

Copies of the Memory books that I have created.

The book in the middle is one that I created for a project at school, but it has a lot of good examples of what I do.

Pages from my book: An Open Book. I helped design these pages with another girl. I also wrote and edited many of the pieces:

This picture is part of my grandma's book. It is out of order.

Here is the book I helped create for my father-in-law's 60th birthday. The memories were written by his wife, children, and grandchildren. They were collected by my sister-in-law, Thelma, and then I organized them in the book (after Thelma put them in chronological order):

These are pictures of my Grandmother's book. I just barely picked this up from the press three days ago. It represents 2 years of work. It is a relief to have the finished product finally:

Just so you know, not all the books have to have a red cover, I just thought it was nice, so that's what we got for these last two.

Here are a couple of the 16 posters that I designed and had printed for the conference:



Thank you APH for all the inspiration that you have given me. I finally feel like I know where to start and am excited for next year's conference when I will have new products to share with other members, and with the general public.