Top Ten of Christmas 2015!

10.   It was 70º and humid!
 Now I'm a Minnesota girl who actually doesn't mind a white Christmas, but, hey, if it's not snowy, then why not warm enough for short sleeves?   It was awesome! 

9.  I didn't cook!
We used to try to do a fancy meal either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but a few years ago, I followed the lead of my friend, Karen, and opted for simplicity and low stress.  Now we go out on Christmas Eve (this year it was Cheesecake Factory) and eat something easy on Christmas Day.  We still have a nice family dinner and our Christmas in Bethlehem dinner sometime during the break, but it's so much more enjoyable not doing it on Christmas!

8. We played games!
...and got a few new games, including a funny, weird game filled with lots of childish potty humor called Exploding Kittens.  

7. It was filled with gloriously wonderful music!
We have the best ward choir director EVER (no exaggeration) and are surrounded by exceptionally talented people.   The Christmas music was definitely one of the highlights of the season.

6.  Our Christmas devotional!
I copied these booklets filled with scriptures, music, and beautiful pictures from a friend several years ago and they're still one of my favorite elements of our Christmas traditions.

5.  Christmas card love!  
Not only did I have way too much fun writing our letter this year, but I am loving our full mailbox!    Stay tuned for a blogpost with  our card and letter soon (just in case you didn't get a copy in the mail)!

4.  Awesome Christmas pajamas!
When I bought them back in October, I had no idea that we would actually need short-sleeve pjs for Christmas, but as it turned out, it was serendipitously perfect!   And, as a bonus,  we looked cute in them, if I do say so myself.

3.  Exclamation marks!!!
I often have to hold myself back from punctuating every sentence with exclamation marks, but fun holidays, like Christmas, give me the perfect excuse to be unapologetically exclamatory!!!!!!!!  
!!

2.  Everyone was happy!
Last year we had some jealousy/disappointment amongst a couple of the kids, which was very discouraging to us on several levels.  This year, to our delight,  everyone was happy, grateful, and content.

1.  Having everyone home!
By far the best part about this Christmas is having all seven of us together.   Now that Cami lives across the country and Glen works long, crazy hours, I treasure these moments more than ever.   

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!   

Top Five Reasons to Not Visit Michigan

(from our trip 9/25-9/26)

5.  Better stop at the bank (or get out your EZ pass) before driving to Michigan.   The shortest way, by far, to get from DC to Michigan has toll roads galore.

4.  Where in the hand are you?    Want to impress a Michigander?   Ask where in the hand they are from.    I personally don't have a grasp of Michigan geography and though I randomly knew about the hand trick, thanks to my friend Kelly,  the one time I was asked where in the hand (by a non-Michigander clearly) where Ann Arbor was, I could only give a blank stare and plead ignorance.  

3.   They call the University of Michigan stadium,  "The Big House," but in my personal opinion, they should change the name  to  "The Averagely Large Stadium with the Most Uncomfortable Seating in America".    Seriously!   The bench seating is clearly designed for people who weigh approximately 75-lbs and have freakishly short legs.    On the bright side, though, the stadium did make for a great family snapshot!

2. Sure the campus is absolutely beautiful, but a little campus trash clean-up would go a long way in improving its appearance to outsiders.        I've been on a lot of college campuses in my life, but I have never, ever seen so much trash strewn everywhere as there on the University of Michigan campus.   Wadded under bushes, along the curb....off and on campus....it was unsightly and clearly more than just a game day phenomena.

1.  University of Michigan  totally shut down our football team.      There's nothing like sitting there completely decked out in your enemy gear, being surrounded by the home crowd, and having absolutely nothing to cheer about for an entire game!

Michigan-31  /  BYU-0

********************************

Things NOT to complain about:

The weather---it was absolutely perfect the whole time we were there!

The company---The Michigan fans were gracious and kind to us (most of them anyway) and we had plenty of company in our misery.

Not only did we run into the M, H, P, and N families from our ward/stake, but my brother Peter and nephew Davin came with us in our car, AND my dad and brother, Nate, flew in for the occasion!   

Though it didn't exactly turn out to be the grand weekend we'd planned...

It was great to spend time together as a family.   

And since it was Ellie and Davin's first time to Michigan (and meeting a BYU football player), we will still call it  a success!   

Go Cougars!   

Best and Worst Parts About Having a Broken Ankle by Ellie

THE BEST

1.  I got to experience my life-long dream of walking with crutches

 

2.  I finally have a good excuse to wear all my unmatching socks 

3.  Everyone helps me do things 

4.  People get to sign my cast

5.  My cast is pretty and matches some of my clothes

THE WORST

1.  Not being able to take a shower or play in the bath

2.  Sometimes my leg gets itchy

3.  My ankle still hurts

Roadshow Fun

So I've been talking a lot about the stress the roadshow has caused me lately, but not really so much about the fun of it.  Now that it's over I figured that it's only fitting that I write a more detailed blogpost all about it, so you can see (and I can remember) that it was well worth the effort to see the end results. 

A roadshow is a  conglomeration of several short performances each about 10-15 minutes long, where the 12-18-year-old youth from the individual wards (church congregations) within our stake put on a show.  The shows were all based on the theme from the Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"  We were encouraged  to use the thirteenth article of faith as a guide and make them wholesome (but not necessarily spiritual), praiseworthy, and fun! 

A roadshow director was in charge of each individual performance, but the youth were meant to do all of the performing and assist with the prep work, including helping to write the script, choreograph the dances, and paint the scenery. Although the youth were involved in the prep, there was still a significant amount for the adults to do as well.  Other adults helped the youth with costumes, choreography, constructing a set, planning the cast party, and gathering props.    My job was mostly to help corral the youth at the practices each week, to help the director (Sister M) with some of the details (printing individualized scripts for everyone, etc), and creating the paper program for the night.  I love paper projects like making programs, but I was a little intimidated by how to fit all the information, including the hundreds of performers' names all onto one sheet of paper and still have it look nice.   In the end I feel like it came together well in a tri-fold form that strongly resembled the sacrament meeting programs I made for several years. 

Never being much of a performer myself, I was a little surprised at how wrapped up I got in trying to help the individual youth take pride in their participation in the roadshow.  There was a good number of the youth (mostly boys) who would take any opportunity they could to bolt out of practice to the nearest basketball, but even still, somehow it all came together in the end. 

Here is the video our final performance.  It was the culmination of about 5-weeks of practice.  See Spencer as the Old Spice Guy at :45-1:35.  Emma whistles right at the end of that same scene and is in the front row (looking everywhere but at the audience) in some of the dances.  Cami is Miss Piggy right at the very end.  Ellie, who is obviously not quite old enough to be an official participant, but is always at practice with me, was so excited when the roadshow director said that she could participate.  You can see her as one of the animals in Spencer's scene and glimpses of her in each of the dances.  At the end of the performance she came bounding backstage to me (literally bounding) and shrieking about how excited she was that she'd been able to perform in "every single song!"  I sense a possible future thespian in the family!  :)

Although I am relieved that it is over, I love that it ended up being a fun experience for the whole family and hopefully for each of the youth as well.  To wrap up, I'll throw in a bunch of pictures and a list of the top ten things I enjoyed about participating in the roadshow! 

Top Ten Things about Participating in a Roadshow

10--Watching new friendships blossom between the youth.
9--Seeing fun new glimpses of their personalities.
8--Watching them help and encourage one another.
7--Watching a shy girl open up and give a performance her all.
6--Seeing how awesomely talented they all are in their own ways.
5--Getting a tiny glimpse at all the hard work it takes to perform on stage
4--Seeing how they embraced the new kid, including him in the production and in process helping him to feel part of the group
3--Hearing other people compliment your youth and their performance
2--Working hard towards a common goal and getting to enjoy the fruits of it at the end.
1--Getting to have fun together! 

***************************

I thought our roadshows were pretty awesome, but imagine my surprise when I saw this headline on the front page of the Washington Post today...

Seriously?  How rude of them to be so judgmental against a bunch of teenagers.

**********************************

 

*  The video and pictures of Spencer were taken by the Nielson family.  :)

Top Ten of this Week

Truth be told, it's been a rather long, tiring week. 

It's not that anything bad has happened...

it's more that I'm just sleep deprived and have a lot on my brain.  

My brain likes to vent in writing, so I just wrote a rambling post complaining about some of the annoying happenings of our week.  It was all ready to publish.

Then I decided that I didn't really want to depress anyone else anymore than I wanted to remind my future self how petty and grumpy I get when I don't sleep enough. 

So tonight, instead of complaining, I'm going all Pollyanna on you and playing the "Glad Game" instead.

I present to you the top ten glad happenings from this week!

10--Going to parent-teacher conferences for the younger kids and hearing about how not only are they doing well in school, but that they're also hard-working, respectful, and get along well with others.  Seriously, nothing makes me prouder! 

9--Made two awesome new recipes in a row (Creamy Mexican Chowder and BBQ Chicken and Potato Casserole)  Both will be appearing on Recipe Shoebox sometime in the next few weeks! 

8-- Got out of Costco with five happy kids (two of which were not my own) and a total of less than $200.   (see picture below)

7--My friend, Jenny, agreed to come to YW and teach us all how to make her delicious homemade caramel apples.  It was a fun night spent with the young women and I am happy to be bulking up on  chocolate/caramel before our family's upcoming fitness challenge.  (see item #1)

6--I took the kids on a trip to the zoo on one of the days off.  It was a bit chilly that day, but I loved having all the kids together for an outing as it rarely happens anymore.  (see picture)

5--A seven-year-old who still says cute things on an almost daily basis, especially since the rest of the kids seem to have outgrown that stage.   This week I loved hearing her pray for the people in "Yew Nork" and watching her bubble with excitement when I finally found a playdate for her.    She's had two of her best friends move away in the last few months and we've really struggled to help her find new playmates.   

4--realizing that I've got my sister, K, totally hooked on the Iphone/Ipad game, Scramble.  A take-off of Boggle, my family loves this game and is quite good at it (if I do say so myself).  It has been fun to see their family learn to enjoy it too.    (In case you're looking for a new challenger, our user name is:  wawadehut25) 

3--Spencer signed up to participate in winter track.  He mostly means his participation to be a means to get in shape for lacrosse, but it's his first foray back into sports since being sick and we're thrilled that he's healthy enough to participate! 

2--being a part of the amazing winter clothing drive for the people in New York and New Jersey.  Glen drove one of five trucks up there on Tuesday (they added one more truck at the last minute) and the people on the receiving end were so appreciative.   The coats and other outdoor winter clothing were already given to the Red Cross to distribute quickly before the winter storm hit. 

1--Learning that my sister is hosting a family fitness challenge starting next week.  Those months in the hospital, followed by the success of Cami's cupcake business this summer has not done kind things to my waistline.  We did a similar challenge a few years ago  (click on the link to see what it was all about) and loved how it focused not only on eating better and exercising more, but also includes spiritual fitness (like reading the scriptures and having FHE ).   I am very much looking forward to a little positive peer pressure to help whip me back into shape! 

at the zoo

Ellie can still get me to smile on even the grumpiest day

A couple of the  beautiful YW and their lovely caramel apple creations!

BBQ chicken potato casserole....delish!

Creamy Mexican Chowder...a new family favorite!

♫ONLY $179 at Costco?!  Hallelujah! ♫

30 Things to Blog About

I'm having a major writing block tonight, so I've decided that this post will be dedicated to an uncensored brainstormed list of ideas for blog topics that I can write about another night, when my brain is slightly less frazzled.  Feel free to vote for your favorite ideas (or go ahead and use them as a springboard for your own post). 

1.  My favorite guilty pleasures
2.  The names I almost named my kids
3. My life in Haiku
4. Facebook--love it or hate it
5.  Photo walk of my neighborhood in spring
6.  A spotlight on my favorite children's books
7.  Bake off of two celebrities' recipes
8.  How I met my husband
9.  An insider's guide for touring a local attraction
10.  Favorite board games
11.  What I wish I'd known when I first had kids
12.  Celebrities I wish I could meet and which ones I never want to meet
13.  Why keeping me up late at night is a bad idea
14.  Talking to kids about the birds and the bees
15.  A heated discussion on the ObamaCare
16.  The hazards of naming kids with unusually spelled names
17. Things I said I'd never do
18.  My least favorite children's toys
19.  The pros and cons of dog ownership
20.   My favorite cookbook and why
21.  Pet peeves
22.  My idea of comfort food
23.  The best household shortcuts I know
24.  My basement--what color should we paint it?
25.  My favorite cheap/free date night ideas
26.  Cheap/free things to do with the kids
27.   Why blogging is a stress reliever for me
28.   5 things I wish I knew how to do
29.   All about my dream vacation destination
30.  A day in the life of Lara

***********************************************************

A Few Things I Have Been Accused of...

1. Saying the word "seriously" way too often. Apparently a certain someone (name starts with Gl, rhymes with Ken) thinks it's way overused in the blogging world, particularly by me until he so helpfully made me totally paranoid about it.

2. Speaking of paranoia, I have been known to be a little on the paranoid/hypochondriac side. After I get through with locking the bars on my windows and finishing the kids' nightly swine flu testing, I'll finally get to filling out the police report on the kid who hit me with a bike the other day. Solemnly (it's hard not using seriously) though I am a mild case in comparison to a couple of other people I know (name starts with "P" and rhymes with "mops")

3. Saying stupid things. It's a talent I've always had and let me say I must have worked REALLY hard in the premortal existence perfecting this one because I am good! I can't bury this talent no matter how hard I try. I say stupid things to strangers, friends, family, and small children every day of my life even in the midst of trying to be thoughtful and empathetic. Earnestly (are you happy Glen?), if you're ever looking to offend someone and aren't quite sure how to do it, please call me. I'll do it in the course of a natural conversation without even so much as a second thought.

4. Being gung-ho. When some hobby/activity captures my interest, I have a tendency to go gung-ho crazy with it. Couponing, making FHE lessons, list-making, reading, sewing, cardmaking, and scrapbooking have all consumed many hours of my life (and been great blessings for our family). Now my focus is our ward's co-op preschool, cooking, and blogging. Someday I hope to be gung-ho crazy about reading the scriptures, cleaning my house, and exercising.

5. Being a back-seat driver. More like a passenger seat driver.
"Buckle your seat belt."
"Isn't it time to turn the lights on?"
"Whoa, aren't you following a bit close here?"
"Um, excuse me, the speed limit is only 35 on this road."
"Hello! It's way faster to go that way instead of this way."
I totally envision being Spencer's worst nightmare in a couple of years.

6. Keeping a double standard. I love to notice and point out ( in public places) other people's spelling and grammatical errors, while blatantly ignoring my own which I routinely find when rereading my blog posts. You have no idea how many office goods store managers I've scolded for misspelling "stationery" . Shouldn't people who make their business in paper know the difference between "stationary"-- standing still and "stationery"-- pretty paper?

7. Being a list maker. In addition to the expected grocery lists and lists of things to do, I also randomly make lists for no other apparent reason than to embarrass myself.

************************************************************************