Nothing Like a Good Book

After pulling into a parking place at the library:

Peter: I LOVE THE LIBRARY!

Me: Me too!

Peter: When I was with Heavenly Father (meaning before he was born) I tried to jump out of heaven so I could go to the library.

Dear Peter,

I sure hope they have libraries in heaven.

Love,

Your Bibliophile Mom

White Wedding

We're a week out from the wedding, and I think most of us have recovered. It was wonderful to be in the sealing room when Melinda (Bryan's sister, for those of you that are wondering) and Jake were married. However, our attempts at taking pictures that day were marred by two things:

1. The bride had her eyes closed a shocking amount of the time, thus most of our pictures are of a smiling, un-seeing Melinda.
2. We totally forgot our camera when it came time to go to the reception.

What the second one means is that I have no pictures of the boys in their awesome matching ties that Bryan's mom made (which also matched the ties that Bryan and his brothers wore) or me in my cute bridesmaid's dress. I'm rather sad about this. I hope that we'll have access to some of the professional wedding pictures that were taken, because otherwise our fancy photogenic mugs won't make it on here.

I do have a few pictures though.

Behold, one of the only pictures of Melinda with her eyes open. Would you believe the Temple just had that cloak available in case a bride needed it? I was impressed by that. And I'm sure Melinda appreciated not freezing to death on her wedding day.


I am now going to treat you to one of the freakiest pictures of me I've ever seen. Are you ready?


Go ahead and zoom in on that bad boy. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to crinkle up my nose and forehead like that. The only reason I was even in picture range was that I had been sent to fix Melinda's falling veil. The result?


I got it to stick, and I didn't think I had drawn blood, but this picture leads me to believe otherwise. Oops. On the bright side, this picture shows that I successfully curled my hair. Thanks to my days in show choir, I know how to make sponge curlers work for me.

See down in the bottom right-hand corner of this picture (can you see through all the snow)? That is the best picture we got of Peter all day. I know the photographers got lots of pictures of both the boys, but alas, we weren't so lucky.


Well, that's not entirely true. We (and by we, I mean Bryan) got a few slightly blurry pictures of Cooper in his leprechaun vest, wrapped up in my coat, trying to stay warm.

We finally thawed out, but we've informed Bryan's youngest sister that a December wedding is not an option. She's twelve, so we've got a while to drive that message home.

My Favorite Minute and a Half From Christmas Morning

Something Old, Something New

Here's something totally wacky: I can't think of any New Year's Resolutions. I want to continue the things I decided to do last year, but I can't for the life of me come up with anything new. Have I reached a mortally attainable plane of perfection?

Nope.

I think it's just laziness. I like last year's resolutions, so I'm happy to keep on keepin' on.

Although I don't have any for myself, I do have a resolution for each of the boys. Peter expressed a desire yesterday to learn to tie his shoes. Well, I thought, that sounds like a good thing to work on this year. (Peter's resolutions for last year were to learn to read and to potty-train: check and semi-check.)

Cooper's is a little bit crazier: I'd really like to potty-train Cooper this year. I know, he'll turn two in March and that's awfully young for a boy, but I keep getting these vibes that he'll be ready soon. Wishful thinking? Perhaps. But we're going to try it anyway. Not now, but sometime before 2011.

Day After Day After Day

We're just a few hours away from 2010. Bryan's family is staying with us and everyone is rocking out to Beatles Rockband in the other room. I snuck away for just a moment because I've had something on my mind for the last two weeks.

You see, I made a few resolutions at the beginning of this year, and (this is going to be shocking) I've kept all of them. One of those was to blog something every weekday. Some posts, like this one, have shown up shortly before it was the next day, although most were written the night before they were published.

Some nights were rough. I would be tired from a long day and my brain simply didn't want to cooperate. Other nights I would knock out two or three posts in one sitting.

Now we've come to the end of the year, and I've met my goal. I wonder though, should I keep it up? I've been going through the pros and cons:

Pros

• I've recorded things I wouldn't have otherwise. Conversations with the boys, funny pictures of them, my random musings, I don't think all of these would have made it onto the blog if I hadn't been writing so consistently. This year was pretty well documented.
• I've had to stretch myself, in my writing and in the things about which I've written. I mean, I don't think I would have written about Good Eats or comments if I hadn't wanted to have something go up everyday.
• I feel closer to many of you. You've answered my questions, offered advice, commiserated with me, and made me smile with your comments.

Cons

• Writing every night is hard. Once I turn the computer on it seems to steal away the rest of my evening. I want to read more books and spend less time on the computer, but the whole blogging thing gets in the way.
• Similarly, finding something interesting to write about everyday has proved a challenge, which explains the YouTube videos.

Well, the pros outweigh the cons, but I still haven't made a decision about what I'll do next year. I think I'll post something tomorrow and then take the weekend to think about it.

What would you do?

Winter Wedding

I'm going to spend part of today here:


celebrating these two wonderful people.


I'm so excited for them.

And I hope we don't freeze...

What Did Santa Bring You for Christmas?

In the few days since Christmas we've had a number of people ask Peter what Santa brought him. He's responded with a blank expression while I quickly mouth behind him, "Santa doesn't come to our house."

Now before you start leaving comments about how I'm stealing away the magic of Christmas from my boys and referencing Miracle on 34th Street, let me explain. We are not trying to deprive them of childhood wonder, but rather, we want them to understand that Christmas is about the Savior, not a jolly man in a red suit.

While our focus is on the birth of Christ, we have certainly introduced the concept of Santa. Bryan's favorite Christmas book is The Polar Express and mine is The Night Before Christmas (followed closely by this Santa Claustrophobia), so Santa is not shunned by any means. We just don't teach that he comes through our non-existent chimney to deliver presents.

Someone asked me last week what Peter wanted for Christmas. I knew the answer to that one. (Thanks Uncle Ian and Aunt Amanda for fulfilling his GeoTrax Christmas wish.) Then they asked what Cooper wanted. I said I honestly didn't know. She looked shocked. I had a moment of realization: most kids write letters to Santa with their holiday requests. We focused so much on what we were giving to other people that I had purposely not asked what they wanted. I had to explain to the person posing the question that we don't do Santa at our house.

People either give us looks of sadness or consternation when we reveal that St. Nick doesn't make a stop at our home.

One evening Peter asked Bryan how Santa was going to get into our house since we don't have a chimney. Peter was visibly concerned. We have never taught him that that's what happens, although we have read plenty of books depicting the event. He spent the next day pretending he was Santa. Cooper and I were his elves. Peter took us on a tour of his workshop, gave us assignments, and put us to work. I think he's going to come through the no-Santa-at-home thing just fine.

But that doesn't solve the dilemma, what do I say when people ask Peter what Santa brought him? How do I prepare him to answer that question himself?

How about this?

"What did Santa bring you?"

"Nothing, but my family sure made it a great Christmas."

Reasons, Reasons

Did you like all of my cop-out posts last week? I was scrambling to get something up because almost all of my free-time was spent making this for Bryan:


and this for my sister-in-law Kate:

I am pleased to report that all projects were completed as least a few hours before they were to be delivered.

How was your Christmas?

Remember

Merry Christmas.

One More Sleep

There's magic in the air this evening
Magic in the air
The world is at her best, you know
When people love and care
The promise of excitement
Is one the night will keep
After all there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas

The world has gotta smile today
The world has gotta glow
There's no such thing as strangers
When a stranger says "Hello"
And everyone is family
We're havin' so much fun
After all there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas

'Tis the season to be jolly and joyous
With a burst of pleasure we feel it all right
It's a season when the Saints can employ us
To spread the news about peace and to keep love alive

"Merry Christmas, so long!"

There's somethin' in the wind today that's good for everyone
Yes, faith is our hearts today, we're shinin' like the sun
And everyone can feel it, the feelin's runnin' deep
After all there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas
After all there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas day

-One More Sleep 'Til Christmas from The Muppet Christmas Carol