New Year

Don't know what's wrong with me. I just can't seem to get my year going. Of course I have goals, which are probably about the same as yours.

The tops:
lose weight
spend more time with my children

More specifically:
learn to love Utah
be more forgiving
get my cookbook published

The list could go on, and on. I'm seeming to have a problem with getting the simplest of tasks done. Maybe its just the winter blahs shining through.
It's about the only thing shining here in Utah..lol.
I'm ready for Spring and the warmer temps. Hurry up Spring!

Christmas Day

What a great Christmas we had this year! My parents flew from Oklahoma to spend the holidays with us. Right before they got here, we had a huge snowstorm, 22 inches. I don't think I have ever seen that much snow!
Anyhow, we had a full house with everyone staying here. Derek and I stayed in the playroom on a mattress, we really were bursting at the seams.

Santa came and left us lots of goodies! We must have been really good this year. The kids got numerous toys, and I got a really sweet hand-made wall calendar from Kate. It totally choked me up! It is something I will treasure always! After presents we had a nice Christmas dinner of Ham, turkey breast, scalloped potatoes, salad, green beans, and rolls. We also had cheesecake and strawberry pie for desert!

crazy snow!

view across the street


our backyard(taken from inside(it was cold!)

a view of our house

our snow covered street


It's been a while since I have posted. I started a new job and promptly lost it 2 months later, we attempted to get a dog(a long story in itself), and my parents came for a visit. In the meantime, we had a huge snowstorm, (BTW the forecaster said we might get 2-3 inches) Instead we got 22 inches. Believe it or not, I even went to work both days. Derek had to dig me out of the driveway, and drive me to work one morning-thanks goodness for him!
Here are some photos Lydia snapped for us.

it's been a while...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Since I have started working, I'm finding that I am falling behind in other areas of my life, mainly my house is suffering.
The good thing about that is, it will always be there regardless of how many times I try to keep it clean.lol.. Derek has been helping as much as he can, but he has picked up a 2nd job of Home Health on his week off. It has been a real blessing, as we have been able to pay off some bills :)

I cant believe it's Christmas already! This time last year, we were preparing
to move to Utah. I put up the outside lights before Thanksgiving this year, but did exercise a little restraint, and didn't light them up until the 26th! Wish, I could say the same for the inside tree. It just came out of the box Monday, got fluffed on Tuesday, and still sits barren in my living room. I teased Whitney online that when she gets back from college break, it will be here waiting for her.

Lydia is performing in America Leadership Academy's Spirit of Christmas extravaganza. They have been practicing for the last month, with dress rehearsals each night this week. Tonight is opening night. I cant wait to see her perform at the matinee on Saturday. I'm so proud of her. She is singing alto this year, a little out of her comfort zone. Orchestra has really helped too, since she had been playing the violin this past year, and is familiar with reading music. I snapped this photo before she headed out the door.




My Mom and Dad will be here on the 22nd for a visit. I cant wait:) We will have a houseful, but it will be fun. Hopefully we will be able to make it up to Temple Square on Christmas Eve like we did 2 years ago when we were visiting.

If I don't get another post in, I wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas,
and tell you how blessed we are to have you as family and friends. Merry Christmas!

getting crafty- Part 2

All the Thueson girls got together yesterday, to make turkey decoration. Dara purchased these @ The Wood Connection with the intention of doing them for each sister and giving them as Christmas gifts. Instead, she decided to invite us all over, which was more fun anyways. We had lots of fun, as some people learned how to use a drill, and glitter objects. It was quite amusing.

getting crafty...again.

I'm really getting into these advent calendars this year. In one of my previous posts,(see October) I made a Halloween calendar for the kids. We had so much fun, I decided to make a Christmas one. I found this cute scrapbook paper @ Pebbles. It is called Christmas Countdown by Echo Park Paper Co., one of my new favorite scrapbook paper lines. A few months ago at the DCWV warehouse sale in Provo, I picked up these metal easels for 1$ and some embellishment squares for 4 for 1$. What a steal!
I wasn't sure what I would do with them, but I knew I would find something to do with them. Anyhow, I put some magnets on the back of the metal squares for easy removal. I also cut circles on my cricut, to mat the numbers to make them a bit bigger. For a twist-on the backside of the number, you could write a activity to do with your family, or maybe even a service you could provide. Enjoy!

Supplies Used:

Monday Metals Metal Easel by Lasting Impressions
Monday Metals Embellishment Squares by Lasting Impressions
Echo Park Merry Christmas line-Christmas Countdown.
Sticky-backed magnets
Cricut(used to cut the circles)

How we spend our days...

Who says being a stay at home mom has to be boring? Kate apparently thinks she is a Renaissance rock star, and well Jake, he is just cute in whatever he is doing :)

growing up

Can't believe how fast my kids are growing up. Lydia is blossoming into a young woman. I've actually caught a young man at church looking at her. As a Mom, it makes me a bit uncomfortable. Maybe we wont be getting those braces after all.....lol.

Trick or Treat?

It's that time of year again. Time to go candy begging door-to-door!

No, I really love Halloween. I have to say, I don't make home-made costumes like my Mom did when I was little, but I still get into it, nonetheless. We kept it simple this year, especially since we are in a new neighborhood, and Derek's parents were coming back for their mission on the 30th. Derek took the kids around neighborhood, while Whitney and I, passed out candy. There were some great costumes this year!

Lydia was an Indian maiden, Kate a dancer(go figure!) and Jake was Woody, from Toy Story. Of course they got way too much candy, and of course, I had to steal some from each bag :)

Times... they are a-changing

Well, since I have went Private on my blog, no one reads it anymore. Maybe I'm just boring everyone to death...lol..oh well.

Lots of changes in our household for October. After much consideration, I decided to get a job, to help out our family. Since moving here to Utah, money has been a little tight, and I'm slowly realizing how much things cost here. Derek is blessed to have a wonderful job that is 7days on/7 days off, which would afford him a second job if needed. He started to look to do some home health, and every place he called he there were no openings.
Fast forward 4 weeks, I am in Crisps grocery store in Salem, shopping, and I just happen to ask a lady at the customer service counter if they are hiring. She said they were, and asked me about my experience. I told her that I had worked at a bakery before as a closer, donut fryer, and cake decorator.
She asked me to fill out an application, and get back with her. I didn't realize I was talking to the owner at the time. I turned in my app the next day, and didn't hear from them for a week(we had been on vacation too.) I called the day after we got back, and she surprisingly told me over the phone that she wanted to hire me, pending my interview. Went in for my interview, and got the job. My shift doesn't interfere with my kids lives(they are still home in bed, ha!), and to tell you the truth- it's kinda nice to get out and be my own entity for a while.
True, it may not be a glamorous job, but I feel that Heavenly Father helped me to find this job. The hours work for me, and this was not an advertised job, so I think divine intervention totally played a part. Getting up at 4:30 am is rough some mornings, but luckily, it hasn't been too difficult.
Fast forward another week, Derek gets a call from a co-worker, who works opposite weeks-we will call him Paul- Paul is a contract worker for home-health, and his boss asks him if he knows of any PTs at the hospital, who are looking for work. Paul passes Derek's name onto his boss, Derek's makes calls, fills out paperwork, and gets hired. Woo-hoo.

Another change in the family- Steve and Curtis are living with us for a bit. Good thing we finished that bedroom downstairs. I was wondering why I felt prompted to finish it, and found most of the supplies (closet doors for free, Closetmaid rack system for 5$ at DI, floor moldings for very little)cheap and quickly.

The final change of the month-Derek's Mom and Dad are coming home from thier LDS mission tomorrow! They bought a house, and we have been busy getting it ready for them. Its been fun working together with all the siblings, but it has kept us very busy! I fall into bed now most nights from sheer exhaustion!

God's country

The kids had a couple of days off for school, so we decided to head on down to Hurricane, to visit the Cahoons.It was nice to just relax and not have an agenda to stick to. On Friday, we headed out towards Springdale, Utah to pick apples at an orchard, and to help the Cahoons take some family pictures for their Christmas cards. My girls enjoyed walking down the long rows, looking for the gala apples. We only found a few(it was late in the season)but we managed to make some very messy caramel apples, once we got home. The Cahoons had to head back home, and we headed onto Zions Natl Park.
I wasn't sure how much I would like the rock formations, since I'm kinda a tree and grass girl. I loved it! It was a nice cool day, and the best part-they had a tram that took you to the different areas, so you didn't completely wear yourself out, although Kate had a pretty hard time on some of the trails. It was really interesting to me to see that beautiful park, and I felt reverence for those creations. There was a couple sitting on the Tram discussing how Zion's Park was "too religious"- Some of the parks main attractions have biblical names. I really wanted to say something, but I have to be respectful of others beliefs.
I would love to go back without the children to do some of the more "difficult" trails.

More crafts...

I've been feeling pretty crafty lately. Maybe something in the Utah water? lol... Anyhow, I saw this paper craft on the Inspiring Creations blog @ http://lindseyscraftlist.blogspot.com/2010/08/paper-fan-flower-wreath.html

I knew I had most of the stuff on hand, and it's mostly paper folding, so how hard could it be? Turns out, it was really easy! Took a little time to fold all the paper fans, and glue them together, but the result looked nice. Here is my version.
I added a little crow, because I'm kinda into them right now.



We also had a Super Saturday craft day at church last week. We made some really cute cards. Thought I would share a few with you.


Sorry the pictures arent very clear. Been having some camera issues. Can't wait till I get my new one next week!

heirloom tomatoes

I just love tomatoes. Derek hates them with a passion, but to me, nothing tastes as good as a home grown tomato. Last night we went to Di and Steve's house for ice cream sundaes. All of the boys headed to the Priesthood session of Conference, while we sat around and gabbed. The Reich's have a good-sized garden, and earlier this Spring we helped a bit preparing their beds. They have been nice enough to share several zucchinis and tomatoes with us. Last night Di gave us several types of heirloom tomatoes and tomatillos to take home. Cant wait to use them on pizza tonight and the tomatillos will make great salsa later this week. Can't wait until next year, so we can have our own garden again.

Halloween Fun

When I was a kid, Halloween was a huge thing in our family. I can remember deciding weeks before, what our costumes would be. My mom often sewed them for us. My sister was a tube of Crest toothpaste one year.

Anyways, I've always had a fondness for Halloween. A great excuse to get dressed up, and eat candy. What more could you want? It figures I would marry someone who didn't celebrate Halloween as a child. For a few years I didn't push the subject, but as Lydia got older, she wanted to trick-or-treat like her friends. We started out slow, going to church trunk-or-treats, then progressed to full blown neighborhood candy-begging. Derek is still not into Halloween, but will go to parties with us, etc.

This year, I wanted to do a Halloween countdown calendar, and saw this really cute idea on Studio 5. I knew I had most of the supplies( mostly scrapping stuff). Each day has a treat or money, inside of the little pocket. It was really fun to make. I think I may de-string the pockets, and laminate them, so I can reuse it next year.

return to the old ways

I can remember as a child watching my Mom slave away in the hot kitchen, "putting up" enough tomatoes for a small army. I often wondered by she did this. I was usually in charge of grabbing the tomatoes out of the ice water, peeling, and placing the tomatoes in jars. I got excited when my Mom got out the Squeezo-Strainer machine. I knew we would be making tomato juice that day. That machine was so cool, separating the tomato pulp, from the juice. I personally never touched the stuff, but my Dad often enjoyed a glass with his morning breakfast.

I can remember the first time I canned without my Mom. I was living in Conway, and Holly Bell and I, both had newborns. Somehow we got it into our heads, that we wanted to make Peach jam. Not sure where we got the notion. I think maybe we had made a trip to Collins Round Mountain Orchard to pick peaches and nectarines. Anyhow, we had no idea what to do, so we got online, researched, and headed off to Kroger to buy jars and a water bath. It was quite comical. We made a huge mess, but at the end of the day, were really happy to see those little jars lined up on the counter. It was such a feeling of accomplishment. It made me think back to a time when you could not go to the store, and just pick something off the shelf. Gardening and canning, was vital to your livelihood. You could not survive the winters if you had not "put up" during the summer months.

I know church leaders behave encouraged us to self-sufficient. I think canning is one of these areas I could improve in. Derek and the kids were able to head to Genola this week and pick some produce from the Ewells Family garden. I was so surprised when they came back with a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes, a huge bag of fresh green beans, Yukon gold potatoes, and onions, from the garden. This is the first year we haven't had some sort of garden, so I was grateful. I spent a couple of days making a game plan for canning, locating jars, and a water bath. I was able to put up 12 quarts of tomatoes. I already used a quart last night to make Spanish rice. Yum! I'm proud to report, the potatoes have already been eaten(gosh they were good!) and the onions are drying on the back porch. Hopefully next Spring we will get our garden beds cleaned out, and have our own little garden haven :)

getting to know you..

Since the bigs have gone back to school, I have a shadow. It seems Jacob does not like to be alone. I can't walk out out of the room, without him asking me where I am going. He is always asking what I am doing, and wanting to help. I have discovered that he likes to help put the silverware away, and loves having Mommy reading him a story(the girls normally do) So, Jake and I are getting know each other better, and really enjoying it.