The reason for the season.

Art by Simon Dewey.

Christmas music.

I snatched a few moments today while the boys were in the bathtub to finish changing my blog to Christmas. I made a new Christmas music playlist that I love! Give it a listen - it will get you right into the Christmas mood. Can you tell that my two most favorite Christmas songs are Oh Holy Night and Silent Night? I've got a good variety of artists on my list for those two songs. Now Christmas music isn't Christmas music without Harry baby - Harry Connick Jr., MoTab and Amy Grant. If you've never heard the songs Emmanuel, God with Us and Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song) by Amy Grant then you must listen to those. Diane R. in my ward had me listen to her CD more than 10 years ago and these songs are wonderful. One month isn't long enough for all of these beautiful songs. Oh, and The Angels Cried by Alan Jackson with Allison Kraus is on the list too - it's so beatiful and peaceful. Enjoy if you can spare a moment.

Clean and sweet boys.

I love how a good, long bath can turn boys into relaxed, clean, fresh and sweet smelling boys. I love to cuddle them and smell their hair. I wish I had time to take a nap with them today because that is the best! I love when their faces are so clean and look so soft from the lotion and when their damp hair is combed into place but not dry yet.

We were trying out gel in TMac's hair. We've been trying a few different styles but I'm not a fan of this one - it makes him look too old. He's a cutie though!

Christmas goodies delivered to our door!

We had our first Christmas treats delivered to our door this evening. The boys were so excited! TMac loves this tradition now and wants to know if it will be happening every day until Christmas. My visiting teachers dropped off plates of treats which happened to be some of my very favorite things. (Although there isn't much this chubby girl doesn't like!) TMac was momentarily concerned when I told him my friend was dropping off Christmas treats. He said, "Oh man! Does that mean that we have to wait until Christmas to eat them?"

Thanks gals! We dove right in as you can tell from the photos!

Merry Christmas and farewell cowboy header.

I am sad to give up the super cute cowboy header and background. I really love it but I kept it up during Halloween and Thanksgiving so it had it's fair amount of love. Christmas is not something I can bypass even for super cute cowboys. So welcome to our new Christmas themed blog background and Merry Christmas!

I'm sure you are all surprised that I am several months behind on blog posts! I also need to design a new Christmas header, add Christmas songs to my music player, change fonts and layout colors, etc. But hey - December 1st if you know me well isn't a bad start for changing my background since I'm never an early bird. My friends are though and since I wanted to use a pre-made background instead of making my own - I had to lay claim to my background fast!

It sounds crazy I know but I want to make a separate, small blog with the cowboy background for all of our numerous cowboy photos and events because yes, I love it so much! I probably will.

Merry Christmas everyone! I can not believe that today is December 1st and that the Christmas season is officially here. Time to put the poinsettias on my porch, put the Fall colored mums away and a billion other things! Why can't I have a sweet old lady who wants to live with me for free and help get the billion things done? Can I have a Martha Stewart clone please? Wait, no -she's annoying. Amber Hansen or Rachel Ray would be much better! Rocco DiSpirito - come on over! So many cool projects and so little time...

My cousin Rachel and our kids.

My favorite cousin Rachel and her kids were down from Utah for a quick visit in October so we went and spent a Sunday afternoon/evening with them. My Aunt Jan always has cute seasonal decor around her house so of course I had to do a photo shoot with our kids. Cousin Julia was down too but I never got to hear her newest guitar songs. :( We were able to help celebrate E's birthday which was fun. The birthday cake was so pretty and had white marshmallow frosting. So delicious!

The above picture is my youngest and Rachel's youngest daughter whose birthdays are only a few months apart. Tot is handing out the loves.

The two of us. Why do I always give the camera to Tracy when he is sitting in a chair and he takes the shot looking up at us? Almost all of my photos with Rachel are like this and it is not flattering for my body!

TMac and his cousin. He always wants to go see her in Utah.

Not a great shot but it is all 4 kids together.

I wanted to bring these soft, stuffed pumpkins home. My Aunt wouldn't notice right?

I will kiss you!

It was a great party at Steve and Jan's. They always have great food, we laugh and hang out. The kids run around. My parents and my Aunt Carolee, Uncle Alton and cousin Kelsey were able to come hang out too. It was a nice night.

Christmas present wish list tag.

I was tagged via email to make a Christmas present wish list so, why not? I'm just as greedy as the next person and I always know what I want! :)

But, this Christmas will be slim and I'll be happy just to hang out with family and friends. It's always nice to exchange homemade gifts and enjoy the reason for the season. So, this truly is a wish list! This is a hard year for everyone so let's all keep it real and simple. I know we will!

The rules are:

List 10 things under $50, 5 websites or companies that you would love a gift card for and 1 ridiculous wish for something that is really extravagant.

Here goes!

1. The new "LDS Family Hymnbook - Illustrated". It looks so beautiful with large illustrations next to each hymn.

2. J'Adore - the perfume. I have always wanted it but never purchased it. Sometimes I steal some of my sister's if we are going somewhere from her house! :)

3. A Tai Pan Trading Company (awesome new store in Rancho Cucamonga) gift certificate so I can get new couch throw pillows. My plain Wal-Mart pillows just aren't doin' it!

4. Any new kitchen appliance in stainless steel starting with a huge Crockpot with a timer. I've been married almost 13 years and all of the white plastic is getting yellowed on my appliances.

5. Phantom of the Opera tickets! Coming to the Pantages theater next year!

6. A used cello. Seriously - I have always really badly wanted to play the cello and my life is at least a 1/3 over so the time is now!

7. A digital photo frame to hang and use in my living room. I should move this to the #1 spot because I have wanted one for a long time!

8. The "Little People" Nativity playset or even the Noah's Ark playset. I have always wanted those - they are so cute! My kids should be playing with them already!

9. A ticket for the Perris Wind Tunnel. It looks so fun!

10. A two day and overnight babysitting coupon so Tracy and I can go somewhere alone!

Okay, 5 gift cards - so easy!

1. Costco!

2. Disney or Disneyland- I could go crazy on the sales websites.

3. Target

4. Outback Steak House

5. Ontario Mills Mall - Gymboree is the best!

For my 1 extravagant wish - drum roll please...a cruise to Hawaii or anywhere! I'd happily go anywhere right now.

This was fun. I tag everyone! Really - everyone please post this. I'm really interested in what my sisters and Mom have to say too.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS everyone! Isn't it ridiculous how early the stores start Christmas. They were taking down Halloween stuff on October 29th and starting with the Christmas stuff. Yeesh.

My mini me and the mini pumpkin.

Sorry son - it's not an apple. He kept saying ball, ball! Because anything relatively round is a ball of course!

Mormon style synchronized swimming video.

Check this video out! In the wake of problems with No on 8 protestors hacking into religious websites -

From Meridian Magazine.com:

Editor's Note: As some of you know, Meridian was hacked into last week, apparently by Prop 8 opponents, and in the place of our content was placed a homosexual pornographic film.

Unspeakable tactics!

I thought I would post some hilarious video that is good clean fun. This video is what Mormons are about - wholesome family fun! Thanks for the heads up Mom.

A Halloween themed Bday party.

We had our first chance last month to dress up in Halloween costumes at my niece's birthday party on October 18th. Here is a picture of my parents 4 grandchildren and two more are on the way! Both of my sisters have buns in the oven! TMac chose to wear his red Power Ranger costume and I had Tot wear Thomas the Train for this picture session only! He was super grumpy that day with teething 4 teeth and being in the car almost all day long up until the party. The Ibuprofen must be working in this photo since he is smiling! For actual Halloween day my boys were a cowboy and a horse but we had so many parties to dress up at last month that we were able to use a lot of our costumes.

Can you feel the love?

Our family never made it to a pumpkin patch together this year but this photo is really cute!

Tot in the middle of all of his cousin's presents.

My niece opening the last present of the day. A shirt that says "Big Sister"! She had no idea what the deal was until someone explained it to her. My sister and husband were able to announce their pregnancy at this party with all of the parents, siblings and grandparents in attendance. So I now have two new babies to look forward to! My sister Heather is due with a boy in March and now my sister Erin is due with a baby in June/July.

The party was really fun and it was a great way to kick off all of the Halloween festivities!

Intolerant people preaching tolerance.

SWAT team officers on the grounds of the Los Angeles temple. I need to scan and post the photo of my husband and I on our wedding day on the same section of grass in front of this temple where last week police protection was needed.

I was hoping that my previous political post would be my last one for awhile (at least until another election) and I really did try to ignore the ugliness and current events. But then I saw this photo above and the other photos below. Really protesters? You really need to attack and vandalize places of worship? You are too busy being hateful and intolerant (going against your own signs at rallies) to read that the Mormon voting population in CA is less than 2% of the population?

You preach tolerance but you refuse to be tolerant of the results of a popular and legal vote? Two votes! 8 years ago and now.

You have a problem with the money we raised? Should I vandalize your offices? Should I go vandalize the offices or homes of Brad Pitt or Ellen - financial contributors for the No side? How would you like that? I never would though because I believe in "Love thy neighbor" and "Love One Another".

I can not believe that a gorgeous and sacred building - the one I was married in - was targeted. I saw photos of people standing on the stucco pediments of the fence, climbing the fence, placing signs in the fence and on the private property, etc. This temple was not built using any taxpayer money. It is private and sacred to me.

The Salt Lake temple. There were protests at all of the CA temples also. I saw photos of all of the gorgeous CA temples (well, except Redlands! I heard there was one lonely guy there with a No on 8 sign but when I was there last Friday for a session everything was fine) being used as a center for rallies. I can understand using city hall but religious buildings? I feel bad for the other churches that were targeted here in CA as well.

The protesters scream about tolerance and hate but what does this picture portray? This is a section of wall and fence on the LA temple grounds.

The temple had to be closed down for the night. How would the protesters feel if they had to suspend their operations inside their privately owned buildings which by the way, some taxpayer funds have been used to build?

Here is a photo from a Yes on 8 rally. Do you notice a difference? Does anyone have signs that have hurtful remarks on them? Is anyone waving a photo of Jesus or any type of religious flag? Is anyone scantily dressed or making out with anyone? Is anyone screaming or pointing? I dare you to show me a photo of any Yes on 8 supporter that is other than peaceful and respectful.

I am thankful for a beautiful son who knows nothing about any of this. "I Love to see the Temple" has been his favorite song since he was just over 1 year old. He sang it on stage at the Primary talent show this Spring a month before his 4th birthday - by his choice. That is what he wanted to perform. I am scared for his future and hope that I can protect him against indoctrination from adults in school settings. These last days are scary and one of the apostles spoke years ago about when the days will come in the future where we will need to protect the temples from protests and violence. Those days are here!

It's great to live in the promised land.

We've got a new President and we'll see what change will come. I still wasn't excited to vote for any of the candidates but hey, that's politics. I am just so glad that now all of the television ads and junk mail will slow down or stop because it's all so disgusting. I wish the man much luck! I just constantly think of how glad I am to be an American and live here with all of my freedoms. One news article said today that with Obama's victory it will be "cool to be an American again" in the worldwide scheme of things. What?! It is always cool to be an American. Crazy. This is the promised land and I'm stayin'!

Hooray for the passing of Prop. 8. What a relief. I am glad that California has a tad of decency left. Boy, this post isn't very chipper! I really am happy but this law will go through so much strife in the coming years and will be constantly battled. The opposition has promised that much. So hooray for every one's hard work and dedication but we will still have to do more.

Did you know that this proposition had the most money raised ever in the country - second only to presidential campaigns? Wild! Of course that includes the no side and what they raised but still crazy! It's awesome that we have a grassroots effort that raised money to match the "Hollywood" money.

I am also thankful for the high turnout of African American voters because they really helped to pass Prop. 8 according to data. Here is an interesting article snippet:

Exit polls revealed dramatic demographic gaps in the gay-marriage vote. While 63 percent of voters under 30 opposed the ban, 59 percent of those 65 and older supported it. There were sharp racial discrepancies as well. Even as black voters overwhelmingly backed Barack Obama — a gay-rights supporter — in the presidential race, 70 percent of them voted against gay marriage, compared with 47 percent of white voters.

Denise Fernandez, a 57-year-old black woman from Sacramento, said she voted for Obama and Proposition 8. "I believe a Christian is held accountable," she said.

70% support from voting African Americans! That is awesome.

This picture cracked me up! I just had to include it. It's like President Bush took over John McCain's body momentarily or maybe McCain was doing a Bush impression?

I am glad that so many Americans are so happy with the results. Maybe this will get them to be more proactive about the whole political process. This election had possibly the highest voter turnout in a century. I witnessed the difference myself at the polls this time.

I personally believe that Heavenly Father must be very involved in the daily life of our President and other important officials. This is the leader of his promised land so I am sure that any President receives revelation, help and blessings no matter their stated religion.

This article snippet is also cool:

Little Rock 9 take pride in Obama's victory AP - Wed Nov 5, 5:52 PM ET
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The black students who integrated Little Rock Central High School in a harrowing 1957 confrontation that riveted the nation's attention expressed their joy Wednesday in Barack Obama's election as the first black president.

I can not imagine their struggles and I am happy for them that they are so happy.

So here is to the future and this will officially end the political chapter of this blog! (I hope!) :)

Making fun of politics.

My sister-in-law sent this and I think it is funny and sadly true. But, I also realize that all of the political parties give away way too much. It's frustrating but it's also reality. I'm not a huge fan of reality. Someone on somebodies blog list has a blog titled "I reject your reality and substitute my own." That always strikes me as really funny when I see it. So, my reality is that we will keep working hard to get what we deserve and hopefully it comes our way! :) At least we live in a country based on freedom.

Okay, I am going to work on posting about Halloween and my gorgeous boys later tonight because this blog has been hijacked recently by a political wack-o!

My ward and stake's Yes on Prop. 8 street rally.

Here I am at my ward and stake's Yes on Prop. 8 street rally earlier tonight. It was so much fun! I was at the big intersection right in front of my housing tract so that was cool. A lot of people from my ward and stake met at the middle school across from our stake center to then be assigned to major intersections in our city. I had a really great time and the response from all of the cars was really good. A ton of honking, thumbs up signs and people thanking us for being there to support Yes on Prop. 8. There were some angry people, people who yelled and a lot of silence accompanied with flipping us off. But mostly a lot of support from everyone either on their way home from work or just driving around town. Whenever a car was blasting a good beat I would dance to it!

The lovely Katherine.

There were a few high school girls that quietly showed up to show their signs for No on Prop. 8. One of the mom's in the stake knew the girls and had coached their soccer team. They all chatted so nicely and then went back to work. At least they were nice girls. I can support them and their right to free speech. They were even very willing to take photos with us. Too funny!

Some of the high school kids from our wards. They were just Sunbeams or in nursery when we first moved here! Man I'm old!

Hot Mamas!

On our way home we took a drive down to the intersection where the biggest No on Prop. 8 crowd was and did a few respectful drive bys with our signs. We wanted to get out and join them on the corners but we had already been out for hours and our families needed us back. There were about 30 people with No signs and 15 people with Yes signs at this intersection. The intersection I was at had about 98 % Yes people. Thankfully our No people were really nice and so were we. I was glad that everyone was so respectful.

Our wonderful Stake President and his awesome wife. It was great to share the intersection with them. Our poor Stake President was worried about all of us and the organizers told him that he was personally in charge of our safety! My friend Juliet and I got a little too far away from the group and he sweetly asked us to come back. When we all stayed longer than originally planned and our President said it was time to wrap it up, us playgroup Moms were saying "Oh, this is so fun. We're not quite ready to go back to our kids yet!" He was laughing. The entire 13 years that we have lived here we have been super blessed to have all 3 Stake Presidents in that time be members of our ward. It is great to hear the testimonies, prayers and lesson comments from our Stake President and his wife.

Some of the play group Mommas!

I had a blast. It was great exercise and even though I am tired it gave me a ton of energy and I am having a hard time getting to sleep tonight! I am anxious to see how the vote turns out tomorrow night. I'm sure it will pass in my city and county but fail in other counties. I'm praying and crossing my fingers!

Thanks babe for watching a ton of boys! He watched one of his home teaching family's kids along with ours so he is claiming credit for home teaching this month! This is the earliest in the month that he has ever gotten his home teaching done! :)

Yes on Prop. 8 and the signs of the latter days.

These altered images represent the signs of the times. We are latter day saints and we must stand for truth and righteousness. Please join me and my family in voting Yes on Proposition 8. I am thankful that I live in a country where I can vote according to my beliefs. I believe that families are forever and that marriage is between a man, a woman and Heavenly Father.

These images are cool, poignant and is interesting to note how the scriptures and history repeat themselves. I love how scripture stories are so applicable to the events of today. History will be made tomorrow. Please vote! Polls do not affect the outcome of laws - it's the votes that count!