Oh Christmas tree.....

I've been working on Christmas decorations, but haven't had much time to devote to it, so my hall is full off containers. I have been able to talk to Chad everyday on instant message. That is time well spent in my book. I told him how to read comments today and he was so appreciative of all of your support. He is feeling really good about his decision now and I really think that having so many people who are backing him up helps. He wanted me to thank you all for your kind words.

The two ornaments are ones I picked up in Utah. I loved the little candle and I couldn't resist the nut because...well, my blog title has to do with nuts and it's too cute! :o)

So how many of you have started decorating?...me...obviously.

Do you decorate outside too?...me...sometimes.

Have you started shopping? ...me...nope.

Thanksgiving and stuff

I finally ordered my Christmas Card photo's from winkflash last night. My cards are 6X6 so I'm printing these 5X5. I had no control of which square each picture was located . I would click, then it would shuffle. It never shuffled in the order I wanted them in so I settled on this. They are pretty fast at shipping so things are going good on that front.

For Thanksgiving we always get together with the George side and everyone has their food assignments to bring. I brought dessert and 80 deviled eggs. Cody helped fill those, because that's the fun part. When I was at Sam's Club I saw their big pies and they were so cheap so I decided to buy 2 pumpkin and 1 pecan instead of making them. I did make the cherry cream, chocolate cream and the banana cream. (half without nuts since Rodney is allergic.) We loaded up the ice chest and headed to the in-laws. When we got there my cherry pie had slid over and landed in the chocolate cream pie. There was chocolate everywhere! Made me so mad. We were the last ones there and they were ready to eat. In all the mess I totally forgot to set out the deviled eggs until after dinner...so dumb! usually we eat nearly all of them. This year I have lots of eggs left over and I mean LOTS! I didn't take one picture the whole day. I can hardly believe it. My head just wasn't in it. I did however cut up more paper for my Christmas cards while we watched the new die hard movie. It was good being together with everyone. The dinner and the company was really nice.

In case you noticed who was missing from the picture, It's Sandy. Chad broke off the engagement with her a couple of days ago. She has been pretty ugly about the whole thing and it's taken everything in me to be the bigger person and not chew her out for being so awful. He gave it lots of thought. He had talked to her about her behavior and how much she's changed. He noticed in all of her pictures on myspace that she was less than modest and it made him very uncomfortable with the types of pictures she was posting for the world to see. He didn't tell her what to do. Only how it made him feel. She told him she will dress however she wants to and she's not changing for anyone. We all noticed her behavior had changed drastically when Chad was home on 2 week leave this summer and it wasn't a good change. She was continually having Chad buy her things, she monopolized all of his time and she was rude and self absorbed. Not at all the sweet Sandy we knew and loved. She has been pushing for him to move to Tennessee when he gets home, but he wants to live in Arizona, because all of his family is here and he loves it here. The discussion escalated to topics of religion and raising a family. They didn't agree on any of it. She said he doesn't compromise in their relationship and it should be give and take. She wants him to give up his family, his values and his religious beliefs. I'm sorry, but those things are not to be compromised. He told her he wouldn't give up those things for her or anyone and he should never be asked to, so he broke it off. I guess her idea of give and take is him give up everything and her take him for everything she can. Now the problem is she has been horribly mean to me, Chad and Mark. It was shocking since we've never been anything but nice and supportive to her, even when she didn't deserve it. She is refusing to give back things that belong to Chad...thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Chad didn't ask for things that he bought her like clothes, jewelry, expensive purses, etc. There are only a few things he wants and she's being very greedy about the whole thing. Of course she's getting encouragement from her less than upstanding dad to stick it to Chad. He's also offered lovely pieces of counsel to her like, there's millions of guys out there who will treat you like a queen and do anything for you and you won't have to change a da* thing. ...Obviously the pillar of intelligent advise. There are so many things I'd like to share that are completely factual, but Chad and Mark insist I be the bigger person. So hard! They probably won't be happy I shared this much, but a girl has to vent..if even just a little bit. I'm just so mad and disappointed in her. I have a copy of all the conversations so there is no he said/she said. I know the truth. My Christmas card inside message included stuff with Sandy so I had to print a little addendum for her departure from our family. We are all so proud of how Chad handled this whole thing. He was mature and polite to her the whole time...even with her being beyond snotty. Marriage for him is a one time thing and he thought ahead to his future and made the best decision. He will be blessed in the future with a lovely wife who will have the same values and love him and his family. We are all counting our blessings that this happened before they got married.

Chad said their Thanksgiving dinner wasn't half bad. The soldiers all applauded the Afghan cooks. They got all choked up to be appreciated by the soldiers. He said it was pretty cool! :o)

Gratitude

Today was my young women lesson on Gratitude. (One of my absolute favorite topics) For the past few weeks I've been preparing for it. I got this block idea from my friend Heather that she had on her blog several months ago. I had a sweet lady named Kim in my ward (church) cut the vinyl for me. I so appreciate her doing that for me. I bought, sanded, painted, sanded the edges and applied the vinyl to them as handouts for the girls. I love how they turned out.

These are Hershey bars with almonds that I covered. They say thank you on the front and the back says "The two most important words in the English language are these: "thank you" "

You can't go wrong with chocolate, so of course I love these too.

I also made each girl a card for them to write a thank you note to someone in their life who they appreciate. It's kind of a blurry picture, It says "When I count my blessings, I count you twice." Very simple, yet cute. (I'm only one woman, ya know) hee...hee :o) I did go overboard on the handouts, but it's the holidays, so I felt it was okay to do so.In the beginning of the lesson I used this little object lesson. I gave each girl a jolly rancher candy to suck on, then I gave them a pebble to put in their shoe. (cute ones, of course) and had them walk around the room for a minute. After they sat down I asked them how their walk was. They all had complaints about the pain in their foot, but not one comment about the sweet treat in their mouth. This was just to demonstrate how often times in our trials, we only focus on the bad things, and over look the blessings.

Today I thought I was so prepared to teach, but instead I let my fear of teaching overcome me and I fumbled over my own words, cried over dumb things, forgot to say some things that were important to my lesson. Heck, I didn't even tell the girls how much I love and appreciate them...and I REALLY do! I'm so disappointed in myself. I have a genuine desire to be a good teacher. I have great intentions, I study, I prepare, I make things for the girls that I think are memorable and appreciated, then I choke in the classroom. I pray that it gets better the more I do it.

I did have to laugh today because while I was teaching my lesson, Mark was teaching the men. I had to make 3 trips from the car to bring all my stuff in to set up for my lesson. You know...women have to make it pretty too....table cloth, pictures, treats, handouts, manual, scriptures etc. When men teach, all they need is their manual and scriptures. LOL! Not saying their way is bad...just different. :o)

At the end of my lesson we all walked down to the bishops office to give him these beautiful magnet boards. I custom ordered them from the ever adorable and bubbly Heather D White and I picked them up in Utah on our trip. I can cut wood, but I don't router, so I really appreciate her doing that for me, especially during her busiest time of the year. If you haven't visited her blog, you must. She has the energy of 3 of me....I'm honest! I just love her! I wasn't sure if I was going to share this picture, because it's not very flattering of me. I look a bit on the "fluffy" side. Heather looks too cute not to share it. I have lost a couple of pounds since then. Slowly but surely, I'll get where I want to be again.

The magnet boards have the young men on one and the young women on the other with their birthdays and what group their are in. I took pictures of almost all of the youth (still have a few I have yet to catch) I printed them wallet sized and matted them on black cardstock with their info on white cardstock. Then I put magnets on the back so they can slide over as their birthday's come around. I can update their pictures as they grow and change. We just wanted to let our bishop know how much we love and appreciate him and all he does for so many. I SO LOVE the way these came out! At some point I would like to take a big group picture of all the primary kids together and frame that for his office as well.

I've gotten to talk to Chad several times in the past 2 weeks on instant messenger. The first time, I sat here and bawled like a baby, because it was just so amazing that we were talking back and forth instantaneously. (hence instant messenger...LOL!) Totally different than email. We talked for over 3 hours. The lack of sleep was well worth it. I'm trying to think of what to send him for the holidays to make it more enjoyable for him. Christmas in Afghanistan with bunch of soldiers doesn't sound so great to me. He's never been away at Christmas before and I want him to have a piece of home, so he's not so lonely.

Sigh.....I miss my sweet boy!

My big plans of staying in bed all day Monday have been replaced with me having to clean this messy house that has been terribly neglected during this busy time. That's okay too because a clean house makes me happy and gives me the peace I so desire. I don't know about you, but when my house is a wreck, I'm really grouchy and stressed out. The whole family suffers then, so a clean house really benefits the whole family. :o) My life is full of so many blessings...trials too, but always blessings!

Christmas card express

***Edited at bottom***

The Christmas card making process is well under way. I work on them in my spare minutes, which is few these days. I worked for several hours tonight since these pictures were taken yesterday. I think I now have a total of 98 done out of 300. That is just the front and the message on the inside. I still don't have my pictures ordered yet. I hope to get that done at some point this weekend. (maybe) The ones in the box on the left are not done. Those are just the cardstock that is cut and folded. Let me just say that punching out 300 scalloped circles and cutting 300 smaller circles is not at the top of my list of fun things to do. Still have lots to cut! It's seriously crazy around here. I'll give you a little bit of my agenda for the past couple of days and the few days coming.

• Tuesday...normal busy stuff around the house, pick up boys early from school so I can get to my endodontist appointment and get them to a birthday party in town. Huge traffic problem in Maricopa. Literally couldn't get out of town. I had to do some off roading to find a short cut so that I could back track to the town in the opposite direction because that was the only way out of here. It took 2 hours and 10 minutes to drive what normally takes 45 minutes. UGG! Drop my kids off, go finish up my root canal. so not fun!, pick up the rest of my Christmas card paper that was on back order, pick up the boys, drive home LATE!
• Today...had a turkey delivered to me that I'm suppose to cook tomorrow for a church dinner the youth are serving at. Problem is it's a 24 pound frozen solid bird that would normally take at least 4 days to defrost. I don't have time to deal with it because I have to get Cole to town to fill his teeny cavity. They also decide to clean his teeth while we are there. We run to walmart because living out in Maricopa I rarely get to go to walmart and we are out of important things like toilet paper, paper towels, deodorant, boys shampoo, cereal etc. Then we go to home depot to buy some wood for some projects I'm working on for young women. Their saw is broken and my saw wont cut fat wood. Sigh! We go to Brek and Brittany's so baby Mark could get a Priesthood blessing from his grandpa's because he's getting circumcised in the morning. He didn't get it done when he was born because of all the problems he had at birth. Poor guy is not going to be a happy camper. Mark gives me checks to deposit. The banks in Mesa are closed so I high tail it back to Maricopa and get my deposit in just before 7:00. whew! We buy pizza for dinner, I try to figure out how to defrost a turkey FAST! Currently it's taking a cold bath in my sink that needs to have it's water changed frequently. It should take 12 hours or so to be ready for the oven. My friend Nicole comes over and keeps me company while I do dishes and work on cards.
• Tomorrow (Thursday)... Need to cook a turkey that I pray will be defrosted safely, my visiting teachers are coming over in the morning, I still need to go to town to a home depot who's saw is working. Be at the Church by 5:00 with a bird that better be juicy and delicious and help the youth serve dinner and clean up.
• Friday...need to prepare my lesson, make handouts, finish bishops project, get my boys to youth conference. Go on a date with my hubby!
• Saturday...get Cole to his primary program rehursal/party, go to youth conference in casa grande...helping with the lunch, dinner and supervising the dance. Come home and fall in bed
• Sunday...go to church, teach my lesson, come home, make lunch, decided which of the 3 things that are on my calender that I can actually attend that night. Still not sure which one it will be. All are important.
• Monday...perhaps I will not even get out of bed! hee...hee...
• So many things to do....all good things, so it's okay! :o)
• There will be typos in this post. Too tired to care or fix them. Off to bed! Hugs to all!

****Edited to respond to an anonymous comment****

I DO enjoy making my Christmas cards every year. I only said I didn't enjoy the circle punching part. I don't think those punches were meant to cut 300 times. It was really difficult at the end with the scalloped punch...even for Mark to do. My other circle punch has been really stiff so we had to use the CM circle cutter, which is easy to use when doing a few, but in large quantities, it is a little painful. If I didn't enjoy making cards I wouldn't make them. I also don't do it in hopes to receive cards from others because I only receive a small percentage of what I mail out. I'm not saying I don't like getting them, because I really do. They always make me smile and I proudly display them, but giving is what makes me happy. To me it's part of sharing the Christmas spirit and love with my friends and family. That is priceless!

Breakfast Ride

Mark and Jolene
Spencer and Carrie
Zack and Nicole Rodney and Cam





Love the "swat team"

Saturday morning we rode up to Tortilla Flat just above canyon lake for breakfast. Mark and I use to take the boys up there all the time when they were little. There are dollar bills stapled to ever square inch of walls that are signed by people from all over the country and some from other countries. Several years ago, it burnt down, so when they rebuilt, they had to start over. It didn't take long to fill up the walls again. We picked up Mark and John little t-shirts too...so cute! Canyon lake looked kind of erie because they drained so much water from it to work on the dam. I like to take pictures while we ride. It's fun to capture movement. On the way back to town we stopped and Goldfield ghost town to get some pebbles for my lesson Sunday.We hung out there for a while to watch some magic tricks, a gun fight, shopped in the general store. It was a lot of fun. On the way home while we were riding on the freeway and we drove through a swarm of bees. All of the motorcycle windshields were covered with sticky splats. That breakfast ride turned into being gone for most of the day. Put me way behind schedule of stuff that had to get done, but it was a fun day!

Cute boys and Excellence

I went to visit the cutest little grand babies ever. Now that Mark is mobile, he wont sit still for pictures. As soon as we got outside, he ran all over the place. At least John can't run from me...yet. I sure love these sweet boys. I don't get to see them nearly enough.

We also had our young women's in excellence night...and well...it was excellent! This night was so the girls could display one of their 10 hour value project. These girls amazed me with their projects. The only bad part was that we were missing 3 of the girls. Two couldn't come and one went home early with an eye infection. She was so excited about being there. It broke my heart to see her leave. I served the same food that I did at the baby shower since it fit the theme of "Grow to the Son". We decorated with sunflowers. Tara's mom made beautiful centerpieces. We gave one to each girl at the end of the night. Overall a huge success.

We tend to fall asleep with the TV on. It helps Mark fall asleep. It makes me not get restful sleep. If he goes to bed first I turn it off. If I fall asleep first, it stays on and I dream about whatever is on. Mark likes the history channel and the news so I dream a lot about war. Makes me nuts! The other night in my sleep I heard that 6 soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. I shot out of bed like a rocket with fear in my heart. When I found out if was on the other side of the country from Chad I was relieved. Then it sank in that 6 soldiers families were not getting their boy home. I couldn't help but cry thinking of the tremendous loss and heartache they are going through. That is my biggest fear. I count my blessings that Chad is okay.

I won't be having anymore TV induced bad dreams, since my TV got fried the very next night. Sure is quiet in there!

This next week is crazy busy. How are those Christmas cards coming along Jolene, you ask? Not very well. So far behind, it not even funny! I'm usually so far ahead of the game by now. It will take a small miracle to get the out by Thanksgiving weekend. I'm not even going to stress about my normal deadline. Now my goal is anytime before Christmas. When they get done they get done.