January Highlights

Alexis turned 7 and she had a "Baking" themed birthday party. Everyone decorated their own cupcakes and made a chef's hat. We got her a keyboard which she is so excited to learn how to play. It has a lot of songs that it plays and the kids are always dancing to it.

She is so grown up!

I am in an organization group with 3 other women. We take turns going to each other's homes and working on a project. Well I got super ambitious and decided to paint my cabinets. Huge project that 7 months later I still am not quite finished and still feel overwhelmed by. I am going to put knobs on. Here are pics:

Before

After
I have since distressed them some by sanding the edges and as I said, I need to add the knobs.

Christmas 2010

I have been putting off my catching up on blogging because I was waiting to find more Christmas pictures. They are on some random folder on the external hard drive. I can't write what is currently going on when I feel like I need to catch up, so here we go. Paxton loves cars and lined all of them up on Christmas morning. We spent Christmas Eve at Greg's parents house and Christmas evening was spent at the waterpark hotel in Salt Lake. The last two years we have spent two nights at this hotel for Christmas. The kids love it. We go to temple square, we swim, we play with our Christmas toys and just enjoy some family time. This other picture is us in the hotel room. My mom was able to spend a few days with us over Christmas because she was still on her mission at temple square.

On December 29, my good friend and business partner, Lisa, was found unconscious in her driveway. I had been to her house just minutes before, but actually didn't find out about it until the next morning. Her heart wasn't beating correctly which was making it difficult for blood and oxygen to get to her brain. Long story short, the doctors told her that she had a 1% chance of survival. If she did survive, she would likely have short term memory problems which she did experience for a couple of weeks. By God's grace she is living a fully normal life. I am grateful for her friendship and grateful for the knowledge of eternal families and for modern medicine.

Also over the break I cleaned up my office, painted my desk and painted and installed shelves over the desk. So much nicer!


We had made a family goal to pay off our 2nd mortgage loan in 2010. We went to the bank on December 30 to make our last payment and Alexis screamed "We're Debt Free!" What a great feeling! We had this list posted on our fridge and would fill it in throughout the year. I posted a little more about this HERE.


I don't remember what we did for New Year's so it must not have been too exciting:)

Because I Knew You, I Have Been Changed For Good

This is the Rhodes family. Amberly is one of the first people I met when I moved to Ephraim. We met at the library story hour and we were both pregnant. Her twin boys were in our preschool co-op when Alexis and them were 4 and they are also all in the same first grade class. Amberly and I were in the same Bonko group and card making group. Greg took this picture of her family shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer close to 2 years ago. Amberly fought long and hard and was relieved of her pain when she passed away yesterday. I am grateful that she is at peace, but my heart is breaking for her family. She leaves behind 4 boys ranging from 4 to 8. I was only 9 when my dad passed away. One of the hardest things for me is that I can't picture his face in my mind. The only image I have of him are from pictures and Amberly's boys likely won't remember first hand just how amazing their momma was. She was so beautiful, with the most amazing smile. She was very smart, a great artist, extremely organized, genuine, kind, etc. But one of the things I admired most about Amberly was her unwavering faith. I imagine the rejoicing going on in Heaven is quite triumphant with her arrival. Her husband Jason is one of the kindest people I've ever known also. I have never once seen him without this giant smile on his face, even today when he was watching his boys participate in the schools May Day program.

Greg's Aunt Claudia died 2 1/2 years ago also of cancer. The song, "For Good," from the musical Wicked, was a song that brought me comfort at her passing. "Because I Knew You, I Have Been Changed For Good." My life will be forever blessed because of Amberly and her sweet family being a part of it.