Anyone that comes to our home can't help to miss that I LOVE CHRISTMAS. You are greeted by lights and a singing wreath as you walk up the walk. Upon entering, you will notice Christmas everywhere. This is my season. I love everything about it (except the cold). I have 5 decorated trees in our home.

I love to give gifts, lots and lots of gifts. However, we are on a pretty tight budget this year. Do you think that stopped me? Not a chance.

Notice all the presents sneaking out from under this tree? They won't all fit. If only that were all.

Remember, I said that I have 5 decorated trees. These are only the packages in our family room.

There are also presents in my bedroom.

However, I was able to stay on a budget. Here are my secrets to give a lot on a budget:

1. Watch for clearance items all year long and tuck them away for Christmas. You'd be amazed what you can find for pennies on the dollar out of season.

2. Shop the dollar stores. For $10 you can have 10 gifts. Wrapped individually, it looks like a lot.

3. Wrap small presents in big boxes. Kids (and teens) love big boxes. They also take up a lot of room under the tree.

4. Wrap every individual item separately. If the kids are getting an outfit of pants, shirt and sweater, instead of putting together in one box, wrap in three. Instantly more gifts for the same price. :)

Anyone coming into our home would swear we spent a ton on our kids this year. I promise we didn't. There are guaranteed to be plenty of smiles and shredded paper Christmas morning without a single bill due afterwards. That is JOY!

Can you believe it? I have bought 100% of my Christmas gifts, right down to the stocking stuffers. I mailed my packages away to far away friends and families.

If only I had done Christmas cards. Sorry to anyone that is looking forward to a Christmas card from the Christoffersen family. I just can't bring myself to it. The thought of the wasted paper, money, stamps, & time is just too much for me. I don't know why I can't find value in it. I love getting cards and keeping up with long lost friends, but I just can't do it.

Okay, so I'm done shopping, wrapping, mailing, and feeling guilty for not sending out Christmas cards this year.

We had a great lesson in relief society today about feeling weary and overcoming those feelings. I have to admit that at times I have felt weary, over-whelmed, and ready to give up. Wouldn't life be easier to just wrap myself up in my own self-pity and ignore the rest of the world.

I find that these feelings for me come the quickest when I try to compare myself to others around me. Someone mentioned that we need to "get real" with ourselves and those around us. I know that I often compare my worst self with others best self, or their "church face". When I do that, I come out on bottom.

Did you know that I don't like to stand up in crowds? I'm envious of those that can do so with ease. I am worried that others will see my children mis-behaving in public and know that I'm not as good as a mom as they are. I watch others easily quote scriptures and wish I had that same talent.

I have struggled with these types of self-talk my whole life and have come to the conclusion that life is not a competition with anyone but myself. I need to make peace with myself and the Lord. It doesn't matter that someone is better at something than I am. If I am doing all I can do, the Lord will make up the difference. Part of the atonement can be used to forge myself for the shortcomings of my own.

Through the Lord, I can do anything!

As promised in an earlier post, here's the scoop on Monday's exhaustion.

Our division at work is volunteering at the local Habitat for Humanity build site every Monday and Friday in October. It was strongly recommended that everyone take a day. This past Monday was my day. The task for the day was listed as "miscellaneous". I wasn't sure what to expect. We were told to just show up, they'd have everything including lunch provided.

When I first got there I was asked to cut pieces of vinyl fascia to go under the eves. They needed to be cut into 19" lengths. We needed hundreds of 19" lengths. These were to be cut manually with tin snips. Within a few minutes I had worn two blisters on my hands. I new that I couldn't continue with that task. I was then moved to nailing the fascia to the eves. This put me on a ladder nailing over my head every 12 inches down the entire length of the house.

Let me just tell you, my body is not meant to swing a hammer for seven hours. I came home completely exhausted. I had a lot of fun working with the rest of the people on the build. It's such a cute house that is going to a young man and his two little boys.

This experience made me very grateful for:
1. being able to comfortably afford the home that I'm in
2. the person that hammered the fascia to my house
3. organizations that provide housing for people in need
4. my warm bed to heal my sore body

I have been tagged!

8 t.v. shows I love to watch:
1. Design on a dime
2. House Hunters
3. What Not to Wear
4. My Home is Worth What?
5. Designed to Sell
6. John and Kate plus Eight
7. Property Ladder
8. Say Yes to the Dress

(Can you tell I really like TLC and HGTV?)

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Olive Garden
2. Johny Carino's
3. Mimi's Cafe
4. Maria's
5. Red Lobster
6. PF Chang's
7. Cheesecake Factory
8. Krispy Kreme (does that count as a restaurant?)

8 Things that happened yesterday:
1. I got to sleep in
2. I went to church
3. I took pictures of my girls
4. I straightened Jessi's hair
5. I helped the girls stump the Bishop
6. I lost Jessi's tithing
7. I drove the girls to a fireside
8. I studied my scriptures

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. going to bed
2. going to bed
3. going to bed
4. going to bed
5. going to bed
6. going to bed
7. going to bed
8. going to bed

8 things I love about fall:
1. cooler weather
2. pretty colored trees
3. That's about it. I'm not a huge fan of fall.

8 things on my wish list:

1. going to bed
2. going to bed
3. going to bed
4. going to bed
5. going to bed
6. going to bed
7. going to bed
8. going to bed

In case you can't tell, it's been a long hard day (more of that coming in a post later). I'm definately ready for bed.

8 people I am tagging
1. Addyson C
2. Amanda H
3. Debbie C
4. Heather C
5. Aimee M
6. Lyndsay J
7. Shana H
8. Allysa W

Marty had meetings at the church at 12:30 today. Addyson had a meeting at 1:00 and Sacrament meeting is at 2:00. The church is about 12 miles from home, so we really didn't want to go back and forth and back and forth. We debated as to what to do, but decided we'd all go to the church together.

In trying to decide what to do to keep us all occupied for over an hour, I decided to do a photo shoot at the church. We took over 70 pictures. Here's a sampling of what we took.

We started off with the three girls. We started with some serious pictures and then we got a bit silly.

This is one of the best pictures we've taken of Addyson in a long time.This is Addyson showing us she is HOT, HOT, HOT.

Jessica doesn't really like this picture because of the wind blown hair, but I think it gives it a model look.

I think this pictures is adorable of Jessi.

Rylee loves having her picture taken. I think she'd pose all day long if I had the time.

Rylee is showing her muscles (she's got to think she's tough to keep up with her older sisters)

Hope you enjoyed the hour we spent before church as much as we did.

I was strongly encouraged yesterday to watch my work/life balance. This came from my boss. Can a boss really think you work too much? If he does, that's probably a sure sign that you do. I work most of my days completely from my desk. I'm in before I'm scheduled, and I'm there after I'm scheduled. I'm going to make a couple of resolutions:

1. I will eat lunch away from my desk at least twice a week. Anyone want to go out to lunch?
2. I will leave by 3pm on Fridays (I'm scheduled off at 2:30, but I've got to give a cushion)
3. I'm not going to feel guilty when I don't go to work on Saturday.
4. I will enjoy my family when I'm at home.
5. I'm going to have a party at my house on Saturday. Are you coming?

Okay so for this blogging game, you need to post a blog using one of your own pictures. Open "My Pictures" file and choose the fourth folder in there. Then find the fourth picture in that file and post it! Let everyone know where, when, what, and who is in the picture and enjoy!!

This picture is in a file entitled "hair". When any of the girls or I find a hairstyle that we like, we save it in this folder. Then when it's time for a hair cut, we can print off the desired style. This is one that Jessica has saved. I think this is the style she chose a few cuts back.

Today is Marty's birthday. I thought I share some things about him. Some may really surprise you, other may not.

When Marty was in high school he was heavily involved in politics, television, radio, drama, and choir. Marty went to Washington DC as a representative from Wyoming for young republicans. His high school had both a TV and radio station. He was the morning anchor on the early news broadcast and the evening disc jockey on the radio station. Marty won several state awards in speech and debate as well as choir. As a high school student he was very involved very talented.

When I met Marty at the University of Wyoming he was considered the most eligible bachelor in the ward. Boy were the girls mad when I swooped him up in less than a couple of weeks. We were engaged before some of them even realized we were dating. That didn't make me very popular.

Marty is the most patient, kind man I know. He'd give the shirt off his back for someone if they needed it. He loves to serve others and the Lord. Marty is passionate about finances. He reads and reads and reads about personal finance. One day he'd like to be a certified financial advisor working for a non-profit to help people dig their way out of financial problems. It's great to have someone managing the finances that is so passionate about it. (We all know that is a polar opposite of myself).

In the 16 years that I have known Marty I have come to love him for all the different sides of him. He is an amazing, talented man. Happy Birthday!

About a month ago, Rylee's school teacher had called us asking us if we were aware that Rylee has a difficult time saying her "OR" sounds. I felt like asking her if she thought I never talked to my child. Of course I knew that it was difficult for Rylee to say that sound. I've talked to teachers in the past and they said that she would out grow it. I finally found a teacher that doesn't think she'll outgrow this. Just to give you an example of the difficulties she has, horse and purse rhyme. I bet you didn't know that, but if you are talking to Rylee they do. The long O sound followed by an R is hard to say for her.

She asked for permission to put Rylee in speech therapy. I had no problem with that.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. I received a phone call from the special education counselor at Rylee's school last Friday. She informed that they had put Rylee through all kinds of batteries of tests to figure out what kind of "special education" Rylee would need. I questioned her on the use of "special education". In my mind that is the children that are a little slower to learn. Rylee consistently scores in the 90th percentile on benchmark tests. She receives good grades. I wouldn’t classify her as special ed. She quickly let me know that speech therapy was part of the special education curriculum at school and that Rylee wasn't being considered for anything but that. PHEW! That was one label that I didn't want on my child unless she needed it.

The outcome of the battery of tests though indicated that Rylee has quite poor eye sight. Boy the guilt that pours over a mom. How can a mom not know that? Wouldn't it be obvious? Then I started thinking about things. During sacrament meeting Rylee would ask, what time is it? I would tell her to look at the clock, thinking that she didn't want to think about it since it's a traditional clock and not a digital. She’d glance toward the clock and then go back to listening. I didn't realize she couldn't see the clock. Boy am I a bad mom.

We got her right in to the eye doctor. Sure enough, she needs glasses. Off to Wal-Mart we went to take advantage of their back to school special and 20% discount for employees. That made glasses less than $35 including tax. Now that's a deal. We've decided to go back and get at least one more pair, but probably two.

So, here's the reveal of the new girl in her beautiful copper frames.

I think she looks very grown up. She is amazed at all the things she can see now. She can see all the signs in Wal-Mart. (Maybe she won't get as lost now). She can read the clocks in the house (and in sacrament meeting). It's a whole new world for her now. I'm excited for her.

Now I understand that special education really means treating the kids extra special!

Four places I go over and over again:
1. Work
2. Church
3. To the bathroom
4. Crazy

Four people who email me regularly:
1. Jessica
2. Addyson
3. Jean
4. LDSworkingMoms

Four of my favorite places to eat:
1. Maria’s
2. Olive Garden
3. Red Lobster
4. Carino’s

Four places I'd like to visit:
1. Italy
2. France
3. Australia
4. Africa

Four things I like to do with my family:
1. Give Hugs
2. Play Games
3. Sing songs
4. Pray

Every Friday night is date night in our house. Marty and I don't usually do anything too exciting, usually either dinner or dessert. If we eat dessert, we we’ll take it to go and find a quiet spot to visit, while enjoying the sweets. I’ve really come to enjoy the standard night out.

This past Friday night was the world premier of Cheetah Girls One World movie on Disney channel. The girls asked if they could have a premier party and watch the movie. Not even thinking about date night, I agreed. Before I knew it, the girls had invited over 25 girls to come to the house. 18 showed up. Marty and I decided we would move our date to Saturday.

Saturday morning we decided to make it a “date day” instead of a “date night”. The plan was to go help the Bradley’s move, help the Well’s rearrange furniture, run to the little Debbie store in Gentry, grab some lunch, do some shopping for the upcoming ward party, and then grab some dinner. We’d successfully done the first two things on our list. After a trip to Gentry, we discovered the store’s closed on Saturday (who closes when everyone’s off work?). On the way home from Gentry, we happened upon a one car accident. We were the first one’s on the scene but didn’t have cell phone service. Another car came along about the same time. We talked to the two people hanging in the car (on it’s side) until emergency responders came on the scene. Then we headed off to lunch. After lunch, we were TIRED. We’d had a full day by then. We headed home to take a nap. As soon as I woke up from nap, Jessica was insistant that our date continued. Warning bells started going off. Why would a 12 year old want her parents out on a Saturday night? We started quizzing her. She just kept saying that she wanted to make sure we got our full date. Yeah right! She then started joking that she was planning a huge party and needed to know what time we’d be home. She needed to make sure that she had time to move all the furniture to the garage, have the party, and clean up. She wanted to invite all the boys over for a dance party. Her friend Shelby kept reassuring us that she wouldn’t let Jessi have a party. Shelby she had Bishop and Brother Bacoccini on speed dial. She said if the party started, she’d give them a call. Jessica thought it would be great idea to invite Buck to the party.

After threatening Jessi to have no parties, we did go out to dinner. Am I ready to have teenagers? Am I ready to have boys at the house? When did my cute little girls grow up to be young ladies? When did I get old enough to have teenagers? Am I old enough to have teenagers? Will I survive? My parents did, so I suppose I will too.

About a week ago, there was an awful smell coming from Rylee's room. When I questioned her, she said she had a bowl of popcorn with parmesan cheese in her room. I hate the smell of parmesan cheese! We had a talk about no food and drink in the bedrooms. As the days went by, the smell worsened. Marty then investigated. He found 4 glasses with milk fermenting in the bottom. GROSS! We removed them from the room, but the smell didn't leave.

Yesterday we emptied everything out of her room. I mean EVERYTHING. If you'd come to our home last night, you'd have found her bed in the family room. We then got down on our hands and knees and sniffed around until we found the cause of the smell. Looks like some of that milk spilled on the carpet!

We have shampooed the carpet, used vinegar and baking soda, lysol, & pinesol. The smell is better, but still there. Since the weather is supposed to be mellow the next few days we are leaving the window open to air it out. Anyone have any other suggestions to get the smell out?

I have been growing my hair out for the last 3 years. My Arkansas friends have never seen me with short hair, but that really is the norm for me. I go through phases of growing out and chopping off, but short is really more my style. I love being able to go from shower to out the door in less than 10 minutes.

I have a friend Carol that is starting Chemo this next week. She has been looking at wigs and that got me thinking, if I'm going to cut off my hair I should see if I had enough to donate. I checked out all the different agencies and really liked locks of love the best. Jessica had donated to them before and I just feel like that really is where I wanted my hair to go. So now for the pictures.

Here is a before:

Here's what they cut off:

And here's the end result:

Front:

Back:

I am really pleased with it. I wasn't sure if Marty would like it, but he said it makes me look younger, so I guess that's a possitive.

“Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes

Silver white winters that melt into springs

These are a few of my favorite things”

Okay, so these aren’t really my favorite things, but it got me thinking, what are my favorite things? I’m not creative enough to come up with a rhyme, so I’ll just come up with a ramble.

My favorite husband is Marty. I know he’s my only husband, but he’s a darn good one. I love that he wants the best for me. I love that he is always there for me when I need him. He takes such good care of me and my family.

My favorite oldest daughter is Addyson. She is a talented outgoing young woman with a strong desire to always do what’s right.
My favorite middle daughter is Jessica. She has really morphed into a beautiful young woman. A year ago, she was my tomboy and now she’s as much of a girl as anyone. She is a great friend and a joy in life.
My favorite youngest daughter is Rylee. She is my smiley Rylee. She has the most infectious smile. She is constantly happy and always wanting to help.

My favorite place to sit: right side of the couch holding hands with Marty. That is true comfort.
My favorite food: chocolate. That’s one of the 5 basic food groups isn’t it?
My favorite church song “there is sunshine in my soul”. I can’t help but smile when singing that song.
My favorite hymn “I know that my Redeemer lives”. Isn’t there comfort in that phrase?

We got into St. George just as sacrament meeting was starting in our old ward. The girls really wanted to got to church and see their old friends and our old bishop. We got settled in and changed clothes in time to make it to Relief Society and Young Women's.

We saw the bishop while still in the parking lot. The girls love Bishop Killpack and he loves them. He came running out to the girls to greet them. He then escorted them into the church and made sure they found their classes.

It was fun to see all our friends from St. George.

After church we were sitting around visiting. I saw a young man in shirt and tie approach the front door. I hollered to my mother-in-law that they had come for fast offerings (it was fast Sunday). As the door was opened, there were actually about 6 young men standing there. They asked for Addyson. They wanted to invite her to a party this week while we are here. Silly me, thinking these young men were coming for fast offerings when they were actually coming for my daughter. It hadn't crossed my mind. I don't think I'm ready for this!

It was a relatively uneventful trip to Utah this week. We left right after work on Tuesday and drove to Lincoln Nebraska. After a mere 5 hours of sleep, we were headed west once again. The closer to Utah we got, the more Jessica and I were coughing and the more my ears were hurting. Jessi and I have had a pesky cough for several weeks, but thought it was allergy induced. We were hoping for a reprieve while in the dryer desert climate. That was not to happen. We got up this morning to go find a doctor. I have a sinus infection, bronchitis and a bulging ear drum. Jessi has bronchitis. $100 worth of medicine later, hopefully we'll be feeling much better. The doctor doesn't think this is from allergies. Hopefully a good dose of antibiotics will do us some good.

It sure is fun to have the cousins together. It's plenty warm, but that doesn't seem to bother them.

Yesterday was my first stake dance. Well, at least it was supposed to be. Very few people showed up so it wasn't really a dance. We played limbo and some other games instead of really dancing. That was okay with me though. It was a lot of fun.

Addyson is going on a pioneer trek in July. She is leaving for Utah on Monday and won't be back until right before the trek. I had to get her clothes ready for the trip. She needed a long skirt or dress, apron and bonnet. We really lucked out and found long full skirts at a local thrift shop. We also found some cotton button down shirts at the thrift store. All I had to do was make an apron and bonnet. I took Addyson to the store to look for fabric. We couldn't really find a floral print that would have been true to the period. We made the decision to just choose fabric that Addyson really liked. So, here's my version of a pioneer.

As a follow up from Camp, the bishopric has asked Jessica to speak in church this Sunday about her experiences at camp. She informed Buck (the one who asked her to speak) that this would be the best talk ever given by a beehive. We encouraged her to keep the talk along the spiritual side and not talk only about the swimming and jewelry making. I had her brainstorm all the different activities that they did and what she learned from each. We then found the 7 purposes of camp. She was then able to map out her talk.

Marty and I went to dinner for date night and came home to a complete talk written in Jessica's own words. I am very impressed. When did my little girl turn into a young woman? It's hardly fair.

I do have to share one funny thing she wrote. This isn't to tease her, but so that we can remember this for years to come. It was sooooo cute. She wasn't sure how to spell bishopric, so it came out "bishop brick". Every bishropric that I've ever known has been so strong, that they probably were built from bricks.

This past week was girls camp for Addyson and Jessica. This was Jessica's first year. In the past year, she has really morphed into a girl. The thought of camping for a week in a tent without running water wasn't any fun. Addyson kept trying to convince her that she would enjoy camp. Jessica wasn't buying it. In preparation for camp, the leaders dubbed her "Chief grumbler". The weather forecast was rain all week. As a mom, I prayed for sunshine all week, so that Jessica would have one fewer thing to grumble about. A member of the bishopric called and asked if I thought Jessica would be willing to speak in sacrament meeting about her camp experience. I warned him that he may get more than he bargained for if she did that.

To my pleasant surprise, she came home from camp with much enthusiasm. She had a great time. The leaders even relinquished the grumbler title from her. She discovered that she can sleep on the ground, in a tent, with bugs, and still have a good time. PHEW!