MIA

i feel like i have definitely neglected our poor, family blog! every year at this time, i love getting out the decorations and getting the projects all ready that turn into memories and gifts. but, i must admit i overwhelm myself every time! i have the best of intentions, and i do start early, but i end up trying to do way more than i have the energy and time for! i love giving a gift more than receiving it most of the time. it's just so fun to think of all these things that i can make with my hands or with my camera, etc. that i think someone will think is so cool and make them happy! it's all in the spirit of christmas, but i'm afraid i make it too complicated and have not "uncluttered" my life/time like pres. uchtdorf challenged us to at the christmas devotional last week. oh well, i hope all of you like your gifts, because i do enjoy making them. and i hope i'm teaching my boys what christmas really is about each and every day and creating lasting memories with them.

so, the past couple of weeks, here's what we've been up to...
we did our annual, winter remodel project right in the middle of getting christmas decor up and put in new windows in the living room, laundry, and bentley's room. yeah! all the original, aluminum ones are gone! we also had a cool shelf put above the couch, new trim and molding, shelving put in bentley's closet in prep for two boys in there, and had some odds and ends fixed. we have a former bishop from our old ward do the work each year and bentley had a great time following him around and asking him all sorts of questions. he is quite the conversationalist! thank goodness for some help on getting it all painted, so we could put the house back to normal! ben stayed up late one nite and jill came and helped me the next afternoon and then i took their holiday picture in return.

ben went to a hay meeting in reno with his dad and brother, so me and the boys hung out by ourselves while the house was being finished. then it turned super cold!!! bentley told me it was so cold he could see smoke coming out of his mouth! i didn't even let bridon go outside. poor guy. he just tore up the house as best he could. we tried taking a holiday photo outside, but bridon was so cold he couldn't even crack a smile. in the end, i took two, candid ones indoors and lisa helped me make this awesome card. i guess if i send you one, you'll see it twice. oh well! thanks so much for helping me out! ben wrote his annual note to go inside and they are in the mail!

we had pre-school at our house. we studied the letter "k". here are the 3 kings...actually 4 that came to jesus' birth (we mix religion with our teaching :) we did other k activities and made rice "k"rispie treats colored like christmas trees. ben took bridon for a little bit. he got to ride in the buddy seat like a big boy. here he is waving at me from the window w/ uncle spencer. while i was cleaning up, i took a bite of a rice krispie treat, chomped down and felt something hard. i promptly swallowed and then discovered it was my tooth! yes, each one of my babies has caused me some major dental work. i go in for a root canal tomorrow morning. i had one with bentley and a crown and then two crowns after delivering bridon. if i have enough babies, all my teeth will be fake soon! but, i am printing a retraction...i didn't post this until now (mon. nite) and ended up getting my tooth extracted and a screw set for an implant in 6 months. i couldn't be sedated, so i got a shot in the roof of my mouth, felt all the pressure, and watched as my tooth was ripped out, piece by piece. it was awesome and only cost 4 big ones.
no, i haven't been in much pain and i'm glad i went to this dentist who does such a good job. i'm really grateful that it is just my teeth that are being ruined and not something horrible that couldn't be fixed!

we have attended two, friends' parties on the weekends (@tuft's and waite's) and have had fun catching up and seeing people we haven't talked to for awhile. the boys love playing with all the kids and have been, for the most part, pretty good sunday morning at church even though we put them to bed at 11! the party last nite was snow-covered. yeah! it warmed up and we have abt 3 inches of snow on the ground. bentley had a blast playing in it all day saturday. he 'spread' the lawn with it and he and i sledded a bit while bridon was taking a nap this afternoon!
there's much more going on, but i won't bore you with all the details. we attended our ward party last week as you can see from the sidebar. it was back to bethlehem and it felt like bethlehem. it was PACKED! there was a lot of effort put into the nite and it turned out really nice. year-end paper work is upon me, so i have and will be busy with that this coming week. and, today we start our advent tree that my mom made counting down to christmas day and jesus' birth. i can't believe it's all ready that close. happy holidays to everyone! i hope both you and i take the time to feel the spirit of christmas in our lives and remember the true meaning, not the hustle and bustle we sometimes let come upon us!