Wait Upon the Lord

After starting a new diet I altered my drive to work to avoid passing my favorite bakery. I accidentally drove by the bakery this morning, and as I approached, there in the windows were a host of goodies. I felt this was no accident, so I prayed ... "Lord, it's up to you, if you want me to have any of those delicious goodies, create a parking place for me directly in front of the bakery." And sure enough,

on the eighth time around the block, there it was!

This really cracked me up! Don't we do this?? I know I do from time to time!!

Unfortunately, this is the way I seem to be dieting right now too!! Yesterday I was in Shopko and I walked past a box of chocolates and I said to myself, "I should grab one of those on my way back." I meandered through the store and gathered the things I went there for, telling myself that I did not need a box of chocolate. On my way to check out, I passed the chocolate display, of course, and I stopped just to see if they had truffles and sure enough they did and amazingly enough I discovered that they were on SALE!! Buy one and get one free! Well, that clinched it for me! I just HAD to get one so that I could get the free box. Of course, the woman at the check out said that the free box was fat free too!

So, there you go!

Tag - I'm it!

Ok, I am new to these things, but Krista seems to think that I need to share this information with everyone!

Husbandology!

What’s his name? Scott Lee

How long have you been together? Married 29 years going on 30.

How long did you date? Did?? We still try to date, but before we were engaged, we dated for about 2 months.

How old is he? 51, can you believe it?? Aaron thinks its a kick because he is half as old as his Dad. (Well, he was on his birthday, then Scott had his and turned 51.)

Who eats more? Scott definitely eats more, but I eat dumber.

Who said I love you first? I really can't remember that detail. We have both said it so many times through the years.

Who is taller? Scott is definitely the taller of us. His 6' tower over my 5' 2". As Krista and Nanci both said in their blogs, they came from a long line of shorties. I am living proof of that, but who said it was a bad thing? You know what they say about dynamite!!

Who is smarter? Scott is so smart, he amazes me all the time. I just don't know how he knows all of these things. I am sure the kids got their brains from him!

Who does laundry? I have always loved to do the laundry. I guess that is good with 7 kids around the house.

Who does the dishes? I do the dishes most of the time now that the kids are gone. Well, Luke is still here, but he is kind of spoiled. He does his share, though. I used to have a kitchen chart and it was the kids job to do the dishes and I did them on Sundays, but since they are gone, I do them more. The sweet thing about Scott is that he is always willing to pitch in and help out and he does the dishes quite often.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? That would be Scott.

Who pays the bills? I actually write the checks and stuff, but Scott is the one who works and brings home the bacon to make that possible!

Who mows the lawn? Mowing the lawn is one of the jobs that I had kids to do. I used to love to do it when I was a teenager though; I'd put on the swim suit and get some rays while mowing the lawn! Those were the days!! The boys have done it since they were old enough and so now that job falls to Luke. Of course, Scott is the 2nd string mower and does pick up the slack from time to time.

Who cooks dinner? We both do. Scott has actually gotten to be a really good cook and enjoys cooking. Sunday has been his day to cook for many years and we look forward to that! He cooks all the fish and has cooked our Thanksgiving turkey for years!

Who drives when you are together? Scott. I love to sit in the middle of the truck and snuggle while he drives. Sometimes I get a little put out because he doesn't give me a turn. Like when we drove down from Alaska this spring, I kept asking him if he wanted me to drive and he kept saying he was ok. (I think it is a man thing!!) He finally relented and let me drive and then I understood. His long legs just don't have enough room when he sits in the passenger seat!

Who is more stubborn? That would definitely be me.

Who kissed who first? You might say we both did. At Scott's insistence (some promise he made himself when he was a teenager) our first kiss was across the alter. It was pretty intimidating because everyone knew it was our first kiss and my loving brothers were sitting there like vultures waiting for the moment to pounce!!

Who asked out who first? Since we are from the generation where boys do all the asking, it was definitely Scott!

Who has more siblings? I win that one!!

Who wears the pants in the family? We both wear pants. Scott full time and me from time to time. We have always tried to do things together and to agree about things. I do believe that he is the head of our family and so I turn to him quite a bit. I respect his opinion and try to follow his council. If I disagree, then we sit down and go over things together!

Wow! That was long! I do believe that the expectation of a "tag" is that I now throw this to someone else to fill out. So, here you go Emily, Aaron and Ben!!

How cute are kids?

We had such an awesome time with the kids and grandkids here. I had forgotten how precious life is when viewed through tiny eyes. We had so many incredible moments with the kids and since they have all gone home, I have been remembering them and cherishing them. I thought I would share a few of them.

I have had this little note stuck to my mirror since before Christmas and every day when I look in the mirror, I think of the little hands that wrote it for me. It was such a sweet moment when Isaac came to find me to give me my "secret note." He was so proud of himself for writing it for me. Of course, it came with a tight squeeze and a smooch.

Last year, Scott gave me this nativity set. It is so beautiful. The kids were so good to just look and not touch the pieces. Every once in awhile things would be rearranged, but for the most part, they didn't bother it. One day we happened to notice a slight alteration to the arrangement. If you look closely you will see the addition of a bear and a dinosaur to the group worshipping the baby Jesus. There was even a little baby Jesus in a matchbox that Eve made in Primary on there for the longest time. When I saw what the kids had done, I was so touched by the beautiful symbolism. The invitation to come worship Him is indeed extended to all!!

The little girls and I were the angels for our Christmas story reinactment. They were so sweet draped in their white cloths adorned with halos!! (Of course, Eve had to be a ballerina angel!!)

Isaac was a very sweet Joseph and he kept such a good watch over Mary/Hilary. If you look closely you will see that she is holding his staff to prevent him from bopping everyone with it!

Eli received a little car set for his birthday and he was so good to share and let Esther take a turn. He was so cute playing with his cars!

Sweet rewards

Last week was the Relief Society Visiting Teaching meeting. The theme was, Sweet are the Rewards of Visiting Teaching. As a member of the Enrichment Committee, I was assigned to have some kind of centerpiece for the tables. I thought it would be a cinch as I had 6 gingerbread houses made of various sweets sitting at my house. I would just work my centerpieces around them.

(We made all of the gingerbread (graham cracker) houses when all the kids were here for Christmas. Emily and I made some with the kids and then she and the girls made some more a few days later.)

When I returned home from the meeting, I looked at the houses to make sure they were still presentable. They were in awesome shape, but there was a problem. I had forgotten that a couple of them were non traditional. Emily made hers the "house of horrors!" There were gingerbread men impaled on candy canes and other bizarre things. One of the other ones was a disaster scene with roofs collapsed and stuff.

I knew that the gingerbread houses were out. I would have to make a couple more at the very least if I wanted to use them. A couple of days later I got a call from the RS counselor letting me know that they would like 8 tables, rather than the 6 indicated. The houses were REALLY out! So, I thought about the theme and what I could do. I decided to make candy bouquet centerpieces.

I had never made one before, not even seen one. I do know how to wrap flowers so I decided it couldn't be that hard. I don't generally make floral arrangements as it is not a skill I possess. I thought about it and decided to give it a go. I spent a couple hours one evening wrapping all the candy. Scott actually helped me and so it went pretty fast. It took a little trial and error to get the arrangements just right, but I think that they turned out pretty well.

I did something that I really didn't think I was good at it was successful! Amazing!!

Sweet bouquet

All ready!

Kids Best Friend

"Will you be my friend?"

"Can we pet Fitzy??"

"I said, down!"

Puppy love!

Fitzwilliam has really been the center of attention for the last month or so. In November when Hannah was here with us, she spent a lot of time snuggling him and putting him through his paces. At Grandma Ekstrom's on Thanksgiving, he was a big hit and the kids were so excited to let him in the house and to pet him. Fitz loved having everyone here for Christmas and I think he gained more weight than me from all the treats the kids gave him! Esther was his new best friend. She would let him in and then he would follow her around because he knew that she was the source of lots of goodies. The ones she would give him and the ones she would drop as she scavenged.

The top picture and the bottom picture are the sweetest to me. The top picture was taken in October when Aaron and his family came to visit us. Eli is just getting brave enough to approach Fitz. Fitz is looking at him with those big eyes wondering how long it is going to take him to be his friend! The bottom picture shows you how Eve feels about Fitz and how patient and sweet he is with the kids.

When I saw Eve lying there on Fitz, I just had to grab the camera and capture that moment. Those two adore each other and I think the picture tells it all!

Mission accomplished!

Several years ago I picked a quilt that I really wanted to make and put on my bed. I showed Scott and he liked it and so I kept the book on my nightstand and I would get it out every once in awhile and look at it and plan how I would make it and what fabric I would use. Years went by and the book moved from the nightstand to the drawer and then back to the nightstand. It was always one of my goals to get it made, but still the book sat collecting dust.

When we moved here, I promised myself that I would make the quilt. I told Scott and he just kind of nodded his head at me. I am sure that he thought it would be years before he saw the quilt on the bed. WELL, I surprised him! I think I even surprised myself.

I went out and bought the material (which sat in the sewing room for a couple of months) and I actually made the quilt. I took a trip down to Idaho and quilted it on my sister's quilting machine. I even made a dust ruffle and shams and now that Christmas and Christmas sewing (yes, I even did Christmas sewing this year!!) are done, I plan to make a couple of throw pillows too!

I am so proud of myself for finally following through and finishing something I have wanted to do for so long! I think it looks pretty good, too!

Birthday Grandpa

Yesterday was New Years Eve, but around our house it has another special meaning, it is the birthday of our beloved husband, father and grandfather! Yes, it was Scott's birthday yesterday. What fun for him that most of the family was still here to celebrate it with him! He actually had 2 birthday celebrations, one on Christmas Eve as part of the mass birthday party and then yesterday all by himself!!

I sit here wondering what I can say about Scott that I didn't say in an earlier blog about our anniversary. He is the best part of me and the greatest blessing in my life. He is my best friend and my favorite person in the world. He is such a wonderful man and an awesome husband and father. I watch our son's and see his influence; I see our daughters looking for men just like him. We are so blessed to have him in our lives!!

Happy Birthday, Scotty!! May you have many, many more!!