november.  2011

Oh, Thanksgiving was tremendously amazing.  Probably different than most people expect.  With Jarom traveling Mon-Fri., and us getting two days to spend time together, get family things done, and do our church callings/meetings on Sundays, we don’t have a lot of relax time together.

So our Thanksgiving was stress-free.  It was just our little family.  We had the best Thanksgiving feast for as far back as I can remember.  Everything turned out amazing, and best of all, I didn’t even make a dessert.  We bought the large gigantic chocolate cake from Costco, and a pumpkin pie from there too.  Only two pieces of the pumpkin pie were eaten, but as you can tell, the chocolate cake had been munched on for days, and we still had so much left. 

I am very grateful for so many things, but especially for the gospel in my life, a husband who works hard for us, but at the same time, wants to spend all his time when not at work with us.  I love these sweet and amazing children we have been given.  They teach me so much everyday, mostly how I need to be a better person through their example.  I’m grateful for the choices I have made, and hope to continue to make good choices.  Life is great!

 How the kids were before I made them pose for a picture…

 Then our posed Thanksgiving pic…

 The most heavenly, decadent, chocolate cake on earth!!!

Cute pic’s of the girls…

september. 2011

We have a Yukon XL. If you don’t know what that is, it’s one of the largest roadside vehicles that you can purchase in America. Has a large steel frame, can run over Geo Metro’s like their rocks.

So in September, on highway 285 in Georgia, 4 car lane, we are in the farthest to the left, and morning traffic starts to come to a sudden halt. We brake suddenly also, and then the next thing I know, we are hit from behind, and are sliding down the cement block separator. We got hit so hard, we had to have been pushed probably 100 ft. I remember gripping the steering wheel, and hollering to the kids, “It’s ok, hang on, we’re in an accident!” We were nailed up against the wall, the whole left side cheek to cheek. I can figure, the woman behind me in the Ford Explorer didn’t realize everyone was breaking, and hit us full force.

Luckily, no one died or was injured in the four car pile-up that she created. Unfortunately for me, after the cop asked what happened to the woman at the back who started this whole nightmare, he came to me, blamed me, said it was my fault, and gave me a ticket, and ONLY me. Hmmmmm. About 99% of car accidents are caused from the back car, and he walks up without looking at any evidence, and tickets me.

So we hired a lawyer, went to court, and got my license cleared of any points. But at the same time, I question the justice? Where are my tax dollars going? Well, none of us probably really want to know that, but this cop said he had been doing this so long, he could just tell what happened. Obviously, his senilility should require him to retire early, and even the judge said, “Oh, Doraville County, that explains it.”  Blimey, the cop didn’t even write down the right make and models of the vehicle, and his accident report was as though a 1st grader wrote the sentence explaining what happened. 

I’m most grateful that we were in our giant beast, and that none of my children were injured. So our morning prayers we say together before we drive anywhere were answered.

This is how our car looked right after the accident.  Nothing was touched or changed.

We were pushed so hard and so far into the cement wall, there were multiple holes in the side of our gigantic tires.

Uhhh,  pretty self explanatory.  Everything is hanging by a thread at this point at the rear of the car.

 

october. 2011

Alex and I had so much fun at Spark. Jarom and I decided if we can afford to bring children, when they are 12 and older, they can come with mom if it still keeps going on that long.

Alex was one of two young women at the whole event. So many moms came up to us and told us they want to bring their daughters next year. Alex is very creative, artistic, and unfortunately for me, independent. Did I mention this is hard letting go as your child gets older? She didn’t need my help at all, in fact, I needed her help with all the artsy stuff.

The classes were great, the designers and people who have very successful businesses came and taught us some great projects!   We got hundreds of dollars of goody bag stuff to bring home, gift after gift after gift…but the only let-down was the snack room. Last year, it was stocked, and we could grab snacks anytime. This year, they would have an apple or cupcake or a small chocolate or something small. When you are there all day, 8am-9pm, ya need some snacks! But everything else was top-notch! Margie and the other women did a great job! I can’t wait for next year!