From LDS Daily Gems!

I really like this and thought i would share it!

"I take great delight in my role as a nurturer, which allows me to express my deepest identity as a woman. I never fail to be struck by the way that women, young women, and even little girls seem to have an instinctive interest and ability in nurturing. It is not only a mother's primary responsibility but also part of our 'individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose' ("The Family: A Proclamation to the World," Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102). To nurture is to teach, to foster development, to promote growth, to feed, and to nourish. Who would not shout for joy at being given such a blessed role? "The scriptures use the word nurture only twice and in both cases speak of the responsibility of parents to raise their children 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord' (Ephesians 6:4; Enos 1:1).Susan W. Tanner, "My Soul Delighteth in the Things of the Lord," Ensign, May 2008, 82

Attack of the Killer Baby!

Here is Parley in his new pajamas from Grandma Peterson. We thought this video was pretty funny! Grandma Post is in the background talking and Parley is playing with his little duck. Just at the end is the funniest part! :-)

Christmas with the Simmons

So we had a really fun Christmas and it was even a white Christmas, which i felt was a nice bonus! Dean and I went up to Port Orchard and spent the night with Dean's parents and Grandma Post! There was so much snow we weren't sure we would be able to make it out there, but we managed. There was such a nice yard full of snow when we got there that the boys set in making a snow fort. When we arrived Barry had already started work on it with Isabella and Genevieve. Dean jumped right in with the work crew, i am pretty sure he didn't even come into the house until it was finished. I watched from the window with Parley. It was nice though, even from the window, it brought back some memories for me of making a big old snow fort with my Dad and all the kids. So here are the glorious pictures of the fort they constructed.

Christmas Eve we ate Christmas cookies and sat around and visited while the kids played in the snow. It was the first time that I was able to meet Bill's wife Sarah and her three girls (Genevieve, Isabella, & Josephine). Bill is in the military and they moved around a lot. Right now Bill is in Korea, but we got to chat with him online. It was really nice to meet them all and get to know them better. Then we had a nice dinner over at Grandma's house and Dean and I sat down for a game of Sequence with Grandma. First Grandma won, she is a real tricky player and then I won the second round. Then we finally settled in for the night. The next morning we got up and opened the stockings and some gifts from Mom and Dad Simmons. We also opened a package from Grandma Peterson. We thought about staying one more day, but the weather reports kept threatening more snow and we didn't want to get stuck there, so we headed back home that night. When we got home Sarah's kids opened there other presents. They were all lobbying that we go home too instead of stay another night because they really wanted to open their presents. Dean and I cheated and opened ours before we left. :-) I knew Dean couldn't wait, after all last year he woke me up at 5:30 in the morning on Christmas Eve to open our presents, so for the sake of my sleep i decided to open them up before we left.

Bringing in the Christmas spirit...

I think the above pictures speak for themselves! :-)

This is a little tradition from my family. We always made paper chains as kids. Some would end up decorating the tree or be hung from the walls, but it was a fun thing for me and reminds me of Christmas in the past and good family fun memories! So this year i made some paper chains to help bring in that special Christmas spirit. What are some of your christmas memories and or traditions?

I was tagged by Mel!
Here are the rules:
1 - List the person(s) who tagged you
2 - Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
3 - Tag fellow 5 bloggers

Quirk #1: I am not sure how to explain this quirk, but i like to lean on , put my feet on, sit on, hang on, or put my head on my siblings, family, friends etc. I used to do this a lot to my brothers and have occasionally done it to a perfect stranger accidentally. Those were kinda embarrassing moments. I guess it is my way of showing my love!! ;-)

Quirk #2: I like to play a game called "scenario masters" as my husband calls it. This game involves me making up scenarios in my head of conversations with people and figuring out various ways to respond to something another person might say. This could be somebody i do or don't like, but usually i do this while driving or walking or doing mundane tasks. Sometimes it is a person i would really like to give a piece of my mind, or when i was younger, some guy i would really like to talk with. It all started while i delivered newspapers as a kid. I would get bored and so my mind would start to wonder and I would usually end up deeply engaged in a game of scenario masters. Often i am talking out loud, so when i happen upon a person while walking for example sometimes it can be embarrassing. However, usually i don't know if I am talking out loud or just in my head... one can never tell.

Quirk #3: I am a habitual saver of receipts. You know when they ask if you want it in the bag or with you, i always say with me. I dutifully stuff it in my wallet with the growing stack of other reciepts. When this first started i always planned on keeping track of them and balancing my check book or something that i for some reason felt compelled to do because my mother told me to, but i obviously missed the point of her lesson because I eventually throw them out when they start to burst out of my wallet and in my mind rationalize that I am too far behind and will start fresh with my next batch of receipts. I know there is a good sound financial reason for keeping these in order to track spending, but I decided to hire an accountant to do this for me, my husband!! :-) Unfortunately i still have not been able to kick the habit even though my husband doesn't use my receipts.

Quirk #4: I have a rather short attention span, or maybe i just get bored quickly. At any rate i have multiple stacks of unfinished crochet projects. Don't get me wrong, I have finished a few, but those were mostly scarves or hats or very small lap blankets.... actually when you think about it all those blankets i started have just been downsized into dish cloths. Nevermind this isn't a quirk at all! :-)

Quirk #5: When i was in high school and probably still now I had the quirk of making half a comment in a class or something and then would pause and try to figure out where the heck i was going with that thought and then would finish or occasionally would not. I just collect my thoughts and phrase my sentences and speak at the same time and sometimes the collecting/filtering of thoughts is a bit slower then my mouth. I think i have gotten better at this, but I realized this is why my mouth often gets me into trouble. It doesn't like to wait for the collecting and filtering before it starts blirting things out!

Quirk #6: I love to change the channel. I am the worst person to hold the control or be the one who controls the stations in the car. I have to go through all my favorite station, just to make sure i am not missing a song or show that i like. Sometimes i like a song, but i have to check the other station to make sure there isn't one that i like more on another station. So anyway it is a blissful ride when i am alone in the car, but maybe pure torture for anyone else!

Emalee, Bronwyn, Helena, Erin Horn

I Love Thanksgiving!!

Back at the farm again.... kinda! ;-)

Patiently awaiting dinner while playing some traditional bored or i mean board games!

This is a real contemplative moment.... how can we get that turkey to cook faster??

I really enjoy Thanksgiving and all the yummy food!! This year was especially fun because my three brothers came, two of whom are married. So my sister and I and three of our brothers got together and we had a really awesome time playing games and cooking food and spending time together. It was really nice to see them all and catch up on things. Sarah and I finally got to meet Johan's wife, Megan. We love her!! Anyway is was all very nice but mostly it is really nice to spend time with family.

My two super cute fellows!!

Dean was messing around with a new style while shaving... he thought it as pretty funny, but i thought it looked pretty awesome!! ;-))

ZZzzzz... zzZzzz...

I love those wide eyes!

see... he looks pretty handsome right! I was thinking a cowboy hat and wow, look out Marlboro man, just as handsome without the black lungs!!! ;-) hehe

I love my hubbardy! :-)

Here is Parley's Halloween costume! Some sort of skinny jack-o-lantern! Anyway, we had to sport the cute pumpkin baby legs from auntie Samara and the onsie from Gina D! :-)