A cute Christmas story.

I thought this story was very cute. I just wanted to share it with everyone. I hope every one has a good Christmas!The "W" in Christmas
Each December, I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations - extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending. Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Pageant." I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room, I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as " Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row- center stage - held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love.">> The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down - totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W". The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W". Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"

And, I believe, He still is. Amazed in His presence... humbled by His love.

Family History

Lately I have been doing a lot of family history. It is addicting. I look forward to finding new names. I get excited when I finally find one that I was looking for. As you all know, the Larson and Hanson side have a lot of names and so does the Chick and McBride. I am still finding names that I don't have. I have a lot of work ahead with Jeremy's side of the family. Raytha is really nice and gives me a lot of info on the families. So I have a little bit on Jeremy's side. It will be alot of fun finding more. It will be a lot of work though. I am sure Jeremy gets annoyed that I am always on the computer. I could be addicted to worse things though. So if anyone else is doing family history and needs help finding info on our side of the family I might be able to help. Or you can just ask mom or Grandma Larson or Grandma Chick.

I hope everyone is doing well and is looking forward to the holidays. I am not ready for Christmas. I still have a lot of things to do. Jeremy has a lot of days off. He gets off Friday and of course the weekend and then his usual day Monday and Tuesday (which is Christmas). So it will be nice to have him home. He will probably be ready to go back to work on Wednesday though. I hope everyone has a fun safe holiday.

Update on Tyra

Ok, Jeremy and I took Tyra to see her doctor this morning. She has been really bad with her coughing and not sleeping. She hasn't really drank anything or eaten anything. She hasn't gone to the bathroom in like two days. So I was really worried. Well the doctor looked at her and gave her some prescriptions. She gave her a steroid for her cough, good thing she isn't old enough to play sports. She also looked at her ears and said that they red and she would probably get an ear infection. So she gave us amoxicillin for that. So with all this mediation we hope she gets better. I really need the sleep. I am just hoping that Shelby doesn't get sick. I did get some Christmas shopping done. Tyra fell asleep in the shopping cart at wal-mart and I was able to get a few presents for her and Shelby. Well that is about all. We had a nice dinner with my mom and the missionaries tonight. We talked a long time. It was fun. Well I better get an upset baby to bed.

Sick child.

We had a really nice weekend. It snowed Friday night and the snow has stayed around. That's because it has been so dang cold here. Well on Monday Jeremy had a doctors appointment in Boise so I thought it would be fun to hangout with Shannon at the mall. We had a lot of fun. We didn't buy a whole lot. We ate at the mall at pronto pups. That was good. I really like there food. Any way, Tyra started coughing that morning, but it wasn't that bad. Well when we got home that night she got to coughing really bad. She couldn't get any air in. So Jeremy and I took her in to Boise to the hospital. Why Boise? Well the last time we took her to Mtn. Home we were at the hospital at 11:30 pm until 4 am just so they could tell us they didn't know what was wrong with her. SO we decided not to go there anymore. When we got to the hospital Tyra wasn't coughing as bad. They gave us some medication to help open up her airways. That really helped that night. She was able to sleep all night. We were glad that Grandma was able to watch Shelby so we didn't have to drag her in. When we got to the hospital all Tyra wanted to do was play with the toys. So one of the nice nurses brought her a barn and some barn animals. She had fun playing with them. Well, now we are back to her coughing really bad and not sleeping at night or taking naps. So I see this week being really long. I am hoping her doctor calls me so I can see what else I can do or if I can bring her in. She just have to feel better by next Monday. The poor girl has a dentist appointment that day. I am sure she will love that. It will be her first one. We are hoping that she gets better soon. I would like to be able to sleep at night.

Playing in the snow

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It started snowing last night. I thought it was just going to snow a little bit, but when I woke up this morning to let Hogan (our dog) there was like 6 inches of snow on the ground. It was nice to see snow, but I'm not a huge fan of it. The girls had a good time playing in it. Well except when Shelby would fall down in the snow. She didn't like that. We had her all dressed up in snow clothes she was like that little kid in the movie The Christmas Story. You know the one, "I can't move my arms". Tyra was really excited to be able to play in the snow. Last time it snowed it rained afterwards and the rain made the snow go away. Tyra was pretty upset and kept asking, "why would the rain do that". The snow wasn't co-operating with Tyra though. She wanted to make a snowman, but the snow wouldn't stick together to make a ball. She had fun anyway. Jeremy borrowed my parents 4 wheeler and took the girls on a ride. Shelby wouldn't let him take her off. She wanted to keep riding she liked it that much, or she didn't want to fall in the snow anymore. We ended up going to town today to do a little shopping. When we got in the car our windshield was covered with snow. Well Jeremy went out to whip the snow off. He used his arm to get it off. Inside the car Tyra said, "why doesn't dad just use the wipers". The way she said it was funny it was like, DUH DAD! Well, that was our fun day today. This might be the only time they get to play in snow. You know how much snow we get here, like none. If we do it is only a little bit and it melts before we can play in it. Well my girls have played in it soooo, it can melt tomorrow and I wont care. I just don't like my steps being slick. Did I tell you I fell down them today? Yeah, it hurt. Jeremy was scared that I broke my wrist because I landed on it. I didn't, I am ok other then the nice bruise I got on my bottom. Ok, that is enough, I will stop writing now. If it snowed where everyone else is, I hope you have a nice snow day.

Our trip to Northern Idaho

Ok, I am finally going to sit down and update how everything has been going. We got back from Northern Idaho on Friday night. We have been pretty busy since we have been back. Our trip was really fun. We stayed with Jeremy's parent at the Stone Ridge resort in Blanchard, Idaho. We got to go in the spa, San'a and swimming pool every night while we were there. It was really relaxing. We got to see a lot of Jeremy's family while we were up there. It always nice to see everyone. I was surprise that we didn't get much snow up there. I was expecting it to snow a lot like it did last year. It was nice that the road were clear. Tyra got sick on that Monday that we were there. She felt a lot better that Tuesday though. Jeremy's dad got sick the last two days we were there. It wasn't fun that they got sick while we were up there. We took Tyra to see the Bee Movie while we were there. She said she didn't like it. I think it is more of a grown up cartoon. Jeremy's mom and I did a little bit of shopping while we were there. We had a nice Thanksgiving. Jeremy's mom cooked a really good dinner. We couldn't get Tyra eat, but Shelby couldn't wait to eat. We really had a good time up there. We are looking forward to next year.We are glad to be home. A lot of things needed to be done, but we got right to work on them. We have been going through are things and getting rid of a lot of stuff that we don't need or don't use anymore. We have also been rearranging. We finally put Shelby into a kids bed instead of her play pen. She sleeps a lot better in the little bed. I think she likes the freedom. We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday. The girls had a good time with that. Yesterday we went to Boise because Jeremy had a doctors appointment. Me and the girls met up with my friend Shannon and her little boy at the mall. We did a little bit of shopping. We had to hangout at the mall until Jeremy was done with his doctors appointment, which was all day. After we met up with him we went to a couple of other stores. Everyone was getting tired so we came back home to go to bed.
Today will be just a lazy day. I will probably pick up some stuff around the house though. Jeremy and I might go to the gym. We would like to be able to do that almost every night. We will see how the girls will do though. Well, here was our little update.

My husbands a dog!

Mom talked Jeremy into dressing up like Hank the Cow dog. It is a book series. So she had a big dog outfit for him to dress into. So Jeremy got to go down to the Grand View Elementary School and walk around in a dog outfit. It was funny and cute. He defiantly is a good sport about things. He had fun with the kids. He gave them high fives and did funny moves. Tyra was scared at first but she got over it. Once Jeremy put the dog outfit on Shelby didn't want anything to do with him, but once he took it off she went right to him. Every time she would look at Jeremy in the dog outfit she would say "Da?". It was cute. Well, that was our day today. Jeremy had a four day weekend and now he has to go to work tomorrow. He isn't looking forward to that. We are planning on leaving on Saturday to go up to Spirit Lake for Thanksgiving. If everything goes the way we are planning we will be gone a week. I should be a lot of fun. So we will miss everyone that is going to mom and dads. It will be good to Jeremy's family members though. Well I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving. I don't know the next time I will be able to write. There might not be Internet up there. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Cute pictures of Shelby

Shelby waiting for the parade to start
Tyra looking at the Helicopters
The 3 helicopters
Tyra and Shelby having fun.

Tyra eating her only piece of candy.

Veterans Day Parade

Today we woke up and went into Boise to watch the Veterans Day Parade. Jeremy was in it so we thought it would be fun to take the girls so that they could see him. He was able to ride his motorcycle with the Vets motorcycle association he is in. There were only 3 or 4 sport bikes and the others were cruisers. He had fun though. Tyra got really excited when she seen her daddy. Shelby just kept looking for him when I said there's daddy. We had a lot of fun. Shelby really like the marching band. She would start dancing in her stroller. I think Tyra got a little bored. At the beginning it was a little boring for the kids. They had like 15 or 20 corvettes at the beginning show some Vets. I didn't mind the corvettes though. They didn't throw that much candy. There were only 3 people that throw candy. Tyra got 1 piece. She was looking forward to having lots of candy. We had 3 helicopters fly over us. It was really neat, but loud. We are now home and relaxing. The girls want to take a bath so they are in the bath tub now. Our kitten likes to sit on the tub and watch the kids. Well, I guess Shelby thought it would be funny to grab her and pull her in. Billie didn't think it was funny. Well, I took some pictures and when I get them load onto my computer I will post them. They are pretty cute. I guess Jeremy is going to ride his motorcycle in the holiday parade next month if the weather isn't bad. That will be fun for the girls. It will have all the Christmas stuff in that parade. I hope everyone has a good day today.

Anniversary Inn

Last night Jeremy took me to stay at the Anniversary Inn. He wouldn't tell me which room we were going to stay in. So I had to wait till we got to the room. He made me cover my eyes. We stayed in the Romeo and Juliet room. It is the nicest room I've stayed in so far, but we have only stayed in the Swiss Family Robinson and the Mammoth Ice Caves. It was nice to have sometime away from the kids. It was nice to be able to sleep without anyone crying in the middle of the night. One thing good about Jeremy being military is that we get a huge discount on any room. That was very nice. We also went out to eat last night at Murphy's Seafood and Steak house. It was pretty spendy, but it was good food. It's nice to be spoiled once and a while. I am glad my husband had time to spoil me once and a while. He's wonderful!

Happy 1st of November!

I hope everyone had a good Halloween yesterday. We had a good Halloween. We went to the Air Base and went around the newest house. I would say Tyra was having fun, but I would be lying. Once she seen a little boy in a skeleton outfit she was saying, "I don't like Halloween. I want to go home." We kind of convinced her that everything was ok. We kept on trick or treating, but every time she seen a scary costume she would freak out and say she wanted to go home. It was pretty cold. I think by the time we were done the girls were glad to be home. So was their mom and dad. We sprayed Tyra's hair with the pink hair stuff they sell at Halloween time. We we got home the girls wanted to take a bath. Their bath water was bright pink. They that it was very cool. Well that was our night last night. We had fun.Today everything went back to normal, well kind of. Shelby and Tyra didn't sleep very well last night so I was super tired. Jeremy went to work this morning. First day back to work since he has been back. I feel sorry for him, he probably didn't sleep very well either. Tyra got up and went to school with my mom. It was nice getting a little break. Shelby decided to take a nap at 10 am and slept till after 1 pm. So I laid down on the couch to watch Spiderman 3. It didn't work, I dosed off. I got a good nap and feel pretty good. Now I need to get a hold of the vet to find out what's going on with Patches. We took her to the vet yesterday and they kept her there to do blood work. They found out that she was fighting some kind of virus and could have something wrong with her liver. She is a pretty old kitty probably 10 years old. I hope that we will know what is going on with her. I know it will cost quite a bit of money. Good thing Jeremy went to that school in California. We should now by this evening what is wrong with her. Well that is today's update. Nothing really planned for tonight.

More Pictures

Tyra really liked feeding the ducks and the geese.
I really like this picture.
My new hair.
Shelby sleeping on Melyni and Alma's floor. She must have been tired.
Shelby looks crazy in this picture.