Alyssa is 3!

Our little Alyssa just turned 3 on Tuesday! Yay! I love birthday celebrations! I thought I would share some of my feelings about Alyssa.

Alyssa is so special and we just love having her in our family. She is so funny and makes me laugh all the time. She is also so compassionate. If I'm crying, she will come pat my back and put her head on my shoulder and sing me a song to make me feel better. It's so sweet. She seems so much older and wiser than three sometimes. She has been getting really interested in art lately. She would draw, paint, and play with playdough all day if I would let her. She also loves to dance and pretend she's a pretty princess ballerina. She wears pretty dresses and skirts everyday (all her pants are going to waste because she just won't wear them!)

We got Alyssa a scooter for her birthday with Disney princesses all over it and streamers coming out of the handles. It's a girly scooter through and through and she loves it. When we first put it together, we let her ride it in the house. She rode it in the kitchen and then rode it upstairs to the bathroom and then to her bedroom and had to sleep with it right next to the bed. In the morning, she rode it into my room. It was funny to see her so attached to it already.

We also got her a new princess blanket that lights up. She showed it to me and gave me her best silly smile. I'm not sure what she's trying to do, but she looks hilarious!

We love Alyssa so much. We are blessed to have her in our family.

Love It!

We just bought the greatest new gadget. I'm so excited about it. It's kind of like a Tivo, but not as expensive and no service contract and you don't need cable to use it....just good old-fashioned rabbit ears. It's a Magnavox DVD recorder with a 160MB internal memory (got it on Walmart.com, but they are all sold out right now :0(
I can record a show to the hard drive that I want to keep forever, edit out all the commercials, and burn it to a DVD. (Tivo can't do that!) I can pre-set all the things I want to record and, ta-da, they are recorded in perfect HDTV quality. I know I'm behind the times if I think this is awesome, but I've been looking for a long time for something that would work with an antenna and not have a service contract. Can I help it if I'm a little excited?

Random Stuff

So, someone (I'm not naming any names) told me I need to write on my blog more. I told her that I don't have many interesting things to say, and I'm not witty enough to make boring stuff interesting. But, in any case, I'll try to write more.

I was talking to this same person about trials and why we have to go through them. I mentioned a quote I had heard and she was interested in getting the quote, so here it is!

Elder George Q. Cannon (1827-1901) said "The Saints should always remember that God sees not as man sees; that he does not willingly afflict his children, and that if he requires them to endure present privation and trial, it is that they may escape greater tribulations which would otherwise inevitably overtake them. If He deprives them of any present blessing, it is that he may bestow upon them greater and more glorious ones by-and-by.”

I really like that. It helps to know that there's a reason we have trials...not just some quota of misery that God has to fill. :-)

Hmmm, what else can I ramble about while my house remains a disaster. (I'd much rather type than clean.) Oh, I can vent about the most painful choir practice ever last night. It was for a stake conference choir that will perform in 2 weeks. I guess I've taken it for granted that our ward is especially musically gifted and that others are not. We are singing 4 verses of a hymn and, get this...3 of the 4 verses will be sung in unison! I couldn't believe my ears. And then on top of that we had to sit and practice it for half an hour! (and we will practice again next week for half an hour and then again 20 minutes before the Stake Conference session... can I pull out all my hair yet?)

I shouldn't be this critical. I actually feel really guilty that I am criticizing. We are supposed to do the best with what we are given, and if that's what our stake choir is capable of, then they shouldn't do more than that. It's just hard for those of us who like a challenge to have patience in that setting. Can I just say how grateful I am to live in a ward where there happens to be a lot of musical talent? I'm not sure I could attend a choir like our stake choir on a regular basis.

Have I filled my quota for blogging yet? At least for today? .... Good!

THEY ARE FINISHED!

I finally finished my couches (well, at least they LOOK done...I still have some hand-sewing to do). They turned out better than I could have hoped for. We found some really nice micro-suede at a discount fabric store and got a great deal on it. Now I have to make new curtains for the room to be complete. And since the couches turned out so well, Brian wants me to re-upholster a chair in our family room. I think I need a break from upholstering furniture though.

I Must Be Crazy

I'm determined to take on the craziest project ever. I'm going to attempt to re-cover our living room couches. I have no upholstering experience whatsoever, but then again, I had no sewing experience whatsoever before I was married and have figured that out pretty successfully, so why not? I just hope it doesn't turn into a disaster! I'll post before-and-after pictures in a few weeks... maybe months :0)

Alyssa Singing

Alyssa is so darn cute in this video. I got her singing the song alone this time, so Dallin can't stop her, like in the video below. (turn up the sound!)

Driveway Sledding

Here's a video of Dallin sledding on our driveway. So fun!

Too Cute

Our kids have had a strange obsession with singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" at least 20 times a day for the past few weeks and I actually got them on camera, if you can believe it (they hardly ever perform for the camera!) (Turn up your sound! I recorded these on our digital camera, so the sound isn't great).






We have also had a lot of fun lately sledding down our driveway. It's really steep and just the right incline for the kids. We always invite our nieces and nephew over from next door (since they provide the sleds) and then we watch for cars and take off! The kids have a blast and if they get tired or need to use the bathroom, we go inside! That's the best part...staying close to home, but still having fun.

Alyssa's dance recital was this past Friday. After watching this video of her practice, you can probably guess she didn't do what she was supposed to do in the performance (this practice video is more entertaining though). Her cousin Caleb is right next to her and, for the most part, is doing what he should be doing. At the time, I was a little mad (you can hear my voice in the background saying so), but since then, I've grown to love this video. It makes me laugh every time!

Thanksgiving

This year, I'm thankful for a roof over our heads. I'm thankful for our health, Brian's good job, food to eat, and low gas prices. I'm thankful for my family coming to have Thanksgiving at our house. I'm thankful to have a wonderful husband who loves me no matter what. I'm thankful for my two beautiful children and that they are smart and energetic. I'm thankful for the feeling I get when I listen to good music. I'm thankful my talk is over (I can breath now). I'm thankful for good friends that are willing to talk to me after not speaking for 10 years or more. I'm thankful for the plan Heavenly Father has for us, and I trust that it is what is best for our family. I'm thankful for a lot of things this year. I need to tell myself that when things come up that I'm not so grateful for. We are truly blessed.

Busy!

I'm having one of those days when there are so many things to do and I feel like I've been busy all day but hardly anything has been accomplished. Why can't I seem to get anything done? Still to do: my talk for Sunday, a rehearsal CD for a Relief Society musical number, a rehearsal CD for the middle school choir, get ready to host Thanksgiving for 25 people at our house, order Christmas cards, visiting teaching, grocery shopping, put shelves in the garage, tile the kitchen backsplash, organize everything in the house!...I'm getting tired just thinking about it! I did get the yard work done this morning, so I guess I'll have to be satisfied with that for today!

The Power of Music

Brian and I were just asked to speak in church in 2 weeks on the power of music. Music is like oxygen to me, but what can I say to those who don't feel the same way? Music can be so powerful. It can cheer me up, it can make me sad, it can fill me with the spirit, it can get me motivated, and it can make me want to get up and dance! I hope we can find some resources to help us say the right thing. Wish us luck!

My Music!

I cannot tell you how long I've been at the computer today trying to figure out how to post some of my music on here! It's next to impossible, but I acheived a miracle and got some of it on here. This is just some stuff I've been playing around with. I got a music program last year that can record instruments, voice, etc. It's been so fun! I love playing with it. I would do it all day if I could. Anyway, enjoy!

Everyone's Doing It!

I have put this off long enough. Everyone I know has a blog and it's about time I started one too! I'm not that great at keeping in touch, so this is a great way to keep everyone posted about what's going on at our house. Then again, no one will really read this, so it's a great way for me to get back into journal writing.

Halloween is coming up and that's all our house is thinking about. I have been working on costumes for our whole family for months. We recently dressed the kids up in their costumes and took them up to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. They got a lot of compliments, which is what I needed after all that work. Despite the compliments, I won't go overboard like this again. Too much work for so little usage! I attached some pictures of the kids (if you can't tell, Alyssa is Cinderella and Dallin is her prince.) I don't have any of the whole family in costume yet, but we are going to get some professional pictures done tomorrow. I hope they turn out great. If they do, I'll be using them for our Christmas cards.

We are also in charge of the ward Halloween party, which is taking up a lot of time. I've had to get really creative to make some carnival games for the party. We don't have any budget at all, so I'm scrounging around the house for things to use. I'm using old milk cartons, soup cans, old fabric scraps, etc. I hope we get a good turn-out and the games don't break after the first use.

That's probably enough for my first blog. I tend to ramble when I type which is why no one is still reading this.

'Til next time!