Reaching New Heights

Because climbing onto the chair is not enough, Brandon must also scale the chair. He has successfully reached the top, but I have not been quick enough with the camera.

History Repeats Itself

Last night we had our Osborn Family Christmas Party. It was so much fun to see family again, and to enjoy good food, and each others company. Following dinner we had a little program which began with my Grandma and I doing an organ and piano duet. It was really neat to be able to practice with my Grandma and spend a little time with her, she is a remarkable woman! Here is a lady who is approaching her 90th year of age and is more "hip" than I am. She drives well, plays the piano and organ very well, still runs her own real estate agency, is physically active and healthy, and can still remember her many grandchildren, and great-grand children's names.

They say history repeats itself, which is why we are supposed to learn from our past. So I feel very fortunate to have a grandma, who remembers the past and is willing to give counsel and teach us, so that we can be prepared and protected from what the future holds. She has lived much of our countries history. She remembers well the Great Depression, World War II and she has learned valuable lessons from her experience. Last night following the duet she shared with us her insights and wisdom, it was nothing that we have not heard before, but it was a great reminder, so I thought I would share some of her thoughts with you.

1. Pray like Joseph Smith did, pray for your own answers for truth rather than relying on others answers.

2. Pray frequently so that you will be more in tune to prompting, and personal revelation from Heavenly Father.

3. Stay out of Debt! Especially credit card debt. Pay off debts as soon as you can.

4. Start and build up your food storage, and saving for a rainy day.

I am so grateful for her wisdom in this ever changing world, especially when we all seem to be facing some challenges of one kind or another. I appreciate her concern for me, just one of her many grandchildren. Hopefully I will be better resolved to make necessary changes, so that I can live a long, healthy, and happy life, like she has and is.

Following her comments we enjoyed more entertainment from the rest of the family, and then we had two special visitors! Mr. and Mrs. Clause. I was well aware of their plans to visit so I have been trying to prep Brandon so that he would not be afraid by showing him many pictures of Santa and saying Ho Ho Ho, and smiling and being overly cheerful. Brandon seemed to catch on and every time he saw a picture of Santa he would say Ho Ho Ho as well, it is very cute! Well all of my efforts were for nothing! His emotions went from shock and curiosity, to fear, and finally to complete lack of interest. Oh well, maybe next year. :)

Ah the kids table!You gotta love Grandpa Ron's solution to my escape artist. :) Part of the Osborn Family, a good looking group!Some of the great performers for our little program.Uncle Dwight playing Jingle Bells to usher in Santa, and Mrs Claus. Here is Brandon's priceless expression when he saw Santa.
At least Brandon would get close enough to Mrs. Claus to get a fun stocking from her.

That is the best picture we could get of him with Santa.
His favorite part of the evening was the big punch ball that came in the stocking.
At least Brandon was not the only one who would not cooperate. Chandler was not to sure about the Santa thing either. :)

Christmas books

I love collecting and reading Christmas stories. Some of my favorites are; The Polar Express, You Are Special, The Forgotten Carols, Christmas Oranges, and The Tale of The Three Trees. I am especially enjoying these books this year because Brandon likes to have me read them to him, even if it is just a few pages in one sitting it is still enjoyable! Do you like Christmas stories? What are you favorites?

Baking Day

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is baking. I especially like baking with my mom and my two sisters! Our favorite treats to bake are, gingerbread cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, and cathedral cookies. YUM! Every year we get together with just the girls, and every year when we bake we listen to a radio broadcast of the Twelve Days of Christmas, I wish I had some way of making it possible for you to listen to it, because it is just hilarious! This year was made special by my mom, because she made each of us matching aprons, they are so cute! Thanks mom for both starting this tradition, teaching us how to bake, and for making it so fun this year!

"Friend"

Many of you have had the privilege of meeting "Friend", for those of you who haven't let me introduce you. Friend is a stuffed Westie. I bought Friend when we were living in Oregon, you see, Jared always wanted a West Highland White Terrier, but they are expensive, and there was no sense in us getting a dog when we would never be home with it, and when we did not even have a house for it to live in, so I bought Friend to pacify Jared until we could get a real Westie. Well two years ago on Dec 23rd we surprised ourselves by buying a Westie. It was love at first sight! When we brought Maggie home we introduced her to Friend, that is when Friend was given her name, because Friend was everything to Maggie. Friend crate trained Maggie, Friend litter box trained Maggie, Friend was Maggie favorite chew toy, tug toy, and fetch toy. Friend went everywhere with Maggie, and Friend became a part of our family. Miraculously Friend lasted Maggie's constant attacks for two years, and just last month Friend finally bit the dust and we had to bid her farewell. I realize that it was just a stuffed animal but it was still a sad day.
I didn't think I would miss Friend as much as I do, but play time with Maggie just isn't the same without Friend. I can not say if Maggie misses Friend or not, but I have often wondered if she would like a Friend replacement. So today I looked online to see if I could find Friend, and wouldn't you know it, I found the exact one, (Thank you GUND!) mind you it is $28.00. So my question is this, should I, or should I not buy Maggie a new Friend? Here are the pros; more fun playing tug, a buddy for Maggie, a toy that will last for another two years rather than the typical two days, and it would make a perfect Christmas/2 year anniversary present. Here are the cons: it is ridiculously expensive, it tends to get very dirty, and on a rare occasion Maggie does become a little unnatural with Friend, yuck! Now you have the facts, What would you do???

It's Been A While

I am sorry I have neglected my blog for so long, it has been a crazy month. Here is a review of everything that happened, I'll try to make it quick.

Chandler turned 1 year old!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANDLER!

Chandler is my sisters little boy. He and Brandon are good buddies.

My Niece Violet had a baby shower, in Idaho over Thanksgiving break, then on Dec. 4th she had a beautiful little girl named Alexis. She was a tiny 5 Lbs 14 0z., and 19 inches long. She was premature, but she is home and healthy now! Congrats Violet and Ryan!

I love the picture of Alexis' older brother Cooper holding her hand, so sweet. Cooper is ten months older than Alexis, to the day!She is so beautiful!

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Idaho.

Brandon was able to play lots with his cousins, especially Cooper, although I do not think Cooper had a great time playing with Brandon, Brandon is a bully (we are working on that) he kept trying to climb on Cooper so that he could get out of the playpen. Brandon's favorite part of our trip to Idaho was having lots of time with his grandparents and playing their new piano (it makes car noises).

Last Month we payed off our Mazda, and then Jared got a raise, we were feeling pretty good about our finances, and then the car problems started. The battery in the Honda had a short in it and would not start so we had to have that replaced, while there I asked to have my tires rotated for winter, and they informed me that they were too bald to even pass inspection, so we bought four new tires. Then Jared got pulled over because he had a headlight out in the Mazda (fortunately he got just a warning) so the next day Jared replaced the light and then the other light went out, the lights are impossible to replace, so we took it to get it lubed, tires rotated, and the light fixed. While there they told us no way would they fix the light for us because they do not do electrical work, and the tires were too bald to rotate, (again) and the transmission fluid was looking bad, so we needed to take it in to get that fixed as well. So we took the car to the Mazda dealership to get the lights fixed, put four new tires on the car, and then took it to a transmission shop here in Heber to get the transmission fixed. We had already poured so much money into both of our cars, that we were not prepared for them to tell us the the transmission problem was going to cost us $2,700. But once again Heavenly Father blesses us when we pray, fast, and pay our tithing! Our extended warranty decided to cover the cost in full, and my parents have chipped in a considerable amount of money as well to help out! What an amazing blessing!!!! Time and time again my testimony of tithing is strengthened! Heavenly Father truly has blessed us beyond what we could have imagined. And a big thanks to my parents as well!!!

That was the biggest time restraint this month. But there were a few other fun things, That kept me from my blog,here they are:

Swiss Christmas with Natalie, Scott, and Chandler. The Creche display in Midway is amazing, I plan on visiting it every year from now on. They had a manger scene carved into a match that you could only see with a magnifying glass, as well as thousands of international manger scenes. We also went to the Gingerbread display which was pretty amazing in its own fun way.

Swiss Christmas with my piano students. We had a lot of fun performing , (they did a wonderful job) for the Swiss Christmas boutique display, even though some of the guests were quiet rude. (thanks Jared for defending us!)

One of my favorite parts of the season is decorating!! I love it! I especially like the lights on the tree, garlands, and houses. This year I managed to put the lights on our house all by myself, it was terrifying being on top of the roof, particularly when I knew no one knew I was up there, and I was wearing slip on shoes. (not my smartest moment) I am however very happy to say that they look very good, and next year I will enlist Jared's help, and not try to surprise him. :)

Well now I am caught up, however with another busy month ahead who knows how on top of things I will be. I will try to be better, but I make no promises!

Tagged : Ten reasons why I love my home.

I was tagged to tell you my top ten reasons why I like my home, I really liked this tag especially for the season, of showing gratitude. So hear are a few reasons why I love my home.

#1 I love my home's location. Heber city is beautiful! I love the small town atmosphere, seeing beautiful big red barns all over, having horse's within walking distance in every direction, hearing the sounds of the Heber Valley Railroad, and a donkey braying, and seeing hot air balloons nearly every morning in the summer. I also love the many trees in our yard, they are so pretty all year, even if they cause a big mess.
#2 Weird I know but I love this bathroom, the toilet is a little broken, as well as the sink, but I like the way the bathroom is decorated, and I love that this is the second bathroom in our house, after living in apartments where we only had one bathroom, two feels like a luxury.

#3 My favorite room in our whole house is Brandon's nursery. I love the furniture! I love the pictures that my sister Natalie painted for me, I love that my sister and I painted the room together (my first time painting a room) I really really love the bedding, it was pricey but I still look at it every day and love it. I love that the room is decorated in a safari theme, but it is not over done. I love how relaxing Brandon's room is. Some of our happiest memories have happened in his room.

#4 I love our backyard. I love that it came all fenced in so we could get a dog. I love that the grass always grows tall and green. I love the trees that provide shade. I love that we now have space to have a garden, which mean yummy corn on the cob! I especially love the new patio that we put in this spring to replace the ugly green house. I love that we can entertain out there, and we can eat relaxing dinners out there. I also love Jared's grill that sits on our deck, I love it because Jared will cook dinners on it and they are yummy! Before is above, UGLY, and after is below, Beautiful, especially when it is not covered in leaves!

#5 I love our bedroom. I love that we have a bathroom in the bedroom, another luxury that we did not have in apartments. I love our new king size bed! and I really love this chair that sits in the corner, it is a very cozy little place to read at night.

# 6 I love this chair as well, basically any place that I can sit and read or ponder is a favorite place, but I love this chair because it was our first furniture purchase as a couple, and because we bought it in Oregon it reminds us of our home away from home. I also love the beautiful Pendleton blanket that is VERY warm, it reminds me of some of my piano students in Oregon. I also love that this chair is right by the window so I can feel the breeze when it comes in, and this chair has a view of our little fireplace, which makes it even more cozy.

#7 This is the cozy fireplace that I love. I love how quaint it is, and I love that our couches match in color, a fun coincidence. I love that it is a gas fireplace so I can have a fire any time I want, and I do not have to clean it up.#8 I love this ceiling fan. We picked it out, (unlike many of the other lights in the house) and it was one of the first home improvement projects we completed. I love the memory of having my mom and dad (mostly my handy dad) helping us. Call me weird but I really like to look at it, I think it is pretty. I also like that it has a remote, Brandon is still fascinated with it, it keeps us cool, while keeping our gas bill down, and it is the only light in our living room, we could not do without it.

#9 I love my big wall clock and shelves. I think clocks are beautiful, (I would almost be tempted to start a collection, but where would I put them?) but I had a very specific look that I was going for, and I could not find it anywhere. Lucky for me my mom found this one and it made a great Christmas gift. I love the shelves that Jared gave me for Mothers Day, and I love the little things that we put on them. I really like to decorate them for Christmas, and I love that they fill up the large wall space.

#10 I love having space for a piano in the main room of our home. I love that I can teach piano lessons in my home, providing a little extra income while still having Brandon at home with me. I also love that this is a digital piano, I can turn it off, turn the volume down, move it easily, and I never have to tune it.

Bonus reasons for loving my house:

*It is only 1,100 +/- square feet, small by most expectations. I love that it is small, I have all the space that I need, but everything is on one floor, which means no stairs for Brandon to fall down, and I can clean it very thoroughly in one day.

*It has a large yard, I am learning how to do yard work, and I am even beginning to enjoy it.

*It has a room dedicated to our office, and hobbies.

*It has a space just for laundry.

*The kitchen is a galley kitchen, (fancy way of saying a small kitchen that looks more like a hall) it makes cooking very easy and convenient, when everything is right at your fingertips.

So now I tag; my mom, who has lived in her house for over 20 years, there must be something about it, Megan, Erin, Natalie S., and Camille, who moved into their house recently, and Holly, whose husband built their house. As well as Alana, Karie, and Kim, whose house's I have never seen and would like to see.

HAVE FUN! :)

Leaves are falling every where!

Guess what Jared and I spent Saturday doing, raking leaves, YEAH! Anyone who has been to our house can attest to the many trees that we have. I love the trees, year round, and I think it is fun to rake the leaves, but my oh my, there are way too many!, So the question then is this, how do you get rid of them all? We tried stuffing them into the garbage can, but that just wouldn't do it, so then Jared tried mowing the leaves, after the mower died twice, we gave up on that idea, although the pictures are pretty funny, I think. Then we got permission from the fire department to burn them (safely) but that would have taken days (I know I was surprised too by how long it took) so we resorted to bagging them, and we will slowly fill the garbage with a few bags each week. We were able to rake most of front yard, which filled ten bags, and our garbage can, but we have not even started the back yard. So I am wondering, with the need for alternative energy, could we somehow use leaves? I have lots! :D
Lucky us, our front yard looks like we never made an attempt to rake them up, and our trees are still covered with leaves. Oh well.

Fall Pictures

We love fall! I love Brandon's jean jacket, his aunt Jodi gave it to him.

Oooo!

We have so many leaves!

I love his happy face!

Brandon loves pumpkins, even though he calls them balls, there round right?Look mom leaves are falling, YEAH!

Bah, Yeah? I love listening to Brandon talk!

Look at those beautiful eyes, they make me melt!