Christmas is here!!

My sweet children can't wait to set up Christmas. Last night 3 of them got their trees out. From the time we had each kid we bought a 3 or 4 ft lodge pole tree for them to decorate. It is soooo nice when the trees go up. The living room is literally a forest of different designs. Since I'm charge of the Christmas party this year, my tree goes to the back of the priority line. I am however a little jealous of the kids and the happiness they get everyday when they come home from school to "redecorate" their tree!! I told them last night that tonight, yes I committed to tonight, I would go into the garage, climb up the ladder and get Christmas down!! I am a little giddy about this. There was a huge snow storm that happened this afternoon, so the spirit to throw up the tinsel is here!! May your Christmas decorating come quickly and may you feel the sparkle of Christ today.

Monday thru Friday

Have you ever wanted something so bad, and then you get it. You wonder what you were thinking? I have a bitter sweet moment. I will now officially be working Monday - Friday. I wanted this so bad, thinking that it would be so nice to have the weekends with the kids, always able to go to church. Well....now I realized that it was nice having a day off during the week to have the peace and quiet that comes with 4 kids being in school. It was so nice to have John and I with no kids. NOW, we won't have that. Now, we will be home with the kids without the peace and quiet. Now, I can't surprise the kids with cookies when they come home from school. Now, I can't sleep in because it's so quiet. Now, when I need some intimate time alone with the hubs, it's not there!! Now, I will be able to do the "saturday" chores along with the rest of the family. Now, I will be able to know what is going on in the ward. Now, I won't be asked if I'm the new lady at church. I will be able to be there for every sunday! I will now be able to not request weekends off. I will now be able to have the consistency of a weekday job. I guess it's not so bad. Hey, at least I have a job!! I am in a unbalanced state right now. Happy vs not happy because of my work schedule.

Winter is coming.....

I find myself mourning the loss of summer. Fall just seemed to jump right in with the snow, so I want a big bag, comforting leather, nice straps, lots of pockets, and something I didn't buy at Kohls or Ross. Soooo....I found the PERFECT BAG!!

Now, I know that the economy sucks right now. I am fully aware that all my kids need snow boots, gloves, coats, and Christmas. If I just bought this bag, I wonder if it would be like Mary Poppins. Heck, if I'm going to spend...(insert drum roll) $450.00 on a bag it should, shouldn't it?? I wonder if John would notice my paycheck missing from the bank account. Since that is about how much it would take, a whole paycheck!!! I want this bag sooooo bad. It's me, screams Melissa Dunn I need you!! I'll just paste a picture of it here so I can look at it all the time :)

Canning, canning, and more canning

I know in my mind that I look forward to this time of year. We plant the garden wondering if those seeds will sprout. Then we weed around those delicate roots giving the plants the best possible conditions to grow. We water and weed, water and weed. Then we start to see the blossoms on the plants (this is where I get all giddy inside). We can't wait to see the fruit of our labors! Then the fruit comes on, and comes again, and then there is more production!! I have picked, peeled, pickled, squeezed, cut, chopped, sliced, diced, shreeded, freezed, canned, steamed, presured and done it all again and again! I am so worn out!!

My newest thing is going to be peach honey! I helped a lady in the ward canning her peaches, 2 bushels :) I took all the peels and will make peach honey on Monday. I have more beans, cucumbers, zucchini, and onions to deal with. The beets for this year are done!! The peas, done! Peaches, we will be getting in a couple weeks. Tomatoes I want to try this year too. I love filling up my storage room with the harvest. Next year we will be doing this all again!! I really can't wait to get out there in the garden and talk to all my plants today. I am so excited that they have provided for my family. I hope that God lets these living things know of our appreciation, even though I do voice it, I'm not for sure they hear me. I know it's a little weird to be out talking to the cucumber plants. The beets aren't so talkative. The tomatoes are a little stuck up. The carrots are sick, not feeling so well. The green beans are tired but they are willing to keep going. The onions are happy. The peas are done, so they don't talk anymore, they were happy plants. The zucchini are rebellious, but are still doing what they were meant to. The cantaloupe are shy, but coming out a little at a time. My cucumbers are the best communicators. Silly I know, but I do know my plants. There is this one cucumber plant it hasn't branched out so much, but talk about pretty cucs!! I love seeing what blossoms and buds are under it's leaves. The leaves are a deeper green than the rest of the plants. Then there is another cuc plant that is just loves to branch out and stretch all over the place, but doesn't invade the other plants. THANK YOU SWEET GARDEN!!

** this is not my garden **

The Birthday Bash!

What a fun weekend we had! We left Friday morning so we could make it to the Kenny Loggins concert on time. We dropped the kids off at my moms and then headed onto the concert. Sandy Ampitheater is so COOL. What a great concert. Kenny sounds just like he did when he was 18. His stage presence is awesome, and he knows how to work up the crowd. He did quite a few slow songs, which for me was okay because I could hold John's hand or sit between his legs while he gave me hugs!! My awesome sis and bro in law came with us. They bought us Cafe Rio for dinner, which is always good. We were able to sleep in on saturday, putter around, and get ready for the birthday party. We got the cake, black and gold balloons, black and gold placesettings, salads made, lunch at Training Table, and spot picked out at the park. Not as many people came as told me would, but that was okay because I under planned the meat! You know, you never know how much to have if people don't RSVP. Tom and John had fun with the friends that showed up. It was even nice for their kids to show up! These kids are in their 20's but they took the time to come to some friend of their parents. We have good friends. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM AND JOHN

Bodies

We went to see the bodies exhibit with all the kids on Labor Day. I was a little hesitant to take the 8 and 6 year old. It ends up they weren't creaped out by it, but they weren't interested in seeing things from their eye level....can you blame them. The rest of us liked it a lot. Thomas was a little embarassed by the naked bodies, Madison thought it was very educational. John loved seeing all the tendons and how we are all put together. I just loved seeing all the people, the bodies, and the beauty that our Heavenly Father has put together. It took us awhile to get through the exhibit because of all the people. I guess that is what happens when you go on the last night! We had some great discussions about our bodies with the older kids. By the end of the night, Cali and Bryan wanted to go home, Madison and Thomas we done seeing things, John and I wanted to be alone to go through again. Some tidbits that we learned: The uterus can expand to 20 times it's original size with the ability to still contract to deliver a baby!! The brain isn't as big as you think it is. A man's testicles are about the size of a golf ball (thanks Thomas for this tidbit). Madison pointed out all the changes that take place each month on the fetus exhibit. John kept pointing out the amount of tendons that hold us all together, and all the fat that the breasts have. It was a neat family home evening.

Birthday prep

It's that time of year again....wait....It's John's birthday!! YEAH!! After my huge FUBAR 4 years ago, I will not forget. Let's visit that day oh so long ago. I remember telling John how excited I was for his birthday cake the next day, this was on Saturday. It was Sunday, he was busy with meetings and such, I was busy with kids and such.....so we decide to take a "sunday drive". Along our drive the phone kept ringing. I was getting irritated because our family time was getting cut into by someone on the line. After about the 4th phone call, I asked John who it was that kept calling. He told me it was his family, just calling to talk. They were having a family party and passed the phone around. I started to giggle because it wasn't like his family to just call out of the blue to talk. So I let it slide as we continued on our adventure. I remember now thinking how weird for his family to have a party and just call out of the blue and talk for like ever. LA, LA, LA on our way we go. We get home, get the kids in bed, I get ready and go to tell John to come up, because he had been on the phone AGAIN! It's about 10:30 and the phone rings. If you don't know me, I loath the phone ringing after 9:45. It better be dang good to call past 9:30 pm. I answer the phone all rudely and it's his sister Chris. I ask her whats wrong, and why is she calling so late. She sheepishly said "I'm calling because I didn't talk to John, it's his birthday!" I proceeded to go crawling on my knees into the office cement floor begging for forgiveness. This is why his family was calling and he was on the phone all day. They kept calling to see if I had remembered!! Not once did they call or text to give me the heads up. I was so ashamed. SOOOOO, because of this blessed event, we never forget Johns birthday. This birthday we are going to the Kenny Loggins concert at the Sandy Amphitheater. I am so excited to go. Then on Saturday we are having a birthday party for him and Tom. Brothers with the same birthday, same hour, a year apart! It wasn't even planned that way. Here I am now planning a kinda surprise birthday party on a budget. It's potluck, because I don't know how many people are coming. It's at a park, because I don't know how many are coming. I have sent out an event through facebook, but no one has RSVP yet, so I'm not sure if it's worked. Anyway, here we go birthday #49!