Santa came....

Here's a little recap of our Christmas Eve and Day:

Livia (as usual) was uncooperative once the camera surfaced.
Sam was happy to get Buzz and Woody PJ's. Too bad they are 3 sizes too big. (Thanks to the selfish boy-PJ-hog-lady on Black Friday, that's the only set of PJs I found.)
Sam and Jason thought a long time about where the milk and cookies should be left for Santa so that Maggie wouldn't get it before he got there. The mantle was agreed upon.
I guess this means that Santa made it down the chimney safely.
Here's a shot of the bootie he left behind.
Livia's stocking supplies.
And her clementine after only a few minutes.
Daddy told Santa that Sam loves sticks. So I guess Santa was trying to be funny.... and he wrapped it so that mommy was surprised too. But.... Sam loved it.
I must have been on the Nice List.... Santa spoiled mommy way too much!
(Minus the tutu, that was for Livia.)
Sam's stocking stuff and the awesome trains and table Santa brought for him.
Even Maggie got to join in on the Christmas fun. Santa brought her two bags of treats and a couple of bouncy balls...
We gave her another bed and 4 small fleece blankets. I had hoped they would each last a little longer... but that's why I cut it into four blankets!
Here is the first one:
This was later that day:
This was a little later still:
Now there are bits and pieces throughout the house.

Since we had Christmas Day to ourselves, I was not about to cook a ham.... and since Domino's was closed... we went all out... and had hot subs (just like we eat about once a week.) Maybe someday I will plan on making a nice Christmas dinner... but probably not.

We had a great Christmas, it has been so nice to have Jason home... even though he has already completed his Assassin's Creed 2 game. (He reassured me there are many more options he can do to still play it and enjoy it though.... so don't worry!) We've enjoyed just hanging out at home... and not doing anything productive!

We hope you all had a great Christmas and will have a great New Year!

silent prayers

One year ago today was a difficult day for me. It was the day that my carelessness lost me my engagement, wedding, and anniversary rings.

Looking at them on my hands now, I am thinking again of how blessed I am to have them returned to me. It is a reminder that there are still good people out there who are eager to answer another's prayers.

I want to share a short portion of this month's Visiting Teaching Message from the Ensign by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf:

Disciples of Christ throughout all ages of the world have been distinguished by their compassion..... In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us, and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers.

What have I (or you) done lately to answer the silent prayer of another? There are so many opportunities available.... if we but open our eyes and listen with our hearts.

This week, as we celebrate our Savior's birth, let's all take an extra second to listen for a silent prayer... and then cheerfully do what we can to answer it.

one more project completion.... check!

Once upon a time, we had some friends over for dinner. We had some yummy rolls. The rolls were served on this platter:
My friend asked me if I painted the plate. I laughed at her confidence in me... but later as I was washing it... I thought, "hey, I could paint this!

So I did.

On the wall.

And I had a lot of fun doing it.

Since we moved in almost two years ago, I have been wanting to do something fun and creative with this room. We have been using it as a toy room for a while, but it is pretty cramped in there, since it's just a little closet under the stairs. So thanks to Brittany, I made my decorative decision... and then I actually did it!

This is the view from the family room with the door open:

Since the room is so small I had a hard time getting good angles with the camera. Just use your imagination to turn them all into a panoramic view:






Here's the view if you lay on the floor and look up:

Here are a few close-ups of the smaller paintings:





I added a few little wooden decorations from Roberts:


Our boring white closet under the stairs that evolved into a toy room has now become a mini children's library....
set up with a movie area and all.

It took a lot longer than I planned since I usually only had a chance to paint during nap time, but I had so much fun doing it, so it was worth it!

our trip to arizona

On Friday we left to go to Arizona. The trip was nice and long... especially for Livia! We stayed with Jason's cousin and his wife, Scott and Tiffany. They were so sweet and generous to invite us to stay with them. I realized the morning we left that I never took any pictures of them. It was so fun to get to know them a little better.

Two of my dear mission friends live in the Mesa area, so I was super excited to see them again. Mary Ann was my mission trainer, (aka mi mami) and I haven't seen her since she left Argentina almost 7 years ago. Erika and I were at BYU together, so I've seen her a lot more since the mission. But she's been back in AZ for a while now, so it was so good to see her again and catch up on both their lives. We met for brunch at Crackers and chatted it up!


Mary Ann, Sophie, Joe, Carter (hidden), Chris, Erika, Livia, Sally, Jason, and (a very uncooperative) Sam

After Brunch we went over to Jason's cousin's home for the Cook Family Christmas Reunion. We went to Heath and Michelle's house, and they had a very fun place for little boys! Usually Sam is a little shy at first to play and adventurize.... not at this place! He was quite excited to see this little site:


Heath recently bought these three giant toys from a rental company that was going out of business.... which means we'll get to see these little beauties every time we go down for a Cook Family Reunion!
After about an hour or two of bouncing and sliding fun.... Sam made a new discovery:

He drove this little toy around for another hour... and eventually let his cousin, Brigham, hop on for a ride. I was really surprised with how well he handled it. He learned to put it in reverse if he got stuck and was able to follow the curves of the paved path he liked to drive on.
Meanwhile Jason found some exciting times at the basketball court. He even won a game of Horse.

This is the back side of the pool. But it was pretty nippy, so no one jumped in (except for the two teenage girls that spent the entire afternoon making a list of how much everyone would pay them to jump into the pool... which they did after it got dark and even colder. I have no idea how much they made though.... I doubt it was worth it!)
I didn't think to take a picture of the front of the pool until after it was dark, but it was a super awesome pool so sorry for the darkity.

We all gathered inside and began the little program.

Our family sang Jingle Bells as the little boys rang the bells. I had to take pictures, so I couldn't stand up with them and sing.... ;) Way to go Jenny and Brian... you're good sports!

On Monday we went on a little Memory Lane Tour with Jason's parents. It was so neat to see the places that were significant to them in their early marriage. We started at the temple where Jason's dad proposed to Jason's mom... we even got to see the re-enactment! Very cute. Jason got a good picture on his phone of his mom jumping as she said, YES! We also got to see the homes where they both grew up, and the newspaper office where Jason's dad earned enough money for his mission and shared the amazing story that he had there. We saw each of their first apartments and homes, along with the home Dad's parents moved to while he was on his mission and the now-empty lot where Grandma Elsie (Livia's namesake) once lived. Most of the tour was spent in the car, listening to their stories via walkie-talkie. We really enjoyed sharing in their memories and hearing each of their thoughts as they started their life together. Not only was it great to see the sites, but it was also a blessing to hear some of their special experiences that greatly affected their lives and the lives of others.

Jason had some work to do, so after lunch we went back to Scott's house and laid the kids down for naps. Then I had some serious shoe shopping to do.... And let me tell you.... I did it. My friend, Erika, came with me (since she lives a mile away from Scott!) We both thought we might buy one or two pairs at the most.... we walked away with 4 pairs each. (Don't worry Jason, I only spent $50 which is pretty darn good!)

Later that evening was the night that we originally planned to make the trip for. Jason's mom's side was having their annual Christmas Family Home Evening. Since there would be 1 or 2 hundred people at the party, it was held at the church. We knew we wouldn't get to see Grandpa and Grandma Schlink much there, so we stopped by their house earlier on Monday to visit with them. They are such a sweet couple! They have been married for less than 10 years (Jason's Grandma passed away in the late 90's) and they are so good for each other. Grandma Jane was so excited to get toys for the kids and hold them and hug them. I forgot to get a picture of the little car ramp that Sam played with the entire time we were there.





We are so lucky to have such amazing people in our lives. It was such a blessing to be able to see them (and in my case meet some of them!) and to enjoy a portion of this Christmas season with them. We look forward to going again some year, hopefully not too many years away.
It was a great start to a great Holiday Season!

don't cry for me...

Argentina... a very different (from what I am used to) and amazing place. A country that I love and whose people I love even more. (Most of them anyway....)
Today is the 6th anniversary of my return from Argentina. Yesterday marked the day that I left that awesome place. I left at 10:30 pm as scared to leave as I was to come! After 18 months of always having someone around... I had to fly halfway across the world by myself. I sat next to an 80-something year old grandpa who didn't speak Spanish (my English was a bit rough by then) and was hard of hearing. He finally just went to sleep.... I took the hint. And the tears rolled down my cheek as I watched the lights of Buenos Aires diminish from my sights. I wondered then, and I wonder still, will I ever see those lights again? It was bittersweet.
After 24 hours of airports and airplanes... I arrived in Bismarck, North Dakota.... only to be greeted by most of my extended family and several members of the Bismarck Ward. I was reminded how blessed I was to have such dear family and friends!
And I am still blessed by those same people! And more! I am blessed for the amazing time I had in Buenos Aires and I wouldn't change my decision to go on a mission for anything!

Here are a few photos I pulled from a mission friend's facebook page... sorry for the mini-ness of them all.