Christmas Crazies

Hey! Tuttle got a new sign! (Well they did since the last time I was there in Oct 07.)

Yep, this is the WHOLE thriving metropolis we call Tuttle, ND.
(Except the gas station.)

Oh, now we are good. (This is the gas station... I know it's hard to tell.)

I do miss the beautiful horizons by the farm.

And I miss the farm too. (It's where those trees are.)

If you look hard, you can see that there is a road here... and it leads right into the yard.

Yummy gingerbread house... well, it used to be a house until 8 kids got a hold of it.

Kylee with gingerbread rubbish.

One of the highlights of Jason's week. Playing with fire. (To burn the garbage.)

Maybe he's cold?

Maggie loved the space... but disloved the cold more... hence... an inside doggie.

Emmalynn quite proud of her clump of snow.

Lazy-man sledding.

Sam loved the ride... Thanks Uncle Ron!

Hey, Sam... isn't that supposed to be for Santa?

What? Santa who?

The reindeer get oatmeal for the nourishment and glitter for the magic.

7 kids excited to sprinkle the reindeer food outside... and then Sam is there too.

Now he's showing a little more enthusiasm.

Aah, heck with the reindeer, I'm hungry too. Hmmm, glitter's not half bad.

Nana reading the Christmas story from Luke 2.

My dad has always called me Smurfette, so when I was little I had a stuffed Smurfette. Now Livia gets one to call her own too.

To infinity and beyond!

Livia is all tuckered out.

What's Christmas without men getting toys?

Christmas Jammies. That's a lot of red.

My 2 little sweethearts.

Christmas morning... Santa came!

The result of an impatient child who is inexperienced in the art of peeling oranges.

Santa visited Livia too. Too bad she didn't really care.

She did like the teddy bear from Santa though. I thought it was cute how she's holding its arm so tight.

Did I mention that Santa brought Daddy a laser?

Santa apparently doesn't like Preston's mom and dad too much!

Kari's favorite color is 'rainbow.' Enough said.

Nana and Papa with all their grandchildren.
(Yes, we intentionally color-coordinated them.)

My mountain man husband.


Thanks Nana and Papa for letting so many people invade your house for over a week!

In Loving Memory

Grandma made the best cookies. And bread. And pretty much anything else she made. I guess grandmas are like that though. Mine was no exception. I seldom remember a time going into her house and not finding cookies on the far end of the counter. She's the only one I know that made date cookies. She used to bring back fruit gems from her yearly trip to Arizona. I would always find a reason to go into her room to see if I could find a box, so that I could make big hints that I sure would like one! Even years after she stopped going to AZ, I would still see that box in her closet... too bad it took me years to realize that by then there was probably something in it other than fruit gems. (No wonder she didn't take my hints after a while.) Cream of Mushroom soup still reminds me of her... it was her favorite soup. I loved to play 'Peek and No Peek' with her. (I wonder if I still remember the rules...) One time when she was doing the dishes, I told her how much I disliked doing the dishes. She told me that she loves to wash the dishes because she gets to splash her hands in the water. After that I tried to have fun 'splashing' in the water... but the bore of doing the dishes still outweighed the fun of splashing. One time when I was maybe 9 or 10, I was home alone for some reason. I really thought it wouldn't be that bad... until it became dark, and every little noise was magnified. I turned on all the lights so that I could stop crying. When that didn't work, I called Grandma. She said she would be there soon to stay with me until my parents returned. As soon as I hung up the phone I stopped crying because I knew my Grandma would be there soon and that I would have no reason to be afraid anymore.

In recent years her health started declining. She had more frequent trips to the hospital, but she always pulled through. I have always thought of her as a strong and dependent woman. Until the last 10 or 15 years, or maybe less, the only times she stayed in the hospital was when she gave birth to her 6 children. When she was young she was asked to play on one of the Professional Women's Basketball Teams. I always wanted to hear about that, but she always brushed it off like it was no big deal.

Grandma had a great sense of humor. She always made me laugh. She was never trying to be funny... she just was... naturally. Last summer my sister, Ronda, asked her what we were going to do next May for her 90th birthday. She said, "I'm not going to be here in May." "Well, Grandma, where ARE you going to be?" She responded by pointing and said, "Either up there or down there, no one knows yet." I feel pretty confident that she went up.

All my growing up years, Grandma just lived three miles down the road. We had Thanksgiving there, I think every year? All of us grandkids (she had 13 grandkids and now 14 great grandkids.) would sit on the floor around the glass-topped coffee table. All the adults sat around the regular table and a few of my uncles would eat about half of all the food that was there.

Grandma was a devout Lutheran, and a true example of a Christian woman. She was never unkind, she never criticized, and she was always patient.

I'm so grateful I was able to go to ND for Christmas. I knew she was not doing too well, so I wanted to see her one last time. After church on my first Sunday there, I went to see her. She had been moved to a nursing home because her doctor wouldn't release her to go home. She lived with my Uncle, who lives 3 miles from my parents, so about 70 miles from the hospital in Bismarck. She didn't want to go, and it was so hard for my dad and his siblings to make that decision, but they didn't have much for options. When I walked into her room that Sunday, it broke my heart to see her in the state she was in. It took me a while to wake her. She only responded when I told her my name. I know she remembered who I was. I talked to her for a while without much response. When I said I would go so that she could rest, she asked me a question. I sat back down and talked for a few minutes more. Then when I got up to leave again, she did the same thing. She did that about 3 times, so when I finally did leave it was so hard, because I felt like she wanted me to be there, even though she wasn't joining in much on the conversation. Most of the time I was there, I just cried. I knew she was in pain and didn't want to be there anymore. The next day I was back up in Bismarck with my mom and sisters. We went to see her during her lunch time. My mom asked her if she could open her eyes to see her newest great grandbaby, my Livia. I put Livia right in front of her, and wished with all my heart she would have the desire to at least look at her. When she put her head up and opened her eyes just long enough to look at my baby, tears came to my eyes. The next Sunday, on our way out, to go home, we stopped to see her one more time. I knew this would be the last time I would ever see her on this earth. I held her hand as the Hospice nurse talked to my 2 aunts. After about 20 minutes, I knew I had to say my goodbyes. I knew it would be hard, but I didn't know how hard. I hugged her and told her that I wouldn't be able to come back anymore to see her. I told her I loved her. And I can't even express how much it meant to me that she responded to me, "I love you." I told her to rest well. And I left with tears in my eyes.

After seeing her the first Sunday, and seeing how much pain she was in and how bad she wanted to go Home, I changed my prayers. I prayed that Heavenly Father would take her back home to be with Him. It pained me to see her so frail and helpless. She had been a widow for over 28 years. I can't imagine going so long without my companion by my side. I know there was a beautiful reunion beyond the veil the day she died.

As strange as it is to realize that my grandma passed away, and that she's not sitting in her chair twiddling her thumbs, (she's the only I know who literally does that!) I'm grateful that she is beyond the pain and the loneliness of her mortal life. I'm grateful that she has been reunited with Grandpa and our Heavenly Father. I'm grateful for the example that she was to me and the wonderful mother she was to my father... that she raised him to be the man and father that he is. She lived a full and purposeful life and I feel privileged to have been a part of it.

Grandma, you will be missed, rest in peace.

In loving memory of Emma Virginia Bjork Riskedahl, May 17, 1919 - December 29, 2008

A Christmas Miracle

This past week has been a week of extreme emotional moments. As much as I wish this on no one, and pray I never experience it again, I am thankful for the lessons I have gained from it and the opportunity Jason and I had to build our faith.

On the Tuesday before Christmas I went up to Bismarck (about 70 miles from my parents' house) with my sister Ronda and my dad. My dad had several errands to do, so he dropped Ronda, Livia and me off by the front doors of Walmart. A few moments before then, I had noticed how dry and cracked my hands were. While still in the car I took my rings off to put lotion on... and forgot that they were still in my lap. When I got out of the car at Walmart, they fell off my lap onto the snow-covered sidewalk. About 2 hours later, as we were checking out, I looked at my hands and thought it strange that I had forgotten my rings at home... until I remembered that they were not at home. I prayed on my way outside and then to the car that I would see them and everything would be ok. I searched and searched with no luck. I went to Customer Service and burst into tears as I asked if some rings had been turned in. I truly began to fear that I would never see them again. I tried not to cry. I tried to remind myself that they were just 'things' but it still broke my heart that my carelessness had cost me some of my most precious material things. My dad helped me search as Ronda took care of Livia for me. We talked with the security team, and I begged (I mean that literally) them to let me watch the surveillance video for the past couple of hours. They refused, but said they would view them and let me know if they saw anything... they weren't much help. I left feeling a little hopeless and knowing that I might have to accept that they were gone. I did at most times have a feeling of peace that it would all turn out... but I didn't know if that would mean that I would get them back, or that I would truly accept what happened. (I hoped it meant the first!) I filed a police report and they said they would do what they could.

The police were in contact with me, but they never had good news. I called Walmart several times, and they too had no good news.

On Friday, my dad suggested that we go back to Bismarck and visit all the local pawn shops. We called them all, and most were helpful in letting me know if any rings had been brought in that fit my description. One was not so cordial, and said I would need to be there in person if I didn't want him to think I was the criminal trying to pawn a ring I stole from my Grandma. (That made me cry even more.)

On the way there, my dad calls and tells me to call someone named Maria from KFYR, a local news and radio station. He had called them to see if we could talk about it on the radio and Maria said she would like to do a story about it. I was so grateful to be given the opportunity to get more information out there, with the hopes that there are still good and honest people out there. So I called Maria and set up a time with her to interview me. Jason and I planned to go to Walmart to buy a metal detector and search the area again, so we met Maria and the camera lady there. I honestly didn't have much hope, even with being on the news. I thought the chances were slim that the one person who picked them up would be watching the news. But I knew I still had to at least try.

After the interview, we went to buy a metal detector and Jason scanned the area several times, but again we had no luck. It was getting dark, and we had run out of ideas of what more we could do, so we left to go home. I got a little teary-eyed as I told myself that I need to forgive myself and be ok with it and remember that it was just 'stuff' that I had lost. Jason took my hand and told me that we did everything in our power, that we did everything we could.

Within five minutes of saying that, Jason's phone rang. It was my sister Jill asking if we were still in Bismarck. We said we were just a few minutes away from getting on the interstate to come home. She told us to turn around because the rings had been found! At first Jason thought it was just a really mean joke, then he realized she was telling the truth. A man that had seen the news remembered an ad in the newspaper about rings being found in the Walmart parking lot. He gave the information to my dad and my dad called and described the rings to the woman who had put the ad in the paper. She was almost as happy as my dad when he told her the inscription and it matched! He gave me the address and we made a stop to get cash for the reward we offered and went to get them.

She was a sweet little lady who desperately wanted to find the rightful owner. She was going to call all the jewelers in the area to see if they had done the inscription. (And of course, since it's North Dakota, she knew one of my uncles!)

I know it was the Lord's hand in it being a good and honest person that found them. I believe that most people would try to find the owner, but you never know who would be the one to pick them up.

I was very much a faith promoting experience for both of us. I feel that because we did everything we could, AND accepted whatever would result, that our faith was strengthened and our testimony of prayer has been reaffirmed. Along with that, I am reminded that there are still good and honest people out there. She refused the reward, and she had put the ad in the newspaper right away, so I know her intentions were to find the rightful owner from the very beginning.

I would also suggest to anyone that has jewelry or anything like it of value, to take some pictures of it, so if it were to get lost, you would have a picture of what it looks like to show others.

A Little Christmas Cheer (in the form of a ball)

Today I made our Christmas neighbor treats. I decided to get a little more festive and add a little color to them... pretend the pink is actually red and we're in business. (My green food coloring has not reappeared since its last usage, which was in Orem, so I'm pretty sure it's not currently in my house...)

Just to add a little more to the post, I'll put the recipe up... because Oreo Balls are pure yumminess. Mmmm mmmmm.

Oreo Balls
1 package oreo cookies
1 package cream cheese
1 package vanilla almond bark

Crush cookies until fine. (I like to use a food processor, it's much quicker than actual crushing. A blender works too, but not as well.) Stir crushed cookies and cream cheese together. This will probably take 10-15 minutes to get it to a thoroughly mixed ball of deliciousness. Roll the scrumdiliumptiness into small balls. Melt the almond bark. Roll balls around in the almond bark. Place coated balls on wax paper. Let them dry and harden. (Putting them in the fridge hardens them nice and fast and then they taste better too.) If you want to add the color strips, add food coloring to remaining almond bark and put in a small ziploc bag and snip the tip off the corner and use it like a cake decorating thingy. (Am I technical or what!) And last, but definitely not least... ENJOY!! (Or give them to your neighbors to make them like you.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Natal Carnivalesca

Every year Omniture has a huge Christmas party for their employees and a guest. (I'm glad Jason chose me as his guest!) It was really fun to get all dressed up and go on an amazing date without the kids! (I was pretty nervous since Livia is only 2 1/2 months old, but she slept through the entire evening. Grandma said it was the easiest babysitting she has ever done!)
We went to the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake... it was our first time to enjoy valet parking too! (We felt so important!) The hotel is absolutely beautiful. The dinner was divine! The entertainment included some latin dancers (a bit too scandalous for my liking though) and of course a Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament, which was followed by dancing for anyone who wanted to join in the fun. (Jason and I aren't great dancers... we didn't join in for the sake of others.) We really enjoyed ourselves, it's nice to have some one-on-one time with the hubby every once in a while.

My sweetie pies

Once upon a time, I wanted to get a good picture of Sam kissing Livia. Here is how that went:

First, the baby needs a good lick: (He's really got to overcome that desire...)
Now we'll just squash her face: (Yet with his hand holding her, it is still just so gentle.)
Aaahhh, there we got it right:
The end.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

The festivities have begun...
We are once again at the time of year to pull out the ol' Christmas tree.

Sam had lots of fun playing with the 'baby trees' which we would normally just call branches.

Sam is getting to be a pro at putting the star on top. (With a little help of course!)


A job well done...
Oh, and Livia had fun too.

I am thankful for...

Last Sunday in my in-laws' ward, a brother shared these thoughts in his talk. It made me realize that I don't always have the best perspective. It's easy for me to not look on the bright side and see the positive in everything. I thought it worth sharing since it really did have an impact on me.

I am thankful for...
The mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends.
The taxes I pay because that means I'm employed.
The clothes that fit a little too snug because that means I have enough to eat.
My shadow that watches me work because that means I am out in the sunshine.
A lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because that means I have a home.
All the complaining I hear about our government because it means we have freedom of speech.
The spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.
My huge heating bill because it means I am warm.
The lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means I can hear.
The piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.
Weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means I have been productive.
The alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means that I'm alive.


I'm sure there are many more things in our lives that we don't like... but in everything, there is a blessing. I am thankful for that.