Day of Giving Photos

Sorry for the very long photo post of our Thanksgiving, but there were many fun things to share:

Grandpa Jake watching football

Libby and the Pilgrim hats we made that set off a firestorm of anger from another child, which is a story for another day. I will just say it involves holes in the said child's bedroom wall.

We discovered Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash - YUMMO!

Jake and Hank watching football

Grandma Barrett - loved that she could join us!

Izzie who volunteered to peel and cut all 16 potatoes herself. Peeling potatoes is the only thing I hate about Thanksgiving and Izzie was a lifesaver this year!

Grandma Jake who was a lifesaver as well!

Kids place setting - no china for them

Adult place setting - Jake set the table and the girls made place cards. Not the picture perfect place setting, but I have long since gotten over that and love that my kids are just willing to help!

The table cloth is a Jacobsen family tradition. Each year we write on it something we are thankful for. It is a lot of fun to go back and look at what everyone has written year after year.

Jay watching football

The food - the very best part and I am ready to do it again!

Matt watching football

Our only injury of the year was sustained by Stockton. He had a nasty collision with the downstairs kitchen counter. Unfortunately, the counter won but he now matches
Camdyn - Warrior Princess

If you made it this far you are a trooper! Go ahead and reward yourself with a Diet Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash - You will thank me for it.

Bust A Move

loving this..........





Mostly because Bust A Move is the best housework song ever!

My children are mortified because I am dancing like it is 1989.

Here are a few lyrics to encourage you to hurry and go over to itunes and purchase your own


Next days function, high class luncheon
Food is served and you're stone cold munchin'
Music comes on, people start to dance
But then you ate so much you nearly split your pants
A girl starts walkin, guys start gawkin'
Sits down next to you and starts talkin'
Says she wanna dance cus she likes the groove
So come on fatso and just bust a move


Are you signing along in your head yet?

Happy Days of Gratitude

Hoping you all out there had a marvelous Thanksgiving and took time to reflect on all of our blessings. I came across Paul Cardall's blog a while ago and love reading his journey through his heart transplant and recovery. He has a wonderful talk given by his father, Duane Cardall of KSL News, that was given at the annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Service in SLC. Here is a link to over his blog. If you have a few minutes, go over and read it - you will be glad you did. A beautiful reflection of gratitude that we can all take to heart and let the season of gratitude linger on a little longer.

Counting Blessings

I have so many things to be grateful for - way to many to list here, so here is the top 10.....

1. My faith. I am so incredibly blessed for my faith in my Savior. The blessings I and comfort I receive from my testimony of his plan for us and the knowledge that I am a Daughter of our Father in Heaven and he is mindful of my every need sustain me in all that I do.



2. My Husband and kiddos. They are the best. We are loud, crazy and have lots of opinions but there is no one else that can make my day like the 5 of them can.



3. My Family - Love them All!!!!



4. My Job. I work for an amazing group of guys at a job that I love. Thank you JR, Steve and Mark.




5. My Friends. Suz and Polly - you gals are the best!



6. My Health. Very grateful to be healthy and able to take care of my family and home.

7. Running! I love that I have a hobby that keeps me somewhat healthy and somewhat sane. I have met so many great and amazing people because I run.



8. Junk Food. It pretty much can turn my frown upside down. Love Diet Coke, Nacho Cheese Doritos and anything that contains large quantities of refined white sugar.



9. 7-11. Not only does it provide all the necessary Junk Food (see above), it also provides the best motivation for my kids. SLURPEES! They will do almost anything for a Slurpee.



10. Thanksgiving. Absolutely my favorite holiday. Love being with family, taking time to Count My Blessings and eat lots of yummy, yummy food.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Are you kidding me?

I really do not get this.........








20 years ago when he looked like this and I had much bigger, better hair, I understand









I do not get it now. All it does it make me feel really, really old and really, really out of touch with the masses. This is a good thing, but I still feel really, really old and do not like People magazine inflicting those feelings on me.

Monday Cheer!

Today I feel like this..........





Isn't she the cutest thing? I was lucky enough to take some very cute pictures of her a few weeks ago.


So this morning when I was having my "adult tantrum" other wise known as a meltdown, my sweet little Camdyn decided I needed some cheering up. Here is a joke that she was sure would make me happy.

"Whose cheese is that?"

"Nacho cheese, MAN!"

Makes me laugh every time, hopefully you are too!

Friday, I'm in Love.....

The Hinton girls have a new obsession....



Friday nights is "Say Yes to the Dress" night. It starts with a marathon at 4:00 pm and then continues into a new episode. Love the dresses, love the drama......I just hope my girls do not get any ideas of how their shopping for a wedding dress experience will be.

My experience was very different. I found a picture of my dress in a magazine, tried it on in Las Vegas and then had a replica made. I loved my dress! Since I don't have a copy of my wedding pictures on my computer and I do not know how to use our scanner and Jay is out of town.....

Here is a picture of us in my dress as we had our own version of "Say Yes to the Dress"

Love .... Hate

Right now.........

I love the Mormon Messages on Youtube.........Hate the fact I cry (sob) every time I watch one

I love my Diet Coke.......Hate that if I drink a Big Gulp, I have to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes

I love eating Vanilla Sugar Wafer cookies........Hate that I eat an entire package in a sitting

I love my new calling teaching the 14/15 year old Sunday School class........Hate that 14/15 year olds do not find me nearly as entertaining as the Primary kids did for 8 years

I love that that we are almost half way through Jay's 2 week work trip...........Hate that we are only half way through Jay's 2 week work trip

I love that Blogger auto saves as I type...........Hate that my brain does not auto save the same way.

I love the benefits of modern medicine............Hate that the results of modern medicine take a week to come

I love that I have been told not to run for a few days and get to sleep in guilt free.......Hate that I have been told not to run for a few days and get to sleep in

I love that it is almost Thanksgiving........Hate that after Thanksgiving it will be Christmas and I am not nearly ready enough

I love having lunch with friends.........Hate that when I ate my lunch I spilled everywhere

I love that my home phone is NOT cordless and my kids have a 2 foot radius in which to talk on the phone..........Hate that I only have a 2 foot radius when I talk on the phone

Love that there is opposition in all things and I can Love & Hate. What do you Love & Hate?

Delusion

I live in a state of delusion and it was confirmed today. I had the day off from work and here is how I thought it would go......

• Wake up and Run
• Send the kids to school and have a very happy morning
• Spend the next 2 hours catching up on email, laundry and a few household chores
• Doctors appointment
• Go to my sister's and make Christmas gifts
• Go to my son's basketball game
• Have a nice dinner with my kids before sending the older ones off to YM/YW
• Enjoy a little bit of time with my two younger kids

Pretty much I am delusional because none of went that way at all, here is the reality........

• Woke up - did not run. My entire body ached and I was exhausted, poor Paula is very patient to still be my running friend
• Got the kids off to school but they were LATE!!! Of all the days! They are never late, but today they were - BAD MOM!
• Next 1.5 hrs (lost time, see above) sat and did email and did a little bit of picking up. Camdyn did this.....

and this....

• Doctors appointment, not liked planned at all. Having a few tests done and because I "failed" a previous test I got to have some others. Had some complications and got to spend an additional 30 min in the stirrups waiting for everything to take care of itself before I could leave. Pretty much MORTIFYING!
• Arrived at Andee's 1.5 hours late and she was very nice and helped me make a few gifts, but had to leave quickly because I had to get to Jake's basketball game.
• Went to Jake's basketball game and spent the next 2 hours listening to Camdyn repeat the following: "I am hungry!" "I need to go to the bathroom" I gave her all my emergency food from my purse and took her to the bathroom, but she still repeated her mantra for 2 hours
• Got home and had dinner with the kiddos and broke up fights and arguments and begged and pleaded for them to pick up after themselves.

Now the younger kids are doing homework and watching TV and I am trying to go back to my state of delusion because I have had enough reality for one day.

Knee..........Meet Forhead

In case you were ever wondering what would happen if your kids were rough housing and one child's knee meets another child's forehead......... I have the answer.....

introducing

CAMDYN - WARRIOR PRINCESS

Yes, these are real injuries and we do not recommend trying this at home. Parents were present at the time, however they were happy that no one was crying - that is until the knee met the forehead.

DO-er

Part of what made me realize how much I missed my "old self" is a conversation with my sister. We were talking about projects and things we wanted done and I mentioned that I wanted my kitchen cabinets painted and new hardware installed. The old me would have jumped in feet first and started sanding, painting and "getting after it" but the new me thinks it would be easier to talk about it, think about hiring someone, begging and pleading Jay to do it --- pretty much anything but doing it myself. I miss that person, but NO, I am not dismantling my kitchen...yet. I am however making a conscious decision to become more of a DO-er. Someone who doesn't talk about getting stuff done, they get it done.

Earlier this summer I had made a "Mom's To-Do" list of things that done daily would provide benefits all around (not a single one had to do with my job). I had done it for a while but as all things go, I fell out of the habit. SO, the list is being brought back out and I am going to make a better effort at becoming a DO-er.

Here is a copy of the list for your review and so that you can check up on me .... so that I don't fall out of the habit again.

P.S. I love lists, aren't they fun? This one comes with a Total so that you can tally up your daily points and see how you are doing? Yes, maybe I am a little crazy.

I used to be......

I used to be a really creative person. For those of you who know me now, you might find that difficult to believe.

I loved homemaking
I loved scrapbooking
I loved decorating and making the holiday's special
My house used to be really, really clean

Some how along the road of life, changes occurred. My brain is now filled with things like:

How many FTE's can we add and stay under budget?
How is our budget?
Revenue Analysis
How fast can I make it through airport security?

So, because I am missing my "old self", I did a couple of things this weekend to refresh my memory.

Put up my Thanksgiving decorations. They are very minimal, but I do feel better.






Cleaned out my fridge with the help of my husband and son. This makes me really, really happy!




So here is to hoping that my "old self" finds a place along side my "new self" and there can be a little more co-existence.

It's That Time!

It is time again for Christmas Cards. I have several samples listed below or I can create a custom design for you and your family. The cost is detailed below:

Template
$10.o0 for the first proof & $5.00 for each additional proof + the cost of printing & envelopes. They can be printed in both 4x6 and 5x7 sizes.

Custom
$15.o0 for the first proof & $8.00 for each additional proof + the cost of printing & envelopes. They can be printed in both 4x6 and 5x7 sizes.

If you are interested, please leave a comment with your email and I will contact you directly.