"Dad, this tree won't fit in our backyard." "It's not going in the yard, Russ, it's going in the living room"

Over Christmas Vacation, we took our traditional annual overnight trip to Stanley, Idaho. Stanley is about an hour north of the famous tourist spot of Sun Valley, Idaho, and is about 2 hours southwest of where we live. From Salmon, the drive follows along the winding Salmon River almost the entire way there, so there's inevitably a puking kid in the car every time. Stanley is traditionally the coldest town in Idaho every single winter, so the negative temperatures we experienced while there were to be expected. 

Josh's Aunt & Uncle own a motel & the Jerry's Store in Stanley, which is who and where we stay when we visit. Josh's brother Malachi took the 3 older boys on the Friday following Christmas, and they stayed an extra night. The boys went sledding with their Forsgren cousins and played and had a great time. Josh and I took Kanyon on Saturday, and arrived there late that afternoon. Five of the 7 Forsgren kids were home that weekend, which made it fun (Jonathon was at work in Twin Falls, and Eric is on his mission). Weaton's fiancee Clerissa was also there, as well as Uncle Malachi, so there was quite the crew.

The Forsgren's have built their home around and in between the C-store and Motel, and it's so big and fun for the boys to play in. Because their home is sandwiched between the highway and the River, they built a large room for their kids to play in since there wasn't a lot of outdoor space. In the summer, they bring a trampoline into the big room, and in the winter, they always have a huge Christmas tree in there!

 

On Saturday night, we ate a yummy homemade pizza dinner with the "big cousins" (that's what my boys call them because they're all tall), and played games. Some of the boys spent a lot of time in their "game room" with all their electronics games. I also brought some board games, and we played them at the table after dinner.

We spent the night in one of their nice motel rooms that night, but Ammon opted to sleep in his sleeping bag in one of the cousins' rooms instead. The boys watched a movie, Kanyon played on his tablet, Josh read a book, and we had some nice down time relaxing before bed.

On Sunday morning, we got up and got ready for church. My mom had sent the boys really nice church outfits for Christmas, and it was the first time they got to wear their nice new clothes. They looked so handsome, so I took some pictures of them on the back deck in the freezing temps, and they were good sports about it!

I just loved the views from the back deck of our motel room! It is so gorgeous!

Going to church in Stanley is a unique experience. They don't have an LDS chapel. During the summer months, they use a community chapel, and in the winter months, they use the community center. Both buildings are too small for their congregation, so after Sacrament meeting, the youth go across the street to meet in a home, and the primary children meet in the kitchen for their class.

The annual tradition is that the Tolman family from Salmon provides the Stanley branch's program for the last Sunday of the year. This year, I was a speaker as well as Kathy, my mother-in-law. Malachi did the special musical number, a song he composed and played on the piano. It was a lovely program. I really enjoy going to church there! After church ended, the boys played with some of the ginormous icicles outside before we headed back to the motel.

 

After we changed our clothes, and got packed, we ate dinner with the Forsgren's again, and visited and played with them for a few hours.

 

We returned back home to Salmon that evening. We had such an awesome visit with our family! It was definitely an enjoyable part of our Christmas vacation!

"Clark, that's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year"

We spent the entire Christmas day at our house. We were all by ourselves for Christmas morning, and I loved it. It was so quiet and calm and relaxing.

 

 

The boys didn't get up too early (around 7:00), and they waited (like good boys), for everyone to wake up before coming out to the tree together.

 

Santa gave them each something they wanted, something they needed, something they asked for, and stockings full of chocolate and bath soaps.

 

 

Josh and I both got stockings full of goodies from Santa, too. I got a new watch with a beautiful beaded band (love it!!!), some scratch tickets, socks, and lots of good chocolates.

Josh got scratch tickets, too. He also got lots of Reese's PB trees, some cheese curds & cheese rolls, and some Rihanna CD's.

After we opened up our stockings and saw what Santa brought us, we ate breakfast. I tried a sausage/egg/hashbrown casserole that my sister made last Easter. I let it cook slowly in the crock pot overnight. It wasn't as good as Tabbi's was, but I liked not having to worry about making food on Christmas morning. I had wanted to take Christmas morning slowly this year, especially since it was just us and we had no schedule to be somewhere at a certain time. After breakfast, we took turns opening up gifts one at a time.

 

 

It was so much fun! I loved Christmas this year! I felt like we didn't spoil the boys; we got them items that they needed, and they were grateful for their gifts. They enjoyed giving and receiving gifts from each other, too. We are definitely going to continue that new tradition of drawing names and having them choose their own gift for a brother. Before they started putting all their stuff away, I had them take a mandatory photo with their new goods...

 

 

 Then the boys got to playing with all their new games and toys, and spent the better part of the day doing that. Between the new board games, wii games, DS games, and tablets, they kept pretty busy!

 

 

We hosted Christmas dinner at our house, and Grandma & Grandpa T. and Uncle Tim & Barb came over and joined us for a bit. Then the boys opened the gifts from them. Grandma & Grandpa gave all the boys SD cards (for extra memory on the tablets) and colored cases to hold their tablets. They are so wonderful to have and keep their tablets safe!

 

Tim & Barb gave the boys these socks, which turned out to be a huge (and unexpected) hit!

I love having Christmas at my own home! I love watching the magic and excitement on Christmas morning on these boys' faces, and I treasure the memories of good days like this one spent together.

"that's just a real nice surprise, Clark"

Josh bought himself a big Christmas present on Christmas Eve. He'd been looking for a newer one for months, and finally found one that fit his criteria. It was a big surprise for the boys, and the biggest gift he'd ever gotten himself for Christmas!

He'd sold his Chevy truck at the beginning of December. It had been a good truck for us--we took it on a lot of camping trips, on vacations, to get Christmas trees, to go sledding, to get wood, to do service projects. We'd owned it almost 6 years--which is like a record for Josh. And we had paid it off two years ago, which is also something new for us (it was the first truck we've owned that we've paid off). Josh bought a lawn-mowing business last year, and used the truck to haul around his mower trailer and equipment. But he wasn't happy with the gas mileage it was getting, so he decided it was time to sell it and look for a diesel truck instead.

He looked around for months to find the right truck. He test drove several trucks--including both Chevy Duramax and Dodge Cummins. He wanted to have a crew-cab, in order to fit the whole family when we go camping, and the front row needed to have a bench seat instead of bucket seats for the same reason. He found a lot of great trucks, but most of them had bucket seats in the front. He finally decided upon this particular Dodge truck that was available at a local dealership. I think it's a good-looking truck, and it was a good match for him. It has a lift kit on the wheels, and the bed is a long-box, which are both items that weren't on his list, but both make the truck unique, and Josh likes driving different vehicles so that he is recognized when driving around town!

We had an enjoyable Christmas Eve together. We did some of our usual traditions that night after we spent the afternoon & evening at our friends' home. We used our truck for the first time that very day to go to their house, because they live up a steep driveway, and the boys approved of the awesome new truck that dad got for Christmas!

"I dedicate this house to the Griswold Family Christmas"

We had a 12-day Christmas Break this year, beginning Friday, December 21st. The first day of Christmas vacation, we planned to drive down to Utah to spend a few days with my family. There was a primary activity that same morning. We had gone to Utah the previous year on the same day as the primary Christmas party, and the boys had missed it. They did NOT want to miss it again, so we waited until they were done with it before leaving town. It was a fun party for them, so I'm glad that they got to go. They all had to bring cardboard boxes from home, and as they went to different learning stations, they earned parts for their cars like headlights, wheels, license plates, and they also earned fake money to spend at a drive-in movie in the gym at the end of the party. It was so cute to see all the kids sitting in their little box cars when I arrived to pick up the boys. 

 We finally got on the road about noon, and we arrived at my parents' house about 5:00. We had a family party scheduled for 6:00. My siblings all came, except Mick & Jen and their family who were unable to come, and we missed them. We invited my cousin Kayce and her family to join us, too. When we all get together, we are too many in number to fit around the dining table, so my mom finds creative ways to seat us so that we can all eat at the same time. Here's Kanyon and Kayce's daughter Maddie eating on a piano bench (covered in plastic) in the front entryway. They are sitting on flour & sugar buckets. So cute!

My older boys sat at the kitchen counter, and my nephew Brendan sat in a booster chair between the kitchen and the dining room:

My mom made our traditional Christmas dinner, and it was so delicious (it's my very favorite meal): ham, potatoes au gratin, rolls, green beans, and salads. My family always eats ham with A-1. Not me, though!

I enjoyed the meal and the company!

(I have more pictures of us at the table, and in every one Bryce is always looking at the camera and making a different face. It cracks me up!)

 After dinner, everybody made their way to the adjoining family room for some unannounced "sit and bloat" time:

 I was going to do a kids' nativity puppet show like we did last year, but it didn't happen. Instead, I got the game table ready for the game of "Things". Which didn't quite work out like I intended; there were too many people making too much noise for the game to be successful, and everyone ended up getting irritated. We took a break and ate some delicious dessert: pies and cheesecakes, which were very filling and scrumptious! Lastly, we played Christmas BINGO, and the prizes were white elephant gifts that everyone brought. That also didn't end up like I had envisioned--some people didn't want to play BINGO, but everyone had brought gifts, so there was a lot of unopened gifts at the end, and people were in a hurry to leave, so my boys took the leftover loot (they weren't complaining about it).

The next two days were much quieter at my mom's house after everyone had left. It was just our family, my parents, and my youngest sister Katrina. My dad took Trina & my 3 older boys to see the movie Hobbit at the 3-D movie theater, Josh and I got some shopping done, and I went on a date with my high school bestie Kim.I really enjoyed spending one-on-one time with Kim--I don't remember the last time I have done that with her. We ate dinner, went to a movie, and did some shopping. Our family all saw the 40-minute light show (except Ammon who didn't want to go) at the Tremonton City Center on Saturday night which was very worth watching. I was very impressed and thought it was even better than last year's show! This is a video of my favorite song from last year's production when it was at personal residence instead of the city center:

All in all, it was a great short trip. I was glad to visit with my family at the beginning of Christmas Break. We drove back to Salmon on Sunday the 23rd, so that we could spend Christmas Eve & Christmas at our own home with the boys.

January 2013 on FB

Jan 1: The Tolman family won the Salmon radio's 60's songs montage contest again on New Years Eve! It was a great night with Josh's family.

Jan. 6: I was wearing a long beaded necklace, and it suddenly broke and beads went everywhere. Kanyon said he knew why: "Because your neck is getting so old, mom".

Jan. 9: Have you ever been told that what you do doesn't matter? Well...it hurts. It hurts something fierce. So much so, in fact, that my desire to go to work has left me.

Jan. 11: My oldest son is opening a facebook account today, now that he's officially come of age! Happy 13th birthday, Ammon! I can't believe I am now a mother of a teenager!!!!

Jan. 13: Tried a new recipe today for Ammon's birthday dessert: chocolate chip cheesecake squares. It was fairly easy and the boys liked it: spread chocolate chip cookie dough in a pan, cover with cheesecake filling, add another layer of chocolate chip cookie dough on top, then bake it and cool it and eat it, yum yum.

Jan. 14: to the anonymous person who sent me flowers today, thank you. the lilies are gorgeous and smell terrific and they definitely put a smile on my face!

Jan. 19: I can't stop singing the songs I've been teaching my students lately...I sing them in my head morning and night. For the 4th graders, it's Schoolhouse Rock's "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly". For the 3rd graders, it's Disney's "You got a friend in me". For the 2nd graders, it's Dr. Seuss's "It's Possible".

Jan. 22: So during the second half of Ammon's basketball game tonight, on impulse, I started singing super loud (and of course it suddenly got quiet in the crowd) "This team is on FIRE!" --to the tune of "this girl is on fire". After the game, Ammon texted me "Mom, was that you singing so loud in the middle of my game?". Uh...yeah, guilty.

Jan. 25: I look forward to Friday mornings each week, so that I can finally sleep in. And every Friday morning, the kids are up early and yelling & fighting with each other and it ruins my morning plans.

Jan. 25: I'm so happy to say that today ended better than it started: Jonah won the pinewood derby tonight, Micah had a fast car, too, as well as good sportsmanship, and Ammon was a starter at his basketball game, he played well, and their team won again!

Jan. 28: 4 new inches of packing snow, sunshine, and a Sunday afternoon were the perfect elements to go sledding, tubing, and building a snow cave with the boys today! And I loved every minute of it!

Jan. 29: I got a drastic hair cut from my norm, it's now short and spikey instead of a straight A-line. I've been asked by TWO kids at school this week "You're having a bad hair day", and told by THREE other students "Your hair is messy". Thankfully, I work with many women teachers who've complimented it multiple times, or I'd start getting a complex!

musical fingers & singers

December is a busy month. As a music teacher, it's even busier with musical shows. I had several of my students involved in multiple performances...and they all made me so proud and remind me why I love my job so much.

 

At the beginning of December, I volunteered to have my 4th grade students sing the national anthem at a high school boys' basketball game. I'd never done this before, and it was quite the process. I had to communicate and work with several people on the high school level to get it all coordinated. I teach three 4th grade classes, totalling over 60 students. It was a voluntary assignment, and I needed signed parent slips from each of them saying whether or night they would be coming. After figuring out who would be joining us, we spent an hour one afternoon walking over to the high school and practicing during school. The night of the performance, I had to rearrange and line-up the students and supervise them until it was time for them to sing. And all of that work was worth it. It was an amazing sight to see 40 kids be patriotic and sing the Star-Spangled Banner. I was so proud of them! I received several compliments from audience members who also loved their performance.

 

The Kindergarten Christmas program was the week before Christmas break. I created this year's program based on the book "Snowman at Christmas". I teach 3 classes of Kindergarten students, totalling over 60 kids, and they helped me decorate the stage by cutting out their own snowflakes. Mrs. Foote, one of the Kindergarten teachers, is also an artist. She created a snowy mountain backrop for a cultural performance at the 2000 SLC winter olympics, and I asked her if we could borrow that to put on the stage, which she agreed to do. It made the stage look awesome for their show! I purchased a large inflatable snowman to complete the decorations, since the book was all about snowmen. This is my classroom & the decorated stage:

 

I asked the Superintendent to come and narrate the book, and during different parts of the book, we paused the story and sang a song relating to what was happening.  We had been learning and practicing songs for this show since October. We sang 10 songs in all: "Hello Friends", "Falling Snow", "The Snowman", "Frosty the Snowman", "Santa Clause is Coming to Town", "Jingle Bells", "Deck the Halls", "Oh Christmas Tree", "Away in a Manger", and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". The kids walked onto the stage while a funny variation of the song "Once there was a Snowman" was playing. There were two students who got to jingle bells during the song "Jingle Bells", and for the song "Deck the Halls" one of my 5th grade students accompanied us on a fiddle. It was a fun program and the kids did so well! They performed the show twice--once for the studentbody as their dress rehearsal, and once for their parents. I was so happy with their performances! They did a great job!

I enjoyed having my son in the production as well! He was standing on the opposite side of the stage from where I was sitting, so I didn't see him a lot during the show. Thankfully, Josh videotaped it for me, and I was able to see Kanyon participating in the entire program, and it made my heart happy!

The final music program that my students were involved in was the High School's Christmas Concert. My students have never before combined with the middle school and high school at a concert. It was exciting and the 5th graders were so anxious for it! All the 48 5th grade students except 2 participated. Here they are getting set up in the high school gym (Salmon doesn't have an auditorium):

I'd been teaching them to play the recorder since October. They played 3 songs on their recorders together at the concert. The first song was "Shoheen Sho", a Welsh lullaby that I had them play with a harp accompaniment on CD in the background. It was beautiful! The next two songs were Christmas tunes: "Jingle Bells" and "Jolly Old St. Nick".

 

After they were done playing their recorders, we also sang one song for the audience. The students all set their recorders down, stood up, walked by me, each collecting a wrist bell, and took their places on the 3-tier risers. They sang the song "Jingle Bell Rock", and they used the wrist bells rhythmically during parts of the song when they weren't singing. There were also two air guitar soloists, who were a big hit. The crowd loved this song, and so did the 5th graders! I tried to upload the video of it, but it wouldn't work. This 5-second clip is the beginning, when the students had all just gotten on the risers and we were waiting for Mr. Anderson (my supervisor & the high school/middle school music teacher) to turn on the microphones (I had students introduce each song, so there's one girl standing by the mic):

The 5th graders did an awesome job, and I was swelling with emotion to see them put their hearts into the performance after all the work we'd done! It's moments like these that make me so happy to be an elementary music teacher! The Kindergarten program & 5th grade show were on consecutive days, and it was stressful trying to accomodate the scheduling! So, I was also very glad when the performances were done and I could relax over Christmas Break!

baby, it's cold outside

It's been a very cold winter. For the past two weeks alone, our lows every day have been in the negative digits. Whenever I step outside, my nose innards freeze. I've got to admit that I hate that feeling. I'm so tired of the bitter cold! But, being so cold all the time has made me aware of many blessings, and I feel so grateful. 

So thankful for snow that covers the ground that glitters in the frozen air.

So thankful for frosty trees that make the area look like a magical winter wonderland. 

So thankful for a wood stove that provides heat for our house 

So thankful for a deck to store the wood so close to the door next to the wood stove.

So thankful for a husband who cuts and chops the wood and builds the fires.

So thankful for strong boys who carry the chopped wood from the wood pile to the deck.

So thankful for our home with good insulation, and no frozen water pipes (our old house had frozen pipes every winter and I don't miss that one bit).

So thankful for the cars that continue to start in the morning (only one has given us trouble).

So thankful that none of our kids have gotten the flu that's been going around this season.

So thankful for space in our home, so that we're not all cramped & piled on top of each other since we're spending a lot of time inside together.

So thankful that I have a warm coat that covers me (a true gift as it was leftover from a coat drive).

 So thankful for a bed that I love that keeps me warm and cozy at night so that I can sleep.

So thankful for jobs that provide for our necessities, including the electricity so that we are kept out of the dark.

So thankful for my health, and ability to keep my body warm.