So Nathan has spent quite a lot of time over at Kirsten's house the past couple of months working on his "super secret project" for everyone for Christmas. He found some old hardcover books and using just the covers he created new little journals for all of us. He covered them with fabric and cut and bound new paper to go inside. They really are wonderful! Thank you Nathan!

Christmas...

“And in despair, I bowed my head: ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said. for hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men. Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men!’” – H.W. Longfellow


This quote is just beautiful, and full of Faith.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas

"Christmas isn’t about perfection. It’s celebrating the One who saved us from our impossible need to be perfect."
This was on the Simple Mom ( http://simplemom.net/ ) blog today.  I LOVE IT...just what I needed when the time to finish everything is getting short.

Gingerbread House

We bought Gingerbread House parts from the bakery at Reams and last night was construction night. Nathan was at Kirsten's house working on his super secret project, so the girls and Thayne worked on the house. I was happy to watch and snap some pics.  They had a great time and I think it turned out lovely! When I find out what the super secret project is I'll post a picture.

MAYHAM----Pumpkin Pies!

We made pumpkin pies yesterday and our house still smells wonderful!!  We ended up with ten pumpkin pies and aunt Michelle came and got two of them.  I just love the Thanksgiving holiday.  It smells good and tastes good but most of all, you get to spend time with family members.  I am thankful for the loving family that I have and all of the memories I share with them.  Have a very happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Bountiful Baskets

Kirsten and I ordered a Bountiful Basket again this week. For our $15.00 we got a head of romaine lettuce, eight oranges, a bag of carrots, two bunches of onions, three zuchinni, four cucumbers, a cantelope, a bag of grapes, a bunch of broccoli, eight bananas, two pomegranites, eleven apples and four tomatoes! A few weeks ago we ordered a tortilla pack along with our basket, you get a ton of tortillas and they are so yummy! There are Bountiful Basket Food Co-op locations all over Utah, if you want to check it out you can go to http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

MAYHAM

I finally made my shirt on zazzle!! It looks really cool. Unfortunately it had a hole in it so we had to send it back. But have no fear! Nathan is getting another one and it is on its way right now. Here are some pictures of the process I went through to make it.

First I made the original copy.

Then I copied it onto a bigger piece of paper.

After that I traced it with a black pen. (and yes my hand hurt really bad!)

I took it and put it on the computer where Nathan did some magical thing to make it look better. After a couple of weeks waiting it finally came (hole and all). Here are some pictures of the finished product.

Halloween

Hannah and I decided to get a little crafty! We took this plain metal bucket.

Pulled out lots of pictures from our old Country Living magazines. Lots of Mod Podge later..................

Very messy, but very fun.

We had french toast for dinner last night. I made a yummy homemade maple syrup to go on it. It wasn't as thick as store bought syrup but it tasted the same. Here's the recipe so you can try it.

1 cup water

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp imitation maple flavor

2 tsp butter

Stir water and sugars together in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium/high heat. Reduce to medium/low and stir in butter and maple flavoring. Simmer for 3-5 minutes. Let cool.

Yummy.

Well, today was back to school for the girls. Everyone was up and going early! I am the PTSA President again this year at the junior high so I was at the school early to help. Tennis practice after school will make this one very long , but great, day! Have a happy day everyone!

July

1. Great Grandma Petersons for the fourth.

2. East Canyon Music camp. Hannah played in the orchestra and sang in the choir.

3. Katie had her birthday party on the 16th and they watched a movie outside on a sheet. It was really fun.

4. We had a yard sale on saturday the 17th and sold a lot of our stuff! Yeah us!

5. We went to San Diego with the Ducketts on Wednesday the 21st to Sunday the 25th. We all had tons of fun. It wasn't as warm as we all thought though. It rained a couple of days too!

June

June was a very busy month for our family. We went to Moab to see the arches and canyonlands, went on a pioneer trek, and Katie recieved her young womanhood recognition award. It was a very fun month.

Our family has had some great times in the past month! Nathan had two big events that I've wanted to post about and just haven't got to it until today. He graduated from Seminary on May 23, he served on the Seminary Council at school this year and spoke about their theme at the graduation. (Mosiah 4:9 if you'd like to read it). It was a great talk and really brought the Spirit to the meeting. Then on June 3rd he graduated from High School! He was ranked 7th in his class, he really stayed focused on his school work this year and didn't get "senioritis" until the very end of the year. He was ready to be done and move on :)
Yesterday we went to a big orientation at the college and got him registered for classes. He's so excited to get started. Good times. Nathan (center saxaphone) played in the Jazz Band for his graduation. It was awesome!

MAYHAM

Ok. So today is officially the first day of summer. I am so glad that it is summer because summer means wandering around without shoes, staying outside all day, doing different crafts, going swimming, going camping, getting sunburns (for me all of my sunburns turn into tans after about two weeks), and just being lazy. So far I have made a button bracelet, designed a T-shirt, watched a couple of movies, and gotten a sunburn that is now a tan. I can't wait until Nathan can help me make my T-shirt design into an actual T-shirt on Zazzle. I am so excited! My design started off as one of the Zen Relief things that Aunt Michelle does and ended up becoming a master piece that I am absolutely in love with!! I erased some of the drawing so it wasn't as crowded, and then made it as big as a normal piece of paper, then went over it with a black pen, and am now waiting for Nathan to get home from work so he can help me turn it into a T-shirt! I will try and get a picture of it on my next post. Write ya later!
♥/ MAYHAM

Check out this advice from the Inspired to Action blog: Wisdom From A CEO: A Father’s Day Post for Mothers Too… I thought it was great!
Happy Fathers Day.

We just finished up with "TV Turn-Off week". We got rid of our cable, and the bill that came with it, a few weeks ago! There were a few complaints, but mostly we haven't even noticed that there are fewer channels to choose from. Last week was great though, TV turn-off week ended up on the same week as missionary week for the seminary kids. Part of missionary week is no TV. Hannah only rolled her eyes about it once and that was it for the week. It was so great to not have to tell anyone to turn off the television. Let's see if it will last into this week too.

Happy Birthday Keyki! She is one year old. It's amazing that she's even lived this long, I've threatened to kill her every time she's peed on my floor or eaten something she shouldn't have.

But now we love her, so I guess she'll get to stay.

Happy Earth Day! For Earth day I made green sugar cookies! Yummy. It's also my Dad's birthday today. My Dad loves sugar cookies, so some of those went into the freezer to deliver to him later. Thinking of my Dad and Earth day made me think of a little saying I once heard:

"Use it up

Wear it out

Make it do

or do without."

That is exactly how my Dad is, he will just figure out how to fix something so it can be used for longer.
So in honor of Earth Day and my Dad's birthday, I thought I would post a picture of my washing machine, which broke last week! While I was at Kirsten's house using her washing machine (which is funny too because she just got it and for the past year has been using mine.) Thayne decided to tear apart the washer and see what the problem was. After calling a repair man and hearing what he was going to charge us to come fix it, Thayne decided to order the parts online and fix it himself. Meanwhile, it was still out of commission while we waited for the parts. No problem, he figures a little duct tape will hold it all together. So he wraped the broken part in duct tape and put the whole thing back together. I did all my laundry for three days until the new part came. I am so proud of his fix it job! We were trained well by a generation of "make it do" people like my Dad. That is what Earth Day is really all about, making our belongings last longer and not just throwing everything away.

See the green duct tape... It was starting to pull apart after all the laundry I did, but it lasted until we got the replacement parts!

Our First College Graduate! April 15, 2010. (I waited to post it so that she could post it first.) We are so proud of her.

I finished a project! Three reusable grocery bags. Now if I can remember to put them in the car.

Happy Spring Break! The first day of April and we wake up to six inches of snow. The kids decided to take advantage of it and went off the sled down the hills by the church. Good thing we got the fertilizer down on the lawn before the snow came. It will be so lovely and green when the sun comes out.

I have had a gloriously quiet week this week. On Monday Hannah and I drove up to Primary Childrens for her LAST check-up on her leg and back. We've just been in the watch and see mode for the past few years. The leg is still just a bit short, but has not become any worse. The curve in her back has stayed the same also, a good sign. Her doctor thinks that all is good and she should not need to come back. Hurray!

Tuesday I attended my Council PTA meeting, we took most of the meeting discussing the feedback we would send to the school district about the ten million dollar budget cut for next school year. Blah!

Those major things taken care of at the beginning of the week, I have been able to be home and accomplish.....well, next to nothing. And it feels pretty nice. Being super busy ALL the time is overrated! T

This picture was taken a while ago, it's the frost on my front door. I LOVE it.
Have a happy day everyone!

MAYHAM

Well it is almost Valentines day. Where has the year gone?! Well hopefully all of you are having a slower year than I am. Have fun in life! :)
♥/ MAYHAM

It was Hannah's birthday on Monday. Of course she stretched it out from Saturday to Monday with different activities. Here is a picture of her cake, it contains three cake mixes and was made for her by her sister, the cake maker.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! We were up until midnight last night, even though I was in bed trying to sleep. Nathan and Justin were watching a show until midnight and Hannah Mayham decided she needed to see the ball drop in New York at Midnight. Plus the neighbors and their fireworks. To spite them all, I just slept in this morning and got my eight hours anyway! Hope you all have a great New Year's Day and a prosperous and healthy year. T