Making pizza today

Snowshoeing

We snowshoed around Bear Lake today.  It's much windier and colder up here than in town! But we had a good time.

Christmas in Nashville

We had a good time in Nashville with my family. The weather was pretty nice most of the time. Mostly we hung out in the house (my parents rented this house for us to all stay in, which was kind of a funny old place) and talked, played games and ate. We went to a few attractions too.

My little brother Shawn lives in Nashville with his wife Carrie and their 3 kids. He's doing his residency at Vanderbelt. Sam and Carol and their son Charlie came from Boston. Sandra and Philip came with their baby Mya- they live in Dallas. Scott and Alisa live in Provo and they just had a baby that's only a few months old. Scott's going to BYU. And Stan is going to school at SLC out there too. He's doing much better than he was 2 years ago when he got arrested. I would hope he's drug free now. At least he's pulling A's in accounting, which is probably not possible on drugs. I'm glad to see his progress as I'm sure my parents are too.

Now when I tell you those last 2 pictures are Stan sliding down the skateboard on the hill there, you may wonder if he is on drugs still. This is what entertainment Scott, Philip and Stan found one afternoon. Skateboard+really steep hill+3 bored boys (ages 21-27)= mud stains, road rash and laughter. Actually I don't think any of them got road rash because once they got near the bottom, they veered off to the left to a pile of leaves and mud. And they skidded along in the muck for a good 5 yards or so before stopping. And Shawn made a video of it, to which they added music when they brought it inside for a 'music video' of sorts.

I wish I had some family nearby. Philip, who works for Hyatt, said there's 2 Hyatt's in Denver and that would be so awesome if they moved here. Sandra's expecting her second baby June 1st. I feel for her- they're on a 3rd floor apartment like we were while I was pregnant with Evan. We moved into our house one week after he was born. My girls adore Mya, who's 2.

I'd like to do Christmas in Colorado one year. That's the main reason I want to move to a bigger house- so we can have people come stay with us. We're still working on finishing Olivia's room downstairs and it's almost done, so that will add a fourth bedroom. I want our next house to have a 'mother-in-law' suite for company but also probably in the future for aging parents, either set.

I think of it because my grandma Graham has outlived my grandpa (one of the best men I've known). She had a stroke about 15 years ago. My parents are still living in Saudi so they can't take care of her. My aunt Lisa just got divorced and her life's a mess so she's not an option. Then there's my uncle Jeff, who's below human. As many times as I've thought it over, I never have comprehended. My grandparents were some of the most stellar, good and righteous people I know. My mom turned out great. Then my aunt and uncle...I don't know how to describe them. Jeff is the worse of the 2 evils, but he's the one that ended up 'taking care' of my grandmother. He's basically using her and her social security money, her life insurance from my grandpa. And he has a wife (well sort of, they only stay together to take from my grandma as long as they can) and 3 kids, who are 15-23 and will never find their way in life, also all living with my grandma. And my dad has to put money into the 'money pit' too and alot of it. Taxes that they won't file for my grandmother, bank fees, loans they won't pay off, you name it. My mom finally was able to take over the checking account this summer. Right after my grandpa died a few years ago, Jeff made himself legal gaurdian of my granmother and there wasn't much my parents could do living in Saudi. So now they check in when they can and try to 'stop the hemoraging' of the finances where possible but mostly, because of different circumstances, we can all only watch as they sink lower and lower, reaching a fuller condemnation with all of their vile actions. I haven't been back to visit her since my grandpa died because I can't stand to think of what she's enduring and how awful my uncle is. I'm afraid I might say horrible things to him, all the things I've thought and never said. At least she has daily care from a home nurse and there's no abuse to my grandma in a physical sense. But even though she can't talk and we don't know what state her mind is in, I can't help but think she must be suffering so badly inside, seeing what's become of 2 of her children. I hope for her sake that she passes soon. She will be so much happier.

At the mall

Tomorrow we head to Nashville. Yesterday Emi and Olivia were puking but they're better today. I hope no one else gets the flu. All day yesterday they called to me every 5 minutes. "Mom I feel so sick. Mom my head hurts. Mom I can't sleep. Mom I'm going to throw up." To which I would respond, "Oh, I'm sorry. Try to rest. Do you need anything? You'll feel better soon. Toilet! "  They only had one catastrophe that didn't make it in the toilet. Took me an hour to clean. Glad that's over.  And I'm glad I could listen to a book on my phone while cleaning to take my mind off of the grotesqueness of what I had to do.

I think I will get my nails done today.  I deserve it.

Was Scrooge really that bad?

Why is it Scrooge gets such a bad rap? Could it be that Charles Dickens was a socialist? Or was he simply adorning Christian virtues of doing unto others as we would have done to ourselves? I don't know which train of thought to believe. I've never heard anyone ask it, question Scrooge's evil. But it seems to me old Scrooge had some admirable qualities. We find in him thrift, frugality, hard work and dare I say making a profit. That is, working with the intent to accumulate money for one's self. Ghastly, I know. How dare he. Now I'm not saying we should all be misers and not give to charity. I give and I believe we all should. As much as we can. But why are the buzzwords "social justice" and "equality" and "fairness"? Why do they make my skin crawl? And why does the government seem to think they have a duty to 'equalize' us? We are not rich but we work for what we have and I would never want to have anything given to us in the name of "fairness" not because I earned it.

The thing I must know which I really do not, is: What sort of economy should we hope for? If not capitalism, then what? Flawed as it may be, it seems to be the only one that works and produces real progress of any kind. Free thinking minds, great minds able to invent things, processes and then profit from their inventions. Else what motivation do we have? I don't think anyone ever worked feverishly into the night, becoming weeks and years, to produce a thing with the intent to bring about a greater public good but no benefit to himself whatever. And yet, the new invention does bring about a greater public good and rewards it's maker handsomely for it in a capitalist society. But take away the reward of profit, and people can talk till their blue in the face about the greater public good but without reward, few if any will rise to the occasion of producing anything for the public good. Scrooge may have been a miser, and found more Christian way to live that involved generosity, but he wasn't evil. The greater evil lies in those minds who would, in the name of public fairness, take away individualism and the right of one person to rise above another because they earn it. That is evil.

Evan's macaw

Evan made this 'macaw' out of the foam packing from my desk. It actually flies pretty good off the balcony.

Family Photo

My family asked me to make some color suggestions for our family photo when we all get together in Tennessee. I got a little carried away, but I had to post what I came up with because I thought it turned out pretty darn cool. Hope the picture does too. I assigned each family a main color with accessory colors.

I haven't been together with all my family in I don't know how long. Can't wait to get all the kid cousins together some of whom haven't seen eachother yet. We go out there on the 22nd. Never been to Nashville before.

New desk

Ta-da! My new desk is set up. My kids are watching "The Incredibles" at the moment but sooner or later I'll get to use my new desk. I love it!

Transformation

We had this ugly popcorn ceiling which I single-handedly scraped off the other day in a burst of energy. I just couldn't bear another day looking at that awful ceiling with its "breast" light fixture that gave off too little light. So I did something about it. Taylor simply shook his head when he walked in as he usually does when I start another monstrous project.

"I'm not helping" he said.

"Oh don't worry I have it all under control" I replied.

We women know we must take matters into our own hands if anything is to get done in the world. We women also know that our husbands eventually come to, see our wisdom, and know we are right. So as I had the ceiling scrapped, textured, and painted, he graciously helped me with the track lighting. And he was quite excited by the end, saying what a great idea it was and how mod and chic it looked. He even bought me a new desk for the room, which will be my office. It will be delivered tomorrow. Can't wait.

Strange haircut, kids squabbles

I took 2 1/2 inches off today.  Felt good. I think it looks good to if I do say so. The strange part was the stylist, not my hair. After some small talk about my kids and Christmas plans, "Stand By Me"  came on and my stylist started singing to it. Then dancing a little. While she was cutting my hair.  This struck me as rather odd. But she did a good job nonetheless.
.........
My kids fight and I'm not sure what to do about it. Usually I tune out but there's probably a better approach.  This morning was a late start day at school and fighting broke out about some hairbands. There was a lot of screaming, tattle taling, and door slamming. I told both girls they were grounded. But that doesn't seem to help much.  I admittedly have very little patience for listening to arguments and tattles.  And when they start up, I inevitably find myself wondering what the price of tickets to Chicago is at the moment. To send them all to Grandma Workman. 

Thanks for the legos grandma!

Taylor and Evan just spent the past 2 hours building this:)

Emi's winter band concert

Emi's come quite a long way with clarinet in the past few months! This is their second band concert of the year.

Happy Birthday Evan

Evan is 6 today. As cliche as it may sound, it seems just yesterday I brought him home from the hospital. Well maybe not just yesterday,  but it can't have been 6 years ago. He's growing up faster than I care to admit. I had to buy him several new pairs of pants this week as he had only a few pairs that fit him.

We braved the 13degree weather last night to drive the 35 minutes to the nearest Chuckecheese. Evan was determined that's where he wanted have his birthday dinner.  The good thing about the weather is there was hardly anyone there. Now he's intently playing with his Lego set. 

Besides an errand or two I'm hoping not to have to leave the house today. It is white and cold.