It feels more like Christmas to me now then it did a month ago. The reason ---> It's been snowing ALL DAY LONG! I am not a fan of the snow, actually that's not right. I don't mind the snow up high on the slopes, it's when it interferes with driving that I mind it, a lot. It ruined our plans of going down to Sandy tonight to go out to dinner with my in laws. It is Derick's dad's birthday today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DOUG! Hope you had a good day:)

This morning it was just raining, so my sister and niece and I went to Orem to get some things done. By the time we came home it had snowed a ton, and it took us forever to get home. At least we were safe and came home without any problemos:)

Zane is sitting next to me counting to see how long it is until I get off the computer so that he can get on it:) Guess I am done for now.

My little brother is such a big kid. He was goofing around at work with a knife, and ended up cutting his hand pretty badly. He had surgery on it, and now he has a cast on it to keep it protected. It just reminds me how men tend to be little boys at heart:)

I must admit that I am a little tiny bit jealous of my mom... She is going to Spain for a week on Saturday. I have never been to Spain, but would LOVE to go there someday. My oldest brother is taking her. He wants her to go and stay there for a few months each winter, because of her arthritis and other ailments. But she wants to check it out first, to see if she would like spending a lot of time there, and I can't say that I blame her. I am really not jealous, I think it's great that she gets to go there, I just wish I could go somewhere nice and warm too, like Hawaii;-}

I am supposed to be at work today. I am not though. McCall was telling me this morning that he was feeling a little weird, but he thought that he would be able to go to school. Guess he was wrong.

There's a commercial on tv for Publishers Clearing House and how they are giving away $1 million dollars a year to a lucky person on February 29, 2012. Of course, the dork and optimist I am, I had to go and check it out - I can do A LOT with a million dollars, and a million a year until I die? Yeah, I can do plenty with that. However, the people they select to be the lucky winners for something like this are people in their declining years, which from their perspective is a good idea, not that much money to fork over to someone that will most likely die within the next 10 years of winning, or sooner. But, if you don't try, you will never know:) Which is the same reason I had to enter another give away;-} this one is for a house in Midway that HGTV is donating to a lucky person. Not only will you win the house fully furnished, but you will get a crossover SUV and $500 000. I do realize that the chances are not in my favor to get any of these prizes, but a girl can dream, right? I mean, someone will get this, why not me/us? And if not now, maybe at another time. Our local grocery store in Heber called Day's Market also have a give away, and yes - I entered that one as well:) they are giving away free milk for a year. True, it's not as extravagant as the ones I mentioned above, but free is free no matter what, and buying milk adds up.

I am so grateful for the power of prayer. Last week my mom called and told me that my nephew Daniel in Norway, had gone in to the hospital to have some test done for his stomach. With the type of test they were doing, they decided to give him anesthesia, because he is only 10. When he woke up he had trouble breathing, and they discovered that his lung had collapsed. I guess that is a 'common' side effect for anesthesia, which I had no clue. It brought back memories of when Jake was in the hospital, he had lung problems obviously because of drowning. The way they had to pound so hard on his chest to get his lungs inflated again was just so horrible, that I always had to leave the room when they did it. My guess is that they probably didn't have to do that with Daniel, I sure hope not. My mom called to ask me to put his name on the prayer roll at the temple, which I did, and we prayed for him as a family as well. I talked to my mom the next morning, and she said that they were going to keep him overnight, but he had improved so much in just a few hours that he was able to go home:) We love you Daniel, and continue to pray for you and your awesome family:) I know that Heavenly Father have us go through frustrating and sometimes difficult things in this life to keep us humble. It seems like the times in my life where I pray the most and read my scriptures the most are the times when life just get to be too much to handle, and I need the strength that only prayer and the scriptures can give me. I know that I need to be close to my Heavenly Father when things seem to be going the way they should as well, but unfortunately being human is hard at times. I try, and that's the best I can do for now.

As I have mentioned before on this blog, the things I write on here are things that I feel, and need to 'let out'. If you don't like what I write, fine --> you most certainly do not have to read it. English is also my second language, so it is hard to express things properly at times, which is also why I generally use the same words over and over and over again...

I went to the cemetery today. I was supposed to go to Park City with a friend to do some errands and have lunch, but she had to cancel cause one of her kids was home sick. So, then I went and did some errands in Heber - grocery store, put gas in the car and then I went to the car wash. Sitting there in the car when the wash was doing it's thing to the car, I just started crying. Jake was always so scared whenever we got the car washed, it was one of his least favorite things to do. And sitting there thinking about him just made me cry, and then when I was on my way home I decided to swing by the cemetery. What a beautiful place that is. I was thinking to myself that it is going to be a glorious sight when the second coming of our Savior happens and the grave will give up their dead. It's like I just can't wait for that moment. I miss him so much, and I am grateful that I am not a pioneer woman that had to leave a dead child in a shallow grave that would never be visited again. I love my family and I am so thankful that on days like this, I can come home to them and know how much we love each other.

I am so hopeful for this new year of ours:) I hope and pray that things will work out for members of our family, and that Derick will be able to get a job that he will be happy in. I think my motto for this year will be - Good Things Does Happen To Good People!

It's 2012! A new year, new possibilities:) I don't do new years resolutions, I never keep them so I figure why beat myself up over it when I fall short? I don't like to feel like I fall short, I don't think anyone does. I do like to evaluate myself, though. Am I too negative, do I get mad at my kids too easily, am I a good wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, neighbor, do I smile enough, do I give compliments and praise when needed or deserved, do I help people, do I pray enough, read my scriptures daily, do I clean enough, organize enough - the list can go on and on. The important thing I think is if at the end of asking myself these questions, do I do something about it or ignore it? Usually I do something to try and improve myself, in regards to cleaning and organizing - not so much:( That is something I need to work on improving:) I really hope that 2012 will be an awesome year for our family, as well as for my family and friends. Good things can happen to good people:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! May this be a GREAT year for us all!