Well, it has been 10 days since the "snow storm". We have since melted out of it and have returned to the high 50's and sometimes 60's. After reading our quaint little newspaper, I found out that this city has more parks per capita than any other small town in Nevada. So I went on a hunt for these fabulous parks. I decided to take the kids on a park tour for our last 2 weeks here.

This is their favorite so far:

We will have fond memories of this place. We will definitely miss the weather. After a nice warm week, we decided to drive to Utah to check out the new house on Friday. We were greeted with 19 degrees and frost everywhere. I was excited to see our new house, since I have only seen it online, and couldn't wait to get there. Here is a sneek peak with frozen air and all:

I am having a hard time getting too excited for fear of the sale of our house here falling through again, but I remain hopeful. Hopefully, I will have more "moving in" pictures in a couple weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

What do we do now? Hell froze over!

Nowhere is safe from the freezing effects of El Nino. Even in southern Nevada, snow has found the ground. We only got about an inch or two, but it was beautiful and so fun to see. The kids had a great time running around the yard trying to catch the flakes in their mouths. Kortlan even went so far as to lick the snow off the slide. As you can see from the pictures, we are not very prepared for freezing cold weather, as far as clothes go. We don't have any snow boots or gloves or coats or hats. That will all change as we move north to the frozen tundra of Utah, but for now the kids toughed it out with the little jackets they have. Snow much fun!

A signed contract

I am still a little sceptical, for those of you who know of our situation I don't think one could blame me, but we have accepted and signed a contract to sell our home. We are hoping to close the week of February 5th. Jim just left for Utah for the week and will be making an offer on a home up there. Our dark cloud finally has a silver lining. I am still trying not to get too excited, but I have been decorating the new house via crayons on the printed pictures from the mls listing. It also kept me up from 2 to 5 last night fretting about where to put the piano. Not too much excitement though. Hopefully in a few weeks I will sleep through the night and enjoy the 5 degree weather they are having up there. Brrrrrr!

Keep your finger crossed, I'll let you know how it pans out.

It's all in the eyes

Ok, call me a copy cat, but I am so inspired by the photography done by KMG! I love the pictures of her son's eyes and I just thought I would try to capture Kort's eyes the same way. Not the best, but I am working on it. A talent in progress? Maybe just wishful thinking? It is nice to have a subject at home, though. I will have to add Kendrie's when she gets home from school, she has beautiful blue eyes.

I am facinated with famiy genes and how each child from the same parents can have such different traits. I see my kids everyday, but looking at them in these pictures, they look completely different. Oval, round. Blue, green. Freckles, no freckles. Dark skin, light skin. It is all so facinating to me.

These sets of eyes represent my life,

for what they see and who they are.

Spritual Gifts

While preparing for a lesson I'm giving this Sunday, I came across this story:

A minister was giving a sermon that was several hours long. There was a small break for the audience to get up and walk around at bit. The minister knew many of the people in the audience and he went down to talk to some of the people at the front. He was talking to a man whose wife had left the room for a few minutes. The minister asked the husband if that was his wife's bible, and asked if he could look at it. The minister took the bible and put a $5 bill inside then told the husband that in a few minutes he would be asking for a volunteer and he would call on the wife. The husband was to make sure the wife brought up her bible, but not to tell her that she was going to be chosen. So the sermon got started again and after a few minutes the minister asked for a volunteer from the audience and then pointed out the wife and asked her to come forward. The husband told her to bring her bible because she might need it.

The minister then says, "Do you believe I am a man of God?"

"Yes"

"Do you know me as a friend and trust me?"

"yes"

"Do you think that I would lie to you?"

"No, of course not"

"If I gave you a very simple task, that you could accomplish right up here with me, would you do it?"

"sure"

"OK. Give me $5"

The wife looks at him strangely and gives a questioning gesture. "Just let me go get my purse."

"But I said you could do this simple task right up here. Don't you trust me? Would I lie to you?"

"But I don't have $5"

This conversation goes on for a few more lines and then the minister asks the wife to give him the bible. He opens it and shows her the $5 bill.

She says, "How did that get in there?"

"I put it there."

God will never give us a task that he has not already given us the talents and ability to accomplish. We may not see them at first, but he has put them there and we must ask for his help and strength in doing his will.

I found this to be a great object lesson for my class as well as my own life. I find that it puts the talents that I have, known or not, into a different perspective. Definately inspiration for my don't-waste-your-talents new year's resolution.

Fine, I'll do it by myself!

After 7 months of unsuccessful luck with a real estate agent that could care less if our house sold or not, we are going it on our own. For Sale By Owner now graces the front of my house. I spent about 2 hours yesterday putting together a 2 page brochure that hopefully people will find interesting enough to call for a showing. And so we wait. . .

Our ward got a short term calling for me today, I don't know if they were desparate or what but, they asked me to be the young women's basketball coach. I had to laugh, a little. I know absolutely nothing about basketball, but I am excited to work with the young women again. It was really hard to get released in July and then not move. The first game is next Tuesday, very interesting indeed. We may not even have enough girls to play, so who knows.

Kendrie and Kort got new classes today in Primary. Kendrie has moved up to CTR 8. I can't believe she is going to be 8 this year. She is so excited to be baptized. Kortlan is no longer a Sunbeam. He had a hard time going because the class had a new teacher, but with some ice cream promises, he managed to stay the whole time and really enjoyed his new CTR 5 class.

A beautiful walk thru Temple Square - December 2006

Sister Hale

Here is our Sister Hale with Kendrie at one of our visits with her on Temple Square. We have been so blessed to be able to stop in and see her once in while. Most missions don't allow family visits. She is doing well and loves her mission. I miss talking to her everyday, but writing letters has been fun, old school snail mail! It is nice she has email as well though, it makes contact faster anyway.

Family Portrait

Our family of four. This is the picture we had taken for our Christmas cards at Thanksgiving in Idaho. It was refreshing to see the greens, yellows, and oranges of the leaves. I miss the seasons.

Let it begin . . .

The start of a new year; exciting, hopeful, refreshing, bright.
Let's hope the first day of the year doesn't dictate how the rest of the year will be:
Monday, January 1, 2007: a showing of our home directed us the the bright lights of Vegas for a few hours. One might think that this would be fun and exciting, it was until we were just north of the Speedway. Maggie, our 2 year old Yorkie, jumped up on my lap and well, let's say she had an accident. Not a great way to start out the day, or the year for that matter. Thank goodness we were not far from a gas station. After much cleaning up in the bathroom, we journeyed on to the Vegas Outlet Mall to replace my soiled clothes. I am glad that Kortlan let me borrow his "ditty" to use as a cover up until we got there. I am sure the interstate traffic and the mall parking lot did not need to see me in my underwear. Later, on our way home, we stopped for a light lunch and I was fortunate enough to step in a freshly disposed of piece of gum just before getting back in the car and had a drink spill on my new jeans before we pulled out of the parking lot. Needless to say, when we finally got home, I put on my PJ's and sat in a chair the rest of the day.

This new year still finds us trying to sell our home. We are hoping we will sell it soon. It has been 7 months now and we are ready to unpack these boxes, permanently. Jim loves his job though, that makes it all worth it. And I must say, after spending 2 weeks in 20 degrees or less, I am very grateful for the sunshine and 60 degrees. No inversions either. Anyway, Happy New Year! May all the best find you always.