Elise Is Thankful For......

Tuesday, December 14th--Today was clean-out-desks day in Elise's class. Meaning, clean out all the garbage and extra papers you're suppose to either throw away or take home but, instead, collect in your already cramped desk space. With the looks of Elise's bedroom, it's no surprise her desk is usually cluttered and in great need of cleaning out at the request of her teachers (just like at home!). She does remind me that most of the other kids in her class are just as messy--hmmm, not feeling the sympathy! Today she brought home papers she had worked on in computer lab. A list of things she was thankful for--around Thanksgiving--caught my eye. I just had to share!

Cute pic, Elise! Love your list, yes, indeedy! I see you're thankful for food, family, friends, etc. But, really, the one that caught my eye the most is one I'm certainly glad you're thankful for, just didn't think you would be at such a young age. #5!

Loins?!?! Well, as it turns out, when I decided to have a sit-down chat with her and talk about her "loins" and why they're smack-dab in the middle of her "thankful list" she clarified that she was thankful for "lions" and that she mis-spelled the word. Phew! I think I'll save that conversation for another day then! WAHOO! LOL!

Ward Christmas Party

Friday, December 10th (evening)--We attended the ward Christmas party tonight. We had a great time and the kids got to visit with Santa for a while--which they REALLY loved! This time we had our camera too so we were able to get some pictures. Quite a few other parents realized they forgot their cameras so they asked Nate to take pics of their kids too! So funny, but I would have done the same thing!

Christmas Cards, 2010

Friday, December 10th--My cousin, Carly, is getting into photography and she's proving to be really great at it. I asked her to take our annual Christmas card pics and she happily said she would do so. She came over to our house with all her fancy equipment and did a great job taking pics for our cards. Thanks, Carly! You rock!

Santa On A Firetruck?

Saturday, December 4th--I gotta admit, we live in a great town! It's small and very family orientated. While I have a few gripes, most things about Eagle Mountain I really appreciate and have come to love. Every year Santa comes riding on a firetruck to greet all the children waiting outside for him while his helpers throw candy. It's a fun event my kids look forward to every year. Santa literally drives through just about every street in Eagle Mountain. I can't even imagine how long that would take in a town of over 10,000 peeps! All the city can say is that he starts at 8:00 am and will not stop till he's done. That leaves a lot of time waiting around wondering when he'll hit our street up. This year the weather was great so Brady and Elise played outside with other neighborhood friends, making it an even better day! I wasn't feeling so great so Nate stayed outside to watch them and wait for Santa. I decided to take a super long shower hoping it would help--it did, a little, enough that I went outside sporting a lovely towel wrapped around my wet hair! Around 11:00 am we heard the sirens and watched him round our little street. The kids jumped up and down, waving and cheering him on. His helpers threw out bags of taffy and then Santa moved onto another street--no stopping, can you blame him with all those streets?!?! It's always a fast moment with Santa but the kids love it and I'm glad our town provides it for us. The event is always at the first of December. I think it certainly contributes to getting my family in the Christmas spirit!

New Flooring and Anxiety Attacks Like No Other!

Tues-Fri., November 30th-December 3rd--We got new flooring! WAHOO! When we first bought our house we decided on the standard carpet with an upgraded pad. Over time our carpet has not held up well which has become really frustrating. Carpet cleaners only made it look worse (still have yet to find the perfect carpet cleaner!). I simply began to hate our carpet.....A LOT! I new it would be costly so asking Nate to invest that kind of money was out of the question.....until....... Nate discovered a finance company that was offering refinancing on our home at a 3.875% rate. Holy moly, that's awesome! We went for it but I begged him to take some of our equity and get new flooring. He reluctantly agreed while I shouted for joy! When we found out our rate would go up to 4.15% should we pull money from equity Nate didn't want to do that anymore. Shucks! We still did the refinance at the lower rate and, instead, we cashed out some stock market money that he's had since before we got married. Some of it went to the new flooring and the bigger chunk will go to a new car for him next year. So we both get something we really are wanting--sweet!

Originally, I wanted to do hard wood floors throughout the main floor and re-carpet the bedrooms and front sitting room. After asking around, laminate seemed the better choice as far as upkeep. We've had laminate in our kitchen and dining area since we bought the house and I've loved it very much. It's done well with our family too! Doing laminate and re-carpetting didn't fit into our budget so we just did the laminate. My neighbors, James & Meredith, helped out a lot. Meredith and I went to some flooring businesses and she helped me pick out the right style. Then James did the ordering and found a guy to lay the laminate down. The day before, James came over and tore up the carpet, laminate and tile in the entryway. Come to find out, that upgraded pad we paid for was not there--it was the standard crap! (Thanks again Centex Homes--at least you're predictable!) We spent 4 days in cramped quarters with furniture in every bedroom--much of it in the master bedroom. Talk about claustrophobic!

Our installer, Tyler, did a fabulous job! I would love to recommend him to anyone. Just a really nice guy and was very professional in his work. He didn't seem to get annoyed when we had to walk around him. Friday, as he put up the baseboard, I went around and caulked and spackled while he finished the rest of the flooring. I was pretty amazed at how easy that all went. James came back over to fix the carpet seams and the finished product is so beautiful! We hope to do the re-carpet job in the next year or two but in the meantime we are going to enjoy our new floors. It's so interesting to see how this flooring seems to open our floorplan options up a little more--which is great for me!

Right from the start, I was having massive anxiety. I think it was a combination of things, not just the flooring being installed. I would wake up very early in the morning with chest constriction, back aches and just feeling miserable. It lasted almost throughout the whole week, regardless of what I tried to help it, and then I seemed to get food poisoning or some kind of weird flu at the end of the week. That zapped my energy and made it difficult to get the house back in order once the floors were done. Thank goodness for a husband that was willing to take care of me and help out! We got the furniture moved in and then Nate and the kids were able to put up the family Christmas tree. So glad it's done and we can enjoy it and the rest of the holiday season!

Our First Big Snow Fall of the Year

Sunday, November 28th--We woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland this morning! As an early Christmas gift the kids got new snow boots and snow suits. I found a killer deal on boots and suits and they were in need of both. They put them on and went outside to play and help dad shovel the driveway. We were happily surprised to find that a special mystery neighbor had shoveled the sidewalks throughout our street. One less thing to be shoveled and we appreciated it very much.

The kids enjoyed throwing snowballs with neighbor kids and actually got a little too warm in their new snow gear.

Happy Thanksgiving, 2010!

Thursday, November 25th--We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house this year. Much of Nate's family came over and we all seemed to have a great time. We had a great spread of food, Black Friday ads and some great time visiting.

Rock the Walk Awards & Recognition Night

Wednesday, November 10th--Tonight was an AWESOME night! We attended the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes Awards & Recognition Night. We had some great food and the awards portion was pretty great. I was hoping our team would win something.....we won 3! Our first award was for making it to the "Gold Level" in fundraising--we made $3,511.55. We were only 1 level away from the top honor of "Platinum Level" (next year!). The next award was the "Hit the Ground Running" trophy. This trophy was for making the most money out of all the new teams that registered this year. So awesome and so unexpected! And our last trophy was 2nd place for team t-shirt design. I had hoped on this one because so much of the JDRF staff commented on our shirts. There were two individual awards for myself and next years team co-captain, Mackenzie, for getting donations in the $500-$999 range. We received certificates for that. At the end, the JDRF staff showed us a video of moments captured during the actual walk. We could not believe how many times they had video taped members of our team! It was so awesome!

I am so proud of our team--I will say it over and over again. What an amazing experience this has been! I could not be more happy---other than if we could have made more money....but there is always next year! And the theme next year is "Safari to Cure Diabetes". Sounds like we could have some real fun with that theme!

Great job, again, Team A1C/DC! I couldn't have done it without all your help and support!

Welcome to the Family Baby Cora!

Monday, November 8th--Nate's brother, Dustin, and his wife, Crystal, welcomed baby #2 this morning. Cora Lynn Armstrong was born around 11:30 am and weighed almost 8 pounds (sorry, I can't remember specifics!). According to mom, her delivery was not too bad--especially with an epiderral in place! Cora is not only welcomed by her parents but her big sister, Danika, who will celebrate her 2nd birthday on the 13th. In my opinion, Cora, resembles her dad quite a bit. I called her Dustins little mini-me! Dustin and Crystal like to torture us all by waiting to find out the sex of the baby when the baby is born. There were plenty of guesses and most of them seemed to be a girl. We went to visit mom, dad and baby at the U of U Hospital. We took Elise but left Brady at my sisters house--he's on the tail-end of a cold. Elise loved holding baby Cora. Oh, how I wish we could give her a little sister or brother! Maybe someday.....I'm not giving up hope yet.

This makes 11 grandchildren for Nate's parents. At 10 we were even, 5 boys, 5 girls. Now the girls rock! Welcome to this crazy Armstrong family, Cora!

Elise's Talent Show

Friday, November 5th--Elise attends a girls church group twice a month called Achievement Days. The girls range in age from 8-11. They planned their annual talent show and dinner--this is Elise's first. Every girl was asked to pick a talent and Elise chose to hula-hoop. She did such an awesome job! She did a little routine to a song called "Spinnin' Around"--it's from a Disney CD. She was pretty amazing. I couldn't help but get teary-eyed. She does some pretty awesome "tricks" with her hula-hoop. Ever since she got it for her birthday a few years back she has practiced and figured everything out on her own. I've never been able to get the hang of hula-hooping so it just goes to show how amazing natural talent is. Great job Elise! We're so proud of you!