Dedicated to Annika...

I thought I'd start a New Year's tradition a few days early. In 2009, I want to do a post dedicated to each of my nieces and nephews on their birthday, but didn't want to miss Annika's. So, today, I'm celebrating sweet Annika! She turns four years old today, and I am so excited for her!

Four years ago today, I was waiting outside the doorway of the hospital room when little Annika was born, and I got to hear her first cry. Here is me holding her just a few minutes after she was born.

Here is Annika in July of 2005, on our Alaska vacation. Her little personality was already apparent!

Here is my Mom holding her on New Years Eve 2005, when she had just turned 1 year old.



Here is a picture of Annika on the morning of her 2nd birthday, December 29, 2006.

This picture was New Years Eve of last year (2007), right after Annika turned 3 years old. Isn't she cute?!

Here is a picture of Annika and I just a few days ago, Christmas 2008. You can see her sparkling personality in this picture!

We went sledding recently, and she loved it! In the car on the way home, we counted her saying, "Guess what?" 25 times in five minutes. What a cutie!

And finally, one last picture--this is Annika doing her "moves." She is such a cute little dancer!

Some of my favorite things about Annika are her energy, her sparkling personality, her big smiles and huge hugs. She is such a sweet, smart little girl (can already read), and is a joy to be around. I love her, and I'm so grateful I am a part of her life! Happy Birthday, Miss A!

Okay, okay...it's time for another post.

JoAnna asked me last week to post, and then Chelle just put on her blog today a list of those that needed to post again, and I was on the top of the list. So now that I finally have a little bit of time, I thought I'd do a post. But warning--I've waited so long to post that this is going to be a long one. So you may need to read it in shifts. :)

Things have been going well lately, except for the ever present sugar this holiday season. Why can't I stay away from it? Working in an office doesn't help, since this last week there have been treats brought in every day. But I do love the Christmas season, and especially working up at the Church Office Building, where they have choirs singing every day during lunch and festive things all around.

Some fun things in the last few weeks--I got to go to the Christmas Devotional with Jan, Ems, Karla, Steve, and Chelle. We did run into some traffic on the way up, and so dropped off Karla, Jan and Ems to save seats, and then I made Steve and Chelle powerwalk with me once we finally found a parking place (including running up 5 flights of stairs, which wasn't good for Chelle). I don't know why I get so nervous about getting in. But it was so wonderful to get to see the First Presidency up close, and we had a little bit of time to walk around afterward. Karla got a picture of all of us, so I stole this from her:

Top picture:Jan, Karla, Jenn, Ems, Chelle and Steve

A week ago, on Friday the 12th, I got to go to a luncheon with all of the General Authorities and staff. It was so amazing. I got there just a little late because I was walking over with someone, and was standing in the doorway right as President Monson started to speak. I looked next to me, and Elder Ballard was there, and he and some of the other brethen in the doorway said, "Please, go ahead and go in front of us." So I was standing right in front, about 10 feet away from President Monson, while he gave a sweet Christmas message, talking about visiting the widows and other fun Christmas memories. I just felt so blessed to be so close to the Prophet.

Then we went in to have the luncheon, and I was standing in line to get food and President Monson was right in front of me. He turned around and went down the line of those of us waiting (all women since they let the women go first), and was teasing about looking to see who had a dimple on their chin (since he does). It was so neat to see him so casual and joking, and yet I felt burning in my heart a testimony of his calling as God's Prophet. While I ate I sat next to Elder Scott's secretary and talked to her (she used to work for my boss), and looked around at all the leaders there--most of the Twelve (but not Elder Holland, which I was sad about), and most of the Seventy. It was just such an amazing blessing for me to be so close to the leaders of our church. What wonderful men they are!

Then last Saturday I got to go up to the Christmas concert with Jan, JoAnna and Lisa (friends from our last ward). We had a great time. We got there early and walked around for a few minutes. It was just lightly snowing and the lights were so beautiful--and JoAnna bought us all matching scarfs that we all wore.

We were going to get dinner beforehand, but the line for the Lion House was so long that we were afraid we wouldn't get in. So we just got some rolls to go and got over to the Conference Center right as they were opening the doors. We had really good seats, and watched as Elder Scott and Elder Hales both came and sat a few rows in front of us. We also saw President Uchtdorf, who was sitting closer to the front. It was an amazing concert, and so neat to hear the choir so close. My favorite was when the actor guy--what was his name--Edward Herriman, I think--did a reading about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who lost his wife in a fire, and who wrote the words to "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." It was just so neat to be there--but I felt bad because JoAnna got a migraine from not eating. I don't know why I was okay, since I usually get really sick when I don't eat, but I was. It took us two hours to get home, but JoAnna was a trooper, and thankfully was doing much better the next morning.

JoAnna, Lisa, Jan and I

I've gotten to spend lots of time with neices and nephews lately. I did Gingerbread houses with Seth and Karla and the kids, and Emilee, Michelle, and Melissa and kids. (Jan did gingerbread houses with Stace and the kids, but I had to work). Then last night I got to go see Annika and Emma in their preschool Christmas concert. It was so darling to see them performing--they both did great. I didn't get any good pictures of them performing, but got some cute Santa ones--although Emma was scared of Santa. Tonight I got to see Kate, Lizzie, and Brina briefly before they went to bed--they were so darling. Here are some pictures from my fun niece and nephew activites (at least the ones I got pictures of):

Me with Ethan, Logan, and Truman

(and Karla made homeade chicken noodle soup--yum! Thanks Karla!)

Annika and Emma working on their houses

Jenni working on her house

Annika with Santa

Emma (and me) with Santa--she was scared of him. :(

Now I'm just gearing up for Christmas, and looking forward to having a litle bit of time off work.

Well, this has turned into a long essay, but that's what you get when you ask me to post after it's been a long time.

I wrote all this yesterday, but didn't post it because I wanted to put the pictures in. But just a quick update from today. This morning I went over to the Administration building to pick up something, and ended up walking in just as President Monson was walking out. The security guard asked me and another couple behind me to step aside, and President Monson saluted us as he walked by and teased about us being a "review line" or something. It was so neat to see him again--twice in one week. What a blessing!

There are occasionally drawbacks to working in Salt Lake though, and today there was a huge snowstorm that hit at 12:00 and dumped tons of snow all throughout the valley. I was really worried about getting home, but thankfully the First Presidency closed the whole church campus at 2:45 and let us all go home early. I carpooled home with a lady from my office (since the bus wouldn't come for another 1/2 hour). It took us two hours to get home, but at least we got home safe. But the weather certainly was "frightful!"

Okay, this is long enough, and you've probably fallen asleep by now. I'll try to post more often so that my posts aren't so long! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

A quote for Mom

I put this quote as a comment on Mom's blog, but wanted to put it here as well. Times just seem to be getting tougher, and it is hard to read the news and wonder what will happen to us. But I love this quote by President Uchtdorf from our last conference--it gives me so much hope:

"If only we could glimpse, for a moment what the Lord has in store for us, not only in the next life, but in this one as well, our hope would be unshakeable and despair would never overcome us…to all who suffer—to all who feel discouraged, worried, or lonely—I say with love and deep concern for you, never give in. Never surrender. Never allow despair to overcome your spirit. Embrace and rely upon the Hope of Israel, for the love of the Son of God pierces all darkness, softens all sorrow, and gladdens every heart."

I'm so grateful for the gospel and the knowledge that no matter what happens, God will be with us and will sustain us.

I'll post more later--I want to write about getting to go to Elder Wirthlin's funeral and what else has been going on, but I've got to get to church. I'll try to write again tonight after the First Presidency Devotional.

And now, for the pictures...

So, I was trying to find just a couple of pictures to post, but there were just too many cute ones, so here's quite a few:

The "big kids" table (there really are 7, not six like I said below. Sometimes I can't count...)

Jan, Mike, Dad, Jon, Ad, and Karla getting dinner ready

The "middle table"

Jon and Tiff serving the meat

We didn't really get a good picture of our table, but here is Jan and I (mmm..my food looks good!)

Playing dice games after dinner... Kate helping Jan




And Jenni helping me (although, just a funny thing--After this game (Sparkle) we played Yahtzee, and I wasn't doing so well. Dad told me to scratch my Yahtzee, since it's so hard to get one, and the very next roll, I got one. Bummer! But it was fun even though I didn't do too well).




While we played dice games, Karla played "hot potato" with the kids. They loved it!




Logan, Ethan and Holly--they're getting so tall!



Love this one--Brina, Lizzie, Kate, Jenni and Bri. What cute girls!!

Dan and Ems came over that night--the ball that Karla was using for hot potato broke, so everyone took turns putting it on their heads. Doesn't Emma look cute?

Maf's saying, "Uh, guys, I'm not sure what to think about this..."

Here's one of Jon wearing it earlier in the day. He looks stylin!

Well, this always takes so long, which is why I don't post that often. Now it's late and I need to get to bed! I'll try to write again soon!

I really am alive...

It's been way too long since I posted, so I thought I would just take a quick second and do a post. I don't have my pictures here at work, so I'll have to put those in later (and I want to be quick--as Dan says, "tithing dollars at work." So I'm taking a 10 minute break to do a post, so Dan can't tease me about wasting time).

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to write anything. Mom had hip surgery, and ended up having a harder time of it than we were expecting, so I spent a lot of time with her (basically whenever I wasn't at work for the first week). I'm glad she's doing so much better--and proud of her for faithfully doing her physical therapy. She got to come home from the care center on Thanksgiving, so that made us extra thankful. Last night I hung out with her while Dad went to Tithing Settlement and we watched the end of "The Man in the Iron Mask." I've loved getting to spend more time with her, and wish they lived closer. She told me I need to move closer. Maybe someday I will.

This year for Thanksgiving we had all but two of the siblings there, so 15 kids and 14 adults. We split up into three tables, and had a "big kids" table for the first time this year, with the 6 oldest sitting together with no parents. They had fun, and we all loved all the good food. Then some of us stayed and played dice games, which was really fun. I loved getting to spend so much time with my brothers and sisters.

We helped my Mom decorate on Friday, and then did some decorating on Saturday, and now it's back to work and getting ready for Christmas. Other than that, there's not much else to report. I still love my job and things are going well. The next time I'm home and have time, I'll put some pictures in.

10 minute break is up! Gotta go!