A day of laughs

I keep thinking about Elder Wirthlin's last conference address today. He talked about how we should laugh when things don't go as planned and they will become fun unexpected memories. That is how this day has gone.

First of all we got up this morning when my alarm went off and hurriedly tried to get out the door by 6 a.m. to make it to Mt. Hood in time to rent gear and get to our lesson by 8:30 a.m. We were a little panicked that it was already 6:30 when we left. We get in the car and the clock in the car said 5:30. Chris said it must have just got bumped. So I pulled out my cell phone and sure enough it is 5:30 a.m. What? You mean we got up an hour early? I got up at 4:00 a.m.?

We get to Timberline and open the car door and ice is pelting us in the face. I wanted to curl up in a ball and say, "I'll wait right here. Have fun." I should probably give some background here at this point in the story.

Aunt Sue is visiting us from California. She called last week before she came and asked if I wanted to take a snowboarding lesson with her. The conversation went like this:

"Hey, Darilyn. I was thinking that while Chris and the girls are skiing and snowboarding that you and I could take a snowboarding lesson. I'll pay for it. It can be my birthday present to you."

Stunned Silence

In a whisper to Chris, "Chris, she wants me to take a snowboarding lesson with her."

I think he could see the panic on my face because he just grinned. He just loves to see me in a bind. I mean I could tell that Aunt Sue wanted to take a lesson and she wasn't going to do it by herself. So I really felt like I should. I don't have any desire to snowboard. My idea of a good ski day is to sit in the lodge watching my husband and children ski and me reading a good book. The idea of going 20 miles an hour downhill does not thrill me. It terrifies me. And i don't want to be wet and cold.

"That sounds great Aunt Sue. Let's do it."

So when I felt that ice on my face I really wanted to whine like my youngest can do. But I didnt. I got out of the van and Chris forced those dang snowboard boots on me and handed me a board. He says, "It works best if you carry it like this." And then he shows me.

"Whatever."

Oops, I knew I had let a little of my bad attitude show with that little slip.

We get inside the lodge and there is a large group of employees listening to a woman talking. I knew they were employees because they had TIMBERLINE somewhere on their jackets or shirts. I'm really smart like that. She is saying something about it's their decision if they want to stay or not. I wanted to raise my hand and volunteer to go home for them. She is saying something about ten o'clock. I'm growing more and more interested in this conversation. Employees going home? Letting the resort customers know?

Let us know what? I HAD to know.

"Chris, go ask what is going on." He dutifully listens to me and asks someone at the desk.

"Timberline is closed due to a power outage."

My eyes got wide and I tried to conceal the smile on my face and gave a wistful shaking of my head when the girls were disappointed. "yeah, that really is too bad." yeah, I'm a liar.

Chris looked at me like I had prayed for it or something. I mean I wouldn't do that.

So we piled back in the car and headed home. But that wasn't the end of our funny day. You see when Chris had put everything back in the car top carrier he forgot to lock it. So when we were barreling down I 84 I hear this Bonk, Kerplunk noise. I asked Chris what that was and as I am asking him a truck next to us honks his horn. We pull over and sure enough our carrier is open and Chris has to walk a 1/4 mile back to retrieve one very mangled snowboarding helmet, one glove, two wrist guards and one destroyed pair of goggles.


So this wasn't me today:


Maybe next time.

A Christmas Poem

Twas two days before Christmas and what does Darilyn do?
Get stuck on a hill and in a ditch she almost flew.

A quick phone call to Chris and "I'm on my way."
But it ended up not being needed as four teenage boys saved the day.

They all stood to the side of the slippery van
And pushed and pushed until I was straight again.

"Merry Christmas" was exchanged with grins on their faces
And thankful tears on my cheeks as I gave each warm embraces.

It took me 1 hour to get to Winco today. That is normally a 20 minute drive. And that was after I got stuck on the hill. I am so impressed with the goodwill that has come out in everyone with this weather. Despite the difficulty of getting around it has brought a wonderful spirit of Christmas with people helping one another. I'm grateful for that.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

What I'm thinking about today

* I love that as a family we have put together a 500 piece puzzle and that we all worked on it together. What a great family thing to do that I did not expect to be so enjoyable when I brought it home from New York.

* I love that we played 3 dragon Ante together

* I love the walk we took yesterday.

* I love that all my girls have had a sleepover this week.

* I'm wondering if Aunt Sue's flight from California will arrive okay tonight.

* I'm wondering if it really is going to snow tomorrow another 4-5 inches like predicted.

* I'm wondering if our trip to Eugene for Christmas Eve is going to happen

* I'm wondering if the piano tuner is going to show up today or cancel like he did last week.

* I'm wondering why I haven't done much holiday baking. I just seem to have too much going on. But what have I been doing?

* I'm still trying to finalize the menu for Christmas dinner.

* I'm thinking that tonight is the night we need to read about the Savior's birth in the Bible.

Whats on your mind today?

A walk, snow and breakfast at Sharis

I wanted to go on a walk this morning. My legs were screaming for some exercise. Chris was game and I soon talked Heidi into it to. Makenzie on the other hand prefers laying in bed and thinking about us out there walking. So I pulled out the bribery card that parents are allowed to use every so often...."We are going to walk to Sharis and have breakfast and then walk back." That got her out of bed.

Here are some pictures from our walk today.

Fav NYC windows

Here is a peek at my favorite windows from Bergdorf Goodman. They were breathtaking.

My Trip back East

When I got home and saw that I had 66 blogs to read on my Google Reader I thought to myself, "I have a bunch of very busy blogging friends." There is no way I can comment on all of your blogs. Please forgive me. I will just have to start fresh from here.

I came home to snow. You'd think I would have had more of a chance of seeing some snow back east but no, it was all here in my lovely State of Oregon. I was saddest about missing 3 snow days with my girls. I LOVE snow days. I love that you can just ignore all of your pressing appointments and events and focus on each other and just being together. So I was really happy that we got another one today even though in my opinion it was unwarranted.

My trip to Maryland with my mom to see Krista graduate was wonderful in many ways. Most importantly it was an amazing graduation. I have never been to a graduation that was so personalized for each student. It was an enjoyable evening and I loved being there for it and meeting many of the people that Krista talks about on a daily basis.

Secondly, being able to go with my mom. The times that my mom, sister and I spend together is always fun. Mom was so excited about this trip and was such a saint for doing NYC in one day which meant getting home at 2:30 a.m!

Third, I loved the Carnegie Deli. Have you been there? That will go down as one of the best meals I have ever had in my life. I swear it will be worth a trip to go there again if I can just eat another of those Reuben Sandwiches. Thank goodness my sister knew to split the sandwich (it was huge).















Fourth, seeing the Rockefeller Plaza Christmas Tree. What an amazing thing to see. I'm getting a little teary just thinking about it. It was so beautiful. I really don't know what else to say about it. It was just beautiful.

Thanks to Krista, the head planner

In 5 days my mom and I will be flying out to visit my sister, Krista in Maryland. She is graduating from nursing school and we are so proud of her. Last Friday was Krista's final for her nursing program and she was nervous but I knew she would pass. So now that she is done with classes and she took her final guess what she has been doing my friends? She has been planning adventures for the three of us while we are there! Planning is in our blood. Our dad is a planner too. I think we got it from him and it must be genetic because the last time we lived with him I was 6 and Krista was 3. It's got to be genetic. It gets tricky when Krista and I are together. Since we both like to plan there has to be a head planner. This is an unspoken rule in my book. I don't know about Krista because since it's an unspoken rule we haven't talked about it. In this case though I have no problem letting Krista do the bulk of the planning. WE ARE GOING TO NYC. Yes, Manhattan. Rockettes, Times Square, Broadway plays, Central Park, The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, dozens of museums and during Christmas: The Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

#44 on my List of 50 Things states: See the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center.

I'M GOING TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be there and will have my picture taken with it.

The anticipation is making me giddy at times.

And since we are going to NYC Krista is the perfect person to plan it. She has been there like a whole 4 or 5 times already. So she is obviously the expert. Not me, who has only been there once before. So you can imagine my excitement when I got this email tonight.

Saturday: Timbuktu open till 11:00 www.timbukturestaurant.com
Tomato Palace till 10:30
http://www.clydes.com/main/MenusList.cfm?Restaurant=The_Tomato_Palace

Sunday: Bus 8:25 am at Whitemarsh (leave house by 7:15)
Arrive in NYC Penn Station at 11:45 am (Breakfast on Bus)
(penn station is right next door to Macy's)

Macy's 34th Street at Herald Square
Macy's is covered head to toe with spectacular holiday decorations. It can feel like a war zone around the holidays, especially the gift wrapping department, but their Santa is unbeatable.

Lunch at carnegie deli http://www.carnegiedeli.com/
Location: The Carnegie Deli, 854 Seventh Ave. at 55th Street, New York City, New York, 10019 Tel: 212-757-2245 Toll Free: 800-334-5606

Saks Fifth Avenue 49th and Fifth

Rockefeller Center 50th Street and Fifth Ave

Trump Tower 56th & Fifth

Tiffany & Co. 57th & Fifth

FAO Schwartz 58th & Fifth

Bergdorf Goodman 58th and Fifth

Bloomingdale's 59th and Lexington

Barney's 61st and Madison


Break at Alice's Tea Cup 156 E. 64th 212-486-9200 (closest train is 59th and lexington: Bloomingdale's)

Wollmans Ice rink www.wollmanskatingrink.com

Central Park near
East 64th Street

Dinner at Serendipity's http://www.serendipity3.com/main.htm
225 East 60th Street
between 2nd and 3rd Avenues
New York, NY 10022
(very close to bloomingdale's)

Sanrio Inc
www.sanrio.com

233 W 42nd St
New York, NY 10036
(212) 840-6011

CBS
1697 Broadway at 53rd Street, (212) 975-8600
Tuesday: Cheesecake open till 11(410) 997-9311


What makes me laugh about our itinerary is that her graduation isn't even listed on here. We will be there though. That's what our trip is all about. I'm proud of you sis and thanks for planning an incredible trip. I can't wait to see you!

This weekend was the perfect beginning to our Christmas. We went and got our Christmas tree and got the lights on the house up. If you want to read about these activities from my husband's hilarious perspective then go here. And don't miss out on the video clips. They are very short since they were taken from his Treo. I had no idea he was video taping me so that gives you an idea of how funny they are. Boy am I a picky tree picker. I'm not sorry though.

We got the lights on the house up. We got the tree decorated. We had our friends Camila and Dustin over to help decorate the tree which ended up with us basically watching the girls decorate the tree and us eating the munchies. This is what our tree looked like when it was done.


I will definitely be doing some rearranging of ornaments when the girls are in school tomorrow. Sorry, but it has to be done. My mind will not be at rest until the huge clumps or ornaments are more evenly spaced out.

Makenzie played the piano while some of the decorating was happening.


Camila and I decided we had a new favorite cracker. Have you tried these from Trader Joes?

After the tree was decorated we watched the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional. I always look forward to this devotional. I love to hear the stories, President Monson has always told such great ones and tonight was no different. Elder Eyring and Elder Uchtdorf's were just as good. I loved the feeling that entered our home as we listened to the words of comfort and joy. If you didnt get a chance to see it then go to the link above and do so. You will be glad you did.

Early Morning Treat

This morning Makenzie had to be at her school at 7 a.m. In order to be there at 7 a.m. meant we had to leave our house at 6:30 a.m. which meant getting up at 6:00 a.m. That is too early for me. If I was able to get up that early without having nausea you would find me in the gym most days. Well, some days anyway. But today I did it because I love Makenzie and she had a Jazz band competition to go to. And because my husband proclaimed last night that he hadn't been sleeping well lately. Great timing Chris. I know you planned that so that I would feel way too guilty asking you to get up and take Makenzie today.

So I ended up taking her and on the way to the school along the dark deserted streets of Beaverton I found two of these in my pocket:


Since I felt like I deserved a reward for getting up so early on a Saturday morning I decided this money could be used to go here:


And that I could get my favorite breakfast food which I never, ever, rarely eat because I know it is not good for me, this:


I enjoyed every bite of this baby. The chewy english muffin, the perfectly shaped egg, the bite to the sausage and the salty processed cheese. Yum. Do any of you find these gems to be satisfying or is there any other breakfast food you really like from McD's? Or is there another place you like to get your occasional or not so occasional breakfast from?

Tell me, I'm curious.

A few things I'm looking forward to

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....... I love this song. It's been in my head the past few days. This is what I'm looking forward to this weekend:

* Picking out our Christmas tree
* Decorating our Christmas tree
* 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional (this always starts the Christmas season just right)
* Attending the Forgotten Carols
* Decorating my house
* Placing my Christmas tea kettle on the stove and getting my Christmas mugs out of storage * Seeing my purple house lights lit up after Chris gets them up.

Dads and Daughters

I have gotten the best pictures of Chris and Makenzie lately and it's made me think about the relationships between fathers and daughters. None of these pictures were posed, just taken naturally so the looks in their eyes are what they are really experiencing at the moment.

Girls need a dad in their life. Someone that they can look to for an example of how to be treated. I am really grateful that my girls have such a great dad in their life. Chris is the math homework guru, and lets not forget science, history and Spanish. Me? I am the critiquer of all things musical. "Yeah, that was a good song." "Didn't like that one". That is the extent of my homework duties once they get past 5th grade. Anyway, girls need dads. And my girls have a great one. Here are a few pictures of Makenzie and Chris.

I love that Makenzie still loves to hold our hands. I hope that never ends.


In this picture Chris is talking to some sister missionaries and Makenzie is either laughing at what he is saying or impressed. Either way, I love the look on Makenzie's face here.

This is one of my favorite pictures from our family reunion this summer. I have no first hand knowledge of the conversation taking place here but I think I have a pretty good idea. Makenzie was asking her dad if she could do something or have something and this picture was taken at the moment where Chris is trying to come up with something witty to answer her with. He always does this and you can tell that Makenzie is expecting it. I love it.

My friend Sabrina

A long time ago I wrote about my friends from High School and how much they meant to me. I said that I would eventually write about each one of these girls and at that time I wrote about Eva. Well now it's time to tell you about Sabrina.

Sabrina joined the church during our sophomore year in high school. I think she was the first of our friends to join. (Correct me if I'm wrong on this) She is still to this day the only member in her family. She served a mission to Las Vegas where she met her husband Richard, he was also serving his mission there. They have been married for 11 years and were married in the Salt lake Temple on Thanksgiving weekend. On our recent trip to Utah we spent an evening with Sabrina and Richard and had a fabulous time looking at the lights and seeing the nativities that were displayed around Temple Square.

If I could sum up Sabrina in 3 words it would be warm, generous and loyal. She has one of the largest caring hearts of anyone I know. I can go years without seeing her and when I do and we hug it's like all the years have been washed away. It's like that with all of these friends.

I love Sabrina's taste in decorating and art. When I walked in her home and saw the dark hardwood floors I said ah....i love this. And the different pictures she has hanging around her home are gorgeous. She has an eye for beautiful things. I learned something new about my dear friend when I was out there last week. She can bake! She made the best bread I've ever tasted in my life when we went over there for dinner. Yummy. And her husband made the best tasting Rosemary Chicken.

Sabrina's loyalty goes beyond just staying in touch. She is a friend that you can count on for anything. I appreciated her kindness and the friendship she showed Chris' sister, Chelsea who came with us to Temple Square. I know that I can turn to her with anything that I'm in need of and she would be there for me. She has a beautiful alto singing voice. Sabrina and I were part of a high school group called the Serenettes. We thought we were hot stuff. It's because we were! I love it when we sing together now. Singing is something that seems to take all the years that have passed and throw them out the window. It feels like we are sitting around the piano again at Jan's.

It's amazing to me the strength of her testimony. That after all these years she continues to serve our Father in Heaven with her faithfulness. She is an example to me and it makes me want to be a better person when I see the strength inside of her. I love you Sabrina. Thanks for spending time with us while we were out there.

Thanksgiving/Wedding

What do you get when you cross a Wedding with Thanksgiving?

A Thankful Wedding