My New Year Resolutions...

All right, here we go. It is time to make those New Year Resolutions. Usually it is something like loose weight, eat right, and so on. You know the "generic" resolutions. Well this year I have really given this some deep and personal thought. I wanted my resolutions to mean something. To help improve my life, not just bandaide it. Ever since I had that graveyard shift job, I have never gotten back into the good sleep patterns. I also have been lax in my exercises. I had this major life altering surgery...I don't want to end up like so many I have met where they loose the weight, and then over the next few years gain it all back and then some. What a total waste. I also want to be a better mom, and so some of these are to help with that area. I also feel stressed a lot, and I am thinking that some of my bad habits attribute to that. See I told you I have really thought about this. If any of you Email me, please feel free to keep me in check, and ask me about my progress. I really need to be held accountable for these things. Otherwise I feel that I will spiral further out of control, and be even more unhappy. I keep saying "When Will graduates things will be better". Yes that is true of the financial end of things, but if I am not happy in other areas, what makes me think that money will solve anything. Wow you wanted the truth, you got it!! So without further adieu, here is my list.

1. I will go to bed by 10pm. ( this one will be hard, especially since on Monday, Tuesday and Wed I have school classes till 9pm)

2. I will get up by 7am. (This one is also massively hard, since anyone who knows me knows that I HATE mornings)

3. I will exercises every morning for 45 min. (I found that if I waited till evening I was too tired, and then would make excuses. I'm hoping this will wake me up more for the day.)

4. I will try my hardest not to yell at my children. (Yes this is my dirty little secret..I yell at my kids and I'm NOT PROUD!!)

5. I will put on makeup and do my hair every day. (Usually I would do the "bambam" look as my husband calls it, and go without makeup. I read somewhere that if you look good, you feel good. I hope this works)

6. I will only use the computer after the kids are in bed. (This one will be hard, since I have a school Major that requires a LOT of computer work, but then again, my kids are my first priority)

7. I will not over promise or over extend myself. (Too many times I do this with church callings and school promises. I need to simplify my life, and be more with my kids, instead of rushing to places.)

8. I will say my personal prayers every night. ( I have been lax on this. My Bad)

9. I will avoid all caffeine. (I feel that this contributes to my lack of good sleep, and my bad moods.)

10. I will read my scriptures daily and finally read the entire Book of Mormon. (It is so sad that at age 33 I still have yet to read the entire Book of Mormon.)

See all these things you didn't know about me. All my bad secrets. Well it is a new year, and I am looking forward to the New ME!!

Look What We Did!!

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Changes Happen FAST in Omaha...

Hi all, Will here:

The difference a day makes has been on my mind.

I took my last Final Exam at 8AM, Tuesday. and boy was it cold. Saturday we had temps in the upper 40's. By Church it was easily around zero. While it has warmed a bit (~10 degrees), it is still a lot colder than we were ready for. Since it snowed all day yesterday, there are several inches on the ground and the world has been transformed.

Amber and I are now done with our Final Exams, Omaha finally looks like it's Winter and we are starting to relax from our latest stressful semester. Even Rommel seems happier with the arrival of snow, and the departure of school-stress this week. We feel like we are better-able to appreciate and enjoy each other's company more fully this week.

All this brought to mind the idea that life is very temporary, and it's important to not "miss" it. Just 3 days ago, it was relatively warm and most of the grass was still green. I was freaking-out about my Therapeutics Final, and Amber was struggling to finish her bronze scupture and magazine layouts. But now Omaha looks prettier in white, the schoolwork got done, and I am enjoying watching Rommel run back-and-forth on his tether in the snow. All this welcome change makes my "big" problems of the last week seem rather small.

Hope everyone is finding some peace and joy as we welcome the Christmas Season into our lives. I for one, sorely needed the reminder of what is truly important.

Merry Christmas!

Will

Christmas Program

Well, the Christmas Program went off without a hitch. It turned out very well. We had our best friends come to Church with us, so it was really nice to see them there. I hope they felt the spirit there as we did. The girls sang so beautifully, and the primary did so well. Then the musical groups were just awesome. I also saw about 4 other investigators there, and the Stake High Council was there. Overall everyone enjoyed it, and all felt something. It was so great to finally have it done and over with. It was a little stressful. Now that I'm done singing my part, now I can be struck down with sickness or voice loss if I must.

Finals are in full swing, and we don't see Will except for at Church yesterday. The poor kids are BEGGING for daddy time. Unfortunately they will have to wait till the end of this week. Speaking of the end of this week. We are so excited. We are going out of town for a little jaunt with our best friends to Mahoney State Park. We will be staying in a cabin, and we have it all planned out. Basically we will be eating and vegging, and watching all the movies we possibly can. Just letting our brains and bodies have a big break. Thanks guys for inviting us.

Well, I'm off. Have to do some work, and have to study for my finals. Love to you all!!

LONG TIME NO SEE!!

Holy Cow!! Sorry all you guys who read our website. I have been swamped at work, kids sick, and getting my last projects done for finals. So I guess this will be a long post. I will try to catch you all up. First off, I'm doing much better since the hospital incident. My hemoglobin and iron levels are back up into the low range of normal. So that is good news. Means I'm not bleeding anymore. Bad news is, I am on medication for life. SUCKS!! I hate taking pills. Guess I got that trait from my Grandma Larsen. Anyway, then Will got his cholesterol levels back, and he is in the low ranges of normal now, so YIPEE for him. So he gets to take less pills. GO figure, he takes less, I take more..NOT FAIR!! Anyway, we took the kids to see the poinsettia festival at the Lauritzen Gardens, and there were some cool poinsettias.I will attach all photos at the end of this post. Then after that, we decorated our little tree. We went to Santa's Woods, and picked out our little 3.5 foot tree. That was a BIG fiasco. We got the tree ok, and we got it home just fine. Then we took the stand out to put the tree it in, and because I didn't loo at the trunk of the tree, didn't notice that it was all knotty and twisted, and definitely NOT straight. SO we cut a little here, and a little there, hoping the straighten out the tree. Well you know what happens when you try to cut your own hair right...you get one side looking good, and then the other side doesn't match, then you try to even it out, and then the original side is now too long, before you know it you have butchered your hair...well thats what happened to our tree. In the pictures it looks larger because I didn't want the kids next to it to show how PUNY it looks now. We have now ended up with a 2.5 foot tree. Oh well. Better luck next year. It will just make the small amount of gifts under the tree look like tons of gifts I guess. I guess that's the benefit. Anyway you can see the tree below too. Then I have been swamped with trying to get my final projects done. Pouring bronze, and putting together a magazine layout. I am putting a jewelry magazine layout together with my cousins jewelry and mine. I am just so tired. Then the kids got Whooping Cough, so we have been reported to the state, they had to be out from school for a mandatory 5 days, and then had to have a note releasing them back to school. Such a pain. It was really scary though. Luckily the fevers are gone, but when they got up to 104 and 105, I was on pins and needles and didn't sleep. I kept going in to put my hand on their chests to make sure they were still breathing. I came to realize that I want a lazy boy rocker SOOOOOOO badly. All the kids still at their age wanted me to rock them all and cuddle with them. I tried my best while I was on the sofa, but do you realize how hard it is to do that. Hurts the back. Anyway, now they are just coughing a lot and sound horrible, but they are running around, and playing just fine. Anyway, it is the last week of school, and I have my final due in my Print Design Class on Thursday, and then a week from Thursday I have all three of my bronzes due. I will post pics when I get it done. Well that's all I have time to write right now. Gotta get back to my projects or I will NOT have them done in time.

Our Tree in all its glory. Doesn't look like this now since the kids have gotten to it, and the dog has gotten to it. But it was nice while it lasted. I just resign myself to the idea that I redecorate the tree almost every night with kids and a dog.

Here is Rommel. Now 7 months old and weighs in at a little over 59lbs. And he still has a full year of growing! YIKES!!

Our tree being cut down out of the tree lot!! It went too fast to get a chopping down picture. Mom knows what I am talking about! They have a chain saw on the end of a week whacker. Its pretty funny to see.

The kids next to our tree. It is so small that Sabrina's shadow is taller and is covering the entire thing. Such a puny tree. But hey at 6$ a foot we couldn't afford anything more. Mainly we go for the experiences and memories!! So I don't complain too loudly ;-)

This poinsettia tree was about 50 feet tall. May have even been taller. It was beautiful

I liked these flowery looking poinsettias. Gonna get me some of these!!