CRABBY New Year

I began the New Year CRABBY! Maybe I was up too late ringing in 2011. Or maybe it was Russ' cell phone waking me up before I was ready to begin my day, and not being able to fall back to sleep. Then, I was given a one hour notice that I needed to attend a baptism and I hadn't even showered yet. At the baptism, I was put on the spot and asked to speak with NO previous warning. To put just a little more CRAB in my crabbiness... we were taking pictures of all the grandkids. I just dread pictures. The part I hate the most is coordinating clothes. I had FINALLY figured out what each of my kids were going to wear when I found out the colors had been slightly changed. Shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but when you are me and have stressed about the clothes for three days, only to have it change last minute... I was ORNERY. Sorry to mom, Russ, my children, and anyone else I was short with. I was able find some new outfits for Grant and Gracie to fit the color scheme, get them washed and MOSTLY dry before we had to leave.

Well, family pictures are always a crazy experience and this was NO exception. First of all, it is FREEZING in St. George. The kids were complaining the second we got out of the car. Little Kaleigh turned purple the instant we took her out of her blanket. Needless to say, I had spent several hours getting my kids ready for this group picture (re-planning wardrobes, then washing and ironing clothes, and trimming and curling hair)... and I kid you not... we took pictures for less than 2 minutes. We had four cameras snapping pictures as fast as we could. Kids were looking in all directions, not sure which camera to look at. But we did manage to get this...


I thought it turned out pretty good considering the SUB-ZERO temperatures! It was amazing that any of them smiled.

Russ and I then had our kids jump in the car for a few minutes and we cranked up the heater. When our kids were all toasty and warm, we threw them out into the cold one more time to get a few more shots. We were able to get a few really good pictures...

I feel BAD for being so crabby... especially when it turned out to be a great day. I need to express all of the positive experiences I had.

First of all, the baptism was a really nice. An aunt of one of the kids getting baptized gave a great talk. She compared our lives to golf balls. She said that surface of golf balls were originally perfectly smooth. But, it was soon discovered that when then the balls got dinged up and dented, they actually went further. The manufacturers then began producing golf balls with dents already in them. Our lives on earth are full of trials that ding us up a bit, but it is important to remember that those dings will actually help us go further.

Second, we got to spend some time today with our cousins. The kids really get along quite well and like to be around each other. It is always fun to just hang out with people who love you.

Third, we got some great new pictures of our kids. I just love my children. Each of them bring such different talents, personalities, and characteristics into our family. I am grateful for each of them and love each of them so much. I am excited to have these new pictures developed and hung in my home.

Finally, I was so grateful for Russ today. He came with me to the baptism- just to be supportive of my calling. It made it so much better to have him with me. Then, he came with me to shoot the pictures. I have NO idea how to work our camera. All of the pictures I took with our other camera were blown-out. I was thankful he was willing to come along and be the photographer. He is getting really good as a photographer... now if we could learn Photoshop.

Anyway, Happy New Year. Hopefully, I will be a little less CRABBY and a little more GRATEFUL in the remaining days of 2011.