Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. Spent time with dad during the day and me mum come evening. We had a lot of fun.

Shalum here was posing for the camera.

Here I realized how he was posing and couldn't stop laughing.



Shalum doesn't care too much about getting his picture taken. He'll let you take his picture, but half the time he'll have some goofy look on his face suh as in this picture.

Playing games here.

Me mum made us all aprons for Christmas.

I love this time of year. Especially what Christmas represents. The birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. His life and His atonement are the greatest gifts we have ever gotten. And I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am for Him, for His teachings, His example, His suffering, His very life. I've been thinking about Him a lot more often this past month. One reason was because we celebrate His birth this time of year, but another reason was that earlier this month I was on a jury for a child abuse case. It was really hard on me, for everyone involved. And I thought a lot about how our Savior paid the price for all. He paid for our sins, our pains and our sorrows. And I am eternally indebted to Him.

Tess

This is Tamra and Tyler's dog, Tess. She's a Great Dane and the most loveable dog. She's huge! and heavy. She'll stand next to you and lean on you with all her weight. It is hard to hold her up. She's so funny. She is pretty much the center of Tamra and Tyler's lives. We were teasing them Christmas Eve that when Tess dies their relationship is going to fall apart.

She's their child. In fact when my mom is over there Tamra will tell Tess to go to grandma.

Tess just climbed up on Tyler's lap and he was like ummm...ok

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Mmmmm...yummy

I saw this on the internet and had to put it on here. What kind of deranged person does this? But seriously, you can't help but laugh. (maybe I'm sick and deranged as well)

Say hello to Alice

Well I figured I had better blog something since Christina thoroughly chastised me for not updating my blog. Ok, so it wasn't exactly a chastisement it was more a brief mention in an email that I need to update, but still I call it as I want. Now back to Alice...well first I must add that I am now at this moment quoting...from whatever movie its from...'Say hello to my little friend.' That was Stallone, right? And let me tell you, my accent is really atrocious. So anyway...Alice. Alice is a BEAST! We went wood cutting about...ohhhh...3 weeks ago (we also went just last Friday but I don't have pictures of that day, and quite frankly I'm trying to block that day from my memory. It was so blasted hot, I very nearly died! Ok, so that may have been a bit melodramatic, but whatever, it was hot.) But when we went 3 weeks ago the weather was so nice for wood cutting. Cloudy, cool, slight drizzles of rain on occasion. (I love the rain). We love taking our beast to get wood, it cracks us up. At least it cracks me and Kim up (my sis-in-law). She and I had decided that we got the bum end of the deal. The men cut and we females and kids hauled and stacked. It was a pretty fun day though. Very productive and rewarding.

Here Jace, Tallin, and Wyatt are in the back. Shalum and I are in the cab

(but the tree blocks us, how rude)

Isn't she awesome

To state the obvious, that's me sitting down

Driving up to Kim, Thayne, Kailee, and Hayden

Kim and I, we have matching shoes

I am woman, hear me roar! meow. ok so I've gotta work on that :D

Thayne cutting and Hayden...probably messing around like he was the

majority of the day, love you little guy

Shalum and Jace taking a break to eat some lunch

Early morning about 5:15 am or so when we met up together

Me, Shalum, and Hayden

We got Alice in December. We met the guy who shipped it at the K-Mart parking lot. While Shalum was inside figuring out all the switches and whatnot, I was outside freezing. So while I was freezing, some guys drove up and asked if I had gotten that for my husband for Christmas (it was just a few days away) and I replied 'Yep, pretty much.' They were all 'Man, you're an awesome wife!' Yeah, I know. Shalum's friend had gotten one some months previous and so Shalum had to get one. I haven't even told you what kind of truck it is. Silly me. It is a 1971 M35a2 military truck, a deuce and a half. Boys and their toys! I named her Alice because...well its better told in person but I'll tell you here anyway. So there's this comedian that I'd never heard of before and don't remember his name, but when he talks about lesbians he says, with a deep manly voice 'Hi my name is Alice.' (So maybe it wouldn't be better in person because I can't talk in a deep manly voice). So my bro-in-law Shayne, he's the one who told me about this guy, says this when he's talking about burly women or even when his daughter is being a brute or when she got her hair cut short. So I figured it fit our truck to the T. She's pretty loud and big and can go just about anywhere.

What's next!?

Sickness has hit our house the past couple weeks. I got a really awful cold that lasted well over a week, I was completely out of comission for days, and I still have a bit of a cough and still get a bit light headed, but all in all, I'm doing pretty good. Unfortunately I can't say the same about my hubby. Poor Shalum is just getting it bad. He went to the doctor a week ago, turns out he's got pneumonia. He's gotten pneumonia so many times since his early teens. He usually gets it about once or twice a year, except a few years ago he got a flu shot so he hasn't gotten it since then, til now of course. The shot was suppose to last longer than it did. Since he does get pneumonia quite frequently, the doctor gave him some strong antibiotics. Well today we thought he was having an allergic reaction to the drugs. He was getting, what we thought, some weird rash on his chest and back and his heart was just beating pretty fast. So he called the doctor described what was going on and they said it sounds like an allergic reaction. The doctor told him to come in right then, he almost told him not to come in and to stop taking the antibiotics, but then changed his mind and wanted to see him. And a good thing he did! Turns out Shalum has shingles. He's in the first stage. So the doctor gave him a prescription of antibiotics and a prescription of vicodin. The poor guy's in pain and he has to go back to work tomorrow night, or I guess I should say tonight. We can't really afford to have him take anymore time off. He just took 2 days off last week for the pneumonia and then 5 days last month to go to the summer games. His dad said that some years ago he had a guy on his crew who had shingles on his legs and he couldn't work. And it's a good thing we have such good insurance. The antibiotics for the shingles cost $185 but we only had to pay $25. The little guy just keeps getting all these health problems. If it's not mono, it's pneumonia, if it's not pneumonia, it's shingles, if it's not shingles, it's a torn muscle, or a badly rolled ankle, or something! But more often than not it has something to do with his lungs. I just feel for the guy.

Summer Games

The first week of June we went to Cedar City for the summer games. For the past few years Shalum has participated in the Men's Soccer 3 on 3 tournament. The first year, 2 years ago, his team placed 2nd, last year they placed 1st, and this year they placed 2nd again. They all had a blast. Shalum looks forward to it all year long. He gets so excited and he has to buy new jerseys each year for it. He's so cute. This year the wind was blowing so hard, and it was freezing. Fortunately we had brought a warm blanket, so I was able to bundle up as I watched. But each year something always happens to Shalum right before the games. The first year he rolled his ankle pretty badly. It was swollen and deep purple. Last year he had mono and had very little energy. This year he smashed his finger pretty bad (that's for another post once I figure out how to get pics from my phone to the computer, I'm not technically inclined) and then he pulled his hamstring. And it ended up ripping during the games. He was having a hard time running. But even being hurt and sick he's an amazing soccer player. He would tell you differently, but he'd be wrong.

Brent, Russ, Shalum, and Jake

The same four, obviously


Jake, Shalum, Pedro, Russ, and Brent

Pedro's daughter got her endowments on Saturday that's why he wasn't in the other 2 pictures.

Shalum, Russ, Jake, and Brent all went to school together and played soccer together, and Pedro was their high school coach. They're from Delta and their school mascot is the rabbits, so I named their team The Ferocious Rabbits. I thought it was funny. Shalum thought it was retarded.

Shalum's nephew, Jace usually plays in the tournament with Shalum, but he got shot in March and is still recuperating (also for another post). So it was sad that he couldn't be there. Shalum and Jace play really well together. We missed him. Hopefully he'll be well enough to play next year. It was a pretty big disappointment for him that he couldn't play.

(There you go Mary, I told you I'd put something new on)

Rumors

It was pretty funny, 3 Sundays ago (I think it was 3 weeks ago) Garrett came into sacrament meeting and sat right behind me. I turned around and asked him where Tiffany was (his fiance). He looked at me and said "I don't want to talk about it" and then puts his head down. So I turned around and was thinking "Oh my gosh, they broke up." So I told Kerry (sis-in-law) sitting next to me and I mouthed it to Shalum who is the ward clerk and so sits up on the stand. So he mouths it to Shayne (his brother) who is 1st counselor in bishopric. And well the bishop was also reading shalum's lips, and the 2nd counselor is all "what?" So they all know, and are like "oh wow, what happened" sort of thing. Some time later Garrett leans over and tells me where she is and he's just kind of mad at her is all. And I was like "why didn't you just tell me that! I thought you broke up and I'm telling everyone that!" He was like "what! you dork, i can't believe your starting rumors!" we all had a good laugh over that.

What's beyond the discomfort zone?

So when you're not in your comfort zone, you're in the discomfort zone, right? Well I am beyond the discomfort zone right now. For the past 3 years I have had callings with the youth in our ward. A month after we moved into our current ward, Shalum and I were called to teach 14-15 year olds sunday school class. I loved it. About 8 months into that calling, I got released and was called to be 2nd counselor in Young Women's. Difficult at first for me, but loved. I absolutely love the youth in our ward. I got released from that calling this last September. I had that calling for exactly 2 years. After being released I was extended the calling of teaching sunday school for 14-15 year olds again. Since I was still going to be with the youth, I didn't cry that much when I got released. Since September, I have also taught the 16-17 year olds most Sundays (they were the group I had taught before I was in YW) I was thrilled with this calling. Absolutely loved it. Well a few weeks ago we found out that they are going to add another ward, a 5th ward. So we lost families to other wards and gained a couple new ones. I figured I would be set in my calling. I new the bishopric liked where I was and they wanted to keep me there. But apparently the Lord had other plans. As of last week, I am now the 1st counselor in Relief Society. YIKES! I tend to be on the shy side and stay in the background. So this will be very trying for me. I will do my best and pray it's good enough. Now when I was extended this calling and released from sunday school, I could not stop crying. I did not want to leave the youth and I did not (still do not) feel I am up to this new calling, absolutely terrified. After I got sustained last Sunday I heard that one of the kids I taught, leaned over to his mom and said "Did I really have to sustain her?" I am really going to miss the youth.