The Good and Beautiful

I'm not usually a quote sharing kind of person but I read this today and it really spoke to me. I need to be better about focusing on the good and beautiful in my children (and all people) more often.

When we focus on what is good and beautiful in someone, whether or not we think that they "deserve" it, the good and the beautiful are strengthened merely by the light of our attention.

When we choose to see and appreciate what is good and beautiful in our children, the goodness can't help but grow, and their beauty blossoms forth.

Katrina Kenison, The Gift of an Ordinary Day

Paige is Eight!

Of course we started out with the traditional morning birthday song, candle and presents.

She was really excited to get this tutu that she's been coveting at her ballet studio.  She wore it almost all day.

It's almost as fun to celebrate your sister's birthday as it is your own!

Hailey tried the tutu on too.

Paige was really excited to get a new dress for her baptism.

We celebrated all day long.  I took treats to school and her class sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  She is in her pj's at school because they had a movie party for all of the kids who made it to their reading goal last semester.  What a nice coincidence that it happened to be on her birthday (and that she made her goal)!



Later that night we had a few friends over for pizza, ice cream and cake and then we took them all to see "The Muppets." It was a fun day for her!

Maybe a little too fun because the stomach flu came this morning...poor kid has been throwing up and in bed all day!

Holy Sheet Rock!

I looked out the window yesterday and saw this!  I guess the people delivering the sheet rock got tired of carrying it up the stairs so they took out one of the windows and lifted it up with a crane.  

The House of Cotton Candy

Even though a lot has been happening at the house lately, it seems that visually, things have slowed down. Heating is almost done, electrical is pretty much done, plumbing is done and now, the insulation is almost done.  I finally remembered to take my camera with me when we went over yesterday for a minute.  If we had taken Paige, I'm sure she would've thought the walls were made of cotton candy.

Hailey pretending to take a taste.  She was still in her pajamas because she had been home for the last 2 days with a bad cold that she caught from me. ;(

The people putting in the insulation are of hispanic descent and had the spanish radio blaring.  It was impossible not to dance.  Luckily there are no pictures of the moves Jim and I were doing, Hailey was mortified.

December Highlights and a Few Lowlights

Highlight:  Paige's Nutcracker Ballet Performance

Her little ballet class.

Barre Work

Paige and her good friend Katie

Lowlight - Orthodontist and Dentist Appointments

Lowlight ;-) - Mischievous Murphy

Highlight:  Fun Night riding Trax and out to dinner with Grandpa and seeing the Christmas lights at Temple Square.

Didn't get many pictures unfortunately.

Lowlight/Highlight:  Many fights between siblings, name calling and yelling which resulted in both girls being sent to their rooms with an assignment of listing 20 good things about each other and 20 good things about themselves.

This was Paige's list about herself.  "I can stand up" is an interesting one.  She ran out of steam by number 15.  I can't find the list she made about Hailey.

Hailey's lists. 

Highlight:  Seeing Uncle Wil, Alicia and Jaxon

Highlight:  Getting Grandmommy a little live tree that we will plant at our new house.

Highlight:  A trip to Sugarhouse to see Santa

Cute Jaxon

Highlight:  Seeing cousins at Nanny and Papa's house over the holidays.  Again, wish I had gotten more pictures.  They were so proud of the castle they made together.

Lowlight/Highlight:  Three trips back and forth to Salt Lake in 3 weeks.  We saw a nice sunset though.

Lowlight:  Having a brand new chair fly out of the truck on the freeway.  Jim and I had to run out into moving freeway traffic to drag our poor chair to the side of the road.  Luckily, no one was hurt, except the chair. 

Highlight:  Using watercolor paints to make each other look like aliens. (You have to visit the actual blog to see the video.)

Christmas 2011

Christmas Morning