My heart is totally filled with grief and sorrow right now. My brother's precious little 5 year old son Ty fell into an irrigation ditch today and drowned. Words cannot begin to express how sad I feel. Ty was an adorable baby with his big blue eyes and beautiful smile. The thought that he will never grow up into a man is just too sad to think about. When my mom called and told me what happened, I screamed No, No, in horror. This was on top of my own eventful day. I took my nephew Tim to Dillon today so he could get the rest of his stuff, since he has moved in with us. On the way home, something in the undercarriage (a stabilizer bar) broke and caused us to wreck. The car started fishtailing and I was trying to control it but it spun around and slid in the ditch. Luckily, it didn't tip over or crash into a fence or anything. I was really surprised that there wasn't a blown out tire from the way it handled. Once we decided we were okay, I tried driving it but it was all over the road. I drove it back 100 yds. or so into a turnoff by a farm and called 911 who called the Highway Patrol. The HP guy showed up after 45 minutes and Wayne and his friend Lynn got there after two hours to haul me home. Driving home, we saw a tow truck for sale and Wayne said we should get it, the way our week has gone. Earlier in the week, Lynn helped us haul away both our Blazer and our van and now the car. What a week. At least the car can probably be fixed, unlike the other two. But all that paled when I heard about Ty. Rest in peace, baby boy. You were loved.

Today I did two things that gave me a really good sense of satisfaction.

#1. There was this lady named Mayme who used to make table decorations for the tables at the Senior Center. She made different ones for each holiday. Fast forward a few years. She is no longer able to live alone and has moved into an assisted living facility. Her daughter was left to deal with totes filled with all the decorations she made through the years. She donated them to the Senior Center. With the renovation going on, the only place to put them was my office. So they've sat there in the way for two months. We are talking over 50 tubs of stuff and about 15 boxes! Also, Heather had 6 or so tubs of stuff she had never put away when she moved into the office. So...my boss is gone this week and to surprise her, I tackled the mountain of tubs. I made Heather put all her stuff away or repacked. I moved and sorted all the tubs. Probably 15 were Christmas, another 15 were Halloween/Thanksgiving, 8 or so were Easter, 3 St. Pat's Day, several 4th of July, summer, back to school, etc. I sorted all the Christmas ones. I ended up with a whole tub of just garland, 1 1/2 of ornaments, 1 of lights, 2 of stuffed animals, 1 of table decorations for next year, 1 of craft supplies, etc. Most of the stuff will be donated to the thrift store when they reopen, some will be saved for table decorations, some will be tossed. I stayed two extra hours to finish but there was no way. However, I got the tubs all put back against the wall, sorted by holiday. I ended up with 42 tubs and 9 boxes. As I went to store the emptied tubs in a storage closet, I stared in dismay! There was a whole bunch more stuff which I will tackle another day. Anyway, it looks way better in my office and my boss will be very pleased.

#2. Wayne decided he NEEDS an email account. And he NEEDED me to make it right when he got home, which was minutes after I got home. So I made him an account and helped him write an email to a Loaf n Jug bigwig. He has been having an ongoing problem with the two Loaf n Jugs in Bozeman. They just don't think its their job to clear the ice and water off of the place where he has to put the gas into the ground. So he went to the top guy. We got a return email almost immediately saying it would be taken care of. So then I added contacts to Wayne's new email account, made him a windows live messenger account, and then a Facebook account, complete with a Farmville farm. He is just SO technologically impaired, it is funny. But he was really excited so I felt good for helping him.

Then we had french toast and scrambled eggs for dinner. So yummy! Oh, and his email is WBlakeTrucking@yahoo.com so send him an email and/or friend him on Facebook. He will love it.

I got this recipe off the net a few months ago for White Chili and it is seriously so good, we could eat it every week and not get tired of it. It had been a while since we had it though, so when I suggested it for dinner, DH started pretend drooling so that's what we had. I substituted cooked turkey for the chicken this time and it was nearly as good. We had veggies with dip while we waited for the chili and cornbread to get done. The cornbread was from a mix but it sounded good as a go along. Here's the link: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/creamy-white-chili
We don't always use the whipping cream and one can of diced chilies is probably enough. You have to make this, trust me, it is SO good.

Last night, DH and I went to a basketball game at the high school. Walking in, I tried to think of the last time we had gone to a game. Maybe 7 years ago when Thom was still in school and playing drums in the pep band. It was good game, we played Lewistown and trailed most of the game but tied it with a couple of minutes to go. Sadly, that was as close as our team came, they lost by 5 points. We knew a couple of kids on the team so that was fun but we couldn't help comparing this game to 'how it used to be'. The gym was only about half full. If it had been in Dillon, it would have been packed with the crowd cheering the team on. Livingston has never really figured out how to support their kids and its a shame. If those boys had had a roaring crowd getting behind them, I think they could have won easily. There were 10 cheerleaders but they weren't ready with cheers to fill the time outs. And when they did cheer, their were a couple of girls who didn't even know the cheers. Kind of sad really. And the band. Gone are the days of Mr. Paul Gates as band director. When our kids were in the band, they stayed in their seats ready to play during the timeouts through the first half. Then they took the third quarter off but returned to play during the final quarter and afterwards. Not any more. We got there late so we didn't hear the start, hopefully they still play the school song. But at the first time-out, the band just sat there, the cheerleaders just stood around and a song was played through the sound system. During the second quarter, the band wasn't even there. They came back and played a few songs at halftime after the cheerleaders did their dance. But when the team came out of the lockerroom for the second half, there was no loud cheering, no excitement, no school song. Just a ho hum feeling. Once the 3rd quarter started, the band packed up and left. It just seemed like there was not much school spirit and a lazy pep band/cheering section. We might go again though and sit with the parents behind the team. We were up in the top section so sort of removed.

This morning, we had an activity at the church. It was called deep cleaning. We no longer have a paid janitor so it is up to the members and the church was getting pretty grubby in spots. I got there at 9 and had my choice of jobs as not many had showed up yet. I grabbed the big garbage can on wheels and went around to all the classrooms and bathrooms emptying garbages. As I was finishing, my friend Joan showed up and wanted a job so she came along and helped me. Then we swept the bathrooms and kitchen. Then we went into the nursery which she is in charge of and decided to clean out and organize the closets which she hadn't gotten around to doing. We had fun just chatting and tossing stuff. I found stuff that was still there from when Katy was the nursery leader such as the bubble machine and bubble stuff from her wedding reception. I brought those home. I also went through all the books. Joan didn't want to keep any fantasy books so I sorted out religious and educational to keep there. Then I made a pile to keep at my house for Fina and her sister. The rest will be donated to the local thrift store. A lot more people had shown up in the meantime and cleaned and cleaned, sometimes doing the same job over and over but oh well. It was fun and needed.

I got done at 11 but I had $20 in my pocket that Wayne gave me to "do something fun after cleaning the church". At first I thought I'd just save the money but then I thought of what I could do. I could go to the quilt store! So I did. I picked out some fabric with paperdolls printed on it and also some with the clothes. I'd seen this fabric a year or so ago made into the cutest fabric paperdolls and had been wanting it. I also got some yellow batik for a project I am working on. I got a slight discount so I ended up with $4 change which was enough to buy lunch at McDonald's on my way home. So now I am home, lunch is over and I should go upstairs and clean house but I am going to go into my sewing room, pop in a DVD and sew for a couple of hours.

One of the funniest things Fina does is she can turn her hands into dogs. You'll be sitting at the dinner table or riding in the car or whatever and this dog hand starts talking to you. Not in Fina's voice, she uses a special lower voice for her dogs. We make our hands be dogs to talk back to her but Grandpa was doing it wrong. He didn't have his ears up (pointer and little fingers) but finally did it with his right hand. He still can't get his left hand to cooperate. Hearing the dog laugh is just too funny because she goes hah-hah-hah is this funny voice. We have to get it on video before she outgrows it. Speaking of video, I bought a video camera the day after Thanksgiving. Big mistake to buy it at our local Pamida. It's not the best quality. I can't figure out how to upload the videos onto either the TV or the computer. We got a few cute videos around Christmas time but can only watch them on the little LCD screen. Grr!! Speaking of Grr!!, I accidentally washed my cell phone today. I was looking for a few more dark things, grabbed the pants I wore yesterday and tossed them in. I've been going to upgrade my phone and renew our contract, I guess I will have to get that done soon. I am going to Billings tomorrow so I have to get to bed. Heather is going with me. Well, I think she is, she was going to call and confirm but my cell phone is broken and I've lost my contact list so I can't call her. Oh, stupid technology. Anyway, she is going to visit friends while I go to the temple (I haven't been there in months, it seems DH never has time or something comes up so I am going without him) Then we will go shopping and/or eat and then come home. I don't need anything but she shares my love of fabric stores. Did I mention it has been bitter cold? Oh, my, this winter is something else.

I am sitting here wrapped in my new Snuggie, watching the Rose Parade with DH. I have my laptop so I can check out the new American Girl doll of the year and read my email, nothing like multi-tasking!! I am also wondering if Dan and Christina will get a New Year's baby today. That would be so cool. Meghann was getting up at 5:20 to go watch the parade with friends, She and Margie were going to help with two different floats this year. I am jealous. I grew up watching the Rose Parade with my Grandpa. He would get up with us kids and let us blow the noisemakers and we would watch the parade while the other grownups slept in. I am sure the other grownups also watched but Grandpa Murphy stands out in my mind.

Wayne says he never keeps his New Year's resolutions so he has resolved to GAIN 25 pounds this year! That's one resolution he won't mind failing at. So in the same spirit, I have resolved to play my computer MORE this year! LOL! Here are my real goals for the year, there are 4. #1 is to make at least one trip to California. #2 is to have a garden. This will involve $100 for supplies to build a fence and the work and getting DH to help. It will probably be harder and take more time than the Cali trip. #3 is to drink water every day. I was so good at that a couple of years ago but really slid last year and let the weight creep back on. For me, drinking water leads to making more healthy eating choices so it is win-win. #4 is to read my scriptures daily. This will be hard until it becomes a habit. It will help me to prepare my Sunday School lesson and will help me spiritually.

In a little while I am going to put a turkey in the oven and then I am going over to Heather's. We are playing dolls, I mean I am taking my Asian dolls for her to look at and then we are going through a box of fabric/trims she got from the thrift store. She wants to get a doll and sew for it and I am her willing cohort. We are also planning to go swimming. She bought a pass for 25 swims at a local motel and offered to share with me. I would also like to get the tree down and banish Christmas to the garage for another year but DH hasn't brought me my totes like I asked him to do last night. Maybe he is planning to do it while I am gone and surprise me! ROFL! As if.

I know I haven't posted for quite a while. I think it is because of my perfectionism. I have a new camera so I think I should post a picture or a video but it seems overwhelming. So I will just skip that part and blab about me.

Last night the missionaries came to dinner. I now only cooked a delish meal of swiss elk steak but I cleaned my house some and put out my nativity sets. Last year I only put out one or two nativities because I was planning to leave for California the day after Christmas and didn't want to have too much to put away. This year, I am trying to enjoy the little things more. I have my shopping all done, I think, but nothing wrapped. I wonder if I can get away with not wrapping? I need to mail the California kids stuff tomorrow. It will probably get there late but I am not going to stress about it.

Today at church, Wayne and I got released from our job as Young Single Advisors. That is bittersweet, I've enjoyed this calling, it kept us from getting old but I didn't enjoy giving up the first Sunday of every month to go to Bozeman for 3 1/2 hours of meetings/dinner/firesides. We are still having the 'kids' come out tomorrow night for Family Home Evening along with the couple who are taking over the job. Kind of a farewell/meet the new guys/turning over the reins kind of thing.

Teaching Gospel Doctrine is getting easier, I guess, but I still struggle. My biggest problem is taking time to study throughout the week. I like to wait until like Saturday and then I get overwhelmed. I was going to be short one lesson but last week, we didn't get through everything I wanted to cover so we continued that lesson this week. I divided them into little groups and gave them all topics to discuss pertaining to strengthening the family. Then they reported and we all shared thoughts. It seemed to go over pretty well. I don't like just standing there listening to myself talk. Next year, we are studying the Old Testament. A lot of people don't like the Old Testament because it is dry and long and sort of boring. But I am excited to learn more about the ancient Jewish people and hope to bring a little of that excitement to the class.

Besides wrapping presents, I also have candy to make and give to people. I don't know how much I will actually get done but I will make some. So that's all for now.

Actually, we had the missionaries over for Breakfast for dinner. They asked me to pass the sign up sheet around a few weeks and I explained that I no longer invite the missionaries to my home for dinner because I have been stood up too many times in a row. They earnestly promised that they would not stand me up if I invited them. So I signed up for Wednesday the 21st. Turns out they had a zone conference to go to in Helena that day but they really wanted to keep their word to me. They would get done at 3 and figured they could maybe make it to our house by 6, more likely 7. I told them 7 was fine since we often eat that late. Also, I asked them what they missed while out on their mission. Elder Hinton said breakfast. Yay! We love breakfast for dinner and it is really easy. Turns out he has been out 14 months and this was the first time he was served breakfast. Shredded Wheat just isn't the same as blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit salad. Which is what we had and it was really good.

Afterwards, they shared a scripture with us. Elder Hinton is very loud and out-spoken. He did the majority of the talking and was very earnest and excited. But then Elder Thomas spoke in his quiet voice but wow, we felt the spirit so strongly! So I think Elder Hinton knows the gospel but Elder Thomas feels it. They make a good set.

I've been thinking of things to write about and have three: beets, my car problems, or Serafina. I will save beets for another post, rant about my car later, and write about Fina.

Yesterday, Katy had a doctor's appointment at 3:00. She likes to come to Livingston for those since she is familiar with the doctors over here so she asked me if I would watch Fina for her while she went. John had classes so couldn't come. (And no, she is not sick per se, just a checkup). I said sure to watching Miss Fina but what to do to kill an hour? Well, her hair has finally decided to grow but it is/was that baby fine hair long in back, short in front, all different lengths. So I made an appointment to have my hairdresser Renee cut her hair. I checked with Katy first because if she wanted to be there I would have made the appt for a different time but she was fine with it. Because Fina no longer will let anyone touch her hair. She doesn't want it combed, no pig tails or even barrettes, and certainly no blow drying curling! So I wasn't too sure how this would go. Renee has no kids of her own and is fairly no nonsense but nice. She put a padded board across the arms of the chair and I placed Fina on it. Then she put the cape on. The cape was a little one for kids with dogs on it. Fina sat and frowned but she didn't cry or freak out, yay for that! Renee grabbed the water bottle, sprayed her down and combed it through. All things that Fina will usually not go for but she did. As a side note, Fina has been wanting the new Snow White DVD that has been advertised lately. We watched the old video on Sunday when they were out here and she wore a princess dress and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then she redoubled her efforts to get her Daddy to buy her that movie. She has also asked her mommy to call her "Snow White Princess". So when she started to frown at the whole hairdresser/haircut thing, I started telling her how she was going to look just like a princess when her hair was done and how princesses have to get THEIR hair fixed and be brave. She fell for it and sat through the haircut, followed by the blow dryer (which she has NEVER let anyone use on her) and then the curling. When Renee pulled out some barrettes and asked Fina which one she wanted, I could tell she didn't want any of them so she wouldn't pick one. However, I picked one that matched her shirt and told her princesses wear barrettes. Her hair turned out really cute and she was SO good about the whole deal. Afterwards, whenever we walked past a mirror, she would look in and preen as I told her how pretty she looked. I am so sorry that I didn't have my camera but we will get pictures soon.

I was going to take her to get ice cream afterwards but took her to Pamida instead to look for the movie. We looked and looked but couldn't find it. We found others like a Barbie movie that looked good but she had her heart set on Snow White so we kept looking. On the way, we found a Halloween toy that made noise and was only a dollar so I let her get it. When we went to pay, there by the registers was a display with the new movie! I said, "Serafina, what's this?" She said "Snow White Moosie" (the way she says movie is so cute) in a sort of awed, excited voice. It was a pretty fun experience, the haircut plus the spoiling. Then we went and found her mommy at the doctor's office and they went home.

Brrr! We had a great trip to Dillon yesterday. It was fun to get the cousins together and all. When we got to Tina's, Fina said "This not Grandma's". We had been telling her we weren't going to Grandma's but I guess it didn't sink in until then. She didn't utter a word while she was there but when we got to the fairgrounds for the party, she ran around and played and talked plenty. When I said something about we should go cut the cake, she ran over with a spoon and dug into the frosting!! LOL! It was a good cake and good food. We didn't stay as long as we wanted to because it was looking like snow so Karin, Katy, Fina, and I headed for home before 5 so we could at least make it to Whitehall and get off the narrow two lane highway before dark. We made it to Bozeman before it was totally dark which was nice. It hadn't really snowed on us but when I got on the highway for the rest of the trip, HOO BOY!!! Rain and snow through the canyon making visibility very low and then it started sticking over the hill, making it very treacherous indeed! I kept telling myself, "Just get through it, it will all fade when you get home and get on the computer" It didn't really help though. And it didn't quit after the hill, just kept on snowing all the way home. And then when I got home, the internet was down!! Grrr!! However, I cut out princess dresses for my twin Princesses Mallory and McKenna for Halloween. Then this morning, I not only had no internet, I HAD NO POWER! I noticed the clock wasn't working a bit after DH left for work, so I stayed in bed where it was warm until 7:20 when it was light enough to look up a phone number for the power company. They explained that many homes "north of town" were without power and they were working on it. It still wasn't fixed when I left for work which meant I was without water also. When I got home from work, I had power but then it went off again around 3. So I called again and was told that they had hooked me up to a temp power source and had fixed the pole and were switching over to the fixed one. So now I finally have power again and the internet is working. Yay! The snow was really wet and heavy so there were downed tree branches and I suppose power lines all around town. Now DH is home so I guess I will go cook him some dinner, since I have a working stove. Thanks Heavens for small miracles.