the sweetest thing in the world

Last night being the last FHE of the year

meant it was our

"bless and release" night

and

time for setting New Year Resolutions

In a nutshell, inspired by Amanda Dickson's talk at EFY 2008,

we write down the ridiculous things we've been hanging onto

for the past year

(people we can't change, situations making us crazy, etc)

take them outside, and as Bry lights them on fire

with his homemade blow torch

we watch them disappear and we

bless & release :)

Thankfully we had Trevor, Caci & Jace with us

and Trevor led us through our goal setting

He had us list 3 6-month goals

2 1-year goals

2 5-year goals

and 3 10-year goals

As overwhelming and daunting as some of those goals may seem, he told us to imagine one of those goals (the one that would have the most positive impact on our lives) being magically achieved over night.

This is the goal we circled.

Then on the other side of the paper we listed what we need to do to accomplish that one goal.

That goal is our aim.

Some of us shared some or all of our goals with each other

and this leads me to the

SWEETEST THING IN THE WORLD:

Brad shared only his circled goal

the one that would be the most joyous

and bring the most positive impact

this was it:

"help Denalee accomplish her goals"

I am blessed.

traditions

“What an enormous magnifier is tradition! How a thing grows in the human memory and in the human imagination, when love, worship, and all that lies in the human heart, is there to encourage it”

(Thomas Carlyle)

not the best picture in the world

This year we gave Gage the book,

"When You Take a Mouse to the Movies"

and the stuffed mouse to go with it.

Our tradition is that we write in the book

and paste in a picture.

This is the picture going in his new book.

Christmas Eve we have several traditions.

This is one we don't talk about with others, but is the highlight

of the entire Christmas Season.

(it's good to have secret traditions!)

We try to get FIRST DIBS

on the missionaries for Christmas Eve each year

AND

we invite at least one other

REALLY FUN person over

This year we lucked out with our set of Elders

PLUS their 2 roommates! along with

"NancyTaylor" (all one word, please)

The tradition includes EVERYONE participating

in our little Christmas pagent

(Where am I? I'm the narrator, of course! It's TRADITION)

Christmas Eve the kids all sleep in one room (quite a feat when Trevor & his family, Brooke & her family are visiting!) .... Anyway, Santa makes his delivery upstairs, including stockings (true, in Henderson we don't have an upstairs - but traditionally, it's how we differentiate between the stockings). He also delivers goodies and surprises to the downstairs stockings which the kids can retrieve at any horrid hour of the morning. This keeps them busy for a couple of hours so Mom & Dad can get a little more rest. For those with young kids, really young kids, DON'T THINK THAT WHEN THEY'RE ALL TEEN-AGERS YOU GET TO SLEEP IN! Even with the downstairs stockings to keep them busy, we were up at 4:38 am Christmas morn!

Then they all line up, youngest in front and oldest in back.

Lucky Azure.

It's only when the grandkids

are here that Azure is de-throned.

Since our oldest, Trevor, was a baby, we've taken

the wrapping paper picture.

We've loved watching the pictures zoom out

to include in-laws

then grandchildren

This wasn't our year tho' - we're without our grown kids and their kids

so we're back to just 3

3 GORGEOUS still-living-at-home kids

We have lots more traditions for which there are no pictures:

*french chocolate *ornaments from Grandma & Grandpa Call * puzzles *games *caroling *tournaments *Christmas movies *hugs *santa letters ******

TRADITIONS

they're good for us

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Worth Watching ... take a look

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This was posted on Brooke & Steven's blog. I love it.

Merry Christmas!

2 fun days & nights

it was a great birthday

it began with BREAKFAST IN BED

compliments of Bryan, Sierra & Azure

Brad took me shopping to add to my Christmas Village

and we came home with

2 new beautiful houses

both great fantasy houses

(we all sit in front of the village at nights with only Christmas tree & village lights on and imagine which house we'd like to live in tonight and which room we'd claim ...)

After FHE we had a quick family shopping trip

for Christmas gifts

then came home to watch

Christmas With The Kranks

and drink hot chocolate from the cool new machine Sierra gave me for my birthday

(Great gifts this year! also got an amazing lotion gift pack from The Body Shop, a spice grinder and an antique spinning chair)

When all of a sudden there was a knock on the door

Greeting me with an ice cream cake (yes - candles too!)

a dozen red roses

balloons galore (minus the balloon that caught on fire)

and a very cute card

and singing at the top of their lungs

was the Campbell Family

What a surprise!!!!

Then tonight we all got together for pizza and caroling

Chris' van held all of us

What a fun couple of nights!

happy birthday BROOKIE

21?????

how did that happen so fast?

I know that for you it feels like a lifetime (hehehe)

but for Dad & me it feels like a couple of blinks

How we've been blessed by Brooke:

*as a child any angst came out in song

(sometimes so high-pitched only doggies could hear it)

*definition of loving caretaker: Brooke Chapman Redfern

*you had to have been amazing in our pre-earth life

the multi and varied talents you possess awe me!

*you are so aware. so very, very aware.

*you've taught me how to make positive changes

*there is room in your heart for everyone

*watching you mother your precious baby

thrills me to the bone:

even with talents beyond what most could ever hope for

you also excell

in the most important work of all.

Brookie, everyone who knows you is a better person

because you were born.

What a blessing that

I am your mother.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY sweetie-pie.

WE LOVE YOU

i love sitka

Sitka, Alaska

aka

PARADISE

Az & I had a blast together

We spent Sunday afternoon at Halibut Point Rec beach

searching for seaglass, skipping stones, breathing the amazing fresh sea air

cold, yes.

but oh so refreshing!

today's our last day here

so when I pick up Azure from school

I think we'll hit Crescent Harbor,

Sandy Beach, and we can't leave

without seeing the bears and eating chocolate samples!

Azure was an absolute pro

on our long taping day!

We completed taping of 12 shows

(editing took a bit longer)

GREAT JOB AZ!

So because we worked so hard the 1st two days, we've been able to totally enjoy Sitka this last little bit. Church was great, games with Camielle & Josh were fun

and the beach was amazing ...

We LOVE Sitka!

a happier post

Thanksgiving Weekend

was fabulous! More about it later ...

I just wanted to show a couple of pics of all the girls

in our matching pjs

Gone

It was a glorious week.

which makes our nearly empty house feel

oh so hollow.

our Christmas decorations are making me feel

melancholoy

now that so many of the people I love have left.

so I'll give myself tonight to cry

and then tomorrow I'll remember how blessed i am

just to have loved ones

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN

What?!? Steven really joined our family only 15 months ago?

Seems like you've belonged to us forever, Steve. We weren't complete without you.

Here are some of the things we love about you:

You'll wear a lime-green shirt all day just because we ask you to

Your sense of competition rivals all of ours put together :)

It's fun to beat you

You've made our family yours and make what's important to us important to you

You understand and take care of our Brookie

You fit right in.

WE LOVE YOU

Happy Birthday Steve!

blaaauuugh!

... thankfully it was only 24 hours long...

THE STOMACH FLU

Ick!!!

Coke syrup almost always works for me -

when the kids have had the stomach flu

and I start to feel queezy, I down a spoonful

of coke syrup and although i don't feel great

I can usually keep from throwing up.

Not this time.

I was SO SICK for 1 full day

but, JOY OF JOYS! it only lasted a day!

I feel like, well - I was going to say million bucks

but actually, I feel more like about 200,000 bucks today.

Fever's gone

no chills

no vomiting

the only complaint I have is a band of sore muscles

from the violent sickness.

(But at least I got my exercise in for the day!)

here's hoping no one else get's it!

why i love my life

Isn't it amazing how the live's we're handed

are SO MUCH better

than what we would choose for ourselves?

Example:

I would NEVER have chosen

to be a full-time babysitter

at age 50.

But with the life I've been handed,

I now have 3 adorable,

precious children

who make me smile

everytime I hear them holler:

"Denaweeeeeee!!!"

I love these kids.

Added blessing:

with these kids comes 2 incredible adults

I'm happy to call my friends.

Reason #2 that I love my life:

Brad and the kids

have totally stepped up to the plate.

Between shoulder massages

and offers to help out with my work

everyone is watching out for me.

Reason #3:

I have the MOST PRECIOUS

grown kids, kids-in-law and grandkids

in the entire universe!!!!

I love my life.

Girl Trip 2009

When Azure was a baby we started new tradition.

the boys had been going on annual Frostbite Challenge trips

and we thought it was time for some girl adventures.

Our first girl trip

we took the ferry to Juneau for some real shopping

(they have a "mall" and had a K-Mart)

One year we went to their cousin, Christy's wedding in Arizona.

Anyway ... we have had to miss one here & there ...

but as a rule, the GIRL TRIP is sacred time -

not to be messed with!

This year we all met in Provo for Halloween weekend.

Why do we include a picture with Brad, you ask?

We were supposed to be on the road by noon ... but I had to stop in at the production office, and as fate would have it, Brad was on 215 the same time we were, just a mile or so behind us.

So we slowed down to a ridiculous speed (for us) and waited for him to catch up so we could wave. That was a thrill :)

By the time we got out of the studio, Brad was headed our way, so we met at a gas station for a quick kiss good-bye.

Brooke wasn't supposed to arrive till a day after we did, but her sweet hubby talked her into an early departure. This meant we got to start of our GIRL TRIP right! We had all been saving money for this trip for a while - everyone secretly popped some cash into a container and Friday morning we divied it up for a fun shopping game.

We each had the exact same amount of money with which to get the BEST DEALS.

We began the day at NAME DROPPERS an incredible consignment store

in SLC. They only have top-of-the-line name brands

(thanks for introducing us, Yayoi!)

We were all supposed to be shopping for ourselves to get the very best deal of all, but Brooke and Sierra morphed the game and started picking out amazing (sometimes outlandish) outfits for each other to try on. The boutique lady was very accomodating with our giggles and picture taking. After all, we did spend a good chunk of our allotment there!

Hard to say who won during that shopping trip:

Caci got an AMAZING pair of Theory gray slacks for just $20

Azure got that darling jacket you see in one of the pics above

Sierra got a very cute white puffy vest

(Brooke just shopped like crazy for Sierra)

and me?

Well ... actually, I think I won.

I got a black wool, fully lined, J. Crew coat.

Originally over $300 for just $37.

AM I A SENSIBLE SHOPPER, OR WHAT?!

Next stop:

IKEA

My grown kids have been telling me for years that I need to go to Ikea. If you've never been, it's worth the trip!

We were all STARVING when we arrived, so we stopped 1st at their food court.

SO YUMMY.

We had SO MUCH fun there!

I think Ikea ranks right up there with Disneyland.

(definitely better than Lagoon or the Adventure Dome)

We got some great deals there - all of us.

But winner:

Brooke got a rocking chair!!!!

Also during the GIRL TRIP:

facials

games

and

HALLOWEEN

We were a group of

cute

but DEAD

dolls.

Can't wait to see what we do next year of our GIRL TRIP.

THANKS GIRLS!

happy birthday JACE

Jace was such a PRECIOUS baby!

now he's a big, tough, cool 3-year-old

I love you Jace!