Taylor, age 4

Favorite Color:  "Uh, Dareen" (green)

Favorite Song:  “Uh, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

Favorite Movie: “Uh, Megamind.”

Favorite Toys:  “Uh, my favorite toy is my toy Rex that Grandma gave me.”

Scared of: “Uh, uh, boogyman.”

Pet Peeves: “Uh, Tanner.”  Oh good.  It’s mutual.

Favorite Things to Do:  “Play with my new Legos that Granma Poulsen gave me.”

Bad Habits:  “Uh, take Tanner’s money.”

Good Habits: “Uh, take care of my toys.”

Favorite Thing to Say:  “Uh, I love you?”

What do I do that makes my mommy laugh the hardest:  “Uh, a water balloon fight?”

What does daddy do at work? “Uh, get a new job?”
What do you want to be when you grow up: “I want to be, uh, when I grow up I want to be…uh, uh, (for about 3 minutes), uh, Ryan Poulsen?”

Who’s your best friend:  “Adelaide?”  Now he’s asking ME questions?  LOL!

Best thing that happened this year:  “mmm, uh, wrapped up a present for daddy.”

Worst thing:  “Uh, that I said bad words to my mommy.”

Goal:  “Be good for you when I go to bed.”

My {♥} is full.

Santa's elves have been VERY busy this year.  My {♥} is full.  So very full.

I want to be an elf someday.  I hope my turn comes soon!  Complete with pink and purple elfin shoes!

{Thankful}

My heart is full.  Despite some recent unfortunate events that I've grumbled plenty about, I am so thankful.  I am so blessed.  My family is so blessed.  We really have no unfulfilled needs.  We have no reason to want.  Only a full heart.

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Ryan's parents in Rexburg, and really enjoyed our time there.  Because of the unusual weather and lack of snow, the boys played outside in the yard without even a jacket on.  It was great to let them run and enjoy their grandparents, and to spend time with them.  I didn't even mind that it took me two hours to do the dishes.  Oh - and I got a nap.

Ryan had to go into work Thursday at 9pm and stay through the madness that many people celebrate as Black Friday.  I was all too happy to leave town by 7am Friday morning to go to my mom and dad's house with the boys.  Ry and I knew he'd need sleep in the few hours  he was able to be at home in between shifts at two retail stores, so I planned to be gone.  And I'm sure he was VERY grateful for that!

While our daddy worked ridiculous hours and very hard these past few days, we enjoyed the company of my family.  We had fun finding our PERFECT Christmas Tree (Charlie Brown has NO claim on our beauty this year!!!!), making gum-drop trees, Oreo turkeys, and learning from Tricia how to make Caramels, Cashew Brittle, and Almond Roca.  Yummmmmo!  My baby sister (who is far from being a baby anymore!  She's almost a teenager!) let my boys play Barbies...with Ken, and the other boy barbies, of course.  LOL!  They had fun in the mud and even more fun with some silly little parachute toys...simply joys.

I know this post is lacking in pictures, because I was lacking in motivation to take them.  I left my camera in the car all.weekend.long.  How lame!  But I don't need a picture to remind me of the feeling of my full heart.

I'm so thankful for my husband who works hard for us.  For my boys who are learning and growing and quite possibly the cutest boys on the planet.  For my parents, and siblings, and in-laws.  For the love and support they've shown us!  I'm Eternally grateful for my loving Savior who unconditionally loves me and guides me.  For His gospel.  For His light.  I. Am. Thankful. 

I pray and hope that our little family may carry this sweet and savory Spirit into the Christmas Season.  

♥♥♥

It Testifies

It seems that lately my cup isn't full enough.  It would only be appropriate for me to more prayerfully read, to become closer to He who cares so deeply for me.  I know that the words of our prophets in the Book of Mormon are true.  I know that they are for me.  And for you.  Go.  Read that book.

Don't have a copy?  Go HERE for your very own FREE copy.  or let me know and I'd be happy to get you one so you can see how beautiful and wonderful and full of truth it is.

Please Tell Me.

In lieu of a Family Home Evening full of fighting, I opted for some therapy.  I put the big boys in front of a movie and the baby to bed, then sat myself down in my cleaned kitchen.

Please tell me I'm not the only one that has a paper-mache'd can full of these:

And please tell me that I'm not completely crazy for splurging on these:

And doing this.  For 45 minutes.  See the pretty flowers forming?

*sigh*  Feeling a bit better, that's for sure!  Now we can do homework with pencils instead of crayons.

And because I couldn't get enough, I went a head and did this:

It's cheap therapy, I'm tellin' ya!

And it's looking like I might need to replace my Jr. High Colored Pencil Collection.  I've protected them for the last 15 years, but alas; all good things must come to an end.  I see an inexpensive birthday present on the horizon!

What do you unwind? 

It's time you should know...

We're EXPECTING!!!  Six weeks.  It's awesome, right?!  I can hardly believe it myself.  I wasn't going to say anything but wanted to make it official.  We are expecting Christmas in a short six weeks!!!


Re-post if you have a sense of humor...and thanks to Jewelle for the silly idea.

In case you need clarification, I AM NOT PREGNANT, nor do I plan to be in the near future.  But I do have three birthdays and Christmas in the next six weeks.  Oy.  Gotta get busy!!!

Dang that wall!

There's one wall in our apartment that is so aggressive, I had to take matters into my own hands.  Taylor runs into it on an almost daily basis, and it was driving me nuts.  I didn't know if he was clumsy, or just couldn't see.

So I took the boys to the eye doctor to see what they couldn't see.  No pun intended.

This is the result.  

Taylor is "blind in one eye and can't see out the other" and must wear his cool new blue glasses all day.  (HELP! We cannot keep them on!  I am thinking of one of those bungee-strap things to connect behind his head....)  His depth perception is off and things up close do the 'jump out at him' thing.  Dr. Porter described it as the side mirrors on your car - "Things are appear closer than they really are" syndrome. She didn't call it a syndrome mind you, but that's what I'm calling it. 

Tanner squints to see up close, and is straining his eyes, giving him headaches.  So I just bit the bullet and got him the recommended bi-focal lenses so hopefully school won't be such a drag.  

As Dr. Porter asked us questions, even about behaviors, and such, I was surprised to learn that maybe the straining eyes and headaches were leading to their misbehavior.  With a sigh of relief, I made the decision to get both glasses, knowing that Tanner will likely grow out of his.  Taylor might, too, but I'm not going to hold my breath. 

I've had glasses since I was 12.  I remember the day I got them, looking out our front yard and realizing that leaves had details.  And that rose bush had thorns that I could see from the sidewalk!  I'd been missing out on details and was so happy I could see!  

We'll see how this goes...we have a followup in four weeks.  Here's to hoping I made the right choice!

My Family

 ♥♥♥ Happy 29th Wedding Anniversary, Mom and Dad! ♥♥♥

Did you ever think you'd have a picture so sweet as this on November 12, 1982?  Pretty amazing.  I'm very blessed to be part of something so beautiful and Eternal.  

I just love them a lot.  

They're pretty much the coolest family EV.ER. 

 My {heart} is full.