CHriStMaS fEVeR!!!

Since Thanksgiving has come and gone (and it was great), i can officially start celebrating the Christmas season without getting in trouble from my little sister. I don't know why I am so excited for Christmas this year, but I just am. Maybe it is because Ryan was so little last year that we couldn't do very much, I don't know. I have been looking forward to it since the first of November and I keep telling Pete to gear up for lots of fun activities. I have been listening to Christmas music, making lists of what I want to get for my family, and if Ryan goes down for a nap I am going to get out my decorations. I think that what makes the holidays so much fun are traditions-so tell me your favorites cause I am ALWAYS looking for new ones and while you are at it you could give me some ideas about what to get my father-in-law...

For Emily

As many of you know, my older sister Emily (the sister in the middle of the picture), had a brain tumor removed a year and a half ago. While the surgery was successful in removing the tumor, her body had a strange reaction to the surgery. A few days after the surgery she lost her ability to talk, walk, and see and she has been fighting to regain those functions ever since. She has endured intense physical therapy and many functions have returned, but she doesn't feel completely normal. She has two young children and her only desire is to be able to care for them on her own again. She is incredible and has been such an example to all of us of strength and determination. So many people have asked what they could do to help-it is so hard to want to help knowing that the things that would really solve the problem are out of our control. Last night we had the opportunity to do something for Emily that was in our control-attend a temple session in her behalf. About 70 people gathered in the Provo temple last night and many other relatives and friends attended the temple across the United States. It was overwhelming to see the amount of support people showed my sister and family last night. It is such a bonding experience to all come together for the same purpose-It has definitely brought my family closer together and made us more grateful for the things in life we often take for granted. I can only keep praying that she will be healed and then trust in the Lord that someday it will happen. I love my sister so much and I hope with all my heart that things will get better because sometimes hope is the only thing that can get you through difficult times.

BLaSt fRoM tHE pAsT

My friend Lindsey posted something on her blog about the movie Mr. Boogedy and it got me thinking about all the things I loved growing up. So I wanted to take a minute just to reminesce about some of my favorite things.

-Babysitter Club Books-I think I read each book three times, but my favorite part was that after a hundred or so books they were still in jr. high. I always loved the Super Special books.
-TGIFridays (not the restaurant, but the shows ABC used to have on every Friday-I looked forward to it all week!)
-Great cartoons including Gummi Bears, Duck Tales, Muppet babies, and Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers (I still get their theme songs stuck in my head)
-Sweet Valley High Books-these were a little more scandalous than babysiter club books but just as great
-Saved by the Bell-I always wanted my own Zack Morris and wished we had a place as cool as " The Max" to hang out
-The game Go 4 it-we used to play this for hours
-Wonderful games such as "butt" ball, kickball, and four square
-Playing with and accessorizing trolls at recess
-Playing barbies and creating my own Ken doll by putting a girl barbie head on to a popsicle stick

Sometimes I really miss being little...

This is totally not related, but we saw Dan in Real Life last night and it was so good-I would definitely recommend it!

I need your help...

As many of you know, my husband Peter has a non-profit organization called Vaccines for the Philippines. We do most of our work on an island called Bohol and he works with the government of that island to find out the projects that will be most beneficial to them. Two years ago, the government asked him to fund a water project that would help bring clean water to 12-14 communities in the middle of the island. The only problem is that it will cost around $100,000-$200,000 in order to complete and we have never taken on a project of that magnitude. Lately I have been feeling like I need a really good project to work on and tonight at dinner I decided that I was going to make the water project my cause. We are going to the Philippines in August of next year and anyone is welcome to come, but I really want the water project to be the humanitarian project that we work on this year. So here is where you all come in-We have never even attempted to raise that kind of money before and so we need ideas. If you have any connections to businesses that would be willing to donate, fundraiser ideas, you know how to write grant proposals, or you just want to get involved in something-I would appreciate anything you could do to help. There are a lot of Non-profit organizations that fund these kind of things it is just a matter of finding them. ANY ideas are welcome as I can only imagine that it is going to be quite the feat to raise this money!