Merry Christmas Dakota

Dakota loves being with her people. So much so, that if we are doing stuff out in the yard and make her stay inside she barks and jumps at the windows trying to get out with you. She really just doesn't want to miss any fun. This was true yesterday when we were putting up the Christmas lights. Since it was such a beautiful day, we brought her outside with us and tied her to one of the trees. She spent the morning barking at every cat and squirrel that was anywhere on the street, and chewing on some branches that had dropped into the yard (one of her favorite activities). It seemed like a great day for her. But when we were done with the lights and I brought her inside, I noticed that she kept rubbing one of her eyes with her paw and that it was watering. I figured she had gotten something in it, so I --hoping to get what ever was bothering her out. We then left for the ward party.

When we returned home, eye was all swollen. I gave her some Benadryl hoping it was allergies. But when I got up early the next morning, her eye looked really bad. It was red and swollen, and really had me worried. So I got online to research what to do about eye problems in animals. Everything I read said that if an animal injures their eye you need to get them into a vet within 12 hrs or they could lose their sight. This was not good. Since it was Sunday, our vet was closed. I really didn't want to spend the money to take her to the emergency vet clinic, but I also didn't want her to lose an eye because I was cheap. So I put Dakota in the car and took her to the Emergency Animal Clinic on 249. There they put some dye in her eye and then examined it with a special light. It turns out that she had scratched her cornea. So they gave us eye drops, antibiotic, a pain killer and put a big cone around her neck so she can't rub her eye and make it worse. Poor baby. So I paid the bill--$228, ouch!--and took her home.

Dakota did not like the cone, and she looked pretty pitiful in it. It took her a while to adjust walking around in it and she would run into everything. I was sure she was gong to break something in the house or injure herself--as she would often catch it while she was running. This was actually pretty amusing--especially when she was outside. Dakota has a path in the backyard that she likes to run around. This path goes between two of our trees. So the first time I let her outside with her cone on, she ran her path and hit the cone on the trees as she went through. It was so funny. I had to take the cone off and get out all the pieces of bark. And it took her a couple of day before she adjusted to her extra width. At least we get some laughter along with the big vet bill. Some times you have to grab onto any silver lining you can find!

I didn't get a picture of Dakota in her collar, and it didn't come back from the Vet's when we kenneled her over Christmas. But this is pretty much what she looked like:

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Today was a busy and festive Saturday which marked the begining of the Night of Lights as well as our ward Christmas party.

Our morning was spent putting up the Christmas lights outside, and we had beautiful weather for it. Greg had been in Utah during the week, and got home late Friday evening so I let him sleep in a bit. But once we got to work, everything went pretty fast in spite of the fact that we were missing Joe's help. We bought some new extension cords for the Christmas lights at Costco a while back that made the electrical connections easier this year. I had originally thought we would scale back the amount of lights we put out, but in the end we ended up doing about the same as usual because we have mastered a very nice looking system. And when we were done the yard looked really good.

After we were finished with the lights, we went to the ward Christmas Party. This year we experienced a Night in Bethlehem. The activities committee had done a wonderful job creating a village in the cultural hall--with shops that offered simple foods of fruit, olives, cheese, eggs, meat and bread. My favorite was the meat market, which staffed by my three favorite butchers--the Bishopric. Greg, Don and Chuck all looked great in their biblica attire (although I thought the Bishop looked a lot like Lehi. Everyone laid blankets out on the floor and enjoyed good company while they ate.

Then we watched as Joseph and Mary went throughout Bethlehem, looking for a place where Mary could have her baby. All the inns were full, but they were allowed to use a stable and there Mary brought forth her first born son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. It was a beautiful presentation that included some wonderful musical numbers, and really helped you feel the spirit of Christmas.

What a great way reminder of the true meaning of Christmas! I hope it stays with us all season!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

It did something tonight that it has only done twice in the 17 years we have lived in Houston--it snowed! And I'm not talking flakes that melted as soon as they hit the ground. It actually stuck to the cars. Wet, dense snow that you could scoop up and make into a snow ball. I know because I did, and then I hit Erin with it.

This what it was like the first time it snowed for us in Houston back in 2004. The snow flakes collected on our plant coverings, but melted when they landed on the ground:

And this was tonight:

You wouldn't think someone who grew up in Utah would get so excited about this little bit of snow, but I did. And although it didn't last for long, it was sure fun while it lasted!

Happy Birthday Joe!

Joey turned 20 today, and I couldn't even wish him happy birthday. Times like these I really don't like this mission thing! But then I remind myself how wonderful this experience has been for him, and I get over myself. Slowly. Another thing I am struggling with this mission thing is sending gifts to Joe. He has always has been kind of hard to buy for, and now that he is a missionary I am never quite sure what to send him. I mean really, what does a missionary need. But for his birthday we sent him a new tie, a new sweater, and some microwaveable cakes with candles. Rachel also sent him a CD that BYU sent to her. Hopefully that was enough for him to feel loved.

Joe loved his cake!

We sure do wish we could see him today and celebrate with him. But at the same time we are happy he is in Denver instead. He is an amazing missionary, and we are extremely proud of him!

Final Bug Project

Erin finished up her bug project for biology last week. This means I never have to catch bugs again!

Everything was going pretty smoothly for the project. She had caught most of the needed bugs and was even able to give trade her extra cockroach for a moth. When she started to put her bug project together, she discovered a problem that made her she wished she still had that extra roach. Turns out the one she kept had molded. But we had planned to go bug hunting for her last 2 bugs, and this just meant we needed 3 instead. So for Family Home Evening last Monday we collected bugs (favorite activity ever!). We found an earwig and a termite in our yard, and went to the McLemores to look for one last bug in their pool. Unfortunately their filters were clean, but Tyler saved the day when he showed us where a dead cockroach was. So we went home, Erin pinned and labeled all her bugs and she is finished!

Hurray for the end of bug projects! I hope to never put a bug in a Ziploc bag again.

Deck the Halls!

Before Melissa went back to Austin today, we decorated the Christmas tree. It has always been our tradition to wait until after Joe's birthday on the 5th to put up any Christmas decorations. But now that we have kids out on their own (and Joe isn't even here), we try to do it when most of them are home.

Our tree has always been decorated with ornaments we got as the kids grew up along with the ones that they made. I've wanted a "grown up tree" for a long time, dreaming about fancy matching ornaments. But the last couple of years that has changed. I love pulling out all the old decorations and enjoying all the memories they bring. I think I'll always have this tree (unless of course my kids steal the ornaments when they have families of their own--although I am not sure that will be allowed).

Anyway, decorating the tree was an enjoyable way to end our holiday weekend. Bring on Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we enjoyed a very laid back Thanksgiving. Originally the plan was to have dinner with the McLemores. But a couple of days before Thanksgiving, Tyler got a job at the Pierces golf course. His schedule for this morning, meant the earliest he could eat would be around 3 pm. Ordinarily that wouldn't have been a problem, but this year the UT - A&M football game was being played on Thanksgiving day instead of the day after. Since it was in Austin this year, Melissa had tickets and she wanted to make sure she was on the road around 3. So it was just the 5 of us for dinner. It is still strange not to have Joe with us on days like these. But we enjoyed our day together, and watch UT beat up on A&M in the afternoon. So even though we didn't get to hang with the McLemores, we did have a very nice day!

We had a wonderful dinner! Don't worry, we ate turkey, not Big Bird!

Dinner was followed by the traditional Thanksgiving naps, and even Dakota joined in.

Melissa came home again on Friday and spent the rest of the weekend with us. Besides just wanting to spend more time with her loving family, she also came back to help her dad. Greg had had a very difficult time getting anyone to agree to speak in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. Melissa had just given a talk in her student ward which she told me had gone very well. She had even had a member of her Bishopric tell her it was the best talk he had ever heard in their ward and one of the Bishopric members' wives tell her it was the best talk on motherhood she had ever heard. So when Greg was starting to panic about who to get to talk, I told him to call Melissa because she had just given a talk and could probably give the same one to our ward. And lovingly she agreed! The talk was excellent, and once again she had several people compliment her on it. We are so blessed to have such wonderful children! And It was wonderful to be able to spend time with all the girls this weekend.

Pie Night

I love the holidays and I love pie. So of course we continue our tradition of combining the two with our annual Pie Night. This year we had a really good turn out of friends and pies, and it was a night enjoyed by all. Here are some of the people who joined us that night:

Mike & Alicia McLemore and Cindy Solgere

Marie Greenwood , Kelly & Zach Ferris, Liane Martin and Jared Stewart

Nancee, Dan, Logan & Ryan Pyper

Even the kids had fun

Kerri & Becca Richmond -- Kira Ferris wants more!

Spencer Greenwood -- Stephanie McLemore & Melissa

Erin & Bridget McLemore

Football Season Ends

Cy Creek's football season ended tonight as it began--with a loss against Klein Oak. Our team had an excellent season, going from worst to first in a year and finishing undefeated in district play. The only loss we had this year was in our pre-season game against Klein Oak, the team we had to face in the second round of the 5A high school football playoffs. We were hopeful that the team had improved enough over the season that this time Creek would come out one top. But it wasn't mean to be and we lost 49 - 21.

It was an amazing season. And a great finish to Erin's first marching season and Rachel's last.

College Application and Graduation Stress

We will have two major milestones next year when our two oldest girls graduate. All though these are exciting events, they are leading so some big life decisions that are causing our daughters a bit of stress. Oh the pains of growing up!

Rachel will graduate from Cy Creek High School on June 5. She has been trying to decide where she wants to go to college and working on college applications. Rachel wants to study social work, and is planning on applying to 5 colleges: Utah State, BYU, BYU Idaho, UT and Texas A&M. She has finished the application for Utah State, which was extremely easy since they don't require any essays and all she had to do was submit and online application and then have transcripts and test scores sent to Logan. USU has some good scholarships for out of state students that we are hoping she'll get so that she can actually consider going there. The schools that require essays are a lot more work, and she is working on completing them. The BYU early admission deadline is December 1, while the Texas schools is Jan 15. And since their essay topics are not similiar, she is working on them according to the deadlines. I think it this process is exciting for her, but also a little stressful. She has 5 AP classes this year and and is working hard to keep her grades up. Plus she has been sick quite a lot (which may have to do with the stress she is feeling). I really am not sure how she does it, but am proud at how she just keeps going.

Melissa will graduate for the University of Texas on May 23rd. She has really gone through some panic about trying to decide what to do with the rest of her life. But she has worked through it and come up with a plan she feels good about, and is currently working on her application to Harvard. Her grades are excellent and she seems to be doing well at holding everything together. But she must be feeling some stress over it all judging from a dream she had the other night. It was a classic school dream--one where just discovered that she had a math class she never went to and missed a test, so now she was going to have to retake it next semester in order to graduate. But because she failed it, she wasn't going to get into grad school. She woke up in a panic and told me that it took her a good 5 minutes after she woke up to convince herself she wasn't taking math this semester. I had to laugh! At least she wasn't naked in her dream! Those are the worst.

Standing up for Family Values

In addition to electing a new President this year, there was an initiative on the ballot in California that we watched closely. Proposition 8 would define marriage to be a union between a man and a woman in California. Although Texas had passed a similar amendment in 2005, California has had to regroup on this issue. In 2000 California voters approved a state law providing that “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” The California Supreme Court recently reversed this vote, and so this constitutional amendment was put on the ballet for this year. What makes this initiative so interesting to me is that the church has come out with an official statement strongly encouraging member participation to help protect the sanctity of marriage. Here is part of the letter that was read in wards throughout California:


The Church’s teachings and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and the formation of families is central to the Creator’s plan for His children. Children are entitled to be born within this bond of marriage.

A broad-based coalition of churches and other organizations placed the proposed amendment on the ballot. The Church will participate with this coalition in seeking its passage. Local Church leaders will provide information about how you may become involved in this important cause.

We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman. Our best efforts are required to preserve the sacred institution of marriage"

When I heard that the letter had been sent out I was surprised, because the church usually doesn’t comment on elections other than to encourage the members to be informed and to vote. The church does, however, weigh in on issues it considers morally important. And when the Family Proclamation was read by President Hinkely in 1995, the church made it clear exactly what we believe in—that the family is ordained of God and that marriage is between a man and a woman. So this stand should not have been that surprising.


Members of the church in California responded in great numbers to the request of the First Presidency by donating money and time to go door to door to talk about this issue. This helped make the church a strong force in campaigning for the passage of this proposition. Personally, I made an effort to keep this issue and the people of California in my prayers and hoped that they would stand up for true family values. And on Nov. 4, Proposition 8 passed with a 52% majority. It was pretty exciting to see family values upheld in a state that tends to be so liberal.

When this amendment passed, those who opposed it seemed shocked they had lost. Almost immediately there began to be protests, and demonstrations that were aimed mostly at the LDS church. On Thursday, November 6 there was a march in Los Angeles that shut down the LA Temple. The gates were closed. Those workers at the temple had to stay until the demonstration was over and no new patrons were allowed in. Armed police officers were on the temple grounds to protect the building. The demonstrators even vandalized the walls of the gates outside the temple.






There was so much anger over this amendment passing—and most of it was being directed at the church. On Friday, a statement was released by the church calling for “respect” and “civility” in the aftermath of the vote. It also said “Attacks on churches and intimidation of people of faith have no place in civil discourse over controversial issues. People of faith have a democratic right to express their views in the public square without fear of reprisal.” Hopefully the anger directed at the church will give way to more peaceful protests. I know this is an emotional issue and understand people who love each other wanting to be married. But we cannot abandon the principles of the gospel just to make everyone happy. We cannot change the teachings of the Lord just so we can all feel good. Marriage is ordained of God—and it is meant to be between a man and a woman. And the day we stop standing up for these principles of righteousness, then we will lose the blessings and protection of the Lord. So we must be prepared to fight for our beliefs. And when we do, the Lord will bless us.

We the promised blessings of obedience happen in two different ways when it came to the anger directed at the church and the protests at the LA Temple. First of all, the ordinance work at the LA temple was not affected by its closure. A day or two after the protest, an email written by someone in the temple that day was forwarded to me. This Brother said that even though they had to close the temple and not let excursions groups who were planning to attend in that day, those that we unable to leave during the protests kept on working. And by the end of the day they had completed approximately the same number of ordinances that are usually done on a normal day of operation. So even though the protesters disrupted the plans of temple patrons, they were unable to affect the work. And that is a wonderful testimony of the blessings that will come through obedience.

The second blessing we have seen is the huge outpouring of support that has come from other religions--even those who have opposed us in the past. Here is a sample of what was being said--posted at beliefnet.com by Rod Dreher, a columnist for the Dallas Morning News:

"Now is the time for traditional Christians — Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox — to come to the aid of our Mormon friends. They put themselves on the front line of the traditional marriage battle like no other church group. And now individual Mormons are paying a terrible price for standing up for something we all believe in. I don't know how we can stand with them from afar, but at least we can thank them, and speak out when we see them being abused. We might also think again about how we view them. . . . I have deep disagreements with Mormon theology. But they are our friends and allies and fellow citizens, and they deserve our thanks and support."

So even though it is not easy to stand up for our values today, we must continue to do so. We must be respectful, and not hateful of those who do not share our beliefs. However, we cannot and will not abandon our beliefs or the teachings of the Lord just to get along with everyone. And this experience has shown me that if we stand firm, we will be blessed.

Happy Birthday to Me.

Today I turned 43. I really don't think there is anything exciting to say about that, but thought I better record it for posterity. So am I one year older and wiser too? Not sure about the wiser part but the older is definately true.

I was hoping to go to a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner, but didn't say anything to Greg about it. But he read my mind and took me to the new Shogun Japanese Grill & Sushi bar. Apparently we have been married so long we think alike. Dinner was good, and the chef was very entertaining. After dinner we took the girls out to get some ice cream. Couldn't find the Cold Stone Creamery that used to be in our area, so we ended up going to Kroger and buying the makings for sundaes. It was a fun evening!

A Littel Fender Bender

Rachel rear ended someone on her way home from school today. Erin called me to let me know it happened. She said that everyone was OK, and that their wasn't much damage done--a cracked bumper for us and a scratched bumper on the other car. That was good news. They asked what they needed to do, and I told them they needed to call the police if the damage was $1,000 or more. They both said they didn't think there was that much damage, and the other driver didn't even think there was anything worth repairing. So I told them to make sure they exchanged insurance information and come home if the car was driveable. It was, so they did.

Once they got home I walked to the car to check out the damage. It was then I realized that my idea of little damage didn't agree with theirs. The car Rachel hit had a trailer hitch that punched into the bumper--so it wasn't really cracked as much as it had a hole punched in it. The grill and hood were also damaged. I tried to open the hood to see if the engine looked OK, only to discover it had been tweaked enough that it would not open. I asked the girls how they thought this was "a little damage", and they said they hadn't noticed a lot of it. This just made me shake my head. Teenage drivers! I estimated the damage was between $2,000 & $3,000, which shocked both of the girls. And sure enough--the estimate was around $2,300. Thank goodness for insurance!

But in the end everything is OK. The other driver never made a claim, so their damage truly was minimal. No one was hurt. The girls learned what to do and what not to do after an accident. And even though we now have to deal with the inconvenience of being down one car (which means I drive the girls to seminary and school), the accident didn't cause too many problems. We'll just chalk it up to life, and be grateful that it wasn't worse.

God Bless President Obama

Well, as I expected Barack Obama was elected our 44th President yesterday. I didn't vote for him and have to admit I am worried about what his liberal policies will do to our country. That said, I am hopeful for the future. It is pretty historic to see the first black man elected President. And I found it surprisingly moving as I watched the coverage of him and his family after it had become clear he had one. So even though I have my doubts about him, I do wish him will and hope he will turn out to be an outstanding President--for that is what our country needs. God bless President Obama and God bless America.

I Voted! Did you?

Today was election day, which gave us the opportunity to vote for the next President of the United States. I'm pretty sure my guy isn't going to win and tomorrow everyone will be talking about President Obama. But if you don't vote, you don't get the right to complain when elected officials do things you disagree with. And I do like to complain, so of course I voted today. And guess who else got to vote in their first Presidential elections? Melissa and Rachel. Joe was eligible to vote by absentee ballot, but said that since he didn't know enough about the issues and did want to use any of his mission time researching politics he opted not to. What a dedicated missionary.

Our schools were closed today so that everyone could vote. Not quite sure why they did this as they never have in the past. But we'll take any day off of school we can get. Rachel and I went and voted together, and Greg went shortly after us. After we voted, we went to Boudreaux's Cajun Kitchen for lunch. It was a great day of executing our privilege to vote.

Happy Halloween! Band Senior Night

This was a very interesting Halloween for us. The girls had a football game, so that was the extent of their night. Greg and I went to the ward's Trunk or Treat before heading over to the game. I do enjoy seeing all the cute kids, but must admit Halloween is just not as much fun as it was when our kids were little.

One fun part of having a football game on Halloween was that the cheerleaders got to wear costumes. Here is my favorite--a sumo wrestler. It was too funny watching her cheer all night in this!

On Senior Night, the Seniors get very special treatment. First of all they don't have to wear their marching uniforms. Instead they get to wear their letter jackets and a t-shirt representing which college they plan to attend. Most seniors where official school shirts like these:

But Megan, Laureen, Rachel and Elizabeth wore these shirts

They made them because none of them know where they want to go to college.

The Seniors were also recognized at half time, and we got to go down on the field with Rachel

Some parents brought their daughters flowers. I gave Rachel a Tootsie Pop from the trunk or treat. I'm such a fun mom!

Although they missed out on trick or treating, I think the girls managed to have a good time.

After Creek beat Jersey Village 38 - 0, the seniors were allowed to go down on the field to sing the school song.

Then Senior Night was over--and Cory, Rachel and Justin were left to continplate their futures.