This too shall pass

It has been such a fun Christmas holiday. We have just been hanging out spending time together as a family. Yesterday Jim and I helped the kids make a sledding hill in the backyard.

Yes, Jim is in shorts. He always wears shorts!

The boys have been having fun with their remote control cars, especially on our hardwood floors.


Jim is excited to have all of his favorite team pennants that his sister sent him for Christmas. We hung them up in his office next to his bowling trophies. I bet you didn't know Jim is a really good bowler!

This has been a crazy holiday season for us. I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't send out Christmas cards this year. I don't feel too bad though because I have only received six, three of which were from family. That means only three of our friends are more on top of it than I am. LOL!
This has been a good year for us, it hasn't all been easy, but we have been blessed and are truly grateful for what we have. We are so grateful for this season when we get to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the knowledge that even in this world of turmoil, we can have hope. We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Christopher earned his Bear for Cub Scouting. We are so proud of him! It was a lot of hard work, but he got it all done, plus a gold and two silver arrowpoints.

Here are a few of our Christmas decorations. It is so fun to try new things in a new house.

We didn't have a fireplace at our old house, and even though we don't dare burn any wood in this one until we get the chimney cleaned, it has been fun to decorate.

I also have a banister which I love that I can hang garland on.

One of our traditions during the holdays is to put together puzzles. Caleb loves them the most. He has put together this puzzle several times already and doesn't seem to get tired of it. We buy new puzzles every year to put together as a family. Big and small, from 100-1,000 pieces.

Katrina wanted to do a holiday craft the other day, so I got out these ceramic ornaments for her to paint. The boys also painted some. I had them write their names on them so that some day when they have trees of their own, they will have some hand made ornaments to remind them of their childhood.

I have a tuna can ornament from kindergarten with a picture of me inside the can and a gliterry drawing of a Christmas tree on the back. I still hang it on the tree every year for sentimental reasons. Do any of you have ornaments like that?

This Thanksgiving we decided to make a road trip to California to surprise Jim's family. Can you say numb bum?? It started raining 3 hours from home and continued to rain the next 11 hours of our drive. We got there really late Wednesday night and came home Saturday.
14 wet hours to get there and 10 1/2 sunny hours to get back home with 2 days of fun with family and good food in between.


Because of Katrina's injury, she got to ride stretched out on the middle seat. We took a bunch of those squeeze and shake ice packs for her to put on her ankle while we drove. P.S. We found out Monday that it isn't broken afterall, but it is a stage 2 severe sprain which is treated as if it were broken. She will still be in a cast for the next 4-6 weeks. Bummer!

It was so worth it to have a fun time with family, eat good food, and get one sunny day (which happened to be the day we drove home).

Here are the Karper boys. Jim, his dad, his brother Pat, Christopher and Caleb. No resemblance there, huh?

And, of course, no trip would be complete without several stops at In-N-Out.


We also made our mandatory trip to Rosa Maria's for 25 burritos to bring back and a stop at Rite Aid for Thrifty's Rocky Road and Butter Pecan ice cream. I am ashamed to say that I ate a whole garbage burrito plus half of a relleno burrito for lunch on Friday. Oh man, it was SO GOOD!

On Tuesday, Katrina fell at recess and fractured her fibula. She was running backwards and caught her foot on a low spot in the grass. As she was falling, she tried to turn on to her stomach, but her foot didn't turn with her. The school nurse called me and said I needed to come right away. At first we thought it was just a bad sprain, but when she couldn't move her toes, I knew it was serious. We went to her pediatrician, who sent us to the hospital for x-rays of her left ankle. We went home after the x-rays and waited for the doctor to call with the results. The radiologist wasn't sure from the x-rays if what he saw was a break or normal bone formation for Katrina, so he had us come back for x-rays of her right ankle to compare. Sure enough, it was fractured. She has what's called a Salter-Harris fracture which means she fractured the part of her bone that is still growing. It is right about where her fibula connects with her ankle. This is a worrisome spot for a break because it might not heal right. We went from there to the emergency room where they put her in a splint until we can see an orthopedic specialist tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow she should get a real cast. So, she has been gimping along on crutches for the past 5 days. Her daily regimen now consists of hobbling, ice packs, and ibuprofen. I still can't believe she broke it! I always thought it would be one of the boys. Get Well Soon Trina!

On Saturday the 22nd, at our early Thanksgiving feast, I thought it would be fun to play a couple of games that would involve everyone. One of them was a popcorn relay race. You pop a big bowl of popcorn, give each team a measuring cup, and have them race to fill up a bucket. The first team to fill their bucket wins. This was the result. I am sorry that some of the cinematography was shaky, but it was SO FUNNY!! You will also see that we are a bunch of cheaters! In the end, Michelle grabs the other team's bucket and pours some into hers and then Jim dumps her whole bucket into his. This video isn't half as funny as it was in real life. I love our family and how much fun we have playing silly games together.

It's 6:20 am. The only reason, and I mean only reason that I am up and blogging at this hour, is for the love of my family. It is our tradition to have Thanksgiving the weekend before Thanksgiving. It all started because it was too hard to get together with our immediate family and our in-laws on Thanksgiving Day. We have a certain menu that we love for Thanksgiving and can't bear to miss any of these signature dishes if by chance that year we are going to in-laws on Thanksgiving Day. So, we started having it the weekend before for all family who is in the area. This is the menu we have to have. Several dishes have been enhanced over the years, but the basics are still the same as always.

Turkey, cooked in a Reynolds oven bag with celery and onion
Gravy made from the turkey drippings (no mixes, please)
Mashed potatoes with butter and cream
Mrs. Cubbison's dressing casserole
Yam casserole
Mashed carrots with butter and cream
Green Goop (It's a long story)
Ocean Spray whole cranberry sauce from a can
Rolls
Martinelli's Sparkling Cider

That's why I'm up before dawn. I'm in charge of the turkey and gravy this year.

What are your favorite holiday dishes you can't go without?

The rivalry here in Utah between BYU and the U of U is ridiculous!! The kids were allowed to wear gear to school today showing their team of choice in support of the big game tomorrow. Go COUGS!! I am just happy to be going to see Twilight tomorrow while the game is on. That's my kind of fun!
Yesterday one of Katrina's friends was over and said that she was going to go to the U of U someday and that Katrina was probably going to BYU. Katrina responded, "No, I can go where ever I want. I don't have to stay in Utah. I'll probably go to college in California so I can go to the beach." That's my girl!!

No, it isn't a dessert, although I bet it would be yummy! It's the color I painted an accent wall in my kitchen. I love it! The pictures don't do it justice. It is so warm and inviting. I have always wanted to paint this kind of pumpkin spice color in my kitchen. My old kitchen had funny pinky-taupe colored counters that just wouldn't go with this type of color. I am so excited to finally have a kitchen that I love!

Caleb started basketball a few weeks ago. He was so excited to wear his Utah Jazz uniform and his basketball shoes. I bought the shoes for him months ago but he insists that he can only wear them for basketball. His regular shoes have holes in the toes, but these shoes are "only for basketball, Mom". Caleb is #32. He is a great defender, loves to jump, and loves to run.

Because we moved into our new home two days before Halloween, I wasn't very prepared for the holiday. The kids put together their costumes out of a bag of costume parts. I managed to get just one picture of the kids while they were trick or treating at a neighbors home. A Jedi, Superman, and a pirate girl. At least I didn't have to sew anything this year.

I love our new home. We are a lot closer to more of the kids' friends. I grew up in a neighborhood with lots of kids coming and going at all times of the day. That's what we wanted for our children too. Playing games, riding bikes and scooters, singing and dancing with friends. I love it all!
A few days ago we realized that this open door policy for friends could have a down side. At 5:00 am, our cat Stinker, started to meow and woke us up. Jim got up to see what all of the fuss was about, only to find that Stinker had invited a friend over too! Yes, we have had strange cats in our home, entering through his cat door. This is a picture of just one of the two cats that think they are also welcome in our home. The other cat is a long haired black cat that is too quick for me to take a picture of. Too funny!!

Today is Katrina's 11th birthday. (I can't believe I'm old enough to have an 11 year old!) Katrina is such a special girl. I am so grateful that I have her as a daughter to do girl stuff with. She is beautiful, smart, and kind. She is so helpful with her brothers,cousins, and any other small children that happen to be around. She has already started babysitting, with rave reviews. She loves animals, friends, reading and music. She told me this morning that she wants to be a famous singer and dancer someday, but that famous people are always getting their picture taken and she didn't think she'd like that. I think she can be whatever she wants to be! We love you Trinie-bean!!

I just came across a note in my purse from one of our trips to Bear Lake this summer. The kids were in the back of the van talking about what they wanted to name their children. I quickly grabbed my notebook and wrote down the names they came up with for posterity's sake. Here are the names of my future grandchildren:
Katrina chose the name Jacob. (She has 3 cousins named Jacob.)
Christopher will name his son Bobby Joe and his daughter Phoebe.
Caleb likes the names Jack and Christina. Hey, isn't that a juxtaposition of his two sibling's names! (Christopher + Katrina =Christina)
Won't it be fun to look back at this post someday when they are grown and starting their own families.

At last, the wait is over. Last week was SO stressful! We closed on Tuesday afternoon, as planned, only to find out later that the people buying our home had problems with their paperwork and would be closing Wednesday morning instead. Ok, a little nervous, but it will all be ok in the morning, right? We begin to move in to our new home so that we can be out by Thursday. Wednesday afternoon, after we are finished moving in, we get a call that their lender was late getting their paperwork to the title company and they would be closing Thursday morning. Oh my gosh! We own two houses!!! AAGGHH!! Our realtor says, "No problem, worst comes to worst, you have to move back". WHAT??? Stress, stress, stress! Can't sleep, can't eat. "Kids, don't unpack anything". Thursday afternoon, we can't stand the suspense any longer. I make Jim call our realtor to find out if they've closed. Hurray! They finally signed! Friday night at 6:00 we get the call that it recorded and funded. Whew! That was definitely the best Halloween ever!! I love my new house!!! It was worth the stress AND this has been the best weight loss program. All I needed was a little stress to lose those last 12 pounds of baby fat.

We're in our new house but we don't have internet until Monday. Until then...

I made it! I made it! The closing day is finally here!! I was telling Jim the other night, when I couldn't go to sleep because I was too excited, that it was like Christmas for adults. Remember the anticipation of Christmas morning and knowing how magical it was going to be. That's how I feel about this move. We close today at 2:00 and then start moving in tonight and tomorrow to be out for the people buying our home by Thursday. I want to say thanks to all of you for the kind thoughts and prayers that helped to make this move possible. This has been such a faith building experience. So many things have shown us that we have a loving Heavenly Father who knows us individually and knows what our needs are. With the economy in such turmoil, we shouldn't have been able to sell our home at all, let alone sell it in two weeks. We also got a great interest rate on our loan. We feel so blessed!! Today is a great day!!

Today was the final walk through for the people buying our house. Everything seemed to be okay. They wanted to check out the repairs we had done and find out how to run the swamp cooler, etc. Three more days till closing. I can make it! I can make it!

Finally, the plumber is done and paid, the electrician is done and paid, and the termite inspector has inspected and been paid. What a relief!!! I am still packing, and honestly, I'm really getting tired of it. I am not looking forward to unpacking. Well, back to work I go!

Well, the biggest of the hurdles is over. We have the appraisal done for both houses and the inspections are out of the way. We should close Monday or Tuesday. I am packing like crazy, so I can't write more.

To anyone who has ever sold a home, I salute you.
The stress of cleaning, and dejunking,
the waiting, and waiting, and cleaning, and waiting.
Then, finally, an offer! Hurray!
Oh wait, they want us to do what??
Bring all of the plumbing, heating, and electrical
in a 60 year old house up to current day codes??
So, I call a plumber, an electrician, and the city power dept.
Oh yeah, and the termite inspector too!
Chaos and scheduling and doling out cash.
This is how I spent my week.
I, solemnly swear, that I will never willingly do this again!!!
But, when the clouds of chaos clear, I can see the end is near.
The closing is slated for October 28th.
Just two weeks to go. I can make it! I can make it!
I begin to dream of how great my new house is going to be,
where my paintings will hang, and where my couches will go.
And suddenly, it all seems worth it.

Ugh! I hate to be cold and that's what I was when I got up this morning. Over night we got about 4 inches of snow for the first time this season. I know it's Sunday, but we let the kids go and play in it for awhile. Too funny!! They were out there in shorts and boots having a snowball fight. When they were done I had warm cinnamon rolls waiting. What could be better?

We got an offer on our house on Monday and accepted it!!! We will be closing on Oct. 28th. I have three weeks to pack, AAAHHH!!! It is all so unreal, I can't even tell you. There are still the hurdles of the inspection (which was done today) and the appraisal. Pray for us that everything goes smoothly.
So, do you want to see pictures of my new house??? Here's the link!
www.obeo.com/495432

I love Conference weekend. I have been lucky enough to have a job for the past 6 1/2years where I get to work downtown at the Church Office Bldg. and Conference Center feeding all of the behind the scenes people at Conference. We feed ushers, audio visual personnel, translators, security, police officers, the Tab Choir, and the countless volunteers that make conference what it is. It makes for really long days, usually starting at 5:00 am and ending at 5:00 pm. Trust me, when you've been on your feet cooking and serving for that many hours, you can hardly walk by the time you get home. And yet, it is such a great opportunity to serve the thousands of the behind the scenes people who in turn serve the millions watching conference around the world. I am so grateful for the restored gospel and for my testimony of a loving Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the messages of hope that were given this weekend. Faith and Hope are what we need in this world today when there are so many doubts and uncertainties. I am so grateful that while there is hope, there is no need to fear. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.
P.S. We had our first showing of our house yesterday. Even with the economic turbulence of the past few weeks, there is still interest which gives us hope. Miracles truly do happen! We'll keep you posted.

Okay, the answer is finally here! We have put an offer on a new home in our neighborhood!!
We are really excited about the possibility of moving and yet staying in the same area with friends and schools. Now all we have to do is sell our home. Know anyone who might want to buy it??? Check out the link below.

http://homesite.obeo.com/viewer/default.aspx?tourid=499223&refURL=&locale=en-US

I have been decluttering and cleaning like crazy for a week! Getting a home ready to be sold is by far the most stressful thing I have ever had to do. Try looking at your home through someone else's eyes. Suddenly you see with new eyes all of the clutter and dirt that you've gotten so used to being there that you don't even realize it anymore! Scrubbing, waxing, puttying, painting, weeding, washing, etc. That has taken up all of my waking hours the past week. Then on top of that is the worry that your house won't sell and you won't even be able to move into your dream house. I will post pictures of the new house once it's a done deal. It's too depressing to think that it might not happen. I try and tell myself that if it doesn't happen, at least my house is REALLY CLEAN!!!

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I do have a good excuse though. Have you ever had a momentous occasion in your life that absolutely took up every waking moment, that you've lost sleep over, and not eaten for? That's what has been happening at our house, but I will have to leave you in suspense a little longer. I promise to post more soon.

I went and got my hair cut this morning, technically, the girl just trimmed it and shaped up the layers. Usually I just get it trimmed and go, but this time when the girl offered to style it, I decided I had the time to spare so why not. The downside is that Jim is in Midway today for a work golf tournament and won't be home until around 8:00 tonight. So here I sit, looking "hot", with nowhere to go. Life isn't fair!!

I think I will be chopping tomatoes, peppers and onions in my dreams tonight. Michelle and I spent the day bottling salsa. It was messy and hot and totally delicious!! I am just relieved that I have another thing on my to-do list checked off. Now I just have peaches, pears, and grape juice to go. The tomatoes, salsa, and jam have been done for the year.
The highlight of the day was eating a Rosa Maria relleno burrito that Mike brought home from CA for Michelle's birthday for lunch. Michelle was nice enough to split it with me. Thanks Shell!!! To all of you who know and love Rosa Maria's, it was SOOOO GOOOOD!!! I haven't had one for 10 months (yes, I'm counting). That half of a burrito will hold me over until I can get my hands on another one. I'm craving it already!

We spent this past weekend at Mike and Leah's house in Brigham City for Peach Days. It is an annual tradition to go to their house, stay up really late Friday night playing board games, have breakfast together Saturday morning, and then head for the parade. A little competition has started between some in our family to see who can come home with the most free t-shirts that are thrown out at the parade. Jim got two, Katrina got two (although she did give one to Mike), and Eric got one. So funny!! You should see them yelling for t-shirts, and frisbees too. I think we came home with five frisbees to go with the three from last year. It is so much fun for all of us to get together and a little friendly competition never hurt anybody. The funniest moment was Mom and Mike playing Scrabble with all of us trying to help Mike who was really behind. We laughed so hard at some of the words we were trying to get him to play.


Candy!! Candy!!!

Jacob is in kindergarten this year, so he got to participate in the children's parade Friday night. Leah is such a great mom to walk the parade route with Ryan in tow.


Once again, Mike and Leah have been our entertainment committee. Thanks for everything!!!

Jim and I played tonight. Ask Jim who won. Hee hee!

Tonight Mike, Leah, Katrina and I played a rousing game of Settlers. Ask everyone else who won?? That's right, it's me, I get bragging rights until the next time we play.

Oh, how lovely was this morning...

Today was the first day of a new school year.

I thought it would be funny to post this pic of me celebrating my freedom that was taken by Katrina last year. It took so many pictures for her to get one good one, that I didn't want to try taking a new one this year. You know, I actually felt more excited last year than this year. I guess it's true what they say, "the older my kids get, the more I like them". Also, the more independent my children become, I've begun thinking a lot about "what I want to be when I grow up". I don't have any more idea now than when I graduated from high school.

Caleb is starting 2nd grade.

Christopher is starting 4th grade.

And Katrina is starting 5th grade.

The kids said they had a great day. They are all sitting by old friends and like their new teachers. The only drama was when Katrina bit into a pretzel at lunch and knocked a tooth out. She called me upset and I told her to tough it out because I was in Park City with Michelle and Jacob and by the time I got there, school would almost be out. Never a dull moment!

Today I went to help host a baby shower for my cousin's wife in Springville. The shower was fun and came off without a hitch, it was the ride home that was not so fun! For those of you who know Utah cities and highways, I was driving home and noticed that the freeway was really uneven around American Fork. My minivan would kind of feel like it was shuddering and then stop and start again. My sister and I were commenting on how uneven the roads were when it suddenly was very obvious that I had a flat tire around Lehi. I was on a 5 lane stretch of freeway in the fast lane, I admit, and the closest shoulder was on the left side of the carpool lane. So I had to quickly make a choice, cross 3 lanes to the right shoulder or one to the left. No brainer! I chose the left. Lucky for me, my aunt who is a very experienced traveler, hopped right out and began to change the tire with very little assistance from me. Now, let me paint a picture for you. I have three women and two children in a minivan, with a shredded driver side rear tire, in the middle of a ten lane freeway, it's blistering hot, we are all dressed for a party, and trying to change a tire. I am wearing a loose fitting skirt that is loving the gusts of air that the hundreds of passing cars are making. I am frantically trying to tuck my skirt between my legs and crawl under the van to release the spare tire. All the while I am complaining that no one is stopping to help us! We live in the center of Zion for crying out loud and no one was stopping to help us!! I was totally bugged! And then, a ray of hope. A wonderful man stopped to help us just as we were putting the spare on. His daughter told me that he had passed us and said that he needed to go back and help us, had gotten off the freeway, back tracked, and come up behind us. I was so grateful, even though my aunt said that we were almost done and would have been fine without his help. True, but he renewed my faith in humanity. Just as we were putting the jack back in the trunk, a highway patrolman came up and told us to hurry and get off the shoulder. He was not helpful and very impatient! I barely got to yell a thank you to the wonderful man who stopped to help. So whoever you are, I thank you for coming to our rescue from the bottom of my heart!!! My aunt says I'm lucky I didn't get a ticket for being in the left shoulder instead of the right, so maybe I shouldn't be so annoyed with the impatient highway patrolman. So, I'm sorry if I misjudged your impatient attitude for sympathy.


At this point, I have a very questionable spare tire on and still have a 45 minute drive ahead of me. I decide to stop at the closest Costco, where we purchased the tire, and get a replacement. The man at the counter was very sympathetic and said that he would fit me in as soon as a bay became available, even though there were 10 cars ahead of me waiting for new tires. Two and a half hours, and lots of ugly glares at the helpful (liar) attendant later, we were back on the road- good as new!

For dinner tonight, we went and picked vegetables from our garden. We had roasted chilies broiled with Mexican quesadilla cheese, green beans with bacon and onion, and corn on the cob. SO GOOD!!!! All of the tilling and planting and watering and weeding has finally paid off!