Do I Smell Gas?

So tonight has been very eventful to say the least! The picture above is a great representation of what I thought might happen (worst case scenario of course, but I go there often in my head) to my little piece of heaven.

It all began Saturday night when Mike and I were watching a show and I caught a whiff of something that smelled gas like. (Not human kind, but fuel type.) I mentioned it to Michael and of course he smelled nothing. The smelled persisted into the next day and again today. Not overpowering but at times more strong but ....it is so hard to describe a smell and how much of it you could smell. I don't want to drag this out so to the climax I'll go. I am talking to Mike tonight on the phone (yes, this did all happen when he was out of town) and I realize that the heat is not coming on and I am chilly. I go turn it up to 90 to kick it on....nothing. while I am on the phone with him the phone starts doing wierd things like someone is pushing buttons and has picked up the other phone. I go make sure the kids are in bed and not doing it and they are sleeping. I go to the other phone but it is hanging up. Creepy, I HATE that weird crap. I know lines can cross but still I hate it!

I get off the phone with him and I am thinking I don't want the kids freezing all night and I might be smelling gas. So I call the gas company to tell them I smell gas and our heater is not working. They tell me they are sending someone out. Then I call my dad and he tells me that those two things (smelling gas and furnace not working) are not a good combination and that I should take the kids out immediately and open some windows and doors. That freaks me out so I go to open up the doors and forget the alarm is set so all the alarms go off the kids wake up freaked out. I get them settled down then try to continue the conversation with my dad then the phone does its weird little beeping thing so we can't hear each other talk.

Now to some this may not be a big deal. For me I am alone, I smell gas, we have no heat, and someone is messing with my phone line all going on at once......overload for me! I am happy to report everything has worked out. Our furnace was off because some sweet little child flipped a switch and as far as a gas smell nothing was detected. So I am glad that we did not go up in flames tonight as I thought we might but disappointed because we still have no answer for the smell.

I will have to figure that out tomorrow. This post has helped me calm down and now I am ready for bed. One more thing however, I learned something very interesting. My kids are terrible in an emergency! I will have to remedy that through an emergency FHE in the very near future so when I have to wake them up in the middle of the night to come with me I am not hammered with questions and defiance in getting them to cooperate. Wow! What a night I am happy to go to bed and start over tomorrow.

Looking Forward, Not Back

I heard a great talk by Elder Holland on not looking back and it struck me as fitting for 2010. Its never good to hang onto the past whether it was good or bad. I don't mean to say we don't look back and cherish certain memories that were special but I don't think it good that we wish to go back. Even with bad memories I think it an error to linger on them and rehash how terrible you were or the situation was. The past is the past. How can we look forward with faith if we are constantly looking back? I think that is a chief characteristic of faith...looking forward and having hope for the future.

I have lots to hope for this new year. I hope that I can improve as a mom and wife. I hope that we can get our downstairs done and some trees in this year. I hope I can grow as good a garden as I have in the past. I hope that President Obama will see the error of his ways (I said this was my hope list!) I hope that I can improve in the area of patience. And I hope that when I review this list at the end of 2010 I will see some small victories over myself. I think 2010 is going to be really great!

Christmas 2009

Here was Christmas 2009! It has been a crazy last few months but I am so happy we were able to spend Christmas in our new home. The first picture is the Christmas eve gift which is always pajamas. The following picture is them wearing there new pj's. And then of course Christmas day.

Family Pictures

Michael's Little Girl

This is one of our family shots we had taken. Seems how it is taking forever to upload these I am doing this one for now and trying again later for the others. This is a cute shot of them. Morgan would not coperate that day and the only thing that would help ease her were suckers or that baby you see in her mouth.

We Have a Home Base Again!

We have found our little piece of heaven in Utah.

This is an 11 year old home that sits on 5 acres, yes I did say 5 acres! It is such a modest, comfortable, cozy little home. Now there are things about it that will need some work and there are some things that I will just have to live with but overall this is such a blessing that we found it. And I love it.



This is a view from the front yard. We have no one in front of us or in back of us. The house on the left is our closest neighbor on that side of the street. And the neighbor on our same side of the street is just as far.

Now this place is not in the city, as you can see. It is in a little town 30 miles from Salt Lake. It is a little farming community and our ward is called Silver Spur to give you an idea of the area that we live in. And approximately 2,500 people.

This is a backyard view....nothing behind us. Very strange for us. The white fence is not the end of our property. For some reason the previous owners fenced the backyard so small....come summer we are going to remove the fence and just have it open. The closest thing to us in the back is the church and a charter school.

When we first left Nevada I really worried that we would never be able to find a good home like we had. A home that "felt" good and comfortable. A place where you could see yourself raising your kids. I am so happy to say that we have been able to find a place here.

I did not handled myself the way I would have liked through this past trial while renting. However, the experience is not a loss because I have come to understand a little more how important a stable home base is.

I look forward to beautifying this place and being a good steward over what the Lord has given us.

Polar Express

I have no idea why I did not think to take a picture of the train. O-well. That night was fun. The boys enjoyed going to the North Pole to go see Santa. We got to drink hot chocolate and eat cookies served to us by elves. We even got to see Mrs. Clause. When the kids saw Santa you could feel the excitement in the air. It was really cute to experience that with the kids.