I know that some of you hate the music on the blogs, but it has meaning this time. We just heard this week that Tate will come from Iraq for his 2 week leave on December 28th. Hence the music with lyrics about "Home"......we are very excited, I am trying to contain myself and not get tooooo excited yet, it is still a month away! I have been trying to find the best thing to do with our time while he is here. I found a cruise for only $150.00 a person for 5 days but cant decide if it is too selfish to take him away from the kids for 5 more days.......they have really missed him too...I will say this though don't any of you call me before the 13th of January....and then I will need lots of shoulders to cry on.

I saw this in the paper and thought it was hilarious, since this is exactly how I feel the older kids view me, I just had to post it.....

I have been tagged to write down 7 interesting things about myself, I started by asking my children......

1. "you do art"quoted by Dagan... I was a fine art major in my life before motherhood and all that, it does actually seem like a lifetime ago. I have found through the years that I really love interior design, which I would have never guessed back that lifetime ago. I have actually helped about 5 people do either rooms or whole houses, two of which were actually paying clients. And after about 20 years I actually did an acrylic painting of my children for a relief society function.

2."everything", more specific " your beautiful" quoted by Dylan. I dont even have anything to say about this other than God love the little children.

3. "you're a good worker" quoted by Morgan. I actually loved this one, I actually do pride myself in being a hard worker, in being someone regardless of how crappy the job is, am willing to jump in and do the job anyway. Growing up my Dads philosophy was if he was working so were the rest of us, and that really taught me to dig in and get the job done.

4. Mackenzie doesn't think there is anything interesting about me......I tend to agree some days, but aren't teenagers great? We'll see what my answer is the next time she needs a ride somewhere......

5. I don't cry very often, it takes alot to get me to cry. I have had a few times in my life when because of my life cicumstances I have cried at alot of things, but these times have been few and far between. I think I view crying as weakness, not in others but in myself. My dad was sort of a "man up" kind of dad and so I "man up."

6. I like to be a friend to people. I love that I have friends from years ago that we both still stay in touch. I think I choose wisely when it comes to friends and sometimes take a long time in doing so, I didn't actually make my two best friends here in cincinnati until this last year. But I fiercely love the ones that I have.

7. I love being American. This is one of the few things that can actually get me to tear up. If I read stories of heroes or listen to songs, the Fourth of July all that makes my eyes water. I am sooooo lucky to have been born here with all the freedom we possess and choices and the restored gospel ......I just haven't decided if my spirit was strong and so I got to come here ,or if it was really weak and I needed to have all the help I could get......this of course is rhetorical......

I finally got some pictures of our missionary.....doesnt he look great? His letters have shown how much he has already changed, I am sooooo excited to get his letters and to hear how things are going for him, what a blessing to have a son on a mission.

Dagans show at a coffee shop. this song he actually wrote himself. I love it, it also serves as my ring tone to my phone.

As I was going through the pictures to find old Halloween pics I came across this picture. This is how I will always picture the kids when they were little. I love this picture, they are all sooooo cute and their eyes are soooo blue. My mom had made them these matching outfits and we had taken the kids to the park, and it was one of those days that just worked, they were all happy and the weather was great......If they had stayed sooo sweet and easy.

Since nobody else would dress up this year I looked through and found pictures of the kids from years gone by.....dont get me wrong they are great to look at, but finding costumes for and getting four kids ready.....trust me I am not crying too hard.

Since Dylan is the only one left who dresses up for Halloween, we met up with the Jones' and walked around with them. This is Michael who is Dylans age...are they serious about their costumes or what???? They stayed out almost the whole night, Dylan said his legs were broken but we had him man-up and complete the evening......I mean I needed candy too.