A Book

The other day I got to hang out with a friend who's been living far away for a few years now. (Hi Celeste!!!) We had a great time just sitting and talking about our lives and philosophizing about politics, homeschooling, how we're raising kids, and even about our blogs.

Out of nowhere, it seemed, she looked at me and told me that I should write a book. At first, I thought about the books I'm working on, and how slowly they're coming along. (One on teaching kids to work, a homemaking curriculum for daughters and mothers, and a collection of classic readings.) I started feeling guilty and ashamed that I haven't finished the projects I've begun. But then she brought up my philosophies about womanhood, and I realized that she meant I should write about those things.

It took a day or two to sink in my scattered brain, but I'm now really excited. So, YES, WORLD! I AM WRITING A BOOK!!!

I can't believe it, but it's already coming along nicely! I've got the Table of Contents done, and found that I've actually been writing this book since 2005-- the day I began blogging. :-)

YAY!!!

Please excuse me while I get back to it...

Eighteen

Morganne Natalia, born on December 27, 1993

Eighteen years ago TODAY, an angel danced into my life and made me a mother for the very first time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, sweet Morganne!!! You have brought me more joy than I had ever imagined existed. We all love you so much!

Thank you for blessing us with your serene goodness and tender heart. Your good example touches more people than you know.

Love,
Mama

From Our Family to Yours

Avalon Noelle blowing out the candles on her snow-woman cake.

This December has been filled with happy memories and wonderful time spent together as a family. We started off the month with Miss Ava's birthday-- I can't believe she's now three years old! She is such a blessing to our family. She is full of JOY and is always ready with a quick smile and a warm hug. She loves to dance and sing wherever she goes. We are so grateful she has joined our family as baby number ten! What would we do without her sunshine in our lives?

Russell is a wonderful father.

Next came Russell's forty-first birthday. It never ceases to amaze me how much we grow in love for each other over the years. He has one of the kindest hearts I have ever known, and I feel privileged to know that it belongs to me! We spent a lovely day together, including taking the middle and little kids to the park for a picnic lunch of pizza and playing. We had a great time talking and swinging in the gorgeous weather while the kids played on the playground equipment. (Have I mentioned why I love living in AZ?) Later that night we went to the Hale Theatre's live production of "A Christmas Carol." It was so fun to attend a play together again! Since we met in a show, and then studied together as Theatre majors in college, it's a lot of fun to go back to our "roots," now and then.

The rest of the month has been filled with movie nights, multiple trips to stores, Spirit-filled sacred moments, wrapping marathons, and hours and hours of Christmas music blaring. I've loved every minute of it!

We love and miss our wonderful families, but we're also grateful we got to see so many of you this past summer and fall. We hope all our awesome friends and family had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you all the very best in the year 2012!!!

Lots of love,
The K Family in AZ :-)

A Song for Christmas Eve

This is one of my favorite Christmas Carols, and here it is sung by one of my favorite singers with my favorite choir. :-D




May we each give Him our hearts this year. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

A Sweet Reminder

Be sure to watch all the way to the end-- you'll be glad you did. :-)

Giving up Their Christmas

Making December Memories

www.capturedmiracles.org

This week is full of December busy-ness! But for some reason, it's also been very pleasant. I think a change of heart has made all the difference: I decided that I'm NOT going to get stressed or caught up in doing things "perfectly"-- or even up to the standards of anyone else! It's made a very busy week a time of happy memory-making for our whole family.

Here are some of the things that have happened this week:

1) Monday Night we had a low-key Family Home Evening: We sang a Christmas song, had a prayer, and got caught up on the latest "Merlin" episode. :-) It was nice that the moral of the show was all about forgiveness and taking responsibility for our bad choices.

2) Wednesday evening was an easy and fun Activity Day: We attended the band concert of a couple of our Activity Day girls, and had cookies afterward. No more activities until next month!

3) Thursday (yesterday), after three of my kids attended their Civil War class, everyone helped me haul all the decorations over to the church for the Ward Christmas Party happening tonight. My older girls and I had a great time unwrapping all the different Nativity sets from ward members, and decided what fabrics and trims we should use as accents, and where we would put them. It was so fun ooo-ing and awww-ing over each one!

4) And then last night, Russell and I took the Big 3 Kids to a free screening of Steven Spielberg's new movie "War Horse." Oh, it was soooo good! It inspired much pondering and discussion in our family. Themes like the importance of family and home, the relationship man used to have with nature, the relationships we have with our fellow man, and where technology has brought us. Oh, so worth watching! I HIGHLY recommend it!

5) As I mentioned above, tonight is the Ward Christmas Party. We have some more tablecloths to lay out and Nativity sets to display. Thanks to a sweet friend, I have some pine trees I can add to the decor, as well. Then, we have yummy potatoes to make, and a ham to warm up in our oven. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to use the oven for both of them at the same time, but it will all work out, I'm sure. :-) I'm excited for this evening! (Even for the clean-up-- each family can gather up their own nativity set and take it on home!)

Happy December to all! And Merry, Merry Christmas!

Beautiful Videos

I am so very excited about this wonderful new series of videos based on the life of the Savior, Jesus Christ!

The videos now available are just about the early life of the Savior, but there are more that will be added over time. These are BEAUTIFULLY done, and are an accurate depiction of the New Testament as found in the King James Bible.

What a wonderful way to be reminded of the reason for the season. Merry Christmas!