Thoughts From a Frazzled Mind

I got this info from Jodi at http://jodibeacon.blogspot.com/ I wanted to share these beautiful pictures and what the artist has to say about each one of them! David Bowman : has had a passion for art ever since he could pick up a pencil. He loves creating images of the Savior that inspire and uplift. Along with his Christian fine art, David has also written and illustrated a series of scripture storybooks for children titled "Who's Your Hero". Check out his website at http://bowman-art.com/indexFineart.htm to see more of his precious art. "Innocence" ↑ The Savior tells us we need to become as little children to inherit the kingdom of God. I've often wondered what it is about little children Jesus loves most, and I think its their innocence. They are clean slates, seeing the world and others through untarnished eyes. Their hearts are pure, without the baggage of cynicism and self-doubt. In this piece, I've tried to imagine how a child would act upon me...

Breakfast How did you ring in the New Year this year? We gathered up the whole fam and went to my friend, Cyn's house. We played games all afternoon, evening, and into the wee hours of hours of the morning. I think we wrapped up about 3:00 a.m. We stumbled off to bed and then got up for a few more games before heading home. We had way too much fun, ate too many goodies, and had a wonderful time! Lunch How did you spend the first day of the New Year 2009? After a great breakfast, we played a few more games and then we drove home and tried to recover for most of the day. I went into work for a few hours in the evening. Dinner Do you set New Year Resolutions? I haven't sat down and written any resolutions down. Lately I have just been trying to make a more concerted effort to do a little better every day, and I'm trying to journal any progress I make. Midnight Snack What are your expectations for 2009 ? I just want all of the people I love to find joy and happiness ...

We had a terrific Christmas this year! Our holiday started with the annual Duerden family dinner party on Christmas Eve. It was a great blessing that mom was able to prepare almost all of the dinner. It wasn’t very long ago that we weren’t sure that mom would even be around this Christmas, let alone make dinner! Tradition has it that we always listen to the Osmond Family Christmas album during dinner – things must have been crazy, because somehow we neglected to turn it on, oh the horror of it all! Regardless, dinner was quite enjoyable. After dinner we sang a few Christmas carols, and then we had the annual reading of the Christmas Story from the bible by mom. Along with the story we usually have the youngest children hold up stick puppets representing the key characters. Unfortunately we were reminded of the severity of mom’s memory loss when she didn’t even remember that we had ever used the puppets. Since the babies were so little anyway, we opted not to use them. Mom started r...

Just a quick note to say that dispite several hurdles to jump, TA DAH! The Christmas Jammies were completed just in the nick of time! It was touch and go because as I was sewing the last couple of waistbands my sewing machine decided to quit working . It was very strange, one minute I was sewing along fine, and the next, everything seemed to be working, but no matter what I did, the needle would not go up and down. I took it to the local sewing center, but they said that they couldn't fix it, and recommended that I take it to another shop in Logan. This was devastating news, not only for the fact that I was on a Jammie deadline, but also because, I love my sewing machine. I haven't used it much in the last several years, but previously it was used on a daily basis as I made all of my childrens clothing. I am so spoiled by my machine that it was very hard for me to borrow another to finish up the last few seams. However, I did. It was actually quite comical to see me try to ma...

Monday night we had a great time when Cyn's family and Marilyn's family joined us for an evening of fun times. We decided to have breakfast for supper and made yummy waffles and eggs. After dinner we headed to our house for, what else, GAMES! We just love playing games! This night the ladies chose to play Simply Catan while the kids ran around wildly and the guys watched Monday Night Football. Cyn is such a Kook! She promised that she would help Tasha make a gingerbread house during the holidays this year, and they never seemed to have time when Tasha was at their house (she stays there between classes at school). So, Cyn brought all of the makings, icing, and decorations here and while we were playing, Tasha decorated her very first gingerbread house. I think she did a fantastic job! We soon had all of the kids join us and want to play so we broke out "Walk the Dogs". It was fun to see McKay open the box and say, "what, we play with toy dogs?????" I...

Today my best buddy, Kalel, and I made Christmas cookies! He was a very good helper. He dumped all of the ingredients in the bowl for me. . We invited Tasha to join us for some of the fun. He especially liked the part when he got to lick the spoon! We had a GREAT time!

Feel free to play along for some yummy fun! Jodi posts a new one each Thursday night for those that are on a different time zone. JOIN IN!!! Food 4 Thought Friday ~ This week's questions Only SIX more days until CHRISTMAS!!! Breakfast: Do you still have gifts to buy or are you done with your shopping? I think I am done with the exception of some stocking goodies. I did it all on Black Friday, but that was forever ago, so I'm not really sure. I have a hard time remembering! It is always a big surprise to me on Christmas morning what everyone gets! I am still finishing the Jammies I am making, but I am just about done, hooray! Lunch: Has the economy affected any part of your Christmas this year? How? The economy hasn't affected us much. Years ago we started a putting money in a Christmas account all year long, so we use the money from that account, and when it is gone, it is gone. Dinner: What is your favorite Christmas tradition? Ummm , reading Christmas books and goi...