PaRtY TimE

This year was our first "Wilkerson Family Christmas Party". We decided that with our kids growing up and some of them getting married, that it was time we started a new tradition. 

We still hung on to our old traditions, but with the times changing and our family going in different directions it was time to get a few new ones going. Dana planned the games. They were so much fun. Everyone got involved and had an awesome time. It certainly wasn't one of those parties that everyone sat around and waited for something to happen. 

We wrapped presents with oven mitts on, opened candy kisses with our oven mitts on (or used our mouth, whatever worked), we played Christmas Song Pictinary and ate dinner and cheesecake. Everyone left having had good laughs, bonding moments and making memories that will last us forever. 

Parties and family get togethers are one of the best things about the holidays. I love getting together with everyone. There is usually alot happening and everyone is getting along, its just fun to be in the middle of it. I think that is why I wished that the holidays lasted all year long. I have an awesome family...I think they are the best!! 

Wrestle Mania!

Wrestling has been a foreign sport to our family, but we are quickly learning more and more about it. Cameron has chosen to be a wrestler. This is our first son that has wrestled and its been fun watching him and having him be so excited about it. He is in a tough spot this year, as he is wrestling at 170 but he hasn't really hit puberty yet. So he isn't as big and bulky as most of the other boys that he is wrestling against. He is also a freshman wrestling against boys that are Jr's and Sr's. He has a really good attitude and said that he realizes that its going to be a tough year and one that he will learn alot from. (Wow, what an attitude!) A couple of weeks ago he was wrestling against a boy from North Summit. Cameron was doing pretty good and then all of a sudden he was laying on the mat, still and in pain. The coaches came running over and quickly asked if there was an EMT in the crowd. Deron (poor guy) was the only EMT and so he ran down there to check Cameron out and see what had happened. Whenever its a neck injury they don't mess around with it. It becomes very serious, very quick. The boy that Cameron was wrestling had done an illegal move on Cameron's neck. He said that he heard a crackle and a snap and then had intense pain. (I was sure it was broke) I was up in the crowd deciding then and there that this was the LAST wrestling experience that he was going to have and that he was done forever, no matter what!!!! (Mom's do that you know) Deron, the coaches and a few others, were down on the mat accessing his injuries and all I could do was watch. It was pretty intense and scary for a bit. But about the time I was ready to go down and let that boy have it, Cameron said that he would be okay and was going to finish his match (Not what I would have chosen for him, but hey, I'm just the mom). He got up and proceeded to finish his match. I could tell that he was hurting but I admired his strength and courage to go on. Luckily it wasn't anything serious and he iced it good and it was just sore for a few days, but none the less wrestling scares me. Cameron loves it (how could you love being beat up and twisted into a pretzel...boys are weird) and assures me that with any sport there is a chance for injuries. Its been fun seeing him excel at something that he loves. I just have to think....it's not going to be too many more years and we will be empty nester's and then we will really miss this kind of stuff. 

Deck the Halls!

Christmas is such a great time of year, I love it. The crowds, I could do without, but the rest of it...I wished I could bottle it up and make it last all year long. I went out to the city to get my Christmas shopping done over the weekend. It was crazy busy, but as I was leaving the city and all its rush, I saw the Christmas lights twinkling on the trees of yards and office buildings and it took me back to my life when all my kids were young. We would take an evening in December and drive around town or the city (wherever it was that we lived at the time) and look at all the Christmas lights that others had so carefully put up in their yards, on their homes and around the trees. Some were elaborate, some very simple, but it was so fun to hear the kids squeal from the back seat when they saw some they liked. "Mom, look over there, did you see that one?" and so on and so on. Those were great years and are wonderful memories. 

I have been busy making our family Christmas socks.

 I started making them last year and just never had

 the time to finish them. So I pulled them out this year and set out to get them done. I wanted to make one for everyone in the family and have socks for each of the kids, married ones also. And then as the married kids have families 

of their own, I will make 

socks for my grandkids to match their parents socks ( I know, cheesy, but its fun). Santa won't fill the socks for the married kids, but I think it will be neat to have them all hanging up together, kind of reminding me of when they were all little. Anyway... I finished them all and got them all hung up. 

AnYtHIng??

I am so terribly sick and tired of hearing how bad the economy is right now. Every single time I turn on the TV, pick up the newspaper or listen to the radio, there is someone on there that has to "slap it across my face" to remind me...like I would forget...just how bad it is. I am living in it, don't they think for 2 minutes that we are all very well aware of what is going on. Its just so depressing to constantly have to dwell on it. Isn't there anything good or happy to talk about? I can see why the crime rate, the suicide rate and the abuse rate all go up in times like this, because everything around is stressful and depressing. There has got to be some good out there somewhere.....something with a silver lining~

Take the Time!

I think that I take for granted the time I have with my parents, sometimes I just think they will be around forever and I don't take the time to do special things with them. But this year I am trying to change a little bit of that.  It has been 18 years since I or my children have had Thanksgiving dinner with my dad. Mom and Dad got divorced  17 years ago and we haven't had Thanksgiving together since. After Dad had a blockage in his heart this year and gave us all a big scare, I decided it was time to make this right. So I planned the big day. It was the year for all of us to have dinner with our in-laws, so it worked out well to have our dinner with dad on Friday. All of my siblings were there except my sister Denise, who was in New Mexico for the holiday. We had such a great time. 

We ate lots of food (of course), the boys played basketball (we had it at the church...for lack of space at my house), the kids did crafts with Kimber and Dana and the rest of us sat around and visited. It was awesome to get to spend that time with my family. We don't live very far apart but finding the time to all get together is really hard at times, since everyone has lives and things that they do....its been awhile, but we can only do what we can do. I hope this Thanksgiving starts a tradition that we can do at least every other year, if not every year. We made a lot of memories and I look forward to making many more. 

Thanksgiving...a time to be thankful!

Its not very often that we can get my entire family together, but Thanksgiving day was an exception. Dayna and Jack were able to come out for the day and Erik had the day off, so everyone was in attendance. It was our year to have dinner with Deron's family, which is always fun. We played scum and visited, just spent the day relaxing....well AFTER ALL the cooking was done we relaxed! We had enough food to feed many families, but I think that's how Thanksgiving dinners are supposed to be, and then you eat the leftovers for the next week. Being Thanksgiving, it reminds me to reflect on things that I am grateful for:

1. My children- I have been blessed with 6 children and 2 special in-law children. I love them all. They all get along and are very close, that in and of itself is something to be thankful for. I am grateful for my relationship with each one of them. As a mother, I feel its a blessing to be close to each of them and be able to spend time with them and love every minute of it. They are wonderful children, I couldn't ask for better. 

2. My husband- He is a wonderful man. He is strong in the gospel and helps keep the spirit in our home. He is a good provider and makes it possible for me to be a stay at home mom.

3. Our families health- I hear all the time of people that have such bad illnesses that they are dealing with. I am so thankful that our family has been blessed with healthy bodies, its a blessing to me.

4. My house- In a time when many people are losing their homes, I am grateful that I still have mine and that we live where we do.

5. My parents/in-laws- I have a 3 sets of parents, my dad and step mom, my mom and step dad and my in-laws...and honestly I couldn't ask for better of any of them. I love each of my (yes that includes all 3 sets) parents equally and feel so blessed that they play such an important role in my life. I couldn't have picked better ones if I had picked them out myself. My parents are such wonderful people who have helped me through so much in my life. 

And throughout the years our relationship has continued to strengthen and we are very close. My stepparents have always treated me like one of their own children and I am very close to them as well. My in-laws are the best in-laws that anyone could ask for, I feel as though I am their own daughter, they too have always been there for me. I can't imagine life without any on of my dear parents. They all hold special places in my heart.

6. My brothers/sisters (includes sister-in-laws because they are my sisters!) and their families- Sometimes I feel as though our family has something unique as far as our relationships go. We are all very close and we all cherish the times that we spend together. We don't fight or squabble because we all feel as though life is too short to have contention between us. We like to go places together, get together and eat, travel together, play together...just hang out together. I have the best family...I really do!! And I love them all. 

7. Friends and extended family- throughout my life (which is quite a long time now) I have met many people that I consider my friends. I like to have friends in my life and I am thankful that I have so many. There are a couple of friends of mine that no matter where we live or how many days, months or years it has been since we have seen each other we are still just as close as we have always been. It doesn't matter if they just live just across town and up the hill or clear out in American Fork...their friendships are cherished and very special to me.  I am also thankful for my Aunts, I only have 4. They all live in various places and I don't get to see them as often as I would like to, but I know they are the best of the best. I feel blessed to have them in my life. 

8. Driving around in different states I have found that where I live is a pretty nice place. No its not the biggest or the most beautiful, but its home and I am grateful to live where I do. We have awesome neighbors, good school teachers and a wonderful ward to be a part of. Not all people are as blessed as I am that way, and I am thankful for such a great place to call home.

9. Have you ever noticed the stars at night. Weird thing to be thankful for? Well, I have been to parts of the country that when you look up into the sky all you see is more city lights. Sometimes I think I take for granted the wonderful views that I have surrounding me, when I don't see the stars in the sky, I miss them. In the summer I love to sit out in the swing and watch the stars...makes the mind wonder about life and what's next. 

10. Spring and Summer...I am grateful for the beautiful world that I am blessed to live in. I love the sights, sounds and smells of the warm months. I could live where it's like that 24/7...but since I don't...I am grateful for the few months that I get to enjoy it here. I feel bad for people that don't get to live in such areas...places that are brown or white, all of the time and I realize that its a blessing to have the opportunity to experience the colors and beauty that I get to. 

Those are some of the things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving time. I know that I am blessed and have much to be thankful for.  

"Whatever," is always fun!

Dayna and Jack came out for the day last Saturday, to watch Kim and Cameron in the school play. Jack went to visit his family who live about 20 minutes away, and so Dayna spent the day with us. We all wanted to do something fun for the afternoon, but since living in Duchesne doesn't offer much for en

tertainment (no malls, fun stores or beaches etc...)we had to come up with our own kind of fun. So we decided to make jewlery. We pulled out the beads and the wire and went to work. Dana had gone shopping over in Vernal (we missed her being there) so there was me, Dayna, Kim and Halle. We made necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Its fun just hanging with the kids. I really enjoy the times we've done things together. It doesn't even really matter what we do. Sometimes we go shopping, we've sat and visited, watched a DVD, sprawled out on the floor and laughed about old times, we've cooked, cleaned the yard up, folded clothes, gone for rides and picnics and journeyed long walks. Whatever it is, I just love being with them. Even though its not as often as I would like, but when we get to take the time and spend it together we always have so much fun. Life gets busy and everyone has things to do, so I snatch up the chances that I get, to do things with the kids and then I love every minute of it. 

I remember when the kids were little and they always seemed to be right und

er feet and fighting with each other, or whining, or just being little kids, but they took alot of energy and time to keep them happy and content. It was very emotionally draining at times and there were some days that I was glad when they were all tucked in their beds and asleep for the night. I never thought that the day would come when their lives would all become so busy with their own activities, school, extra curricular stuff and lives away from home, that it would be me that was whining about never seeing them or getting to spend enough time with them. I love being a mom and I have such great children and children-in-laws. It makes life alot more fun and exciting and gives me so much to look forward to in the future.