There is absolutely nothing better than a gorgeous bouquet of flowers in the middle of winter. This is a dozen roses John got me for Valentines day.
This is my Christmas cactus. This picture was taken on the same day as the one of the roses, cool huh? I love my Christmas cactus! Flowers in the dead of winter make your heart 
When A'leese left as abruptly as she did it was crushing! That's when I made a resolution to become strong.... to help my family be strong. I decided I needed to work on all areas of personal strength; spiritual, mental (knowledge), physical, and of course emotional. As soon as I made these goals our loving Heavenly Father sent the missionaries to our home. This is Elder Hanes teaching Johnny how to do a "Tim-Tam Slam".
Here is Elder Taylor on the guitar with Elder Hanes and Johnny in the background. We have enjoyed having them in our home. I publicly thank Heavenly Father for knowing our hearts and supplying answers to prayers. Thank you Elders for hearing the sweet whisperings of the spirit. You will always have a special place in our hearts... you brought the spirit to our home at the right time, YOU ROCK!
This Christmas was filled with so many memories and moments of importance I decided to pick a few that speak for the entire holiday season. First Miranda got accepted into the school of her dreams!!!!
C--HERISHING every moment we are together. A'leese isn't living at home so her sisters unwrap all of the time they have with her like a precious gift..... 
H--ELPING others feel of the spirit... Natalie and Pam Daniels play for the seniors at the nursing home....
R--EMEMBERING another time....Josh dressed up like he was in the 1950's....
I--NCREDIBLE moments of insanity... here we are all tye-dying wash cloths in late December at night while singing "Baby it's cold outside".....
S--WEET Surprises.....Natalie and Ryan both caught the true meaning of Christmas by making each other a gift from the heart.
T--RADITIONS.... like our Elf party....what more can I say the Stanfords are and will always be some of the greatest people we know and as far as I am concerned we will have an Elf party with them every year until I die or get sick of spaghetti which ever one comes first!!!
M--ATCHING shirts.... note everyone had matching shirts, however, John had to wear his BA-Humbug shirt to be well ornery! It worked.
A--RTIFICIAL Christmas tree....every year we decorate our Christmas tree with memories of the years together...this year was Disneyland.....
S--ANTA and mom.....What would Christmas be like without Santa or mom? It was a special season for sure. 
It dumped snow for Johnny's birthday.... along with the sad news that A'leese left us to go live with her boyfriend.
Johnny...trying to cheer us up went out in the back and made snow angels. He is such a super kid.
Natalie helped shovel the extremely large driveway.
Johnny opened presents. He got a mini microwave for his room..... I don't think he is ever coming out of there now.
Eighteen candles almost started a fire in the house.
Where did the time go? Happy Birthday Johnny! We love you tons and tons!
John made the potatoes...
Dad carved the turkey....
And after we ate a fantastic meal prepared by grandma the kids slept.
Well the girls played on one chair the boy slept in the other. All in all it was a nice Thanksgiving.
Thank you grandma for all your work to make it so special!
We went to Blacksmith to rake leaves.
Some of us went to eat.
It was a beautiful day. A jacket was all you needed to keep you warm.
We threw leaves at each other.
We went for rides in the get-along.
We had a nice fire and cooked hot dogs.
Johnny decided he didn't like the leaves in his clothes so he removed some of them, clothes that is.
Ryan came with us.
We buried ourselves in leaves.
We swung on the rope until it broke.
Everyone had a turn.
Some of the riders were "newbees". But all of the riders got wet. When the rope finally broke Natalie was on it, down she went with a splash. Natalie wore a blanket for the rest of the day.
One of my favorite things about fall is playing in the leaves.
Everyone is a target.
Grandpa, Grandma, A'leese, and I went on a walk around this beautiful pond by our house.
This was a cool little burrow we found in the bushes. It looked like someone had been living there.
