GONG XI FA CAI!

Happy Chinese New Year

and

Welcome to the Year Of The

DRAGON!

Chinese New Year.

Monday the 23rd is the first new moon of the year. That means it's... Chinese New Year on Monday!

I have already gone to my boys' classes to do my CNY presentations where I give them each a red envelope with a chocolate coin in it, a pair of chopsticks and a fortune cookie. It's one of my favorite things to do for CNY.
Monday I go to Ruthie's class. Tonight we will meet our good friends Kim and Jon and their daughters for dinner at a Chinese Buffet.
This is the year of the Dragon.

The Year Of The Ribbit.

I mean RABBIT!

Chinese New Year was on Wednesday. And now it's Friday. But since the whole thing is called Spring Festival in China and lasts for 2 weeks, I figure it was all good. I put our Chinese characters on the front door. Spring. Good Fortune. Good Luck. And I put the lanterns up by the front door and above the kitchen table. Festive.

We decided to tone down the Chinese New Year festivities this year. I won't explain. So just accept it. We did choose to go out to a Chinese restaurant this year. On Friday night!

Is it just me or is my face slimmer?

Now I want to clarify some things. Isaac is not asleep. Daniel's head isn't really shaped like that.

Thank you. Now that that's out of the way...

We got the dinner for a family of 5. And wished we had invited another family to join us.

Kim H.---next year.

There was so much food!! So much food!! So! Much! Food!

We brought home enough to last the weekend.
I was so proud of Sam, who has been on a weird hunger strike for ages now. He tried a ton of stuff. But not the shrimp. I didn't try the shrimp either. It has to do with my fear of water and stuff in the ocean. I'm grossing myself out now.

We had a fun night together. Now Daniel and I are going to spend my last evening in my 30's together.

Good night!

It's 2011 Already?

The camera came and the blogginess is back. Here is my first picture...

Dang she's cute!

My second picture.

Sam is super silly and super cute. And the third picture. My handsome Isaac.
I went in reverse baby formation there.
And so now to catch up on stuff. It's 2011! And over the vacation time together the last couple of weeks I have thought about 2010 and what I hoped to gain. Joy. That was my goal. To find it everyday. I did pretty well, too. Not that everyday was perfect, but everyday was meaningful in its own way. And the Joy won over sorrow.
Joy in my eternal family
Joy in having a home, food, clothing, running cars
Joy in the Gospel of peace
Joy in my Savior
Joy in knowing that this life is not the end
Joy in being me
Joy in Cub Scouting
Joy in scripture study
Joy in family movie night
Joy in temple service
Joy in goat herding
Joy in an Alaskan cruise
Joy in my 8 year old's baptism
Joy in family get togethers
Joy in cuddling with kiddos
Joy in answered prayers

Joy in cinnamon bread
Joy in 4 wheel drive
Joy in camping with Grandma and Grandpa
Joy in marriage
Joy in singing
Joy in laughing
Joy in friendship
Joy in family
Just Joy
2010 was a good year.
Despite the loss of our sweet friend Lyndsay.
Despite the the realization that our family may just be complete.
Despite those things and more,
it really was a good year.
So now that I look at 2011 and knowing that I want to keep on the same track as last year... choose a word that will be my theme for 2011. What will it be?
well...I think I'm gonna keep my word from last year and add to it
JOY
Finding it everyday, feeling its power in my home and in my heart and using it to do more.
And I'm gonna beautify my front porch.
But don't necessarily hold me to that. I get bored easy.
Here's my new ring.
Daniel done good, don't you think?

I love you

So now no matter what your goals are for the new year...go forth and find
JOY!

2010.

As I have thought about starting a new year, I go back to the reason I don't do resolutions. Every day is a new start. A new opportunity for change. Growth. Development. Each new morning is a time to reflect on what you can do better that day. So I don't do resolutions. But with a new year beginning, I thought I'd do this a little differently. Of course there are things I hope 2010 will be. Wonderful. Healthy. Happy. Paid mortgage. New baby. Finished basement. Etc. I got an idea from another blog. I thought it was the right way to handle a new year. Pick a word. A word that will be my mantra, my goal for the year. I gave it a lot of thought. Hope. Faith. Blessed. Growth. Compassion. Courage. Move. Many words came to mind. But as we were having our family scripture study last week, a word jumped out at me from a verse. Joy.

My word for 2010 is JOY.

If you get emails from me, my signature line says “Finding Joy in the Journey.” President Monson counseled us to do just that. Find joy in the journey. The journey is bumpy, rocky, unflattering, uncontrollable. But to find joy in it, well, it's just a better journey. A much better journey. And I can see the direct outcome of joy in my life every day.

I can't control how quickly our baby will come. It's a bit daunting and makes my heart ache uncontrollably. But I know that I have so much right here right now. I know my family isn't complete. There is at least one more who will come. But I can't control it. So the next best thing is to just have Joy! To find joy in every part of my journey every day.

What word would you use for this year if you could only choose one?

Happy Niu Year

Welcome to the year of the Ox. Ox in Chinese sounds like New. Thus, Happy Niu Year!

It is a scientifically known fact that eating Chinese food makes children...

HYPER!!
HYPER!!
HYPER!!

But it sure was fun!

365 Days Of Pictures

I am taking on a challenge from Crissy to take a picture every day in 2009. Now I have only been taking pictures sporadically since the end of 2007 since starting this blog. SO! Every day will be a challenge fer sher! But I believe I mentioned something about being ready for anything. So here it is. My first picture. Which I do realize is on the second day of the year. But I only started today. So I'll do a "make-up" picture. Another day. I may post daily. But don't count on it. I'll see what is gonna float my boat on this one! But here it is! My first picture...

Ruthie and I love cuties. We love apples too. But cuties are the clear winners at our house!
If you would like to take on the challenge, go to Crissy's blog and read what she says about it. And then click the link she has in her post. It might get you excited about the possibilities.

Old Ladies Whine

Or Auld Lang Syne. Something like that. I'm just ready for school to start again. How many more days?? I do whine a lot. And I'm old. And a lady. Kind of.

On we go to our New Year's Eve celebration! It's the one night of the year that our kids can stay up late on purpose. Although our late is probably much earlier than your late.

We ordered pizza from a very good pizza place. Although anything other than the freezer or the $5 pizza is very good pizza...

We got in our jammies (at 5:30 pm) and played a game of bowling. Thanks, Santa, for the Wii, which made staying up late both fun and entertaining!

Then a stupid, I mean, stupendous, game of tennis. Some (one) of us really suck at tennis. Luckily we only have room for 4 players. So I sat and watched.

Then there was the treat table. Cause you can't ring in the new year without treats! Don't the Cheetos just look "glowy"?

We always bring in a mattress or 2 to have the kiddos lay out and maybe, just maybe, fall asleep at their regular bedtime. Whatever! We watched Fly Me To The Moon (Snore!) and Horton Hears A Who (Worth the $1 Redbox fee).

We (I should stop saying We and just say what it was...They) played Mario Kart in between movies. Ruthie had fallen asleep at regular bedtime. But the rousing race awoke the sleeping beauty. Sam got a bit frustrated. 8pm will do that to him.

Ruthie had a bit of a giggle fest after her snooze.

Getting sleepy there Isaac? Nope, I just like driving my race car lying down.

By the way, we celebrate with New York. If you notice the clock we are now on the official count down. My children will need serious therapy for correct time celebration when they're older. Thus the jumping on the mattresses! Sometimes a good jump can knock out any future need for therapy!

The noise makers to celebrate with...

Happy celebrant #1!

Happy celebrant #2!

Happy celebrant #3!

The boys were wearing matching jammies and they look a lot alike. Ruthie kept getting her boys confused. Maybe it was the jammies. Maybe it was all the junk food. Maybe it was the late night partying. I celebrated with Diet Root Beer. The whole 2 liters! I can do it cause there ain't no caffeine in it. (Click Here if that confused you)

This evening as I was preparing our glamorous meal of canned chili and boxed mac and cheese, Ruthie says, "What's shakin' mom?" The California girl in me stuck out my earthquake feelers. Nothin. Then she says, "What's the word?" Umm. Just quoting the Mayor on Horton. Hilarious.

Bring on the new year! I'm ready for anything. Well. Not really anything. But something. I'm pretty sure of it. If something comes and I'm not ready for it, I'll blog about it. Cause that's what life is about. The Blog.

Happy Happy New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! 3 years ago next Tuesday (Feb. 12) Daniel and I got on a plane for China to get our baby girl. Before we left we decided that Chinese New Year would be an excellent cultural event to institute in our family. This the the 3rd annual Dredge family CNY! We celebrate by wearing our Chinese clothes (mostly for church on Sunday) or red (color of happiness and power) and get chinese take out and give red envelopes with money in them to our kiddos. We hang red lanterns in the house, too. CNY day begins a two week long party called the Spring Festival. It ends 14 days later with the Lantern Festival. We were in China to be a part of the Lantern Festival but were so exhausted by that time in our trip that we experienced it in our hotel room. Here we are with the ravages of Chinese dinner...

After dinner we gave them each a red envelope. They are given by the adults to the children to wish them good luck and good fortune.
They each got 1 dollar...no we aren't cheap we are frugal! No matter the amount, they were excited!
So far in our family we have a Dog, a Pig, a Dragon, a Horse and a Sheep. This is the year of the Rat...Will we have a Rat in the family??? We shall wait and see....

Living great in 2008

Ok. I need to update here. It's Wednesday afternoon and I need to make dinner so I will stop and do that at some point. But I need to update on our household.

This last Sunday I was sustained as the new Primary President in our new ward. We just went through some boundary changes and we are actually back in our home ward again. Daniel is the Ward Clerk so we will be busy busy! With a new year in and new callings and, a new attitude, for that matter, I think I am ready to take on anything. But don't quote me on that!

For now, what I really want for this new year is:

10. Keep in touch with friends, even though I will be kind of a crazy lady. Anyone want to go to lunch in a couple of weeks?
9. Remind myself, when necessary, but not overly, that Sarajune will be in our arms before we know it. We are not waiting, we are living!
8. Get started on my kids' bathroom. It needs some redoing and I already have a shower curtain and the colors for paint. I just need to find a few minutes to get started!
7. Get Ruthie's room ready for 2 girls. I have an idea for a cute girl room, but need to get the bathroom done first. This will be a great Fall project!
6. Make Sunday a good day for our kids. It will be hectic and crazy, but at some point it will be easier to get through.
5. I want Primary to be a great place for the kids in our ward. I can't believe already how much guidance I have gotten and how much love I have developed for these kids!
4. I need to remember that it's ok to do a little for ME! I sometimes think it's all about me, but seriously, I really need some of that!
3. We have a great babysitter-Jessica!! Daniel & I will use her to no end so that we can go on a couple of dates each month. We will need to put at least that into US!
2. We have always gone out to dinner as a family on Friday night. To make sure we have some really good family time, we will change that to an official "Family Movie Night" with homemade pizza each Friday. (Our FMNs have gotten fewer and farther between.) Also, now that Daniel isn't the YM pres. and has gotten some more vacation time, we will have more time this summer to go camping. Look out mountains and family ranch...we are coming!
And finally...
1. Our home will be a happy one. Sometimes it's easy to get lost in everything we have to get done. Even the not so important things become very important. No more! We will focus on the happiness and growth of our family. After all, that's where we find our greatest joy!

Happy New Year!

Happy January 1st of 2008, everyone. I am looking forward to a new year. We have just had some changes at church and I am going to wait until Monday of next week to write about my hopes and plans for 2008.

Tomorrow does mark 9 years since my first date with my sweetie Daniel. I can't believe how fast it's gone and how much we've done! I also can't believe that we have 3 kiddos and how old THEY are! WOW. Time flies. Have a great week and I will be back next week.