Our Happy Place

I love my home. I love my home, no matter where I am. Wherever I am, I make it home! Home is where love is, and love can travel with you, wherever you go. Love does have to be created though. Love is not nothing, it is something. Love takes effort. Love is something tangible that can be felt and absorbed into the heart. Love is joy, glittered with magic. Homes can be filled with such magic. 

Homemaking, for me, is love that sparkles with the Spirit. 

Homemaking is just something that I do. It is something that I have always done. I started practicing when I was just a young girl. I was always rearranging my room, and other rooms in the house that my mom would let me tackle, like the basement. I liked to try and create a pleasant environment, and I liked to "set the mood" in a room. I have learned that something really important in mood-setting is the lighting. Lighting is so important. The right (and wrong) lighting, can make the difference between a peaceful feeling, or feeling like falling to pieces. 

I am not a Pinterest picture-perfect homemaker. (No one is, the pictures are photoshopped.) I am a real-life homemaker. I try to infuse my house with love, while trying to defuse the chaos that is reality. It is a delicate balance trying to manage the sweet-and-spicy spirit that often exists in the same space, at the same time. I call that flavorful-filled space, home.  

I love being home. I do. I really love it. My home is my happy place. I love to get out and do fun things with my family, I love to travel, and see the world. But there is really no place like home. It is my world, it is the world for my family. It is the place where my own personal brand of magic is created and enjoyed. My home is to me, what Disneyland is to Walt. 

"To all who come to this happy place, welcome!" - Walt Disney 

Here are some of the things going on with our world lately... (In and out of our house.) 

Tis the season to get warm and cozy. It is starting to get colder, and so blankets are necessary when lying around. This blanket... I am in love with it, and so are the kids. It is huge, and awesomely fluffy. I also love Daniel who is snuggled in the fuzzy blanket, taking a rest. 

Henry decided to sleep in my room one night. He has been sleeping in his bed, finally. He is doing fantastic in his own bed. (He had been sleeping in my bed, since Charles died.) He was not feeling that great, and he was a little shaky, so he wanted to be warm and cozy by the electric fireplace.

When the sun shines through the windows, the snowflakes reflect onto the curtains, and there are two layers of snowflakes. It is so pretty when it happens!

A little Disney on our staircase

I love Christmas time, with all the light!

A better view of the double-snowflakes.

Speaking of homes... we went to The House of the Lord, the temple. We went to the Meridian temple dedication, and then we decided to drive out to the temple to see it at night. It was beautiful and shining brightly as a beacon of light in the darkness. We got out and walked around the temple grounds. There were people there taking down all the chairs and things from the previous events of the day.

Me and Sammi. It was really cold outside, and some of us were more cold than others. Brrrrr!

My "little" Daniel. Ha! This boy passed me up in height some time ago. He is nearing 6ft. Notice his shirt... this boy LOVES music. It is in his soul. I am talking music, like Barbershop quartet music. He spends his days watching videos on quartets, trying to learn new ways to perform with his group.

Henry touching the temple.

We watched Elder Uchtdorf dedicate the Temple, and place the stone in earlier that morning, from our local Church building. They showed it all across the state.

I love the temple!

You can see the men working hard putting things away.

The fall colors are pretty much all gone. It is feeling much more wintry, though there hasn't been any snow yet, and I am good with that!

I am praying that there will be more sunny days this winter. Last year it was so gray, so much of the time.

We went out running in the rain.

Celebrating life! Woo!

Hooray for being alive!

This document... I still govern my family by it, even though we are missing the father in the home. It is still the ideal that we follow. I love it when the lights shine on glass and make things sparkle.

Cookie time! We made some cookies for FHE. Henry was happy to eat the beater.

Frosting cookies.

Fun times.

I love being a mom. There is nothing I would rather be more.

Henry likes to look at the Nativity and line it up.

The last remnants of leaves.

This is where I watch my Hallmark movies. I have seen so many this year, it is crazy. They are so much better now though, they are high quality shows. Hallmark movies help me cry and deal with my emotions. It feels good to gently let the tears fly. Better out than in, I always say.

We have decked out the outside of our home.

I love light!

We created this magical spot. It is the, "Tree of Light." If you sit under it, you don't get wet if it is raining or snowing. It would be a super romantic place, if I was with someone romantic. ;)

The kids hung decorations and everything. It is pretty cool.

William was allowed one meatball, so he went extra on the ketchup. I told him he might have a future in culinary arts.

Another running view. I am very lucky to live where I do.

We stopped to throw rocks.

I got new running shoes. I am trying something other than the Zero-drop Altras. So far, so good! I really like them. They are called Asics Dynaflyte.

Why is rock-throwing so satisfying?

The kids were doing a little "van Ormer dance" while walking down the trail.

William wanted me to take a "before" picture of his hair...

I took the boys into SportsClips to finally get their hair cut. We went the day before Thanksgiving, and it was super busy with fathers and sons. We had to wait 45 minutes. It was a funny place to just sit back and watch men. I was the only woman, besides the hairdressers.

Daniel's "before" hair... the length had nothing to do with rebellion, just beauty. It was his choice to cut it, not mine. I liked it long and luscious.

But, it was getting a little too long, and it was hiding his beautiful face. He is in choir, and there is nothing worse than having hair in your face while performing. So, sadly, he said goodbye to his lovely, long, locks.

William's hair is something of a wonder. The lady doing his hair said she wished she had his hair. It is so thick and beautiful. That is why I hate to cut it. But it was also time. He requested it.

Daniel getting all cleaned up.

The back of William's freshly cut hair.

He wanted the "spiky" look.

And Daniel turned into a man after his cut!

William's hair looked a little better after brushing out the hair gunk.

Now onto Sammi's hair... Rapunzel wanted a hair cut. And she wanted me to do it! Eek!

I looked on youtube, and prayed, and went for it...

She kept telling me to go shorter, and I was so scared! But it turned out in the end. She loves it.

Sammi is beautiful, always.

A Thanksgiving morning picture. Getting ready for the day. It was not stressful at all, since it was just us. Wait, where is William?

He spent the night before Thanksgiving throwing up. Yeah, that was fun. He was able to eat some mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving day. Yum.

Daniel helped with preparation.

Henry was putting on his own personal parade with the Turkey baster.

The Texas Rhodes Rolls got huge!

Just relaxing watching a movie. We watched a show called "Leap." It was pretty cute.

We got a small turkey. It was more like a chicken. But it was a good turkey-chicken.

Thanksgiving food.

Henry enjoyed the pumpkin pie.

I grab The Book of Mormon all the time throughout the day. I just pick it up, and read it. I believe there is great power that flows from this book. I am putting it to the test by reading it often.

Cute Sammi.

I love my kiddos.

They are a bunch of silly-heads.

They make my heart happy.

Being "serious." Ha!

A kiss for Sammi.

This picture is so typical. Daniel will be cracking up at something, and Sammi will be wondering what is so funny.

Sammi and I went Christmas shopping. When we got outside, there was the most beautiful sunset. We were by the temple, and so we ran to the temple to try and catch the light on the temple... 

The sky kept changing.

We did not get there fast enough for the full glory. But it was still beautiful.

Me and Sammi at the temple.

It was so fun to be with just Sammi. We rarely get to go out and be together as just girls.

I love this girl.

My Sunday hair. I was the only one in the family that did not get a haircut. I am actually planning to keep it long, for a long time.

I love it when the sun is just right and the snowflakes reflect on the floor.

When the light is just right, beautiful things happen...

Here in our Happy Place.