Sabbatical Day 5

I'm losing the battle. The TV is calling my name. My shows want me to watch them. They don't understand why I've left them. How do I explain? Two more days and then I can at least get my one hour a day fix in. I'm like an addict who gets to open a present in just 2 days. 2 looooooooong days. Hope I make it........ :)

Sabbatical

Paul and I had stake conference this past week. It was a wonderful week with Ward Temple Night on Wednesday, the Adult Session on Saturday night, the Youth Session on Sunday morning and then Stake Conference on Sunday afternoon. We have THE best stake presidency. You can feel their love and know they are truly called of the Lord. President Thurgood talked on Sunday and told a story about when he was trying to decide whether to open his own business. He wasn't getting a clear answer so he loaded his tent, scriptures and journal into his truck and went to Francis Peak for 24 hours. He spent all night just studying, reading, meditating and writing in his journal. At the end of 24 hours, he knew he was supposed to start his business. Sometimes I wonder why I'm not receiving answers to my prayers, but I've never taken the time to spend 24 hours at Francis Peak waiting for my answer. While I don't think everyone needs to go to that extreme, Paul and I both had the same feeling after listening to that talk. We are in need of some answers and decided that the best way to get them was to "disconnect" from the world and have more moments of quiet in order to let the Spirit speak to us. So we came to the conclusion that we are wasting too much time watching tv. We decided to take a one week Sabbatical from watching any TV (except the Aggie game on Thursday night.......that is a must watch!).

It started on Monday. Monday at lunch instead of watching Everybody Loves Raymond, we put together a list of all the tv shows we DVR. There were 37 of them!!!! 37 TV shows that we were taking the time to DVR and watch. That adds up to 23.50 hours of TV per week or 3.5 hours per day. And yes, that is just the actual shows, that doesn't include any commercials. And that is just for the TV shows we are recording. That doesn't include the Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, King of Queens, etc. that we watch "just because" we don't have anything to do. I couldn't believe how much time we were wasting! Then we decided to cut down our TV watching to no more than 1 hour per day. We cut out 17 of the 37 shows and got our total TV watching for the week to 6 hours and 40 mins (less than 1 hr per day). Wow that felt good!!!

That night we were supposed to help a neighbor clean up his yard, but they canceled. We were left with nothing to do and no TV to watch. So we called up our friends to see if they wanted to come over for Pizza and Games and they accepted. We spent the night with friends having a great time instead of wasting it away in front of the tv. That night we were also able to spend over an hour studying the scriptures, reading conference talks and church books, and writing in our journals. Day 1 was a success and I wasn't missing the tv at all.

Day 2 was a little more difficult. I like to watch TV while I put on my makeup. It helps pass the time and there's always something fun to watch. However, this day I just put on my makeup in silence and obeyed our "no tv" rule. That night, Paul and I called his mom and had a delightful conversation with her for an hour! Then we played the best out of 3 games in Yahtzee (Paul won). What a lot of fun that was! I couldn't believe how much fun I was having and I hadn't watched TV once in almost 48 hours. That night we spent another hour studying the scriptures, etc.

The past 2 days have been wonderful. I am enjoying our Sabbatical and am actually loving the silence. Paul and I have spent more quality time together, we've had some really nice conversations, we've spent time with friends, and we've gotten things accomplished. We'll see how the next 5 days go, but I'm excited to see what happens.

Christmas in Logan

Last week we celebrated Christmas in Idaho. This weekend we celebrated in Logan. Paul and I headed to Logan on Christmas Eve. We started with the Watson tradition of making mini pizza's and eating garlic bread from Fredrico's. After we were done stuffing our faces, we started a new tradition where the little kids acted out The Christmas Story (the actual story, not the one that plays on TBS for 24 hours every Christmas). Ethan was Joseph, Charlotte was Mary, Mason was Baby Jesus and Alice was the angel (so stinking cute!).
Jake even got to play a part as the donkey. He did an excellent job. After The Christmas Story, Tanner read us a Santa Claus story.

It was a fun time with the family. Paul and I spent the night at Lyn and Dave's so we got to spend Christmas morning with them. That afternoon I met my Dad and Carma at Burger King to say hi. They were just passing through on their way to SLC to pick up Carma's grandaughter. I made them take a slight detour so I could see them. I'm so happy they decided to make the stop! I loved seeing them. After they left, Paul and I went up to see what Santa had brought the boys (Kaden, Ethan and Tanner) and to play a little Halo. I have to say, I kicked some serious trash. The rest of the Watson clan came up around 2:00 so we could eat lunch and open presents. We also had a little dance off with the Wii games, Just Dance and Michael Jackson. Those Watson kids can dance!!! No competing with them. Christmas was so wonderful and I am so thankful I have two wonderful families to celebrate with. I am one lucky girl!

An Idaho Christmas

Last weekend Paul and I headed to Idaho to celebrate Christmas with my family. It was a snowy morning when we left and it took us an extra 45 minutes to get there, but it was worth it. We got there around 2:00 and then July, Cory, Cayman and Cooper got there shortly after. We spent the afternoon visiting, playing with the kids and singing a little Disney Karaoke. We decided to not draw names this year, but instead to choose a tag off the giving tree and buy a family in need presents. We all went to Wal-Mart where we spent an hour picking out things this family needed.....including a couple fun games as well. After we delivered the presents, we picked up pizza and went back to Dad's. We ate and then opened presents. Dad & Carma gave us the best present.......the 24 Days of Christmas. This is a book that has a Christmas story to read for every day in December leading up to Christmas. We all loved this book growing up and it was special for each of us to have one of our own now. I think Ryan's face says it all.




After presents, the boys went to play basketball and the rest of us watched Home Alone.
The next day we did a big breakfast. While everyone was getting ready, Cayman and I decided to make Cayman be Giant Girl (GG for short). She is giant!! :) Cayman also discovered my dad's Three Stooges ornaments and she took a picture with me and each of the different stooges. She is so funny. We ate a yummy breakfast of cinnamon french toast, bacon, sausage, blueberry muffins and scrambled eggs. Mmmmmmm. Have I mentioned how much I love my dad's cooking? Unfortunately, it was time to leave. Paul and I stopped by to see my Grandma Betty on our way home. I loved seeing my family! I wish we could get together more often. It's always fun and I am so thankful for them!

Family

The 2nd week of November we went to Idaho to watch my brother be ordained an Elder. It was a great weekend! Paul and I got up there early Saturday afternoon. We ate lunch at Sammy's, hung out at Ryan's apartment and then went bowling that night. I love spending time with Mel, Phil, Ryan, Dad & Carma. We don't get to see them as much as I would like, so every minute counts! The next day July, Cory, Cayman and Cooper came up and they stopped to bring Grandma with them. She was surprising Ryan. It was such an amazing experience to be able to watch my brother receive the office of Elder. I know my mom was proud of him and so was I!!! It's hard to get our entire family together and I love this picture because everyone is in it.

After the ordination, we had dinner where my Dad made his famous roast. MMMMMM......no one can make gravy like him. We played foosball and even Grandma got in on it. Looks like she's having a great time. I love my family and can't wait to see them all for Christmas!!!

Cutest Blog & Giveaway

I love this blog! She is the cutest! She also has a lot of fun giveaways so go ahead and enter to win.........maybe you'll think about sharing if you're the winner. :)
http://tandsdaybook.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-told-you-thered-be-more-stocking.html

ROOMIES!!!!!

THEN and.......
NOW

On November 5th, I got together with my old roommates from USU: Amanda, Amber, Chanel, and Jamie. We were just missing Janice. A lot has happened in the past 12 years ....marriages, divorces, remarriages, kids and stepkids to name a few! But we were able to pick up just like old times. We looked through photo albums and reminisced, we ate lots of food and reacquainted ourselves with each other, and most of all we just listened and enjoyed each other's company. I love you girls!!!

We decided to recreate this famous picture (ok, it's only famous to us):
And here was the result:


P.S. Why am I always on the bottom????