Family

Family means something different to everyone.  Growing up I had always heard the saying blood is thicker than water.  It was usually said when my brother wanted to hang out with his friends and not have to take his little sister along and I think I also used it to snag the front seat over one of his friends on occasion.  Growing up I had a lot of family members around.  Both sides of the family were just an hour away.  My brother and I were spoiled royally.  One grandparent's house always was stocked full of ice cream, not just any ice cream but the best, Blue Bell.  At the other grandparent's we knew that our grandpa would take us to Putt Putt where we would spend a few hours playing video games and once in a while play a game of mini golf while our mom and grandmother were off shopping.  We also had plenty of aunts and uncles to entertain us with trips to the movies, go kart rides, public pools, not to mention they would come out to visit us on the farm and we could always have lots of fun.  We also had two cousins we could play with at all the boring adult functions.  Come to think of it, I guess we didn't have a big family, but what family we did have were very active in our lives. 

Life took us to Las Vegas and soon brought our family 3 little girls (through adoption).  My family unit that I had known for 17 years grew and the phrase blood is thicker than water had no meaning any longer.  This was an adjustment for everyone involved.  It changed my belief of what a family was.  I was able to look at close family friends and consider them family.  My idea of family was not restricted.  Maybe that happens to us all as we grow up. 

 

When I married Ronnie my family grew even larger.  I hadn't even met Ronnie's parents until they flew out to Las Vegas for our wedding, but I knew if they raised Ronnie then they must be good people.   It was almost a year later before we were able to go to Missouri to see the rest of Ronnie's family.  It was at this time that I first got to meet his grandparents.  When I met them I never thought that they would have much influence on my life or my kids lives since they lived so far away, but I was wrong.  Every time we went to visit his grandparents we always walked into a bustling kitchen.  His grandma always fixed us a big lunch which almost always included fried fish that his grandpa had caught, potatoes, biscuits, hush puppies, some vegetables, and striped delight cake.  By the time she was finished cooking dirty dishes were piled a mile high.  She obviously showed us her love by cooking and we tried to  show our appreciation by doing the dishes.  His grandpa would visit and play with Kyle and Lana while all the cooking was going on.  He also really enjoyed fishing. He shared some of his secrets with Kyle and taught him how to hold a fishing rod.  Then he took Kyle out on his boat and watched as Kyle reeled in his first fish.

The short amount of time we have been able to spend with Ronnie's grandparents have taught our kids and ourselves to take some time to relax and enjoy every phase of this life here on earth.  Sometimes our kids get into a really obnoxious phase and his grandparents would share with us the little obnoxious things their kids did and how short those phases actually lasted.  His grandparents find joy in taking care of each other.  I can only imagine how much their love for one another has grown through the years. 

This past week Ronnie felt it was important that we take a trip to visit his family in Missouri because both his grandparent's health was failing.  We would go to visit his grandmother in the hospital then go to see his grandfather at his house.  Every time we would walk in the door his grandfather would  smile and greet us, but I knew his mind was elsewhere with concern for his wife.  My heart ached as I would hear him ask about his wife and receive bad news.  I felt like I was keeping a selfish secret inside about what I knew about life after death and that families can be forever and that marriages can last for time and all eternity and not just till death do you part.  But still I sat there quiet probably because I was afraid.  Afraid of him not believing me, or not wanting to hear what I knew, or making him more sad talking about death, or not being able to understand me or comprehend what I was saying.  I think that the thought crossed my mind that I was too late to talk to him.  But I know it's never too late even if I never talk to him.  I can still do the work needed for Ronnie's grandparents so that they can make their choice even after this life.  I am grateful for my family and I am grateful for the Gospel that can make us an eternal family. 

On a lighter note...I sometimes jokingly think...will my kids really want to be stuck with each other for eternity?  As much as they fight and argue with each other the thought has crossed my mind more than once, but I've never taken it seriously.  Today as I was writing this I stopped in the middle to go pick Lana up from school and this is what her teacher sent her home with today:

Skeletons in the Closet

As the kids went back to school on Monday I was kind of sad.  They have finally got to a point where they can play together and also do things individually without pestering one another.  It was actually nice to wake up and not have to run them to school.  We actually had days when we didn't even leave the house.  Winter break was a welcomed change of pace, but now it's back to the norm.

On Monday after I dropped the kids off at school I didn't quite know what to do with myself, so I clean and organized my pantry.  Everyone thinks I'm an organized person, but I'm not.  I'm very particular about how I like things done so I usually put them off until I know I have enough time to do it and do it right.  I seem to never find the time, so things are left undone.  Quite silly I know, but it's me, what am I going to do? 

I started my little endeavor with camera in hand.  Here is what I was up against.

               

This is not a pantry of an organized person.  Where to start?  Well I emptied everything out and checked for expiration dates.  On somethings I couldn't find the date but a few had expired Box Tops, so you know it had to be old.  Those Box Top deals are good for like 4 or 5 years, if the Box Top is expired the food it beyond expired.  I also came across blood worms, how many people can say they had blood worms in their pantry?  I can, only because we used to have fish that ate them.  I had to move the fish food into our pantry because my darling Lana emptied the whole container into the fish tank on more than one occasion.  I also came across, not 1, not 2, but 3 jars of nutmeg.  I actually had to take a picture of that find.

It's kind of weird because I don't even know what I would put nutmeg in so why on earth do I have three containers of it.  I carry on and empty the pantry and clean the shelves. Then I realize I have flooring as a shelf liner.  I'm not so hip on that so I grab my purse and head to the store to find some new shelf liner. 

Before I left I made sure I measured.  I have a really deep pantry, 23 inches deep to be exact.  What does one do with shelves that deep?  How does it make any sense to have shelves that deep.  You can never see what's in the back.  Should I fill up the back with some old home videos we never watch but have to hold on to.  These are the thoughts running through my head as I walk around the store looking for shelf liner.  I finally find the liners and pinch and feel every one and decide I like the flooring option I have better.  While I'm in the aisle I take a gander at the kitchen organizational stuff and leave with 3 shelves and one really long bin.  I was really excited about the bin because it was actually a media storage bin, but I had another use for it.  I love when I can find another use for something.  It's like I'm saying, yes I know you told me to use this bin for my CDs but I'm going to use it for my baking supplies, so neener neener neener.  I'm still a rebellious child at heart.  It's sad, but that's about as rebellious as I get now a days.

Here is my "baking" bin filled with my special cookie cutters, food coloring, cupcake wrappers and what not.  In the end I don't know if my pantry looks any more organized but at least I feel like it is.  And I would love to meet the person that thought a 23 inch long pantry was a good idea.  With that said here is my "organized really long shelfed pantry" minus the blood worms and 2 of the 3 containers of nutmeg.

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone but, toys are still strung all through out the house, the tree is still up, the wreath is still on the door, and there are still Christmas goodies on the kitchen counter.  I guess since the sense of Christmas is still lingering it's ok to catch up on our Christmas going ons. 

The Christmas Card

I had a lot of fun with this year's Christmas card. 

First I hunted down red Converse, which was painful until I learned we have several Converse stores in Vegas, who knew? 

Then came the photo shoot.  This was really fun!  Ronnie selected the music and I snapped shots as the kids let loose and had a ball. 

A little work on Photoshop and then the assembling began.

Front of Card

Inside of Card

Gingerbread Houses

Fun was had by all this year as we assembled our houses. I think we are still finding candy that rolled off the table and found it's way to every corner of the house. Mom made a cute little cozy cottage with a red and green roof.  Cody decorated his love shack, complete with a candy cane heart archway.  Lacey, Sadie, and Lana get the award for most candy used and they added a very cool chimney to their house.  Kyle worked all by himself on his ginger train, he did a great job, there is even cargo in the train car.  Lana carried on the tradition of the Rudolph nose and introduced her cousin Mason to the fun.

 

 

 

Christmas Day

Here's just a few photos of Christmas:

    From Cute..........................................................To just Wrong!

The cousins at Christmas

. . . HE HIMSELF, . . . !

The Grinch carved the roast beast!

Snow Day

Yesterday it started to snow in Las Vegas around noon.  It kept snowing until way after the sun went down. Here's a video documenting the snow, hey it's a novelty here, just bear with me. 

                                 

A Snowy Day from Shawna Lutes on Vimeo.

 

And here are some pictures of what the kids did with all this snow. 

They got all bundled up.

The neighbor girls recruited them to build a snowman.

I guess Kyle was there for the heavy lifting.

Lana was pretty good at rolling the snow balls around.

The girls were hard at work and I wondered where Kyle ran off to.

Ah ha...look no further I found him on top of the camper making snowballs to throw.

He wasn't the only one throwing snowballs!  Lana's friend from down the street came over to join the fun.

The neighbor girls finished the snowman.  Didn't they do a great job?

All this snow means only one thing to the school aged kids...will we have a snow day tomorrow??  Yes indeed they did.  Here is what we did with our snow day.

We journeyed to the mall with letters to Santa in hand.

Lana wasn't feeling her best so no smiles today.

We found the Santa Mailbox at Macy's

Dropped our letters in.

Then had some lunch.

Lana's first Hot Dog on a Stick.  She's now hooked.

Oh the wonders a snowy day brings.

A Christmas Tradition

Each year we add ornaments to our tree, but one ornament is special.  As a family we think of something significant that happened in the past year and try to find an ornament to represent it.  I love this tradition for many reasons, it's a time when we can remember what happened through the year and it's fun to see what each person thinks was most significant.  It's one of my few original traditions, where I haven't copied what one of our families did.  It's a time when we all go shopping together which hardly happens this time of year. One day when we are old and gray, I can see Ronnie and I reminiscing on our life together as we put up our Christmas tree.

Here is our collection so far:

2000

Our first year together, this represents our marriage.   We were actually married in my parent's home, but I couldn't find an exact replica of their home so I thought this would do.

 

 

 

 

2001

After getting married in Las Vegas we moved to Colorado.  A few miles north of us there were pastures full of buffaloes.  Also the University of Colorado's mascot is the Buffalo.

 

 

 

 

2002

We were able to move back to Las Vegas.  I think the dice are self explanatory. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2003

Ronnie and I went to Monterey Bay, CA when we were dating.  Years later we were able to go back and visit this awesome place with Kyle and me being 7 months pregnant.  It was such a treat because it was only 65 in Monterey and 110 in Vegas.  (Lana got her own baby's first Christmas ornament so we choose this one for this year)

 

 

2004

Besides kids this is probably the most significant thing to happen to us yet.  The purchase of our first home.  We were so lucky to have received a call from a dear friend telling us that the other side of her duplex was for sale.  I can truly say that great friends make the best neighbors. 

 

 

 

2005

Yet another Monterey Bay ornament.  We could probably have one of these for every year because it is our favorite place to escape the Las Vegas heat.  This year was significant because Kyle was the first person in our family to go scuba diving. 

 

 

 

 

2006

The year of the pickle.  I don't know what nutritional value a pickle has, probably none, but Lana lived off of pickles this whole year.  It effected our whole family, trust me on this. 

 

 

 

 

 

2007

We started our first garden in Las Vegas.  We did the square foot gardening method and had a lot of fun caring for it.  We had a a very prolific eggplant bush that produced eggplants the size of your head!

 

 

 

 

2008

This year we ventured to southern CA for our family vacation.  We hit the highlights with the kids and were able to see the baby pandas at the San Diego Zoo. 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't even begin to guess what next year will bring, but looking back on the years I feel truly blessed.