SNOW, SNOW, AND MORE SNOW

Do you want to know what happens when the faithful people of Highland Utah fast and pray for moisture?

And it's still coming down!

So if this is a blessing, I probably should start to try to find the good in it - Right?  So here goes...

1.  Because we have to ride our bikes inside, Rick found the BEST Pandora station - 80's classic rock - SO GOOD!

2.  On Pinterest I found an awesome Spring Cleaning list, you do one job a day for 30 days.  I'm going to do it now so that when it really is Spring, I can be outside soaking in the sun because my Spring Cleaning will be done!

3.  All the snow makes for some fun activities.  Last week we went sledding in Park City with the Dunns.  We had a blast!

That's about all I can think of!

Happy Winter Everyone!

PREFERENCE

I was watching TV a few nights ago with Nathan and looked over at him sitting on the chair with his U of U blanket wrapped around him.  He hadn't shaved in a few days and I could see the whiskers that had started to grow in.  His size 13 feet were propped up on the coffee table, and his hairy legs peeked out from his blanket.  As I looked over at this man, all I saw was my little boy wrapped up in his favorite blanket.  The thought hit me right then that in 2 years...2 YEARS he could be leaving on a mission.  I know how fast 2 years goes by - I just experienced the time go by like a blink of the eye with my Britt.  I was flooded with a million memories all at once.  I remembered the day we brought him home from the hospital, I remembered the baby I would sneak out in the middle of the night to hold because he was a snuggler.  I remembered the way he said "Janjuary", the little blonde dude that loved animals more than anything on this planet, and who was so afraid of the fire alarm.  As I sat there looking at him, I was overcome with gratitude for the chance I have had to be his mom.

So...last night, as Nathan was getting ready for his first date, I wondered again where the time has gone.  How did my little man go from this...

to this...

I love you Mr. Nathan - to infinity and beyond.

WELCOME 2013

The first Monday of every new year, the Bengtzen family would gather in the family room with 2 poster boards.   The first poster board had all of the previous years goals from each member of my family written with a black sharpie.  My dad would hold it up and one by one we would go down the list and see who had actually met their goals.  My dad would then pull out the new poster board, our "clean slate", and we would all try and figure out what we wanted to accomplish in the coming year.  Very few of the Bengtzen traditions have been carried on in the Finlayson home, but this is one that has stuck.  We may not have the poster boards and sharpies, but we make our goals and do our best to accomplish them. I thought it would be fun to look back in some old scrapbooks and see how our resolutions have changed over the years.

Just a few of the Finlayson's New Year's Resoltions:

2002

Brittani - 7 years old

-Learn to ride a slalom ski

-Be a good girl for Momma

-Be a good ice skater

-Swim really good

-Ride a big bike

-Be a good help with Connor

-Change Connor's diaper

-Be nice

-Draw really good

-Be thankful for everything I get

-Get baptized by my Daddy

-Pass second grade

-Not be a tattle tail

-Read really good (I already do, oh well)

-Choose the right

Nathan - almost 5 years old

-Learn to ride my "lakeboard"

-Be good for Momma

-Learn to read

-Learn to drive the boat without any help

-Take karate classes

-Be happy

-Be like Jesus

-Take care of my belly frogs

2006

Brittani - 11 years old

-Realize what the sacrament really means

-Finish Book of Mormon

-Stop repeating the same prayer

-Don't talk as much in reading and math

-Get to Zones in swimming

-Throw a football farther

-Think about things before I say them

-Don't be angry with my parents when I don't get my way

-Stop spending my money

-Don't beg for things I don't need

Nathan - almost 9 years old

-Finish Book of Mormon

-Practice spelling

-Get good at cursive

-Run a 5K without stopping

-Get to State in swimming

-Be nice

-Try to talk mom and dad into buying me a paint ball gun

2013

Brittani - 18 years old

-Finish Book of Mormon

(she took her list up to her dorm, that's the only one I could remember!)

Nathan - almost 16 years old

-Read Book of Mormon

-Think more about the Gospel every day

-Get a 4.0

-Pay attention in school

-Bulk up

-Start Varsity Lacrosse

-Get everything I can done for my pilot's license

-Get a job

-Save 30% for mission

Connor - 11 years old

-Stop hating church (really - this is one of his goals!)

-Pay attention in school

-Get straight A's

-Get at least 1 sack per game

-Run faster

-Think before I talk

-Save $300

Alicia - 38 years old!

-Pray as a family every day

-Better on personal prayers

-Better Sunday School Lessons

-Eat healthy

-Be positive

-Look for the good

-Help Nathan prepare for mission

-One act of service outside of family every week

I wonder what our goals will look like 10 years from now...just a thought.

Climb High

Climb Far

Your aim is the sky

Your goal is the star

MEXICO 2012

As we are driving to Mexico every year, I think about how this will be the year that I will blog EVERY DAY of our trip.  I daydream that I will be able to somehow capture the feelings that my family feels, and the love that we develop for some of the most amazing people we will ever meet.  But the week flies by, and the computer only gets opened when Rick needs to check on work, and before I know it we are back home to freezing cold Utah!  But as I look at the pictures of Mexico, I realize that it's okay that I didn't record everything that happened, a picture says a thousand words.

This is the view off our deck - AMAZING!

The first couple of days consisted of playing on the beach, swimming, going into town, eating, and playing on the beach some more.  It was a tough job but the Finlayson family was up to the task!

On Christmas Eve, after a nice dinner at Don Julio's with a bunch of families from Highland, our little family ran over to the Valenzuela's home to start the real partying - Mexican Style!  We headed over to Lupita's family party, but made a quick stop on the way for some fireworks.  Little did I know that it would be the children lighting off the fireworks!  

Julio and Jacob

When we got to the party, it was seriously the craziest thing I have ever seen.  Music was blaring, people were dancing, dogs were barking (this is all outside, by the way!), and they had cooked a goat, and people were dancing while eating the meat right off the bone!  It was so funny!

A couple of days before we left Utah, Julio called Rick and told him that there was a family that really was in a tough spot and needed help with Christmas this year.  The father of the family works for Julio as a dishwasher making $70.00 a week.  The dad figured out a contraption for his bike so that he can ride all three boys to school across town, he then rides to work, works, picks the boys up from school and takes them home, and then rides back to work and works the rest of the day.  When Rick found this out, he called his amazing brother Ryan and asked if Ryan could help with Christmas for this sweet family.  Ryan's response?  "I'll provide Christmas for all three boys."  Ryan and Andrea are two of the most giving and loving people we know.  I'm always in awe by their willingness to help, and I'm so thankful for their example.  When we picked up the Christmas presents from Ryan and Andrea, Ryan handed me hundreds of dollars for food for this sweet little family.

We wanted to give the parents of this family the Christmas presents on Christmas Eve so that Santa could come to their house that night.  Amazingly enough the family was at Lupita's family party!  It worked out perfect!

The youngest boy was asleep.  What a sweet family.

CHRISTMAS

Christmas in Mexico is so different than anything I have every experienced in Utah.  I find myself forgetting that it is even Christmas as we go about our day.  Our kids receive very little, (in fact Connor only asked for a pair of socks this year!) and so opening presents lasts about 30-35 seconds! I sometimes wonder if our children will wish they had a normal Christmas, but for now they all say they love Mexico and wouldn't want in any other way.

In the afternoon on Christmas day, the Families Helping Families group got together near the tracks to provide a good Christmas dinner to the families living near the tracks.  There was turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, hot dogs, salads and oranges.  I think we ended up feeding around 250 people.  Check out some of these beautiful children:

It's life changing folks!  Life changing!

AND THE WORK BEGINS

Families Helping Families built 3 houses, painted the outside of 2 houses,  and furnished, cleaned and gave away 1 home this Christmas Season.

"Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision.

It's the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."

-Joe Paterno