Highlighting 2009

I know, I know, it's really late for this but as the saying goes..."better late than never".

I have mixed feeling about this year we have been calling 2009. It was full of sorrow, fear, sadness, hardship and yet it also brought us joy, love, growth and many other blessing.

Lessons learned or re-discovered:

* There is not time for everything.
* Things don't have to be purchased just because they are on sale.
* Mr. Wright is not only a handyman but he is truly a handy man!
* Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons.
* Good will prevail.
* The power of the priesthood can quiet a worried mind, heal sorrow and comfort fears.
* My family means so much to me and I enjoy spending time with them.
* Children make me smile.
* Chocolate gives me heartburn.
* I'm grateful for my parents and all that they are.
* Darkness can always be eliminated by light.
* Prayers are heard.
* Disappointment is a part of life.
* Fasting brings strength.
* My heart is full of thanks.
* My mom is amazing.
* Discouragement is my biggest weakness.
* Game nights are always needed and always fun.

The cat's meow!

Here are a few pictures of the cat box Mr. Wright made for his sister.




It was my idea to add the accent wall.




Mr. Wright is the best!

A proud moment.

I finished "Pride and Predjudice". Hooray for me! It truly is a miracle, seriously. For those who don't know me. I am not a reader. In the last 5 years I have made more of an effort than I ever did in school and I have actually enjoyed it. Scary right. Well, it's the truth. But when I started Pride and Predjudice, man, it was so hard for me. I was glad I had seen the movie - or should I say movies because I needed that to get me threw. But here lies the problem with seeing movies before reading the novels. When I was reading I would imagine Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Bennet because she played her in the 2005 movie


but I imagined Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and he played him in the 1995 TV mini series.


I guess that is the beauty of reading - you can create your own perfect version.

A different kind of house work!

Over the past year we have done a bunch of projects to start making our new house "our home". Here are some pictures to help brag about my very talented Mr. Wright. I love that he is such a handy man.


We put up new black outdoor lights and a homemade address sign.


We painted the light post black and added flower box.


Mr. Wright suprised me one day and painted our shutters black.

Our new mailbox stands up staight and has no rust.


With our new spot lights we can see to take out the garbage at night.


The big summer project - stripped, sanded, secured and painted.


We (Mr Wright) moved pipes, repaired sprinklers and prepared our garden area.


Our crawl space has been cleaned, carpeted, repaired and we even put in additional lights. Talk about recycle, we used the old outside lights.

The grass WON!

When we fixed the deck in the backyard and prepared the garden area we were left with a few areas that needed a lot of TLC.


We (Mr. Wright) tilled the ground and we planned seed for grass. We watched as grass and lots of weeds grew. But after watering and watering and watering we let the grass do its thing and the weeds disappeared.

I doubted many but now believe when they all told me "when nourished the good prevails".

Keeping the bad stuff out.

Less sprinkler repairs this year and less weeds!!!


Last fall we (in this case "we" means Mr. Wright) installed a filter for the secondary water. WOW!!!! I didn't realize how much time & money went into repair and weed control last year until comparing it to this year.

This was one of the best things we did for our house.