Where is everyone???

OK so this week has been a little eye opener for me. Everyone knows that mom and dad are in Mexico right? Well I am having serious withdrawals for my mom. I didn't realize how much I look forward to calling mom everyday. Now without it, I am more and more homesick than I ever have been. I miss her voice, and also dad's voice in the background voicing his opinion. I am really glad they went to Mexico, but can they please come back:)

Other than that, everything is going good. We are getting ready for a concert, of course, and it is pretty crazy right now. We perform next week and we haven't finished any of the pieces. OH well!! I am sure it will all come together, or we will make it come together. But life is good. I miss you all so so much so please start posting. I feel like everyone has forgotten about the blog train. Please post. I look forward to it. Anyways, I love you and I think I am going to go to holden on saturday so I will say hi from all of you!!!! Love you
Jones

Tribute

For those of you who haven't heard the news as of yet, our dear sweet prophet President Hinckley passed away just a few hours ago. I received the news almost simeltaneously from a dear friend and my sister. I will miss President Hinckley. You hear people talk about how so and so is "their"prophet-the prophet from their generation, well President Hinckley was "my" prophet. I know without doubt that he was indeed the true and living prophet here on the earth as he served faithfully in all of his capacity. I had the chance 10 years back to meet him, and talk with him. I will never forget that experience. I will never forget the power that man had-I will never forget the undeniable spirit that filled the room as we sang, "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet". I couldn't possibly forget that. The news came and so did the tears, although with mixed feelings. I will miss President Hinckley-yes, I am devastated but at the same time I was filled with so much joy knowing that he is with his sweet wife now and how he missed her. Not only is he with his wife but he is with all those whom he had served in the church who have already passed and they have a great work to do on the other side. I know that the Lord welcomed him through and what a joy it is to know that this gospel is true and that the work that he did in his life-his whole life is true and he served faithfully. I hope that we can serve, Tyler and I as faithfully as him so that we know that we have made it when we cross the veil. We love you President Hinckley.

Erica

Couldnt take much more of that background sorry!

Snow Days are ALWAYS Fun!

Once again, I posted this on my family blog, but the pictures of Porter were too cute that I couldn't leave any of you out! This morning was a blizzard in Utah and we had plans to go and see our friends up in Salt Lake, but we just didn't dare drive in the conditions that were outside. So, Porter was devastated, of course. There is not a day that goes by when there isn't a little drama in our house! Yet, he was equally excited and eager to put on his snow gear and head outside-he even tried on ALL of Grandma Lehman's 20 scarfs, and finally decided on the 2 he liked best. So did I go out? No, it was FREEZING and I had to put Claire down for a nap, so Grandma Lehman was a good sport and put on her snow pants and they've been out there now for over 1 1/2 hours playing in the snow. I think that Porter is in heaven, and since we head home this weekend, he might as well take it all in while he can. I think that he would sleep out there if he could figure out how to build another snow fort! Grandma Tuttle, he needs your help! I remember snow days as a child and they were the best! I can only imagine his excitement and at the same time how red his face is going to be when he comes in!

Sorry Marci...oops

Marci (and everyone!)...I was talking to Mom and she said that she hadn't changed it (the background), and so I was convinced that I did it by accident when I was posting since it all of a sudden changed. But, I didn't realize that there were comments posted on the end of that posting saying that you had changed it until now-I found this backdrop and was playing around and changed it and then I was reading through Dad and Mom's post and came to those comments! I tried to find that one again but can't find it. I am so sorry-if you want to change it back, be my guest! Anything works! Hope you forgive me! If anyone finds a better drop, please post it! Love you all...Erica

Ole Mexico

I really don't know what my title means but it looked good. Dad and I have had quite a week! Remember our timeshare vacation membership? Well, we had saved up 40000 points and we had someone in Trendwest called wanting to buy our contract and our points. Well, to make a long story short we decided to keep our contract and 10000 points and sale 30000 points. We are taking that money and putting it back on our contract which will pay over half of the money owed. We still have 10000 points if we want to take a vacation and we can still use our bonus time but we had a trip from RCI that we had to take by Nov of 08 or we would loose. We could stay anywhere for a week for $200. We found a place in Cabo San Lucas that was a 5 star hotel that was available the last week of January or the middle of February. We looked into airfare and in January it was $300 per person but February jumped up to $500 per person so we are leaving on the 28th of January and coming home on the 2nd of February. We wanted to go somewhere for our 30th anniversary but then we went to Guatemala and you couldn't have asked for a better trip than that! But this will be our celebration. We have church now at 9:00 and I don't know what to do with myself for the rest of the day. Actually I have been reading a lot. I had to give the relief society lesson today and the gospel principles lesson but dad did most of that. I have finished reading my Sheri Dew book. It is wonderful! Well, I just got through talking to Marci, by the time I post all of my information is old. Have a good week! Hey, Richard and Shelane are you in the magazine this month? Let me know!. Dad was suppose to do his own blog but now he is whimping out so he says he will do the Tuttle Timely Tidbit for the week. Love you all!
Tuttle Timely Tidbit:
So, how is everyones reading coming? Two pages! It's important. My tidbit for the week is a quote from Harold B. Lee. You've seen it pasted inside my scriptures your whole lives. It reads: "The most important thing you can do is to learn to talk to God. Talk to Him as you would talk to your father, for He is your Father, and He wants you to talk to Him. He wants you to cultivate ears to listen, when He gives you the impressions of the Spirit to tell you what to do. If you learn to give heed to the sudden ideas which come to your minds, you will find those things coming through in the very hour of your need. If yo will cultivate an ear to hear these promptings, you will have learned to walk by the spirit of revelation."

Did someone change the layout?

Hey everyone-did someone change the layout? That is perfectly fine but one second ago I thought it was the original way? I was wondering if I changed it by accident? So, if you did change it...let me know so I'm not freaking that I messed it all up!

Thanks,
Erica

A Milestone...

So, I posted this on our personal family blog, but I was soooo excited that I thought that I would share it with the rest of you! So here it is.

"This afternoon was quite the milestone in Tuttle Family History-it was a long time coming! I do have to say that I am quite sad that Tyler wasn't here to enjoy it, but hopefully the tradition will continue! We do miss our dad and husband as he is traveling with work! Come back soon! So picture this-I walk into Sacrament Meeting to sit down with Porter, Claire and my sister Stef. (Yes, we are STILL in Utah for those of you who were wondering!). I told the kids before church that they each got to bring one quiet activity each and one book each and I filled snack bags for each-portion controlled. (That has been one of my pet-peeves that my children have come so dependent on SNACKS during Sacrament meeting that it is so out of control. Church is NOT snack time! Can you feel my frustration?) So, of course I braced myself for another migraine to follow Sacrament Meeting-as it always does with all the chaos going on during the meeting. Porter chose a great workbook to practice writing his numbers and letters with a bunch of fun connect the dots and matching games. Educational-hopefully soon we will get away from all of that and just have church things at church. How I can't wait for that day! Well, I chose for Claire. And did I ever choose right! She is OBSESSED with stickers. So, I brought a packet of stickers and along with the two books that we brought (don't worry these are church related thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Lehman...I love church open the flap books for Christmas Gifts! Great idea!) she was entertained for the ENTIRE Sacrament meeting except for the last 60 seconds before the closing hymn. WE MADE IT! I have never been so STRESS FREE in all my years of parenting (yeah, not that many I guess...four and a half years) at the end of a Sacrament Meeting. Porter sat there the entire time connecting dots and practicing writing while Claire transfered the same ten stickers onto different pages of the books, onto herself, onto my arm, onto the back of the chair...etc. I actually was able to listen to the meeting and one of the high-councilmen gave an incredible talk on the Book of Mormon and the validity of it. At the end of the meeting I was so relieved, refreshed and revived. What a milestone. Who knew stickers and a connect the dots book would have been our answer to all of our problems? Not to mention Claire didn't touch her snack bag and Porter had about five wheat thins is all-SNACKS were definitely not the focus! So tomorrow I hit the dollar store-what in the world I don't care if they cost 100 dollars I would buy those stickers and connect the dots books! They are like gold to me."

So usually after the end of Sacrament Meeting we will think to ourselves that we couldn't possibly have more children. And yes, that thought ONLY comes after Sacrament Meetings. But today was different. Any other day of the week we love to talk about having a bigger family. Today was a serious breakthrough-a breakthrough that made me think maybe we are ready to consider another one! That is serious progress folks!

We love all of you and will post some cute pictures soon. Claire had her first haircut yesterday-so say goodbye to the mullet! How we don't miss it, one bit. (I won't be able to post pictures until Tyler gets home-considering he hasn't even seen it...so you'll have to wait a few more days.)

Love,
Erica

Sorry everyone that picture should have posted first and been at the bottom of my next post but it didn't work right so put the picture at the bottom of my post! Thanks, love mom.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup!

Dad and I are eating for the third day now the homemade chicken noodle soup that I made on Friday.( It doesn't quite taste as good as when you eat it the first time!) I made it because dad and I have been sick with colds and terrible coughs. Dads is definitely worse than mine, but nevertheless we haven't been able to kick the whole sickness thing that we all had experience with over the holidays. And for those of you who don't know, Shelane has mono and tonsilitis and Claire has been really sick with the croop. Hopefully we can all shake this sickness soon! My homesickness however will be a different story. When I get to have all of you all together it makes me even more homesick when we are away. After everyone left I stayed and Tammy came over and we cleaned the house from top to bottom. Tammy and I had a great visit and then I stayed over one more night and drove back to Idaho on Friday. When I got home I did the exact same thing on Saturday. Cleaned this house and put away all the Christmas decorations here. Again it took me all day. However,I think my week home has topped everyones! I left on Monday morning to go to Jackpot Nevada for a fertilizer conference. Dad had to give two presentations at this fertilizer conference on compost and organic fertilizer. All of the people there were either consultants or fertilizer dealers. There were only 3 women there and needless to say they were dealers too! (That means they were pretty hard core woMAN!) I didn't do much socializing. If you have never been to Jackpot Nevada, it consists of two casinos and probably one gas station. I stayed in my room only escaping to listen to your dad or eat at Cactus Petes buffet! The rest of the week was pretty much staying in the basement to catch up on all of my bookwork since tax time is here. I think I went out on Saturday to do a two hour shopping extravaganza. And that's my life so Tanis, I would gladly trade. I'll take Hudson all day wanting to watch Cars! Dad and I just want you to know how much we love all of you! You bring us great happiness! We had the best holidays ever and I think Morgan is probably missing us too! We are proud of all of you and all that you are doing! You are the best family in the World! So I guess I will go now and enjoy your portion of my homemade chicken noodle soup! ( Since I make the same amount even though none of you are here!)
P.S.
I have decided to start my Tuttle Timely Tidbits back up again. The boys know this well from the old mission days but now you are all going to be able to benefit from this great tradition.
I have been reading the book "God Wants a Powerful People" by Sheri Dew and it is fantastic so thinking about the new year and maybe making some goals, I came across a great statement in her book. It says,
LEARNING TO CHANGE - AND BEING WILLING TO CHANGE - ARE CRUCIAL VIRTUES IN OUR ETERNAL PROGRESSION. She says when things aren't going well, when you want to quit, when it seems as though nothing is working, and certainly when your forward progress stops, the solution is often simply to back up. Backing up may mean repenting. It may mean forgiving someone or seeking forgiveness of another. It may just mean trying again. It may require you to ask for help, seek knowledge, humble yourself, change a decision, change an attitude, change your heart, or mend a relationship. It may mean striving harder to become more pure. It may mean that it's time to stop doing something or start doing something. It may mean seeking counsel from a parent or a priesthood leader, a trusted friend or even a professional. Whatever backing up means and it can mean something different for every unique situation there are many times in life when we simply need to back up, even just a few inches, before we can hope to zoom forward spiritually again. In fact, life is in many respects a continuous exercise in stopping, backing up, making changes, and then going forward.
And remember, as the one armed fisherman would say, We love you this...................................................................much!

The Aftermath.

So, life being home has been interesting. First of all, I have definitely been going through withdrawls. But even more than me, is Hudson who walks around ALL day trying to find a friend to play with. Lets just say I have not been able to do much since arriving home. In addition, he constantly grabs my hand and walks me to the television and says "Caws". I tell him no, and he proceeds to walk to my bedroom to the other TV and points to it, saying "Caws." Oh, how we go through this EVERYDAY. I have seriously had to limit his intake of CARS and Einsteins. I feel it is going to be a long road ahead. He was definitely spoiled, as we all were with the festivities at Christmas. And lets just say it was a great Christmas. Highlights were: Holden, family, candlelight dinner with chicken dressing casserole, sledding behind the four wheeler, goats, Guitar Hero, Condie Christmas party with cousins, Claire's head bashing, Tikal, Porter's name calling, closet cages, girls shopping day out, Christmas pajamas, cannery hot cocoa, new dishwasher and microwave, grandparents, 9 reasons why my family loves me and 9 opportunities to remind others why they are important to me. Thank you all for such a great holiday. Those memories will be cherished forever. I am so thankful for all of you. I feel so blessed. Have a great week because we all have much to be happy and grateful for. Love you!!

YOU TOO Phrase

So we all know Brian Regan's skit "YOU TOO", when you don't really think about what you are saying and you just ramble of the "YOU TOO" phrase and want to die after you said it. Lately, the YT phrase has been my number one reply to everything and I keep wanting to die everytime I say it because it doesn't work with what they said.

So just barely one of our friends Jason came over and we were chatting about the day and everything. I was telling him how I had rehearsal from 6-10pm tonight...blah blah blah. He goes to leave and says "Have a good performance" and before he could finish the words just came blurting out "YOU TOO". I mean if you ever perform some day, I hope it's good. I didn't say the second part but just started laughing to myself because I could hear Brian Regans voice in my head going off. "YOU TOO AND TAKE LUCK"!

"People around the world, join hands, start the BLOG train, the BLOG train" If you don't know that song you need to get it. It's the LOVE train but I thought that it would be a good theme song for the blog with Hudsons little voice saying "Chou Chou" at the end. Oh how I miss those little voices.

This week has been crazy. I am getting ready for a performance in Feburary and one of the choreographers is from Korea. She is only here for a week and a half and so we have had intense rehearsal this whole week and I think today it is all catching up with me. I have learned a lot from the koreans: they are such a humble people and very grateful for everything. I want to be like them. I have enjoyed working with them and I have picked up a little Korean on the side.

Well I think that is about it. Just a short entry to kick off the new year. I hope you all had a fabulous week and take luck and you too. (I'm not proofing this so I hope there aren't to many errors)

love you all,
Marsupial