Sunday, December 27, 2009

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

My Children









They make me smile.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Random Thoughts, December 2009

I’ve seen A Christmas Carol twice in the past week and have fallen in love with the story. Both the high school theater production and the Disney animated version starring Jim Carrey surprised me in that they did not shy away from the truly Christian aspects of the story. With much of the dialogue of both productions being taken straight from the Dickens tale, I heard about the light that Christ brought into the world and about the man who would cause lame men to walk and the blind to see. And both productions made generous use of traditional Christmas carols, such as “Silent Night” and “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” After watching these two adaptations, I have determined that I must read Dickens’ original work. Right after I finish Watership Down.

When I think about what Christmas is truly about, I think of two things: the gospel of Jesus Christ and family. Our eldest, Alek, will be with his dad for Christmas this year. Josh and I discussed our plans and decided that Christmas just wasn’t Christmas if we weren’t all together. So at my house, we will be having Christmas Eve and Christmas Day early, before Alek goes to Arizona. And we’ve decided this is how we will celebrate the holiday every year that Alek is not with us on the actual day. He’ll be an adult before I know it and we’ll likely have to spend most of our Christmases without him then. I want to pack in as many Christmas celebrations with him as I can.

On Sunday, Alek and I attended and performed with our ward choir in the stake Christmas musical fireside. It was wonderful. I’m amazed at how much talent we have in our little stake. Two women played the harp, both accompanying various songs and playing a duet as well. As I sat there listening, I remembered how much I love the harp and realized why it is the instrument most closely associated with heaven. We also had wonderful organ music, flutists, a violinist – all wonderful. A young man and woman sang a duet of “O Holy Night” that gave me chills. All the ward choirs picked wonderful songs and sang beautifully. I left the fireside feeling so completely in the holiday spirit and with music in my head for a long time afterwards. Isn’t music truly one of the best gifts we’ve been given and doesn’t music seem to have been almost created for this season? Certainly, for this reason – to praise God and His Son, to thank them for their love and creations.

We still don’t have our Christmas tree up. Since we’re celebrating Christmas in 5 days, this seems like a problem to me.
Josh got a new job this week, drawing the cover for a Sci-Fi magazine. He was asked to take an old Soviet propaganda poster and turn the people on it into a vampire and some zombies (I’m not sure why vampires and zombies are Sci-Fi, but whatever). I would share the picture with you, but honestly, it’s scary. The zombies give me the total creeps. I looked at the finished product right before bed last night. Big mistake. I’d tell you the name of the magazine so you could check out the cover for yourself if you wanted to, but Josh didn’t ask what the name of the magazine is, so, you’re out of luck.
Josh is getting a lot of work. He’s drawing concept art for two comic books, working on his own book, still working on the Kaci Hansen book and will probably now be doing artwork for this Sci-Fi magazine on a regular basis. They really liked his cover and are interested in having him work on interior art as well. I guess they're moving away from using photos and want more hand-drawn art. Plus Josh is home with the kids all day, takes care of them, plays with them, drives them wherever they need to be, cooks dinner, cleans, runs errands . . . so, you know, he is not at all busy.

I have a week and a day off work for the Christmas break. I am so excited.

Speaking of work, today we had our holiday party. The theme was “A Who-ville Holiday.” They were showing the Grinch (the cartoon) on a TV and they had huge posters of pages from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” all over the room and even had little Max reindeer hats for us to wear. It was a nice break, the food was delicious, and I miss Dad.

Friday, December 11, 2009

A Day Late

Yesterday was my sister Jen’s birthday. Jen is the firstborn of the Geer clan, and she wears that mantle well. Jen has always been one of my heroes. When I was growing up and being teased or throwing a tantrum, I could often depend on her to come to my defense or be the first to come into my room and try to cheer me up. As we’ve gotten older, I’ve often depended on her for sound advice and have sometimes received it unsolicited. :) When she thinks she needs to provide me with guidance, she will do so. It’s a big sister thing. And though sometimes I may bristle at her suggestions, deep down I always appreciate them and her concern for me.



One of Jen's earlier birthdays.

Jen was a brilliant director and writer even as a young girl and was in charge of many Geer family productions. She has helped her children develop a love for performing, something that is particularly neat for me as their aunt. Jen is super smart, loves to learn and is always continuing her education, is a talented photographer and singer, and once upon a time did a fantastic Madonna impersonation, although I don’t think she would consent to impress us with that talent any more. Not that she doesn’t still have a sense of humor and a sense of fun. Jen can be a complete goofball and can make us laugh so hard that sometimes one of us may lose control of his or her bladder.

The thing I love most about Jen, though, is that she is a woman of God and that she is not afraid to let the world know that she is a woman of God. A few years ago during the Christmas season, we had a girls’ day out at the theater. A few of my older nieces came with us. The movie itself was PG and completely appropriate in every way for all of us, no matter the age. But the previews . . . Well, the previews were a little racy and my mother, sisters and I were a little upset by my precious nieces being exposed to the filth on the screen. There was a lot of eye-covering going on. We were all dismayed, but Jen actually did something. She jumped up from her seat and marched up the movie theater aisle with such a look of righteous indignation. She went and talked to the manager to complain about the previews being shown. Now, Jen didn’t change the world with her actions that day. If you’ve been to a movie lately, you know that the previews are often not appropriate for all age groups and often not at all appropriate for the movie they are running in front of. But I’ll never forget that look on Jen’s face or the fact that she actually took action. It made an impact on me. So often we complain about the world crumbling around us, but how often do we try to do something about it? Jen was a great example to me that day.



Dad and Jen: Two of my favorite people in
one of my favorite pictures of all time.

And she is always a great example to me. I love how much Jen cherishes motherhood and how fervently she loves her husband and children. She makes mistakes, as we all inevitably do, but she is so devoted and so dedicated to her family, to providing them with the very best that life has to give – not worldly wealth (what is that? Nothing!), but with a knowledge of the gospel, a knowledge of things as they really are, a love of learning and of learning the truth, an appreciation of beauty through nature, art, music, theater, great literature and simple acts of kindness, the value of hard work and of good health. She is deeply concerned with helping her children reach their potential and have happiness that will persist in this life and the next. She places a high value on being a mother and understands that being a mother is part of her eternal nature and eternal blessings as a woman.

My sister, Jen, is one of my favorite people. I miss her dearly and wish I could see her more often. Happy Belated Birthday, firstborn of my father and mother. May you have a blessed and happy year.




She's a model.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I love the church. Sometimes I have heard people try to separate the gospel and the church, but I think that is wrong. The gospel is the Lord's gospel and the church is the Lord's church. Members of the church are imperfect, but the structure of the church is perfect and the church is a great and marvelous thing. When I watch Mormon Messages or visit temples and church sites or listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir or hear a young woman bear her testimony or see members sacrifice their time, energy and material goods to assist others, my heart thrills with the thought that I am a part of this work. How did I come to be so blessed?

I love, love, love the church and am so grateful to know we are led by the Savior of the world.

Monday, December 07, 2009

A Beautiful Love Story

At Christmas time, we celebrate the greatest gift of love the world will ever know: God sent His Son to atone for us. Do we give gifts of love in our life that are a reflection of the love our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for us? Charles Akes did. I invite you to read this story of true, lasting, eternal, pure love.

Friday, December 04, 2009

Operation Cobra's Anger

Was the name of this operation inspired by G.I. Joe? What is the deal with that name?

One More Halloween Pic



I had to add this picture of Katie from Halloween because I realized you could not see her awesome rainbow striped tights in the other photo. Why the tights, you might ask. Well, this flower costume Katie is wearing is a 2T; Katie generally wears a 5T, so the costume was a little small. Also, the costume was pretty see-through. I decided to have her wear a white onesie and some white tights underneath. The problem with this was that I discovered Katie didn't have any white tights that fit her. In fact, she only had these rainbow tights.

I think they're pretty cute, don't you?

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Halloween Pictures

These pictures were taken at our Ward Halloween party. If you're wondering why I look sunburned in these pictures, the burn is part of my costume. I was a vacationer for Halloween. I put blush all over my face and my neck and upper chest so I looked sunburned. If you're wondering why Alek is not in any of these pictures, he was in Arizona for Halloween. He was Harry Potter and I hear he looked fantastic, but I don't have any photographic evidence of that yet. If you're wondering what Josh is supposed to be, he's Josh. He doesn't do costumes.

Enjoy!