A Christmas Tree Story

This is a story about the Voss Family getting a Christmas tree for the Christmas season.

A week ago, the Voss family left early in the morning for Flagstaff to cut down a beautiful tree.

The family decided to feed some deer and have a picnic before cutting down their beautiful tree.




After the picnic, the family finished their travels to sunny, yet cold, Flagstaff to cut down a tree.

The family had a difficult time picking a tree that all would agree on.
"That tree is too tall," said the daddy.
"That tree is too ugly," said the LuLu.
"That tree is too bare at the top," said the mommy.
"I am too busy picking up sticks, pinecones, golf balls, twirling, to notice the trees," said the MyMy. (She really didn't say that because she was too busy picking up sticks, pinecones, golf balls, twirling, etc.)

Gloves were placed on trees that were possible candidates.




Finally, after some soul searching, compromising, and bargaining...... the perfect Christmas tree was found. Yea! Daddy got to use a very cool power tool to cut the tree down.




The family then loaded up the truck, shopped for coats, had some pizza, and headed for home.

A week later, the family finally had time to decorate the beautiful Christmas tree.



And, to them, it is a beautiful Christmas tree, and so are the memories.

The End

Happy Birthday Dad

Today my thoughts are on a very special guy. No, although my sweet guy is very special, my thoughts are not about him today. My thoughts are about another special guy, my dad. Today is his birthday.

In writing this I realize that this really could be a book instead of a few short paragraphs because there are so many wonderful memories to share. However, I will try my hardest to reflect on my dad in the least amount of words possible.

Should I talk about the time we were working side by side in the garden and my dad decided to beep every time I said "you know" because I didn't realize how often I said "you know"?

Or, maybe I should share about the times we would practice parallel parking late at night between 2 parked cars driving away quickly when residents would peek out the window with a worried look.

No, I think I should share the time we solved the math problem my math teacher proposed to us as to how many different license plates the state of Utah can have with each plate having a combination of 3 letters and 3 numbers. After figuring that out, dad said that the answer would not be accurate because some words were inappropriate to be printed. Boy, was I the popular one in class the next day after repeating that information to the class!

What about sharing the many times that I would show up at my dads work with a problem and he would end up taking me for a walk on a different trail close to his work so we could problem solve.

And, I can't forget the wonderful grandpa that he has been to both of my girls. I will never forget the day that my dad sat in the MyMy's playhouse playing school for the entire day, or holding the LuLu's hand and walking with her taking the time to explain about the death of my grandpa, before dedicating his grave.

All I know is that my dad has sure made a difference in this daughters life. I love you dad. Happy Birthday with many more to come.

Barbie Soap Opera

Friday was our last official day of fall break and the girls decided to end the break in style -Pajama Style- that is. They spent the day in their pj's and played Barbie Dolls from the moment they woke up until about 5:00pm. It was one of those days where things like food, getting dressed and doing chores got in the way and were not necessary. The focus was Barbies, Barbies, and even more Barbies. It was their last day of break and why not end it on their terms?

I walked into the room at one point, and immediately saw 2 Barbie's fly a short distance and the MyMy having a guilty look on her face. When asked what was going on, the MyMy was hesitant to reply. After a little convincing I learned that the 2 Barbies had been kissing and she was trying to protect my sweet, innocent eyes. I looked down, saw the 2 Barbies dressed, and relaxed a little giving my okay for the Barbies to have a quick, sweet, goodnight kiss. The MyMy immediately relieved started in on the whole story.

The girl Barbie is really a grandma Barbie whose husband died. She made herself look young so she could get to know the cute, young, boy Barbie. The boy Barbie has been hypnotized and cannot tell that the Barbie he likes is an old grandma. He really likes her and is taking her to the ball....... and so the story goes. A Barbie soap opera!

My head was spinning trying to keep up with all of the craziness and wishing I had minded my own business from the very beginning. Being a parent however, is not minding your own business, but making sure that you know what the business is and setting some workable parameters for that business so that everyone stays happy, yet safe. I concluded by saying that if Mommy can't see some of the things the Barbies do because it would be uncomfortable, then maybe the Barbies shouldn't be doing those activities in the first place. And, play Barbies as if Mommy were watching. That seemed to work, and for the rest of the day the girls played Barbies while Mom stuck around, unobtrusively, of course!