The Harlin Family: 12/1/09

Friday, December 18, 2009

Lylli's Christmas Program

Lylli had a Christmas program yesterday. She did a great job and made a cute elf!!! She was sad that just the girls and I could go. She's been quite spoiled the last couple years. And she was upset that I didn't record the entire thing to share, but after realizing how long it takes to upload them, I'm VERY glad I didn't! But here's the last song they did! Merry Christmas!

Horses

The girls were playing dress up the other day! It was so cute!!!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Shopping, Cards, Trees - DONE!

On Friday, I finished up all my Christmas shopping!!! YAY! (It will be a very small Christmas again this year, but at least I can do a little!) On Saturday, I put together my Christmas cards to mail out. And tonight we decorated our tree! I'm officially ready for Christmas! And since I'm done with everything, I can enjoy the season.

Every year we have used the same angel at the top of our tree. I think I got it in Young Women's or something. But when we were first married, this was all we had and could afford. Now, Shane insists on using it. One year I got a real star, and he won't let us use it! This makes Lylli unhappy but every year we go with the little cloth, stuffed angel.

We usually have a Charlie Brown tree. This year, we had more options and got a nice tall and full tree! I love having a real tree. The house smells so good! And our tall ceilings are lots of fun at Christmas time!

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Thankgiving and Nana

I don't seem to be blogging like I should. Something about being busy? Hmmm.
For Thanksgiving, we went up to South Jordon and spent the evening with Shane's step-father, Harold's family. They were quite nice and we had a good time.
On Saturday, Lylli looked outside and saw a hot air balloon!

Needless to say, this was exciting for us! We'd never seen one quite so close before!

This doesn't look very close but it was really only on the other side of the block! We could even hear the fire in the balloon!

Lenay and Harold also came down for the holiday and though they didn't stay with us, we got to play with them. The girls and Nana built some gingerbread houses, or rather a collage of candy! I posted the pictures as a slide show below this post! Hope everyone had a great holiday!

* Shane is now working for World Class Auto in American Fork. He's really enjoying working as a mechanic again, but misses the community work he did in Casper. Still, he knows this is what the Lord wants him to do now and he really is enjoying it! Maybe he'll be able to do more community work somday.

** And for anyone who's interested, I've been holding monthly contests for various prizes on my writing blog! So visit me and see what's being given away! **

***I've also posted a new clip to another story on the sidebar if you want to take a look!

A Season For Love

“Are you a daddy?” Lark asked, once they pulled into the parking lot and started to get out of the car.
“No, angel. I’m not.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I can’t be a daddy without a mommy.”
“What ‘bout Mommy?” Lavender asked. “You be a daddy with Mommy.”
Jerrick chuckled nervously but Rhianna looked over at Lark and felt concerned. The look on her oldest daughter’s face told her that a confrontation was soon at hand. Lark’s eyes were suddenly shooting daggers into the back of Jerrick’s head. Rhianna changed the subject. “What do you girls want for lunch?”
The subject was seemingly forgotten until after the waitress had taken their orders and the girls sat coloring some pictures. Lark suddenly looked up and glared at Jerrick for a few minutes. Rhianna, discussing the progress of her latest book, did not see her daughter and was caught off guard when the girl spoke.
“We already have a daddy!” Lark said definitely.
“Lark, honey.” Rhianna knew where the conversation was sure to go from here. “We’ve talked about this.”
“But I already have a daddy. I don’t want another one.”
“That’s fine, honey. No one said they wanted to take Daddy’s place.”
“But he said…” Lark began as she pointed to Jerrick and her eyes filled with tears.
“I said that I’m not a daddy, angel. That’s all,” Jerrick said understandingly. “I do have some little nieces and a nephew though. And I think one of them might be about your age.”
“My age?” Lark asked with skepticism. “Are they my friends?”
“Well, I suppose if you met them and liked them they would be your friends,” Jerrick said with a smile. Rhianna gave him a smile, relieved that he had so elegantly changed the subject and they had not created a big scene.
“Can we, Mommy? Can we play with my new friends?” Lark asked excitedly, for she called every young child her friend.
Rhianna looked first to Lark’s eager face, then to Lavender who seemed oblivious to the conversation and finally to Jerrick who looked completely amused. “Well, I…” Rhianna began.
“Actually,” Jerrick interrupted. “Perhaps now is as good of a time as any to reveal my secret motive behind asking you girls to lunch.”
“A secret motive?” Rhianna eyed him warily.
Jerrick suddenly seemed to squirm in his seat but gained composure quickly. “Well, kitten,” he began.
“Mommy’s not a kitten,” Lark said in disgust as she wrinkled her nose.
Jerrick chuckled. “No, she’s not.” Turning his attention back to Rhianna he said, “Anna, I hesitate to bring this up because I know it’s a delicate subject but…” He hesitated and Rhianna wondered what he might possibly say.
“Yes?”
“Well, this is the thing. My family has been hounding me incessantly about not having a wife or even a girlfriend.” Rhianna nodded, still unsure of his venue for conversation. “So I was wondering, if you didn’t have other plans, if you and your girls would like to accompany me to my parent’s cabin for Thanksgiving?”
“Spend Thanksgiving with you?” Rhianna asked, surprised at the suggestion.
“Me and my family, yes. Everyone is planning to be there; Joey’s family and Andy and his roommate. And I was hoping that maybe you would enjoy role playing with me. Just for the weekend. You know, to get them off my back for a while.”
“I wanna go!” Lavender smiled.
Rhianna thought for a moment. She had no family, outside of her great-aunt Sophie who was in a nursing home. Her mother-in-law lived in another state, and given Rhianna’s current mood toward the approaching holidays, she had no desire to entertain visiting her in-laws. The proposition Jerrick made was enticing. Her girls would receive a good Thanksgiving memory, and she could sit back and ignore her surroundings. Plus, she would have Jerrick to help keep her mind off past memories and the loss of her husband.
“There will be kids for the girls to play with and Joey’s wife, Mindy, will be there.”
“You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend for the weekend?” she asked after a few minutes.
"Crazy idea, huh. What do you say?"