This Picture made us Excited!

This picture is a computer renduring of what the Kansas City Missouri Temple is going to look like! I just found it online at a site called LDS ChurchTemples. The link to the page where I found it is listed below the picture. There is also a ton more pictures there of the actually site and whats been going on as far as progress and expected dates and so forth. Enjoy!

The Kansas City, Missouri Temple

www.ldstemples.com/kansascity/

Story of the Thankful Box

This is our Thankful Box and here is the story of how it got started...

While I was reading a copy of the Ensign one evening at the end of December, I came across an article that caught my eye. The article was about this family that created a box and they called it the thankful box. Everyday during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, everyone in the family wrote down on a small piece of paper something they were thankful for that day. On Christmas, they sat down and opened the box to read the little notes that everyone wrote. It was a really neat experience for them and they realized all the many things they had to be thankful for...so much so that they made it a new family tradition to do every year around the holidays. It has since brought a new deeper meaning to that family and they are more grateful for the everyday things.

I told Ryan about the story and gave him my thoughts on it and how I thought I would be a good idea for us to do the same thing this family did and create a Thankful Box. Only I didn't want to wait til the holiday season again, I wanted to start it right away. Because of the many hardships we have faced the past 2 years, its hard to find things to be thankful for everyday, at least I think so and I knew that I needed to be reminded of those things more often than just around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So around mid-January we dug out a smaller box and I decorated it up to look pretty and wrote "Thankful Box" all the way around it on every side. That way no matter what angle you have in the room you would know what it was. Once it was finished and little piece of paper set next to it, the writing began.

Here is how we have made it special to us. Instead of waiting til the end of the year to open it and read the notes, we changed the 'rules' up a bit and have decided that at the first Monday of every month we will have a family home evening where we sit down and open the box to read all the little thankful notes that each other wrote during the past month. This past Monday was our first time going through the box. It was a really cool experience for us and we plan on continuing it for a long time and making it our own little family tradition.

Here are a few of the things we were thankful for last month...

• For family and their love and support
• The smile on my spouse's face :)
  
• For a gospel oriented home to live in
• For the sun shining!
• For warm arms wrapped around me
• For a working vehicle, gas in the tank and the love of my life beside me
• Cute kittens that make us laugh
  

Cute Kitty

This is one of our little kittens (Evie) and her new favorite spot to lay pretty much all day long.

The New Do

I had been sorta complaining for a few weeks (at least) that I wanted to get my hair cut and kept missing all my opportunities to get it done for free at the salon. So I finally broke down and started practically begging Ryan to just chop it all off for me. After several days of pleading, he finally gave into me, albeit hesitantly. So, last night I got my hair cut and here is how it turned out. I'd say my "stylist" did a pretty good job! Thank you sweetie for putting up with me :)

Before:

During: the 12 inches that got chopped off....

After:

Days of Sorrow, Days of Joy

As some of you may know by now, Alli's last grandparent passed away this month.

Christine Rosemary Feherman Wright, died at age 95 1/2 on January 6th at noon. It was a beautiful snowy day when she left this earth to rejoin her husband in heaven. He had passed on over 20 years earlier with Huntington's disease. As one can imagine it was a joyful reunion.

She left behind a wonderful legacy of family. She has two sons: Timothy and Kevin, 6 granddaughters: Erin, Cassy, Allison, Leah, Elizabeth and Mary. She also recently acquired in the past few years, 2 grandson-in-laws. Koonal, who is married to Erin and Ryan who is married to Allison.

She has left us with many fun and special memories of her that we will hold dear until we see her again. Grandma will always hold a special place in each of our hearts.


Grandma Wright (Easter 2005)

A bundle of flowers that Alli picked out from one of the many beautiful flowers that were sent to the family.

Rainbow in the Sky

Dunno if you guys can see it in these pictures or not. But we we're driving down to Stanley, KS last Thursday for a tile job that Ryan does every 2 weeks...anyway we saw this pretty little rainbow. I guess it was there because of all the moisture that has been in the air from the snow.
Whatever its reason for being there was fine by us.

The rainbow should be about in the center of both the pictures...just to the right of the bright shiny sun.

Got these a few months ago, just never got a picture of them and posted it up here. We sold our blue hide-a-bed couch back in the summer and have been looking for another couch since then. Finally found these for free on craigslist from a military family here in Independence that just didn't want to move there furniture this time around. They were very sweet and we wish the best of luck to them. He was transferred back to Iraq a few weeks before Christmas.

Both piece of furniture are very soft and comfortable...the chair is really hard to get out of though once you get in it :)

Deer In the Snow

We we're driving around the Sugar Creek area of Independence the other day and came across a group of deer crossing the road and chilling in a nearby field waiting to cross. These pictures are of a doe and her little ones. It was really cool to see. Ryan brought up and conversation about hunting earlier that day and had asked if whenever he got the chance to go if I would go with him. Well I told him after seeing theses deer that I wouldn't be able to watch quietly as he killed such a beautiful creature. Now I'm not against hunting or anything, but you won't find me tagging along either. Sorry sweetie :(

Lots and Lots of Snow!

The Big Holiday Snow....after all was said and done we had about 18 inches in our yard...where the snow drifts were it was a lot more

Christmas Eve Snow


Independence Visitor Center

Out and About a few days after Christmas

Our Little White Christmas

Sorry it took so long to get some pictures up. Better late then never right....anyway here are a couple of pictures of what our Christmas lights looked like, nativity scene, and all the snow we got over the holiday season.

Hanging up the ornaments on our little tree.

Nativity Scene

Hanging up the Christmas lights outside