My Apologies, Poor Charlie

Dear Charlie,

I am truly sorry for the disparaging comments that I left on your moms "Poor Charlie" blog post. It was wrong of me to belittle you the way that I did. I never realized how true the phrase, "What comes around goes around" really was until today. My owners sure gave me a dose of my own medicine when they dressed me in this humiliating t-shirt. Please forgive me.

Completely embarrassed, Sadie Flaishans



P.S. Your jacket looks kinda cool. I'm a little jealous.

Poor Charlie

Charlie went to the groomers for a bath and a trim today and came home shaved! This wouldn't be such a big deal except that today is the coldest day we have had all winter! Poor Charlie! In addition to being cold, he is a little embarrassed by his new haircut.

Good thing he has a coat to protect against the wind and the mocking stares of the other furry neighborhood dogs!

kids are so much smarter than me!

Tim spent yesterday evening working on some Lego's Star Wars thing, and was so proud when he finally finished building it. I don't understand how the 8 year old brain can't grasp "make your bed" but can easily figure out a 22 page manual on how to turn millions of those tiny pieces into a toy! Seriously - 22 pages!

Blessings #1

I found myself feeling very grateful for a lot of things at the end of 2008, and I liked the way being thankful feels - even for the small everyday things.

Of'course, the big things count too, but they are easier to recognize and don't take much effort to notice. Those things -like my family, the gospel, good health, answered prayers, a testimony- I certainly am grateful for those - but it is the small things that I find too easy to lose sight of. So, I have been trying to watch for things to appreciate each day. I'm afraid that as the new year goes on and life gets more and more busy, I will become forgetful. I do not want that to happen, so I am going to make myself accountable to this family blog! I am going to try each week to think about and list the things that have made me happy. I am bullying my family into joining me - we'll see how it goes!

I am grateful for...

Tommy: being able to get out of bed each morning and go running, a good job, enough money to pay taxes

Jenni: a smooth day on tuesday, a nice lady at the post office, good conversation with the old men at Tim's barber shop, comfortable slippers to walk around with on my cold wood floors, time to think about and listen to some of the old songs that i love and haven't heard in YEARS (I added some to my playlist), the wonderful book that Kathi Martin gave to me ('the parable of the chocolate chips'), Tim's love.

Maggie: some blow off classes this week in between exams, good music, i-phone

Tim: making a 100 on the TAKS reading benchmark! my pets, a clean room, the weather being too cold to ride my bike to school this morning - riding in the warm car in the warm car!

Soul-kitten!

Tim has always wanted a pet who would love him as much as he loved it. Somehow, he has never quite found a good match - but I think he has finally found his soul-kitten! I snapped this picture of Tim doing his homework yesterday. Sprout must have really missed him while he was away at school!

2008 Year in Review

I really should have done this before the year was actually over, but I just didn't get to it. Since I started this blog so late in the year, I have TOO MANY things to include in my "Year in Review", so I am just going to put in a few things that each of us found memorable.

First - In March Timothy turned 8 and was baptized! I know he is my son, so I naturally feel like it was a special time - but it really was one of the most spiritual baptisms that I have ever been too. I cried (a lot), Nana cried, Tim cried, even a non-member friend felt the spirit and cried! Michael Trammel and Lauren Spurgeon sang 'Love is Spoken Here', Maggie gave a talk, Nana gave a talk, and Tommy Baptized him. Nana told him in her talk that he was going to be a great man one day and that he would "soar like an eagle". He will! He is a kind, wise, wonderful little man.

Gran and Tim
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April was started off hard at our house. Our beloved Lindy passed away. She was 9 years old. She developed a fast growing tumor on her spleen that we didn't know about until it was much too late. She fainted while I was taking her for a walk one day. I got her to the vet right away where we discovered the tumor and her heart enlarged to five times its normal size. She was gone the next day. Things we loved about her - Lindy was a beautiful dog. A Border Collie/Australian Shepard mix with a quiet and humble personality. She was afraid of the wind and thought she was still small enough to fit in our laps! She was ever obedient and never failed to try to please us. The only time she would get crazy was when the kids ran too fast, or got too close to the fence - then she would nip their ankles and push them with her head, in an attempt to herd them - as was her instinct!It was very funny! She never caught on to any tricks except shake - which she wanted to do constantly! She would always bow her head apologetically when Tim cried whether it was her fault or not. We will love her forever.

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Mothers Day was nice - the kids gave me exactly what I wanted - they let me take their photographs without complaining! We just went out to Windmill Farms (by Maggie's middle school) and shot a few pics in between the quick downpours of rain! We actually got some good ones despite the 'sunny one minute, rainy the next' weather.

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Summer was packed full of activities as usual. Right off the bat, maggie and I went again to Girls Camp in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. It was alot of fun, super hot, draining and wonderful! Cousins Lindsey and Rebecca came with our ward this year and we are happy that they did! We had so much fun in our cabin, (as is evident by our YouTube video!) and enjoyed our girl time! Tommy and Tim hung out together the week we were gone. Tim actualy loves going to the office with tommy everday!

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Tim attended Horse Camp this year at the Bingham Ranch in Crandall, Tx. He REALLY LOVED riding and just being in that environment! I am afraid of horses, but not Tim! He is so calm and natural around them. I was proud of how he handled himself around those big horses!


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Each year we try to spend a bit of time in San Antonio during the summer since the kids don't get to see Nana and Pa often. It is also a nice mini vacation. Tommy was unable to go this time, so we invited a few friends. Tim's friend was not able to come, but mine and Maggie's did. Michael Trammell and Maggie's long time bestie, Zack Brooks. We did all of the typical tourist stuff in S.A. - the Alamo, Natural Bridge Caverns, floated down the River in inner tubes, etc. Then we drove down to Corpus Christi. We didn't realize that Hurricane Dolly was going to strike on our 2nd day as hard as she did! We were stuck in the condo, so we made our own fun - a video that I will post later. (watch for it - it is SO worth the wait!)We did have a full day in the water at Port Aransas and got to go crabbing. Zack and I ate like royalty that night! WE LOVE CRABS! We ended up spending two super fun weeks, but we really missed Tommy.

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Tim became a daddy twice this year! His first born - a black dwarf bunny that he named Lila B. is a sweet girl. He visited the bunny farm several times before deciding on her. Tim had more than one discussion with Tommy about responsibility before adopting her. Tim is an animal lover to the core!

His next baby - Sprout the kitten - showed up at our doorstep and just never left! We tried to find a home for her, but she got very sick and we had to get her well before we could pass her along. Then she got a little boyfriend, so we had to take her to be spayed before we ended up with more kittens. After two expensive vet visits so far, we decided that she better not ever leave! I don't know how we ended up with 4 animals (tommy doesn't like pets and swore we would never have anymore) but Tommy really likes this latest addition to our bunch. Sprout is so affectionate that she immediately steels your heart! Tim took her name from a fortune cookie - the "lucky word" on the back was beansprout!

In saying that we now have a bunny and a kitten, let me also mention how careful we have to be with those two particular pets. Let me explain with a picture...

Yes, this is what is left of the bunny that Sprout brought home for us! Well, there was also an ear, but she gulped that down before I could take a pic of it! So, we have to be VERY careful with sweet Lila B. and our kitten! (this is Tim's favorite highlight!)

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September took us down to San Antonio again because my brother Steve came for a visit! That doesn't happen often, so we all got together for a family snapshot. We had a great time hanging out with Steve and Mark. We wish we could see them more often. Thanks Zack, for going with us to take the picture

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Halloween is a major holiday in the Wright house! That is because of Maggie. You see, Maggie dresses up ALL THE TIME, I'm talking about almost daily, just to entertain herself! I thought she would grow out of this weird habit, but she is 14 and still doing it! So, Halloween is the one day a year when she can put on a costume and it is normal! The problem is, this is a very expensive habit and it seems to cost more and more as she gets older! This year Tim was Racer X from Speed Racer, I was a Hunchback with a bulgy eye, Charlie was a Pig, and Maggie was a Fa-wee Pwinthess (Maggie's version of a Fairy Princess !) Tommy didn't dress up because he is a party pooper!



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And that brings me to where I started this blog! It has been a great 2008 for our family and we feel so blessed - no, really - We have thought a lot in the past several weeks about all of the things that we have to be grateful for, and there are too many to count. I pray that 2009 will be just as good for us, and that we can live our lives worthy of all the blessings we hope to receive. We never want to be caught being ungrateful to our Heavenly Father. We are lucky to have each other and we love one another so much. We all love our Heavenly Father and have a strong testimony of him, of His Son, all that he has done on our behalf, and in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A few things that we wanted to document that we don't have great pictures of:

Maggie turned 14, Tommy turned 44, Jenni turned 37. Maggie dyed her hair hot pink for the summer, Tim dyed a blue star on the side of his head! Tim got glasses. Tommy and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. We remodeled a lot of the house (wood floors, built Maggie a living room - pics to come upon completion)

Check out the slide for more random "year in review" shots.

Also, see Maggie's blog on my blog list to the right, "Moments with Maggie"

Dallas Arboretum

The weather was just beautiful today - 74 degrees and sunny - so we all felt like it would be wrong to stay inside. We took a little trip to the Dallas Arboretum. There weren't many flowers in bloom - maybe because it is January and it should be freezing - but it was pretty anyway. We had a quick picnic and spent a few hours walking the grounds, soaking up the warm sun. It brought back some good memories of Maggie's childhood, when she & I bought an annual Arboretum membership and would go several times a week for lunch. I always intended to do a lot of walking for exercise, but we mostly ended up laying on the ground watching clouds or feeding the squirrels! It was her favorite place to be back then! This time, she showed Tim her best spot - Monster Hill, as she calls it. She even showed him how to roll down it real fast! We took Maggie's friend Haley with us and of'course I snapped a few pictures...