A Day in the Life...

Christmas Day at Grandma and Grandpa's!  Lots of cousins, lots of gifts, lots of smiles and laughter, lots of food (including a chocolate fountain, yummy!), gag-gift earrings that the kids actually liked, a heated game of Family Feud (which I'd been waiting for for two months), and lots of love.  Fun times!  This right here is Micah decked out in Cabelas' gear.  A month ago we ran into my parents at Cabela's and much to my father's delight, Micah exclaimed how much she loved the store and wanted their clothes.  So she got it and hasn't taken it off.   I love love love that my mom decorated for Christmas in the addition and just shoved all the tools, ladders, and other stuff to the side.  The girls and I picked out some decor she can decorate with when it's all done, but my mom's got a jump start on how it's going to look! ************************************************************** Life at Christmas is the best.  If i

I heard the girls go downstairs about 5:30, run back up, run back down, and they stayed downstairs until I hollered at them to come back up.  They read their notes from Santa and Copper exclaimed, "I heard Santa last night!  He was doing our dishes!"  Amazing of him to clean up after himself after he drank the milk and ate the cookies they left him. They took their time opening gifts and we all enjoyed it much better than the hustle bustle it sometimes is.  Santa brought Copper an MP3 music player, Dakota a fancy art kit and things to go with it, and Micah a tiger-colored remote control car.  Stockings were full of gum, candy canes, bath crackles, a stuffed animal, and mini apple ciders.  Tim and I decided to do a Lego theme and bought a jumbo jungle scene, much loved by the girls but especially Tim himself.  We also got a family game of Monopoly Cheaters and Micah found herself handcuffed for being caught cheating.  Copper hasn't stopped listening to music a

Before the shenanigans at Oma and Opa's on Christmas Eve, we traditionally opened a new Christmas book and read it as a family.  Usually I pick out a nativity book but this year I picked out Thomas S. Monson's The Christmas Train  and it's the cutest story of the moment realized when giving is better than receiving.  We read the story of Christ's birth in the scriptures, prayed in gratitude, and snacked on crackers and cheese balls. Oma and Opa's Christmas Eve!  Lots of giggles, lots of stuffed animals, lots of smiles, good food, games, and family.  Good times!

Christmas Eve Eve might be one of my new favorite days in a year, especially today because it's a Sunday.  Starting this year, Christmas Eve Eve is the day we celebrate Christ more than we do any other day of the season.  Christmas Eve is spent with Oma and Opa, who don't celebrate Christ, and Christmas Day is spent with my family, who does recognize Christ on Christmas but the day ends up being crazy busy.  So I've designated Christmas Eve Eve to be the day my own little family celebrates our Savior.  A fancy dinner, special lesson, and activity all to remind us of not only how Christ was born, but why and what it means to us personally and as a family. To start off the day, though, I let the girls open new books I got them.  They spent 40 minutes reading, and Tim finished reading the Book of Mormon for the end-of-the-year challenge that President Nelson gave in October.  (I finished two weeks ago- that's a record in reading the BOM!).  I got Copper the book Wish Tre

Last Friday night the kids were gone so Tim and I attempted to go on a date to Temple Square.  It took us an hour to get to Sandy, so we ditched going into Salt Lake, found someplace to eat, and called it an early night.  We tried again, this time with the girls, last night.  Traffic and crowds were much better and we loved it.  I love the lights, the temple in the middle of it, the small around-the-world nativities, and the fun spirit of the night.  We walked to Macy's to see the candy windows, which I think the girls liked more than anything else. My life for about a month or so has revolved around the ward Christmas Party.  I was asked to head up a committee and be in charge of dinner and entertainment for 200... what a task.  I had a pretty bad attitude about it for the last little bit because, really, what a job.  But I had good helpers.  I let the perfectionists be perfectionists, let the ones that dislike the spotlight stay out of the spotlight, and carried on.  T

Dakota.  This gal right here.  She's so beautiful, with her eyes and her hair and her heart and her personality.  She has the personality that's bigger than life- as long as we're within the walls of our own home.  Outside in the world she's a bit more reserved and shy sometimes.  At home, she's a chatterbox and full of emotion and drama.  She's the biggest tease and instigator, super playful and teasing until it's about her, then she's all tears.  Lots of tears. Everynight we (try to) read scriptures from the Book of Mormon stories for kids.  I like it best when Dakota reads because she's full of LIFE when she reads.  She's dramatic and her voice exaggerates, heightnes, and lowers depending on what's going on.  She'll read for a bit, then say things like "DUN, DUN, DUN" or "Drumroll!" or "Oh no!" or  "Wait for it!" or "Oooo... exciting!" I tried to video it but it's too b

A few Saturdays ago we went to my nephew Daxton's baptism.  During the program, Micah sat on my lap and I whispered to her: "This will be you and Kota in about eight months!  Look at these little girls' dresses... do you like this one?"  She said no.  "This one?" "No."  "How about that one?"  "No." She's hard to buy for and is pretty specific about what she likes.  On Sundays when we go to church, she wears a plain maroon skater dress that says "FEARLESS 101" on it, with her Vans sneakers.  It's not worth fighting so I don't really care what she wears.  So on Saturday after the baptism, I should not have been surprised when she said, "I will wear a dress like this, except white, and it will say 'Fearless' because God makes me not afraid."  So that's that.  No judging when this sweet thing has FEARLESS plastered on her baptism dress! That weekend we went to my mom's to see what

I've been going to AA meetings several times a month with one of my favorite people I serve at work.  It's incredibly sad that a 17 year old has been drinking for eight years (yikes) and has been through super crazy things.  But, I get to experience AA because of it and after a few meetings, I have to say I kinda like them!  (Take away the sometimes awful language and crude humor).  I stick out like a sore thumb, especially because I take notes on my phone about what I like, but I kinda don't care! Here's what I realized yesterday when I went:  These alcoholics in recovery, those who are really sincere, use God to help them through.  It's the basis of a 12 step program- that a higher power takes the battle, that we turn it over to Him.  Yesterday I looked around at this crowd and thought, "Their God is my God."  My Heavenly Father is their Heavenly Father.  He's not just a "Latter Day Saint" God; He is everyone's God, and he's in ev

We already bought, made, and ate our gingerbread houses.  It was a bit of a disaster.  My Kota is the only one whose house didn't fall apart (purposefully, like Micah's when she ate the wall, or accidentally, like Copper's- whose house couldn't stay up no matter how much frosting).  Fun times! My dad put up his array of Christmas animal lights and added a gigantic minion to the mix, much to our delight. Playing Santa and Rudolph... Letters to Santa: Dear Santa, (crossed out reads:  I love Christmas.  I love it so much I want it to be once a month).  "Do you know what I want for Christmas?  I want a chapter book, coloring book, stuffed animal, feet pj's, and in my stocking I would like chapstick, candy canes, nail polish, and that is all I want for Christmas.  I got a tall Christmas tree.  But I don't have a chimney. I wish I had a chimney so you could go down the chimney.  I love Christmas.  It is my favorite holiday."

A week or so before Thanksgiving, my older brother and his family came down so we all got together for a Thanksgiving meal of soup and bread.  I only took one picture at dinner (of Amber and Taryn), but rest assured we all had a good time.  After dinner, the kids all went to Walmart with $10 each that my mom gave them.  Her fun idea was to have them draw names and buy for each other.  We had fun sneaking around the toys/games aisles so nobody saw what we were getting.  It'll be fun opening more gifts on Christmas!  I love how my mom thinks of fun things to do each year and the kids had a blast picking stuff out for each other. Actual Thanksgiving came a week later and what a busy, fun day!  I got up early and walked a 5k.  I planned on running but new news about my neck and back brought the doctor saying "No running right now!" So I walked. Disappointingly, I only run about 6-7 minutes faster than my fastest walk.  But it was a beautiful three miles along the Jordan