Post-Christmas and Shingles

 I love when kids have new toys/books/activities.  They are totally happy exploring their new things and letting mom and dad sleep in.  Greg's headache started getting more severe, along with eye pain and sores on his head.  We initially thought they were zits since he was constantly holding his head but we finally went to the doctor and found that Greg has shingles.  Initially we were pretty skeptic since we knew nothing about the disease, but after reading more and more about it online, we knew the doctor was right.  While it hasn't been the greatest post Christmas season, Greg is doing better.  He went to an eye doctor today and found out that he doesn't have any permanent damage which is a huge relief.
I got a bunch of closets and the basement organized over the last few days and found our old guitar hero equipment.  I can't believe it has been in the basement for about 2 years!  Some wires are broken and so it probably is garbage, but the kids had fun making a concert for us.  It was very fun to watch.

 Later that night I tried to cut Nathan's hair but was a little distracted and forgot to put the length piece on.  I started laughing hysterically and couldn't stop.  Nathan was not laughing.  I apologized over and over and did my best to fix it.  Luckily he doesn't have school for another week and it should look normal by then.

Merry Christmas One and All

 Everything was ready...now if only those boys would wake up!  The girls were up first and waited patiently for their big brothers to roll out of bed.  Ryan made his entrance last at 7:45! That is pretty normal for Christmas morning at our house.  I love that they don't wake up super early.

 Present were opened and I didn't see any unhappy faces.  We had a lot more family gifts and shared gifts this year.  Always hoping to foster more sibling love.

 Once the gifts were opened the kids started playing, building, riding and reading.

 An extra special Christmas gift was SNOW!  I may not be the biggest fan of snow, but we haven't had any this season and it was a beautiful white Christmas!  I took the kids out and we tried to build a snowman but it wasn't the best snow.  Annabelle tried to build a hill to sled on.  It was fun to watch her try and try again. 

 We had a few of Greg's family over for Christmas dinner.  I was worried about everyone coming in the snow, but they all safely came.  We borrowed a card table and had room for everyone to sit.  The food was delicious and the games and chatter was great.  Greg had been suffering from a headache all week and it started getting worse toward the end of the day.  He dealt with it well enough and we pulled off a great party.  We learned one of our new games and spent time with family.  I love that people are willing to come to my house, as I do not like to travel on Christmas.

 Love this MAN!

The 12 Days of Christmas

This has been a really hard last 2 months.  There have been a lot of life-changing and difficult things for our family to deal with.  I am pretty sure I jinxed myself when I recently mentioned to someone that my life was pretty simple and I wondered when my challenges were going to hit.  Well, hit they did!  Some more private than public, but through them all I have had an incredible support system of family and friends.  I feel so blessed to have so many people around me that care about my well-being and my family's.  There have been some really hard days and if it wasn't for service rendered, phone calls made, or texts or emails received, I wouldn't have made it through the day as easily as normal.  On the 13th of December we received a neighbor gift, including a shepherd and a quote about how Jesus Christ is our shepherd.  I thought it was a sort of weird gift.  A nice shepherd, but just a shepherd.  I even told Greg I was going to donate it to DI after the Christmas season.  The next day we got another yummy treat and a lamb.  I thought it could maybe be a coincidence, but maybe not.  The next day we found the creche on our doorstep along with a quote about how we need to have a sure foundation for our family.  And each day after we received a piece of the nativity.  They are beautiful pieces.  Large pieces.  We had them on our counter for awhile and then moved them to the piano.  We felt so loved and so special.  I have wanted a nice nativity for some time, but just hadn't spent the time and energy to find one.  This one is perfect.  On the bottom of each piece is written the name of the family who gave it to us.  I will treasure this gift forever. 

Christmas Jammies

 This year I didn't just get everyone a whole outfit of pajamas.  I assessed what they still had and made sure to get them just what they needed.  And it was a big success.  The boys loved their robes.  Annabelle her fuzzy pants and Callie her outfit.  Now I can get rid of some of the jammies that are getting to old and too small.  Merry Christmas!

Salt Lake Excursion

My sister Wendy gave us the fabulous gift of tickets to the ice skating rink at the Gallivan Center.  We always want (I always want) to go to SLC at Christmas time to see the lights and the Macy's candy displays.  Since we didn't have any snow I thought it would be a perfect day trip.  And it was.

We took frontrunner up to Salt Lake and then jumped on Trax to the Gallivan center.  At first the kids were a little skeptical about skating outside, but they all did great.

The boys are way better than I am and much more confident.  Annabelle, who has only gone 2 times, did fabulous all on her own.  Callie wanted to do way more than she could, but she even let go of the wall and wobbled a little on her own.  When Greg and I were done we had to convince the girls that it was time to go, they wanted to stay all night.

We headed back up to the City Creek area to get some dinner and ran into a few friends from home.

We ended up eating with them and then walking through the temple lights.  It is so magical there, I love it!  We didn't stay too long since it was getting cold and we could make the 6:30 train if we hurried.  Luckily we were on time for the 6:00 train and made it home in time for a relaxing evening.