Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was lovely.

Christmas Eve day, I was still working on some finishing details for some presents --- feeling a little overwhelmed, but hopeful. ;) Somehow, without our volunteering, it was our family's turn to clean our church building so Nels took the girls to go give some holiday service while I stayed home sewing and crocheting with my Clarie.

We kept our candlelight Christmas Eve dinner relatively simple this year and enjoyed the evening together reading out of Luke, watching a couple Christmas videos from the LDS.org website, opening jammies, and then watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" together before sending the kids to bed. We let Elsie sleep with her older sisters in their bed and they were all so excited - but also very, very tired - so they went to sleep pretty quickly.

They were so cute all snuggled up together! As I went to check on them about half an hour later, they were all intertwined and happily snoozing away. I whispered happy Christmas wishes and love to each of them, kissing their darling little cheeks, and as I did so, Hazel smiled in her sleep. Nels and I asked her a couple of questions, to which she smiled or nodded or sleep-answered. It was so cute! and so funny. Adorable. I'm just the luckiest mom.

As Nels and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" while we finished wrapping and preparing, it started snowing. It was such a beautiful and perfect night.

The next morning, I think I was just as excited for the kids to open their presents as they were, so we told the girls that they had to stay in bed until 6:30. At about that time, Clara woke up to eat and then by 6:45, the other girls were awake.

It was just such a fun and perfect morning.

Growing up, Christmas was always so amazing. My parents were excellent Santas and it was always magical. As a parent, I've realized that they set a pretty high standard and have tried very hard to recreate some of that for my own children. As a teenager, when most of my gifts were clothes that I'd picked out for myself :), clear through the time when I got married, Christmas lost some of it's excitement. I was always grateful and it was always fun, but it just wasn't the same as when we were little children. But I have to say, I think that Christmases now, with my own growing children are just as exciting to me as when I was a child myself. I love it. I love being a mom!

Violet and her WONDERPETS! :)

Lilie was SO excited for me to open a present that she'd bought for me at her school's Santa Store. For weeks she's been telling me that red diamonds are the rarest diamonds on earth . . .

One of the best gifts I've ever received. From a girl that loves her mama.

Elsie opening "Purpleberry".

And Hazel excited about her "Clover".

And all three girls with the Nightfurys. :) I love how Lilie looks a little blah. She was excited for her sisters to have a dragon so that all of them could play together, but you can see from her face that even though she still LOVES her own Toothless, she was a little sad she didn't have a new one also.

Don't worry. Her holiday woes were short-lived. :)

A BABY Nightfury! What could be more cute?

I can't even explain how excited I was to give these dragons to the girls. Nels was proud of me for being willing to put in so much work to make our girls' Christmas extra special and it was the most rewarding thing in the world to see their sweet little faces fill with excitement.

Last year, when I gave the original Toothless to Lilie (finally blogged about that a year later!), Nels had asked if I thought "Santa Claus" should give it to her. I answered with an quick and very firm, NO. There is NO. WAY. I would give the credit for so much happiness and hard work to a bunch of imaginary elves! These girls will know that their Mama did that just for them. Because I am able and because they are loved.

Santa Claus can take credit for gigantic lollipops and sugar cereal. :)

Violet and Elsie were very excited about their new dolly beds! So cute! That itty-bitty doll that Vi is tucking into that bed was a gift from Hazel. I love watching my little girl play with her little dollies. So fun!

It was such a fun Christmas morning.

After playing and relaxing for a bit, we ate breakfast and got ready to go to church. Our ward had a lovely combined service that was a simple musical program. I had an opportunity to sing a beautiful version of "Silent Night" in a quartet. It reminded me how much I love singing. Sometimes I forget.

I am so thankful this Christmas to my Heavenly Father for all that he has given me, most especially these sweet little people and my wonderful husband that bless my life with so much love and joy. I am so thankful to my Savior for giving me an opportunity to be with them forever. I'm so thankful for families.

"Mom, did you know that humans have HUGE brains? That's why we're omnivores."

Elsie has been feeding me all sorts of cool facts she's gleaned from Dinosaur Train.

I keep thinking I'm going to have something brilliant to say about the new year.

It's 2012. Twelve years since I graduated from high school. The year I turn 30. Our ten year anniversary. The year the world is going to end . . .

But you know what? All I can think about, day and night, is moving out of this apartment and into a house. It consumes my waking thoughts and keeps me from sleeping at night.

In college, there was one semester where I was taking two chemistry classes simultaneously. Chem 106 and Organic Chemistry. In a stroke of genius (probably at about 1:15 in the morning on the opening day of class scheduling), I decided that I should schedule both my Chem labs on the same day. So each Tuesday, between classes and labs, I had something like 8 hours Chemistry straight. Then I'd come home and study. Every Tuesday night, as I lay in bed, my mind would start to wander and somewhere between being awake and asleep, I'd start to visualize 3-dimensional models of organic molecules. Rotating them in my mind, seeing angles, and imagining how they would bond with other chemicals. (I know, I know. I'm awesome. :)

The last couple of weeks have been kind of like that.

However, instead of rotating 3-D organic molecules, I'm walking through house after house that we've looked at, imagining my furniture and the space and how we could use it. Would all our things fit? Would it flow comfortably? Would I feel crowded? Is it too little room? Too much? Did it have cable hook-ups? Where could I put my sewing machine? How would I cope with having a front yard of nothing but concrete? Would I get a dog? Would they let me remove the wallpaper? Do I WANT to remove wallpaper? Why would anyone put carpet in a bathroom? What would that driveway be like in the winter? What would the golfers think of my kids running onto the green while they're lining up their putt? On and on and on - 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Finally falling asleep, only to be woken up by Clara needing to eat again . . . and then purposefully trying to not think again before I get to fall back to sleep.

I'm so tired. And I'm so tired of thinking about it.

But I'm kind of compulsive like that. I've vowed to never play Tetris again for this very reason. Do any of you get Tetris Brain? :) I think I'm hard-wired to over-think things.

Hopefully, by Monday, we'll be able to make a decision. We're waiting for a couple of different landlords to let us know if they will accept some of our propositions. Things like replacing nasty carpet or accepting a couple hundred dollars less in rent.

I'm just really hoping that once we get some answers and make a decision, I'll be able to settle my mind and finally get some sleep again. ---- And that we'll be able to get somewhere with enough room to fill the whole summer with all of you coming to visit us here and play at the beach! :)

How Lovely Are Thy Branches

So after my post about different ideas for Christmas trees, I asked Nels what he thought we should do and showed him a couple of alternatives.

We both like all of them, but in the end, wouldn't you know it -- we chose to go get our own tiny tree. :)

It was such a fun day! Hazel had been invited to a birthday party that day, so she opted to miss out on finding the tree with us, but before she needed to be to the party we had time to quickly go take our family Christmas picture all together - which turned out very fun and very cold! :)

SO CUTE! I just love these little Chickies!

After ditching Hazel, we stopped to get some quick grub at Taco Bell and headed down the road.

I was freshly amazed at how beautiful this place is. It is so fun to go driving down some of the back country roads through the mountains. There is a plethora of pines and finding a little, perfectly shaped tree wasn't difficult at all.

By the time we were ready to go grab our little beauty, however, the youngest three had passed out, so it was just me, Nels, and Lilie. It was fun and not nearly so exciting as last year - no sledding, no real trudging :) - but it was calm, beautiful, and really sweet.

It was really fun to have some special time with my Lilie. She was so cute, completely enthralled with the ice crystals that the fog had made all over everything, and totally happy to have the quiet alone time with Mama and Daddy. It was a really great day!

Updating

Hey there friendlies.

I'm going to be spending some time over the next month or so updating some things on my blog that I've missed over the past year . . . What a busy year it has been. I'm thankful that I have my blog in part because I can see patterns in my life that are interesting to me.

One I've found to be true is that when I'm pregnant, I have a hard time wanting to write about what's going on in our lives. Especially in the first half of my pregnancy. As a result, there was a lot from the end of last December to this June that I didn't write about. Then around the time that I started feeling pretty good, Nels was working crazy hours getting ready to Melaleuca's yearly convention, then after that . . . well life pretty much hit the fan. :) So. I'm playing catch up. Not really for you, but for me. When I print my blog, I don't want there to be the gaping holes that there are right now. There are also a couple of spots where I've come across some pictures that Nels took that I never posted. I'm going to add some of those too.

So if your blog reader starts showing crazy posts from a year ago, that's why. Sorry. I guess you'll get a little recap of the past year in our lives. :)

It's a Wonderful Life

What a beautiful day.

So wonderful. I have such a wonderful little family. I have the things that are most important.

I am so blessed.

Today I took a couple of minutes to fill in my calendar for next year with birthdays and school schedules and whatnot. Looking through my calendar from the past year.

Meet up at park with Jandy.
Watch Stef's kids.
Weekend in Bountiful.
Work at the Apple.
Book Fair at Falls Valley Elementary.
Ward party at the Ammon Swimming pool.
Dinner at the Jones's.
Grafs staying at our house for a few days.
Week in Mountain Home with the Chicks.

Looking at our schedule, I couldn't believe how busy this past year was and how much I miss so many good parts of my life.

And then I noticed, intermingled with the fun and the friends, all the times Nels wasn't there with us. Conventions, long weeks or weekends where we only saw glimpses of him. All the trips we took without him (almost all). We missed him, but we'd also been doing it for so long, that it had become kind of normal. Having it be so different now, I can see how much we were missing together as a family. How calm our family feels now.

And I had it confirmed to me again that we are where we need to be. Life has thrown us some fun new learning experiences this year, but man. It's beautiful.

We are together. We are a family. It's just so good.

Today was perfect. I'm so thankful for these years when our kids are little. It was a magical and very happy Christmas.