Seth visits the Big Guy!

Today, Seth got a special visit with Santa during his preschool party!

I love that the same Santa visits each year! And did you notice how big Seth has grown in just one year! How'd that happen?



It's Christmas Time

I love Christmas! It means family time to me. And I love to be with my family. We haven't done lots of the things we typically do for one reason or another, but we have done some things that have been so enjoyable. Our family has watched a number of Christmas movies together, and then they inevitably lead to us talking about various themes related to love. I have loved this new tradition...even if some of the movies have been cheesy!


We love going to see the lights at Temple Square, but somehow we still haven't made it down there yet. Maybe tomorrow night, or maybe Christmas night, we will head downtown. If it stops raining! Can you believe it? It has been raining and snowing for about 4 days here. Thankfully it warms up in the day time so the roads are not slick and icy, but the idea of walking around downtown in the rain hasn't sounded good to any of us.


We made a gingerbread house...it promptly caved in, but the boys were excited about that as that meant they could go to town eating it. I secretly think they planned for it to be weak and cave in, so they could start eating it and not wait til Christmas day. The Chief made some caramels and I made some Christmas cookies with my bestest gf, Shauna. And we have had a lot of fun doing our Secret Santa around the house with our own family.




The traditional Santa photo from 2009...we haven't made it to see the Big Man this year yet!

 I'm most excited for the long weekend, where the 5 of us can be together. I dream of playing games, ticklefests, movies with us all snuggled on the couch, hot cocoa, and maybe even some Christmas caroling, in the family room of course. The Chief knows better than to let me sing in public! And of course, there will be Wii tournaments! Santa will be bringing some new games which we will be working on mastering!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!



I kissed a 45 year old man today!

 Happy Birthday, Schatz! You have grown up well! You may be older than me, but you still look like a young man! I'm glad you are my husband, my lover, the father of my 3 boys, and my best friend! I hope you enjoy your birthday present...and we will all benefit from the beautiful photos you will create with it! Happy, Happy Birthday!


Looking hot at 45



Life is beautiful with my guy!

Happy Birthday Setheroo!

My baby is 5 today.

On the Eve of his Birthday,

he laid in my lap,

and asked me to tell him the story of the day he was born.

 It was so fun to cuddle with my baby

 as I told him the story of his

Grand Entrance!

We love you Seth and we are so glad you are a part of our family!

Happy Birthday!

Leaving Germany

It's been 18 years

since I flew home from Germany.

From my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I want to go back to visit.

And take my boys.

And ride the train and see the countryside.

And talk with the people, and eat some dampfknodel that I would buy from some stand on the side of the road.

And I want to take the boys to see the beautiful countryside that is Germany.

Someday, we will go.

It's on my Big List!

And we are making progress, crossing things off the list.

So, someday, I'll say,

"Hallo Deutschland!"

again.

Today, I'll just hold onto the memories.

Secret Santa Time

My family borrowed this tradition from my older sister and her family. We started it three years ago and it is definitely one of my favorite traditions of the holiday season! On Thanksgiving evening (or the next morning as was the case for us this year) we draw names from our family of 5. And we keep the name private, to be revealed on Christmas Eve. Then, we become "Secret Santas" to that person and do nice things for them all month long, without getting caught. We also buy a small gift for that person. We have a $10 limit, and this year, each of the boys earned their $10 doing chores. They try to discover what their secret santa would want. It is so cute to watch them. Tonight, I took McKay and Noah loaded up with their wallets to Wally World to do their shopping. McKay requested that he be allowed to go off on his own to shop, so we agreed to meet up in 25 minutes, after I gave him the paranoid mommy speech about not talking to strangers, not leaving the store unless it was on fire, and well, you know the drill, I don't need to go into all my other paranoid warnings! Anyhow, Noah spent 25 minutes agonizing over what he wanted to buy for his secret santa. And then he wanted to pay the cashier all on his own with mom standing way back. He was so proud of himself. McKay was pleased with his purchases as well, and then without me saying anything, he put his change into the Salvation Army bucket outside the store, and encouraged his brother to do the same. Then they came home and quickly hide their gifts, and later they will use up more than a roll of tape to wrap their special gifts. (I need to work with them on the art of proper wrapping, I guess!)

I love this Secret Santa tradition for many reasons but probably one of the best things about it is teaching my children the importance of giving. Giving of their time and service, and also learning to become good gift givers. This is a skill that everyone needs to learn, and it can be hard if mom is always the one to buy the gifts and put their names on the label. It teaches the boys to be unselfish and to show charity toward one of their family members and the results are already obvious...we have a more loving family, where the kids are trying to catch each other doing good, and this to me is what Christmas is all about, what Jesus wants us to do this holiday season.  If you want to adopt this tradition, feel free...I hope your family will enjoy it as much as ours does!

Oh yeah, and I finished up my Christmas Cards this evening...so check your mailbox soon!