Christmas Morning

Memories start flooding back of childhood Christmas' waiting in your bedroom (or in some cases your siblings bedrooms) for Santa's arrival in the wee hours of the morning.  Your brother and sister accompany you, having a lengthy and all too important discussion about what is yet to be Christmas morning.  Then reality hits you only to realize that it's not you anymore, it's now your children following suit without any coaxing.

This is what it was like this last Christmas morning as the Ramirez family joined us for the holiday week.  There were 11 stockings and 7 children in all.  Four of which got up at...I kid you not...3:00a all plotting and planning with great excitement what, if anything yet, laid under the tree for them.  They were scolded and told not to do anything until at least 5:30a.  Well, gotta' give them credit, at least they waited until 5:00a!  The pandemonium that followed was just as expected.

 

  

It was nice to have two rounds of Christmas morning.  There were still 3 little ones that weren't quite ready for the glee until around 8:30a.

When all was said and done, all the parents felt satisfied that their children were happy.  And the laziness, relaxation, and try-outs of new toys began for the remainder of the day.  Oh, how fleeting the Christmas season is.  Why does it have to come and go so fast?

Baking Cookie Fun

This year Glenn decided he wanted to play the role of a baker.  He baked for about 4-5 days straight.  Some of the things included were two cakes, about 10 dozen sugar cookies, 6 dozen peanut butter cookies, homemade butter cream frosting, and more!  (Apron compliments of my sister, he looks dashing in it, does he not?)

This is a small example of some sugar cookies he made...they turned out great!

The kids all got in on the fun decorating some cookies for themselves and for santa too!

The finished product of the day's adventure in baking to be divied out amongst friends and family...yum!

I think we've had our fill of sweets this season for sure!  And Glenn told me the other day..."I think I'm done baking for the rest of the year."  Yeah...which ends in a week, so does that mean he starts all over again come next week? =]

Merry Christmas!

The Path to Santa

On Monday night we decided to venture out to Christmas Villiage in Ogden to see Santa and make sure he knew exactly what we wanted for Christmas.  While at the Christmas Villiage we got to see many miniature buildings all decorated up in fun unique ways.  I must say, there were more lights there than there were at Temple Square...I'm impressed!  With fun snow on the ground and hot cocoa in our hands it made the whole experience memorable =]

 

 

Darius has always been shy about Santa and this year he's been asking a lot of questions.  I wonder what his thoughts are now after seeing this Santa?  I fear my little boy is growing up all too fast...

When Abbie walked into Santa's house, she looked at Santa and asked her dad, "Dad, is that the really real Santa?"  Daddy then asked Santa and he nodded.  Abbie then said in a whisper, "Dad, that's the REAL Santa!"

Last year could have been Emery's first meeting with Santa, but he was only about 4 weeks old and so I figured we'd wait.  This year is his first but next year will be more fun because he'll be two and much more aware of his surroundings.

As I reflect on this past year, we've had many ups and downs not much unlike a roller coaster at Lagoon, but it's a humbling thing to be able to end the year with peace and glad tidings.  May you all have the best of holiday seasons this year and reflect on what's really important in your life.  Not money, not "things", not power.  But family and the love of Christ.

Christmas on Temple Square

So last night we had the priviledge to visit Temple Square in Salt Lake City with the Ramirez family.  Outside the fact that it was blistering cold and seemingly endless crowds of people, we all had a really good time seeing the lights and completing part of the Christmas experience for this holiday season.

One of the most beautiful areas that was lit up on Temple Square was the Assembly Hall.  Of course, the pictures don't do it justice, but here's a peek...

The boys had so much fun together playing around and I hope they are able to remember this day as they grow older and talk about some of the times they've spent together such as this night.

Of course we tried to get all the cousins in together for a winter shot (just missing Reagan who was having a tough time that night...poor thing! and Hailey).

Across the mall area in front of the Church Office Building were several large nativity sets displayed outside.  Here's one of my favorites.

We are grateful for this time of year to be able to reflect on the true reason for Christmas and it's wonderful to see the different depictions from different lands on the nativity because that tells me that the world is still largely Christian.  (Hint...never go to the Temple Square on the last weekend before Christmas!...oh...and bring some hot chocolate too!)

 

We Have a Bear in our House!

Last night found us at Pack Meeting.  Darius just turned 9 in July which qualifies him for Bear level in the Scouts program.  At the pack meeting Darius earned many awards, one of them being the Bear award.  This award (like many level awards) takes most boys almost the entire year to get but Darius was able to acheive it in under six months.  We are so proud of him.  Ever since he started the scout program he's really gotten ahold of it and taken off.  He loves to earn the awards and get involved.

As part of the ceremony, the mother gets to paint special markings on the sons as they earn their special award for the level they're in.  This is the second time I've been able to do this and it's really neat to take part of this acheivement.  Sometimes, though, I feel like it should be his dad doing it instead of me.  Darius and his dad really are the ones that make it all happen.  I'm still learning all about this Scouts thing (even though I was a Weeblos leader for a short amount of time).  I grew up in a household made up of mostly girls and while there was the scout program in our home, I was too young to really understand it and don't really recall going to many of the events.

Along with his Bear award, Darius also earned several others.  Included in that was the Outdoors award complete with two pins, the Conservation award, the Leave no Trace Behind award, and the Recruiter award.  Darius earned the Recruiter award because he had been working for months on getting a friend of his to join in the fun at scouts and become part of the troop.  As of two weeks ago, this friend finally was able to go and turned in his official paperwork...way to go Darius!  When Darius finds something he loves, he is not shy about sharing it and that will make the perfect missionary which is Darius' dream when he grows up.  We are so proud of our son!

First Official Blog!

Okay, so I've had this site for a year and a half and this is the first time I've actually done anything with it.  I figured now is as good a time as any, right?  Since it's near the end of the year, let's recap what's gone on with our growing little family.

Last winter we spontaneously decided to drive up to Oregon to spend Christmas there with the Ramirez family and Mom Boice.  By spontaneously, I mean we decided about two to three weeks beforehand.  Little did we know we'd be heading towards a downright blizzard!  From what we hear, it was the worst in about 40 years.  But come heck or high water, by golly, we were going to make it!  It had been years since we had been to Oregon and we were itching to go no matter what.  As we left there was a storm here in Utah as well.  What should have been a 11-12 hr. trip took us almost two complete days.  All with an 8 year old, 6 year old, and 5 week old in tow.  In retrospect though, I'd do it again.  It was well worth it.  Glenn had to leave shortly after Christmas for work and I stayed in Oregon through January since I homeschooled the kids anyways.

About three weeks after returning to Utah I found myself in Oregon again for my mother's missionary farewell.  She left to Australia!  I was incredibly jealous, but also extremely happy for her.  Spent about a week there then returned again to Utah.

Shortly after returning home I found myself packing the house up.  We moved 4 miles away to a much better neighborhood and better condition home.

About two months after that with a five-six month old I discovered I was pregnant again...yes, I said pregnant.  And yes, that would make the two babies about 14-15 months apart.  This baby is due Valentine's day 2010 and is a girl =]  As this was discovered, we had decided to start our own trucking business via a friend of ours, however, the whole thing went backwards on us and gave us a few stress points, lightly speaking.  The following months had been very hard and testing for us, but our faith has never waivered.  No matter how hard or challenging it's been since summertime we've always had the mindset never to give up.

September found us yet again in Oregon watching my sister's children for her. While there we felt strongly about visiting the Portland Temple, so much so, that we went the very night we drove into town.  We needed guidance on what to do from this point with the business going under.  We came away with strong convictions and were so glad we went.  I'm not going to sugar coat it though.  It has been rough even since then because it's all in the Lord's time, not ours.  But we know what we learned at the temple and we are not going to back down on that no matter what happens.  Many prayers have been offered even by our children every morning and night for employment and finally, yesterday, those prayers have been answered.

Glenn has landed a job.  Albeit, not the most desireable schedule, but it's work, steady, and pays well.  It's what we need right now and he starts right after Christmas.  Another blessing!  Even though it's still financially a struggle until then, what a great thing to be able to have him home for Christmas.  After the holiday, he will be driving once again long haul.  Before you ask, yes, that will leave me 5 days a week by myself with a baby and a newborn come a couple of months from now, but it's a sacrifice we are prepared to make so that other things can happen that are important.  Such as education, which is once again going to happen this upcoming fall in Oregon.

Glenn is so blessed to be able to jump into a bachelor's program at Junior level and graduate within 1 1/2 - 2 years.  We are so looking forward to arriving back home were we belong.  It's not to say that all of our trials we've endured up until then, and our move to Utah was in vain.  Quite the contrary.  Had certain things not gone the way they did, we would not have oppourtunities that we have now.  The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways, but trusting in those mysterious ways is the key.

That brings us up to now.  With these decisions made and in progress, we can now enjoy the holidays with our loved ones and be at peace.  Is this not what the holidays are about?  The peace that Christ gives?  I am also very grateful for the great help we've received to make Christmas possible and as normal as it can be for our kids...we are TRULY BLESSED!

Okay, now that I've written a novel to get you updated on our family, my future blogs won't be nearly as long, I promise!

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Merry Christmas!!