We want to wish you a merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Let it Snow

Allie has been begging for snow and so we finally got some one afternoon.  The girls wanted to go out to play in it even though it was late and I was not really in the mood but we went out anyway.  It was good because the next day Allie was really sick, I had to go to Price to get some last minute things and by the time we got home all the snow was gone.  So we enjoyed it while it lasted.  Allie has still be sick and said she was never going to eat snow again because it made her sick.  We shall see about that.

When we're helping we're happy.

Yep that is true for my kitchen help. 

And the first place trophy goes to....

Temple Lights-the tradition lives on.

The past 2 years we have gone to Salt Lake to see the lights on temple square with my long time friends Tali and Preston.  This year we did it again -only it is getting tougher cause our kids are bigger and don't want to ride in the stroller and it is such a packed place.  Usually we see the lights and eat at Olive Garden but we skipped the eating because Tali just recently had a baby boy Crosby and he was having nothing to do with the eating.  We will resume that next year.  It was wonderful to see our friends and the girls were so excited about all the baby Jesus's they would see.  The lights are so amazing and I love being there are Christmas.

I love this picture.  Have to frame it with "the temple I am going there some day."

The girls watching this cute senior bride and groom in the background.

Greg with the girls and Miles (Tali and Preston's son).

Aren't the lights so spectacular.

The kids in front of a beautiful tree with expressions that speak volumes.

One more look at baby Jesus.

For my girls

When my dad was diagnosed with cancer this spring I was pretty heartbroken.  I took my girls and went home for a while to wait until things got better.  I went to see him in the hospital for the first time and when I had a minute alone with him he asked, "how long are you going to stay" and I answered (through my tears), "until you get better."  But he didn't get better-not while I was there (in fact he didn't even get out of the hospital in the time I was there) and he kept getting worse in the weeks and months to follow.  Before I left I sat beside him on his hospital bed to tell him that I loved him just in case I didn't get to say it to his face again. I had plans to say a lot more but it was awkward so I left it at that.   There are lots of times that I wish my dad was better with showing his feelings and being a bit more sentimental about things.  Sometimes a daughter just has things she needs to say to her father that require an extra amount of sensitivity.  The weeks and months following made me think a lot about ways to show my girls that I love them, both right now and in the future.  I think that if I was possibly in my last days (if I had the chance to know an end might be coming) I would want to call them every day, or more than once a day to say hello and tell them that I love them.  I would want them to find evidence of my love in all the things that are around them as well as in memories that they have.  I have a box for each girl in the basement in which I keep special things for them.  I have been trying to add little gems of love more often so that when they get older they will have as many reminders as possible that their mom loves them.  This is one of those gems.  It is a slide show of my favorite pictures of the girls.  There is no particular order.  The music speaks thoughts from my heart.  It is about 20 minutes long so I don't expect many of you to sit through it (except for my mom of course and Auntie Helen and Uncle Doug).  If nothing else though maybe you could watch it through the first song.  I first heard this song months after Brailie was born.  I was struggling with post partum depression and was having a really difficult time.  This song came at just the right time for me.

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Decorating the Tree

Since we decided to stay home by ourselves for Thanksgiving we decided that we would just use that morning to get our Christmas tree.  The weather was perfect-cut the tree in our t-shirts and long sleeved shirts (that would never happen in Sask.) The girls were excited and it is a really fun tradition.  That evening after we had stuffed ourselves on turkey dinner we decorated and I got the rest of my Christmas decorations out.

Here is our perfect tree and it really is perfect-no trimming, no reshaping.

A tradition-family picture with the tree

Playing in the dirt while dad cuts

A stick-how could we have an outside picture without a stick

I took this picture of Brailie upside down and through my legs

There he is-the tree slayer

Here is the tree with the new tree skirt I made from a table cloth

Brai putting on the star that was Greg's family as a boy

Adding the decorations-she loved this

Allie loved it too but was done after 3 ornaments and wanted to watch more movies.

Bathtub Paint

I saw this idea on Pinterest about making bathtub paint using shaving cream and food coloring.  I decided that that sounded messy enough for my girls to enjoy and so I gave it a try.  I was not so thrilled to see how much the food coloring would stain one's skin but I hoped that they would get most of it on the bathtub and not on themselves.  They did have a blast though Brailie was not impressed when she found out it didn't taste as good as it looked.  It was a project that required constant monitoring since I didn't want them to paint all over themselves (though Brailie did get it on lots of spots and it was gone by the end of her bath).  I rinsed them off and then cleaned the tub (which came perfectly clean) and then gave them a bath after.  It was a fun project.

Get Your Loves Back Mama

  The morning routine is by far my least favorite time of the day-getting girls to their rooms, clothes on, hair combed, teeth brushed.  It seems to take a year (though it is really only about a 1/2 hour maybe).  It just causes me frustration, especially when we actually have to get out the door to go somewhere.  The other morning I was brushing Allie's teeth and expressing my frustration and she said, "mom you have got to get your loves back and your goods back so that you won't be frustrated all the time."  I considered myself smacked upside the head and have taken note and worked harder ever since.

Baby Jesus at Park

I hear those words about 10 times a day if not more from Brailie, "baby Jesus at park mama".  First we saw the stable set up and the manger but no baby Jesus yet.  We had to walk by daily to see if he was there.  And then on Wed the 23rd he was there and I had two excited girls.  These are pictures from our first visit. 

At first the girls were a bit timid with all the figures around.

Getting closer

Close enough to touch Him now

Allie holding Him which she asked if she could

You can see how excited she was from the look on her face

People in town driving by must wonder if we are vandalizing or what.  I have to say everytime we stop by I am nearly moved to tears at the experience.  The girls speak in a whisper and are so gentle and caring.  We even went another time and took a blanket (which was their idea) and a wipe for the baby.  We took the wipe because he was really dirty.   The girls cleaned him off as well as the other figurines and the sheep and camel.  Allie thought that maybe we needed to take him some diapers because he was a baby but I told her that Mary would take care of that.  It is all things Baby Jesus at our house right now.  The nativity sets are a major hit, we sing songs and read stories and it is all with no prompting on my part.  I feel blessed that they are so excited and enamored with the Savior of the world.  Brailie's Christmas list to Santa reads, "Dora, Diego and baby Jesus."  I am humbled and consider myself taught everyday.