Where did the month go?

WOW! It has been a long time since I last blogged! December came and went, and I'm still not sure what happened to it! What a busy, fun-filled month we had. Because we did so much I will just do a quick run down on our holiday events. On Thanksgiving morning, J always like to take the kids and go shot a few clay pigeons. This has become a tradition that Austin really looks forward to. Later that day J's kids stopped by for their 2nd Thanksgiving dinner. They are so thoughtful, and it really meant a lot to both J and I that they would come to our house AFTER already having a big dinner with their mom and Gary. It's always nice to have them come and visit. I love to have family around! Knowing that my kids where going to california for christmas I decided to let the kids help me decorate the tree. (I'm usually a big scrooge and wont let them help with the main tree in our front room.) They where so thrilled that they got to help this year, and it was fun to watch their excitement grow as they put up christmas. This year I decided to dip chocolates with Jennie and Lisa. Every time I would get fondant or chocolate out the kids would BEG to please be able to help. I just cant let them though cause it can be soooo messy! So I compromised with them and let them dip the white pretzels, and I quickly learned why I wont let them help with the other chocolates. They made the biggest mess, but they had fun doing it. So I guess that's all that matters!! Next we went to the Candellight Christmas at This is the place state park. It was bitterly cold, but the kids had so much fun that they didn't really even realize how cold they where until it was time to leave. They had a train that we could ride around the village and each house that participated had different crafts or something neat for the kids to learn about Pioneer Christmas'. We saw an old newspaper press and they showed us how the used to print the paper and gave each of the kids a copy of the first christmas card ever printed. We went into a one room cabin where a lady was cooking some beef stew over an open fire. It sure smelt yummy!! But the kids learned that most people where very fortunate to have a cabin even that big to give them shelter. They also learned that pioneer children, if they where lucky, would get ONE piece of candy for christmas. And that the children that did get one would savor it and take just a few licks a day to make it last as long as they could. Those are just a few of the experiences they had. It was very imformative and they had a great time!! We have decided to make it a new tradition every year. One I look forward to! Then we move on to one of my favorite yearly activities!! SNOWMOBILING!! J and I have decided to make it our own tradition to do it every year for our anniversary. I had never been until J took me for our honeymoon. I have really come to enjoy it. We have been able to go somewhere different every year so far. We had a great set up this year!! However, we did run into a few bumps in the road. At first we didn't think there would be enough snow to even be able to go, but while we where there our first night we where expecting a storm, and it delivered! The place we rented our snowmobiles from only had open face masks though. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal at first, but man did I immediately realize the benefit to having a helmet with a full face mask! I took my ear warmers and wrapped it around my helmet to protect my nose and then had my scarf to the wind from coming up through the neck. So, all in all, I was pretty well off. Poor J though! He kept getting brain freezes and by the time we where done, his mustach and beard was FULL of ice chunks!! He didn't complain though. He said he had a lot of fun too!! Once again, it was well worth the trip and I look forward to next year! Christmas morning was kinda hum-drum without the kids. But once again, J's kids to the rescue!! They came over in the afternoon and spent some time here. To have the buzz of kids in the house brought back the Christmas spirit for me. After stuffing ourselves full, J, Jake, and Shaun went out and started to build a fort. While Lisa, Amanda, Izzy and I stayed in where it was warm and watched chirstmas movies. It took a little longer to build the fort than they had intended so they left the rest of it for the kids to finish. What could have been a very sad, depressing christmas for me, turned out to be wonderful. Thanks to J's kids. They really are a joy in my life! I can't express it enough!

To finish the year off the kids have had a BLAST going to the park to sled. The boys got a snowboard with their christmas money and they have had sooo much fun with them. The weather lately has been perfect for a fun day at the park boarding down the hills. Even Kailey enjoyed it. I thought she would whine about having cold feet, but she didn't complain once. As a matter of fact, she didn't want to leave when it was time to go!! The kids brought along the neighbor kids and they all had fun together.

Last but not least, we went to Temple Square with Jennie and Chris. It was nice to be there after Christmas and not have to worry about the crowds! There was still plenty of people there, but we didn't have to swim through them just to get to where ever we needed to go. The kids had fun and where satisfied that we where able to make it this year. We had originally planned on going with other family while they where in California, but those plans fell through. I'm glad I was able to enjoy the trip with my kids though!!

I feel very blessed and am so fortunate to have a family that I love. I am so greatful to have a husband who is willing to build memories for us to have. Because after all is said and done, that's all you have is your memories.