Christmas glimpses and video clips during the month

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A beautiful, busy, full day

We've had an exciting weekend starting with no one at school or work on Friday (which should have meant I got tons of things accomplished--I did get lots done thanks to helpers, but not everything, of course). We helped Ben and Emilie move their whole life into storage that evening, and had an unexpected semi-crisis when the gates of the storage place refused to let us out (we had to basically force our way out after many adventurous and memorable attempts to escape--all of which were captured on their lovely and obviously so useful security camera).

This morning after my favorite bi-monthly gathering of produce , we all got fancy and arrived at the church for Natalie and Christopher to get baptized. Everything went so nicely and I feel so grateful for all of the good people who helped us, like Ben who gave a heartfelt, doctrinal and simple talk about the Holy Ghost, perfect for the twinners, their friends and those who had never before attended a baptism. Darren, the hero dad smoothly baptized each child by immersion without a single foot or hair getting missed, and then proceeded to confirm each child with the Gift of the Holy Ghost, while also being inspired to give them personal blessings to help them in their lives. He had been nervous, but was fine when it came time to perform these ordinances for our oldest children.

After a yummy, quick lunch of beef tortellini soup (Charlie loves zucchini, David loves white tortellini and Andrew loves beef chunks), we then met up with more family (Scott and Abra joined us after her cute new haircut) and went to a Christmas party at the twins' music class. Pure chaos reined with the many children attending, but each of our older two played their piano pieces well and then we just had fun.

When we got back home, we watched the much-antipated-by-Natalie movie "Chariots of Fire." She loves the music and surprisingly she loves to run (when we run together, she always ends up far ahead, though Chris stays right with me). We all enjoyed the movie, except David who was sleeping. We said goodbye to my cousin and his book-sharing wife who needed to find Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Then we ate chicken fajitas, and some neighbor-bestowed fudge while building castles, blogging and listening to BYU keeping it real.

I love my two oldest kids and want them to feel special if they read this post. I'm so happy about the choices they've been making in their lives. Natalie is helpful and enjoys cleaning, she is considerate of others, happy and playful, she has a pretty voice and loves to practice her music in speed mode many times, she is striving to please others and has an internal goodness to go with her outer beauty, she is intelligent and athletic, and a joy to be around. Christopher is eager and energetic, he is curious and grasps big concepts quickly, he is confident and willing to contribute to intellectual conversations, he has a gifted musical ear and creative abilities, he has a strong concept of right and wrong, he loves learning new things like moving from soccer to football now, and he is so handsome and tender-hearted. I have the best kids!

Bright sunshine, beautiful kids, enjoyable family and friends, and highly antipated events made for a glorious day. Oh, and only a few more days until Christmas. This is a month of much work and then much play--what is there not to love?

And to top it all off, check it out this garden...

Just a little bit of southern joy! :)

Birthday bits

Some birthday pictures

We didn't get tons of pictures because we were busy making, doing and having fun, but here are a few silly ones.

Remembering what matters most

I started posting all of this stuff quite a few days ago--welcome to my December. I LOVE this month, but it is always so busy and quite frantic. How do I decide what is really the most important stuff and what I should just let go of--twin birthdays: we're celebrating, definitely, but putting off the LONG awaited friend party for a couple of weeks; cards: begun, but finding addresses and getting stamps are lower on the priority list; cookies and treat plates for friends and neighbors: begun, with some cookies waiting in the freezer, but on the backburner for a day; presents: mostly found and purchased, with a few wrapped; baptisms for two eight year olds: who should speak about that precious gift they will be receiving (the HOLY GHOST), and is anyone going to let us know about the main talk someone in the stake will be giving?; travel: are we going anywhere or staying home and relaxing this year?; primary thank-yous, a teacher appreciation lesson, a quarterly activity, plans for next year and teaching sharing time for the Stake again; nightly Christmas countdown traditions; a music recital that doesn't feel worth it though the kids have been working hard; neighbor Christmas parties on the same night; whoops, N & I were going to have a girls night of the Nutcracker; any more house decorating since our house looks unfestive outside?; buying a cub scout shirt for our boy to become a part of the pack; does our littlest guy have 5ths disease or what is that rash?; please don't undecorate everything again boys; uggh, no more mud please kiddos; honey, we'll have to postpone that date night or temple night until there's a night that's empty; A, you're always hungry :); a baby shower for a friend; several school events; etc, etc, etc. (I'm sure I missed a few items taking space in my brain).

Even as I'm sitting here typing up this silly list of things to do, woe is me, I'm so busy, I know I'm grappling with how to reconcile the way I really want my family to feel during this month. I want our activities each day to feel different, special, not just another task on our list. I want us to have family memories of serving someone, of making a difference, of helping more people feel the love of that special baby whose birth the celebration is supposed to be about. I want others to know that the Savior loves them and I want it confirmed to my children as we're giving and making and sharing. It is too easy to be materialistic and caught up in all of the politically correct "holidays." How can I really focus our life to center around what I know matters more than parties, presents, glitz, weather, friends and even family fun?



We thoroughly enjoyed our Thanksgiving days and say thank you to anyone who shared even a quick hello with us during a beloved holiday and family birthdays. Family and friends are what make life enjoyable and we feel very blessed!

Here are the few pics that we got, though I'm sure there are better ones out there; I'm sad that certain sisters, etc were avoiding the camera, but I had some vanity too.