Our early Christmas

We celebrated Christmas today and had a great time. James and I loved watching the kids get excited about this fun day. I have never been "Tagged" by anyone but I will still act like I was

1) Name some holiday traditions

First annual tradition of reading the Christmas story before opening presents

Getting a new pair of PJ's for Christma

opening presents in the evening and stockings the next morning

2) Name favorite Christmas food

Chocolate covered peanuts

3) Favorite christmas present as a kid
Cabbage patch doll

4) Something I would like start doing around Christmas time

Volunteer time at shelter or food bank

5) Favorite Christmas memory

Eating my mom's homemade chicken noodle soup and homemade rolls, then sitting around the kitchen table with my aunts, grandma, mom and sisters playing Canasta...

6) Something I miss at Christmas

-see above answer

7) Did you send out christmas cards

-no but I plan to send out New Years Cards.. sorry ran out of time.

Time for bed and hopefully a late sleep in tomorrow...

The pictures are of Kalebs very excited face playing Mario Cart and Sydney just loving her new stackable cups.

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December Breakdown

well another month has past, and things I have looked forward to are now in the past.. California Trip, Family Visiting from MN, Time off! Now I am moving into the Christmas Week and already feeling sad its almost over and it hasn't even gotten here yet. Something that I got an opportunity to do this week was visit a homeless shelter with my girls from Activity Days at church. It really was shocking to see 52 families living their. I kept thinking how does someone get to that point that they live in a shelter? I suppose there are many answers to that, but everytime I have gotten down on my luck financially, emotionally or other.. I have always had two things I could rely on; my family and heavenly father. I have never been let down by either. I am so grateful that I have a family, home, food and job. So everyday you grumble about getting up for work just remember there are those that wish they were in your shoes.

I guess this christmas I have finally caught the spirit of the season; that being charity. I hope everyone a merry christmas and happy new year.

This may be out of order but my thoughts are rambling tonight therefore so is this blog... This past week my Mom, Dad , brother (adam) Barb, Julia and Olivia visited from MN. My mom brought with all her candy supplies. I feel like I am now prepared to teach others the ways of candy making. I might also note that with candy making also comes 10 extra pounds. It was a great time!

James is now in the labs, which means he is that much closer to guiding live airplanes.

Sydney is now crawling and climbing up stairs so we get to use our gates.. yeah! Kaleb changes so fast its hard to keep up. Last week he was worried about germs getting into his lungs and this week while running down the stairs he tripped and the pencil he was sucking on stabbed the back of his throat. OUCH and so scary. He is fine but of course I was very worried. Its so hard to not have him within my reach, especially when he is hurt. He has also decided there might be a Santa Clause. He is normally the kid who ruins it for others. He has annouced proudly many times "you know its just your mom and dad" .

Daddy's girl

I just had to post this picture. My little girl is a minature version of her dad in so many ways. For instance, she cannot sit still, has huge blue eyes, and occasionally smells. LOVE YOU JAMES!

My First Bull Sale

On Wednesday our family from the north came down to Salt Lake. That would be my father-and mother in-law. They brought down 6 bulls to sell at the state fair park. I have always wanted to be behind the scene with those cowboys in the barn. It was so much fun to get up close to these massive animals and watch others who share this passion. Logan, James' brother was at the sale representing the American Angus Association. He also was gathering the bids from a section of the room, it was awesome to watch him work the crowd. Check out the videos.. they are pretty cool.

Sydney Monkey Crawling

Talking to the dog