Thankful Sunday......

My thoughts keep racing, I wanted to share a few things that I am so thankful for in my life!!!! Christmas time is such a wonderful time of the year, I love the feeling Christmas brings, more love and gratitude for everything we have!! Christmas time brings so many fun memories, ones that are being made and ones that have past. Pondering on my childhood memories of christmas's past. My parents made christmas time a time of fun, service, love, singing carols, spending time as a family, remembering our savior, and a feeling of love and joy, that we should share thoughtout the years to come.. One of the first traditions that I love remembering is when we would go and pick out the Christmas tree, bring it home, put it up,and decorate the tree and the home.. I always looked forward to that time of year, to see the twinkleing lights, the ornaments, the star on top of the tree, the smell of fresh pine, I loved setting up the little manger scene with Christ in the center, where all could see.. I remember mom sitting at the piano playing christmas songs and all of us singing along, I can still hear the words as we sang. Another thing we would do, the night before christmas we would help mom make treats and put them on plates and take them to our neighbors, sometimes we would carol as we went.
Christmas Eve we would sit as a family and read the story from the scriptures of Christs birth, and talk about the true meaning of Christmas, then we would read the Littlest Angel, and of course we would get to open one gift before we went to bed! Next was one of the hardest things to do as a child, trying to go to sleep, with anticipation of Santa coming and what he would leave for us, not an easy thing to do.. The next morning we were up and going at the crack of dawn or earlier LOL. My parents made Christmas a wonderful time of year, and helped us to see of the importance of giving and remembering to let Christ be a part of everything... Thanks mom and dad for your love and all you have done for us over the years, and all you still do, what an Example you are to us, we love you!!! We have continued many of these traditions in our small family. This year we had a lovely Christmas, mom and dad, Ryan and Jen and their family came over and we had dinner and spent time visiting. The kids had a great time playing the wii and just visiting!! Thanks for spending time with us. I have to say that is the one of the best parts of Christmas is being able to be with the ones that we love! I miss spending time with all of my family, my Christmas wish would have to be that sometime soon we will live closer to each other and be able to be together during the holidays!!! I love you all so very much and Hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas.. May we all enjoy the year to come, and be thankful for all that we have in our lives!!

Where does time go??? Christmas..

The Past few months I have been such a slacker when it comes to updating my blog.. So here are a few of the many things that have been going on in our lives.. Holidays have come and gone, school is half over for the year, and Everyday life keeps us all on the go..

May you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! We have enjoyed the past month and the fun family parties we have had, I love this time of year and being able to be with those you love!!

Me and the boys having fun.. The day after Christmas, playing games and building a fort and playing the Wii.. Our lovely fort!!

Grandpa, Grandma and Nathaniel having fun playing the Wii. I was having fun watching them play, it was quiet comical!!!

Grandma and Tess, after dinner.

Caleb having fun playing with Aunt Jen's Phone.. He was so proud of the picture he had drawn.

Issac playing with the train set.

Katie, Hannah and Adrianna playing the Wii

Mario Kart time.

Christmas Present the Wii.. Yeah Fun time

Christmas morning opening some gifts..

Caleb was so excited to get to open his gifts, he didn't really care

what was inside, just the fact that he got to tare them open.. LOL

Got to go out and sled now.

Caleb waiting patiently to open his gifts Christmas morning.

Nathaniel Helping Caleb clean his hands off after trowing oats and

Sparkles outside on the snow for the reindeer to see our home and have a little

treat. :)

Nathaniel and Caleb spreading the oats..

James Family Christmas party..

Don't let go..

Shepherd Family Christmas party.. We went to the China Platter in Bountiful..

Grandpa, Issac and Tess..

Smile Grandpa..

Eric,

Peace

Smile everyone...

Dennis and Natalie..

Hannah and Adrianna

Cheese

Funny People...

James, Caleb and I went to Walmart the other day to go shopping. We always have a great time at the store, especially with the kids!! LOL This particular day we went Caleb kept wanting me to tickle him, he was having fun and he would laugh and laugh, and when I would finish he would say "again, again!!" So I would continue to tickle him. Most people around me would just laugh and smile when they heard him laughing. We were heading up to the check out stand to yes check out, Caleb wanted me to tickle him again so I began tickling him, he started to laugh and kinda squeal a little, I turned my head and there was an older man probably in his seventies he gave me a look that would kill and mouthed "STOP IT!!" I couldn't believe that he was so rude, its not like Caleb was screaming uncontrolably!! I was stunned to say the least!! I guess that I just have to laugh!!! People are so Funny!!!

New Hair!!!!

So lately I have been really wanting to change my hair! I haven't felt like I look that part of a hair dresser, I have felt so frumpy!!! Well about a week ago, I finally talked myself into cutting my hair off., with the help of my sister Chantel.. I love it I keep thinking why I didn't do this a long time ago, it is stylish, easier to do and it just makes me feel so good!!!!! So here are a couple photos...

Family Vaction...

The drive to Oregon.. Sleepy boys...

Waiting for the trolley...

Having a campfire in Julies backyard..

Trolley ride..

Astoria bridge, takes you to Long beach

Lighthouse

We took a little hike to the lighthouse..

Nathaniel and I went up into the lighthouse, it was a beautiful view

Our walk to the lighthouse

We went to the beach at low tide..

Star fish..

Julie and Megan..

Me and my boys..

Caleb having fun in the water..

Megan playing on the beach

The deer would be out in the yard each day..

We went to Mt Saint Helens, this is a lava tube that we

hike, it was a lot of fun, pitch black inside and the temperature

was 45 degrees

Inside the lava tubes

entrance to the lava tube

Kiddos ready to go..

Shuttle ride up to the Japanese Gardens..

Some of the Beautiful Scenery at the Gardens..

Multnomah Falls...

This year we planned a little (two week adventure) to Astoria Oregon, to stay with my sister Julie and her family... We took off two days after I returned from girls camp, and began our 14 hour drive. I was certain that the boys would be complaining the whole way there, (14 hours is a very long long drive!) but to my surprise they were very pleasant and we had a ton of fun just watching the different scenery and playing some typical cars games. It is so amazing to watch the change in scenery, going from desert to green lush. We arrived at Julie's home Sunday evening, the boys were glad to be out of the car and playing with Megan, Kaylee, and Elizabeth, and I was glad to be able to move around and stretch my legs!!!! Julie and Scott's home is adorable, the view from outside is amazing, overlooking the Columbia River.
During our stay in Oregon we went to the beach a few times, saw a beautiful light house, went on a trolley ride, went to Seaside, Warrenton, Portland, Mt. Saint Helens, and the Japanese Gardens, along with many other fun adventures!!! Thanks Julie and Scott we had an amazing time and we Love you so much! The time went by way to fast and wish we could have stayed longer!!