A Merry Christmas...and a Happy New Year!

The end of the year is here!  Inconceivable!  What a great year this has been.  I live such a blessed life with my fantastic husband and my three wonderful kids...

Ella: (listening to the Little Drummer Boy Song: Why is he saying "wrap the bum-bum?"

In reference to Joseph Smith, as we were discussing his birthday (Dec 23):
Ella: He was killed by a bad guy.
Caleb: No, he was killed by a whole FLOCK of bad guys.

Rachel:  AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!  (She has developed very strong - and loud - opinions lately and it is a crack-up!)

I have really enjoyed having Caleb home for the Christmas holidays and I am sad that in a few days he'll head back to school.  He has enjoyed being home, too, and Ella has had her buddy here to play with.  I just want to hold them all close and hug them to pieces!

Some pictures from Christmas:

We had a great time in Grand Junction seeing everyone, and the kids had a blast playing with all their cousins.  We did not have to do any last minute shopping (yay) but did get to do some post-Christmas sale shopping (yay).  We saw Avatar (hmmm...), went cross country skiing, ate, played, talked, and had an all around wonderful Christmas.  Santa had no problem figuring out that we were at grandma's, although Caleb did hold out some hope that maybe he had left presents at our Gypsum house, too.  Sorry, kiddo, only one stop per family, eh?
We are still eating off of the annual gingerbread house, which I forgot to take a picture of when it was in it's hayday, and now it looks pretty grody. 

Kip got a giganto ratchet set and ordered me a Blendtec blender, one of those fancy ones like they have at smoothie stores like Jamba Juice. I am going crazy making smoothies and learning what flavors go best together, it is really fun and a great way to help the kids love their fruits and veggies. Mine do pretty good already, but more can't hurt!

Rachel crawls everywhere now, gets into everything, eats a lot, spits out yucky things (like potatoes, apparently), and still makes every day a fun time for the rest of us.

What a fantastic year it has been.  I remember realizing in college, as people always said "this semester is the hardest one I've ever had..." that life does not get easier, ever!  It was rather shocking at the time.  But I also realize that even though it gets "harder," with more challenges presented in a multitude of ways, it also gets better.  Life is so, so good.  I look forward to the new year and the fun things that will come in 2010.  We love you all and wish the very best for you in the coming year as well!