Our Christmas

It's crazy to think that Christmas has come and gone. With so much anticipation leading up to it...it's sad to see this time of year come to an end. We were definitely blessed to have had a wonderful holiday this year.
We spent Christmas this year with my family. It was nice not to have to travel very far for the holiday. We headed up on Christmas Eve where there were lots of Christmas festivities waiting! Matt and his family visiting from Texas and we were able to spend some time with them. We did our usual family traditions, baking Christmas goodies, eating a yummy dinner, singing Christmas songs as we set up the nativity, reading from the Christmas Story and opening up our Christmas P.J.'s.
Christmas morning was so fun with my brother Matt's little kids. I love seeing how excited they get. Cute Kayla was set on leaving Santa chocolate chip M&M cookies(which we specially made) and 9 carrots. It was darling to see her expression when she woke up and found them all gone and a special note left for her. We all had fun pulling out our presents and trying them out.
The next day, my brother Ryan and his family flew in from New Jersey and we were able to have our annual family Christmas Party. We are getting to be quite the group when we all get together. There are now 18 grandkids and then all the adults, it fills up my parents house pretty fast. We always have a great time together laughing and catching up.Grandpa reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning...I love this contagious smile!
Opening our stockings...and yes I am a big David Archuleta fan!

In other news... Stephen and I have both been enjoying a little break from school. It's been such a relaxing week for both of us and has been so nice to have time together at home. He's starting to get geared up with the next semester of the MBA program. Currently, he's signed up for 19 1/2 credits. (Just too many good classes to choose from, I guess) I'm worried that he'll burn himself out pretty fast. Let's cross our fingers that he'll drop a class or two.
We've been filling up our time with hanging out with friends, attending our fair share of Christmas Parties and get-to-gethers, reading books, deep cleaning the house and laughing along with Stephen as we watch old episodes of 'The Office'. Why does this relaxing break have to come to an end?

Thanksgiving in Illinois

We decided to be adventurous this year and take a road trip to Illinois. Most people would call this crazy, but we were excited for the trip! Stephen's sister lives there and it was about 8 hours shorter than to drive all the way to Michigan. So everyone met up in Illinois. Stephen has two siblings out here, going to BYU. So with four drivers, it made it a lot more do-able. On the way out, we left at 2 am and drove all through the day. We didn't stop for anything but gas and food and we got there about midnight that evening. We had a great time and kept busy in the car watching movies, playing games, sleeping, reading and chatting about anything and everything. Once we were there and caught up on our sleep, we had a fabulous time. It was so fun to spend time with the Holden's. I am so grateful to have good in-laws. We don't get to see them too often, but we always spend so much time laughing together. And not to mention the good Thanksgiving food and yummy pies! We brought our camera, but played so hard we didn't even take a single picture...oh well. We headed back Saturday afternoon for the long haul. I would have to say the the 22 hour drive to Illinois wasn't so bad. But four days later, the 22 hour drive back to Utah was long and hard.

In the spirit of the holiday, here's the top 10 things I'm Thankful for this year...in no particular order!

1.My sweet & patient husband, Stephen
2.Temples and that I know families are forever
3.Moments when I have the clarity of thought to acknowledge that I can’t control what happens – only how I react
4.The sunshine!
5.Good health...knock on wood
6.My job
7.The Freedoms we have and all the many comforts I live with
8.Trials...in all shapes and sizes
9.My parents and their example to me
10.My kids at school who make me smile and tear my hair out all at the same time.