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| The first big snowstorm |
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| Anya nailed Dad in the eye with a snowball |
Some Holiday traditions:
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| We make one of these every year the family night before the big day |
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| We had an Elf before having an Elf was cool- 6 years ago now she started leaving the kids a Christmas surprise on the porch Thanksgiving weekend Sunday. |
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| Her name is Sugarplum and she likes candy |
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| and hiding around the house |
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| she even likes surfing the web |
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| 2nd Snowstorm- tubing and sledding |
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| Our greatest blessings:) |
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| A new tradition this year- our gifts to Jesus |
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| For the month of December we write down things our family members do to serve us or that we do to serve them. Since all Jesus really wants is for us to serve, love, and be kind to each other. |
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| Em got her a bell cut off of Santa's sleigh- she had been watching a lot of Polar Express. |
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| Haven's favorite gift- our budding artist |
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| Anya's favorite gift- Santa finally gave in and gave her a DS. |
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| Em got her Peacock |
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| And her floating swan- this girl has exotic tastes. |
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| Grey only wanted a Monster Truck |
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| and a Diesel Truck and a Racecar |
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| One of my favorite holiday pictures- Em with Grandpa Cook |
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| Another favorite- Nana and Grandpa while we opened presents in Nephi:) |
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| And one last favorite- Uncle Blaine seeing if the girl's skinny jeans would fit- and they even matched! |
Well- it's back to school, back to violin, piano, and dance practices, back to doing Activity Days and homework, back to work full time and High Council stuff for Greg, back to play dates with friends, back to grocery shopping . . . I have really enjoyed these last few weeks spending time with my sweet family with all these other things put in the background for a moment. We played in the snow, drank too much hot chocolate and pop, ate way too many treats, had more than the usual take out or we ate out, stayed up late every single night, slept in (our family's version of sleeping in is 7 a.m.:), no naps for Greyson, played board games and the Wii and Kindle together, tried out new toys, and had lots of family get togethers. It has been amazing! It is so nice to stop and remember what is really important in our lives. It is NOT all these other things I talked about in the beginning- IT IS FAMILY and SPENDING TIME with them:) I think about this often and then life takes over and it seems there is no TIME to spend some days. So my main goal for this New Year is to make the little moments count- to find time in the small moments of life and make it Quality time with my family. Because that is way more important than exercising, cleaning, work, callings, school stuff, friends, and other outside activities- right? We hope everyone has a great 2013 spending time with loved ones!
