The girls in their christmas dresses Oma made for them


Christmas is over. We had a good Holiday. The girls were so anxious for Santa. Christmas Eve Micah threatened Livy that if she didn't behave then the Elves would report to Santa and he wouldn't come. So Micah had Livy appologize to the Elves, out loud. She shouted, "I am sorry elves!" and then she came in and told me that she appologized. The storm hit us in West Jordan pretty hard Christmas morning. Our power was out till about 10:00 am. We have our tree set up downstairs and so it doesn't get alot of natural light from outside, and we weren't quite prepared with flashlights or candles, so we were opening presents in the dark. Micah had given me a couple of shirts and I couldn't quite tell what colors they were because it was so dark.
We then had to drive up to Logan and visit families. We came back the next day to find that we were snowed out of our driveway. A neighbor friend came with his four-wheeler and attached plow to help us get into the house. I can't believe how much snow we got. I love it. If it is going to be cold then let it be snowy. It at least gives us something pretty to look at.
I hope everyone had a safe and merry christmas. We love you all.

My friend Michelle took these pictures at Gardner Village. Thanks alot Michelle!

Well Christmas is officially here. It has become an annual tradition that we go to the Festival of Trees. The girls search through all the trees to find their favorite. Elsa is a superman tree and Livy's was a princess tree. My favorite (sorry, no pic) was a tree that was complete made of blown glass. lights were flickering inside the glass tree. It beautiful. Micah saw a tree totally decorated in Philladelphia Eagles that he loved the most. I also love the gingerbread village. For the first time I saw not just one but several trees that still hadn't sold. I felt bad to see those trees go unwanted. The painting that I posted was amazing to see in real life. It was huge and went for about $28,000. I could stare at it all day, the detail in it was mesmorizing. We went during the evening and it was actually better than going during the day. The girls got right in to see Santa. The girls were shocked to see that he called them by name to come and sit on their lap ( there was a worker who asked us before hand and he told Santa, but the girls didn't know that).

We set up our tree and decorated the house. Micah and I went to my work Christmas party at Spencer's. It was so good. I was pleasantly surprised when my bonus was a little bit bigger than years past. I really thought that it would be less (due to the economy).
The girls and I are just getting over the stomache flu. I don't know what could be worse when all your kids are sick including yourself. There definately wasn't a whole lot of time to sit and feel sorry for myself and lay in bed resting when I was washing out bowls and doing laundry all day long.
I have been really struggling in getting into the christmas spirit this year. I don't quite know what it is but I just have to remind myself of all the things that I have been blessed with and try not to focus on all the negative things that are going on right now. If any of you have any advice for me, please let me know. Thank you all for your friendship and I wish you a merry christmas.

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Whew! I forget how much work it is to prepare... and lets not forget the cleanup. Micah and I rotate our Thanksgivings and this year it was my family. I have 4 siblings that live out of state and none of them were able to come. It was my parents, my brother Ian and his expectant wife and Ilene. I have to admit I did a pretty good job except for the gravy. I have never been good at the gravy. All and all I would say it was quite successful.

I planned to hit the stores Black Friday, but after such a long day of cooking and cleaning I opted to stay home and sleep in.

Livy recieved some play makup for her birthday. I was able to ration her usage, but after a month or so I gave in and let her go wild.