I'm back

I know you all terribly missed my ramblings about my life, so who am I to disappoint. We had a fabulous Christmas break. We went to my sister-in-law's cabin for Christmas and it was so fun. We ate (waaay to much), played games, had a pool and ping pong tournament, went sledding and just generally had a great time. (Just a side note on the pool tourney, Haley beat Sam and I beat Ben so it was totally awesome! Yes I just said totally awesome) At some point in the week all of Ben's siblings and their families were there except James and Lauren who we missed! It was stressful getting everything ready to go and the weather was pretty rough on the way but once we were there I was so glad we went. The kids were well behaved and had a great time too. Even our homebody Joseph who was pretty sure he would hate it loved it. He didn't complain once about being there. After we got back form the cabin Ben had the whole next week off. It was so great to spend time doing what ever we wanted. This week has been a little rocky getting everyone back on a schedule. Mostly the mornings, remind me again why school has to start so dang early. But it is always nice to get back on track. You may notice an obvious void of pictures. In our rush to get to the cabin I forgot my camera. I am like the worst photographer ever. I always forget it. So no pics to share, sorry.

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas vacation too, and that you are adjusting to the torture of getting up early again.

Happy Birthday Joseph!!

If turning thirty this year didn't make me feel old then Joseph turning ten certainly did the trick. Last Tuesday was Joseph's birthday. We had a family party and key lime pie in lieu of cake and ice cream.(I have pictures of this party, but can't find the camera...I think Ben took it on his trip, insert eye roll)

On Friday night Joseph had his first friend party. This is a pretty big deal, he tends to be a bit of a loner so we were excited he actually wanted to have friends over. He had two friends over to watch a movie in our theater room and have movie treats. Joseph had fun and I survived. So all-in-all I would say it was a success.






Happy Birthday Joe! We love you and all your corkiness.

Thoughts on Christmas

Every year around this time I start to ponder Christmas. The gifts, the meaning and the legacy and traditions I want my little family to remember. It seems every year I decide to make it a homemade Christmas. I get excited at the lessons I will be teaching my kids. Things like Christmas being about the birth of our Savior and that giving is what brings us joy during this wonderful season. But somewhere along the way I get caught up in the commercialism of it all, and my visions of a homemade meaningful Christmas become lost in the search for store bought gifts. I think as a mother I want to give my kids what ever I can. I don't want to disappoint them, and somehow I give into the mind set that giving them what they want for Christmas will show them just how much I love them. This is of course all subconscious. Typing it out makes it sound beyond ridiculous. But it happens just the same.

I don't know that this post has a point other than I have been thinking about how I can change the focus in our home at Christmas time. We talk to our kids about the true meaning of Christmas and we read the story of the Savior's birth in Luke each Christmas morning, but is this enough? Are we showing them the true meaning?

I hope that this year we can show them and not just tell them. Weather or not this is accomplished by a homemade Christmas or not, I am not sure...but that seems as good a place as any to start.

How about you? How have you kept the focus in your home on the Savior and on giving rather than the latest must have toy?