Christmas Festivities

We have been having LOTS of fun getting ready for Christmas at our house. I can hardly believe how quickly this month has gone, WOW! We are really excited for Christmas. We have gone to parties, made treats, addressed Christmas cards, visited neighbors, gone carolling, baked, read Christmas books, and so many other activities. But here are a few we have actually captured on the camera! We went to see Santa at the parade, on a CCCCCOLD morning with cousins.....DECORATED OUR HOUSE...BAKED AND DECORATED SUGAR COOKIES, even made special "Z" cookies...IT SNOWED to help it feel a bit more like Christmas... WE went to court with the Whites to finalize Caleb's adoption YAY!!! >
We saw cousins who just came back from Hawaii... and we saw and actually sat on Santa's lap, well Zach did!o, as you can see we have been having a great time getting into the spirit of christmas. We have also been to see the lights on Temple Square, drove around our town to see lights, and we have fun to wake up each morning to see who is our new angel on the top of the nativity scene thanks to Zach. One day it was the donkey, and our long lost "jophus" was finally found hidden under the tree! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The most wonderful time of the year

I love this time of year, there is just a feeling in the air that makes me so happy. I have been trying to keep a list of the things that make me the happiest for Christmas this year. It seems that I can see things from a totally different perspective this year having Zach at this age. A few things on my list so far:
-Enjoying taking Zach to see the lights on temple square, and how he becomes completely mesmorized by the nativity, and gets so excited to see the camels, sheep, and especially baby Jesus.
-I love that he wants me to read him the "baby jesus" books, all day if I could.
-When we rock him to sleep the only song he wants is the "Jesus" one (away in a manger)and he knows the words, talk about melting my heart and bring a tear to my eye every time!
-We went for a drive tonight to look at lights and he just loves every part of it.
- He is really into "BuzzWoody" and he says it just like that everytime we see either one. I love that he has found a toy that he just adores and is so excited to see.
-I love watching Christmas movies and Zach and I try to watch a few each week. This week we watched Elf, and he just laughed and laughed at it. We have also watched Home Alone, Polar Express, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, My Friends Tigger and Pooh save Christmas, and we must not forget The Grinch!(just to name a few :) A few I like to watch are Mr Kruegers Christmas, Nora's Christmas gift, White Christmas, The Holiday, A Very Brady Christmas, and the list goes on.....
- I have a small collection of Christmas books for me to read, I have read most of them more than once,but there are a couple that I can read every year that help me feel the Spirit of Christmas. I read Christmas Jars for the first time this year and LOVEd it!!
- I have a small but growing Nativity Collection, and we have a few that are just for Zach. There is one in particular that each time I look at it, someone else is playing the part of the angel, today is one of the wisemen!
-On our tree at the bottom I have a few ornaments just for him, and he knows which are his and where I have hidden other ones for him to find. He loves playing that game.
-We have the radio tuned to FM100 all day, 24/7 in our house and he hears certain songs and starts dancing. He especially LOVEs to hear the Faith Hill song from the Grinch.
- He is not the biggest fan of Santa, up close, from far away he will wave and things he is great! I am trying to help him with that, though scaring him with a hat/mask thing at Home Depot doesn't help I guess!

I could go on and on. I hope more than anything that I can take the time to really enjoy this season, it always seems to come and go so quickly. But I am so grateful I have a little boy that helps me slow down and just read the "baby jesus" story and think about the real reason behind this wonderful, magical season.

So much to be grateful for

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had my parents and sister here at our house for a week, plus alot of Brandon's family came in town for Thanksgiving. We had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at Brandon's grandma's house, and had almost everyone there! We had 26 people there, it was great to be able to see everyone and be together. Later we came home and had pie with my parents, Donald and Amanda. I love Thanksgiving, a time to reflect on our blessings. As I write this, I keep thinking about what was said in church today that has stuck with me throughout the day. One of the speakers said that isn't it wonderful that we have one holiday where only good happens and Satan cannot deceive our minds, like he does on so many other holidays. That this one holiday, that often gets overlooked, we can just focus on our blessings-big or small, few or many- that we all can remember the reason we get to celebrate this holiday, a season of thanks and gratitude for all we have. I have so many blessings that I have been overwhelmed with emotion at times these past few days at how much I have in my life. Lately when I sneak in to check on Zach at night, I am just so thankful for what he has brought into my life and that we have a warm house and bed to put him in, with a full tummy, warm blankets and the knowledge that he is safe, loved and protected. That is such a blessing! We have family surrounding us to support, love, and help us. Food to eat, warm clothes to wear, a warm bed to sleep in with a roof over our heads, Brandon has a job to provide for us, I get to stay home and be a MOM, and the knowledge that we are sealed as a family FOREVER. The list could go on and on, but at this time I am just to grateful for the bountious blessings in my life.
With my parents here we were able to go and do many things, and just enjoy having them here with us. Last Sunday, everyone was at our house and a big snowstorm hit our area, and my parents were LOVING it! We were inside dancing to the music and having a party, then all of us headed outside. We made snow angels in the yard, had a snowball fight, and we caught snowflakes on our tongues! It was great to have it snow while my parents were here, a little blessing from heaven, they just love it. We went shopping, went to Park city, ate my dads tacos, enchiladas and queso, went Black Friday shopping, the boys went to Cabelas, we saw a few movies--New Moon (didn't like it that much), the boys saw Old Dogs, and we all saw The Blind Side(GREAT GREAT GREAT movie, I recommend it to everyone!), we saw the lights on Temple Square, played here at home, watched a number of football games, went for a couple of walks, and just enjoyed the holiday having them here. Zach was in heaven having Pots here to go for rides in the truck and get a donut. (The pictures of Zach and the snowman was my poor attempt at a snowman, he wanted one but didn't want to be outside in the cold, so that was as big as he was getting!)
Now, the tree is up, the lights are on outside and we get to enjoy celebrating my most favorite time of the year!

Just another day in Paradise

It is hard to believe that a week ago Zach and I were at the park with light jackets, having a picnic. Here is Zach in action at the park, notice my mad photo skills catching him in mid air!

Today I look out my windows and see a winter wonderland. I must admit though, it's beginning to look alot like Christmas and I couldn't be more excited!!! My parents and Amanda come in less than a week and that is going to be a fun time having them here. We have a few things planned while they are here--the traditional day after Thanksgiving shopping trip for the girls, walking around Temple Square to look at the lights, football game watching, trip to Park City and a few other events. I am so excited for them to come. We have also been busy getting our house ready for Christmas, and with the recent white stuff that fell, I am sooooo glad Brandon got our house lights up a couple of weeks ago while it was nice weather! If it were permitted, I would be decking my halls today with all my Christmas decor, especially the Christmas tree. But I will refrain and wait until next week to get most of it up, some will go up later on this week! Yesterday I was getting Zach dressed for church and Brandon saw what I was putting him in, so he decided to match him. And since pictures are worth a thousand words, I had to take a few to capture it.

Oh, I mean really does it come any cuter? so so cute. I love my boys!!
And isn't is crazy that we went from this,


to THIS in one week!

A reason to celebrate

I love this time of year for so many reasons-- the colors, the smells and sounds, the weather, and for all that it represents and brings out in me. This time of year always makes each of us a little more grateful. I have been thinking about this post for a few days now, trying to decide exactly what I want to say. Thanksgiving is a time to count our blessings, recognizing how blessed we are, even down to the smallest thing. This month also is National Adoption Month. I find it very fitting that these two are in the same month. So, for just a small moment, I will try and find the words through my tears of how grateful I am for one amazing woman. I never knew her before May 16, 2007. But ever since that day, my life has been FOREVER and EVER changed. Not a day goes by that I look into the sweet face of my boy and realize the hand of God in my life and hers. And for that, I am so thankful. I am grateful that she had the courage, strength and hope that placing this little boy with us was what was best for HIM, though most difficult for her. I am thankful that we have been able to become close friends, well closer than that at times, through an open adoption. We are so blessed to be a part of her family, and feel of their love for us and especially for our son.
There was a time in my life where I felt that my prayers weren't being heard, and that I was very, very alone-that was an extremely difficult time in my life. But as we passed through the storm I am so thankful to look back and know beyond anything that they were heard. That there was another daughter of God needing help, wondering what she was going to do and how she was going to do it. And the MIRACLE of adoption is what answered each of our prayers. We are so blessed that we have a Heavenly Father that knows us and knew what we all needed. So, for Heidi. We love you. We are eternally grateful that you searched for answers and found us. You are AMAZING. It is at this time of Thanksgiving that I think of you most. Because of you I have my greatest blessing in life. This funny,
adorable, wonderful,
devilishly handsome,
dream come true.