Last post of 2008

Here's to my last post of 2008! What a great year it has been. It has brought some unexpected turns that have totally changed our lives. We have left amazing friends in a wonderful place and made awesome new friends in another wonderful place. We have all grown older and maybe a bit wiser. We have been able to reconnect with family we haven't seen in years. We were able to visit all members of our families throughout the year. What a blessing that has been!

A quick note on Christmas...it was WONDERFUL! The boys had a blast and loved everything they were given and had fun giving gifts to each other, too. We are currently in Maryland visiting Will's family and loving every moment we have here. His mom continues to look better and better and seems to be in pretty darn good spirits seeing as she's stuck in bed all day long. She's an amazing woman and has more strength than most of us thought possible. We are ready to ring in the New Year in about 15 minutes, so I'd better be done.

Here's to a new year of many new and wonderful adventures. Here's to TurnItUp Media taking off so our purpose in moving is complete. Here's to new pastures we haven't explored and wonderful people we haven't met quite yet. Here's to family, love, and as much peace as possible in this troubled world. We love you all and wish you all a very prosperous and joyful 2009!

You have got to visit this site. It is the sweetest song I've ever heard!!It will pull at your heartstrings! To some of you it will be very much what your heart is saying already. Merry Christmas!

Old Visits

I was looking through old photos and came across these...we still need to make a visit to Santa with all the boys this year. The boys know that the Santa you visit is not the real Santa, they are Santa's helpers and give Santa the message of what you want. Last year the boys knew instantly that Santa was the Bishop...it was funny.
Logan got to visit Santa already this year, but Julie has the picture of it...I'll get it up here hopefully later! Merry Christmas!

I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas anymore!

I don't have to dream! It snowed tonight! We all had a wonderful time playing in the snow before dinner and hot chocolate! NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!! We get to sleep in, play in the snow, play with friends, and have lots of HOT chocolate!! I know I'm crazy to be so excited to not have school, but I LOVE THE SNOW! I love having the snow somewhere I love to live (I miss SLO terribly, but it never snows there)!! Our promise to the boys that we were moving somewhere it snows came true...it hasn't snowed here much the last 10+ years, so it's amazing that it's snowing already and so much in one night. We made snowmen, snow angels, had snow ball fights and by the time the boys went to bed all the snow tracks we'd made were recarpeted with more snow. It's stopped since, but the roads are slick and no one knows how to drive in snow here. Here are some pictures of the fun we had tonight. All the boys loved it, Logan loved playing and eating, but not getting hit by snow balls unexpectedly. Kaleb throws a mean snow ball when he wants to! It was so much fun to see and hear the joy in all the boys faces as they chased each other and enjoyed the beauties the Lord gives us throughout the year.

I can't wait for more fun in the snow! I love how the white makes the earth look so fresh and new. My favorite thing to do is to go on a walk when the snow is softly falling around me and the roads are quiet. I feel so peaceful and happy and fond memories flutter about in the stillness of the white fallen flakes. It reminds me of how "the world in solemn stillness lay" that night so long ago when our Savior was born.

Christmas Bells, oh Christmas Bells, Sing your happy tune!

Oh how I love Christmas! The first thing I did Monday after we returned home from Maryland was pull out our Christmas bins. I have gathered more and more decorations throughout the years...I now have 4 bins full of fun Christmas goodies to put around our house! This year I am so excited because we have a mantel to decorate, and it looks beautiful!
We also have a stairwell this year that I get to put greenery on, that's the first thing I decorated this year!I love our little village collection and we finally have somewhere to showcase it, in the front entryway.
I have been able to find somewhere to put our manger with Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus. It fits perfectly on our side table in our livingroom.
Last, but not least, we have our beautiful Christmas tree. The boys had a blast decorating it. Will and I pulled it out of the box, set it up, fluffed it, and the kids did the decorating. They had so much fun! They did a really good job, too! We only had to coach a little and rearrange even less. I'm very happy with it and love looking at it. I love that it doesn't take up all our walking and sitting space (like it did in California).

An overall look of our living room from the dining room. I feel so happy just sitting in there doing nothing.
Here's what Logan thought was important...over and over and over again. He does love Mickey!!

Thanksgiving in Maryland

We had the privilege of visiting Will's family in Maryland for Thanksgiving. It was so great being there! I love only being 10 hours away! It's a little hop, skip, and jump to get there. His mom is looking so much better and is in pretty good spirits. She's at home, in bed, but at least at home! Michelle (Will's younger sister) is able to help take care of mom and does an excellent job at it, I might add! She is so patient and learns everything so quickly. I'm so grateful she is able to be there with mom during this difficult time. I do have to say that it's great how close almost all of Will's family is to his parents. His youngest sister, Kim, lives really close and is there most days, too. She's there with her beautiful baby girl, Baelee, which helps mom feel even happier. I love Will's family so much. I feel so lucky to have such loving and kind in-laws.

While we were there Rhonda, Will's older sister, had three children baptized...Maddie (8), Colby (9), and Heather (10). Maddie asked Will to baptize her, and he was thrilled for the opportunity. It was nice to see Mom up and around (in her wheelchair). I was able to give a little talk about the Holy Ghost, I think it went well. It was short and to the point, I do believe they listened through the whole thing. I was grateful to be included in the affair! I am so proud of those three amazing children for choosing to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know they have made a very important first step to making it to the Celestial Kingdom to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

Better late than never Halloween pictures

So, I'm running a little late on posting these photos, but couldn't go on without them.


















I got to go to all the "Harvest" parties on the school "Character" day. Isn't it funny how they change names to make it more politically correct?


These pictures are from the ward Trunk or Treat. It was fun, but I wish our ward would do it on Halloween night so the kids didn't have to Trick or Treat, too. The transformer is a guy in our ward...pretty awesome. That is a homemade "costume"!
Here's all my Ninja's (notice Logan is a blue haired "Minja" like he'd wanted to be for nearly a year). We're all ready to go Trick or Treating around the neighborhood. The weather was nice and only got cold as we were finishing up.Pumpkin carving happened Halloween night before Trick or Treating. It was so nice having no homework and no church or school the next day.
We went over to Julie and Sean's and did a bit more Trick or Treating in their neighborhood, then watched "The Game Plan" together. It was a lot of fun!
Will and I even got into the spirit and dressed up for the Trunk or Treat, and Will for the Trick or Treating. It was a good Holiday! We can't wait for the next one. Also, I'll be posting our Thanksgiving trip to Maryland in the next couple days.