Christmas and the End of 2013

This was such a great Christmas!  Everyone was healthy and happy.  Jason got most of the week of Christmas off and it was just so wonderful to have fun together.  By Christmas Eve I had decided everything was not going to get done, thanks to the car accident, so I could either fret about it and spend the whole day working to finish up last minute things or just forget it and have fun.  I chose the latter and we had a gorgeous day at Snowbasin, our fun new Christmas Eve tradition.  It really is a great way to pass the time for kiddos that are really impatient for Santa to arrive.

In the evening when it was time for the kids to act out the nativity, Kaitlyn was really sad Skyler had gotten too big to be the baby Jesus.  Instead he was Joseph this year and loved to kiss the baby.

Then it was time for Christmas Eve pajamas.  (I know this picture is a little silly with Skyler poking Andrew in the eye!)

And finally it was off to bed.  Unfortunately morning came way too early.  Even though we told the kids they couldn't get up until after 6:00, Andrew and Jared woke up around 5:30 and woke Skyler up so there was no sleeping after that.  Skyler was exhausted all morning and didn't enjoy the presents too much that day.  Everyone else seemed thrilled with what they got.  I never get very good pictures at Christmas.  Maybe because that amount of excitement makes it impossible for my kids to sit still for half a second.  Here are a few that turned out.

My brother Ethan and his wife sent all the kids marshmallow guns.  They were a hit for everyone, including Skyler and Dad.  A couple days later these hats came in the mail from them in Germany.  Cecilia crocheted the hat for Katilyn and Skyler's came from the Christmas market.

We spent Christmas vacation playing with all the new Christmas toys, skiing, going to movies, dinner and the Christmas Village downtown.  The kids loved the new movie Frozen.  Andrew spent the new year at a church youth party at Weber State and the rest of us enjoyed a game night at home with Jason's mom and step-dad.  All too soon the holidays were over and it was time for everyone to go back to work and school.

New Years, Scout Camp, Reunion

I wish I had some great New Years wisdom to share but this morning while I was running with my friend, Rachel, she asked if I had any New Years resolutions and I had to admit I haven't really given it any thought. So instead, you get some pictures from the last couple weeks. Maybe, just maybe, if I put more thought into it you'll get something profound later...

This is from before Christmas but it's a cute picture of the kids and their cousins at the Christmas Village in Ogden. We had a great time and got there on a night that wasn't even too cold for December.

New Years has been kind of a pathetic holiday for us. A lot of years we spent New Years Day traveling all day in the car or on a plane on the way home from visiting family for the holidays. It seems like the kids never make it until midnight and when we have tried to go to parties we end up coming home early. This year Andrew had a scout camp scheduled for New Years Eve. Jason decided to go with to help out (which really didn't bother me) but it meant that it was just me and the two younger kids. We enjoyed dinner at my mother-in-law's but again I bailed early to drive home before I was too tired to drive alone. The kids were asleep when I got home so for probably the first time I welcomed the new year alone. Oh well... I think next year I am going to throw a big party to make up for it so plan on it!

Now for the more exciting story...the camp out! After a really mild December it decided to turn into winter just in time for Andrew's very first scout camp! Temperatures in the valley were predicted to be around 0 degrees Fahrenheit for the low, colder in the mountains, and as a mom I started to stress out. I bought a bunch of new winter gear and made Andrew dress in about 10 layers. They did have a cabin to stay in so it turns out they weren't roughing it quite as much as I'm making it sound. He had a great time with his friends snow shoeing and cross country skiing and was thrilled that he finally got to stay up until midnight on New Years Eve. As I was watching my cute 18 month old nephew on New Years Eve that reminds me so much of Andrew at that age I couldn't help but be a little sad that my little toddler has already grown into a boy scout!

Last night Jason had a mission reunion. Pres. and Sis. Espinosa were visiting from Mexico for the holidays. Jason loved the chance to visit with mission companions and see his mission president again. It has been several years since he was able to attend a reunion and I was quite surprised to look around and think how old some of the missionaries were looking. (That's pretty sad when most of the people in the room are close to the same age as us!) It was fun to hear about how many different directions people's lives had gone from a state senator to salesmen and people just finishing degrees and trying to find a job. What was great was to see how positively their time on their mission in Brazil had affected their lives. I wasn't able to communicate with the Espinosa's very well since they don't speak a lot of English but Pres. Espinosa had some inspiring words about their service all those years ago as missionaries and setting goals to serve a mission again later and help our children get ready to serve missions. Pres. Espinosa was a huge influence in Jason's life and he learned so much from him.