The calm before, during and after the storm

This week was a nice slow moving week.  My dad visited on Monday and Tuesday.  I enjoyed talking with him on a wide range of subjects.  The kids enjoyed his presence as well since it generally means an increase of desserts.  After that, the rain came and we just spent the week doing normal every day type of activities.  It was a very peaceful week giving me an opportunity to reflect on the many blessings in my life.
I am so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.  It is the focal point of my life.  I am grateful for the peace that it brings to my soul.  I am grateful for the comfort of knowing that our lives have a purpose and that there is more to come after we depart this earth.  I am grateful for the opportunity to repent and attempt to improve my life and the lives of others around me.  I may have moments when I want to pull my hair out, but I can truly say that I am happy.  I know that my Father in Heaven loves me, and really wants me to succeed.  He doesn't always give me what I think I want, but he gives me what I need to help me learn and grow.  I can't imagine what my life would be like without the gospel, nor do I want to.  It provides me with an anchor so that I can weather the storm and feel calm during all parts of it.  I am grateful for all that I have been given.

Our Hotel New Years Eve

We were in Tooele for New Year's Eve this year.  Jeff's mom was working at the hotel that night, so instead of spending the evening at home, we went to the hotel.  The hotel was empty, but Carolyn had received permission for her family to come and celebrate the New Year.  Jeff was very excited to be in an empty hotel, and devised several exciting games to play with this unique opportunity.  We settled on sardines, and spent the next hour running all over the hotel trying to find each other.  The best was when Allie hid in the elevator and Jeff spent 15 minutes trying to find all of us.  We finally went to find him!!

Carolyn had planned a few games for us to play and we spent the evening whacking, smacking, rolling and laughing with one another.  At midnight, we threw the confetti and rang in the New Year, for once, encouraging the kids to be noisy in the hotel!!

A White Christmas

This Christmas, we traveled to Denver to be with my family.  My entire family was there for Christmas and the few days before.  We had a great time playing pool, opening presents and being together.  My children were a little more laid back about Christmas.  Our family had decided to all meet in the basement on Christmas morning.  Unfortunately, we didn't think it through too well.  The only ones that weren't sleeping in the basement were the teenagers.  They just slept in until Allie and Gabe just couldn't stand it anymore!  We all headed upstairs to open presents around 8:00.  Christmas morning was very exciting with my 3 year old nephew.  He is just beginning to understand the concept of Christmas, there are presents and candy!  He was very cute passing out all of the gifts to everyone in the room.

 But the very best present on Christmas was that we woke up to find 4 inches of snow on the ground.  Being from Southern California, all my kids could talk about before we left for Colorado was the expectation of snow.  Colorado was experiencing one of the driest winters on record and I was a little worried that we wouldn't even see snow the entire time we were there!  But Mother Nature did not disappoint us.  We woke up to a glistening white world outside. We made snow angels, through snow puffs (it was too powdery for snowballs) and went for walks in a glistening winter wonderland.  Did you know that snow really glistens and shines like glitter?  We didn't, and it was exciting to discover.