Merry Christmas

We hope all our family and friends have a great Christmas! We didn't send out a Christmas card this year, mostly because I was too tired. But, we are grateful for all of you (the few of you who read this and all those who don't as well) and wish you the best. We feel so blessed to have the gospel and our families and appreciate all the support we receive from the wonderful people in our lives.

Oscar

If you saw this bowl a few days ago, you probably would have thrown up, which is what I about did when I was cleaning it out. While I was getting ready for church, Josh poured half of the container of food in the bowl. I was feeling pretty miserable that day so it didn't get cleaned out until Monday. Somehow Oscar survived. He's a pretty resilient fish. Every time I clean out the bowl I consider not putting Oscar back in it. But then I think of Laura. He's actually Lia's fish that she got for her birthday last year, but Laura has adopted him. She includes him in almost all of the family portraits she draws and when she's telling people who's in our family, Oscar's always on the list. She even said one of the stockings hanging on our stairs is his (I guess that leaves either me or Nate out). So, he stays... for now. But, you have to be quiet around him if he's not swimming because as Josh said the other day, "he's sleeping, don't wake him up."

The Polar Express

A couple of weeks ago, we got to ride the Polar Express with my family. It was an early Christmas present from my parents and we had a great time! My mom made a calendar for every family to count down the days until our magical ride. Lia and Laura couldn't have been more excited and Josh couldn't stop talking about riding on a train (although I had to tell him on more than one occasion that it wasn't the Dinosaur Train and there weren't going to be any dinosaurs--he had to settle for Santa instead). Megan got to meet Santa for the first time and was such a good girl the whole time. It was great to be there with my family and see the kids so excited and having fun with their cousins. Poor Laura had been miserably sick the few days before (and fell asleep on the way back from the North Pole), but thankfully was well enough to go. Thanks mom and dad for the fun night! What a great way to start off the season.

Thanksgiving and Megan

This is Megan on Thanksgiving day. She worked pretty hard getting ready and was just exhausted! Even though I don't have pictures of all the kids, we had a great day. The girls spent the night at grandma's the night before and helped her get ready, which gave Nate and I some time to work on some Christmas surprises. Dinner was great and I loved having a couple of days off of work and school. And it was, of course, an opportunity to reflect on everything I'm thankful for. This year especially I've realized I have A LOT to be thankful for. The first of which is family, but if you want to know more you'll have to read my journal (which I haven't written yet, but I will... soon).

So, I think the flower is still a little too big for Megan, but I love the smile! Megan is so smiley. (Is that a real word?) If you give her just two seconds of your time, her little face lights up. Whenever she smiles at me, I melt first of all, and then I feel bad that I don't spend more time smiling at her. She is already trying to sit up and has started to roll onto her side. And until a couple weeks ago, was sleeping through the night--for twelve hours!! But, just like with my others, I've somehow managed to mess that up. I have to admit though that I don't mind waking up with her. During the day I'm so distracted, but in the middle of the night it's just the two of us, even if I am half asleep. We are enjoying Megan so much. She is such a sweetheart.