Christmas

I'm missing many photos of this Christmas! But just believe me, it was a wonderful time. We spent LOTS of time with family, which I have discovered over the years of my life to be THE most important thing in the WORLD. So, even though my pictures don't reflect it, we enjoyed cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmas and grandpas and had a lovely time. I am very blessed to have lots of family, I am very blessed that the family I have consists of solidly good people.

We did our usual traditions of sleeping under the Christmas tree, a Christmas puzzle, going to the Nativity pageant, building gingerbread houses, reading the Night before Christmas on Christmas Eve, getting Santa pictures at the mall, opening pajamas on Christmas Eve, and that was all before the real party began!

 My sister and her family came up from Texas and my Grandma and Granddad came from Pincher Creek. We also had two new babies in our family this Christmas, Christian and Jacob. I will never forget this year's talent show- we had lots of great talents, but I'd have to say my sister Candace's took the cake. I'll just say, glow sticks, dancing and What does the Fox say? My talent was lame for everyone else but pretty dang awesome for me...I have wanted to be able to do a pull-up for years, and I made a goal to do one for the family talent show and I did it. I was SO excited when I finally did one (my body composition makes it very difficult for me). I ran around the house cheering and jumping up and down. My kids were witnesses and they were excited too. Here's a bit of what we did!

Gingerbread Houses

The tree fell down a few times before we finally got a new stand. The first time it fell you would think someone had died with how the kids cried! haha

Breanna and I went to the Nutcracker, yay! I had to post this because I love my outfit and my lipstick (even though you can't see my boots they're awesome)

Sleeping under the Christmas Tree after the Nativity-favorite tradition!

 Christmas Eve night! The excitement builds!

Afton got a new bear. We were a tad worried about her loyalty when she had this conversation with her old bear:

Afton (to old bear): "you're not my favourite anymore"

Old Bear: "Why?"

Afton: "Because"

Old Bear: "oh"

Thankfully, while she loves them both very much, I think she still prefers the old one :)

Sibling Love

One of Jesse's favourite presents came from Breanna-he got to excavate real gems. He loved it. He really is SO into gems and archaeology and mining. I'm so curious to see where this kid ends up in life. I hope his dreams come true!!

 The Christmas puzzle: 1000 pieces-we don't joke around!

After Christmas we all got sick for about 2 weeks-colds and ear infections all around, which brings us to about now. 

Birthdays

First, I forgot to say in the last post-we said good-bye to our trusty blue van. It literally gave us no trouble at all-until it finally decided it was time to go and died a quick and painless death. We bought a brand new Honda Odyssey, but my kids keep asking why we had to get rid of the Mazda. Looking at this picture makes me sad!

My sweet girls had birthday parties this year. I hope they know how much I love them and how special they are. 

Breanna turned 6. Six! Wow.

If there's one thing I think represents Breanna, it's hearts, and a sweet cake covered in hearts too!

They made sugar castles and headbands, played charades and who's got the button, but the game that was the MOST fun was the limbo. Who knew?

Breanna with one of her friends.

Afton turned 3 and I think this is her first *real* party. Oh Afton the joy you bring to us! What an unexpected twist you are in our family. We had a North Pole party for Afton and she loved it.

Uhm this snowman is the best...thanks to Brad!

And a snowflake cake-or are they blue flowers?

They were supposed to go outside to spray the snow but it was so cold that day, so we brought the snow inside. 3 year old parties never quite go as planned anyway.

Snowflake quesadillas!

Presents and Friends

Bye-bye snowman!!

Anyways, do I ever love my girls! I hope they felt special!

Time

My blog has evolved into a bit of a family photo album. Someday I will print it out for my wonderful kids to look at and feel good about.  It no longer feels like a creative outlet, though. I think that's why it's become hard for me to keep my blog up. It feels a bit chore-ish. I think if I wrote more often I could write about the details and get a bit more satisfaction from it. That's okay, this blog has evolved, my life has evolved. 

Gone are long days when going for walks,  going to the park or going to the library were the main-or the only- events of the day. I would clean and clean and clean to pass time. It was hard figuring out how on earth to entertain these kids for the next 10 hours!  Outings were meant to take up time.  Time, please move along! From the moment lunch was over I would count down the hours, minutes, seconds until Brad walked in the door. It was so, so hard, but so peaceful and intimate. 

 I still count down the minutes until Brad gets home, but not until about 4:30. And if he's late, no biggie. Oh man I used to think I would die if he said he'd be even half an hour late. I don't try to pass the time anymore. I'm trying to figure out how to make more time. More time to clean and go for walks and go to the park and go to the library. More time to enjoy the fleeting moments of my children's lives. More time to develop my own talents. I feel like we are constantly doing things. I'm a drill sergeant. Church, sports, doctor, ballet, piano, homework, shopping, playdates, parties-(so many parties!) I can't keep up with the housework anymore. I'm always scheduling and re-scheduling. I'm constantly rushing kids out the door. 

I'm in the in-between phase where I wonder: have I done anything with my life? Or do I just exist to make other people's lives possible?

Time just moves along.

                                                      General Conference/Thanksgiving October 2013

                                                                            Halloween October 2013

                                                     Afton in a  Pumpkin Patch October 2013

Lunches. Daily.

Dwelling in the Light

Yes I know it's been a while, but I've seen people abandon their blogs over less  :)

It's that time of year, when I can't help but feel happy and blessed. Happy about new beginnings, about the familiar cozy weather ahead, about the vibrant colors of fall, about schedules, the smell of my childrens' hair when they come inside and upcoming family traditions!

I've been trying to replace the word "busy" with "full". Sometimes I ask myself, did I choose this? How do I always have something to do? What happened to sitting for hours reading a book, going for long walks, spending hours playing with my kids and lazily paddling a canoe down the river in the sunshine with fairies flying by and Unicorns grazing on the shoreline.... but yes, I choose to look at my life as "full" because it's full of things I have chosen. I am blessed with a wonderful family, many lovely friends, means to put my kids in activities (and drive them), a love for exercise, a home to live in (and clean), food to eat (and prepare), a church that uplifts and blesses my life but also asks me to serve. I'm blessed with so many, many good things and those are what my life is full of.

My new favorite mantra in life comes from our most recent General Conference when President Uchdorf gave a talk called The Hope of God's Light. In it he used the phrase "dwell in the light", the light being hope, I think, in the Savior. This phrase repeats itself in my mind. I hope it becomes something I naturally do in my life.

(Aaaand a photo update on life in general)

Speaking of fairies and unicorns I think this is about as close as it gets in reality. Brad and I spent our 10th anniversary in Waterton. We biked up to a  back country trail and hiked up to Twin Lakes. I always like to imagine the Indians (sorry for the non pc term) on a hunt for bears and where they would stop to rest and take a drink and the landmarks they would use as navigation. We were alone up there, making it quite romantic and the bike ride down was one of the funnest things I've ever done!

Did I mention I got to go on a little holiday? It was really nice, but to be totally honest my favorite part was flying on the plane and being in the airport...reading a lovely book...by myself. I'm a true introvert I guess. I also loved sitting by the pool talking and getting really hot, then jumping in to cool off. I was always the first one awake and always took a nap in the afternoon in true Sarah style. Yes those are palm trees reflected in my glasses! I got to come home to colorful leaves sprinkling the ground and love notes all over the house. I was happy walking home and that happiness pretty much overflowed when I saw the notes.

We said goodbye to summer with bike rides and the best summer send-off of all: Cornfest!

                                       

Now we're back at everything, after a lazy but wonderful summer: piano for both kids, ballet for Breanna, sports for Jesse, Mandarin homework every night and school lunches every morning. I also go to the gym every morning now, which I love. Life is very full, and very good.