Joy~

That is the only word that comes to mind for this past week.

We had a wonderful Christmas Day and weekend. We had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa from Arizona, they were cold from morning until night and every minute in between. We love to have them here. The kids were tickled and hugged 24/7.

Highlights:

- Hearing the kids talking before they woke us up.

- Dylan saying Santa came he really came!

- Sophie saying WWWWOOOOOWWWW!

- Playing Go Fish about a hundred times.

- Watching Grandpa dance to Dylan's drums.

- Playing Poker

- Playing Phase 10

- Watching it snow and snow and snow.

- Watching Sophie put on every piece of jewelry that she got.

- Turkey dinner on Christmas Day.

- Sophie and I playing dolls.

- Watching Jesse open every toy for the kids (how tedious)

- All of us on the couch snuggling watching a movie.

- Doing nothing.

- Watching the deer all day.

- Pretending I was a kid again.

- Reading books.

- Going to the Gateway and hearing Grandpa and Grandma saying Utahan's are crazy, what are they thinking have an outdoor mall HERE.

- Then torturing them even more and walking around Temple Square at 8:00pm.

- All and all what more can I say, it was pure JOY!

I believe~

That Christmas is the greatest time of the year. Of course we celebrate the birth of our Savior and what a wonderful blessing that is. We also get to remember others that are less fortunate than us. The last is to be a mom of two young kids where this time of year is so magical. I get so excited for them, I think that I get that from my mom. She is still and rightfully so a true believer of Santa. I can remember even when I was older she would say to me that if you don't believe in Santa then you really wouldn't get anything for Christmas. Her favorite book is the Polar Express and I guarantee you that she hears the bell ring every year. What a wonderful thing to try and pass on to my kids. I know I'm getting to them because Sophia asks me everyday if today is Christmas. Her eyes get really big and her hands clap together and she jumps up and down. What a great moment it's going to be when I get to tell her YES, TODAY IS CHRISTMAS!!!!! Merry Christmas everyone and especially to you Grannie Joan......

Happy Birthday Dylan~

You had a Birthday shout Hooray, we want to sing to you today, one year older and wiser too, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!

Ohh, my baby boy turns SIX today. Take a deep breath, count to ten and try not to cry.

Dylan has been such a blessing in our lives. He came into our lives that maybe wasn't the perfect time, but I can't think of a greater blessing than him. He has changed my life in such a wonderful way. I can't imagine a minute, or even a second without him in our lives. He is truly a special boy.....

I could name a thousand things that I love about him, but I will stick with ten things that I adore.

1) He is so loving, and sweet

2) He is so smart

3) He will say Mom, Mom, Mom, and before I can answer, he says I Love You!

4) He is a wonderful big brother who protects his sister always.

5) He is handsome

6) He is extremly creative

7) He gives the best hugs

8) He likes to work, and I mean work. He will dig holes, shovel dirt, or rake for hours.

9) He likes to smell good

10) He is my favorite son (I can say that because he is my only one)

What a lucky mom I am to have been blessed with him...

I love you, DD bug, dilly pick, fella, sunny, dill, picky dill, raheed, and all of the others....

Hey Deer get off my lawn~

When the snow falls the deer come down the mountain. This is one of the greatest things about living here, we can see deer out our windows. We fed them last year along with several of our neighbors. I know they say not to but it was a tough year for them and we bought the "good" hay for them. I don't really know what the "good" hay was but the locals knew. Also we were trying to get them NOT to eat our freshly laid sod and our many plants. The most we had in our yard at one time were 15. They would come down every night about the same time and we would watch them eat the hay. Several would dig the snow away in our backyard and just lay there for several hours. The kids and I just loved it. Jump head to Spring the sod was fine but what we didn't know is that the deer ate several of our plants, about a dozen to be exact. So JW decided that he was going to keep them out this year. So he went to work protecting our newly replaced plants. I think that he found a new amazing skill I like to call "Fort Knox". Ohh I would like to see the deer try and eat our plants now. My hubby has built amazing (and I use that term strongly) forts around our plants. So the deer came down and sure enough we saw the tracks and they went to the familiar spots. What is this? (I could just hear them saying) Sorry deer no plants for you!

Side note: You know you live in the country when you drop your daughter off at school and you have to walk her to the door because the goats are in the way. I had to fight off goats to let the kids in the door. I love it!

The tree has been trimmed (whatever that means)~

The Tree! Dill's tree! Busting out the train!

We decorated the Christmas Tree this week. The kids were asking me everyday since Thanksgiving if we were putting up the tree. JW has also semi accused me of being a Grinch this year. I told him it's only a couple of days into December, chill out. So finally before they were all going to die the tree has been trimmed and the decorations up. By the way I have new rule with Christmas decorations if you can't get them up in one afternoon to one day, um you have to much stuff. The Christmas Gods are probably frowning upon me because I actually threw some decorations away this year. But a rule is a rule. I truly love this time of year and the kids are soooo much fun at their age. Everything is so magical. I cry every year when I unwrap my ornaments. They are so special, the different times in our lives. There is an ornament with a picture of Dylan when he is 10 months old and I cry and cry, he asks why are you crying looking at my picture? I just tell him that he is so big now and I miss him as a baby with his big head. Then we laugh. Enjoy the season!

Side note after I posted this and looked at the photo of my tree..um...there are only red balls on one side of the tree....ahh kids come on now!