Christmas and Family

We had a wonderful Christmas. You could see Archie processing what was happening and having more fun with toys and presents and excitement. He misunderstood the excitement though, and went for the unwrapped wrappings in the trash bag rather than the nicely wrapped presents under the tree. It didn’t matter to him he was happy to get his hands on anything toy or not. We spent the morning playing, eating, puzzling, and resting. Temple square later that night was fun, but we arrived too early for the lights, and after spending and hour walking around in the cold as a group we decided to leave, and we took about 5 steps and as if on cue all of the lights surrounding the temple turned on. It was magical. We reveled for about 2 minutes, it was still very cold, and then left, feeling satisfied that we got to see what we came for. Archie absolutely loved the attention he was getting. Aunt Kara, Uncle Devin, Grandma, Grandpa, Mom ( I am now “mom” not ‘mommy’ or ‘mama’… my little heart broke a bit, my little baby is not a baby) Daddy, ( how he got to be ‘Daddy’ and not just ‘dad’ escapes me, but makes me smile) and Archie. He would go from adult to adult bathing in their laughs and kisses and chases, not at all ready to share his pack of grown-ups with anyone. And he didn’t have to. We left two days after Christmas to spend a week with my family where Archie isn’t the only grandchild, but the only one that could make it to Colorado. So it was another round of amazingly fun laughs and kisses and chases from Grandpa M., G-ma, Aunt Laura, Uncle Bernie, Uncle Zach, Aunt Courtney, Mom and Daddy:) We do our best not to spoil the child, but how can you spoil a little boy who basks in your attention? Instead of too many ‘things’ he gets time and love and books read and trains played and pictures drawn. It is the most surprising, purest relationship. I am living the life that I always wanted but wasn’t sure how to express. Days may run into days and life isn’t always exciting, toilets need to be cleaned no matter where you are! But, I have an incredibly loving husband, who is committed to our family and our family’s happiness and a son who makes me laugh out loud and want to cry because he is so sweet. However, just like all lives, mine isn’t sunshine and roses and smiles every second of every day and that is why it is so wonderful. We learn hard lessons sometimes and make tons of mistakes most times, and burn dinner so the house fills up with smoke two times… but, I am rescued by that charming man who walks into the smoke filled house and opens windows, finds fans and says “don’t worry, let’s do date night tonight and take Archie with us”. Then, when it happens to him the next time, I will be there to rescue him. And Archie will be there to watch and learn, a) how to use the oven, b) how to use a timer, c) how to comfort and calm, d) how to make the best out of a burned dinner (because sometimes you just have to eat it when there is nothing else and the budget is tight!) I love my family, especially husband, kids, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, grandmas and grandpas.


We don't really have any other Christmas photos, I used our video camera most of the time and still have to get the videos uploaded. These pictures were from our Family night at Thanksgiving Point, taking a wagon ride through the lights in 'Santa's Village, it was a lot of fun.