We survived!!!!

Frozen Cob Webs, and Ben Sledding!!!

VERY cold outside everything is covered in frost

Ben and his Chaps and Joe and Grandpa

Somewhere back there is a Jordynn

Zach got an Air Soft gun...everybody DUCK!!!

Michaela got a guitar



Dani was VERY excited to see what Santa brought her!!

'Twas the night before Christmas!!

New Christmas PJ's with a new tradition of making their OWN Christmas shirt!!






Opening the new PJ's

Well Christmas is done for another year and it went pretty well. We had Ben's dad and brother Joe with us again this year and that was fun!! We went sledding Christmas afternoon with some friends and that was cold and fun. I spent the first 30 min of sledding on the phone with my brother serving a mission in Brazil. It was fun to hear from him and know he's doing great!!!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of all the fun!!!

It's Christmas Time!!!

Joe and Heather got engaged!!!

Michaela, Zach, Jordynn and Dani at Temple Square

So I've been not in the Christmas mood lately!!! Proof is in the fact that our Christmas tree was up for 2 weeks before lights were even on it (that happened yesterday) Anyway I'm getting a little jollier and here are some pictures to prove it.

I made a list this morning of what I still had to do before Christmas, when the list hit 15 I got depressed again!! But never fear it will be GOOD!! I'll just soldier through and I know when it's actually Christmas I'll be happy and cheerful! I really do love this time of year it's just very hard to not get caught up in the idea of Presents, and Neighbor Gifts, and Teacher Gifts, and Co-Worker Gifts, and getting the list DONE!!! I want to remember the reason for the season which is the Birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, the greatest gift we've ever been given. The true joy of Christmas is in the time with family and friends and not getting caught up in all the extra stuff that really doesn't matter.

Lesson Learned....

If you know me (even a little) you know I have NO patience. Well I have pretty good patience with my children and never yell. But when it comes to pretty much everything else in life ZERO patience. Why? I don't know but it's been this way my WHOLE life. I had NO patience waiting until I was 16 to drive so I started at 14 (illegally...I know, I kn0w) Cooking drives me crazy because food has to cook!!! And when I get it into my head I want something....well it has to be NOW!!! This is not ideal for life I understand. And it's a vice I need to work on...but I have no patience for it!! Anyway I had quite the insight that will make our lives easier. I have many, many (God willing) years left on this earth. That means that even though there are things I want RIGHT NOW I can wait and have things or do things when it's a better time in my life. What does this all mean? Well if you've read my blog for long you know that we have many fun and interesting animals. I love having my Baby Doll Sheep, Fainting Goats, and Miniature Donkeys. Well the time has come that they find a new home. Life is hectic and busy and even though it's ton of fun having all these animals, it's also a ton of work. So for now the animals need to find a better home. I told Ben that there will be time for animals later when life isn't so precarious. It's sad but I know that this isn't the time. So it will be a test of patience for me to not dive right back into the animal farm life, but I know that there is a time for everything and this isn't that time.