Sunday, December 30, 2012

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! In our 6 years of marriage this was our fourth year doing Christmas at home with just us and I must say I love it! As much fun as it is to be with the extended family, I really enjoy spending this special day as our own little family. We woke up and had to delay presents so we could video chat with Clark’s brother who is on his mission in Germany/Switzerland/Austria at the moment. Lily was having a hard time waiting and decided to arrange the presents for us while we were talking…

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We had a fun time opening our gifts, though I can say that nothing brings me more joy on Christmas than watching Lil’s excitement as she opens her gifts and finding her things that she loves.

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Lil’s big gift was a scooter (which I knew she would flip for!) and she has been riding that thing non stop around our apartment ever since.

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I Love this time of year and the opportunity to celebrate our Saviors birth. I’m so blessed with my little family and I love getting to spend time with them. We were so very blessed with the ability (at the last minute) to get gifts for one another  even though we’re on a young student family budget at the moment. But even if we hadn’t been able to do that, we still would have had a wonderful, special day!

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My babies :)

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A Blessed Day…

 

On December 23 Miles was blessed at church. We were ale to have almost my entire family (minus my brother and his wife and another aunt and uncle) there to witness it. I feel so lucky that even though most of them do not believe the same things that I do they are willing to support us and be there for the special days in our children’s lives. After church we all had lunch and were able to enjoy each others company in an increasingly rare chance to all be together.

From left to right: My Aunt and Uncle, my sister and her husband and son, us, my dad and step mom, and my mom.

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After lunch we drove out to my dad’s house so we could spend Christmas Eve with them. The next day we hung out with my dad and sister, who was visiting from Nebraska. Lily finally got to hang out with her favorite cousin Colin, who we talk to via Skype at least 2 times a week. I think Lil would go home with her auntie Jen if we would let her…

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We had a wonderful Christmas eve with my family. I am grateful that my dad only lives an hour and a half away by car and that we can see some family with relative ease. I am also SO grateful to spend time with my sister. She lives entirely too far away! I am grateful for our relationship and that becoming mothers has made us even closer. As much I wish we both had less stress, I am so grateful that we are both dealing with husbands in school and having young families at the same time because we can provide each other with the support and understanding that we need.

We tried to get a shot of our families and the 3 (soon to be 4) grandkids for our parents but it wasn’t so successful. Almost every shot we took looks like this…

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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

6 years later…

So our life has been a little crazy lately. The birth of our son has been the center of our attention for so long and it has turned our world upside down, but in a good way. Clark is just about to finish one of his hardest semesters yet in school and has been glued to his homework desk if he happens to be home. Between those two things we haven’t given ourselves much time to focus on anything else. 8 days after Miles was born my birthday came and went without much fanfare. Lily even cried when Clark first asked her to sing to me (she happily did so later in the day). I guess that can happen during this time of life and frankly I didn’t care. But as is tradition, I got my Baskin Robbins ice cream cake, so I was good ;). Then a week later we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. This also came and went without the excitement one would expect for this kind of occasion. While Lily was downtown having fun with grandma, Clark and I took the baby on our fabulous date to Home Depot, Costco, and finished off the trip with a stop at Taco Bell. Terribly romantic, wouldn’t you say? We have been so busy lately it was actually nice just to have some time together to do random things.

This got me thinking. I have let stress get to me lately and hadn’t been taking the time to see how great things are. Yes, we’re both terribly busy. Yes, we have little to no time to ourselves and haven’t done anything fancy in a while. No, we didn’t go on some big getaway to celebrate, nor do we have the time or money to do so even if we wanted to. But I am so grateful for my life.

If you had asked me 10 years ago what my life would look like on my 26th birthday, I would have never in my wildest dreams imagined this is how it would be. I’m so grateful that I have been able to spend the past 6 years with my best friend. Even if things haven’t always been a fairy tale or didn’t go as smoothly as you always assume they will. I’m so grateful that we have 2 beautiful children who bring us so much extra joy in our marriage. Even if Lily does drive us crazy from time to time. I’m so grateful that even if we don’t always get out on fancy dates, we can spend a lazy Saturday all in our pj’s and have just as much fun, if not more, than we would have otherwise. I’m grateful for the comfort and security we have in our relationship and the knowledge that we are making it through some more difficult years (school, young family, no jobs…) with each other’s support.

I’m so grateful that life doesn’t always turn out as you plan, because what comes your way can be so much better!

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Can’t wait to see what the next 6 years hold, though I’m pretty sure a lot of it will look like this picture below… Smile

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Christmas party time

 

We recently went to our church Christmas party and had a lovely evening with our friends. When we told Lily that we were going to the party she clearly remembered the last one we went to, which was the Halloween party, and she told me she was going to bring her pumpkin and get candy. Who was I to stop her?

 

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When it came time for Santa pictures, Lily wasn’t so excited. I told her that if she let me get some pictures she would get a present from Santa so she finally agreed.  I love this first picture mainly for Lily’s expression saying that she isn’t amused. Miles is looking kind of crazy as well.

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Looking at these pictures, I’m still kind of in shock that I have 2 kids…

Christmas time is here…

This past weekend we had some fun and got into the Christmas spirit. Lily spent all day with grandma downtown at the Hometown Holidays event (I should have sent the camera with them…). There was music, a parade, crafts, food, an artificial snow area, and all kinds of other fun things. Lil came home with a teddy bear and some crafts and passed out on the couch. Apparently she had a blast and loved spending time with grandma. Later that night we went back downtown for the lighting of the city Christmas tree and a fireworks show that I think could almost pass for a 4th of July show. They ended up being a little too loud for Lily but she was a trooper and stuck it out.

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While Lil was out with Grandma, Clark and I picked up a Christmas tree and we spent our Monday night decorating. Lily was SO excited to get to help! She loved playing in the lights and putting on ornaments.

 

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She even made her own little “nest” of ornaments in the tree :)

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We decided not to put the glass ball ornaments on the tree due to Lil’s fascination with them, and luckily have enough other random ornaments to fill the tree. It may not be the fanciest of trees, but Lily loves to look at it each day and rearrange it so it is just right. Even without putting the glass balls on the tree she still has managed to break 2 so far this year…I think she must have hidden them somewhere during the decorating process ;)

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I think one of my favorite moments so far this Christmas season was when I put a Santa hat on Miles and Lily said “Look, mommy! Now he’s a Christmas tree!!!” I love the things that come out of her mouth (most of the time…)

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