Christmas day!!!

What a wonderful Christmas day! I am so grateful for my family, for all of the blessings we have been given this year, for miracles, for friendships, for family and for the gift of the atonement that was given to the world which is why we celebrate the Christmas season anyway! Thayne and I were talking about how full our hearts felt right now. We feel our blessings are overflowing and it is such a great feeling to see all of our children in our home today. This is the end of an era so to speak. This was Garrett's first Christmas home from his mission, but next year it will no longer be 'our' family, because he will have 'his' family. Which is wonderful! Tiffany is such a wonderful addition to our family and I am so grateful to know that I will have a daughter like her. And Tanner is supposed to leave for boot camp on Tuesday, and he will be in the army for the next 3 years and no matter what, it will never be the same as it is today. It started right before 5am... not because the kids weren't up at a ridiculously early hour, but because Thayne told them that Aunt Candice and Uncle Shalum were coming out to open gifts with them and he wouldn't be here until 5am so there was no reason to get up any earlier! Sadly that probably won't work again next year!!! At 5:10am they said, "Do we HAVE to wait for them???" haha... nope!!! We gave up trying to do one gift at a time so basically Thayne and I sit back and watch the craziness! It's a great thrill to watch their faces.

This year I was spoiled by my kids. They gave me a huge marbel Christus statue and a huge, beautiful frame for family pictures and a massage seat that works so well! Plus beautiful jewelry and perfume. It was a great day in every way!

This is the typical 'after' mess that has become a family tradition to take pictures of! My camera died before I got all of the pictures taken. Tiffany and Garrett were excited for the basket full of towels and laundry soap that they will be able to use with their BRAND NEW WASHER AND DRYER!!! :) And Hyrum was thrilled with his real jeep! Everyone seemed happy with their stuff from Santa!!!

This picture does the mess no justice... if we stood Nate up in the middle of the mess, you would not be able to see his fluffy hair standing up!!!!

Christmas Eve

It's been such a great day!!! It's hard to believe that it was the first Christmas with Garrett home in two years. We had a great day with family and friends and the kids had a ball sledding. Family came out and the kids got to open their gift from grandma and grandpa and then they got to open their sibling gifts. They exchange names every year and it's always fun to see what they come up with for each other. We finally got everyone settled in for the night and Santa was able to come and we got to bed way too late... but it was a wonderful day with lots of memories made!! And thanks Uncle Shalum and Aunt Candice for the Xbox 360! You are the greatest!!!

We were having issues with all of the cameras in the house so we didn't get many sledding pictures!

Nate's birthday!

We had a great party! The house was busting at the seams with people but it was great! I have been a little bit emotional today, more so than on his birthday. I think the reason why is because THIS is what I thought about on one of the very darkest nights with Nate in the hospital. I kept telling myself that when he turned 1 we would celebrate his birthday with the ones that were there for us, helping us through... just the thought of seeing him at one kept me going on a night that didn't look like he would even make it through the night. And here it is! He had over 50 people celebrating the past year! It was amazing! I am so grateful for everyone that was here for us, in thought, in prayer or in action... we have so many blessings! So the party is over, but the fun is just beginning!!!

And thank you Karen for coming to visit teach and giving me the message that this is the season of hope. That the Savior gives us hope and that Nate was born at the right season to celebrate the hope that carried us through all of this past year!