So Many Blessings

My friend Shauntae made a post about the blessings she was grateful for and it made me think of how many, many blessings my family has received at this time of year. We are so grateful to have finally sold our house in Logan. It closed on Christmas Eve. It is a very much needed Christmas gift. We are grateful for my parents and their love and help. They sent a great package of gifts for our family and some Christmas money, which is also very helpful at this time. We are also grateful for an amazing family in our ward, the Hickens (it is our bishop's family). They are so generous and thoughtful. They brought our family gifts and some groceries. We are also grateful for our ward and their concern for our family. Our family had an amazing and humbling Christmas thanks to so many people's generosity and love at this very special time of year. Shauntae had mentioned the blessings of paying tithing and we too have seen those blessings.
We are also grateful that our Heavenly Father loves us so much and blesses us with the things we need, right when we need them. Sometimes it is in material blessings, sometimes Spiritual blessings, and sometimes it is just those "Ah Ha" moments that show us that we are not, and will never be, alone. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year!

Christmas Eve the kids always get new PJ's

- Kids' Christmas Gifts -
(The blankets in the background are from my parents)

(I think it loaded Josie's sideways because she was laying down??)

This is an ornament of the St. Paul Temple
that the Hicken's gave to us.

We made breakfast after we opened gifts.

Julia had so much fun she couldn't even stay awake
during Christmas Dinner. :)

-25 Are you kidding me??

It is SO cold. Our church was canceled today because of the weather conditions so we are home and just wishing Jez's work would've been as generous. :) Our high today is supposed to be zero degrees and with the wind chill the temp is -25! We went out to Wal-Mart last night and I think it was the first time in my life that I have felt -25 degree weather. It isn't too bad when you don't have to be out in it, but let's just say I'm grateful for a heater in my van, house, etc. I took these pictures today. The first is the window in my bedroom. The window is frozen with a layer of ice on the INSIDE of the double pane glass. The second is the air conditioning unit in our room with ice growing inside of it. The whole side of the unit has a layer of ice (on the wall) and the unit has ice coming out of the vents. :) I guess it's time to dig out the cover to put over it.

Yesterday day it snowed most of the day. It wasn't as cold and I let the kids go out and play for a minute. Now I'm just hoping they aren't sick for Christmas.

We hope you are all doing well... and in spite of the weather, we still love it here. :)

Choir Concert and Holidazzle Parade

This week has been really fun. I am feeling better and we finally got our Christmas tree and a few decorations. The kids had fun and our tree turned out really cute. The family picture was taken on Sunday after church.

Cute little Julia is starting to walk. :)

Talden had a field trip singing at different places with his
class choir. He had fun, but was shy in the video. :)



Tonight we went into downtown Minneapolis for
the Holidazzle Parade.
It is a parade of lights - My camera didn't get great
pictures, but it was fun and wasn't too cold.
(It was about 18 degrees out which is about 20 degrees warmer than it has been)

Julia wasn't sure what to think.

She was much happier back in the parking garage.

Celebrating our 10 Year Anniversary

Today was our 10th Anniversary. It is crazy to look back on the last 10 years and see how it has gone by so fast, yet we have so many memories. We have experienced highs and lows and have shed tears of joy and pain. We have 5 beautiful children that we love so much and they have taught us more than we could have ever imagined. We have worked hard to get Jez through school and we have learned many life lessons just through our experiences outside of the classroom. It has been a challenging ten years for us, but we are so excited about our next 10 years and what they will bring. :)

I am so grateful to be married to my best friend. I am grateful for all the times we have spent together and the memories we have made. I know that we are meant to be together and I love the saying "grow old along with me, the best is yet to be." I love you Jez.

Wedding Day December 11, 1998

(If there is anything I would change about the day it would be to have had a photographer. We only have a few pictures and as you can see the quality isn't so great.)

Little Talden sleeping.... :)

1 Year Anniversary - We were sealed together and to our son Talden in the Logan, Utah LDS temple for time and all eternity.
(We don't have pictures of that day either... it was cloudy and rainy and all of our film was double exposed with Christmas pictures...)

2 Year Anniversary - I'm not sure, but I bet it was great. :)
3 Year Anniversary - Diddo
4 Year Anniversary - I think we might have gone to dinner at the Copper Mill, not sure - but I do think we had a great Valentine activity earlier this year. (Some of my GF buddies might remember)

5 and 6 Year Anniversary - Don't remember, sorry sweetie (but you don't remember either so I guess it's ok)

7 Year Anniversary - This one I remember! Thanks to my amazing, wonderful, totally UNFORGETABLE friends, Jez and I got to spend two nights in SLC with no kids! :) We had so much fun eating at fancy restaurants and Christmas shopping. It was such a great anniversary. :)
8 Year Anniversary - Once again, thanks to amazing friends, we were able to spend a night in SLC and got to go to a Jazz game.

9 Year Anniversary - This one I also remember. It was definitely one of the best ones we've had. We didn't have babysitters so we decided to feed the kids pizza and put them to bed early and then Jez and I cooked a fantastic dinner together. It was so fancy and yummy and we love to cook together. It is usually crazy at dinnertime with the kids, but it was nice with just us. We had music and conversation without being interrupted. It was great. Then we ate it by candlelight at our table which had a white linen, candles, and roses. After dinner we opened a gift basket from Wine Country Gift Baskets that was a Rocky Mountain tower with all kinds of goodies and we watched a movie. It was great. :)

Above: Jez chopping artichoke hearts....mmmm.

Below: The finished product. :)

10 Year Anniversary - This one probably won't top the charts for best Anniversary ideas, but it is the most profound for me. In the last couple of months our marriage has been tried and tested and through it all ultimately strengthened. I feel like this Anniversary is a turning point for us and I am excited about that. That being said... I have had strep throat since last Saturday and I'm still recovering so I am grateful I could even eat today, and Jez got a root canal this morning, so he is grateful he could eat too. :) He had the day off work and we spent most of it cleaning up our house because after 4 days of wanting to do nothing, it needed it bad. I feel so much better with it clean and we finally decided to decorate for Christmas. :) I will post pictures of that tomorrow... but other than that, I did get a chance to make this tile I had been wanting to make.


Happy Anniversary Jez.
Here's to the next 10 years.