"Christmas Nembers"

A couple of months ago when it snowed, Caleb asked if he could go
outside and make a snow angel. 

Thinking that he couldn't have remembered about that from last year, I asked him how he knows about snow angels.  He confidently replied, it's in my "snow nembers" (memories).  Hopefully next year these things will be in our "Christmas nembers"...

The Seal party, where Caleb picked his nose on Santa's (skinny teenage) lap.

 The Hill party (my mom's side).  I took the star that hangs from Caleb's bedroom ceiling and had him be the "star" in the nativity.  It was adorable and actually he's

mostly all I could see from where I was sitting.

Rainbow gardens in Ogden. My mom takes all of the girls in the family there every year the week before Christmas.  We eat at the restaurant, then shop in the beautiful boutiques. So fun! 

Jungle Jims playground.  This is what Caleb's preschool did for their Christmas-time fieldtrip. Caleb's non-fun mom didn't want to go on the rides (most of the mom's didn't!), so Caleb asked Teacher Joy to go on a lot of the rides with him. 
 I need to work on my fun factor.

We had to tell Caleb not to put his mouth on the poles and gates at the playground. Literally. Yuck!

Maybe that's why Caleb got really sick, and on Christmas Eve night, I ended up at my parents party without him and Justin (whimper). 

I think my family would've died  if I ditched the party too.

To ease the pain of missing his mommy, and several hours of fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house, I suggested that Justin take Caleb to his sister Paulette's house for a few minutes, where some of his family were having dinner.  So they stayed in town and in the end, although we were apart, everyone had an alright time.

 (My baby looks so sick!)

Our little guy had been counting down the days to Christmas, but when the day came, he felt so sick he didn't even remember it was Christmas! I couldn't believe it.  We didn't remind him, because he was crying and his throat hurt so bad.  I was bracing myself for a terrible day. We gave him some medicine, then Justin said when he was feeling better, he could open presents.  All of the sudden, it was as though Caleb's tears froze in place on his cheeks.  His crying stopped, and he ran into the front room and noticed Santa had come! And that was that.  The rest of the morning was filled with the typical joys of stockings, unwrapping presents, and taking pictures. Caleb felt completely fine the rest of the day. 
 I really felt like it was a Christmas miracle!

We even got to visit my parents, since my boys had missed them the night before.  We had a nice and relaxing afternoon there.

Caleb's night ended with some new Christmas pajamas. 
Surprise, surprise, they're Thomas.

DEAR SANTA...

Dear Santa,

I was a nice boy this year.  I played good with my friends and I filled up my sticker charts all the weeks.  I even got all my "politeness sitckers".  For Christmas I want a Henry and a Gordon train to go with my other Thomas trains.  I like playing with them the mostest of all.  I will leave cookies for you if me and my daddy don't eat them all gone.

Love,

Caleb

This is a small portion of the line to see Santa at our ward party.  During the party, Caleb followed his new, 7 year-old friend Emily (standing behind him) around like a puppy dog the entire time. Justin and I were laughing.

Have you heard the song "Where's the Line to see Jesus?"  I just saw it on YouTube the other day and I really like it.  If you want to, you can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OExXItDyWEY

Happy Birthday JUSTIN!

Happy Birthday today Babe! 

These are just a few of the things that I love about you...

(These old pictures make me laugh!)

You are good lookin', and don't seem to have aged since I met you!

(8 years ago!)

And you've always been cute.
(30 years ago!)

You know how to have a good time!

You took to parenting SO well, and have helped lighten my burden a lot!

 You have such a good head on your shoulders.

You are always making your family smile or laugh.

 

You're easygoing and people are able to relax around you.

You're good at showing me that you love me.
(He painted this behind our bathroom mirror 7 years ago...he, he!)

You're simply an incredible person, and Caleb and I look up to you a lot!

Being with you makes me so happy and I am so blessed to have you as my husband.  I hope we are able to make this day special for you so you know how loved you are! 

Densley Christmas Party

These are just a few pics we took at the Densley Christmas party. (Justin's mom's side).  Most of the party I couldn't track Caleb down, so we didn't get many pictures of him.  But he had a great time running around with a bunch of little kids he doesn't really know!   

 My favorite part of the party was singing Christmas carols with everyone while Grandma played the piano, even though she can hardly see.  I don't usually get as involved in this tradition, but this year I really got into it and enjoyed singing!  Everyone else did too, and I got emotional a couple of times because I felt so happy and so blessed. It was fun having Justin sit

next to me and sing too. 

Later, we went to Alison's Christmas

"Pops" concert and it was AMAZING!

It was a full, but wonderful day.