Pre-Christmas Activities

We love this time of year.  Christmas is fun, but really, I think it's 

all of the anticipation and family time leading up to Christmas

that's really the greatest.

There are several gingerbread houses around Logan

for some sort of contest so we decided to go vote on 

our favorite and walk around main street with all the pretty lights.

This was our favorite gingerbread house and we're pretty sure it will win.

It was actually made by some people that are sort of now related to us. :)

Sam enjoyed being outdoors.  That is the one plus

of not having any snow yet, we are more willing to take Sam outside.

We wore him out in the end. 

Travis was gone last week from Monday to Friday on business.

Sam and I went and spent a couple nights with my parents and 

visited some friends so that we didn't have to be alone all week.

Of course we had to stop and see Noah. :)

We made sure to send Daddy plenty of photos...

Sam came with me during a photo session

and he was a champ. He even took a nap.

It was so pretty up the canyon, we finally saw some snow!

On Saturday Travis, Colton and their dad went out to Brigham/Corinne

to cut up some trees for Mandy's firewood.

Tamara, Sam and I tagged along and sat in the truck.

Sam seems really anxious to start driving that huge vehicle.

Travis took this the other morning. He's teaching Sam how to 

take care of his non-existent teeth already!

The Christmas festivities have begun.  

We had a party at Travis' dad's home last night.

The kids (both young and old) got to have an indoor snowball fight...that seemed to be never-ending.

We decorated gingerbread houses which I hadn't done in ages.

Here's our finished product.

Complete with our little family out front.

And here's one of my favorites from the evening.

It's always good to spend time with family.

We're just waitin' around for Christmas now.

Excited to share it with Sam. :)

It did finally started snowing today, and Sam enjoyed watching it.  

Also, Sam got an early Christmas Present from one of his

grandparents so we recorded him opening it just because.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

6 months ago

6 months ago today, we were in the hospital.

6 months ago, Samuel entered and changed our lives forever.

I can't believe it's been 6 months.

So much has happened in that time. Sam has grown and developed so much!

It's hard to believe that he's the same baby.

I have grown as well. I've learned new things.

Last night I was reflecting on the past few months and I feel like I've gained

just an inkling of Heavenly Father's perspective with this child of mine.

For example, Sam, like most babies, gets really cranky when he's tired.

Sometimes, when I put him in his crib to take a nap, he cries and screams.

As I stand at the door I think to myself,

"it's for your own good Sam, I know that you are tired and once you fall asleep and

have a good nap, you'll be so much happier. I would not be doing you a favor by 

picking you up and playing with you right now,"

I believe God does the same thing to us...Not with nap time,

But He knows what is best for us and He knows when to step in.

He knows what we can handle.

Or, now that Sam can move around on his own, as he begins to explore new

things, I often have to intercept him to keep him out of trouble.

I can see the whole picture, just like God can see our whole picture,

and we often have tunnel vision, focused on one thing,

the thing that we may think will bring us happiness.

God knows what will bring us eternal happiness

and we need to trust His plan for us, taking the good with the seemingly bad.

I know I'm not the perfect mother. I don't think there is such a thing.

But I know I'm the perfect mother for Sam.

I was watching an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch the other day

and she cast a spell to make her life perfect.  Everything went wrong--

her boyfriend broke up with her, she got fired, ect. all because she was flawless.

It got me thinking, none of us are perfect, yes, we are striving for that, 

but we won't ever be perfect on this earth.  And that's ok.

I read lots of blog posts and articles that pop up about motherhood,

how to be a good mom, 7 steps to discipline with love, ect, ect.

What I've learned is, there is no right way to parent.

Sure, there are wrong ways to parent--hanging your kid from the ceiling by

their ankles is wrong.

But every child is SO different, if you have 5 kids, you may have to parent

5 different ways. And that's ok.  Sure, Travis and I think our way

is the best, and it is, for SAM.

I guess I've just gained a lot of new perspectives with this new step called parenthood.

And I am so thankful for the privilege to have Sam with us. 

He is such a tremendous blessing.

 In other news, Thanksgiving break was great.

We got to go see the lights at Temple Square with my BFF Amanda and her

boyfriend Alex. They were in town from Seattle and it was so great to see them!

 It was the first night the lights came on, so it was SUPER crowded.

We made it through though.

Love this girl!

Thanks for making time for us!

We spent Thanksgiving day with Travis' mom and her family.

She just got a swim spa so we finally got to try that out.

Sam loved it. Just the right temperature for him. :)

He's still just such a happy baby, with a growing personality.

He's also going bald...

He is starting to eat more foods, and it is always entertaining.

We're excited for this Christmas season.  

We've decided to get Sam a box for Christmas. I think he'll love it.

And here's a fun video of Sam and Travis playing.

I can't get enough of Sam's laugh!