Christmas 2012
   Today is the day after Christmas.  We had a great Christmas, as always we are blessed.  Scott was able to have Christmas Eve day and Christmas day off, he usually does and I just wanted to take a minute to recognize that we are blessed in that area.  I know so many families have to sacrifice time with their loved ones for their jobs.  I am very greatful that we have always had him home with us on Christmas.  Scott's parents got to go to Oregon this year so we stayed at my moms all day.  She was probably tired of us by the time the day was over.  Christmas Eve it is our tradition to go with my mom and dad to the graves.  We visit Amy's and both sets of my grandparents, one in Ogden and one in Layton.  This year it was snowing so we decided not to venture out with them (it didn't end up snowing as much as it was going to...so we probably could have gone.)  We did meet them at Amy's grave and take her a little flower.  I still hate that I have to visit her grave instead of HER.  We then all met at my mom's and had pizza and played games with the kids and Kristin and Jeremy.  My kids were CRAZY with excitement, which is fun but can be draining, I wouldn't want it any other way though.  I am dreading the day when I don't have little excited kids waiting for Santa to come.  Hopefully by that time I will have grandkids???  I am pretty sure that this is the last year that Zack will allow us to continue to believe that he believes in Santa.  I think he has been questioning for some time now, but has not come right out and said it.  It's sad to me how fast he has grown up.  Jacob was not feeling good at my mom's so we came home not super early but earlier then we would have normally.  As soon as we walked in the door, he went upstairs to get his jammies on and was standing at the top of the stairs RIGHT NEXT TO THE BATHROOM and threw up all down the stairs :(  I kept telling him to go in the bathroom (at least then he wouldn't have stunk up the carpet) but he was so freaked out about it that he didn't quite know what to do...None of the kids have thrown up for years we have been very lucky in that sense.  Poor kid was so upset that he was sick on Christmas Eve, but he went to bed and felt much better on Christmas morning.  Scott and I waited for the kids to go to bed....meaning of course that what we really were waiting for was for Zack to go to sleep (which he always seems to have a hard time doing)  In some ways I think our lives on Christmas will be easier when he finally does admit that he no longer believes in Santa just for the simple fact that we can get some sleep!  After he was asleep we called my dad who brought down Emma's kitchen and we pulled the rest of the stuff out.  I just had a hysterectomy and my appendix out two weeks ago so by this time I could hardly lift my legs to walk I was hurting so much.  The kids woke up on Christmas morning and had a great Christmas.  Zack's big gift from Santa was a Nintendo DS 3  and Jacob's was a Nook. They were both really excited about what they got,  Emma was happy with her kitchen and has been "cooking" in it ever since.  Zack now wants to take his D.S. back to get a Nook....so we will see what we can do.  Scott's big gift was a "retro style" ATARI...from the olden days as Zack would say.  My big gift was a sewing machine.  I am sooooooooo excited!

Today Scott and I did something that was very hard.  Along with the rest of the country we sent our kids back to school.  It was hard because of the school shooting that happened in Conneticut on Friday.  So many lives were taken....AT SCHOOL.  School is supposed to be a safe place for them, and I probably sound so naive, but a school shooting at an ELEMENTARY school is something that honestly isn't anything I have worried about until now.  I know there have been other school shootings and each of them are horrible.  Every time there has been one, I have cried and mourned for the lives that were lost.  This time though it was different.  I have BABIES in elementary school.  It hit me hard.  To think that someone could just go in and decide to end so many lives in a split second baffles me.  So yes, today was a hard day for me.  I watched the clock every minute waiting not so paitiently for MY babies to arrive SAFELY home.  I pray to God that they come home safe EVERY DAY.  My heart truly goes out to the families of the victims of Friday's shooting.  Christmas is just around the corner, and my heart breaks to think that they already have presents bought and probably wrapped for kids who will never get to open them.  I don't know how they will go on.  I hope they know that their babies are being protected.  I hope that they know that they WILL see their children again.  I hope that they know that their kids are in the loving arms of our Saviour.  It's not an easy thing to just trust that everything will be ok all of the time.  Stories like this cause more anxiety in me then I ththink even I realize.