Happy New Years 2007!

What an original title! Oh well, the new year is exactly the reason I am blogging. I love the beginning of a new year. It is a great time to look at how far you've come, and what you would like to be doing differently. It has been a great year for our family. Last year was rough when we found out my dad had brain cancer. It has been amazing to watch his recovery and feel his strength. It is hard to complain about your own "little" issues when he doesn't issue one word of complaint. I feel very lucky to say that he is off of chemo and so far the tumor is not growing. What a wonderful blessing. He was able to retire in August, and I am really happy that he is just able to spend his time however he would like. I love you, Dad!

Jeff is enjoying the work he is doing at the moment and that makes him a lot happier. Unfortunately he had a few accidents this year and both his ankles have been injured. He was able to go skiing on Wednesday and he is starting indoor soccer again. I hope he will be back to his active self shortly because I know that is so important to him.

I have been very blessed this year. I love being at home with my kids and watching them grow and learn. It is not always easy and my main goal for this year is to just try to enjoy each moment. I feel in some ways I am always living for the future and I think it keeps me from appreciating the present. I am excited for this new perspective and hope I can remember it when I am up all night with a baby again. :-)

I am still in shock that I am going to have a third child. I watched my friend's 4 month old today, and it was awesome to watch Dallin and Emily try to entertain him. I learned that I will not be able to leave Emily alone for even a second as I found Baby Harry with a big book on his tummy. Very sweet! I can honestly say I am looking forward to having another child. I finally feel that I will be able to do a good job. I am not as scared and I really feel at peace when I think about it. I hope Heavenly Father knows how appreciative I am of this amazing opportunity.

Dallin and Emily have grown so much this year, especially in their relationship with each other. We didn't want to put them to bed tonight because they were laughing and chasing each other and just having so much fun. They each are so different and I love learning about each of them. Dallin is a miniature replica of Jeff, and I see so much of me in Emily that it scares me. I hope I am doing a good job with them. I just hope they know how much I love them.

I really want to try and use this blog more for journaling. So, I guess I better recap Christmas. :-) On Christmas Eve, we had dinner with our good friends, our next door neighbors, and my kids participated in their first nativity. Dallin was a wise man and it was really sweet.

Right before dinner, Emily shoved enough toilet paper in the toilet to flood our kitchen. It was a great start to the night. :-) You had to just laugh. We had a great dinner and a wonderful night. When we got home we let Dallin open 2 presents- his Christmas Eve "Cars" pj's and somehow he knew which present was the "Pteredactyl Track." So, it ended up being a later night than we hoped as Jeff had to put it together and of course, play with it! I don't know who had more fun, Jeff or Dallin! We forgot to make cookies for Santa-oops!

On Christmas morning, Dallin woke up first. He found his scooter and he was pretty happy. I let him open his stocking and then we waited for Emily to wake up. Then we woke up Jeff. :-) It was really cute to watch the kids get so excited to wake Jeff up. Emily loved her princess scooter also.

We opened all the gifts and then drove 4 hours to Sunriver. Our friends were staying in a house there and invited us to join them. I was a little sad to be away from family, so we decided to take advantage of this. It was such a relaxing time! I just lounged in sweats and enjoyed hanging out with everyone.

We took the kids to the ski resort on Tuesday. They have a tubing run that Dallin and Jeff really enjoyed. Emily was too little so we just played in the snow. Dallin loved tubing with Jeff. I took him down twice and the second time I knocked him off his tube. I left the tubing to Jeff after that!

On Wednesday, Amy and I packed up the house and sent Jeff skiing with her teenage son. Then we took the kids to the park. They played in the snow for 2 hours. They loved sliding and jumping into the snow. It was a blast! I was glad we let them play for that long because the car ride took an hour and a half longer than it should have. They handled it very well.

We had a "pretend" New Years Eve party on Saturday night that was a lot of fun. We brought our dance pad and Dance, Dance Revolution. There were about 14 couples and 30 kids! It was a little crazy, but we all had a good time. Our actual New Years Eve was pretty low key because our friends got sick and canceled plans. So, we just watched the ball drop. :-( Oh well, lots of great memories this holiday season. Now, we are just trying to get through getting rid of the binky. After spending 5 hours in a car with an almost 4 year old who is still attached to his binky and cried every time it dropped, I told Jeff we better get rid of Emily's well before this baby comes. She is barely 2 years old, but is pretty willful! The first 2 nights she screamed and screamed, but tonight she went right down. So, we are crossing our fingers. Wish us luck!

Whew! I guess that was kind of a random post. :-) I am ready for my best year yet. :-) I want to have a good attitude and be grateful for all of my blessings. I want to use this blog to keep track of how I am doing. Thanks for all of you who comment. I love getting to know you through blogs. I have learned a lot by reading yours.