Better Late than Never!

So I know it's half way through January, but I'm finally in a position to sit for a few minutes and tell you about Christmas.

Of course, this year was quite different for us. It was our first Christmas completely away from family Christmases. We were very blessed though to have the Fosburgs join us down here for the holiday. Mike and Ronda spent almost 2 wks cleaning, cooking, baby sitting, and just being with us. I loved it! It was so nice to have other adults to talk to during the daytime. Chris was blessed with work in that he was given his parent leave, plus Christmas leave, so I had him almost the whole month of December. It was really nice to have him home to help us adjust to our new little one.

I was completely unprepared for Christmas since that was when Elizabeth was due and Chris didn't get home from training in Alabama until the 9th. Anyway, we finally got our shopping done on Christmas Eve thanks to Mike and Ronda. We had so much fun wrapping the gifts,

filling the stockings, and preparing the breakfast for the next morning. I love Christmas. We didn't do any kind of program or anything this year. We actually never got to a Santa Claus this year for pix either. While I regret the pix a bit, I never would have made it. I was a bit overwhelmed this year so I'm grateful we were able to do what we did.

The kids loved Christmas. Evie got a whole trunk full of dress up clothes. Her favorite piece was the crown. She still ends up in an outfit from that trunk every day. We have to often remind her not to sleep and eat in the dress up clothes. She dances around telling us what a princess is supposed to do and we even end up with a very handsome prince sometimes. JC loves to play with his big sister.

JC loves his rocking horse, pirate tent, and sword. We had a blast with our little boy. It was so fun to see him rocking on the horse since his feet don't touch the ground. He's such a strong kid. He and Evie love the tent. Between the dress up clothes they both wear and the tent, they're never REALLY at home. The sword, while fun for JC, is not always a good choice on our part. He is still a bit wobbly and the sword, though made of styrofoam stuff, is a bit unwieldy. Evie on the other hand loves it. I personally have dubbed Evie "lady talksalot," JC "sir laughsalot," and Chris "sir sleepsalot." We all giggled at the dubbing ceremony. Evie thought I was just hitting people. So what if I was?

Lizzy did really well for Christmas. She was really awake for most of the gifts and the lunner we had later. She's so cute and though we didn't have a special Christmas outfit for her, we sure enjoyed the convenience of her birth being early that we could spend the actual day all together. I was nervous about her being born on or real close to the event since our

hospital won't allow children under 18 above the second floor due to H1N1 issues. I was on the 4th floor so I would have spent the day without my kids. I'm so glad it didn't turn out that way!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We surely did. I am so grateful for family, friends, and of course, our Heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ. Though we have our challenges and difficulties we recognize the great gifts we have been given in the smiles of our children, in the touch of a spouse, and the love that fills our hearts during special times when despite all odds we continue to grow and prosper. Thank goodness for the gospel and all the wonderful things that attend the church of Jesus Christ. What blessings were reaped in 2009.

Loves - Tamy

Elizabeth's Baby Blessing

So our beautiful little girl number 2 is officially ours according to the records of the church. Always a good thing. On Sunday Dec 27th, Chris, his father, Mike, and several Elders that we have become friends with joined together and blessed my sweet baby girl. It was a beautiful event with blessings of patience, humor, and abounding love being requested for her. I sure love watching the priesthood work within my own family, as I'm sure you all do. She wore the same blessing dress that Evie wore when she came to our family. Ronda of course made it and it was just as beautiful the second time around. As you'll also see, the lovely blanket, all in white was made by Aunt Mary. How loved our newest one is!

I am so grateful for my growing family. Each child adds so much to our home. Evie's boundless energy and quick forgiveness. Joseph's amazing implacability and even temperedness. Lizzy's wonderful habit of sleeping when the other kids do. Combine those great qualities with Chris' amazing sense of humor and you can't go wrong. I love having a new child. The dynamic of the family changes so much that you can't imagine the family without them. It's so great. I love being a mom in the latter days. It's a bit intimidating, the responsibilities are so large, but so fantastically fun and exciting. Being a mom is so much more fun than I ever thought it would be. My family presents tons of challenges every day and if I didn't have prayer to lean on I would surely fail, but I laugh more each day now than I think I did in the whole of my life before them. With the help of the Lord I'm able to see the more humorous side of Evie cutting her own hair and JC throwing his food across the room when he's done with dinner. I'm even able to see how cute Lizzy is at 4am (sometimes) when I have the spirit and I remember that I'm merely the custodian of these amazingly wonderful spirits.

How lucky I feel to be a mom. My kids are great, most of the time, my husband is truly my best friend in every sense of the word, and I am loved by an all knowing Father in Heaven. What more could I want (besides a day off every now and then!) : )