It's the most wonderful time of the year...

We have had a great Christmas, even though we have not had any family around we have enjoyed spending time with our own little family and some friends in our ward. We feel blessed to live in a place where people are so friendly and looking out for us. I am grateful for the adopted grandparents and people we feel are family here. We have had a crazy, busy and wonderful week.
Last saturday was Brooklyn's baptism, we are so proud of her and her decision to be baptized!! We were so grateful that so much family was able to come. We appreciate Jared & his kids, Vovo, Kayla & Thomas, Janae, Ezra & Lindsey for making the effort to come up, down and over for this special day! We love you!! That night we went out to the Living Nativity here in town and got to see a real live camel!! It was cool!! Ezra and Lindsey and Kayla, Thomas and Janae all left that night. We were sad to see Janae leave since she has been here since August. We loved having her here and are sad she is gone.
Sunday we had a wonderful day at church, I love Christmas sunday and the spirit I feel there. We hung out that day, Chas, Jared and Dixie went to scope out a sledding spot for Monday, while I took a much needed nap. We got to visit with them all day and just relaxed for a bit. I did miss Gina though and visiting with her.
Monday, Chas worked half the day and Dixie drove to the airport to fly home. Chas and Jared took the kids sledding out at Andie's Prairie and had and awesome time! The kids came home with all kinds of stories to tell. I got some more Christmas shopping done and had a little quiet time with just Beckett.
Jared and the kids left Tuesday morning and for the first time in 4 months it was only our family here for dinner. Honestly it was a bit weird! We are getting used to just being us again, our house seems not so small anymore.
Chas worked most of the week then took off about 2 on Thursday. We went over the Long's for Christmas Eve dinner and had such a good time there. Brady loves playing the Wii and we had some real good laughs over watching him and Chas try out the hula hoop contest, talk about hilarious!! We got home late and got the kids in bed, Emree was so excited she couldn't stop chatting. Finally they all fell asleep and so now it was Santa's time to come!
We had a wonderful Christmas day, opened presents and just hung out with each other. The Long's came over for Christmas breakfast and we went back over to their house last night for Christmas dinner. We sure appreciate them having us over. This is the first year they have not been able to be with their kids for Christmas, so we are filling in. It has been nice for both of us. We stayed most of the night again playing the Wii and other games. What a fun night!
I love how relaxing it has been just staying home and not going anywhere. We are going swimming this afternoon and the kids are so excited.
I have really been thinking about the new year and the many things I would like to do better and try and become the person I want to be. I really would like to keep a better journal, and for whatever reason it's so much easier to do on here than actually write it down, so even if it's boring to anyone who reads, I am going to try and keep a better journal of things. Here's to new goals!!! Good luck!