Over the River and Through the Woods...

...and over mountain passes. We are on our way to grandmother's house for Christmas. Parts of the Idaho highway are closed due to poor visibility, but we are hoping that they will be open tomorrow when we need them.

We would love it if you would say a little prayer for us as we travel so that we can make it safely.

Merry Christmas!

In the six Christmases we have been married, I have NEVER had any sort of Christmas card, letter, etc. I always want to, but doing it all by myself, including trying to convince Michael to be on the smiling end of the camera has always been too daunting a task in the middle of all the other Christmas festivities.

This year, however, I convinced Mike to have our family pictures taken because we haven't since Anita was two weeks old, and we have an AMAZING photographer that is a friend of ours and lives close.

So, I'm sorry you don't all get cards in the mail, but I am very proud of what I got accomplished so far.

I do need to take a minute and thank ANDREA, who took wonderful pictures on short notice and in a short time frame with two kids crawling on her and another crawling inside. =) You're amazing.

I wish you all a happy and safe Christmas!

Abigail's 4th Birthday

Abigail opening presents

Abigail blowing out candles (with Anita's help)

Mom, trying to get those darn candles lit

(sorry, no pictures of dad, he was on the other end of the camera, where he likes to stay)

She is growing up so fast! She had a great day. It snowed all morning long, so she got a special birthday present from mother nature. She got to go to lunch with her great-grandma Gledhill, which is always special. It is so great to spend so much time with her, she will have some great memories to remember when she is no longer here with us.

When we were at lunch, a man came into the restaurant the same time we did, and my grandma told him that it was Abigail's birthday. He ordered right ahead of us and bought her a chocolate chip cookie. I thought it was very sweet.

Abigail's favorite gift was the Tinkerbell movie. She has been wanting it very badly since she saw it a month ago. She is very happy to be turning four and mom is proud that she remembers when her birthday is and how old she is.

Christmas Carol Pictures

Since most of Mike's family lives far away, I wanted to post some pictures of Terry in the play. Mike took the third picture because Debi made the costume and it turned out really good.

Abigail's Hinting

I found this lock on my refrigerator this morning. I think Abigail is hinting that I need to watch what I eat this Christmas season. Actually, she said she locked it so Anita wouldn't get into it. =)

Midnight Blogger

I don't know why, but since we moved back to Springville, I have struggled with falling asleep. Tonight it has to do with the awful cold I've had this week. I feel a lot better, but the minute I lay down to sleep, I get a tickle in my throat and I can't stop coughing long enough to fall asleep. So, I decided I would do something useful and make a post on my blog.

Yesterday we went to see the city of Midway's production of The Christmas Carol. My father-in-law has performed in it the past two years. I haven't ever been a big fan of The Christmas Carol, but this year it had a great effect on me. I don't know if it was because the economic status of our country at this time or something else, but as I watched it I recognized many different thoughts I have had being portrayed in the musical. I understood the poor in their struggle for the daily necessities of life. I also understood Scrooges yearning to keep his pennies in order to prevent that impoverished life he grew up in. In this scary economic time it is so easy to rationalize keeping your money close in case things get worse. On the other hand, it is the season of giving and we need to serve and help those who are less fortunate than we are.

That show helped me remember that the Lord is always aware of us and always takes care of us. By giving to those who have less than us, we are putting our faith and trust in the Lord and He will, in turn, reward us. When we help others, we will never be left without our needs being met.

Sorry, sometimes I have a tendency to be lengthy and boring in my posts, but I just feel the need to share my thoughts and feelings in the hopes that it might help another in their life.

Trimming the Tree

We have a wonderful family tradition that I look forward to every year. We make our own ornaments for our Christmas tree out of only edible materials. This stemmed, I think, from Mike's family's tradition of making gingerbread houses around the holidays. His family is VERY creative and came up with some cool things over the years. In his family, Mike is one of the more creative of the creative, so we have a good time.

When we were first married, we made ornaments out of hard candies melted into Christmas shapes. Last year, after many years of sitting and watching the master at work, I decided that I needed to add some of my talents to the mix, so I made gingerbread ornaments. This year we combined the two to very great effect. The girls had a great time putting the ornaments on the tree, and they feel a sense of ownership toward the tree because they were able to help with its creation.

The great thing about making new ornaments each year is that you get to learn from your mistakes the following year. This year, after a lot of half-eaten cookies on the tree last year, we decided we needed to salt the dough, and it has worked like a charm!