Tis the season

In case you are wondering what we have been up to this season here are a boat load of pictures.  We love caroling at the local care centers.  OK I love it and I drag my kids along with me.  One of my favorite memories is joining my brother Rob and his family to sing at a care center on Christmas.  Ruby and Cooper were supposed to be Mary and Joseph as the rest of us sang to a group.  Cooper stood in front of all of us and plugged his ears.  I don't know if he feels any better about it now, at least he didn't give any of the residents the stink eye this time.

Lots of selfies.  Oh wait, that happens all year long.  I sure love this beautiful girl.

Salt dough ornaments.  I love the Santa handprints.

Kidfest in Hartford.  If any of you would like to lay in a pile of Legos, come over to our house at anytime. No appointment necessary.

Pretty sure Rubes thinks she is a puppy, she loves to stick that tongue out. 

I shrunk my family.  Hopefully I won't step on them.

Christmas tree farm in Sommers, CT.

Now she thinks she is a tree.

Ruby's 2013 ornament: A mustache, surprise surprise.  There is that tongue again.

Coop is totally into rocks and minerals this year hence the turquoise ornament.

Matt and I are commemorating the year of the marathon.  Me: 1 Matt:3 and training for Boston 2014

Lots of bribery to get them to take a family photo with me.

Live Nativity and International Nativity display in Ellington, CT.

Catching snowflakes.

Lego family Christmas Party.  Once again Lego trows the most amazing parties for kids.  We feel so blessed to be with a great company.

Another Lego party, grown ups only.

More running to offset all the yummy Christmas treats.  So blessed to have crazy running pals 13 degrees on this chilly December morn. 

Sugar cookies.  I found 6 negative gingerbread men shapes in the cookie dough and only one gingerbread man on the cookie sheet.  Rocky was eating them hand over fist.

My kids made me this darling nativity.  Baby Jesus has glasses, I love it!  I have a thing for nativity sets, my mom instilled that in me.

Decorating our wooden gingerbread house and then decorating our faces.  OK there was no me in that our.

Teacher gifts.  I wish you could have smelled the yummy Cranberry Apple Cider mix that these apples contained.  Delightful!

We had a white December for a few weeks.  It is currently 60 degrees outside, raining and no snow.  Coop was catching falling snowflakes and was ambushed by a falling Rocky.  I love when these 2 are not fighting.

I love this little manger.  In early December the manger is empty.  When we do good deeds we add a piece (or a handful if your name is Rocky) of straw to make the baby Jesus more comfortable. 

If you have never tried tossing bread to a seagull in flight you really should! Connecticut River

Lets hope the conductor or the hundreds of other children who have worn this hat don't have lice!  Yep I have issues!  My family will throw a hat on at a store just to give me a panic attack.

Essex Steam Train to ride with Mr. and Mrs. Clause.  I am glad I still have one kid who still gets excited by stuff like this.  Rocky asked me point blank if Santa was real.  I am not a good liar, OK I can't do it at all.  I told him I was a Santa and he is a Santa.  We will see how much time that buys us. 

I do believe in SANTAS.  I have a very sacred memory of what was starting off as a very bleak Christmas to put it lightly.  We had just moved into our house in Salt Lake with our first mortgage.  Matt lost his job, our car was stolen from the church Christmas party, and we had two small children who were very excited about Christmas.  We had a family dinner at our house and Santa showed up at my door.  He gave my kids a gift and a very generous card filled with money for Matt and I. Not only did Santa come, lots of Secret Santas left gifts on our porch and mailed very generous gifts to us.  We truly watched a Christmas miracle unfold.  It still makes me teary when I think about it.  Thank you to whoever sent Santa and all the secret Santas, I still have no clue who they were. Thank you for being in tune and helping out a family in need.  I love the magic of Christmas and the chance it gives us to remember the humble birth of our Savior. 

I love the carols we sing at Christmas.  2 songs have really touched me.  Here is the gospel according to Chris Rich in song.  In the song Joy to the World I love the line "Let every heart prepare him room".  I have thought a lot about what that means.  At Christmas I always feel like I need to clean out my house to make room for for all the decorations, gifts and fun.  We also need to clean our hearts to make room for HIM!  How do we do that?  Forgive someone, be kind, be patient, be honest, choose a happy attitude, FOLLOW HIM!!  We won't have room for Jesus in our hearts if we choose to fill them with other things.  Choose wisely. We will have JOY when our hearts are filled with JESUS! 

Away in a manger is the other song that taught me an important lesson this year.  In the very last line it says, "Fit us for Heaven to live with thee there".  I have never really noticed that line.  Heavenly Father loves us and He wants us to come back to him.  He allows us to go through our experiences or trials so we can learn what we need to in order to return to His presence.  Our trials "fit", shape or prepare us to be the people He knows we can be IF we do our best and follow His son.  I am so thankful to know that I am a child of God and that He loves me!  He has a plan for me and is aware of my little family. 

Merry Christmas!

Gobble until you WoBbLe!

 Yoda was thankful for geese, dogs, chickens and 3 headed dragons.

We had not 1, but 3 thanksgiving feasts!  Luckily not all on the same day.

The first feast was with our ward family (my congregation at church).

 The 2nd dinner was at the Higgins Household (and yes they were on the same day).  Amy is one of my favorite people ever. She was one of the first people I met in Longmeadow.  It was totally meant to be.  She is my running buddy aka therapist.  I adore her!  We had a delightful meal and great company with some friends from our town.

Our 3rd and final feast was in Grafton, MA with the Campbells and the Gibsons.  Looking at the feast you may wonder if we were at Martha Stewarts Thanksgiving dinner, pretty sure ours was better.  Aimee is another one of my very favorite people.  I know I just said that about Amy Higgins.  (Don't even get me started with all the amazing Amys that I know, 2 amazing Amy SIL's).  Aimee and I met at a RAGNAR race.  Matt warned me that I would love her, man was he right!  We laughed,cried, stuffed our faces, slept over at their house AND THEN...she gave me one of the best massages I have ever had!  We are so grateful for our bounteous blessings and for yoga pants (I needed them, believe me!)  Note to self: Don't double the roll recipe when you need to drive across the state.  I promise you will regret it!

 I love Coopers rendition of the first Thanksgiving.

Even more RICH!

Grandma and Papa Rich came to visit!  This was an extra special treat for my kids because they have not seen each other for almost 3 years.  Ed and Morrissa are two of the most amazing people I have ever met.  I adore both of them.  Their examples teach me what it means to work hard, serve others, and follow the Savior.  They are so in love with each other.  They both have the talent of making you feel amazing when you are with them.  I really feel like my mom stuck around until Morrissa was there to take care of me.  It is such a blessing to be a part of the Rich family.  Thanks for a great visit Grandma and Papa Rich.  We can't wait until you come back!

LEAF me alone!!

New England is the most amazing place in the fall.  People come from all over to "Leaf Peep".  Each year I feel like I am living in a painting with the amazing reds, golds, oranges, and browns.  The colors are truly magical for a few weeks.  Then those celestial leaves start to fall.  They fall until you feel like you may be in HELL with an eternal rake in your hand as torment.  I am not exaggerating with you here folks, the amount of leaves in incomprehensible.  Most people hire a company to come suck their neatly raked piles from the curb.  It is most gratifying to see those leaves disappear.  Then, like a sick joke, you look out the window only to realize that there are more leaves then before and you repeat the process again and again!  Rocky stood in our pile trying to sell the lovely leaves...not one customer!  Our saint of a neighbor let us borrow his industrial strength leaf blower that caused hurricane force winds.  Pretty sure I want one for Mothers Day.  Now the trees are naked and stark looking.  I will enjoy the fact that nothing is falling from them for a bit and then the lovely leaves will trick me again in the spring as the beauty overtakes me.  It is a vicious cycle.