December already???

I cannot believe that Christmas is only 24 days away or that there is only 4.5 more weeks left in 2008.

I think that because this year has been so difficult, it made me feel more grateful than usual this Thanksgiving. I have really been feeling so blessed. We have a great life and I am feeling overwhelmed with all the love that I have in my life. I could easily make a list of all the great things in my life but I would forget someone or the post would be enormous. So instead I will just try to share my love and gratitude by the way I live my life.

Thanksgiving was great! Steve got up early and played football while the kids and I slept in! We had dinner with Steve's family this year. The food and the company were both great. It was nice to visit and relax though it was tough to have our first Thanksgiving without Steve's mom. I took along my camera and then didn't take a single picture-and to make that even worse I then left my camera there and didn't have it with me for the entire weekend! Oh well you will all just have to imagine it.

On Friday morning I got up at 4:30 and made it to my first shopping stop by 4:50 (YES that is AM). I got a lot of good deals and a huge jump start on my holiday shopping. I also did witness, for the first time, an actual fight at Walmart. It was so crazy! I also saw a man on an ambulance stretcher holding an ice pack on his head. All of my other stops were pretty mild in comparision. People were friendly and helpful as we all tried to find the stuff on our lists. I was back home and in bed by the time Steve got up to leave for work at 7am.

That afternoon we loaded up the car and drove over the river and through the woods to my parents house. It was nice to see everyone for a few days. Jen and her family were there, and ofcourse Rick and Tara are just a few minutes away. The kids all got to help milk the cows and feed calves. On Saturday Koby, Rick and Papa went into the mountains to get a Christmas tree for Rick and Tara. They had a great time together. We got to spend quite a bit of time together and as always it's so fun to be with family-we did miss Matt and Mindy and Peyton! (funny story-Morgan was telling Jen about Peyton and she said, "Peyton is our baby but we will share her with Matt and Mindy.")

Last week Koby, Morgan and I got into the spirit of sharing by passing around a cold. We are all still coughing and sniffing-can't wait for that to be over! We have stocked our shelves with Nyquil, dayquil and cough drops.

We are getting ready for the holidays by having our first Christmas party tonight and another one at the end of the week. We hope to put up our tree and decorations this week. Morgan loves to point out all of the Christmas lights-I think she will love going to temple square this year. Koby helped Morgan make a wish list for Santa-so I think we are all set. Steve ofcourse will wait until the week of Christmas to get his shopping done but he would hate to ruin tradition by starting early...just kidding honey! I love that you are so different from me-what a great balance we make.