Merry Christmas 2012

We had such a wonderful Christmas.  We enjoyed spending time with family and friends over the Holiday.  We went down to Richland for a few days and stay with my brother and his family.  Lilly was overly excited most of the time about being with her cousins.  She really didn't care about any of the adults, and that includes Brandon & I.  She was all over each of the kids, but especially her cousin Sadie.  Anywhere that Sadie went, Lilly wasn't far behind chanting/pleading "Sadie?! Sadie?! Sadie?!"  It was a lot of fun seeing her interact with all the kids.

Lilly got a cute easel from Santa and spent the majority of her Christmas playing with it.  We are grateful that Santa was able to find us in Richland.  :)

 Lilly loved playing with Sadie's Nintendo DS3D.  They both did such a good job of sharing.

Lilly was showing Aunt Jen all her awesome stuff she got in her stocking.

All the boys got tickets to a Basketball game Portland Trailblazer vs. Sacramento Kings (y'now, JIMMER!) that was the day after Christmas in Portland.  They all had a lot of fun and I spent the day they were gone hanging out with a couple friends.

We also got a year membership to the Mobius Children's Museum here in Spokane from the Childers clan.  We can't wait to go.  We've been once a few months ago and Lilly loved it, I can't wait to see how excited she's going to be now that she is older.

Lilly has an amazing birthfamily! Her birthfather (Victor) and his mom (Grandma Lyn) sent Lilly a couple gifts and we also got a book from Grandma Lyn too!  I have always wanted to really delve into the Doctrine & Covenants and we are so excited to start doing it with this amazing book she sent us.  We plan to hopefully go through a chapter every couple weeks for Family Home Evening this upcoming year.  Victor got Lilly some blocks and a stocking full of goodies and then this BIG pink puppy.  When we got the box and opened it, we didn't realize it wasn't wrapped and Lilly instantly saw what was inside and HAD to have it right away.  She's been dragging it around the house for days and wants to sleep with it too.  So cute!  We have been amazingly blessed with the supportive and wonderful birthfamilies of Lilly's. 

It also snowed on Christmas, we feel like we brought it with us from Spokane since it's been snowing here for awhile.  We even drove in snow and heavy fog on the way down to Richland.  The kids (and Brandon) enjoyed playing in the snow, building a snowman, and having a snowball fight.  Lilly has been fighting a little cold, so she pretty much stayed inside coloring on her easel until the next day when the snow had melted.

We truly do feel grateful for our family and friends this Holiday season.  We were so thankful we got to spend Christmas with my brother and his family and my sister-in-laws amazing sister (who is always fun to see).  They are always so giving and hospitable, we love spending time with them.  We have been reflecting on these past few months we've had since we moved to Spokane.  Our move wasn't exactly what we thought it was going to be, but we feel so much peace in knowing we are where we are supposed to be.  I am truly content with our lives and feel so happy.  It has been a long time since I have felt this much joy and peace.  We have been overly and abundantly blessed this past year.  I look forward to the upcoming year, but I am enjoying each moment.