Birthday boy / Dec. beginings

To my eternal hand holder - This is a Birthday shout out to you, my awesome hubby! Casey we're so lucky to have you as our father, and husband. You are the head of our household, the glue that keeps our crazy going. The kids adore you and you are such a great father! You work so hard for us. As a teacher / coach you inspire, share your knowledge, and care about your students/ players. Thank you for upholding your priesthood responsibilities and serving those around you.

We love you so very much!


We're into our typical December happenings. Daddy has two to three games a week so the kids and I try to keep busy (while missing him). Casey's team have won eight out of their last nine games. He's working hard and had had some late nights and a varying practice schedule. (He even had a late night from games last night and had to go to practice early this morning on his birthday.)
Last week we hit up the annual nativity display at our church house. Kendal liked everything we saw, and Peter liked the "little" nativities. We walked around for a while, had a cookie and enjoyed some Christmas music from a wards choir. On one of Casey's away game days I took the kids to Arctic Circle to get a holiday shake and let out some energy. We ended up going into an nearby neighborhood to see the holiday lights when we found a house that had an awesome display set to music. (We loved it so much we brought daddy back the next night to share in the holiday fun.) We had our ward Christmas party last night. Both kids had fun finding buddies to play with and Kendal got to sing a couple of songs with the primary for the program. Santa came at the end of the party. Both kids were so excited to see "Santa's brother" (They believe the real Santa is at the North Pole). We waited a while in line and finally got up to him and of course my kids both clammed up. Peter uttered a couple of quiet sentences and Kendal only got out a few words in response to questions. They were sweet and loved the experience though. Peter was a bit disappointed Rodolph didn't come in too; he was convinced Santa needed Rodolph last night. Kendal's had fun at school doing holiday crafts and singing holiday songs in music class.

It's easy to get caught up in Santa mode especially when the kids are perfect ages to believe and love Santa. The quote below came at a perfect time for me because I wanted more Christ in our Christmas. So we've found ways to serve those around us and keep Christ in our thoughts and home this year. We had the kids pick a toy to give to toys for tots, we gave to a family in need, and added more gospel tunes to our usual jingle bells and Rodolph Christmas music.
Christmas is what we make of it despite all of the distractions, we can see to it that Christ is the center of our celebration. If we have not done so, we can establish Christmas traditions for ourselves and for our families which will help us capture and keep the spirit of Christmas. - Pres. Monson
I love the Christmas season. I love celebrating the reason for the season. I love holiday traditions of countdowns, giving, reading Christmas stories every night, seeing Christmas lights and being with family!  Happy Holidays!