photo updates and basketball season

Basketball Season!! Nathan and Kimball are playing Basketball for ASA! So fun to go to the games! Nathan's team has played 2 seasons and has been the CHAMPS both times! They are super fun to watch! They will start up again in February!

Kimball! it is so funny to watch these little 6 year olds try to play like the big boys! Lots of traveling and grabbing and rolling on the floor! The dads are funnier to watch than the boys sometimes! All the dads are yelling at their kids and getting all into it while the moms are laughing! So fun!

THis is Aaron Berrett -- nathan's bro who is living with us! It was his 20th birthday on January 5th! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!

The days following Christmas - involved lots of lego building!! ROck MONstER and Power MINERS!

White Christmas!!! Yahoo! It snowed in TEXAS!! We had a great Christmas morning!

Best gift - at least it was my favorite -- a treehouse for all the kids to play with!

Christmas EVE! We had a wonderful experience! We had a special guest come! Seriously, it was a very inspired night together as a family. We truly had a special moment as a family. The kids helped clean the house, prepared the table perfectly, and I kept telling them I had a surprise and someone was coming to dinner with us. They were so excited and worked hard. I kept saying - Wow I guess he is late. The food is getting cold. Well, lets just read this story while we wait. The story was the book about a special Christmas guest. It basically is about a man who is waiting for the Savior to come to Christmas dinner and all evening the man ends up helping all these different people and at the end of the night he sadly goes to bed and says Lord, why did you not come? The Lord answered and said he came 3 times - in each of the different ones he helped that night. I told the kids - that they were my special guest I was preparing for. They are each so special to me. And we had an empty chair and told them about the Jewish tradition. And this being a reminder that the Lord is a special guest at our table. He lives and is here with us -- when we invite Him! It went really well and the kids really liked it!

Graham cracker Houses! The Feldman's came to Texas for Christmas! (This is my sister Amy's family!) We had the kids make candy houses for Family Night! So fun!

Sarah and Whitney


All the kids!






Christmas Party with the Christensen's!! We had such a blast with my other family. This is my sister Donna and her in-laws! We love them just like we are part of the big family! We had a little trick up our sleeves -- we were suppose to sing Away in a Manger - but we added a little bit of RAP!

Virgil and Lucy's House! Uncle Mark is telling a story!

New Beginnings

I love a fresh start. I love Christmas and the opportunity we have to reflect on the Savior, our family and friends. I think it is set up so perfectly --- we get to refocus, remember what is really important in life, reflect on the birth, life and atonement of Jesus Christ and then we start a new year - a time many in the world make new goals and set new routines to try and improve their life and habits this new year. It helps me stay focused on setting goals that really matter.

Over the years I noticed that I would get all geared up for the new year - making lists and planning new schedules and routines. My husband never did. I thought - are you not driven? Do you not see this opportunity to change? Do you need me to set some goals for you and make you some charts that you can check off? I finally asked him just a year ago. His reply - "It doesn't matter what time of year you set the goal. It matters if you do it. There are people who talk about being great - and there are people who are great! Every single day I just try to improve." I thought - well, HMMM! Aren't you special! But then I thought I guess it is kind of true. I can make a 100 lists and charts, but that doesn't guarantee the change. We need to have that daily check and daily change our whole life long.

However, back in September, my husband attended Wood Badge Training in NM. He learned a lot about goal setting and improving your life. So, I wanted to teach my kids about goal setting and being pro-active. We started working on our family mission statement and doing a few things to help strength our family and get back on track. I was surfing the web finding new suggestions and I read an article that does suggest the new year is a great time to do a check on your life. It is a great opportunity to reflect on the previous year and see how you can improve the coming year. It is important to set goals and set obtainable goals. Our goals cannot be unrealistic or unmeasurable. My husband and I have had great conversations about goals and what we hope will happen over the next year! It is exciting to work together, to improve the family and just to take this time to think about what needs to happen to grow closer as a family and closer to the Lord! I will always be excited to have a new beginning. I like every Monday because it feels like a new start - a new week. I love each new year because it feels so fresh and I can let go of the past and try again! Anyway, this is a long post, but I do appreciate this time of year. I am home a lot more - because it is so cold outside and I am not out running errands, not fighting the kids on coming inside - usually they want to play with the neighbor kids or friends, or they are outside and don't want to come in to get homework done, etc - which I know is great fun and they should play --- but you know it is also good to just come home and spend the afternoon and evening together. *wow that was a run on sentence and really bad English... I hope you followed that anyway - I don't know how else to say it! haha!) Anyway, being inside and at home more has really helped me to focus on my kids and play with them.

So, life is good!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I can't believe it is 2010! I thought we would be living on the moon by now! Zipping around in space ships like the Jetsons!!