Peace Out 2017

Here is my top 9 pictures from Instagram this year!

I look at it and feel very conflicted. 2017 was not an easy year for me. I feel like I have been mourning the loss of my dad most of the year. It has been hard. Not so hard you can't function and do life, but just emotionally hard. I miss him and I hate that I can't call and talk to him. It has also been a year full of fun adventures. I made some new friends that have been a life line for me. My old friends have been there too. This morning as I walked my dog I just felt so grateful for a new year. I needed 2017. I need to heal and I feel like I have done that. I feel myself finally starting to come out of the fog I have been in. I am excited to set some specific goals and be better in 2018. One of the hardest reflections on last year has been that I feel like not a lot of personal growth took place. That is not ok. I need to fix that this year. And I finally am feeling like I am in a place that will allow me to work on this. I have learned a lot and I hope these lesson will help me deal with loss and stress better in the future. I have amazing people in my life. Not a day goes by that I don't thank Heavenly Father for this gift in my life. I have a wonderful job and work with amazing people. My life is BLESSED!!! I am grateful for the opportunity and excited for the time to keep trying to progress.

Christmas Eve

I felt like we had a magical Christmas Eve. It was so amazing to spend time with family, read the scriptures, eat good food, open presents, visit, and sing carols. Sam and Amanda hosted which was so nice. We all piggy backed off their Christmas traditions because they have some things they do with their boys. It was their cute family, my mom, Dan, Anthony, Caleb, Aunt Nancy and me.

We got to their house around dinner time. We had Salmon and tri tip, my mom's famous Christmas jello salad, funeral potatoes, rolls, and some veggies.

 The boys were so excited!!! They open all their presents on Christmas Eve so there was lots of anticipation. I mean Andrew tried to talk me into letting him open a present every time he was at my house in December. It's so hard to wait when you a re a kid!

 After dinner we cleaned up the table and then got ready for our Christmas Eve program. This is a creepy pano I took.

We started by playing name that Christmas tune. Once we named the tune we would sing the song. The boys led the music while Amanda was at the piano. It was really nice to have a piano player.

We sang a bunch of Christmas songs. It was really fun. Then we read the Christmas story in Luke 2. Then we opened presents. Anthony captures all of these pictures. I just stole them!

 It really was a magical evening. I loved every minute of it. We visited and put together toys. It started to snow around 8:30pm so we decided it was time to head home. It was truly on of the best Christmas Eves I have had. I felt gratitude and love and peace. And then we got to wake up to a white Christmas the next morning, after we slept in because presents were done!

This last picture is Emerson on Christmas day. It captures everything I love about this age. I have said for a while now that age 2-3 is my favorite with my nieces and nephews. He is definitely at the funnest stage. He is simply the best!

Tis The Season

My mom came to town on December 22nd and we have been trying to make the most of our time. Visiting family, Christmas shopping, getting sick, and resting. So far it has been a fun time.

We went to Temple square the Saturday before Christmas. I haven't been there for a few years so it was fun to see the lights and hang out with, what felt like, a billion people.

This is how Emerson smiles these days

It was a cold evening but fun. We met my cousin Sharee and her fmaily there as well as my cousin Katie. I think I was done taking pictures at that point because my hands were too cold.

Christmas Eve we went to my sacrament meeting. Anthony and Caleb joined my mom and I. It was nice to only have an hour of church.

 Some more pictures from the holiday season.

 It actually snowed on Christmas Eve so we woke up to a white Christmas. Moki and I had to hike the Y to take advantage of it!

Christmas day we made sure everyone wore flannel to Loralie's house. We hung out and played games. It was a fun day.

Other things we have done:

• Girls night up at my cousin Katie's house. We ate soup and played fun games
• Put together a Webb family get together. I didn't take a single picture but it was all of my moms siblings and their families. It was well attended and so fun. It was such a good opportunity to catch up with so many different people.
• Went to my school and had a shooting night with my brothers.
• Andrew slept over with me and my mom one night.
• Spent an afternoon shopping with my mom and Anthony. We were getting things for the Webb party. We also had lunch together.
• I put away Christmas on December 28th. That is really early for me but I have been pretty sick and I was ready to have a clean and organozed house.
• Basketball practice every morning.
• Had an awesome Christmas Eve, that will get it's own post.

It has been a great holiday season!

#LIGHTTHEWORLD

Thu Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints does an awesome December campaign called Light the World. It encourages you to do an act of service everyday leading up to Christmas. I tried to do it this year. It was harder than I anticipated, mainly because there is quite a bit of planning involved. I made a list of one thing I could do everyday before it started to help me get things done. It especially helped when I shopped on the weekends in case there were things I needed to purchase. I didn't do everyday but I did quite a few things. I even took pictures of a few of the things.

Here are the things I did:
donated water to a shelter
hosted a fmaily dinner
got to know a new neighbor
called my parents
Made a child feel special
visit a nursing home
brighten someones day
make a meal for a family
donate old clothes
ease the burden of a struggling family
reach out to someone with an illness
organize a social gathering

It looks like I did about half of the days. I wanted to post what I did because next year I want to try and do more. I also want to try and do things monthly not just in December. I love this idea though. It really helped me work to do something everyday which I appreciated. Christmas can be a long hard season for a lot of people and I just hope that maybe a couple of the things I did helped brighten someones day. I know it brightened mine, which is the magic of service!

The start of December

December is busy and magical all wrapped into one. I will say it would have been more magical this year if it would have snowed more than once! I got a new Christmas tree on black Friday. It is big and awesome. It has eight different light settings which makes it so fun. I love just laying on my couch and watching the lights in December.

We had multiple Sunday family dinners.

 I gave this train away after Christmas. I think I will get a different, smaller one next year. It has provided some magic for my cute nephews for a few years. Emerson is at that train LOVING age.

 The Hancocks had their annual Wassail party. It was fun to visit with a few Oroville people. My Utah siblings all came so that was fun for us.

 Moki quite enjoyed this bone. I can't even remember what we made for dinner. I let her chew on it for a couple of hours and she was in heaven, well except for the fact that I made her stay in the kitchen.

This year the school district changed the calendar so the term ended when we left for Christmas break. I like the change, but it made the last week of school very stressful. Once I was finally on break I had some time to put together little gifts for my basketball team.

 Anthony had the day off of work so we hung out for a few hours. Got some pizza and sent this picture to everyone else in the family that was working.