SNOW!

In December we journeyed to Utah to visit family, celebrate the holidays and (we thought) play in the greatest snow on Earth. As luck would have it, we didn't see a single snow storm... in three weeks... in December... in Utah. The good news is, there was some snow outside the first couple of days that we were there (before it melted :)) The kids had a blast playing in the snow and sledding on Grandma and Grandpa Frost's little hill.

All bundled up. The boy's snow gear still fits from a year and a half ago! And we found some great hand me down snow bibs for Abbi.

Ammon has been asking for years if he could go skiing. The lack of snow made for poor skiing conditions for Colby, but it was perfect for taking the boys up and showing them the ropes. They were soooo excited, and from what I hear they did pretty good.

Grandpa Frost, Dan and Bugs joined them on the hill and had a great amateur ski day!

This little girl was pretty sad that she wasn't invited to join them. "But I'M enough big to go kiing," she told me. Maybe next time sweetie!

Thanksgiving

This year, we were able to host Thanksgiving dinner again. I always LOVE to host things; but I always wish I had more room so I could invite more people. I feel so blessed that we have so many good friends here in Texas, it always makes holidays and special occasions so much fun. I am also grateful that those good friends are all such good cooks! The food was fantastic. The weather this year was also fantastic so all the kiddos were able to eat outside, which made for a nice, mostly quiet, Thanksgiving dinner. Here are the highlights of our day:

Fall decorations

Friends

Food

Football

Fun!

After dinner, we were able to go to the gym where I work and let the kids play and have pie and meet up with some more great friends.

It didn't take too long for the kids to burn off all that turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving! (I know, I know, it's January. I'm a little behind. The good news is I finally took down my Christmas decorations today....)

Three!

In November, our little Abigail turned THREE! I can hardly believe it's been three years since she joined our family. She is such a sweet girl with a funny personality and we love the spunk and spirit that she brings into our home. To celebrate, we had a party with some friends. To say she was excited would be an understatement; she had been talking about this party ALL YEAR (ever since her last birthday). Luckily, she thought the party was just as great as she imagined it would be. Thank you to my sweet friend Dawnella who helped with the planning, decorations and cake.

The party room.

The birthday girl.

Party guests.

I mentioned her spunky personality; here are a couple of video clips of her on her actual birthday. You can see why she always keeps us on our toes!

Happy Birthday Abigail Claire! We love you.

Grieving

I have a hundred different things I could blog about; TWO trips to Utah, Thanksgiving, Christmas, a certain little princess turning three, the boys going skiing with Colby, New Years..... the list could go on and on. But as I sat down at the computer to end my blogging hiatus, I realized that today it has been two months since my dad passed away. Two months and I miss him more than ever. Two months and I feel as if I am still learning how to grieve. I always assumed I that if I lost someone close to me I would totally shut down, that I would not be able to function. I have discovered that the opposite is true; it has been the day to day living, the "to do" lists, the holiday preparations, the folding laundry and unloading the dishwasher that has kept me going and made me realize more than ever that life goes on, and that death is a part of our Heavenly Father's plan. My heart is still hurting, I cry in the shower, and I never realized how many sad country songs there are on the radio. The most difficult thing about grieving is that it is ongoing. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a definitive amount of time to we had to grieve prior to feeling better? The best thing about life going on is that I have a good life, filled with so many blessings. Before I start blogging about the hundred or more good things that have happened in our lives the past couple of months, I wanted to post these pictures of my dad's funeral.

Me and the kiddos at the funeral.

My two little pallbearers. This breaks my heart.

Benjamin cemetary has a beautiful view of the mountains.

It is really a peaceful place.

Me and Mom.