Life. Is. Better. When. You're. Laughing.

The past few days I have spent (wasted) some time on Facebook admiring my friends photos and posts on their Christmas celebrations.

I have debated posting my own photos.

This Christmas was a good one, one that I want to remember for many reasons...

My favorite of which will be witnessing gratitude from my kids.

This year, my kids were grateful, they seemed to genuinely appreciate each one of their gifts and remembered to thank those who gave to them (with little or no prompting from me).

Raising them in this crazy 'me, me, me' society has made it hard to teach this important life skill.

It is one that we are still working on, and probably will be until they are grown but for this small moment I smiled when I heard those two simple words come from their mouths, 'Thank you.'

Aside from this pretty awesome sight, I am also going to remember laughter.

This Christmas, we laughed, a lot.

There is something pretty amazing about this simple thing.

I am still smiling at this memory.

For that reason, I am only going to post a few photos from our Christmas...

They are all the photos that make me smile and remember our laughter.

Enjoy our Hoilday 2014 Out-takes.

This photo isn't actually an outtake, but it sure makes me smile.

The little guy thought he was being so smart when he hid under the goodie table at great grandma's house.

I couldn't help but capture his little hand 'sneaking' up and grabbing some m and m's.

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our crazy family to yours! 

I hope you laughed a lot too! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This weekend flew by faster than ever, which could be on account of the fact that we have school tomorrow (we are normally off on Mondays) and I am feeling the pinch.

For a little while this morning, I got to witness an awesome Christmas program starring some pretty talented youth...including three of my own!

Thanks to Calvary Evangelical Church and these cuties for helping me get into the Christmas spirit!

Day 73. 2012.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here and I couldn't be happier about it!

There were a few years in there after my dad died when I really struggled to get into the Christmas spirit and I wondered if I would ever get it back.



But get it back, I have!

I thought this song was appropriate, just wish I could have it streaming on my blog....

We tried a new spot for our tree this year and I am so glad we did! It is no longer in the middle of the living room and I think he it looks pretty good right here!




After all of our hard work putting the tree up, we decided to enjoy some hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Someone got a little carried away with the marshmallows....

And of course, my big guy wasn't interested at all in trying the yummy treat...so sadly, there are no photos of him.

We also ventured out into the freshly fallen snow to play.

And the next morning, we had a visit from our favorite holiday friend, Zack Elf.

I think I am just as excited as the kids are to see him return!

Can't wait to see what antics he can get into this year...stay tuned, I will be sure and post photos on here!

Wishing you and yours a joyous Christmas season!

Day 301

I think the kids might have a hard time finding Mr. Elf today.

He decided to hide in one of our glass jar frames...hehe.

He looks like he belongs up there!

Day 300

It was a busy weekend for us.

This morning, the kids performed in their Christmas program at Church and did so well!

It is always so much fun to see them, although it makes me slightly sad to realize just how big they are getting!

Madi played the part of Mary and Tanner was a shepherd with a speaking part.

Day 299

I apologize in advance for this photo heavy post, but I just couldn't limit the number to one today.

The kids and I got together at my moms to make some Christmas goodies and homemade ravioli for our Christmas feast...

I am going to let the photos tell the story of the day.

It was a great one, filled with lots of smiles and and happy memories..

(Oh, and the reason the big guy Tanner isn't in this post is because the lucky stinker got to go to the Bison game with his grandparents! He had a BLAST!)


We began by making these cookies...mmm, mmm, good (and so festive!) Angela and Madi got right down to business and created the dough for our ravioli's ...way to go girls! This is my least favorite job, I always hated the kneading the dough part (so glad Angela is passing this love of hers off to my daughter, so I don't have to struggle through it anymore!) Making their own 'noodles' The pasta maker, one of the most valuable tools in our kitchen! Filling in the cheese. All covered up... Angela and Nick's little guy even got into the action...he really wanted to help create the ravi's too! We also created these yummy cookies (although we took our own spin on them, if you happen to check out the recipe...they don't look exactly like what is pictured.) These cookies taste amazing, but are a TON of work, so I am thinking this will be the only time that we make them. Have you heard of this stuff yet? Oh my, if you haven't, go on over here and check it out, and then go and make some. It is so good! And to end the post, I am going to share some of the love that was going around....I {LOVE} my family! Some one is now giving high fives....how adorable! Happy Christmas season everyone!