Yeah! It's party time!

What a busy, joyous weekend. It began with.......

Right after Christmas at Jenn's we had everyone over for a very full packed weekend of celebration!

We were celebrating Isaac's SECOND BIRTHDAY!!!!! Yeah! He was quite the pro at opening presents :).

Thank you Diana for all your hard work on the cake!

Aunt Betty and Bruce were able to join us which made it all the more fun!

Celebrating SARA'S BIRTHDAY! YEAH SARA!

MIKE'S WORKING, FINISHING A SEMESTER OF SCHOOL WITH A GREAT GPA - YEAH MIKE!

BECOMING PARENTS - YEAH MIKE AND SARA!

CELEBRATING DIANA PASSING ALL HER STATE CERTIFICATIONS AND STARTING HER FINAL STAGE BEFORE SHE WALKS OF STUDENT TEACHING! GO DIANA!

CELEBRATING THE BIRTH OF OUR LITTLE ABIGAIL WITH HER BLESSING!

Celebrating Rebecca and Diana being home from school!

SPENDING TIME WITH ANDREA AT HER RESTING PLACE AND CELEBRATING THAT FAMILIES ARE FOREVER AND LIFE IS ETERNAL! WE MISS YOU ANDREA!

The End of a very full weekend was filled with a lot of hugs and love by all and grattitude FOR THE MANY BLESSINGS WE HAVE BEEN GRANTED THIS YEAR AND WE ARE SO GRATEFUL THAT AS BUSY AND PACKED IT WAS WE DID DO THIS WEEKEND!

It has been quite the year with our families!!! A year of gratitude.

I surrender to this blog :) It never comes out with the layout and words where I place them!

Precious Family Times!

Okay, I cannot believe I didn't post these earlier, yes I can. Life today comes with too many issues for me to deal with at one time. December brought bittersweet experiences. During the ice storm when we lost power our fish died. I found myself feeling so sad about it. Life ending because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then I found out that my Aunt Cora died. That was worse.....I had been really trying to go out to see her this summer and there were too many things happening and I didn't make it. Other really sad experiences happened....
Jenn had invited us to come to her house for Christmas..... She invited us in October, November - we thought it would be fun and we would be supporting her never knowing what was coming up and how much it would be a much needed lift.... We had so much fun . We just hung out and enjoyed each other, went for a walk and vegged :).

It Itwas the first time we went to her home for the holidays and her artful touches were really beautiful.
She made Christmas dinner all by herself and it was scrumptous.

One of my favorite gifts was seeing Matthew hang out and get involved with family. Thanks Matthew!

Yeah Diana had flown home after a very hard working semester and finishing all her classes!

Oh the memories of Christmas's past... I got very nostalgic when Jonah came into our bedroom in the morning and said Nanni! Nanni! We put out cookies and milk for Santa Nanni and they are gone! It's Christmas Nanni and Pepere! Come!

Memories flooded my mind of our six children being excited about Christmas morning - a wave of sadness that those years were gone went fleeting through me and then the excitement of watching everyone open presents erased that sadness and love and gratitude came in to fill the moment.

:) These were part of the pajamas I made when there was no electricity! What a riot to see how long they were on Isaac's little legs.

I love family! I treasure being with every one of them every minute I can be.

Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when He instituted the divine unit of marriage and family! We always miss those who are not with us and enjoy hearing from everyone.


Isaac with all his energy could sit in one spot and move, move and move some more on this Sit and Spin! It isn't made the same anymore. I am not sure but I am hoping that it will still give him hours of pleasure - it takes a while to get the hang of it.

I wanted to end this year reflecting on how much has happened and to reflect on the many bounteous blessings we have been given. I have endeavored this past year to cultivate the attitude of gratitude and have been richly blessed because of it. I have come across music, poetry, stories, anecdotes, scriptures, and my own experiences in trying to live it.

I wanted to share this video clip on my blog and tried to upload it on you tube, I guess you tube has the power to change it at any time. I will be researching other modes of accomplishing what I want. I came across a singer Sufjan Stevens who sings a hymn on gratitude that I like. His video clip has the lion on it. I also like his song To Be Alone with You. I have not figured out how to upload it. My favorite method of sharing the folk song Come Thou Fount was with a video clip that has the picture of the family on it. If by chance you see it on the side - give it a try. The others are also great songs.