Merry Christmas!

*beware long post ahead!

Yes, I am alive! I apologize for the lack of blogging lately. I thought I better drop a line now before more people threaten to remove me from their blog list! Between getting everything ready for our big move next week and Christmas, I've stayed pretty busy. In fact there are probably tons of things I could be doing right now, but chose not to. Hey, it's the Sabbath, the day of rest!

On Friday, in the middle of that blessed snow storm, we took a moving truck with most of our stuff up to our new house in Logan. We'll take the rest of it up with us on the 27th with we actually go there to stay. We are really excited for this change in our lives! When we were unloading our move truck, we had a few neighbors come help us out, and we just knew we were going to meet some amazing people up there. I still have mixed feelings about this move, only because I don't do well with change and we'll be far from family. But I have to say, I thought I would be freaking out, but instead I have been blessed with a strong feeling of peace.

In light of the Christmas season I want to share with you...if I may, some feelings I have this time of year and some things I am thankful for.

My Savior! I am so grateful for our Savior and his example. I want so much to be able to repay him for what he has done for me. The only way I can think of is by being the best person I can be. I want to be a better mother, wife, sister, daughter and friend. Jesus is the best friend we can have, if we let Him. I have felt the Saviors love for me so strong in the pass few weeks. This move has been kind of stressful. Not only did/do we have to figure out a place to live, work, classes/financial aid for school, but we had to figure out a plan for insurance for Nate's diabetes. That has been quite the task and was a cause for much concern! After many prayers and a lot of time on the phone, we now have a 6 month supply of insulin, needles, testing strips, etc..! There were many times that something went wrong and I was surprisingly calm about it. I could feel the love of our Savior so strong! I know he knows each one of us, our needs, concerns, and our dreams. If we turn to Him, He will not let us down!

Prayers! I am so grateful for the power of prayer. I love knowing that I always have someone that I can turn to. I find myself praying a lot throughout the day. When we took our stuff up to Logan on Friday, I had to drive myself and the girls up in our car, so Nate can drive the truck. Those of you that know me well, know that I HATE driving in the snow. It kind of freaks me out, okay really freaks me out. Let's just say there is a poor tree that has a 7 year old scar from me driving the snow. Anyway, the roads we the worst I've ever driven on, horrible! We said a prayer before we left and anytime I felt like I needed it, I would pray again. All it took was a few simple prayers and I managed to make it up to Logan calmly. I can't even explain to you how calm I was! We all got there and back, safe and sound and for that I are extremely grateful!

Priesthood Power! I was asked to accompany my "activity day" girls on the piano while they sang a cute little Christmas song at our ward party. I've taken many years of piano, but I have a hard time playing for people. I get so incredibly nervous but knew I needed to accept this challenge and not "bury my talents"...I wouldn't want to lose them! My mom, who is always a wonderful example to me, mention that it a priesthood blessing would be a good idea. So I went to my wonderfully worthy husband and he was so willing to give me a priesthood blessing. I felt the peace that I needed to get through that song and felt good about how the performance went. I'm so grateful for the priesthood power and a husband who continues to be worthy to give blessing to me and our girls.

Family! I have the best family in the world! Everyone has been so willing to help us. I am so grateful for my parents in letting us live in their basement for the last year and the many hours they've spent on our behalf. I'm grateful for Nate's parents who are always there if we need them. I seriously have the best in-laws ever. I'm grateful for our siblings, they are such good brothers and sisters/aunts and uncles! We will surely miss everyone when we move. Thank goodness we are only a couple hours away! Thank you all for being so wonderful and great examples!

My Husband and Girls! I can't even begin to tell you how much I am grateful for my little family! I don't know how lucked out by getting Nate as a husband. He works incredibly hard for our family. He is the greatest father to the girls and I don't mind coming in second when he is around. I love my girls so much and don't know what I would do without them. Aubrey is so fun and a great help to me. I love that I can have great conversations with her now! I hope we always stay close. Carlee is so precious! I can't kiss her enough! She melts my heart every time she gets me one of her "crinkly noses" smiles!

Well sorry for the long post! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! You can all count this as our Christmas card as that is one thing I haven't had time to do this month!

Here are a few pictures of my beautiful family! I had to add this first one to show y'all what I did with Aubrey's hair! It was a miracle I got her to sit still long enough to do it. I'm pretty proud of myself!

Aubrey and her squinty eye smile.

Daddy lovin'

I had to add this one of Carlee in her Christmas dress!