Beautifully WONDERFUL!

Oh goodness, we have been soooo busy these past few weeks and the only words I can think of to describe it all are beautifully WONDERFUL!! It has been such a FUN holiday season!!

We have enjoyed really fun holiday parties, extra time together as a family -- shopping and watching movies and laughing and playing! We were able to go to our annual "A Christmas Story" play at Hale Center Theater and this year had the special treat of going with Chris' parents! We had such a FUN night with them and I just love the play so much -- it just brings that special Christmas feeling! I'm so glad they were able to come this year!

The big event this year -- we FINALLY welcomed my dear parents home from their mission. What a fiasco it was to get them here! They were originally supposed to land at 6:30 last Saturday evening, then their flight was delayed to 9:30. So, we all got together and had some dinner and then took all of our families out to the airport. We had signs. We had balloons. All the grandkids were just oozing with excitement. So, we watched the flight board to make sure there were no more delays and everything looked good to go. So we stood there and watched the escalator sooo intently, and waited, and waited, and waited. And pretty soon, the signs were drooping and the kids were laying on the floor. Come to find out, just as their plane was coming into SLC, they had to divert to Boise because of fog! My poor parents -- seeing the lights of Utah only to fly in the opposite direction! So, we all had to make our way back home to put kids to bed and Chris went back to the aiport at 2:00 a.m. to pick them up. They got home and were exhausted after 36 hours of flying, but oh was it still a SWEET reunion! We have spent the last week just being together. It has been beautifully WONDERFUL! We all went to church with my parents the next day then had a nice big dinner to spend time together. Christmas week was spent getting last minute shopping done and enjoying the festivities of the season. We took a trip to Temple Square -- beautiful as usual! It was sooo cold and the ground was so frozen and slippery that it turned into counting how many times Kai slipped and fell! It was fun to ice skate on, though! We spent Christmas Eve at my brother's house, having a delish dinner and lots of time for talking and hanging out! Then Chris and I brought the girls home to have our own Eve traditions. We opened our jammies, read the Christmas story in Luke (my FAVORITE tradition of all),wrote our notes for our love stockings, and watched a Christmas movie ("Santa Clause is Coming to Town -- NOT my favorite classic, but Kai liked it!). My sister gave us some reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn so the reindeer could find our house and Kai had fun doing that! Then the girls snuggled into bed and we finished wrapping presents and did some snuggling of our own!

Christmas day was beautifully WONDERFUL!! It was such a FUN day for our family! We enjoyed some monkey bread for breakfast, and then got to have Grandma and Grandpa with us to open presents! Kai was really into it this year! She loved opening her gifts and everytime Tay had ANYTHING in her hands, Kai decided those were her gifts too! Oh, we have to work on sharing!! It was a fun morning! Then everyone else came over for Christmas lunch and we spent the rest of the day just having lots of fun! My parents even played dress up with their beautiful Indian clothes and brought back some really fun dress-up stuff for the kids as well! On Saturday, we got to meet up with Jess and her parents for dinner in SLC and spent a really wonderful evening with them and exchanging gifts! They spoiled us as usual and we sure hope they liked their gifts as well! We always enjoy every chance we get to spend time with them. What a beautifully WONDERFUL family!

Today, my parents gave their homecoming talks in church so we all gathered again to listen to them.
They gave such incredible talks and we were able to get just a tiny glimpse of the spiritual and special experiences they have had for the past few years. They have so much love for those Indian people and it is so evident when we hear them speak of them. I know they are soooo happy to be home, but they will always love and miss the wonderful people that they spend their time with these past two years. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to hear all about their mission! After church Jake and Ry came over to have a sleep-over and Kai has been in HEAVEN! I think she needs an older brother, but I'm afraid that's not happening! But luckily she has some great older cousins! She is soooo in love with Jake and Ry and literally has been following them around for the past few weeks! Tonight, Kai was following Jake around and he was standing by the couch watching something on t.v. and I don't think he even knew she was there, but she reached up and put her hand on his and just stayed there with a huge smile on her face! It is sooo adorable and they are sooo good to her! This has been one of the most special holiday seasons ever! I have felt the power and blessing of family in such a big way. To have missed my parents sooo much and now have them back, it almost feels like they were never gone. Having them around again feels like home to me! And Christmas this year was also so special because Kai really, really loved it. It wasn't even about the gifts for her (thank goodness), she just loved the lights and the music and seeing Santa and snowmen everywhere. It was sooo magical for her and therefore, made it sooo magical for me! To hear her hyperventelating in the backseat saying "oooohhhh pretty!" everytime she saw a house that was decorated, or to come down the stairs every morning and run over and kiss the Christmas tree or want to hug every Santa Clause she saw -- it was just so fun! She also was really fascinated by Jesus and seeing baby Jesus everywhere. That has warmed my heart so much! She loves Him and loves to see Him and that is what Christmas is all about! I have also enjoyed the rare opportunity to have so much time with my side of the family and the comfortableness and peace I feel when I am with them is so cherished to me. It has been about as perfect as I could ever hope for! Beautifully WONDERFUL!!

I am so grateful for my Savior. I'm grateful for all that His birth and life and death mean to my life and to my family. I love Him with all my heart and love the opportunity to reflect on Him a little bit more.

One last note, we have not moved yet. Can you even believe that?! I was soooo frustrated for the first few weeks of the month and have now come to be a little more at peace with the whole thing. To make a long story short, we have been put through the RINGER. We found out about a week ago, that our loan was randomly selected for an audit and therefore, every piece of paper we have turned in has been scrutinized to death. We are hopeful that we will finally close this week, but then again, we don't get too hopeful about much anymore! I know it will happen, it will just be a matter of time. The bright side to all of this mess is that we get to stay with my parents and spend lots of extra time with them while we wait! That has actually been really nice and we are so grateful that we have a place to live in the meantime! AND, it will just make our house EXTRA, EXTRA wonderful when we finally do move in! Needless to say, I am EXCITED for that day to come!

So, there's the LONG version of our holidays! It has been BEAUTIFULLY WONDERFUL!!!
(this might be a record-breaking long post :)