Ending the Year

Here's how we rounded out 2009...

Before heading back to Texas, my grandpa was introduced to our ball pit.

An event my kids were quite impressed with. Since JC had his hernia, they hadn't gotten a lot of playtime in this thing for a while!

Ben looks a little unsure...haha

You can hardly see it, but I love James' face in this picture.
Ecstatic.

Whee!

And...
whee!

James showed off his jumping abilities...

While Ben was tortured by Grandma Trudie.

It was so fun to have them visit and we've missed them since they have gone back!


We also went to see the lights at the temple We attempted this at some point before Christmas and came home before we even made it out of the parking lot...that was the night Ben's horrible coughing fits hit and all at once, right as we arrived at the temple lights. SO, we went back the week after Christmas and enjoyed the loveliness of it all!

Bethany and I, my Christmas scarf, and my favorite jogging stroller all pose in front of the fanciness.

This is one of my favorite parts of the display. The three wise men. I love driving by the temple on this side at this time of the year.

JC and the boys...and the other jogging stroller...pose in front of the red lights, which are his favorite.

The Nativity Scene!

The whole family in front of the Nativity Scene.
I like this picture...except the kids all loojk so grown up! Crazy! Next you'll be telling me that within a couple of years we won't even be utilizing the strollers anymore. Blasphemy!

The kids in front of the wisemen! I don't remember how we got James to cooperate with this picture but I remember it was difficult! But didn't it turn out cute!?

Another favorite part of mine...the white trees! So lovely! I can't imagine the time this takes!

I was really glad we made it to the lights this year and hope to make it a tradition. The kids like getting all bundled up in their strollers (well, except James), and they definitely like the magic of the lights. Every night, there is a choir or group of some sort doing a music program. It's nice to hear them as you're walking around. Bethany told me that next year, she wants to go sit and watch the music. She was quite frustrated that we couldn't always see the people who were singing!

In other end-of-the-year Christmas lights news...it was time to take down our own!

Ben had a blast helping...the other two kind of did their own thing!

(water break)

Here, JC is imparting fatherly knowledge concerning the proper storage of extension cords.

On New Year's Eve, we prepared ourselves for a par-tay with our good friends, The Lunts.
I tried my hand at homemade baked potato chips.
They look good, eh?
(Nevermind that they turned out a little too soft and actually were way more work than they were worth! Haha...)

Me and little Staten celebrating! Um...I look too happy and he looks a little miserable. I was happy to be holding a sweet baby and he was a little feverish. So...that's that. :)

Now HERE is a happy bunch.
The kids recruited JC to read a book to them and, being a daddy, made it way more funny than it was even meant to be. I think they all still talk about this. They were cracking up and it was so cute.

Ben adores their little ride-on airplane!

While Ali and I...did...something else (I don't remember now but I'm sure it involved children and talking...), Kevin and JC got the fire going. Yes, they have an awesome fire pit in their backyard.

Due to a trip to Trader Joe's, we had the BEST graham crackers and some fantastic chocolate on hand and we made s'mores. So yummy. It was a nice last hurrah for Ali and I who were both giving up chocolate and/or sugar in January. I do one food a month, to slowly get bad stuff out of my diet. Ali dives right in and eliminates all forms of sugar altogether. She once did this for like, three years straight. My hero.
Anyway, here is everybody enjoying the food and festivities.

Then, the kids used a method dating back to Ali's childhood to choose the movie for the night! (We used to do this all the time back in highschool...a nice, overdrawn game of process of elimination! I love it!)
They settled on Up!

And watch it, they did.
(While the adults engaged in a fierce game of Battle of the Sexes in the kitchen. I still claim the boys' questions were way easier.)

It was officially the latest we had ever been out with the kids...we didn't drive home until like, ten pm! Seriously, late by our clocks! But it was totally worth it. It is rare for there to be an event where children and adults alike have a great time in celebrating a holiday and we totally did. I just used the word totally twice in two sentences.
I am so eloquent.
Anyway, we thank Ali and Kevin and their sweet kids for having us over to spend some time together! It was a great way to celebrate the ending of one year and start of another!

So...the end of 2009.
Normally, I would probably give a whole in depth post about what I learned and what we experienced and how it affects us in the long run, etc.
But, being that it is the end of January and I'm just now getting this up...and being that there is a LOT that could be said and very little time in which to say it (and very little energy on the part of the world in general to handle my outpouring of deep thinking), I will sum up:

2009.
It started out with a lot of plans, a lot of goals, a lot of...delusions of control. :)
It proceeded with a lot of lessons about myself, other people, my children, my Heavenly Father.
It held a lot of personal temper tantrums inside my head (giving up those delusions of control).
It held milestones (kids beginning to play together and not need EVERY thing from me in EVERY second of EVERY day)...it held growth in relationships (once I got out of my own prideful way)...it held the return of clarity (sometimes)...it held goodbyes to cribs, rocking chairs, changing tables, highchairs, bumbos, baby clothes, tiny shoes, tiny socks, bibs, baby swings, baby gates, etc.
It held mommy-tears about those things! (But no daddy-tears.)
It gave us the opportunity to (reluctantly) teach teenagers at church.
It granted us love and excitement for those teenagers...eventually. :)
It taught us a lot, led us to a lot of conclusions...and brought with it a LOT of crayon-colored walls.
One of the things it taught us (me) was to accept those crayon-colored walls. And everything else that comes with them. (though not without much mental anguish...maybe this next year will teach me to abandon the mental anguish!)
And, in conclusion...I learned that my goal to master every 'basic' in every area of life was...not basic enough.
I learned that it is going to take a lifetime to master even just the basics.
Yikes.
So, on to 2010!
No lofty...or even simple...goals.
Except to do my best.
In 2010, I will do my best. Most of the time.
Here here!