Christmases Past

Rachel's first Christmas

Christmas 2005 (Above) Christmas 2002 (Below)

Last night as I was laying in bed, I was thinking about all of the Christmases since Dan and I have been married. Bear with me while I list them.

Our first Christmas

We lived in the apartment behind Mom and Dad's house. We were both in school, and we had only been married a few weeks. The only Christmas decoration we owned was a wedding present that was a Christmas snow globe. We bought a real tree. Then we went to Kmart and got a few of the last decorations they had left and decorated our tree. On Christmas Eve we lit a candle and drank sparkling cider while we admired our first Christmas tree. We had a hard time picking gifts for each other since we didn't know each other as well as we do now. I was working as a Math tutor, and Dan worked the 2-10pm shift at Modus Media.

Our Second Christmas

We still lived in the apartment. This year we used a hand-me-down fake tree. I was 5 months pregnant with Rachel. At the time, I worked at 1-800Contacts, and Dan was trying to make it as a Realtor.

Our Third Christmas

Rachel was 7 months old. She was the highlight of our Christmas. We lived at our Condo in Midvale. We were really poor at the time, and couldn't buy too many gifts for Christmas. We were really happy though.

Our Fourth Christmas

We still lived at our Condo in Midvale. We were both still attending UVSC. Dan worked all day and went to school at night. I was pregnant with Caleb at the time. We didn't have a lot of money for presents, and Dan got a speeding ticket for speeding in school zone. We were hoping to buy a DVD player, and we scraped up enough money for that. I bought Rachel presents at Savers. I felt like puking since I was pregnant.

Our Fifth Christmas

We had just moved to our first West Jordan house. We bought the house thinking that our condo would sale soon. But it didn't. We were making two mortgage payments at the time. On top of that, Dan's truck broke down, the furnace broke, and the tv broke. This Christmas things seemed so hard. We managed to get a few presents for each other, and Leslie bought our kids presents. We were so happy to be in a house. Let me tell you that I hate living close to people. Our neighbor at our condo complained about our TV being too loud. I never complained to her that I could hear her singing in the shower. At this Christmas, Dan was in grad school, and I was still working on my Bachelor's degree.

Our Sixth Christmas

Can you believe the double mortgages almost dragged out for a year? We had several renters fall through, and a sale that took 3 months to go through. Right before Christmas, we finally got rid of our Condo. That was the thing I was happiest about. I was also happy because Dan finished his Master's degree right before Christmas. Somebody did a sub-for-santa for us this year. We didn't ask for it. Somebody in our ward who knew that we were making double mortgage payments arranged it. It brings a whole new meaning to humility when you see what others have done for you. I felt so humbled.

Our Seventh Christmas

I finished my Bachelor's degree right before Christmas. That was a huge relief. It was our first Christmas that we weren't poor. Now, I am not saying we were rich. But if you look at our other Christmases, we were rich. Caleb was 2 and Rachel was 4. We had a lot of fun. We got a new hand-me-down tree since I rat made its nest in our other tree that we had in a box in our shed.

Our Eigth Christmas

This Christmas we had 3 children. Anna, Rachel, and Caleb. We were all so delighted to have a baby in our family again. I don't remember much else, except we were happy.

Our Ninth Christmas

Anna was 1, Caleb was 4, and Rachel was 6. This was our last Christmas at our old house. We put up our tree in the entry way this year. Anna got a ride-on toy that played music. Rachel made up a little dance that went with the song. It was cute. Recently I asked Rachel to do the dance and she didn't even know what I was talking about. We got a trampoline this year. Dan and I put it up on the 26th. (Can you believe he wouldn't put it up on Christmas Eve?) We were so cold by the time we were done.

Our Tenth Christmas

This was our first Christmas in a new West Jordan house. We were so thankful to be in a much bigger house. It was also Alex's first Christmas. It seems kind of strange, but I think Alex was the highlight of our Christmas.

As I look back through the years, I can see that it really is the people that made Christmas great. It is family that is important. I am so thankful for everyone. I am thankful for those that helped us during our poor years. Most of all, I am thankful for Jesus Christ. It is only in and through him that we can be saved. I am thankful that we can celebrate his birth.

Keeping up with Alex

These are pictures that Rachel took with her digital camera. Sometimes when I look at her I can't believe she is getting so grown up. She is often my "right-hand-man". She took these pictures and then she took Alex off the table. Unless the chairs are all knocked over (which we do when we are sick of getting Alex off the table), he is always on the table. I would just keep the chairs knocked over all of the time, but I hate the way it looks in my kitchen.

I thought Anna gave me a run for my money. I think Alex is going to beat her out for the busiest toddler award.

Getting Rid of Stuff

When Dan and I were first married, we were really poor. At that time, I picked up the habit of not getting rid of things. Well, as our family grew, and our house was still the same size, I started to get rid of some stuff.
I'm proud to say that now I get rid of stuff all the time. I have an ongoing garbage bag of stuff to donate.
Tonight was a bit of a sentimental closet cleanout. I dumped all of my maternity clothes and baby clothes in bags to give to people and donate. We've decided that we have our hands completely full with 4 children. There's no reason to keep those clothes anymore. They are just taking up closet space. In a way, it seems kind of sad. It's the end of this chapter in our lives. We will never stare in wonder at our own newborn again. We will never sit in excitement and watch the ultrasounds. But then again, it will sure be nice to be done with diapers as soon as Alex is potty-trained. No more sleepless nights. In a few mores years we'll be able to take all of the kids to movies. Before we had Anna and Alex, we had started taking Rachel and Caleb to movies at the theater. It will be nice to leave the diaper bag behind.

The Zoo in November

Since the kids are off-track for 4 weeks right now, we are trying hard to stay busy. Today we went to the zoo. I've never been to the zoo in November. I found out it was free zoo day, and thought it would be a fun thing to do. It was actually quite warm, and we were all hot from wearing our coats, by the time we got done.

We stopped and picked Dan up from work on the way, so he was able to come with us. I always appreciate having an extra adult along since I'm outnumbered 4 to 1.

Alex thought everything was a kitty. He called everything a kitty. Anna was running down the hill, and tripped and fell. It sounded awful. One of her shoes came off in the fall. Remarkably, she didn't even end up with a single scratch. I guess her think coat cushioned the fall (and probably was the horrible skidding sound). Thanks again for the coat Jen.

It was a fun trip to the zoo.

10 Years!!

I changed the song on my blog in celebration of our 10 Year Anniversary today. Kind of silly, but when we engaged, Dan bought the Phil Collins CD at the store. When we got back to his parent's house, we put the CD in the CD player in the kitchen, and danced to this song. So, whenever we hear the song "Groovy Kind of Love" we remember it.

I wouldn't trade the last 10 years. It has been some of the best years of my life. We've had good times and hard times. Looking back, we've:

1. Owned 3 houses

2. Had 4 kids

3. Had a lot of different jobs

4. When we got married, we were one semester from finishing our Associates degrees. Dan finished his Bachelor's degree, and Master's degree, and I finished my Bachelor's degree. Man, when I look back at our college days, I don't wanna go back. That was tough!

5. We've aged a bit---thankfully I don't look like I'm 14 still. When we were younger and people found out I was married I got the "You look too young" response. When I was pregnant with Rachel I looked like a young, pregnant teenager.

Since I know you're gonna read this blog, Dan, I just wanted to say "I LOVE YOU"!

Primary Program.....

Yesterday was our Primary Program at church. Rachel and Caleb got to sit on the stand, so we only had Anna and Alex sitting with us. Anna and Alex have a very hard time sitting still during church. Anna was flopping herself around demanding to know if it was time for nursery. Alex was quite the little ham. He snuck out into the aisle and began saying "hi" to everyone. He even gave the guy behind us a hug. From what I saw of the program, Rachel and Caleb did good with their speaking parts. I ended up in the hall towards the end of the program. I found it strange that after sacrament meeting a lot of people came up and told Caleb what a great job he had done. Later I found out why. During the last song, "I am a child of God", I was out in the hall. I could hear a child singing rather loudly into the microphone. In fact, I think that was the only child I could hear. I didn't know who it was. Guess who it was??? Caleb! I didn't know Caleb was even singing during the program. Caleb can be such a cute, sweet boy.

Halloween 2008

Rachel said she was a rock star for Halloween. She actually looked like a flapper. She was cute and had a fun time.

Anna was the cutest bumblebee.

Caleb was really proud of his pumpkin. He had it picked out as soon as we picked the pumpkins from the garden. He named his pumpkin "Big Belly".

This was right before we went trick-or-treating. Caleb changed his costume several times on Halloween. It was actually the warmest trick-or-treating I ever remember. By the time we were done, Caleb was complaing how hot he was. I was getting hot too. I can't ever get all of the kids to look at the camera at the same time.

Here's a picture of me with the kids. I dressed up like an indian. I haven't dressed up since I was a kid. But Rachel and Caleb begged me to dress up this year. I had fun. I felt kind of dumb going places during the day when I was dressed up. By the end of the day, all the kids (except Alex doesn't talk well enough yet) said what a great day it was. We ran out of candy to pass out by 8:00pm. I bought 5 bags of candy bars. I guess next year I should buy more candy. Or maybe I should stop sneaking and eating some of the candy bars. I love chocolate. :)