Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve night with my parents. It was great!! All the kids slept together upstairs, which is really getting a bit ridiculous with all the air mattresses, screaming kids, and trips to the bathroom. I wonder if this will have been our last year...
On Christmas Eve the grandbabies got matching PJ's, and I got the slippers I've been wanting forever! I made Mike a robe which is actually shaping out to be pretty nice.



Christmas morning we had the traditional opening presents fun, and if I do say so myself, it was lovely.






We followed it up with a yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and monkey bread...and then had a Rock Band Beatles morning. I sure do love Christmas!



Merry Christmas!

We started out the festivities on Christmas Eve with an awesome Mexican lunch with the Woods, Grandma Williams, and Aunt Ev and Harrison. It was fabulous. Mike and I had never before make tamales, start to finish, by ourselves--but we got the Aunt Ev seal of approval so I think we succeeded (well, mostly Mike...). The enchilada's were fabulous, as always, and I even made wonderful flan. We had a great time opening gifts, eating lunch, and making plans for the new year. Thanks for coming--let's make this a new tradition!

The Tamale Master!



Aunt Ev, Josh, Grandma and Mike


Harrison and Katelyn


Opening Presents...Thanks everyone!!



Sunday, December 27, 2009

Friday, December 25, 2009

The Vegas Bowl...

We had a Vegas Bowl party of wonderfulness....go cougs!! I made some fun cakes, we had good food, and great company (Andrew and Elena were here from Houston and stopped by to say hello...this was better for me then the cougs winning!)

Previous to the game I tried to get some pictures of the kiddos...I have found this to be especially difficult with a 2 year old. This girl makes me tired...I'm attaching a clip of the pictures I took of her in a 1 1/2 minute period. There is lots of shuffling, twisting, and not a lot of cooperation...whew!

Temple Square...

I haven't done temple square since 2005, when Mike and I were dating. I was imagining this lovely, rosey experience, and to be honest, it wasn't. All these happy pictures you see were taken in the first 5 minutes...after that, we were freezing, screaming, and ready to go home. Guess we'll try again later?!? I'm thinking this makes a better date then family activity...





Josh eats Mush!

Gotta love mush...and this dude is an eater! I hope this continues, because it's great!! :) Guess what he got for Christmas?!

Craven Family Christmas Party.

Every year we have a Craven Family Christmas party. We've missed it in the past because it's usually far enough away from Christmas that we have yet to arrive, but we were here this year! Mike, Josh and I were Mary, Joseph, and Baby...who would have thought that the requirement for the part of Mary is simply having the youngest baby boy in the family...oh joy.
Katelyn was a lamenite, and the rest of the family filled in various roles. It's the same every year, and although we all sort of drag our feet, we all love it and it wouldn't be Christmas without it. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the great traditions and the great legacy!




Lazy Man's Christmas Card

Well, actually, not so much lazy man, but the frugal-and-taking-one-thing-off-my-plate Christmas card. Enjoy! If you're like me, and LOVE to have these around the house, feel free to print it off and enjoy that way. Otherwise, enjoy the blog version of our Williams Family Christmas Card and know that we thought of you and love you all!
Merry Christmas!



Merry Christmas 2009!! Can you believe that it is already Christmastime again? This year, at least for our family, when way to quickly! Here's our top 9 of 2009...

1. This list must start with Josh! Josh! Josh! We welcomed Joshua Michael into our family on August 28, 2009. Delivery went well and Mindy was so happy to not be pregnant anymore that staying up nights didn't even bother her (at least for a little while...). He weighed in at 9 lbs, and was a long 23 ¾ inches. We've loved watching him grow up the last few months—adding baby smiles, coos, giggles, and cries to our daily life once again.

2. Katelyn turns 2! We are continually amazed at our Miss Katelyn. In the last year she has added immense vocabulary (although sometimes Mom still has to interpret!), she's running, jumping, singing, doing stairs with proficiency, and usually understands that she needs to 'be soft' with Baby Josh. However, the 2 year old birthday also brought the dreaded terrible twos, and Mindy is exhausted! We're working on patience, sharing, responsibility, and controlling her emotions. Whew!

3. A job loss. Mike lost his job with Schumberger on April 23rd. What a day to remember...”Honey, I lost my job. We lost insurance. I'm coming home now.” After the initial shock, we rallied together and turned to Heavenly Father. How grateful we are that we have always been faithful tithing payers as there were many small, and big, miracles that helped us to weather this trial with ease, grace, and comfort. Heavenly Father prepped us for this job loss and we were able to grow our faith and gratitude.

4. Move Number 1. Six short weeks after losing our job, we rented our home and made the move to Utah—with very little money to our name and faith filling up all our pockets. We moved in with Mindy's parents in Layton, and what a way to catch up after living away for 3 years! Grandma and Grandpa loved the grandkids, and Mindy loved the help. We will be eternally grateful for their compassion and support when they opened their home to us in our time of need.

5. A New Job!! Mike got hired at L-3 Communications in Salt Lake. They work on government contracts and are busy, busy, busy! In fact, if you're a mechanical engineer, they need you! :) He really likes what he does, and even more, he loves his boss (something that was definitely missing in Houston), and finds great fulfillment in his relationships there. The commute is a bit longer, and the hours a bit longer, but he gets every other Friday off. Yeah!!

6. Move number 2! We moved to our new home in September. 1211 N 200 W, Layton Utah 84041—update your address books, again! (Hopefully we won't continue to have a new address every year!) We spent a few weeks painting and putting up new base and case, and things look awesome!! There are still some projects to finish, but you always need something to work on, right? Mike misses his winter garden, but we're all set for spring to grow an abundance of yummy produce. Come and visit if you're ever in the area—we'd love to see you!

7. BYU football. How fun to be in the great state of Utah for all the BYU fun! Mike got the opportunity to go to several games with his best friends, and we spent all the other games with Mindy's family enjoying BBQ's and Hostess Zingers. The BYU/UTAH game was awesome—and Mike got to be in the stadium for the big win! Go Cougs!

8. Catching up with Family. What a blessing to be close to family after 3 years away!! We have had the chance to attend birthday parties, engagement parties, funerals, Halloween parties, baby blessings, and family nights with the family that we love so much! The drive to Pleasant Grove is a bit longer then we would want, but like I keep saying—anything is closer than Texas!

9. Stability. After a crazy year full of change, the unknown, stepping forward armed with just faith, and the up and down emotions, we are finally stable! Our bank account is coming out of the red, our boxes are unpacked and the closets are beginning to be organized; we've received callings in our ward, we're re-stocking our food storage and we've got a schedule once again! Truly we have been able to organize ourselves and “prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.” (D&C 109:8) What a blessing!

As we look over the last year, we realize how much we truly have to be grateful, and be sure that our relationship with you makes it on our list as well. We're grateful especially for our Saviors loving care and for a family that gets to be together forever.
Merry Christmas!!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Perspective...

I've been thinking about perspective. I've decided that happy people are happy because they choose to be happy, not just because happy things happen to them. Example...my cousin threw a birthday party for her mom. The cake, which was either very pricey, or took hundreds of hours to make, caught fire! What did they do? Laughed.




One of my best friends put a whole package of crayons in the dryer...her response? "It made rainbows!"



My little sister's car only starts about 1% of the time...she uses it a an excuse to meet guys.



I know people who, if any one of these things happened to them, would have a complete meltdown and lose it. It would ruin their day, week, and their memory of the event forever. But, I also know people who would have reacted the same way as my cousin, friend, and sister did--they'd laugh!
Remember, if it doesn't feel good or it isn't fun, or doesn't make you very happy...it will certainly make a great story later! :)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Oh Christmas Tree...

Things we've learned about Christmas Trees, especially our own Harold II:

*Trees that take 6 hours to put lights on don't get decorated until days later.
*Dead trees save water--no need to keep them fresh!
*Christmas tree hunting is FUN--but not fully effective if you go in the dark.
*Strollers left in the snow covered Christmas tree field, all alone, will be found by complete strangers and you will thankfully recieve a call to come and retrieve your most needed accessory.
*Christmas trees with character will lovingly be dubbed 'Rustic' in our household.
*Dead trees will drop thousands of pine needles, which will quickly clog your vacuum.
*Prickly Christmas trees will result in decorations that are untouched, and presents that don't get disturbed by 2 year olds.
*And last, but not least, the Christmas spirit is alive and well, and can make even dead, 'rustic' Christmas tree appear beautiful in the early morning light with a cozy home and loving family all around.

Merry Christmas!

 

 
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Sunday, December 6, 2009

Sunday Morning Pictures...



I tried to get some pictures this morning of the kiddos in their Christmas attire. (Thanks Aunt Meg!!) I've learned that if I'm not willing to pay for professional pictures (which I hope one day I will!!) I've got to take dozens and dozens and dozens of pictures, on lots of different days to get some good ones. So here is attempt number one! Merry Christmas!! :)











P.S.--is anybody else missing some functionality in Blogger? I'm having stress--can't see my pictures (they just show up in HTML), can't change my orientation, etc, etc...help! :)

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Thankful!!

I was blog hopping this morning, and saw how many of my friends and family have cute little prego blog counter...and just wanted to say how grateful I am to NOT have one of those on my blog! I love not being pregnant! :) Good luck to all of you who are...

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Thanksgiving...

Mike's whole family came to town for the week of Thanksgiving. We split the party between two houses-ours in Layton, and Becky's in Pleasant Grove--and had much fun and playing! The actual Thanksgiving event happened at Beckys--thanks Meg and Becky for cooking, planning, and serving up such a great Thanksgiving Day! (Get prepped for a huge SPLURDGE of pictures...and Blogger is having some issues, so they are totally out of order! :)