We made it!!!

It's Christmas Eve and we made it to Colorado!!!

It was a long day of travel, but it was totally worth it.

I can't even tell you how excited I am. We were the last of my family to arrive. (Greg is still en route.)

It is total chaos here and it's awesome!

When we landed it was 20 degrees and snow is everywhere.

It snowed 10 inches here on Thursday! It's going to be a White Christmas for us!! 

(can you tell I'm excited?)

I am so grateful for this opportunity to spend Christmas with my family. It's the first time in 5 years that we have been able to be with family for Christmas.

It's been wonderful as it's been to be our own little family, and start our own traditions, but it's even more fun to be home and revel in all the memories of Christmases past.

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

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Raw...

I'm sad.

I've been sad for a while now...

I don't know why.

There is no reason for it.

We have been so blessed this year.

Both Greg and I have received promotions in a time where so many are losing their jobs or not making enough money.

We have been able to move to North Carolina and I have absolutely fallen in love with this area!

It's beautiful and I can imagine spending the rest of my life here.

We get to go back to Colorado for Christmas!

For the first time in I don't know how long all of my siblings PLUS their spouses and kids (the only one missing will be Porter) will all be in the same house at the same time!

 All four of us were together last August for Cassie's college graduation, but the kids/spouses were mostly absent.

 

 

The thing I'm most excited about is I get to talk to my son for the first time since Mother's Day.

I've really been missing him recently and I can't wait to just talk to him.

I know he's where he needs to be, but I miss him like crazy!



I know how blessed I am. I know how much worse it could be for my family. I've lived the worse that it could be! And still... I'm sad.

I keep reminding myself of what Jenny (aka The Bloggess) says: "...depression is a lying bastard..."

Between commitments I had this summer before we moved and the move, I haven't slowed down since early May.

There has been no recharging of my batteries. No time taken to sit in the quiet and just be.

I have also managed to gain 15-20 pounds this year. I know most of it is because of stress. I gain weight when I'm stressed.

(Fun Fact: I can eat right and workout everyday and still gain weight if there is enough stress in my life.)

I know that part of what I'm feeling is dread at going home and having to face my family after having gained all this weight. I don't want anyone to see me like this, especially them...

I'm posting this because I need to remind myself that depression is a lying bastard!

My life is great right now.

I will pull through this. I'm stronger than the lies depression is telling me right now.

I will feel happy again. 

The Reason....

I haven't posted in a while....

I haven't had much to say. But today I watched this video and it made me pause and think about this time of year.

And why we celebrate Christmas.


We are celebrating the gift of our Savior to the world! By emulating Him and doing as He did we can give back just a little of what he gave us.

I love this time of year! It's a time of giving and celebration,
of family and loved ones.

But there are so many who don't know the truth, who haven't heard the good news, or felt the hope that the light of our Savior can bring.

My Christmas wish this year is that I will be able to give back just a little of what MY Savior has given me.

Linking up with LoveLinks today.

Embrace the Camera: Goofy

One thing I'm super grateful for is finding the blog the anderson crew.

Every week she has a link up called "Embrace the Camera".

The point is to get in front of the camera and not be behind it taking pictures all the time.

This link up has been so much fun for me because I'm looking for ways to get in front of the camera with my girls instead of hiding behind it.

As a result, I'm getting a lot of fun time with my girls (that will be gone all too soon), but also I'm getting great pictures to remember these years!

Since Emily just welcomed the newest addition to their family (Olive Hazel), my guess is, she won't be posting the link up this week, but I still wanted to post the pictures I took this week.

Thank you Emily for this fun link up!

Congratulations on your new bundle of joy! Olive is beautiful.

None of these are especially good pictures (quality-wise),

but they captured a moment when my daughter and I were being goofy and having fun.

I love the memory of this moment the pictures give me.

Tuesday Ten: Most Favorite Movies From When I Was a Kid

Recently I've been taking a walk down movie memory lane.

Jay and I have been spending time watching some of the best movies from the 80's.

So here they are in no particular order...

10 of the best movies from when I was a kid.

{I never claimed to have good taste}

(1)

The Goonies

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(2)

Labyrinth

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(3)

Gremlins

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(4)

The NeverEnding Story

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(5)

Star Wars Trilogy

(I know the first one was from the 70's but the other two were from the 80's)



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(6)

The Princess Bride



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(7)

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial



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 (8)

Back to the Future

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(9)

A Christmas Story

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(10)

Better Off Dead 

- And any other John Cusack movie!!

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There were so many awesome movies from the 80's.

I know this list is only the tip of the iceberg.

What are some of your favorites?

Memories Captured

Today I'm linking up over at Momma Wants This and These Little Waves for their Memories Captured link party.

Both of my girls are older - 15 and 19

and I'm struck every day at how fleeting time is. (I know, cliche much?)

But it's true.

When I saw this link up, I was thrilled to join in.

What a great way to hold on to who your kids were.

Jay is a talented, extremely smart (she would say clever as she is obsessed with ALL things UK), 15 year old, basically she's a whole lot of fun!

A couple of weeks ago we went and got our hair done. She loves posing for the camera, so we went out back and took some pictures when we got home.

This one is my favorite, so it's the one I picked to caputre the memory of that day.

Jordin moved in with us in May. She lived out in Wyoming with her Mom up until that point. She's 19, just out of high school and trying to figure out what to do with her life.

She's oober talented! If she wants to do something artsy, so goes for it! (I'm trying to be more like her that way).

On Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to get some pictures of the family outside playing around. My goal was to get some fun candid shots then a few posed shots.

Somehow Jordin always knew when the camera was pointed at her! Her favorite thing to do when there is a camera pointed at her is to pull a face (grrrrr).

I was getting frustrated trying to get the "perfect" shot of her, so I finally just let her do her thing.

And what do you know?

I got the perfect shot of her. This is my favorite picture of her from that day.

Linking up with LoveLinks today.

DIY - Making a Coffee Table

When we moved into our new house, we realized that we had a round kitchen table that we didn't have a place for.

Then... I realized I had a big room that needed a coffee table. 

That's when I came up with my brillant plan.

Here's what we did to make the kitchen table into our new coffee table.

First, I unscrewed the tabletop from the base.

Then we had to decide if we could reattach the tabletop once we cut the base down.

Once we figured out that we could reattach it, it was all systems go!

Time to measure and cut the base...

This is the very technical paper and crayon technique.

I got nervous, so Greg took over the saw.

Time to reattach the tabletop to the base.

The end result is pretty awesome!

This is what the room looks like with the new coffee table.

This was a really easy and fun way to make the table I wanted. The whole thing only took us about 45 minutes from start to finish.

It makes me want to find more things I can do around the house!

What DIY projects have you guys been doing?