The Missionary Choir on New Year's Eve!

This is one of my favorite nights of the year!!! They did a great job. We love them so much.

Thank You!

This is the puzzle the Livingstons gave us for Christmas. Puzzles are one of my favorite Christmas/New Year's traditions, but I might be the only one. Still, several of the family stopped in and put a piece in here and there. And I even had a shoulder rub or two while I hunched over the pieces. Very fun, thank you!

Hide and Seek

That was always one of my favorite games as a little kid. We made up all kinds of variations. It's a game that could take hours if everyone was willing. Even when I got older, I still liked to play with my kids-hiding the younger ones in awesome places so the big kids were challenged to be able to find them. Of course, if someone was hidden too well, the game got boring and some one would give up-either the child that was hiding, or the children that were seeking. The trick was to make it just hard enough to stay exciting.

(Hide and Seek by William Merritt Chase 1916)

As great as hide and seek is, there are some things we seek that aren't meant to be hidden. And it's usually us that makes the finding more difficult than it needs to be. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, we lose that simple faith and trust in God that was so easy to find when we were younger. We still ask some of the same questions we did as children, but maybe the answers no longer satisfy. There are also 'new' questions; although people have been asking those same 'new' questions for centuries: What am I going to do with my life-is there some greater purpose? Where did I come from? Is there a God and does He even care about me? What is He like? How do I find Him?.... Sometimes, when you ask a question, all you need to do is listen for the answer. You need to 'seek' for it, but as any good hide-n-seek player knows, you're never going to find it if you stand in the same spot and wait for it to appear. You have to go out and get it; look in every cupboard, under all the beds, and behind each door.
Today in church, there were talks centered on Christ/about overcoming, about making good choices, and about seeking after good things. No matter how many times I hear it, read it, or teach it, I never tire of the message in the scriptures from the chain below. I'd tell you the things I found, but those things were what I needed-what I was asking. Besides isn't that considered cheating and doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of seeking? Where would be the fun in that?
Here's the chain:  13th Article of Faith and Philipians 4:8 then Doctrine and Covenants 88:63 then John 7:17 then Hebrews 10:35-39 then Matt 11:29 then, finally to 1 Nephi 11:21-26 (and really the whole chapter!)
(OK, I will give one hint, sometimes the "thing" we seek like fruit and trees is really a "who".) 
For answers to more questions-check out mormon.org

Game On!

It doesn't take long to open all the presents when you start before the sun is up; so before the morning was half over, the wrapping paper was thrown away, the piles cleared to the sides, and the games began! Elder Coffman's family stays in their jammies all day, and the kids were quick obliged. (Elder Diaz' family stays up on Christmas Eve until 12:01 and then opens all their presents and goes to bed around 3:00 am. We said no to that one!) So jammie clad, they headed off to the gym for a dodge ball. We eventually ended up back at the house to play lots of new games. One favorite? "Curses" from the assistants. Sorry-no pictures of that one, but it was awesome. Especially when Dad had both the curse of talking like he was using sign language and pretending like his hands extended directly from his shoulders.

Christmas Morning

The fire, the tree, the candles! It's all so perfect. The kids tried to stay sleeping to give us a break, but they couldn't help it. They were up early and texting the assistants (Who were up even earlier just waiting for the kids to call and say it was time...that's one of the perks of serving a mission as a family-we get to have the assistants with us for Christmas!)

One of our favorite family traditions is that Santa brings a favorite sugar cereal along with your stocking. I think everyone was pretty happy this year. We must have had 20 boxes between everyone. I'm not sure how the extras got in....but there they were.

I just loved the look of pure amazement on Jeffrey's face when he opened this one. We're still trying to figure out how it works.

Legos however, we know exactly what to do with those. jeffrey and the assistants had their legos out and they were building away.

And what do you do with lego machines when they're built? Battle

Christmas Eve

There's something wonderful about Christmas Eve, gathered around a roaring fire and remembering the Christmas story. We had a beautiful Christmas Eve together with our family. One of our friends gave us homemade scones and hot chocolate; a perfect addition.

We also open one present Christmas Eve, and it's alway new jammies.

Lucky especially liked Jeffrey's new PJ's.

It was especially fun to have carolers again this year!

Elder Sexton, Elder Rice, Elder Diaz, & Elder Coffman

A Temple in Gingerbread

One of newer missinonaries, Elder Morgan, has family that gets together each Christmas to build gingerbread houses-one of my favorite Christmas traditions. When he came to pick it up, he pulled it out of the box for me so I could take pictures. Isn't it beautiful? I just love the close ups of the missionaries. See the one with red hair? It's actually Elder Morgan, but I'm going to pretend it's Mark!

Who does this remind you of?

The open mouth might suggest Grandpa? Mom? Well, no actually. The combination of mouth open, legs askew and arms over head = Lucky. I'll work on finding a picture for comparison. You'll see.

Snow!

Yes, I complained at first. I didn't want to live in this cold snow, it just isn't for me...or so i thought.

I love the snow!! I woke up on Sunday and was busily getting ready for church when i flipped open the blinds to see what the weather was like. BEAUTIFUL! Everything was completely covered in snow, it's just so pretty! My favorite part is the green trees with snow on the branches, it's just gorgeous. Snowball fights are so much fun, and actually catching a snowflake on my tongue is priceless. I succeeded in walking to campus while it was snowing. I almost slipped twice, but Ashley caught me. Then i almost slipped pretty badly and Nick caught me. Luckily though, my rear end never hit the ground. I've become pro at brushing snow off my car, I don't want it to build up too badly. I love the snow :) And it's not even that cold.

Temple Square Trip on Saturday. We took a big bus to Salt Lake, toured the conference center, watched the Joseph Smith Movie, and looked at the Temple Lights. Everytime I watch the Joseph Smith movie I feel something a little different. This time I felt so much love. Love for my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, love for Joseph Smith, and I felt the love they have for me. It was just an overwhelming feeling love. Joseph Smith sacrificed so much, but it wasn't for nothing. As I was watching I kept thinking, even if I shared this video with someone and they didn't join the church from it, they would have to feel at least something. Joseph Smith was a prophet.

I shared my testimony in Sacrament meeting on Sunday, I needed to express the feelings I had over Thanksgiving break. I missed my family a lot, going home for break was amazing. What I hadn't realized I missed so much was the missionaries. The first night I was home, the assistants stopped by and shared some miracles they had seen that day. Then a couple days later I got to meet the excited, willing new missionaries that had come since I left. I was filled with so much love and respect for them. I love the missionaries so much, I understand what a sacrifice they are making and have so much appreciation for them. I am so grateful for missionary work. I have a lot of friends that are leaving next semester on missions, and friends that are getting their papers ready. Some of them are excited, some are nervous, some don't know what to expect, some are anxious, but I know they can all do it. Every missionary can be successful, it doesn't take a wordsmith or someone that is outgoing; any willing, obedient person can be a good missionary. I'm so excited for the experiences they are going to have and I pray that they will work their hardest and understand that they have the Lord on their side. Anyways, this is me and Jane outside the Salt Lake Temple

this was actually a couple weeks ago in Park City- Taylor, Hayley, Kirsten, Eric, me

first night of snow! nick, me, dallin, kaitlin

nick, me, kaitlin, eric

first day of snow! on our way into church

Favorite new ornament

Thanks to the Ellsworth family. We think it's perfect!