Happy Birthday Devry!

Devry turned 25 on December 28th! We had a fun time celebrating at his parents house with family. We all enjoyed cake, brownies and ice cream.

Trey helped him blow out his candles.

I am so thankful for such a wonderful husband. He is so kind and thoughtful, and takes such great care of Payton and me. Happy Birthday Devry!!

Payton's First Christmas

We had so much fun celebrating Christmas with Payton. Even though he had no idea what was going on, we had to wake him up to open presents, and of course the wrapping paper was his favorite part, it still was alot of fun! Of course I missed home and my family, but we had a ton of fun keeping old traditions and starting new ones with our little family. We finished up our shopping on the 23rd, and got to take Payton to see Santa. It was fun to get a picture of Payton on Santa's lap.

Since I was scheduled to work on Christmas Eve we planned to have dinner at 3:00 so I could be at work by 6. We had Chinese food, which has become a tradition for us. Devry's parents and his brother Tim and his wife came over for dinner. We had fun eating and playing the wii. I was put on call for work, so I got to stay home. We opened our Christmas eve presents (pajamas..which is a fun tradition we have). Payton looked so cute in his "my first Christmas" PJ's. Payton went to bed, and we finished getting everything ready for Christmas.

Payton's cute Christmas PJ's. He was so smiley!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun. Payton woke up to eat and I was all excited about opening presents.....so he finished eating and fell right back to sleep. We let him sleep for about 45 minutes then ended up waking him up, because I was excited and couldn't get back to sleep.

We opened our stockings, and "helped" Payton open his. He really enjoyed eating the wrapping paper and bows. Then we opened all of our gifts from family and Santa. We got lots of great gifts, but more importantly we really enjoyed the morning together.

We made yummy waffles with my new waffle maker, and enjoyed the morning together. Then we started making Christmas Dinner. We made the Turkey, and Devry's mom made the rolls, potatoes and gravy. We had a few sides too. It turned out really good. Payton even got to try some peas for the first time, although he was not a big fan.

We had a great Christmas! It was so fun to enjoy it with Devry and some of his family, and even more exciting to celebrate Payton's first Christmas.

Christmas Song

I came across this song while listening to Pandora last year around Christmas. I fell in love with the song. It is called I believe, by Natalie Grant. I think the message of the song is what Christmas is really about.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

Chilly weather, Decorating the tree, hearing carols wherever you go....Christmas is coming! I am excited, but also sad. I have so many memories of Christmas with my family growing up, big famliy parties, huge Christmas Dinner, secret santas, gifts to friends and neighbours, going to see the live nativity pagent, going to grandparents, all my moms wonderful baking, and SO many more. I can't help but feel homesick during this time of year. Christmas is the biggest holiday in my family. We have so many traditions, starting at the beginning of December right up until Christmas. This will be my 3rd year being away from home for Christmas. Every year has been hard, for different reasons. The first year was my very first Christmas away from home, and my first Christmas being married. Devry's brothers all were at their inlaw's for Christmas, so we celebrated with his Parents. It was fun, but since I was so used to all the people and celebrations my family has, I was so homesick. I had a very hard time that year. Last year was dissapointing because we had booked tickets to fly home, went to salt lake, and our flights got cancelled. The good thing about last year was that Devry's brothers were here to celebrate, so it seemed a bit more like what I am used to, with lots of family. I debated going home this year, but between the price, my work schedule and being too nervous about flights getting cancelled, we decided not to. It is the year that Devry's brothers and their families will be gone, so I am trying to have a good attitude about it. I want this Christmas to be fun and exciting, since it's Payton's first. I am trying to keep some of the traditions I am used to, and also start some new ones. I am still having a very hard time being excited though. I picked up a Christmas Eve shift (for double time pay) because the money's good, and I was being very negative about my expectations for Christmas. I said to myself "if I work Christmas eve, then I can just sleep through Christmas and not feel so homesick and disapointed." I know that in order for it to be what I want, my attitude needs to change, but its hard. I want Payton to grow up loving Christmas as much as I did, but how can I do that when I am having a hard time loving it. Any pointers??