A SUCCESS

It is a new day, a new week, soon to be a new year. We have emerged from our family hiatus reinvigorated and ready to resume our responsibilities, challenges and general mayhem that seems to take up such a large portion of our lives. I was so grateful for my children's friends respecting what I was trying to achieve this past week. None of them called with invitations that would distract them from this past week, but they all have plans waiting for this upcoming one, which is good and fun and how it should be. An entire week of shutting out the world is so therapeutic. We hardly even ventured out of our family with the computer or the telephone. That means we have some catching up to do with everyone else we love, but that seems to be "relatively" easy. ;-) Fred had to work Monday and Tuesday, so during the days, the children and I finished preparing for Christmas and in the evenings we celebrated together. I had enough food bought and prepared for buffet style eating for the most of the week, so I only cooked dinner Tuesday night and breakfast Saturday morning and we grazed the rest of the week. It was fantastic!

We spent the days sledding, playing board games for hours, reading, watching movies, visiting, making treats etc. We even tried roasting chestnuts, though we didn't have an "open fire", and found them to be quite disgusting. I'm not sure why they would be romanticized in a song, but that is knowledge that can be chalked up to experience. We learned that the Farming Game is so much more fun when played "speed style"; it is also much more violent. We learned that when you play board games for too many hours, and too late at night, that you get very loud and silly and people not playing with you keep casting sidelong glances of concern. It was reminiscent of very long monopoly games with Mys and Lulu. Because we never went anywhere outside of our neighborhood, Lily and Sophie spent three full days in "princess" clothes and we didn't have one dramatic outburst about someone choosing the cute flower pants that Annalie gave them first or having to change into clothes that "match". We did have other dramatic outbursts but that is just par for the course with twins.

I did wake up this morning to a very full Inbox on my e-mail, which will take some time to sort, but that is okay as well, because I'm up before any of my children who will probably all get up late because we partied them too hard last week, so I have a few minutes before I have to head off to a planning mtg. for this big New Years Celebration that has come down from Salt Lake. More partying.........! I think Pres. Monson likes parties ;-) Our stake has chosen to hold it on New Years Eve, so half of our family will be at the stake center from 8:00 PM until 1:00 AM and Fred and the youngest three will be at home. Not an ideal celebration-- I am trying to talk Fred into coming up for the countdown and "breakfast", but I think he is thinking he may actually sneak into bed before midnight for once on a New Years Eve, so I don't know how sucessful that will be. It would be so much more fun as an entire family!

If the weather and every one's health holds out, we will probably end these two weeks of vacation by staying with Joseph and Camille on Friday and Saturday. We haven't been up to the ranch in a very long time and Fred has a sleep study to do in McCall so we thought it would be a good opportunity to all go up together and visit.

MAKING OUR GINGERBREAD HOUSE FOR F.H.E.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

PERFECT PRINCESSES

CASUALTIES OF TOO MUCH SUGAR AND TOO LITTLE SLEEP

(He ran straight into the door jam!)

GAME CRAZY

GONE CRAZY

(This is what happens when your mother forces you to spend an entire week together as a family! Mikayla was having too much fun. I was hoping some of Jordan's friend girls would show up for just a minute ;-)

SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST (Fred gave me a tablecloth and napkins and rings for Christmas-- I was feeling very refined)