Merry Christmas!!

I love Christmas! The family and I have had a ball decorating the house, wrapping presents, listening to holiday music, and making festive treats. Last weekend Ida and Pete spent Saturday with us watching holiday movies and making cookies. Ida has this really fun recipe where she creates Christmas cookies with different colored dough. They are delicious! The kids had fun creating with her. It was like playing with "edible" playdough. We had a fun visit with them. This weekend my aunt and her family will come and decorate more cookies with us for our annual "cookie decorating" party. We are excited to see them. Next week we are off to Utah to see family! I can't wait! I miss them so much. I know T and A are excited to see their friends and extended family again. Hopefully we'll get some ski time in while we're there. R and I will also be celebrating our 11 year anniversary. Crazy!!!! I can't believe. We're like an old married couple now. Well, I know this sounds cliche, but I truly feel blessed this year. We moved to paradise, basically. We couldn't ask for a better place to raise our kids. Everything we want or need is right here. All except for our family in Utah, of course. We love our church here! The families are amazing. There's so much love and spirit in this ward. I personally feel inspired by so many of the women here. They are so talented. I have so much to learn from them. R has a great job with lots of promise and opportunity. And most importantly, He loves it!!! And I love my job as a mother of two very special children. I'm also blessed to be able to earn a living part time as well. I teach aerobic classes at three clubs in the area as well as dance classes at T's gym. My bootcamp business is also thriving, and it's so exciting to these women getting healthier and stronger. I often go to work thinking, I can't believe I get paid to do this!! T and A go to a wonderful school where their teachers are amazing. I'm so grateful for that. They are really being challenged and pushed. A recently finished soccer and is now attending my Wednesday night kids hip hop class. He loves it! And I love having him there. He also continues to be our little comedian at home. T will be moving up in the next month or so to team level gymnastics. We are very excited for her. This is something she really loves, and she is so good at it. She will have the opportunity to learn from two coaches who were past olympians, one a silver medalist in the 2004 Athens games. Hey, I'm just impressed that she can do 10 pull-ups and I can't even do one! I am so grateful for the blessings the Lord has showered upon my family this year. I hope that all of you have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! We love and appreciate you all!