The Holidays

It has been busy around here.

I’m sure everyone feels crazy when the holidays are here.

Our house was no exception.

We had the annual Warburton Christmas party.

We ate, sang songs, opened presents and the kids put on a living nativity.

Luke was the cutest Joseph I’ve ever seen.

The night ended in matching jammies.

On Christmas Eve, I spent the day baking and getting goodies ready for the party that night and for Christmas morning.

Jared took Luke sledding. This is becoming a Christmas Eve daytime tradition.

This snowman was built sometime over the Christmas Holiday.

Very funny story that goes along with this snowman, but I can’t post it on here.

These two were so excited for the Christmas Eve party.

Before heading to the party we made the rounds to the cemeteries to put our homemade luminaries on Ruby, my grandpa, and my grandma’s graves.

Merry Christmas Ruby!

Every year we go to my Grandma’s house for dinner and games on Christmas Eve.

My whole extended family on my mom’s side is there and it is always a good time.

Once we got home we put out milk and cookies for Santa, opened new pj’s, (I hunted all over for matching jammies for a 6 month old and 4 year old and it was nearly impossible) read Christmas stories and sent the little ones to bed.

Christmas morning Luke woke up around 8 and we made him wait until 9 because Hank was still sleeping. He was actually very patient but I could tell he really wanted to go downstairs so we woke Hank up and got to present opening.

We talked him into wanting a bike for Christmas. He loves his strider bike, but we really wanted to teach him how to peddle.

I think he is getting the hang of it.

“I told you I was on his nice list”

Christmas was definitely magical with a 4 year old.

I loved seeing the excitement all season long with him.

There is nothing better than seeing your kids’ faces on Christmas morning.

We then had Christmas breakfast. Luke was too busy with his toys to eat, but this is all that I cared about :)

My favorite gift was this hand carved nativity set from Africa.

When my dad was there working on the temple, he had this made.

Pretty cool!

We spent the rest of Christmas day visiting with family and eating more.

The day after Christmas Jared checked into the hospital for his heart ablation surgery.

It was a long day of waiting, but I can’t say I minded the quiet time.

He was in surgery for a little over 3 hours and all went well.

It is amazing to me that they put a little hole in his neck and little holes in his groin and they fixed his heart.

He was pretty loopy coming out of the anesthesia and he had me rolling.

I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

He kept asking me what time it was, if he was all fixed and he even asked if Dr. Hwang was on his A game that day.

He also wanted me to order him a turkey sandwich with marinara sauce.

He then ordered a ginger ale and when it came he took a sip and said I didn’t order this, I wanted a diet coke.

Later that night he didn’t remember eating and really wanted a fruit plate.

I asked the nurse to bring him an apple and he said I don’t want one of those awful golden delicious ones either.

Oh it was a funny night.

He had to stay over night in the hospital and I felt like all I did was run back and forth from the hospital to our home to my mom’s house where our kids were staying.

It was exhausting and I was glad to get him home.

However, I then had to run to a Dr. appointment, then a wedding reception, then an eagle scout court of honor for our nephews.

That Sunday was our nephew, Alex’s, farewell for his mission.

He left on New Year’s day to serve a 2 year mission in Ecuador.

Very bittersweet.

Life calmed down a little and we were able to have a low key new year’s.

We took Luke to see Frozen during the day then rang in the new year at my sister’s house with her, her husband and my parents.

We ate, played games, and laughed.

The next day my dad fixed a prime rib dinner complete with fondue and shrimp.

This is one of my favorite traditions.

I really can’t believe this year is over.

It was definitely one of the fasted years.

My baby will be 6 months old tomorrow and I am already sad he is getting so big.

He has brought some much needed healing into our lives after the passing of Ruby.

He truly is a rainbow baby.

I’ve been reflecting the past couple days about what I want to have happen in 2014.

What I need to change, become better at and eliminate from my life.

There are a lot of things that I am hoping for.

One being that I will get my face back.  (I really need family pictures done, but I refuse until I can smile).

I love the feeling of a new beginning.

That’s about the only nice thing about having my birthday in January.

New year, new age all at once.

Maybe once I compile my thoughts I will share some of my goals for this year.

Anything big on your list this year?

Do you have a theme?

I think we are going to try a family theme this year.

I will keep you posted about that one.

2013 was a good year though.

We moved back to Utah.

Bought a beautiful home that I love.

Delivered a healthy, happy baby boy.

And created wonderful memories.

Happy 2014!