The week after Christmas

I must admit, the week after Christmas this year was a bit of a bummer. I was as sick as I have been for awhile...I felt horrible for so many days. I'm not sure I was able to smell anything for 2 weeks and had such a bad cough, cold and head ache. Pierce was also on the outs. Add to that the fact that Mike has scheduled PTO all week, then ended up working SO SO SO much, even if it was from home (like 20 hours on December 26th). Kept trying to remind ourselves how grateful we are to have such a good job in this economy.

Now, all that being said, it was still a really great week and the boys had a blast with their new Wii games and new toys. If there was ever a week to be sick and busy this was a good one. We did manage to have some fun though.

To see the fun, check out this link!

New Years!

It was so fun to ring it in with my boys this year. Check out the fun!

Christmas 2012!

It was wonderful!

See it here!

Christmas Chain and December via Instagram

Once again, we decided to do our Christmas Chain this year. It's always so much fun and keeps us feeling the Christmas spirit all month. I love that I don't just lump everything into the last week before Christmas but we enjoy it for 25 days. We put all the necessary stuff on the calendar first, then pepper it with other fun ideas. We really tried focusing on serving others in small ways and it made the season especially bright. Here is December, day by day:

November 31. Saline tree lighting ceremony.

1. Saline Christmas parade.

2. Decorate the tree and house/First Presidency Christmas devotional.

3. Stamp Christmas cards.

4. Christmas carol dance party.

5. Christmas movie.

6. Christmas craft.

7. Spiritual Christmas moment.

8. School Christmas night at Barnes and Noble/Magic show.

9. Christmas treats to policemen and firefighters.

10. Buy gifts for siblings at the Dollar Store.

11. Hot chocolate with candy canes.

12. Make neighbor treats.

13. Deliver treats.

14. Gingerbread house making at the Elementary school.

15. Marshmallow snowball fight.

16. Wrapping a gift for Jesus. 

17. Write sincere thank you notes for teachers and deliver their Christmas gifts. 

18. Read a Christmas story.

19. Place quarters in candy machines at the mall and watch kids find a surprise.

20. Place Christmas games.

21. Sing at a rest home.

22. Go on the Plymouth Gingerbread house hunt/Christmas party.

23. Eat dinner and share Christmas traditions with another family.

24. Celebrate Christmas Eve; read Luke 2, open sibling gifts, open PJs.

25. CHRISTMAS!!

To see the photos, click here!

St. George and Thanksgiving!

We had a crazy good time. See all the fun here!

Major Family Picture Overload

I now turn my blog into a book each year, and I love having all the family pictures in one place, so my lucky 7 friends who still read my blog...you get to see them ALL! If I don't put them here, I can never find them when it is time to make the book. So, please forgive the overabundance of Romney faces in this post :). Janel took them for us at Millpond Park at the beginning of October, so they doubled as Pierce's one year pictures and we really loved how they all turned out. She is so great. I LOVE having her take our photos. *For the record, my whole family HATES taking family pictures (Mike maybe the most). In fact, many times I heard, "Taking pictures makes it like the worst day of the whole year." So, big props to Janel and Derek for making it fun.

I am trying to decide which ones to put on the walls, so if you have a favorite, let me know!!

So, to see all 30, yes, really 30, click here!
http://www.arizonaromneys.blogspot.com/2013/01/major-family-picture-overload.html