Remember when...

Emilee was little.

I remember the night I took this picture. Symen was not home for some reason and it was just me and Em. I had just picked up her new bows from the ribbion store and just had to put on after bath. I could never pass up the oportinity for a photo shoot.

It is hard to remember what life was like with just Emilee. She was such a good baby. Always happy and smiling. I thought life was busy taking care of one little baby. Man alive, I had no idea what busy was.

I love Emilee so much. She is a GREAT kid. She loves to help out and take care of her brothers, she is a good student (getting all A's), and makes friends with everyone. She is my angle and I am very blessed to be her mother. (Even, though sometimes I have to aske the question "Who's the mom?")

My first photo shoot.

As most of you know I love taking pictures. I usually only take pictures of my kids, however, I had a wonderful opportunity to take pictures of my friend Leah. She is about 8 months pregnant and looks amazing.

Leah, thank you so much for allowing me to take pictures of you and your angel.

Out of order

The day after Christmas my family came up to Utah. My sister, Janette, and her family and my brother, Justin, and his family. There was 20 of us in all. We all stayed up at the cabin and had a blast. We snowmobiled, went sledding, played in the snow, and just hung out.

I am very blessed to have such a great family. We are a close family and I can't wait until we do it again.

Sleepy boy.

Garrit is my child that appreciates sleep. When he is sleepy he will crawl up into my lap and snuggle. He is always the first to bed and the last to wake up. The other night I was doing the dishes and he said "Mom, I am sleepy." I said "Ok, bud I will be there in a minute."

I guess I was a minute to late. He got his turtle (his new favorite pillow), his blanket, and of course puppy and went to sleep on his floor.

Time out.

Today Zane was being a little stinker, so I had to put him in time out and the closest thing was our boxes of oranges and grapefruit. I don't know why I thought it was so funny, maybe because it was either laugh or have a breakdown.

Zane did not agree with me that this would be a good time for a picture.

Locks of love.

Emilee has been growing out her hair for locks of love. She really enjoyed doing service for someone all by herself. Well last night she cut her hair. Here she is before.

During, I love the excitement in her face.

After, I LOVE this hair cut on her. It toally fits her fun spunky personality. It also makes her look like she is 16 instead of 6.

I am so proud of Emilee, she had such great enthusiasm during this. She was so excited to grow her hair out. She is already talking about doing it again. She such a loving little girl.

Zane's new hat

I got this hat for Zane awhile ago, however, he never wanted to wear it. He found it in his closet and has not taken it off. I love it because it reminds me of my Grandpa Napier.

He even had to put it on after he got ready for bed.

Jason

20 years ago, my oldest brother Jason was killed in a car accident the day after Christmas.

It was a day that my world changed forever. The things that I learned on that day seemed so real and scary to me. Ever thing in my world was upside down. All I knew was that Jason was gone and Christmas would never be the same.

As the years went by I learned more and more each year. As a became strong in the Church, I learned that I would be with Jason again and that he was part of my everyday life.

After becoming mother I learned that my mother is AMAZING. My mom became a rock when Jason died. Along with dealing with her own grief she was helping everyone else deal with their grief also. She was the one who got our family through that time. I hope and pray that I never know her pain and the strength that she has.

This year while I was sitting in primary and watching the leaders re-enacted the birth of Christ, the spirit touch my heart and enlightened my mind. As I sat and watched this little baby, my tears just started to run. What a great time for Jason to pass, the day after the birth of Christ. Because of Christ and his life, we have eternal life. To celebrate Christ and be reminded of his great sacrifice at the same time remembering Jason. What a wonderful thing.

I am very blessed to have Jason watching over me and my family. He is there. At many times in my life I have felt as if, if I look over my shoulder I would be able to see him standing there. I will see him again, he will be there waiting for me when I cross through veil on the right hand of my brother Jesus.

Jason, I love you and thank you for watching over me and my babies.

A little late...

posting about Christmas, however, things were a little crazy around here. And I am now just feeling like things are getting back into a grove.

On Christmas Eve, we headed up to the cabin. We were blessed to be able to spend Christmas with both sets of grandparents. The kids tracted Santa on computer with Dad and then Grandma Tracee read them The Night Before Christmas.

To no surprise, we had a hard time getting Emilee and Garrit to bed. We finally got them to sleep around 10 pm and Junior and I got to bed about 12. At 2 a.m. Garrit woke up to see that Santa had already stopped by. I thought I had convinced him to go back to bed, however, he went back to his room and got Emilee. Junior finally got them back in bed at 3. They only held out until 6:30.

I tried to get a picture of all 3 of my kids in front of the tree, however, a lesson I have learned taking pictures of my crew is you get what get and you don't throw a fit.

Christmas was great. This year we only got the kids a few small gifts, that combined with the gifts that grandmas gave them it turned out perfect. Emilee got webkins, Garrit got legos, (Thanks Grandpa for helping put them together.) and Zane got a Handy Manny tool kit.

This Christmas I did not focus on what to get my kids, husband, or parents. Instead I focused on one thing that they would really love. Christmas this year was not about putting things under the tree just to open. It took a lot of stress off me and really let the spirit of Christmas into my heart. Emilee told me later that day "Mom, this is the best Christmas ever." I learned that my kids don't need a bunch of toys for Christmas they just need to know that Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and because of him we are blessed.