January

What a busy week! Last weekend some of our family members came into town for the baby's blessing. Jason gave her a really sweet, tender blessing. My parents and Jason's parents came, along with my brother-in-law Paul, my sisters Allison and Ashley, and Ashley's boyfriend Tom. It was a full house, but so much fun. Clara loved having her pick of "playmates" and bounced from one person to the next. We had snowball fights and had fun catching up. Paul lives in London and we haven't seen him for a year, so it was wonderful to see him. My sister, his wife, passed away in April 2009 and we don't get to see him very often these days. We especially missed Angela last weekend. I can't believe it's been almost two years that she's been gone. I miss her everyday.

Sledding and throwing snowballs in the backyard. (Allison, Ashley, Clara, me)


Allison sneaking up on Ashley and Tom.


Jason's parents, Jay and Lois.


I love this picture. What blue eyes! And look at those cheeks! What a pure, innocent little soul.


My mom Lynda.


Uncle Paul with his two nieces, Scotty the Scottish cow, and Crush the Turtle. Scotty came all the way from London to see Clara and Savannah. :)



Over Christmas my youngest sister Allison challenged us to "not be idle" and to get more active. She challenged us to participate in the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award program. The challenge is to do 30 minutes of activities (not necessarily "working out") for 5 days a week for 6 out of 8 weeks. So far I've done 2 out of 3 weeks. It feels really good and is challenging to find ways to be active. I'm really enjoying it.

Savannah is getting more smiley and is laughing every so often. I'm still trying to figure out how to make her laugh. She is sleeping through the night, or only waking up once a night. Yey! Clara, on the other hand, is getting up multiple times a night. I hope this phase ends soon...

I am really having fun with my two girls. Jason will be studying more this semester, especially for the boards in the Spring. As he got home the other day, the girls and I were playing in the playroom, and as he walked in I felt so grateful that I could be home with them all day and not have to leave them. They are such a joy. I'm so grateful for them.

My girls

Holidays Part 2

We went to the beach before we headed for the airport, where we watched dolphins, chased each other and drew in the sand. I love it.






My sister took us to the labyrinth at Brookgreen Gardens as part of our Christmas presents. It was surprisingly amazing. Here's a little description of labyrinths from lessons4living.com:

Labyrinths and mazes have often been confused. When most people hear of a labyrinth they think of a maze. A labyrinth is not a maze. A maze is like a puzzle to be solved. It has twists, turns, and blind alleys. It is a left brain task that requires logical, sequential, analytical activity to find the correct path into the maze and out.

A labyrinth has only one path. It is unicursal. The way in is the way out. There are no blind alleys. The path leads you on a circuitous path to the center and out again.

A labyrinth is a right brain task. It involves intuition, creativity, and imagery. With a maze many choices must be made and an active mind is needed to solve the problem of finding the center. With a labyrinth there is only one choice to be made. The choice is to enter or not. A more passive, receptive mindset is needed. The choice is whether or not to walk a spiritual path.

At its most basic level the labyrinth is a metaphor for the journey to the center of your deepest self and back out into the world with a broadened understanding of who you are.

I was a little skeptical at first, but it was a really calming, introspective experience. It was a rare moment of quiet and calmness, which I need more of. I think we all need more times of quietness and contemplation. I am on the lookout for other places in nature that I can be still and turn my thoughts inward.

Clara and her cousin running through the labyrinth. (Not doing too much contemplating, I would think...)


The beautiful old oak trees at Brookgreen.

Holidays

For the holidays we visited my family and welcomed my sister Allison home from her mission to Indonesia. It was so fun to have her home! We went caroling, had a Christmas eve party at Mauri's new house and went to the beach. We also went to see the lights at Brookgreen Gardens, an old rice plantation that has been converted into gardens, sculpture gardens and a little zoo with local animals. I took pictures, but it's been really time-consuming to download pictures, so they will come soon (hopefully).

The Sunday that Allison was supposed to give her homecoming talk in church there was a little flurry of snowflakes, so church was canceled. We were all ready to leave for church, so we took some family pictures and Allison shared her talk with us. It was a really nice Sunday morning. It was funny to hear how everyone was nervous about driving in the snow. :)


(Allison, Ashley, me, Mauri)

Savannah has been smiling and cooing at us, which has been so delightful! I never expected to receive so much joy from my sweet girls. It feels like they've been in our family forever.


Now we're back to the snow, and Jason is back at school. This semester he'll be studying for the first part of his boards, which will require lots of studying. So, hopefully we make it through unscathed. :) We're happy to be home!

I Am a Lioness

"Women are like lionesses at the gate of the home. Whatever happens in that home and family happens because she cares about it and it matters to her. She guards that gate, and things matter to that family if they matter to her."
(Julie B Beck, 2010 BYU Women's Conference)

Smiles!

We need naps