unto us

Merry Christmas! It is 5:45am. My house is quiet and still. I don't have any illusions that will last long. Magic is in the air for a few of my little ones. We made them promise they can't come in to wake us up until after 7am. But Layla argued she read the blog book and the older boys were allowed to wake her up at 6am. But that was before Santa lived each day exhausted and sleep deprived. 

I am ridiculously behind on sharing our adventures on here. It's funny that the biggest gap I've ever had came just moments before I was almost caught up with the smallest gap I've ever had. Oh how the pendulum swings!

What a year it has been. I blinked and it was over. Time zooms by now as quick as can be. So many things were packed into one year. There were lots of beautiful adventures and travel--like costa rica! And so much grief--losing my mom and saying goodbye to missionary Kyler. Mostly this year has been filled with intense growth for me. I attribute it all to a loving Heavenly Father.

I hope I always feel this close to Him. He is the source of my peace and my strength. It is a very real thing for me to rely on Him, to trust Him, and to turn to Him. He guided me to people who changed me and the course of my life for good. He comforted me in my deep sorrows. In fact, He keeps showing up for me in my grief. He showed me how to find the true divinity within myself--how to access that no matter the circumstances of my life. He taught me the difference between true joy and fleeting happiness. He opened up doors for me. He closed doors for me--and I still ache from that fact. But throught it all, because of it all, my confidence has grown. But it is not confidence in myself--it is my confidence in myself with God's by my side, in front of me, and behind me. 

My thoughts this Christmas morning are this: I don't know eveything, but I know there is a God. I know he loves me, and you. I know our Savior was born, walked the earth, showed us the way, and ultimately sacrificed for us. I know true peace that comes from Him. I don't wish you all the treasures of the world or even the desires of your heart. I don't wish you easy lives. I wish you to know your Savior through it all. He is the Way.

Christmas 2021

I know it usually takes me a while to document things on here. There are times that I wish I could do something and then post about it right away so it is fresh in my mind and so I can remember the details as I record. But yesterday I was thinking about how wonderful it is that I get to experience something in the moment and then when I come back later to sort through pictures and upload them here I get to experience it again, but a new way. Looking at pictures, you see it all a little differently. Maybe a little sweeter. Definitely with a new perspective. And sometimes a little bit how you wish you had experienced it the first time. I appreciate things a little more when I reflect on them. 

Anyways, sorting through Christmas pictures last night definitely made me smile and swell up with love for this family, home and traditions we have created. 

Usually Christmas Eve is spent with the Allen side of the family, but since we had done our celebration with them a few days early we had a day wide open. The highlight of the day was driving to go see our KayKay. In such a short time she had grown so much. She still has our hearts.

Brinna’s bond with her is unbreakable.

It was so lovely to each get a few minutes to snuggle her.

Before we left, we gave her and her family presents.

Instead of a white Christmas, we ended up with a very wet Christmas. The rain came down all day and our backyard flooded. 





We were in shock when our pool water level became nonexistent. We knew our backyard had drainage issues and this proved it. But there was so much rain!!

Kyler seri Tried to skim board. And quickly learned that rain doesn’t make the pool water any warmer.

We put everyone to bed as early as their excitement would allow on Christmas Eve. Sometime in the night Santa came!

The kids know the drill. At the appointed hour they can wake each other up. And then they come in to our room. We snuggle on the bed for awhile. This year we watched our Christmas video on the bed instead of at the top of the stairs.

This was one of the rare Christmas mornings that Perry woke up before we went downstairs! So much fun to be all together.

Kyler reminded us to stop at the top of the stairs for a picture since that is our traditional spot.

Then Eric went downstairs to make sure the Christmas tree lights were on and the kids followed down in age order to see what Santa brought.

There were suitcases, a delay in an aerial swing, tools, amulets, and a Nintendo switch. With the switch was an important letter from Santa explaining to Perry all of the rules of the switch. Important rules about sharing it and  not hiding it in your room etc. He didn’t love all the rules at first, but he agreed to the expectations.

Then Santa made our dreams come true and gave us Disney shirts and tickets to Disneyland. The trip would start the next day.


We spent sometime enjoying the gifts from Santa while I made breakfast.

Still wet and rainy!

We sat down for breakfast and Brinna discovered the envelopes under the plates that would reveal which wrapping paper you got for the gifts under the tree. Instead of writing names on the gifts I wrapped, I used a different wrapping paper for each person.


We ate breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen, and then sat down to exchange gifts with each other.

The hugs and the smiles when siblings exchange continues to be the highlight of the day for me.

Because I knew next Christmas kyler won’t be with us, I think I went a little bit above and beyond. It is a weird thing to wrap my head around the fact that he plans to be serving a mission at this time next year. So this was extra wonderful to be all together. And extra tiring for me as the mom to bring everything Christmas together and plan a trip for the next day. But I’m glad we did it. Though I’m hoping next year we scale back a bit. Please remind me I said that. Ha!

We love the fun of Christmas morning. Merry Christmas!