2012 Wrap-Up

It's been awhile since my last post, but I have no intention to stop blogging. I have been extremely busy with moving and the holidays and being without Internet connection for 3.5 weeks also contributed to my lack of posting. Our Internet is FINALLY up and running, so I am ready to resume blogging. Instead of trying to go back and post about all the little things we have been up to since mid-November I am going to just sum up the rest of 2012 in one big post and then move on to 2013 like normal. Although I have a TON of pictures from the last month and a half I decided it will just be faster to not post any of them...so sorry, this will be a picture less post.

My last entry was right before Thanksgiving....and we were still living at my parent's house, so let's start there. We spent Thanksgiving with Spencer's family. As always his mom made a delicious dinner and we enjoyed talking and playing games. My kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. We were also able to make it to Allison's parent's house for dessert, which is always a lot of fun. We love that Allison's family treats us like their family too.

I'm sad to say that although Spencer and I looked over all the Black Friday ads we did not participate in any Black Friday shopping. This was the first time in many years that I wasn't out braving the crowds and the cold on Black Friday. I was sad to miss it, but it was for a very good reason. Instead of shopping we spent the day MOVING!! We are so grateful to all our friends and family who helped us move and CLEAN that day. Like I've mentioned previously, our new house was disgustingly dirty and even the cleaning company we hired couldn't get it clean enough. I can't thank my mom, Diane, and Allison enough for all the cleaning and scrubbing they did. I now have a testimony of Simple Green, Bar Keeper's Friend, and Magic Erasers; our house would have never come clean without those three cleaning products!!

We spent all of Thanksgiving weekend moving into our house and getting things clean and ready. We officially moved out of my parent's house and into our new home on Thursday November 29th. Moving is already very stressful, but moving during the holidays just adds to the stress level. I must admit that I broke out into tears more than once and seriously thought that we were never going to be settled and ready for Christmas in time. I am happy to report that it took a lot of work and a lot of help from family and friends, but we are finally settled into our home and enjoying it. There is still work to be done and a few boxes left to be un-packed, but I think there will always be some kind of project we will have to work on....not sure if the work will ever be done. We are comfortable in our home and everyone has been adjusting just fine.

December was filled with advent activities, which were a little less involved this year (sorry kids). Most of the activities were things like, "read a Christmas book, or watch a Christmas movie" but I did somehow manage to take the kids to Disneyland, see Santa, visit the Thoroughbred lights, and we did do our traditional baking and delivering goodie plates which is always a favorite with the kids. Spencer and I also managed to throw together an adult Christmas Party, which was a little less planned then in years past, but we enjoyed having our friends over and playing crazy games!! Our Elf on the Shelf found us at our new house and the kids enjoyed looking for him every day. I'm not sure how we did it, but Spencer got lights on the house and I did get out the Christmas decorations. We got all of our Christmas shopping done and everything wrapped, even though a majority of that was done on Christmas Eve!! I've never gotten down to the wire like that before, it was pretty stressful, but everything turned out great.

Spencer's parents stayed the night Christmas Eve. I made dinner and we attempted to read Christmas stories with the kids. (They were just a little wound up and excited for Santa to come so sitting and listening to stories wasn't really going to happen). My family came Christmas morning so it was a lot of fun to have a house full of family for Christmas. It was so fun to watch the kids open their gifts and enjoy the magic of Christmas. We had a yummy breakfast with everyone, then the rest of the day was spent lounging, playing with new toys, and watching movies. Love a relaxing Christmas!

Spencer had several days off around Christmas and New Years. We pretty much just worked on projects around the house, hanging things on the wall and all the little things left to be done. We did take a family trip to Ikea the day after Christmas to pick up some items for the house. Can I just tell everyone how much I LOVE that store!!! We got some stuff to help organize the kid's playroom and some other fun stuff. I could spend hours in that store...already wanting to go back! It was nice having Spencer home and nice to get things done that had been put off due to Christmas preparations.

Life has been extra crazy recently, but things seem to be slowing down now. I'm excited for 2013 and eager to see what the new year will bring. I love my family, I love my Father in Heaven, and I love my friends, and in the end those are the things that matter most! I'm still adjusting to my new life, but am trying to enjoy the transition. I look forward to continuing with my blog as well as getting caught up on some of yours!!