Enough Said

I found this on another Angel mommy's blog, and it describes my thoughts well... "I heard so many times in church that we are all like rough stones that are put in a tumbler where trials knock pieces off us. Eventually we become smooth and precious from all that we endure. I think until now I have had little tiny pieces worn off, but was extremely rough and unpolished. Lately I have felt my tumbler is wearing off a little too much too fast. My heart is very sore from all the tumbling. I just hope that I am actually refining and not just adding more rough spots on myself. I want to endure well and let my faith carrying me through. That, I have learned, is much more difficult in practice than in theory."

love

Heartstrings Valentine's Day Card

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what happened to my babies

i was watching my girls play a game on the living room floor and suddenly realized my babies have grown up, and somehow I missed it. oh the group of mixed emotions i have, I'm not sure how to deal with this.

This is Brooklyn at 36 hours old 7lb.10oz. 20.5in.

This is Hailee @ 12 hours old 8lbs. 2oz. 20.5in

Brooklyn is now almost five and Hailee is almost 3! its crazy to me how fast things change right before my eyes.

Oh the joy's of playing catch up

So the month of December was crazier than normal this year, with birthdays and the girls first dance concert and parties for friends and family. crazy as it was we had a lot of fun and made great memories.

The girls had their first dance concert early in the month and it was so much fun to watch and see what they had learned the last 4 months in class. They love their teacher Miss Emily and all the fun things she teaches them, the shimmy is their favorite

There are four family birthdays in December, we have the girls aunt Kaitlynn birthday on the 3rd, and the 17Th is the girls auntie tawna's and she live in Idaho, i promise your gift is coming! the 20Th is my brother Andrew's and he turned 18 this year. i hope he make good and wise choices. and the 24Th is my daddy's birthday he turned 51 and boy did we have fun with his party The Before... Since my dad doesn't like cake we do his favorite apple fritters for his birthday treat and we always put the #of candles in the cake that the person is turning and this year dad turned 51, so yes there are 51 individual candles on one tiny fritter

the aftermath

and then we had Christmas eve and always have Swedish meatballs at Jon's family, and its yummy ans always fun then we get to celebrate on our own and the girls and us open 1 gift before bed and we always get new Jammie's, it's great fun with the girls. Then it's Christmas and the fun begins, with flying paper and laughing kids, car rides to the grandparents houses and the long drive back home in a tightly packed car, and then to clean up the aftermath. we had a lovely holiday, and truly enjoyed the time we had with our family watching our not so little girls immersed in the pure magic of the season. we are also lucky to have a great group of friends that we got to celebrate New Year's Eve with, and it was a blast, with great food, awesome friends, and good memories, and fireworks who could ask for anything better, we can't!!! in between and after the holiday's we had our share of sickies and we are till trying to get completely over the yuckies.

for posterities sake...

So the past few weeks have flown by I feel like it keeps flying faster...i feel kinda like the teacups at disneyland! We have had a lot of fun this last while, we celebrated thanksgiving this year at jon's parents and as usaual the food was wonderful, it was a super nice day to spend with our family and be reminded of all the many things we have to be grateful for like, an eternal family, food on the table, our 4 kids, parents who have taught us great lessons, (even if we didn't always like them at the time), This year i braved the crowds on black friday with my sister-in-law and minus a few grouchy people it was a super fun night that started at 7:45p.m. in line at toys r us and ended at 6:00a.m. at my moms house where my girls had spent the night. Thanks Heather for the hot chocolate a great night!!! Cant wait till next year! In my family we have a tradition where on the Nielsen side we celebrate Christmas the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and there is always a theme that my Grandma puts together all year long, and this year the theme was Sheep and The Shepard. It was so neat to listen to my Grandma's sweet testimony of the Savior. I am grateful for the chance to hear her bare her testimony. And now its december and the list of holidays and birthdays are going to keep us busy this month. stay tuned for updates!!!

christmas card

Berry Wreath Nutmeg Christmas Card

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Tis the season for all things cool (50 free shutterfly holiday cards)

in this world of all things digital i am greatful for my camera and being able to catch all those moments that would other wise fade a way, the other cool thing about digital days is being able to print your pictures in a second... literally! i know most peoples live are busy and who has time to drive all the way to the store when you can sit at home on your own computer and upload any and all the photos you want staight to shutterfly, and edit, pay, and they get mailed to you! I am in love!!! some of my favorite products that shutterfly offers are http://www.shuterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas%20cards and this...http://www.shutterfly.com/calenders/wall-calenders oh yeah and this one too, http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art this year for christmas i decided that i want to send out christmas cards, and this is the design i choose...http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/cards-stationery/burst-of-snowflakes this the sample...

you too can get 50 free holiday cards by going here...http://bit.ly/sfly2010 I hope that this season is wonderful for everyone i know that mine is going to hold a lot of fun and suprises, so stay tuned!!!