Joy in the Journey

A Day for a Princess

Katie's birthday was this week and we wanted it to be really special for her. The day somehow became princess and pink themed. But that is just perfect for this girl. Her favorite things are dancing and being dramatic. She certainly keeps us laughing.

She wanted to wear the same tiara I she had me wear on my birthday. It was with her the whole day. I even went to store with her and Hyrum, and she got so much attention everyone because she was the birthday girl. Her daddy had even bought her a ribbon to wear that said "Birthday Girl".

Grandpa made his special pancakes as her morning snack.

Told you she loves to dance!!!

The poor girl has had a cold all week, so her face is all dry...hence the "mustache" under nose.

Grandma curled her hair, just like a princess.

She only had 3 requests for her birthday: meat for her dinner, a pink cake, and balloons. One balloon popped when I got out of the car and the other one deflated overnight, so I took her to get 2 new ones in the morning. It ended up being her favorite part of her birthday. Who knew!!!

Daddy got the balloons. Being the softy that he is (we love that about him,) they were princess-themed.

Katie and Hyrum got to help Mommy make the pink cupcakes...and lick the beaters.

Her sisters made her this crown, necklaces and wand. Best sisters ever!

Katie got the help Daddy and Hyrum decorate the cupcakes and set up this cute display.

She blew out her candle even before we had finished singing "Happy Birthday"!

She said she had a great day. That night she got a really bad cough and was up quite a bit of it. Not the best way to end your birthday.

Katie is such a special girl and we love that she is a part of our family. She brings such spunk and color into our lives.

Preparing

Hyrum was Gpa's hometeaching companion last month and he was so excited. We start them early in this family.

My Handsome Boy!!!!

Celebrating 31 Years

The year is brand new and already I have turned a year older. Now I am 31. I am having a hard time believing it. When did I get past 25? Oh well, I guess it has its advantages.

I had a somewhat relaxing birthday. I got a nap, yeah...best gift. While I was napping the rest of the family got things ready for the big get-together we were having that evening. So much of my family was there and I felt so loved.

Jared, my mom, Beate and Rike all worked really hard to make my meal of choice...chicken rolls!!!! They also made me a delicious chocolate cake. We had enough of everything to feed an army, which meant plenty of leftovers!!!!

We stuck with numeral candles, not wanting to burn down the house with the large amount.

Despite how the picture makes it look, I was so excited all day.

The kids were in our room and found this tiara and hat. Katie made sure I wore it. I loved having my family around. Anne and Alicia even made me some wonderful books.

A Christmas to Remember

This Christmas was such a wonderful one!!!! We spent time with family, which is what makes Christmas all the good things that it is.

On Monday night, braved the crowds (I was worried the whole time about losing one of the kids) and went to Temple Square. It was beautiful, as always. It again reminded me how grateful I am to once again being living so close to all the wonderful church sites and to be able to share them with Jared and my kids.

On Christmas Eve we had Rike, Jacob, Maria and Emilee over. Robby is here for the Christmas break. We got to talk to Richy and Ariane on skype. Mom, Dad and Rike worked on the traditional Dautel Christmas dinner, of cordon bleu and potato salad.

While they were doing that the kids came up and said the basement ceiling was leaking. The menfolk rushed downstairs. In the end our drywall was down and the fridge upstairs was pulled out. The water pipe for the fridge had been leaking. The sub-floor and floor joists were soaked through. And the drywall was wet. Merry Christmas to us!!!! They decided to let it air out and dry up and decide after how bad the damage is.

Dinner was wonderful anyway and I think within a short time all of us had pretty much forgotten about our poor, damaged house. The food was DELICIOUS!!!!! I have missed it since we moved away from Germany.

The reading of the nativity followed dinner. Maybe next year we will be able to act it out. We have tried to really teach our kids and focus on Christ being the real meaning of Christmas, this year. I hope we were successful.

The kids each got to open 1 gift. We had given them books to add to their library. Anne and Alicia want to advance from picture books to simple chapter books, so we bought them a series about some girls who live in Neverland. We will see how they like them. Hyrum loves Dr. Suess, so we got more of his books. After the gifts were opened, Jared read "Fox in Socks" to the kids. Wow, I am glad it was him not me. The rest of us got to giggle as he struggled to get through it.

Next the kids went to bed and the adults got to be entertained by Maria's Santa impressions. No more fresca for that girl at dinner. It was so cute. Then we opened the gifts from each other that we said we wouldn't buy. The best part was being together and laughing a lot.

Christmas morning the kids were so excited, but still had to wait downstairs for all the adults to get up. Once, they all were up we took the traditional pictures of the kids and family on the stairs. I love these pictures. it was fun to see myself grow-up this way, and I love seeing it my kids grow-up that way too.
Opening gifts with the kids was so much fun. They got so excited about everything.

When it was all over, I set up the kids gifts for display (another tradition). We had so many very generous family members. So we decided to record the kids saying thank you for all their gifts.

While I did that, Jared and Ray made omlettes. Sweet Jared, remembered that this was my traditional Christmas breakfast growing up. (Honestly, with these past crazy months I had forgotten)

The rest of the day the kids played with all their new toys, crafting and had so much fun. It was a wonderful Christmas...one that I will always remember.

Christmas Talent

We put together a Christmas Presentation this year instead of sending out cards. If anyone wants to view it. Go to our family site and click on the link at the top. While you are at it check out the rest of the site. You will also find a brief summary of our year. Enjoy!!!

Someone Understood Me

Have you ever watched or read something that touched you so deeply you knew you wouldn't be the same again? Has there been a time you felt so completely understood by someone you just couldn't believe it? That's what happened to me this last General Conference.

Ever since I was a teenager and started really listening at Conference, Elder Holland has been the speaker I look forward to most...along with the prophet. Through the years each of his talks has touched me in a way that was so personal. So this last October I really was anticipating his talk, especially since our family has had a rough year and I wanted some reassurances that Heavenly Father was aware of me. I never expected what happened when he started speaking. Watch/Read his talk here.

I was crying by the end, and that is a rare thing for me. I have suffered from anxiety and different levels of depression since I was 5 years old. Some times are better than other, but other times have been unbearable. I am sorry for anyone who has to go through mental illness, but to me it seems that Heavenly Father knows how many of his children go through this battle that he allowed one of His future special witnesses to go through the experience so he could relate to those children. Thus, showing the world that He, Heavenly Father, knows us, love us and understands us.

Christmas So Far

Jared told me that he wanted me to start updating our blog again. I guess we have friends and family who use it stay in touch with what is going on with our family. So here goes. I am not going to back track, just start with our Christmas season so far.

I finally got all our stockings done. I have been working on them since we first got married...that makes 8 years!!! Lame, I know.

As you all know we celebrate Advent on the 4 Sundays before Christmas...a wonderful German tradition. We try to do something to remind us of the true meaning of Christmas each Sunday. This year I got my Christmas present early. It is these lovely star ornaments from Deseret Book that have the biblical names for Christ on them. There are 12 in total so that means each Sunday we can put up 3, the kids love taking turns. Before we put each on the tree we talk about what that specific name for Christ means for us.

Another German tradition happened on December 6th...St. Nikolaus Tag.

He left us all some treats during the night.

Our wonderful neighbors invited us over to make candy trains. None of us have ever made them and we all enjoyed it. Unfortunately, Jared wasn't feeling well and I took Katie home early because she got sick. So she didn't get to make one. I helped Hyrum with his.