Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. For the first time in 8+ years I got to be with my family for Christmas. With basketball we just haven't traveled. This year Michael was feeling soft and conceded to travel. We had a great time at my brothers. The kids played and played and played. My brother has two boys and two girls. It was fun to see what is under the tree for a girl at Christmas. There were a lot of dolls and stuff to take care of their dolls. When does changing a diaper go from fun play time to "no it is your turn!" I know when there is something in it. My brothers oldest daughter actually got a doll that will dirty her diaper if you feed her special food. Now who signs up for changing dirty diapers before you need to? Anyway we had a wonderful time. My parents met us at my brothers also and it was really nice to be with them.

The children all dressed up on Christmas Eve and we went through the Christmas story. We haven't really done that before the boys have done the Nativity with the primary and we always read it together the night before Christmas but it was fun for the kids to act it out. Cannon even was the donkey that Mary rode into Bethlehem on.

Christmas morning was a little crazy with that many presents to get passed out. But presents are always fun so who can complain about that. Becky my sister made the whole family slippers this year and it was quite impressive. She really tried to personalize them for all my boys. She made Adam and Travis' look like cowboy boots and Cannon and Cole's had either their basketball number on them or Grizz. It was very thoughtful. I know it must have taken her a really long time and she was worried that no one would like them but we all did and the boys wear them like crazy. It was a great idea to just give gifts that we made instead of store bought stuff. At least the Simmons family benefited. I hope Jenny liked the things we sent.

Santa came to my brothers house for the boys but we decided to just leave the gifts from mom and dad at home and open them when we got back. So of course the boys were eager to get home. We got back late Sunday night so we decided to wake up the next morning and open gifts then. It was fun and it was like having two Christmases. The boys all seemed happy with what they received and we had a nice slow day on Monday.

One more thing. On our way to my brothers house we got to Greybull which is only about 45 minutes away and our car started steaming really bad. We pulled into a gas station and they told Michael where a service station was and we cautiously drove our smoking car there. The mechanic quickly diagnosed it to be a bad water pump and told us he could get a new one and have it put in and it would only take him 2-3 hours. I know that sounds long but just a few minutes earlier I was thinking the engine to our car had just blown up and I was not going to be with my family for Christmas. So replacing a water pump and it getting done fast enough that we could still head to my brothers was fantastic news. The mechanics at the service station were very nice and patient with my kids who after about 20 minutes got bored and started using the tires and what ever else was in the waiting area as something to play on. When Michael and I were on our way again to my brothers we realized how blessed we were that our car broke down when and where it did. There are many stretches of Wyoming that are bare and endless with no one in sight and our car could have broken down in those type of places. But instead the car started showing signs of problems just as we were coming into Greybull. So we thanked our Heavenly Father for watching over us. I am so grateful for the knowledge of my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. I appreciate His hand in all things good or bad because He knows what I can and can't over come. And obviously I couldn't handle being stranded in the middle of nowhere with four boys:)