New Year, New Look, New Dedication

Yes, it's that time again. As I've been blog hopping, (something I RARELY do) I've noticed that I'm not the only one that hasn't kept up with good intentions, such as blogging. I'll be honest. Blogging is for me, for my journal upkeep, since journal writing does not come naturally to me, and it's for my children to look back on and laugh at, and maybe realize why their mother was as crazy as she was while they were growing up. So I'm not offended if no one else reads what I have to write! I wish I was a great writer, an uplifting writer like a few of my friends that I look up to are...but bottom line is my blog is what it is, and I'm okay with that.

I decided to "give" Russ the only surprise for Christmas that I could, (if you know Russ at all, surprising him does NOT work, since whatever I would buy for this man, he would later inform me that he could have gotten the same thing for a MUCH cheaper price!) and update my blog from when I fell off the blogging world, and bite the bullet and print out the blurb books that I only have heard about from others who have done them. Only since it was a surprise, I couldn't do it online. So I worked for hours on end...the second Russ would walk out the door until the minute he would walk back in the door, there I was. On the computer, working so hard on catching up on all the things I had missed writing about. It wasn't a pretty few weeks. My poor children wondered why the computer had all of a sudden replaced the game time with them that I try to make during the day or reading them stories, why I wasn't out running our normal errands, why the house was a disaster and it wasn't bothering me, or why even fixing their food was such a distraction! Luckily they survived, and so did I. And even though the books that I printed for the last few years don't necessarily mean much to anyone else, I'm proud of them. Russ was sweet, shocked and so appreciative of my efforts, and probably a little relieved to find a reason for my ongoing lack of motherhood responsibilities. And my sweet Max finally was able to see that he really is a part of our family because he was in a REAL book, not just living here in our home. (Sad but true story: I was dedicated to scrap booking when Jackson was an only child, and I have his first year and a half well documented. So when his book is pulled out, and Max is going through it, the questions always remain the same, though he's been given the same response every time: "is this me? Is this one me? Am I in this picture? Where am I then? How come I'm not in here?") It's very sad, and when this happens, Russ gives me "the look." The one that says "hey, this is your job, not mine. You're responsible for him feeling left out of this family! Maybe you should do something about it!"

So here we go. A much better way to publish your writing...if it's done on a semi-regular basis, NOT months and years later. An effort that will hopefully not be left in vain again.

As a side note, if anyone does happen to glance at my blog and realize that I may actually post something once in awhile, and your blog is no longer linked to mine, please know that this is because you went private, and I no longer have access to your blog! So for all of you "private" people, link us back up again! Add my email address to your "approved viewers!"

Our New Years this year was actually not much different from any other night, which was okay with me. We have such a whirlwind December month, with not only Christmas - but getting to celebrate two birthdays as well, so a low-key New Years was perfect. We went to dinner with some of our friends, who helped us laugh over the past year a little bit, toasted this year OUT and welcomed in higher hopes for most of us in the upcoming new year, and then stopped in at a party thrown at the fantastic Jones' home for a bit. We were home in bed before midnight, with me watching the amazing fireweork show on the strip from my own bed, and my sweet husband snoring beside me. As uneventful as it may have seemed, it also helped me do my own reflecting on what is really important in my life RIGHT now, and what I need to focus on more, and what I need to do to simplify my life even more. And that's my New Years resolution in a nut shell. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Make life more meaningful with the ones I love. Show my children how much I love them, instead of just telling them. Make the most out of each day, and be more fogiving of myself when the most isn't what I wish it was sometimes. To do the things that I need to do everyday with a smile, and remember that I would pick this craziness over leaving my children in someone else's care if the choice had to be made. Silly, and maybe a little redundant, but that's okay. I've learned more about myself and who I am and what I want to become as a mother, a wife, and a friend in the past few years than I probably have in my whole life, and though not all lessons are the ones I would have chosen to have, I know that they have helped shape me and mold me into who I'm still becoming and hope to become. Oh, and one more resolution that's on my top of priorities? To kiss my husband more! To welcome him home, instead of anxiously looking at the clock, counting down the seconds until he comes home to help me out with all the craziness. I'm a lucky woman to have the men in my life that I do, (starting with my own father) that work hard to provide for their families, but who are also so involved in what is going on at home, who don't look at coming home and helping out as a chore. I don't take these dear men for granted! They are such good examples to me.

Anyway, here's the few pictures of New Years that I actually remembered to capture, as well as my cute boys waking up to the first and probably only snowfall that Las Vegas will have this year. Since we had just gone up to Utah, seeing the snow wasn't such a novelty to them, but you would have thought it was, by the way they were glued to the window, watching it come down. Too bad it melted quicker than they could go play in it, but it was still a beautiful white wonderland for a minute.








And finally...here's our ever-growing "baby", if you could call him that. He honestly keeps us laughing every minute of every day...except for when he doesn't because he's throwing those fun "2 year old" tantrums. (How is it that those happen at one again?!) But he really is so much fun, and we could snap pictures of his faces everyday, or video every little thing that he says right now, because he understands everything you tell him, and he tries repeating everything you say. His latest one right now is clenching his fists and his jaw and shaking when anyone says "cold." We had DeEtte and Alan Young here the other night, and I asked Mitch if he could say "baby Cole's name," and instead of trying to say it, he shook his fists and thought I was saying COLD again. What a nut!