A Very Merry Christmas Indeed...

I'm pretty sure this is as cute as they come...

So my cousin and his absolutely darling family stopped by for a while yesterday to celebrate Christmas Eve with us.  And although there are a few shots of them in with the Christmas photos, these kiddos are just so doggone cute I thought they deserved their own blog post.  I mean seriously, could they be any more adorable?

Let the festivities begin...

Today we kicked off the Christmas festivities with the annual St. H Christmas.  My amazing mother in law hosted, and we were blessed to have the whole family in town.  C.J. and I were talking on the way home that we are so fortunate to have so much family around (although Cam is currently living in Florida and he still managed to come!)  It was such a treat to get to spend the day with the people we love, eating the food we love, celebrating the birth of the Savior we love!

Because we can...

Here is Silas today.  We decided to snap a few pictures because nap time was a bust and we needed a bit of entertainment.  Also, he drew his first recognizable picture earlier this week and wrote his name for the first time ever.  That's major progress for this active little boy who has an attention span of about 3 seconds when it comes to art!

We're Back...

Online, that is.  After a little over two and a half years without the internet at our house, we are officially connected to the world wide web again...and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.  For several reasons a few years back, we felt it would be good for our family life to get rid of a lot of our electronics and internet in an attempt to simplify our lives.  And although it took me quite a while to get used to it, I have grown to truly appreciate not having the distraction of the internet all the time.  I have found myself a far more attentive mother, wife, and home maker without the internet at home.  I have also realized that I am far more content with my life, myself, and all of God's immense blessings when I don't have the entire world at my fingertips to compare myself to.  But the one thing that I have truly missed is this blog.  This is essentially my baby book and journal for documenting our lives and the growth of our boys.  And because, for the last few years, I have had to make a special effort to go someplace else in order to put a post up on this blog (i.e. my husband's office or my sister's house), the posts have been few and far between.  I have pretty much resorted to posting only the really big events in life, like the holidays and/or family vacations.  And I miss posting the more normal days.  Snapping a quick picture here and there of the boys playing.  Documenting something cute they have said.  I just haven't really done any of that because it has become such a hassle to make the time to blog.  But with another precious baby on the way, C.J. and I have been toying with the idea of getting the internet back for the last few months.  Mostly, I don't want to slack in recording this sweet little guy's life.  I don't want to look back when my kids are grown to realize I have a bunch of pictures and memories recorded from the first two and not the youngest.  And I also realize that with an infant coming, I am WAY less likely to get over to the office to put up a post.  Considering how infrequently I post as it is, I was afraid I would end up just letting the blog go altogether.  So here we are, re-connected.  Yes, I am excited to be able to blog again and am glad to be able to keep up on the blogs of my friends and family a little more regularly.  But I'm also a bit scared.  I have so appreciated what God has done in our family life these past few years, and I'm afraid of letting the internet use get out of hand again.  I don't know about you, but I can waste far too many hours looking at completely useless stuff on the internet.  I guess my hope and prayer is that we will be able to use the internet in a healthy way.  That we can use it for the good and beneficial purposes it serves, and not be too distracted by our computers all the time.  We'll see.  For now, though, I am thankful for the opportunity to sit by my cozy fire in my own home and spend a few minutes actually expressing a bit of myself on here.  I mean, I love posting pictures and all but every once in a while I do have a thing or two to say.

Giving Thanks...

I don't know about you, but here at the bluff we had a truly wonderful, joyful, and relaxing Thanksgiving!  A few years ago, C.J.'s parents started spending the night on Thanksgiving eve and we have come to thoroughly cherish the tradition.  We spent the day with them and were blessed by a visit from the Dahls for a bit as well.  We are so incredibly thankful for our family, and missed all of you that we didn't get to see this holiday.  And in light of it being a weekend full of thanks, I thought it would be fun to list a few of the things I am especially thankful for:

-My Savior and how drastically he has changed my life and the life of my husband
-Two boys who I love more than I ever could have imagined
-Another healthy baby boy on the way who I already adore and can't wait to meet
-A cozy home
-Warm fires
-Good smelling candles
-Calm mornings by the fire
-A hot cup of coffee with peppermint mocha creamer
-Football
-Being healthy enough to get up every day to do all that I want and need to do
-Not being on bed rest!
-And currently: Christmas decorations!!!