Christmas letter...

The past two years we haven't been able to send out Christmas cards.  I really love to send and receive Christmas cards so the thought of not being able to send them once again made me sad.  I had won a little bit of money in a weight loss challenge group a couple months back and finally got my money.  Steve told me I could do whatever I wanted with it since I had earned it and I decided to do Christmas cards since I knew it would make me happy.  So this is a pic of our card this year:

I didn't do a letter to go with it but I thought it might be nice to do a Christmas letter on here as a way to look back on the year.

What a year 2015 has been.  Definitely didn't go the way we had planned and maybe not one of our favorite years but one still filled with blessings and memories.  We spent the year with Steve unemployed and feeling quite stuck with that.  We thought we might be moving several times but we are still in Idaho Falls and find ourselves loving it here.

Steve has been hard at work looking for a new job.  It is a frustrating and tiring task but we try to remain hopeful throughout this trial.  He continues to be the Elders Quorum president which he loves.  We enjoy the silver lining of his unemployment, him being home a lot and the kids just love all of this time with him.  Probably the highlight of his year was the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which he has already seen three times and we know there will be many more!

I continue to love my job as a stay at home mom.  Three kiddos can be a handful sometimes but I love that I get to have this precious time with them.  I ran another 10k in April and worked in the fall to finally lose the last bit of baby weight.  I enjoy the occasional sewing project and creating photo books on Shutterfly and catching up on shows like Friends and LOST, haha.

Preston has had a great year finishing out kindergarten and starting 1st grade.  He is a great student and one of the top readers in his class.  He has enjoyed some indoor soccer and swim lessons in the summer.  He continues to be my full of energy boy that loves to be outside and do things with his daddy, especially camping.  He is obsessed with Star Wars and can be heard singing the Star Wars theme song. All. Day. Long.  He is a great big brother and we love him so!

Abby is our sweet and silly girl.  She finished at one little preschool and started at another where she goes for a bit longer.  She absolutely loves school and is learning so much.  She loves to sing and dance and loves anything crafty.  She loves purses and dolls and all things pink and purple.  She also did swim lessons in the summer after finishing up dance lessons.  She loves to play with Preston and is a great big sister for Kaley.  She brings so much life to our family!

Kaley is our little spitfire that has done quite a bit of growing and learning this year.  She continues to be our littlest and likes to take her time with things like walking (about 15 months) and we're still waiting on the talking.  She can be quite the cranky pants especially when it comes to teething.  She loves her blanket and always wants to be where her big brother and sister are.  She has the sweetest smile and loves to give little hugs.

We've made some great memories this year with some visits from family, camping trips, a visit to the Teton mountains, exploring Idaho, enjoying the sunshine of summer and the snow of winter and of course our trip to San Diego with Steve's family in September which included Sea World, Lego Land, and the beach.

We are trying to be faithful throughout our trials (even though that is difficult at times).  The year 2016 brings with it a lot of question marks and a lot of adventure I am sure.  We are grateful that this time of year, and always, we can be reminded of our Savior Jesus Christ and rely on Him fully.