Night Time Ritual

Every night before bed, Paityn requests playing her DS for 10 minutes.

So this is what she looks like when I come in to tell her time's up!

She's such a smartie pants, she's already mastered one of the games on Tinkerbell!

It makes me laugh when I see her navigate on it, like it's a piece of cake!

Usually I catch her taking lots of pictures of herself and then decorating them! (I bet she has 100 photos)

L o v e  t h i s  g i r l !

Looking Back on 2009

{Picture taken by my friend Meghan Sonnenberg}

I've been thinking a lot about 2009 and what lessons I've learned this year! Things to grow from, things to never ever forget, and things I hope to never learn again!

What an interesting year it has been.

For me to remember, I thought I'd share a few:

{1} : To always be grateful for your health

We've had some very close friends of ours struggle with different health conditions. Things that just came on suddenly, without any fair warning. It seems so strange to me to see such young, healthy bodies suddenly have such strange things happen to them. I hope that every day my family and I are healthy, I am thankful.

{2} : I'm constantly trying to find a balance in parenting

It's the daily battle for me. Am I being too strict or not strict enough?? I can never answer that question. Therefore, it is what it is. Maybe by the time I have grandkids, I'll finally understand.

{3} : Don't let a 'National Pandemic' scare you

The Swine Flu. Those words scared me to death when they talked about it on the news. Never did I think that my entire family would get it and actually live through it. But we did, barely sane from staying inside for an entire week. Thank goodness. This is a lesson I hope not to learn again.

{4} : It's fun to act like a teenager every once in awhile

Translation: every once in awhile meaning once a year when a so called movie 'New Moon' comes out at midnight. Other than that, bedtime around 10:30 sounds good to me and my body.

{5} : The lesson I hope to always remember

Like I mentioned above, this year has been an interesting one for many I'm sure. The economy being the way it is and my husband being in construction is not the best combination. I've definitely learned that we have a lot more endurance than we think we do. I've learned that saving for a rainy day is very important. I've learned that Heavenly Father always watches over us and takes care of us if we do our best. And I've learned that nothing you could buy in this world is more important than the ones you love!

Here's to many more things to learn in 2010!

What did you learn in 2009?

{Dear Santa}

Kylee (Paityn's friend we watch a couple times a week). Presley. Paityn.

Presley finally warmed up to the 3rd Santa we ended up visiting! He must have looked the friendliest...in fact he was my favorite Santa too! They told him what they wanted for Christmas. Presley mumbled something that had the word "baby" in it and Paityn made it short and sweet: "a Ninetendo DSi". 

Amazing the price range from a baby doll to a Ninetendo DSi. All in 3 years!!

I guess we better start saving up for when Presley understands technology too!