Holiday Rewind - Onward and Forward

The Holidays were wonderful, as usual.  It is always so good to be together as a family, and as this year was our "on" year, that meant that all of us were together for Christmas.  It has been 3 years since we were all together (Jace being in Japan for the last two) so I was really excited.  I know the time will come someday when it may be too difficult for these inclusive Christmases, and that will be OK.  That would probably mean we have a bunch of grandchildren, and I certainly wouldn't complain about that!

!!!!!SIDEBAR NEWSFLASH!!!!!  Anyone reading this blog (all 3.5 readers of mine) probably already know, but we are so excited that Brittney and Stuart will become parents in July!!  After a long, long road, she is at this time 12 weeks pregnant.  She even has one of those cute little ultrasound pictures, and is feeling the typical symptoms of early pregnancy (Sorry sweetheart, but not really!)   We are so grateful for this miracle.

Anyway, I'm back on track here. . . Jace finished his semester on Dec. 17th, so we had him home for quite a while.  It''s always fun having him here, seeing his old friends again, and enjoying lots of great conversation.  Camille and Russ arrived on Dec. 22nd, and Brittney and Stuart on the 23rd.  The guys got in a snowmobiling trip the morning of Christmas Eve, and then that evening we had our "nice" dinner.  We invited the Bird Family--Sheri and her children--Lindsay and France Nielsen (and their beautiful little guy Sam), Brett and Kelsey.  Jace's close friend, Tim O'Brien, also joined us.  It was a delicious dinner, if I do say so myself. 

With Christmas being on a Sunday this year, the day was extra special.  Luckily we had late church, so we could sleep in a bit, get up and see if Santa came, and open our presents.  The musical program at Church was really good, and since Christmas is celebrating the birth of our Savior, it was nice to truly pause and reflect appropriately amidst the strong spirit with our ward family.  Santa sure is good to the McLaws family--Somehow "he" is still finding these "kids" after all these years!  Another miracle for sure.  Great things happen when you believe. 

Jace got a new ski coat, Brent was surprised with a Blu-ray from his kids, Camille got new snow boots, Brittney wanted a warm coat, Stuart was thrilled to receive a Bocce Ball game, and Russ got new snowboard pants.  Everybody looks happy!

After church on Christmas we had fun taking a few pictures by the tree.  Brent was still busy at Church for a bit,
 so we kept ourselves busy being silly. 

 On the 27th we all climbed in one car (pulling a little U-haul for gear and food) and headed up to Fairmont Hot Springs in British Columbia, Canada.  We spent 3 nights/4 days in the area.  We hoped to find more snow 5 hours further north, but they didn't have that much more than we did.  We did ski one day at Panorama Resort.  We also spent a day sightseeing around the Banff area.  Wow, it sure is beautiful there.  Downtown Banff is very much a resort town with a charming main street and lots of cool little shops.  We enjoyed lunch in a pizza place.  We had been up that way about 10 years ago, but that was in the summer.  It is equally breathtaking in the Canadian Rockies in the winter.  We also traveled to Lake Louise, about 30 minutes from Banff.  It is a spectacular lake, and we were genuinely surprised when we pulled up to see that it was frozen and covered with snow!  We really thought we would see beautiful blue water.  They have a gorgeous hotel/resort right there which we walked around.  There was this funky ice "house" right there on the edge of the lake where they have ice skating and hockey rinks.

We arrived home from Canada on Dec. 30th.  Brittney and Stuart left early on New Year's Eve.  Brent was able to take Camille and Russ and Jace out snowmobiling again that day.  We had the Elders over for dinner that evening, and by about 11 pm we were exhausted!  We gave up and went to bed, welcoming in the New Year in our dreams.  On Monday morning the kids packed up and pulled away, their car loaded to the max,  and headed back for Utah.  It is definitely quiet here again.

As this new year begins, I'm grateful for so many blessings and tender mercies in our lives.  We are truly blessed.  2011 was a year of some of the highest highs and lowest lows.  I guess that's life.  I'm sure 2012 will bring us a lot of happy times and many challenges as well.  Thank heavens for the gospel and the foundation it provides.   As far as resolutions go, I'm not making too many--just hoping to generally be a better person and daughter of God.  One milestone for me is that I've been a blogger for a whole year now.  It's actually been rather fun and somewhat therapeutic at times.  I think I can keep this up.  Yea! 

Happy New Year to everyone.

May 2012 be a JOYFUL year for us all!