Word of the Year!

I cannot believe it is already time again to choose a word to focus on for the upcoming year! 2010 was a big year for our family, LOTS of twists and turns, amazing blessings and humbling trials. I think 2011 will have just as many changes as we will again be moving, welcoming a new baby to the family and who knows what else?!

As with the last two years I have done this, the word I have chosen came to me quickly and without a doubt! There are so many things I need to work on, but this one immediately struck me as what I want to focus on this year. My word of the year for 2011 is......

SERVICE!!

As I said 2011 was a very humbling year for us, and in the midst of it all our blessings and the service of others was what shone through. I am thrilled to take 2011 to focus on all the different ways I can serve in my life. First and foremost, serving my family. I am excited to serve my family, to help all of us become better and closer to our Savior. I am looking forward to serving in the Church, while we have been staying in Eagle Mountain we have not had the opportunity of serving in callings. I have been so surprised to find out how much I have missed it! I love the associations it brings, I love how much more I depend on the Lord to make up for what I lack. I am excited to serve in the Temple. I am excited to look past my little family and our needs and serve those in our community that have so little. On Christmas Eve this year we went to The Road Home shelter and donated a trunk full of toys and baby clothes. It was a life changing experience for me and hopefully my kids too. Often in our prayers now Skylar will ask Heavenly Father to bless the kids at the homeless shelter. We were so humbled and only wished we had done more. We have made a family commitment to do something each month (ie make blankets, put together hygeine kits etc) so by the time next Christmas Eve rolls around we will have a donation that really means something, that we have all worked for.

If you feel overwhelmed by New Year's Resolutions I encourage you to pick just one word, its a great way to feel your making a change without going overboard :) If you need some ideas, here are my words for the last two years!! Have a Happy New Year everyone!!

EMBRACE
BALANCE

Just in case there aren't enough days to celebrate...

we created a new one in our family this year! I was inspired by a dear friend of mine (I love you Steph!) that has made the first day of October a holiday for her little family. I thought it was such a sweet idea that I copied her and we decided to kick off our favorite month of the year by celebrating December 1st! I had alot of fun ideas of ways to make the day special and I think for the most part it was pretty successful and a great way to kick off our Christmas season.

You know I love a themed breakfast, so may I introduce you too........SANTA CLAUS!!!

As you can see, MOST of the kids really enjoyed this....Kendall being the exception. She was really wanting some cereal that morning. But hey, this is a reality at our house, so there you go! :)

As the day went on we did several activities like writing our letters to Santa and going to the Dollar store and picking out hot chocolate mugs for everyone. Then that evening as we sipped hot chocolate from our brand new mugs we read our new book, "Christopher Pop-in-kins". This is a darling book that is very similar to another book about a little elf that likes to sit on a shelf :) Its darling and comes with the cutest little elf that I have been hiding around the house every morning, making sure the kids are being good before he reports back to Santa :)

All in all, it was a really fun day and something I hope we will continue to do year after year. I am a sucker for traditions so every year it seems I try to add a few more, and only a few actually stick. It was a great way to kick off our month of celebrating, rejoicing, giving and more!