Arizona

 Peter had the opportunity to go on a quick trip to Arizona for work, and I never want to miss an opportunity to spend some alone time with my man so I jumped at the chance to leave the kids behind with grandparents and head away for some fun in the sun!

This was my first time to Arizona and I now understand why so many people love wintering there. Man that sunshine was nice and the red rock all around was just gorgeous! Like I said, it was a quick trip so we didn't get to see or do as much as we would have liked, but we definitely made the most of the time we did have together!

I had researched some ideas of things we might be able to do in the short amount of free time we had with Peter's schedule, and our first night in town we made a point to go check out The Desert Botanical Gardens at night and that proved to be a really good decision. It was a really sweet time together as we wandered the desert after dark and it was so pretty and really amazing what they have done there! 

The next day I had the opportunity to sleep in - whoohoo! I met up with Peter for his lunch break and then enjoyed the calm and quiet and the sunshine with a little bit of reading. Yes, I actually had time to open a book and read it. I read quite a bit of it there and go figure, it's still on the nightstand just waiting to be picked up and finished. Guess I may need to go on another trip to get it read!

And man oh man do they do mexican food right down there! I couldn't believe all the food they brought us but I wasn't complaining! 

All that to say the trip was awesome and felt like the gift I didn't know that I needed! I came home so relaxed and the time for us to connect without interruption before the holidays hit us was so good! I am grateful for the opportunity to travel with him and grateful to get to explore a place that I have never been before. We will definitely be back there and will make sure to have enough time to see and do more! 

Other Happenings in December

Look at me getting all caught up! Okay so December is busy as usual but I want to remember some of the big and little things we've been up to.

LB loves to help cook! Keeping with the December theme, she made this pizza wreath for dinner one night!

Sometimes she's just so dang cute getting ready for preschool that I have to snap a pic, and she certainly loves it!

We've been hitting the swim lessons hard and I'm super proud of each of the kids and the progress they are making, and I have to say I love the calmness of the kids getting to take lessons during the day, sometimes they're the only ones in the water! 

Groot graduated basic obedience classes and now that we are back in the foster pup game, I realize just how much progress he has made! He is a great dog!

No really, he is AMAZING with the kids and we adore him for it! 

I want to say we were testing out a new peppermint sugar cookie recipe here, I'd say she liked it!

We had parent observation week at Malachi's hip hop class. It is great to see how much he loves class!

Little miss learned a tough lesson with wrestling with siblings - ouch! 

We have enjoyed our Jesse Tree tradition even more with the kids now that they are getting a little bit older and can participate more. 

Daddy helped the kids with their gingerbread house. I think its pretty much stripped of all of its candy by now. 

The holidays are so busy and we can find ourselves completely neglecting our relationship. Peter and I made an intentional decision this year to focus on each other more and it has made this season extra special! 

This is the face of a dog that wants all my attention all the time. This is way of trying to distract me when I try to do a little workout at home. between him and the kids it's certainly a challenge to get any "me time". I never imagined really falling in love with another dog but I sure do love this guy a lot. He's been perfect for our family and can make me laugh even when the spirits get down.

Always special when Grandma stops by with treats!

This year we changed up our Christmas lights a little bit and headed out to a city that is known for a big neighborhood light display. The kids were impressed! 

This past week Malachi had his first ever piano recital and he did awesome! It's been fun to watch him really progress over these last couple months and I can't wait to see where he is with another year under his belt.

Yep, we are definitely making the most of the season and I'm loving all it has to offer! The kids sure are keeping us busy and as much as I like a more relaxed schedule, I couldn't imagine it any other way during this phase of life! 

A Perfect Day

We've really been trying to focus on family time and enjoying each moment we have with each other. The day after Thanksgiving is always an exciting day in our home, and it's not because it's the big shopping day. It is because it represents the very first day of Christmas in our house! And with Thanksgiving being so early this year, that meant that we had an extra week to enjoy Christmastime this year. I don't know what it is about this season but we definitely get into the spirit and enjoy our time leading up to and through Christmas.

First things first, we enjoyed a Christmas breakfast and the arrival of Henry our elf!

And then the kids favorite part of decorating the house. Always nice to have lots of helpers! 

I promised the kids I would make them an apple pie and since we still had a few pieces of ham leftover on the bone, we decided to recreate our own Thanksgiving dinner with all our favorite parts - mashed potatoes, green beans in cheese sauce, and homemade bread rolls. As much as I love our big family holidays there are times that I get a bit selfish and just want to enjoy these moments with our own kids so this was the perfect happy medium in that we were able to have our own time. This may become a tradition in the future! 

And this isn't the best picture but the cutest end to our evening was the kids overjoyed to dance to Christmas music under the glow of the Christmas lights. It was just one of those moments where you look around and realize just how blessed you have been! 

Our Christmas fun has continued, we're trying to behave ourselves a little bit better this year and so I've cut way back on the Christmas baking but that doesn't mean we haven't indulged the kids a bit!

The holiday season was and still is off to a great start. I count my many blessings this time of the year in this husband and family and life we have together!