A Momma's Take: 2010 and beyond

So I started this blog a couple of days ago, just home from a trip and still on the Christmas high. I was having trouble remembering one single thing that went wrong in 2010 and was all set to write a blog for how perfect my life is. And then reality struck. 10 AM, New Year's Day, on a below freezing morning, our heater which has been acting up for weeks, decided to stop working. They came out, told us it needed a new part, and would be back to new soon. BUT - the parts store would not be open until Monday morning. The coldest weekend Arizona has seen in decades and we had no heater. Good news is that they came as promised this morning and got the heater working again. It was just a reminder to me that things happen, lots of little things, that make life inconvenient for awhile. But in the end, when I look back to remember my year, it is the good things that come to mind. So now I will return to the original blog I intended to write. 2010 was a great year for us. We had a great year in our comfortable little house. We watched Lilah grow and change into an amazing little person and I am so excited for the next year of her life and more learning and discovering. And, after two weeks with family, came the realization that Shannon and I are lucky to have two loving families, each with their own idiosyncrasies, that support and love us. I am hopeful that this year will continue on as last year did. That I will be able to weather the little inconveniences so that they fade quickly. And I will try and be better about taking care of things that need to be fixed - like heaters that are making too much noise!

And now for a look at our holiday season.

Lights going on our cute little tree

15 days later - finally decorated and presents were wrapped

We left the Valley of the Sun for rainy California the weekend before Christmas. The car was PACKED with 2 adults, 1 child, 2 dogs, and a bunch of Christmas presents. First stop was Visalia. We stayed with Danielle and Kane in their very nice new house. Lilah stayed with us half the week and with her Grandma Ya Ya the other half of the week. It worked out very nicely for all of us. Shannon and I even got out on a date night to a movie and beers afterwards. Yeah for Grandma!

I did some running in the rain

Lilah the Explorer

She was helping wrap presents

Bath time with the girls

Heading down for dinner at Grandma Jeri's

Christmas Eve we opened all the presents and celebrated with Shannon's whole family.

The girls were not spoiled at all!

"Uhm..what am I supposed to do with all this stuff?"

Lilah, Rylee, and Peyton

Enjoying the Christmas Eve weather

Our Family

Then Christmas morning came with a visit from Santa and a car trip up to Modesto to visit my family. My whole family was in the same house Christmas night and it was busy, loud and wonderful. Next year I am hoping we can all do it again and I can be there a little longer with everybody.

Opening presents

Grandpa's Great-Grandkids - what a gorgeous bunch!

"Why am I wearing this?"

Then the chaos died down, Shannon left to drive home with the dogs and head back to work, and Lilah and I spent four days in Modesto with just my parents and Grandpa. It was a great trip overall, but I was worn out by the time we got home. I am still debating which made me more tired - the 10 hour car trip or the 6 hour car to air to car trip. We returned on New Year's Eve. After Lilah went to bed I made it until 10 PM and then decided on a shower and bed instead of a ball drop. We left the TV on in the bedroom and both murmured Happy New Year to each other when we heard the celebration. And then turned off the TV.