randomness...

We just got back last night from a 16 day trip to UT to spend the holidays with family. It was absolutely wonderful. And we got in zero car accidents, went to the ER zero times, had zero fevers (mild colds, yes, but no fevers!!), zero vomiting, and infinite amounts of fun with our families.

And I have pictures to prove it...but they're on my camera...which is a whole 10 feet away from me but would take over 10 minutes to plug, sort thru and upload...so, that's gonna have to happen some other day cause it's late!! It's almost midnight and i'm up baking a cake for my sweet Abby whose turning three tomorrow. Seeing as how i just got back and my house is a wreck, it didn't make much sense to try to pull together some last-minute birthday gathering for her....yet somehow that's exactly what i've done. Really, it'll be more of a glorified play date, with cake and ice cream. But it'll mean the world to Abby--who happens to mean the world to me. And it'll force me to clean up this place!!!

But, in spite of the hour, I want to write down what i'm feeling. I love my sweet girls and their sweet dad. This Christmas was awesome. we spent so much time talking about Jesus' birth, life and death. I've been praying for, and gaining a greater understanding of Him and of His many roles in my life. And I feel so much love for Him. And I love sharing what I feel and know with my daughters. And i love seeing it change them (in ways that I still don't allow it to change me). Grace is so full of charity and love for others, and loves to do what is right. Abby is so full of peace-making and happiness and brightens the lives of all around her. Eliza wants to be just like her big sisters--i couldn't ask for better role models for my Eliza. And I get to watch all of this, every day, and enjoy it, and learn from it.
I am, in many ways, more aware today than ever of my weaknesses, my quirks, the things about me that bug you and everyone else that reads this blog. But I am also more aware than ever of the power of change that comes thru the Savior. And I truly can see that I'm being changed. That doesn't mean i'm no longer an overly opinionated control-freak with zero tact. No, my friends, that part still remains. But the things in my heart, the way i see people and life and possessions and myself--those things are changing. Almost daily it seems. And I know it's because i've taken more time to pray for it. to actually ask for it. To literally start and finish a prayer wherein I've straight-up begged for a changed me. And it's working. And i apparently not only want myself to remember this 10 years from now, but for everyone else on the www to be able to know about it, too. i do love blogs.

On a side not, we had a little lesson tonight about "sass" (yes, you read that correctly). When Grace asked what our Family Night lesson was going to be about, and I told her it was going to be about sassing, she said "I don't want to learn how sass more, if I sass any more it's going to be coming out my bum!!" Needless to say, we're going through a sass-and-potty-talk phase.

Anyway, the cake's now out of the oven, it's even later, and i need to go to bed. I'll have a billion pictures to post over the next few days. but I feel caught up just having shared what's been on my mind.