• I read this in a book the other night: (it was Fablehaven if you have to know)

"When the flurry of motion became too much, she looked up ahead and fixed her gaze on a particular tree, following it as it slowly approached, streaked past, and then gradually receded behind her. Was life like that? You could look ahead to the future or back at the past, but the present moved too quickly to absorb."

IT'S SO TRUE! I've never been able to put that idea into words, but the concept has been rolling around in my head for awhile. I think Christmas Day is a perfect example of something going by too quickly to absorb.

• The kids have come up with a saying at dinner time that makes Nate and I laugh almost every time we hear it. They like to see who finishes dinner first (which causes mayhem and fights, fights, fights) and whoever loses has "splatted down." They'll yell, "You splatted down!" or "I don't want to splat down!" Or something like that. Today I asked Jansen where he got that phrase and he said, "I remembered it in heaven. I said it in heaven."
  
  Just some pictures...

This gal is way too good at using an Itouch already:

He caught Natalie's cold and is curled up in bed right now:

Nate home from a birding excursion to Lake Erie and me happy to have him back home:

Had the pleasure of finding this little guy in my container of strawberries. Something is not right here:

• I made/ordered a book of all my blog entries from the year 2007. I'm so excited to have all those memories and pictures in print. I may do more "journaling" on my blog since I plan on printing one for each year and I want to record more thoughts and feelings.
• Since Natalie has been sick and it's so cold (these things amount to lots of inside time) and Nate is home, we have started potty training Natalie. Day 3 starts tomorrow. She is doing well in my opinion, but as Nate pointed out today, it's really just a lot of watching Clifford in the nude. (I have the DVD player in the bathroom since we're spending lots of time there.)
• In my last post I forgot to include some funny things the kids said on Christmas morning. Almost every time Natalie would open a present she would say in a high pitched voice, "Can I keep it?" When Nate and Jansen were opening Jansen's electric model train and were having some trouble with the packaging, Jansen said, "Come on you stubborn old train." Too funny.
• It seems like Jansen has been thinking about death and heaven lately. The other day he said out of the blue, "Maybe Gregory will come back to earth someday." (Gregory is my dad who passed away in 1995, and Gregory is Jansen's middle name.) He also said to Natalie after she had assaulted him in some way, "Natalie don't stand on my head! That'll make me die and go to heaven!" And in a prayer recently he prayed, "Please bless someday we'll die and come see you (meaning Heavenly Father)...and then we'll come alive again."
  

Christmas: the Short and Sweet Version

Natalie has a cold and will not stop coughing. She can't nap and sleeps terribly at night because of it. I get so anxious and uptight when the kids are sick, so this post is a little boring and short on words...I can't seem to concentrate much.

A few days before Christmas we had the kids do a little gift exchange with their friends. We decorated graham cracker houses, played pin the nose on Rudolph, exchanged presents, and had lunch.

I love all the little candy canes haphazardly pasted to the houses.

Right on the money:

And here we are Christmas Eve...with friends again, enjoying delicious food and awesome company.

CHRISTMAS MORNING!

Jansen woke up first and was actually extremely patient as we waited a little bit to wake up Natalie.

A special present from Daddy:

Light

Just taking some moments tonight to think about His birth...after being ornery at the kids, my husband, fighting off a headache, looking at a messy house that smells like bacon grease, thinking about how I haven't even started wrapping...

The other night the Christmas tree was lit:

But it was time to go to sleep, so I unplugged the lights:

I stood at the bottom of the stairs for a minute thinking about the contrast between a beautifully lit tree and the darkness. Light is beautiful. It is happy, warm, comforting, expansive, bright, and hopeful. Darkness is difficult, suffocating, sad, fearful, and cold.

So many years ago, the prophets proclaimed that a new star would appear when Jesus was born. Similarly, the Book of Mormon tells us that a prophet had declared the signs that would let the people on the American continent know the Savior was born.

From the Book of Mormon, Helaman 14:3-6

3 And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day.

4 Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.

5 And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.

6 And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven.

Those must have been absolutely amazing moments in time...moments of great light. No darkness! My writing and words do not even approach how much love I have for my Savior and for the incredible light he brings to my life. Darkness and difficulty are a part of life, but because He is the Light of the World, peace and joy are always possible. I can truly say that I have experienced that. Merry Christmas...what a blessing Jesus Christ's birth is.

Snow-ant

It's a bit of a stretch, but as soon as I saw this picture of Natalie with her hat and funky hair poking out...

I thought of this....can you see a little resemblance? Use your imagination a little. Your pure imagination. If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it...

We had a little bit of snow, so Nate took the kids out to play in it.
A happy picture before the cold set in:

They built a snow-ant. Apparently it was Natalie's idea.

How proud we are to have this creation standing tall and proud in our backyard.

She Called to Me

"Jesssssica. JESSSSSICA."

"Please pick meeeeeeee. MEEEEEEE."

This is what I am hearing as I stroll the aisles at Michaels looking for my ornament for an ornament exchange. I look around to see who is talking to me...and then I see HER.

It was too perfect. I cannot escape my need for all things humorous, so I bypassed all the adorable ornaments and took this gal to the register. I was more than a little embarrassed as I set her on the counter, but luckily the employee had a few funky things going on herself and I knew she understood.

I boxed and wrapped her up and took her to the party where she shined.

This is my great friend who is also named Jessica who was also at the party.

Do you see? Even little guy Dustin wants to take the creepy doll head home.

A house needs a grandma in it.

"A house needs a grandma in it." ~Louisa May Alcott

I'll tell you what, this house sure loves having a grandma in it. Nate's mom flew all through the night from Seattle to arrive here in the morning and be able to spend the day (plus 2 more) with us. Our adventures mostly involved tasty food and trains.

At the main library in Columbus; that's an amazing train exhibit behind us with replicas of German homes, churches, and buildings.

We stopped at North Market after seeing the train exhibit and had some Italian and Vietnamese food.

(It's a noodle) Natalie is always adding variety and spice to life:

Outside El Arepazo which is a Venezuelan restaurant. (Nate served his mission there. Not at the restaurant. In Venezuela.)

Chowing down on fried plantains, arepas, and other goodies.

The gingerbread train! Credit goes to Annie Palmer for suggesting we make a train this year rather than a house, considering our son's SMALL obsession with trains. Wouldn't you love to have this creation chug into your hometown?

And thank you to Grandma for doing most of the hard work. We spent most of a wonderful afternoon working on the train.

Just a few more days till Christmas! (As if ANY of you were unaware.) We're so glad you could come, Grandma Kim, and make some happy, holiday memories with us!

The Email Came

It said:

Second Lieutenant NATHANIEL S NYE , the JSGME Board’s decision is: You are selected for FAMILY MEDICINE. Repeat – you are selected for FAMILY MEDICINE. The training location is NELLIS with training to begin on or about 01 July 2010 and ending on 30 June 2013.

What does that mean?

It means we:

Are moving here in May:

Vegas it is!!!

Rubber Face in a Food Court

My mom says she (meaning Natalie) has a rubber face. I think she is right. Check out this collection from a couple nights ago:

Oh, and one of him because I love him too.

You'd think if you went to the mall to get your picture taken with Santa you would, well, get your picture taken with Santa. My kids would have none of it. Was I surprised? Not in the least. But we saw him and that's always a little magical. I took all these pictures in a food court at the mall. I have many fond memories of mall food courts: my love for Chik-Fil-A's Polynesian sauce blossomed in one, I saw Afraid-of-Hawk in one (don't google that in hopes of seeing him, it's just a name I made up for a strange man I met once), and a food court is also where I made a wrong choice and chose walnuts as a topping on a favorite ice cream.

And a funny thing about the food court in our mall out here, there's a Vanity right smack in the middle of all the food options. It's so weird. I have wondered how they got stuck with that piece of land.

It Turned Out Nice

We got a call that the headstone was finished, so we went and took a look yesterday. It was awfully cold, muddy, and wet, but cleaned the headstone off the best we could and it looks so nice. Nate's schedule has been great these past few weeks and we've been able to spend many mornings as a family and it's absolutely wonderful. Especially at Christmastime. I can't believe it is December. I pulled a diaper coupon out of my pocket and saw that the expiration was 11/30/2009. I thought to myself, oh I have plenty of time. Then I realized it's already the 8th!!! In one week we will find out where Nate has matched for his Family Medicine residency. Very, very exciting! But you might have to pry me away from Columbus...or at least kicking and screaming.

It's Hard

To find the right Christmas tree.

But this little evergreen is just not going to cut it. Although my heart melted as I watched Natalie jam those plastic ornaments into the tree until they stayed put, I knew we had to go BIGGER. (Not so big that we have to cut off part of the tree so it will fit in our house...happened last year.)

Like I said, it's no easy task. I mean, you have to examine the branches...

If you're the spiritual type, you wait for inspiration from above...
You have to get to know the tree. Talk to it. Hold its needles. Pet it.

Sometimes those you love dearly will suggest trees that are obviously not up to par...it's exasperating dealing with these people.

Converse with other forms of vegetation to see if they have any recommendations...

There will be moments when you will be torn...torn between your love for Douglas Firs and your fixation with Fraser Firs.

But when you see THE ONE, you will know. My child, you will know.

That's not to say that you won't have doubts after you have committed yourself to one.

But once you get it home, you will wonder why you even hesitated.

And sometimes THE ONE ends up having a crooked trunk. And that's not good. It makes daddy want to say his first swear. But it will still be beautiful.