HAPPY New Year

Today I'm grateful for Mackayla's easy smile

Macey's giving heart

Cody's contagious enthusiasm

Yesterday

was the perfect day for the start of a new year.

It was sunny! (rare this time of year)

Also cold.

Ben had most of the day off and we biked/stroller to the park on the bike path.

It was filled with other people enjoying the sun too.

I just love this green field along the bike path.
So unexpected for winter.

I probably tipped the girls over into some brambles while taking the picture.

{#parkingbrake}

 One of Mackayla's favorite things is to feed the ducks. Doesn't Ben look cold? He is.

Look at the intensity of this coloring.

 We take a picture together each new years eve. Happy New Year's.

 We took a visit to the aquarium during school break and may have to again. 

Love the Tiger sharks

 This is my favorite part of the drive to the ocean. In the summer all the deciduous trees (that shed their leaves) are in full bloom and make a canopy to drive through. So pretty!

 Someone lost a front tooth!

I'm looking forward to this year. It's going to bring a lot of changes. I can't wait to find out what they are.

Christmas In Focus

Christmas Eve pizza party at the Morrison's!

 Santa Came To Visit!

 Beautiful Amy and her kids singing Christmas carols

 Santa gave the kids bears. Incidentally Cody had randomly asked Santa for a bear once this year. Perfect.

 I got a camera for Christmas (delta failed me)! I had really been thinking about it anyway, but this sealed the deal. My pictures seem to be less blurry since this one can capture more with less lighting (aka a flash:)) (and we need a ladder to change some lightbulbs and don't have one...) Mackayla wants it all the time.

 Ben said they always got sugar cereal on Christmas and this year we did that. It was a hit.

 Macey asked santa for a bike. This is her "biiiiig bike"

 Cody actually got a remote control dinosaur. Santa really can make anything.

 Mackayla got a couple stuffed animal dogs, necklaces, and a ball and other toys. 

 Window paint was also a good idea.

 We had a relaxing Christmas day and then headed over to the Conley's for a yummy dinner. They got a ham from Fred Meyer. Who knew? It is easily the best ham I've ever had.

We talked about gifts we could give to Jesus with our kids on Christmas eve, although not nearly enough after a long day and a really fun party. Next year, right? A gift of mine was to finish the Book of Mormon Christmas eve day. It just worked out perfectly that way. It was a good way to keep the meaning of Christmas in focus and 'keep Christ in Christmas'.

Card

Change: \ˈchānj\ v: to make different or become

Our Family has had many changes over the last few years. Ben graduated from WSU vet school two years ago, last year did an internship in Oklahoma, and this year, a fellowship in Oregon at Oregon State University. Each new chapter of our lives is exciting and brings new opportunities.  We love Oregon and all it has to offer, and are excited to see where next year takes us. Ben is working incredible hours, 355 days this year (those other ten will be spent in Utah with family!), but still manages to sneak in some time riding bikes with his kids and wrestling.

Cody (5) started kindergarten this year and loves it. Always ready for a good laugh, he loves others and is so much fun. He has so many passionate interests he is always pursuing and learning about I couldn’t even begin to list them (although anything that comes to mind when you think of 5-year-old little boys is definitely on the list). Currently, paper planes flood our garbage can and dinosaurs crowd the floors.

Macey (almost 4) started preschool. She has a sharp mind and a sensitive soul. She gets jealous that Cody has homework and typically requests some while he does his. She loves chocolate and blueberries almost as much as she loves playing with Cody and his friends or having one of her grandmas visit.

Mackayla (16 months) finally decided to walk this last month. As possibly all toddlers do, she has two sides to her personality: a sweet side and a spunky side. A passing dog is always a favorite distraction from an impending outburst, since she loves them dearly and they abound in Oregon. She also loves chocolate and blueberries (luckily, blueberries abound in Oregon too!).

I decided that running with children is again possible and ran a half marathon in September. Between caring for my own kids, volunteering in classrooms, babysitting a couple times per week, and watching my nursery babies on Sunday, I get my fill of children. It’s exhausting and it’s rewarding.

This Christmas, the change we are most grateful for are the events that changed the world, beginning in a stable. But what altered the world, can make our own lives different. Christ can motivate us to become better in a personal way. What a blessing. 

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas season!

Love, the Crosland’s

First Labor Story

I wrote my first novel. just kidding. I wrote about my delivery with Cody and it is like 10 pages long. I love reading those stories so naturally I wanted to write down my first one. I never did. Here it is.

Oh Christmas Tree

This year we had thought about getting a real tree.

I found out my sister's tree was an Oregon tree. If they live in Utah and have an Oregon tree, we need an Oregon tree while we live in Oregon.

I was talking to my friend Amy who is from Oregon and she mentioned a good place to get one and asked if my husband was coming. 

No...why?, I wondered.

So, like every decision I make, no thought about technicalities was put into it as me and the kids headed two blocks away to get our REAL TREE. We've never had a real tree for Christmas.

I kind of want to call it the 'tacky tree' because with my decorating skills, all the ornaments the kids get each year and Ben's ornaments he got growing up makes for a less than designer tree; but it is more meaningful!

Getting the tree: we drove up the to mechanic's shop/temporary christmas tree spot and I saw a sign saying leave your $5 at the door. FIVE DOLLARS. Then we rushed to grab a tree. I saw a several trees off to the side that the branches were tied up, as opposed to the others that were just laying out on the ground. I went for the tied up ones. They looked a little taller but since we were shoving it into our mini van I thought the kids would appreciate not eating the tree.

 The first thing I noticed was how heavy it was. Very heavy. It easily outweighed me. So instead of picking it up like I imagined ( :) ) I drug it to the car. The next thing I noticed was how muddy it was. Good thing I changed my cute jacket for my outdoor coat last minute. I was already drenched with mud.
Once I got it to the car Cody helped me lift it up and shove it into our car. Now the minivan was covered in pine needles and mud. It stuck right between Macey and Cody's head.
Somehow we drug it into our garage and went and bought a stand and drug it into the house and put it into the stand. The last thing I noticed was how tall it was. I thought we were getting a five foot maybe tree. This is maybe 8 or 9 feet. I was so tired it turned out dangerously crooked. But it's still standing!

Have I ever mentioned that Ben and I have the same baby ornament? 

I was born in Minnesota and Ben in Logan, Utah, not even close by. Not just a ball saying Babies First Christmas-cute little ornaments. How cute are these?

 If that doesn't say meant to be, what does;)?

Christmas letters to santa! 

Macey drew what she thought santa would like: presents and cookies.

Macey marked the 'very good' for Mackayla. If I had done it I would have written borderline. Just kidding Mackayla, we love you and your spunky sweetness. 

Mackayla loves coloring! She bends right down and intensely scribble-colors.

Picture a Christmas

Tonight

Ben is on call which is really just code for working all night. We had a movie night and watched Lion King. It was a risky choice because I knew it would have Macey upset over the death of the king. She literally sobbed when I read the Giving Tree - and though it's a sweet book, it's a tree. She handled it well after some talking. After the movie Cody announced he now knew where babies came from. Interested to know what he thought he let me know, "they get them from the bottom of the hill" (yes the cliff-hill in the movie). So easy. He started to break into tears because dad wasn't home to wrestle (and as we all know there is wrestling in the Lion King and we have to reenact some part of most good movies). So I volunteered to wrestle for a minute. After, we brushed teeth and went to the bathroom. As Macey was finishing going potty Mackayla yelled at me to give her some toilet paper. I did because she yelled with so much force, even for a one year old. She very carefully rubbed the back of Macey's back with her little piece. So helpful. As I asked whose turn it was to pray Mackayla raised her hand. We all smiled and I 'helped' her pray. Her prayer consisted of a few grunts in between my words and then a wave of her hand at the amen. We gave kisses. Mackayla says mmmmmmm before each one. As I put her in her bed I said Jesus loves Mackayla. She always points to the picture above her crib of Jesus and then to herself. Tonight she pointed at me and Jesus too. Yep, he loves me too. Even when I let my kids watch more tv after they already watched some at not-so-quiet time.

********

Last Week

My camera never magically came. I spent a good deal of my day searching for my old college camera and never found it. I can't even imagine after two moves where it is. So this will have to suffice...picture what we did in your head.
After a fun-filled few days with the Purdy's we headed over to Ben's house. The kids loved playing with the new puppy! We decorated gingerbread men, spent time with Amy and Luke sans children, and made a Della dinner for everyone. We gave Bonnie a cookbook of her mother's made into a book and made the dinner from the recipes in it. I brushed up my skills on the trampoline at Get Air. But actually I never had any skills so a one year old was a good cover. I loved getting the chance to go to the temple and always wish we could go more often. We had yummy scones and an early grandparent christmas morning. We even had all the grandkids over the last day and got a picture of all of them, even though they might not all be smiling!
We all got a little sick and had the chance to raid the Crosland medicine cabinet, unconventional as it is. Ben claims you have to do a witch dance to use essential oils but they work and I love them!! Bonnie sent me some and we use them all the time.
We got to see all of our family except the Brady's, Tyler, and LeYenna. We had a chance to visit Kevin and Ben's grandma and see Eric and his girlfriend Yolanda.
There's always a few withdrawals coming home from seeing family - we can't wait to see them again!