Better Together: Christmas 2015

We were super excited for Christmas this year. Pat got a whole week off of work yay! So we got to go down to Tooele/Stansbury and spend time with both of our families. Two days before we left I got a cold and so did Brylianna, it was so heartbreaking listening to her wheezy breathing and cough, poor baby, needless to say we did not get much sleep, but luckily she got over it pretty fast!
Parker and Michelle and little Zeke got to come visit from Texas on Christmas Eve and it was so fun to see them and let them meet Brylianna! We did miss Pat's sis Jen and her family though, but from the sounds of it, it was good they didn't come this year. Love you though!
Christmas Eve we spent with my parents, grandma, Paige, Nathan and Katie and did the usual (minus some good family friends) white elephant and read the Christmas story in Luke and sang some Christmas hymns. Christmas day we juggled our time between both families, which is always a little crazy but super fun and awesome and worth all the craziness! :) We are so lucky to live close and be able to visit. It is just fun to be around family during the holidays. We got tons of stuff and were super spoiled, little miss Brylianna was probably the most spoiled though :) She was such a good baby and was finally showing off her new tricks like rolling from her back to her tummy and sucking on her hands and of course giving the best heart warming smiles :) Christmas night Pat and I got horribly sick with something all of the sudden and were both puking all night. It was a rough rough night, it hit bad at about 1 am and lasted the whole night pretty much. We puked like every hour and it was funny cuz Pat would puke and then a couple minutes later I knew it would be my turn. At least we were taking turns ha ha. Brylianna was soooooo good though and it was such a blessing cuz she slept through everything and that was the only night while we were visiting that she slept from 11pm- about 8am. I was getting super dehydrated and drained though from puking and stuff so much that when I got up in the morning when Brylianna woke up, I went into the bathroom and then I passed out and hit my head on the tile. I knew it was coming, but I was to slow to do anything about it ( or too fast I guess ha ha ) Once I recovered from that I tried to down as much fluid as possible cuz I still needed Brylianna to be able to nurse. Talk about exhausting, but it worked out alright somehow and my mom and dad were able to watch her that whole day while Pat and I recovered, thank goodness again for little blessings that we were close to family and that someone was able to watch her or I don't know what we would have done! Also while I was puking that night, it was such a long night, I got to a point where I was really really exhausted and a saying that my Bishop's wife says all the time popped into my head, she points out that in the scriptures it says " And it came to pass." and it is good to know that most trials won't last forever and that hard things DO in fact come to pass. It gave me strength when I needed it so thank you for that :) Although I will say that is one method of losing all the weight I gained being pregnant. I do not suggest it though ha ha, but it brought me down to one pound below pre-pregnancy weight!
All in all it was an amazing Christmas though, but I am hoping for a more low key Christmas next year, last year our van broke down out of state two days before Christmas ha ha, so we will have to see what next year brings!
Pat got to go sledding with his family and we also got to go to the Planetarium in Salt Lake for a little bit and then Pat and his family went and walked around the lights at temple square, which I LOVE, but Brylianna needed me and it was super cold that night so I didn't go.
We had a wonderful Christmas with family though and it made me just so so grateful for the things that matter most in this life, which are family! I love the gospel and the light it brings into my life and I am grateful for Christmas time to turn our thoughts to the Savior and reflect on everything that he has and does for us!