On our way back home we stopped by great grandma's house to help how we could. We were there for about 3 hours and helped with cleaning and Christmas decorations. Great Grandma has little wreaths she wanted put around the bulbs on her chandeliers with ribbons tied around. S was a great helper handing me the ribbons to put up.
S with Great Grandma. S loves visiting Great Grandma. I have to take advantage of the pictures I can get with them while I can :)
About a year ago my two sisters (Jessica and Heather) and I went on quite a spontaneous road trip when my grandpa was admitted to the hospital. My dad was up there (in Idaho) already and having a hard time. Because my mom had already missed so much work with her dad and his passing she couldn't be there with my dad. Anyway, while we were at the hospital this mom and 3-4 kids walked up to us (me, S, and James, my nephew...my sisters were upstairs visiting grandpa) and told me they were doing random acts of kindness. I said of course, and they handed the kids colored pencils and a coloring book. It was a HUGE blessing. I had nothing with me to keep these two little kids happy so late.
I decided that this was something I should "pay forward". I wanted others to feel of the love and goodness that we had experienced. I literally cried that night, so grateful for the thoughtfulness of others. I took S to the store and let her pick out gifts for other people.
The next day we left to go to local hospitals to hand them out to people who were there waiting for loved ones or there themselves. She was SO excited and did such a great job giving things away to others.
She walked down those halls like she owned the place. S is a fairly timid little girl. She would walk up to complete strangers, hand them a gift, and say "Merry Christmas"! I'm hoping that we made a difference for others like someone else did for us. I'm thinking this might need to become a tradition in our family!
One evening we just needed to have a mom and S movie night. She pretty much requires popcorn with any movie. What a fun little night watching Christmas movies together.
We had Brett's work end of year party one evening. I called at least 7 girls to babysit, but with it being this time of year and all, I couldn't find a soul...so S got to go play with one of her little buddies. They even got to stay up later than her friend's big brothers...which really confused the boys. We're so grateful for good friends that are willing to help us out!
Brett wanted to make Christmas treats together. His idea was sugar cookies. S loved it, especially all the cookie dough as well as the things we were decorating with. One of her favorite things is helping in the kitchen :)
On Saturday I went up to my parents house (yes, that drive twice in one week:)) for our annual Christmas baking day. S requested that we see the temple while we were there. She talks about the Brigham City temple often and "being sealed together forever" there.
When we arrived my mom had been crying. There had been an accident while making peanut brittle and she had severe burns on her right hand. Since I have had severe burns on my leg (2nd and 3rd degree) my mom requested my help. It looked really bad, but we were able to bandage her up well. It's going to take a few weeks to totally heal I'm sure!
I had to try to grab a few pictures of her in her Christmas dress. Unfortunately I forgot until we were at church, but they will do :)
