Christmas Letter on New Year's Eve

Dear Friends and Family,

Change is a good thing. And sometimes it is a really good thing. This year our little family has experienced a lot of these really good changes for which we are very grateful. 

1.       In July we bought our first house and moved back to Spanish Fork. It was hard to leave the friends we had made in Springville over the last two years, but lots of fun to reunite with our Spanish Fork friends and make new friends as well. Our neighborhood is wonderful and from the moment we moved in we have felt very welcomed and right at home. It is also wonderful to have enough bedrooms for our growing family. We are thoroughly enjoying our new space – inside and out!

2.       Also in July, Derek’s company moved into a new building – just a block north from the previous building – and with the move Derek got to move into a brand new office all his own. With the move came some sadder changes, such as Derek’s boss leaving. But there is also a bright side to this; Derek’s new boss has been fantastic and they’ve been able to accomplish a lot together for the better of the company.

3.       In August Joshua started Kindergarten! I was a little nervous about how he would handle the change, but he has loved every minute of it.  It also helped that his fabulous kindergarten teacher lives 3 houses down the street from us and we attend the same church. Joshua is doing very well in school and enjoys being chased by the girls during recess.

4.       In November we welcomed the 6^th member to our little (well, young) family. Kaleb Robert was born November 19, 2012 weighing in at 8 lbs 4 oz and measuring 19 inches long.  He is a delight to our family and we all love him to pieces. Derek and I were a little overwhelmed with the idea of having 4 children 5 and under, but now that Kaleb is here we can’t imagine life without him.

In other news, Lukas (almost 2) spent the year learning to walk, run, climb, and talk. His most recent skill is opening his bedroom door during nap time. His favorite things to say are “hold me?” and “more.” Abigail (almost 4) is becoming a beautiful and friendly little girl. She is enjoying being the oldest child in nursery (the class for the toddlers at church) but will experience her first big change in January when she moves into the Sunbeam class and starts attending Primary with the bigger kids.

Derek and I are doing well. We recognize our many blessings and the many miracles that have accompanied all of these big changes in our life this year. It really has been a year of miracles.  One thing that never changes is the love that we feel daily from our Heavenly Father, but that is especially evident as we take a minute to look back on all our many, many blessings. The greatest blessing, of course, is the one we are celebrating this Christmas season, and that is the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Take a moment to count your blessings and see the miracles in your life this wonderful time of year, and to give thanks to Him who is ever watchful and ever mindful of our needs.  Have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Love, Derek, Anna, Joshua, Abigail, Lukas, and Kaleb Mock

I forgot... our last Christmas crafts

I kept forgetting to post these pics because technically I took the photos in November so when I look in my December photo file I never see them.  We made santas and Christmas trees and stars with glitter. We also made reindeer (where you use your hands as the antlers and a big triangle as the face and then cut out a red nose to put on the tip of the triangle reindeer head) But I'm sure I have no photo of those. Lately Lukas has shown interest in making the crafts with us, which is really fun I think. He made his own reindeer and ran around and played with it for a long time and then of course cried when the little nose fell off. He also made his own tree and a few stars but lost interest by the time we got to Santa. He's getting to be a really fun kid, although in some ways he is still very much a baby. He is, after all, only 1 year old! He'll be 2 in about 5 weeks or so, but until then, he's my really big one year old baby. And I also forgot to take a picture, but we did the same thing last year so you can just find last year's post if you really want to see, but we made a "kid's tree" out of green paper and taped it to the wall in the play room and then "hung" all the kid ornaments on that tree with more tape. The idea here is that the kids can touch and play with the kid ornaments all they want and then they leave the real tree alone. Of course, the real ornaments are more tempting and the real tree is actually a tree and not paper, but next year Derek wants to actually cut down a little tree for them so that will be a lot of fun. Ok, here are the pics I have of our last crafts of the year.

The other photos I uploaded to photobucket but forgot to stick in any post as of yet

Kaleb at one month and 6 weeks

I took a bunch of photos when Kaleb turned one month old and meant to post one or two on facebook but that never happened. So here are his one month photos.

And then as of today officially he is 6 weeks old. I'm not sure why that is a milestone, but it seems to me like something special is supposed to happen at 6 weeks? Maybe that's just in my mind because that is when I have my last dr. appointment associated with the pregnancy/baby. That's at least a milestone for me.

And finally, I got a haircut. I had 5 inches taken off. So far NO ONE has noticed. Or at least nobody has said anything. I am waffling between thinking I look really cute and thinking it makes my face look fat. (of course I didn't post any photos of me looking like I have a fat face, but believe me, I look in the mirror sometimes and think to myself that I better stop eating that ice cream in the freezer.)

More Snow

These are photos from two different days. The first day was so cold and the kids only stayed outside for maybe 15 minutes before they came crying back inside. The second day was last Saturday I think and the weather was warm enough that I could take off my gloves (derek's wool socks, actually, because I lost my gloves) and still be warm. It snowed again today but with the sun most of the new snow has melted I think. Still, we are living in a very deep and ever growing winter wonderland.

Christmas

Christmas Eve. The dinner - Rodkal (red cabbage - it's sooo good!), cauliflower soup, and fish. Plus cranberry juice and 7up to drink, and a braided bread wreath for dessert.

The stockings... I had to make another stocking for Kaleb, even though he didn't get anything - well. He got a clementine and a candy cane, both of which he didn't get to eat of course.

Christmas morning. The kids opening their stockings.

Christmas morning breakfast. Little smokies (Derek used to call them little stogies), scrambled eggs, and homemade applesauce. The applesauce, all warm and chunky, is the best part.

Opening presents. Joshua bought (with my money) a replica of the Mayflower for Derek and Derek loves it. Abigail got a Snow White dress, Lukas got some blocks, Joshua got a bucket of art supplies (his reaction was "I just LOVE being HAPPY!!!") I think he liked them. We also got other presents but I just took photos of those. Oh yes, Derek also got a chainsaw.

Then we went to Midway for Christmas afternoon and evening. More great food. More great presents. More great company. We had a little Christmas program before we opened presents. Heidi and her family performed 2 songs on the ukelele, my kids sang "Kommet ihr Hirten, "Still Still Still," and "O Tannenbaum," with me on piano, Janelle read the new book "the Christmas Train" by Thomas Monson (I think that is what the book is called.) We all sang a few hymns and then Rob read the Christmas story out of the Gospel of Luke.

Derek's entire family (his parents, siblings with spouses and children) were there, plus my sister-in-law's sister-in-law joined us as well, which is always nice. Tessa is fun to talk to. It was a big crowd. We had Tessa take our picture but I was too slow and didn't get my camera ready in time so I'll just have to wait and have someone email one of those photos.

It was a very nice Christmas. We had a lot of fun, even if it was loud and crazy. Maybe that's what made it  fun. It will still be Christmas time at our house for awhile because we can't get into our garage to put our tree away due to the huge snow drifts blocking the entrance. I figure as long as the tree is still up, there is no point in putting away all the other Christmas decorations. We might be celebrating Christmas until Valentine's Day this year :)