Happy New Year!!

We have had so much snow this year so we decided to brave the cold and enjoy it! On New Year's Eve we went snowshoeing . It was my first time, and well can I tell you that walking around the mall 3 times a week does not give my lungs the workout they probably need and that I needed on this outing. I was dying! I thought snowshoes also made it so you walk on top of the snow. Not! You still sink. I'm sure it's a lot harder without them, but it's not like you see on the movies (i.e. White Fang). We had a ton of fun and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Robbie, Meri, Aimee, Josh, Jennie, Dad

Vance, Jennie, Aimee, Josh, Meri, Robbie

We had a lot of fun jumping off the trail into very deep snow. It was hard to jump very high, but you sure would sink pretty deep. Robbie had fun jumping off the trail and he, Vance, and Josh jumped off some pretty steep parts and had to be pulled out.

We stayed up until midnight playing the Wii. We all took turns playing tennis. Josh and I made a good team, and Jared was our honorary teammate. He thought he was playing and he would say things like "I miss it" or "nice". It was pretty cute. One time though he got too close to me and I accidentally swung the control and hit him in the head. He was a little shocked by it, but he recovered quickly.

On New Year's Day we took Jared sledding. He loves it! Robbie and Josh took him on Christmas Eve too, so he was ready and actually insisted on going down all by himself.

Jared after a successful run down the hill.

Christmas

Well, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We certainly did. We spent Christmas with Robbie's family this year since we went home (well, to my home) to St. Louis in September for my ten year reunion and couldn't afford to go out there again. We spent most of the holiday break at Robbie's parents' house. We went to the traditional family party on Saturday with all of Robbie's extended family where the kids exchange gifts and the adults do a white elephant gift exchange. I got a toilet set, toilet paper, and a johnny light. It was so appropriate since we were in the middle of potty training Jared. Surprisingly though no one tried to steal it from me. Weird. Church at Robbie's parents' ward was wonderful. They have an amazing choir, which Mom, Aimee, and Josh sing in, which brings in the Spirit so strong. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ who can bring us peace and happiness in a world filled with war and sadness. All we have to do is "Let Him In" like one of my favorite songs from "Forgotten Carols" extols. I hope we will all do more this year to let Him lead us and guide us so that we can truly enjoy the peace and happiness that only He can give.

Enjoy some of the highlights from our Christmas Day!

The cutest boys ever! Alex (9 months) and Jared (almost 3 years).
They love each other so much!

The whole family after church.

Alex liked the wrapping paper as much or maybe even more than the toys.

Grandpa Haertel gave Jared a VTech laptop computer so that he can be like everyone else in the family and always be working on their computer. Alex was very excited about it to and didn't have any qualms about climbing over Jared to get to it.

Alex throwing the wrapping paper.

Jared got his train for Christmas. He had been talking about it for a couple of months and told Santa 5 times when we went to visit him that that was what he wanted. We told him if he was potty trained (because that's what I wanted for Christmas) that he would get his train. He was wearing underwear for 3 days and no accidents before we went up to Grandma and Grandpa's a few days before Christmas. All the people, excitement, and being a big house caused a setback for him, but after the holidays and going back to our normal routine he proved himself to be a big boy!

Alex was so excited about the train too, since it is really for both of them. He loves grabbing the different pieces and putting them in his mouth. He especially loves taking the track apart once Papi and Jared have put it together.