I love this time of year. I love the festivities…I love the parties…I love the carols…I love being with family…I love the parties…I love the excitement in the air…I love the anticipation…I love the parties…I love my children’s excitement…I love the magic…oh, yes and I love the parties. Did I say that already? I just wish they could be spread out a bit.
It has definitely been a year to remember. At the moment we are just grateful I have a job (that I have been able to survive in), that we have a warm home to live in, and our health is always a wonderful blessing. We were in church last week (we think it is a good idea to go to church from time to time, if you know what I meanJ) and one of the brothers in our ward (a young father of 2) got up and shared his testimony. As part of it, he shared with us that his cancer has come back and doesn’t know how much longer he has to live. It is things like these that help me realize how blessed I really am and how grateful I should be for my trials and blessings. It surely helps keep things in perspective. How grateful I am for my many blessings, especially this time of year.
Now where I should I start…
Angie is the bestest wife I ever done’ had. She makes a darn good maid (her words, NOT mine) but even a better Honey (sweet Caroline) and Mother to our four little ones. She is the glue that keeps us all together…at least that is what she tells me each night. I believe her. All I have to do is watch all the kids for a few hours and there is no denying her righteous, stickiness that we all love. When we are grumpy or sad, she is the first to reach up or down and shower us with her hugs and kisses. We love mom. She rocks!
Breanna is growing up way too fast. She is now in 3rd grade and is 9 years old. She is our soccer queen. She has been playing competitive soccer for 2.5 years now and enjoys it. She juggles the ball on her feet and knees and can do all of these fancy moves. She thinks she is even better than her dad, now. Breanna has also taken a love to Grandma and Grandpa Arnell’s farm as of late. It seems she likes to go out with me more and more and be involved. I have fond memories of Bre riding the horse all by herself this year while chasing cows. Her and Brandon also helped me haul hay this year and were able to sit on the very highest point of the bale wagon. You should have seen Grandma’s face when we arrived home. Bre is our sweet, sensitive, and tough girl and is a great example to her siblings.
Brandon is our helper. He will always hold the door open for his Mom and sisters when we go to church. He will usually ask his mom how he can help out in the kitchen. Today, he came home from church and asked if he could make an apple crisp…Mom has been promising him for days. So out came the ingredients and the excitement and to work we went. It was a darn good crisp. The other night he got the tummy bug and threw up most of the night. The next morning he turned to Angie and said, “Mom, you better let me tickle your arm, because you had to get up so many times with me through the nightJ”. Brandon loves to hang out with his whole family. He loves to play with the newest member of the family…Jack (our dog). He loves every sport, has a big heart, and keeps a smile on each our faces. He loves to ride horses, especially Diamond. This is grandpa’s horse, but Brandon thinks it is his.
Lexi is our little bundle of bouncing joy. She is our little princess. She loves to dress up like a princess…loves to hear stories about princesses…and tries to get her Dad involved in playing with her princesses. Of course, I am the prince and she is the princess. That is what she tells me. So the other day, we got on the floor and we played prince and princesses. I really learned a thing or two. The other day we were in church (it seems like everything in our lives happens in church, around church, or after church) and a recently returned missionary was talking about one of his areas…the North Pole. Lexi turned to Ang and I and said, “I am going on a mission”. We didn’t think much of it and a minute later she turned to us again and said, “Mom & Dad, I am going on a mission and I am going to the North Pole on my mission.” We about busted up laughing. She was not done with her thought process, however. “…And Dad and Mom, I will bring you back lots of presents from my mission”. Out of the mouth of babes! Lexi has a sweet personality and is patient to play catch up with her older brother and sister as they run about the house and she tries to keep up. She is also in a little Pre-School and loves it. We love our Lexi Lu Lu.
Ellee…where do I begin? She is our monkey. The other day she falls off the counter, not once, but twice. The second time she falls off the highest part of our counter, backwards, nonetheless and so off to the doctor Angie goes. She was okay and later that evening she was back to climbing. We now have to tip every one of our chairs over so our Ellee won’t find herself in a predicament. If you come to our house, however, we will tip one back up for you to sit on, but upon your exit, the chair gets a tippin’. I have never known a child to have such a high squeal. I swear my other children didn’t scream as our Ellee does. If it hurts my ears, I can’t imagine what it does to Jack’s ears. I guess if I needed to get some attention right away, I would do the same. Angie says she gets it from the quite, soft tones of her Daddy…I tend to agree. I finally had to secure all of our bottom drawers and had to smile when she went to open one the other day and to no avail. Hah…I thought…But this didn’t stop her, she has now learned to take a little stool we have around and now she has left the bottom drawers and moved up in the world to the top drawers…with the stool, she can reach every drawer that she wants. Darn fixin. We love our Ellee and are trying to be grateful for this fun, fun stage.
Well, there you have it, our lives in a nutshell. Life is good. We have definitely seen some trials, but have been blessed through them. We are grateful for the gospel that gives us perspective and appreciation for life. We hope this letter finds you well and happy. I love this time of year. We wish you a Merry Christmas. May we all remember the reason for this great season.
Love the Daryl Arnell Gang (Daryl, Angie, Breanna, Brandon, Lexi, & Ellee)
2 comments:
You guys are so cute. Love ya!
Merry Christmas! Fun Christmas letter. We hope you have a great one! We would have liked to get together with you over the holidays, but time is flying by. Maybe we'll catch you after the New Year.
Post a Comment