Feliz Año Nuevo!

It was super fun having my two sisters and their families along with my parents for the holidays this year.  I just love having family around and it makes everything seem so much cheerier with babies and kiddos everywhere!  Little Dean is the cutest little guy and everyone loved kissing him on his chubby cheeks!

We took a trip to the Mesa Temple Lights to celebrate the New Year.  I just love that place!

Later in January, Tom and I were able to fly to Utah to do some work on our new Draper home.  We went to a granite supply house and picked out some slabs for our kitchen.  We chose a really pretty one with gray and white tones.  I love it!

The house is really coming along.  This time we visited, there was heat which was a really good thing because we about froze in December when we visited.  The drywall was up, windows in and baseboards painted.

The view is 99% the reason why we chose this home.  There is nothing like it!  I could sit and stare out that window for hours and at night . . . oh, at night the twinkle lights of the city light up my bedroom and kitchen windows.  I have always wanted to live where I could see the lights of the city out my window and pretty soon, I'll have a house like that!  We feel super blessed and so grateful.  I hope it will be a blessing to my family having this home.

It's my Kelsey's 18th birthday and I can hardly believe it.  She has been such a fun daughter to raise because she adds so much light and laughter to our home.  She has such a fun personality and loves to keep traditions alive.  We all love her sense of humor and I will miss her terribly when she leaves for college this summer.  But that's not for a while . . . thank goodness!

When Tom and I were in Utah, we went through the new Provo City Center Temple Open House.  It is a super special place for me since I graduated from BYU in the Provo Tabernacle, which is now the temple.  They have absolutely restored the beauty and kept the integrity of that building.  It's a construction miracle that they were able to raise the skeleton of the exterior and dig a basement while the building was on stilts.  It's absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to do a session after it's dedicated.

Tom and I love to come skiing every year.  It's our anniversary weekend getaway, even though sometimes we can't coordinate it with our actual anniversary date. But I love going to Deer Valley and Tom has spoiled me by taking me to nice dinners and making it such a fun time.  The weather was gorgeous but REALLY cold.  Well, it was cold to me.  See how I'm all bundled up and Tom has his zipper undone!  ha ha!

This is Jodi Nielson, Suzy's mother.  Suzy is serving in Concepion, Chile right now so I thought it would be fun to go to lunch and see how she is doing.  We LOVE the Nielsons and I especially get along really well with Jodi.  She is super easy to talk to and it was really fun getting to know more about her!

Hailey's favorite place for crafts is As You Wish, a ceramic store.  We decided to paint ice cream dishes and I think they turned out pretty nice!

We are super lucky in that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came to our stake to speak to the youth.  Only the youth were allowed in the stake center because of seating, but the parents were allowed to watch the conference via satellite in another chapel.  I took this pic from the screen.  What an amazing opportunity!  Even the sunset that night looked like it was custom painted to host an apostle of the Lord in our area.

 I had the best Mommy Day with each of my girls.  Kelsey and I did some shopping at San Tan Mall and got Froyo!

 Hailey and I took a day off to go birding then have a picnic lunch of Panda Express!  We even snuggled on the blanket and watched the clouds in the sky.  It was the best!

 My two snow-bunnies!!!  

Just a few fun pics of the holiday time.  We went roller skating with the Davis and Laduke Family and it was SO fun skating and pushing the strollers!  ha ha!

 Elder Chamberlain in Argentina.

 The cousins playing with a new fun game with goofy glasses!

 Sweet moments . . .

 Here is the pic of us talking to Elder Keaton Peterson who is serving in Peru!

 Jody and Eric ran over to say hello to Elder Chamberlain too!

 Precious memories from Christmas with Elder Chamberlain on skype.

Christmas Toys and Christmas Joys

December has been a month of pure joy!!  The kids have their Christmas Lists written and mailed off to Santa :) and Hailey's Birthday came and she turned 10 years old!!

 Our cute little Elf, Herbie, left a pretty nightgown for Hailey!!  (she really never wore it though :(

 Spencer had a choir concert at South Valley Jr. High and he did an awesome job!  He loves to sing and has such personality when he performs!

 Here he is with his friend, Conner Prusse.

My mother flew in early to be with us which was so much fun!  We performed together at a Christmas Nativity Festival put on by another stake.  She and I did our organ/piano duet "Joy to the World" and it was so beautiful.  Tom sang some gorgeous songs and it was just an incredible way to start the holidays!

 Hailey had her choir concert and she too, did an amazing job!  Her choir is the Gilbert Youth Choir and we love her director, Rikki Wamsley.  She uses live accompaniment, violins, harpsichord, piano, etc. and her concerts are always first-rate!

 Here is Hailey with her friends Sydney Aker and Isobel Andersen.

 Suzi Everton asked Tom if he would dress up as Darth Vader for her Family Christmas Party.  His costume looked SO real!

 Oh no!  Our elf, Herbie, was naughty and got into the frosting!!!

 We also went to see "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Theater---a family tradition now that we love!

 Grandma Marshall and Hailey love putting puzzles together.  They worked on this one for a while!

 We even got to hear Hailey's class presentation.  Doesn't my mom look pretty?  She just got her hair done and I think she looks so pretty!  Three generations all together . . . pretty cool!

 Hailey celebrated her birthday at Polar Ice this year!  We all went out and skated and it was so much fun!

It's Christmas Night and the kids are all playing with their toys (well, Kelsey is sleeping because she has to be at work by 7:45 a.m. tomorrow morning).  What a glorious day we had here in the Chamberlain home!  It all started with a peek and a run across the balcony to see what Santa brought followed by a short devotional about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  After our family gathered for prayer, Hailey said, "Well, there HAS to be Christmas music playing before we run downstairs, dad!"  So, Tom quickly ran and got the music playing for the grand entrance down the stairs!

Santa left some AMAZING toys and clothes for these kids!  The living room was filled to the brim with presents and we all felt so blessed to be together and live such a comfortable life.  Some of the big presents were Spencer getting a tennis ball machine, Hailey got a bike that was way too big for her, and Kelsey got a nice TV for her future college apartment.  The kids got presents for us and each other and that is always fun to watch when they get excited about giving.  I wrote the children and Tom a letter about what "I Love . . ." about each person.  They all read their letters aloud to each other and that was a really special moment in the day for them and me.  I gave them each a Gilbert Temple pin along with the letter to remember it by.

After breakfast we had more present opening.  We got done around noon and then enjoyed playing with all of our toys and reading some books we got.  Tom had fun putting together his drone, which I'm sure we will fly around tomorrow!  Hailey got a vespa scooter, Spencer his x-box one (finally!) along with Star Wars Battlefront, and Kelsey got a beautiful 14K heart necklace and Nikon lens which she really loved.  Gifts were in abundance and so were the smiles!!

Around 2:30 we ran over to the Peterson's home to say hello to Keaton on his mission in Peru.  He looked so happy and super shocked to hear Spencer's voice SO low!  Then at 3:00 we got an email that Kohler was on the computer ready to go so we got the computer all set up and were able to talk with him.  THAT has been the highlight of my Christmas both last year and this year.  He smiled with that infectious smile of his and was so much fun to talk to!  Yes, I cried once, telling him how proud I was of him and how much I loved him.  He told us that he appreciate our support and love and that it meant so much to him.  He said he felt the "Lord had his back" in all that he did and that he has seen people change in ways that he can't even describe.  We all could tell that he wanted to say more but had his companion right there along with a member of the church wandering in and out of the room so it wasn't as personal as other phone calls have been.  But, he did tell us that his release date is June 21 and he really wants us to come and pick him up in Argentina so we will definitely do that.  My mom and dad were in town for Christmas so they were able to come over from MaryKay's home to talk to him today.  His face lit up when he saw them come through the door!  It was really cute to watch!  I am so thankful that my father served a mission as well as my husband so that they could both give him advice and counsel from their experiences.  I loved talking with him and can't believe it will be another 5 more months until I can talk to him again.  He has been out 541 days and has 178 left.  Only for the Lord would I give up my precious child for that long.  It's a sacrifice that brings forth incredible blessings!

After the Skype call, we ate more holiday junk food and played more with games.  At night, we watched the new Cinderella movie which I slept through most of it because I am exhausted.  The family room is cluttered with presents and toys still and I actually love it that way.  Tomorrow we will clean it up but for now, it stays messy.  It's been a fabulous Christmas and I'm forever grateful for the blessings of health, my testimony, and my family.  Thank you 2015 for being such an inspirational year!