Home Sweet Home

I am home for the holidays and it is absolutely wonderful! :]

In the Bible Dictionary under the word temple it says:
"Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness."
Each and every time I go home I am reminded of this phrase as my parents have done such a wonderful job making our house a HOME.
Today I was sitting at our extra-long kitchen table that we've had forever
looking at our white board/bulletin board and noticing all the little things that have been stuck to it/written on it over the years: Family engagement pictures, pictures of new baby cousins, a picture of Jackie we've had up since before E.B.'s mission, a dollar bill, a picture collage Gelsey made when she was in kindergarten (or maybe it was Solomon), notes on the whiteboard, new cell phone numbers; just lots of random things that have little memories connected to them.
I love my family and being at home around them all the time despite all the chaos.
Over this break I decided that I am going to work on being "More Diligent and Concerned at Home" as Elder David A. Bednar challenged us this past October General Conference.
I am going to work on:
1. Expressing Love and Showing it.
2. Bearing Testimony and Living it.
and
3. Being Consistent.
There are lots of things to focus on during the Christmas season and
family is a very important one.
I hope that I can share my love and my testimony with my
family through this season and through the coming years.
I have been blessed with wonderful parents and siblings who do this for me and
I want to return the favor. :]

So far this Christmas season I have taken the kids to get their hair cuts for my brother's wedding this Saturday. This turned out.....not so great. Here are some before and after photos...the boys' hair honestly did not look very different. And my mom was not too happy about that. But I'm not a mom so I didn't know what to tell the hair cutting people. :/
So here's the before. I love how they are all sitting the same. Hahaha. And I told them to look mad. Gelsey did an acceptionally good job.

Here is the after picture.
Uhh yeah the boys' hair does not look different.
We might take them in to get it fixed before the wedding this weekend...
But Gelsey's is nice and cute and short though. :] Like mine! GO SHORT HAIR! Also over the break I have taken kids Christmas shopping. It is our first year doing Secret Santa with the whole family (now that the kids are all old enough to earn some money with chores and pick out presents mostly on their own) so I get to cart the kids around to all different stores to get this final shopping done. YAY! ;)
Today I made three double batches of chocolate chip cookies for the wedding luncheon dessert. Holy heck that was a lot of baking for me! (Roommates: I thought we baked a lot...this topped it all (at least for in one day) and I still have more to do. HELP!!! :/)
I have also been able to spend time with my Grandparents (they are here for a month and for my brother's wedding)
With having my grandparents here I get to here my Grandma play the piano and it is absolutely beautiful. I tried to upload a video but I couldn't figure it out. So I'll try again later.
Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed being home although I'm sure in about a month I'll be ready to head back up to Flagstaff with my wonderful roommates :]
To end here are some WONDERFUL pictures!

Here are the Olmstead girls (plus Jasmine and minus the sister-in-laws)
Here is one of Rachel and I at the temple lights. I was also able to see Katie Wilson, my friend Chris Brown, and I got to meet Katie and Rachel's friend Ryan, but I forgot to take more pictures. :( But here is one of Rachel making me look RIDICULOUSLY short!
And here is one of me trying to make Rachel look RIDICULOUSLY short. Haha. Did it work??
Well, that's all for now. There will be more very soon though because we have a WEDDING coming up! :]