Happy new year to all! I can not believe how quickly the month of December flew by. We got to spend the week of Christmas with the entire Hallberg clan. 16 people under one roof for 5 days definitely had us all slowed down when it came to getting ready for the day, but we had a blast anyway. It seems everyone got gifts they enjoyed, and fun was had by all. The kids got spoiled, as usual, and Joel had a ton of fun packing the car with all of the new goodies for the return trip. We were definitely blessed this year - thanks all! In addition to all of the fun, we got to meet Josh and Julie's newest family member - 9 day old Eli. Kudos to Julie for making the trip from Phoenix to Boise just barely one week from d-day!

Our time is spent these days preparing as best we can for our newest little one to arrive. It seems I'm counting the days more than the rest of the fam most days. I still have 5 weeks to term, but each one of the previous kiddos came at least 2 weeks early, so only time will tell! I'm already starting my traditional early contractions that make me take pause...and some times feel like I'm going to drop the baby right where I'm standing. Joel and I are just a little bit concerned about whom we will have watch the kids if the blessed event arrives in the middle of the night. We will figure it all out, I'm sure, especially since we have some really great friends in the ward. It really does make us miss our family back in Boise though!! We'll definitely keep everyone posted as to what happens over the next few weeks. We did finally break down and trade in the Explorer for a minivan this week. It's official. We are in full blown family mode!!!

Crazy as it may seem at this stage in my pregnancy, Joel and I have been working on the house again this past week. We kind of stalled on finishing the girls' room this fall - so we finished off the room by rebuilding their closet. Ellie is so excited to not share her things with Haddon in his closet. The next project we wanted to try to finish (before the baby comes) was the other two bedrooms, but just this weekend the sink in the master bath clogged. Joel ended up spending 2 hours replacing the plumbing under the sink, yet much to his dismay, it is still clogged, and leaking now. I think he understands why my dad always says he hates plumbing. We're hoping that we won't have to call in the pros - we already had the heater repaired two weeks ago at quite a hefty price. Home ownership is filled with all kinds of surprises! Joel did get the bug to work outside on Saturday, so he chopped half a cord of wood, and shoveled all of the neighbors drives. He's such a sweetheart, or maybe he just needed to blow off a little steam. I think it's both.