Amanda!

 We have really enjoyed having Amanda come visit us fairly often. One of my favorite days of the entire year was in early December when she came to visit. Randy was out of town and I was totally burned out. Amanda was kind enough to watch  Alyssa for me (after she literally just walked through our door) while I took the older three to go see the movie Frozen. It was wonderful to just sit and watch the movie with no baby to attend to. What made the evening even better happened after I arrived home. We came home to a homemade meal! Amanda had made Chili from scratch along with cornbread and a salad! It tasted so good. Not only did I get a much needed break, but to walk in and find dinner hot and on the table was beyond anything I would've imagined. I almost burst into tears I was so grateful.

 Not only is she helpful and amazing, The kids ADORE her! When asked who their favorite aunt is, they reply with a very enthusiastic "Amanda!" Really, what's not to like, she is smart, she is fun, she takes the time to interact with them individually and their mom is happier with someone to chat with all the time!

 While Amanda was here, we had a rather large snowstorm and we ended up missing my brother Ben's basketball game opting instead to attend my ward Christmas party instead. It was snowing pretty hard and the road was covered with snow. Although our church building is about a half a mile away, we were unable to make it up the hill in my van. Unfortunately, it took us nearly 30 minutes to make it back up the 1/4 mile to my house and another 15-20 minutes to get up my driveway! We only got up the driveway because Amanda drove the car and I pushed it from behind. It was so crazy. I had felt very much alone before she came to visit and I was so thankful Amanda was there to help me laugh through the troublesome moments instead of cry. She is a blessing indeed. 

Thanks Amanda for being a good friend and an awesome sister-in-law! I'm excited for your next visit.