Before I start this post I must apologize. I do not know what happened to Thanksgiving or all of December, but for whatever reason, I couldn't keep my head on straight enough to blog anything except the cards that I made, I know, lame. And what's worse, I still haven't sent the cards out. It will get done if it kills me though. Anyway, we had a fun Thanksgiving at Randy's parents house. They were nice enough to watch the kids for us again so we could have a little, quiet Anniversary, alone. And of course we went went Black Friday shopping, again. We also got to go see the new Harry Potter, which is funny since I haven't seen any of the movies in the theater, but it was really good. We had a nice, quiet time together, I can't believe it's been 12 years. Love ya toots.
Anyway, December happened and it was a mad dash to the end. We had parties and parties and more parties, presents to make, get and send out, goodies to hand out and weddings to go to. I don't know how we did it all or made it out alive, but it is now over and I'm able to breathe now, ahhhhhh! Just to warn you, this is going to be long and have a ton of pics, but I'm just to tired to make it into a lot of posts, so it's getting done all at once.
The 1st weekend in December is the BYU family Christmas party. This year we decided to simplify and not try to sit on Santa's lap or try for that matter to do everything they have available. We did get to the craft area and the kids made some cute things. I was able to get their pic in front of our usual spot. Don't they look so happy?
They each got to write a letter to Santa also. I will be sad for the day they decide Santa is not real. I love that magical part of Christmas.
The following week, Randy got really sick and found out it was strep, lucky us. So I quarantined him and bleached the house and luckily kept the germs at bay. He was recovering still by the weekend which was our ward's breakfast and Nativity. So I took the kids by myself. My friend has better pics that I'll post later, but this is what I was able to get with my stinky camera before it died (which is going to be theme for this post, I dislike my camera a lot right now and can't wait till I can get my new one so I've been very unmotivated in taking pictures, but that's beside the point). Micah was a Shepherd,
Morgan was an Angel, and Mac (not shown) was the main Angel. They had fun
We made some gifts this year for various family members. Here are the final products.
We also made picture frames for grandparents, but I forgot to get a shot of it before sending them off.
Tuesday before Christmas we got dumped on with about 12 inches of snow. It was awesome, except for the part where Randy's car got stuck in the driveway and I had to dig and push him out. It was great. It was really pretty though while it lasted. We got hit the hardest, Salt Lake didn't even get anything from this storm. Unfortunately it melted by Christmas. This has definitely been a weird winter so far.
We were planning on leaving on Christmas Eve for grandma's since we were heading that way for a big extended family luncheon earlier in the day. But plans got changed because Randy's sister Julie got her papers from the 1st Presidency giving her the OK to be resealed. So she quickly scheduled it for Thursday, which pushed all of our Christmas preparations up a day (making things even more crazy around here), so we scrambled to get everything finished for us to leave Thursday afternoon so we could be there. We let the kids open their gifts to each other, since we didn't want to take all of the gifts up to Gma's, which we found out later was a good choice. Morgan and Micah got picture boards from McKenzie and Morgan. They had fun making them for each other. Mac and Malia got stuffed animals from from Malia and Micah. They were really excited to be so secretive with each other.
We got up to Gma's in time to eat dinner and get the sitter to their home to watch the kids to make it to the Bountiful Temple and be there for Julie and David.
Malia had started to get a cold at the beginning of the week and I thought she was doing better Thursday, but by Christmas Eve AM she took a turn for the worse and I ended up taking her into Urgent Care to find out she had a double ear infection. I felt sooo bad and a little irritated since she just had her tonsils and adenoids taken out, weren't these suppose to stop? She was miserable just laying around, sleeping on everyone. We got done with her appt and got meds in her in time to still make it to the huge family lunch (which I did not get pics of, go figure). I probably should have stayed back with poor Eah. Luckily she slept through most of it on Randy's lap while we visited with everyone.
In the midst of trying to get everything done before leaving, we forgot some crucial items for Christmas, like our stockings and Sunday clothes, so after the lunch, we ran back down to our house and grabbed the forgotten items and really wore out the kids by this point and they crashed in the car on the way back to Gma's
That evening, Malia perked up a little after giving her Ibuprofen and another dose of antibiotic in her. She was ready to party a little.
They were a little excited to open their jammies.
Can you tell?
We got them in bed around 9ish and they slept in until 7 AM, which is amazing for us since they are usually up around 5 or 6. This year I woke up at 6 thinking I heard them, but it must have been someone else's kids, so I went back to sleep till 7. They got into their stockings pretty quick.
They all got their own toothpaste which Morgan thought it was deodorant, don't even ask.
They were all really happy with all of the Silly bands they got. Santa was really generous with them this year.
We got breakfast in the oven and proceeded to tear through gift after gift.
Gma and Kristi were pretty proud of themselves in finding this toy. It jumps and coos and is a delight to have around. . . not.
The tree before it got torn into.
Santa got them each a pillow pet, which they were very excited about and Malia got the double stroller she had been telling everyone about. Since Christmas, she hasn't taken her hands off that stroller literally. You can see her hand marks on the handles.
I took a lot of shots of Eah, just cuz she kept doing crazy things, like watching intently while Randy was opening her Silly Bands.
Morgan had fun playing her cousins new DS, something that will probably never end up in our house.
Micah enjoying his Buzz.
Mac got the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid and finished it in a couple of hours. She said it was really good.
And since Malia got her new scooter from her birthday stolen this fall, she got a replacement scooter. Hopefully this one will last a little longer.
It's been a whirlwind of fun around here and even though I haven't had time to breathe, I really enjoyed it this year. I love my kids and my family and am soo grateful I have them around to help celebrate these special times. I wanted to get a pic of our tree before I took it down.
Oh and a couple of big surprises for Randy and I. His parents gave us a new flat screen TV, totally unexpected. It really caught us off gaurd. We've been very patient about getting a new TV till he's done with school, so when they brought this out, I wasn't ready for my emotions. Thanx again you guys, we (meaning all of us, including the kids) are having a lot of fun with it.
Other news was that after my grandma passed away, my dad was able to pic through a lot of her furniture for my bros and sis. We did a little drawing to see who would get what and I am now the proud owner of one of her big oak tables with 6 chairs. Randy's dad helped us haul it out of my brother's house and set it up Monday night. It is such a nice addition to our family. We don't have the plastic chairs anymore and when we have company, we have another huge leaf to put in so we can all fit at the table, instead of half at the table and a few at the kids table and more at the card table. I'm soo excited for this, it really is a gorgeous/sturdy table. And now I will always have a piece of my grandma with me. This was the table in her kitchen where they ate when we weren't around. I have pics of them sitting here drinking their coffee, or with my kids. Man I miss my grandma.
The other amazing news came while we were Skyping with my lil bro Jon who's on his mission. Almost all 9 of my bro's and sis's, minus Andy who's in the Middle East right now, were there. It was so much fun to see everyone on Christmas awesome to see Jon and hear how his mission is going. He has a baptism next week which we are all stoked about. But that wasn't the news. Unfortunately I can't post it until after this weekend, but trust me, as soon as I am allowed to, I will be screaming it from the roof tops, because this is news we all have been waiting for, for years. So stay tuned.
This is a special time of year. I love Christmas, I love my family and the traditions we have. I love that Jesus Christ was born and that he lived and atoned for everyone. How lucky are we to live during a time when the gospel has been restored and we are able to have to knowledge of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father and the gift of repentance and forgiveness. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
