How lame am I? Christmas 2010

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!!!!

10 years and counting

Ya I know I am late posting this but I need to get it down before it really gets nuts around here. 10 years ago on November 27th (Thanksgiving this year) Randy and I were sealed in the Portland Temple for time and all eternity. I cannot believe it has been 10 years, so much has happened yet, it feels like it was yesterday that I met him. So in efforts to pass memories onto our posterity I've decided to do a tag, I know I already did one not too long ago, but that was a wedding tag. This is a little different. This tag is called "How I met___."

1. Where did you meet? In my living room. His friends brought him over to play Frisbee with me and my roommates at the quad at OSU. He just got home from his mission the day before.

2. What was the first thought that went through your head when you met? What a goober, (in my defense, he was a fresh RM and was very awkward).

3. Do you remember what he was wearing? Probably jeans, t-shirt and a baseball hat

4. Where was the first time you kissed this person? Apparently on my couch, I don't remember but he does very vividly. I had fallen asleep on my couch and he asked if he could kiss me and I said yes (mind you I am not very coherent when I crash on the couch).

5. Where did you go for your first date? To Newport Beach in Oregon. His best friend and his fiance took us with them, it was very weird date because we had only known each other a week and I had been gone for Spring Break that week before.

6. How long did you know this person before you were a couple? Probably 2 weeks, from when we met till he kissed me.

7. How did he ask you out? He never officially asked me out, it was just assumed. After that first date of awkward silence, he took me home and we ended up talking in my living room till 5 AM. After that we were inseparable.

8. Has this person ever purposed to you? Ummmmm . . . ya, once just once.

9. Do you and this person have kids together? 4 rambunctious bundles of joy.

10. Have you ever broken the law with this person? No, never, I am an angel, he on the other hand has gotten a few speeding tickets with me in the car.

11. When was the first time you realized you liked this person? After the first date and we ended up talking till morning. But it wasn't till he gave me the ultimatum of him or this other guy I thought was fun to be with (I was very young and still having fun) that I realized I could lose him if I didn't make up my mind quick.

12. Do you get along with his family? Yes, they are great.

13. Do you trust this person? Yes

14. Do you see him as your partner in the future? Ya, for eternity even.

15. What is the best gift he gave you? Recently my piano, but it was a mutual effort, he did surprise me with a Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas one year, I was soo excited for that.

16. What is one thing he does that gets on your nerves? Leaves his clothes all over, yet his shoes have to be right next to each other.

17. Where do you see each other 15 years from now? Let's see, McKenzie will be 23, Morgan will be 20, Micah 19 and Malia will be 16, I think I will be going nuts, maybe a grandma even, who knows.

18. What causes the most arguments? My quirkiness for needing things done right now, and his lack thereof.

19. How long have you been together? 10 years 8 months

20. Are you married? Yes

21. Who do you tag? Anyone who needs to get these memories down.

-K- so I lied. Here's another one, I went through the last entries and found other pictures I was meaning to add, just in the moment forgot to upload. These are kinda random, but I will explain as I go through.

Here's Ella (Shauna's baby) and Malia. You'll notice Ella's cheek, no that's not marker, it's a huge shiner. She fell on something before leaving on vacation. Shuana didn't know and Preston couldn't tell her what happened. Poor girl, cute babies though, don't ya think?This is at the reception. They have a "kids room" set up downstairs in the basement of the house that has a TV with movies, puzzles, trains, books and other random toys. The kids like it, the only problem was one of the adults had to be down there with them for obvious reasons. But it was fun.

So I saw a cute thing to in magazine recently where this mom got body shots of all her family and put them on magnetic paper and put them all over the fridge that way her kids would get to know their aunts and uncles who didn't live nearby. So I thought what a great idea since none of our family lives close to us, except Billy and we're moving soon, and since we were seeing all of them minus Megan and Eric I would get every one's picture taken. Here are some of my favorite shots, there were a lot (cuz of my BIG family) but worth it.Here's uncle Scooby (as the kids call him) doing his Stewart (from Mad TV) impression. Nooo!
Aunt Shauna doing what she does best, eat chocolate.
Andy's wife Bonnie Jean striking a pose (that's my aunt Annie's manfriend Randy doing bunny ears).
Good ol grandpa showing off his muscles.This isn't going to be one of the magnets, but cute nonetheless. My mom found someones walker and the kids just needed to do something and she needed to go walking so to kill two birds with one stone she gave the kids rides and got her heart pumping walking up and down the street.
Mirror image. We were at I think McDonald's on the way home or to (I can't remember now) and I was in the play area and Lindz was obviously on the other side the babies were hitting the window at each other and we got this. Pretty cute. Now I think that I am officially done with our vacation. I think I will take a break for a bit and breath. Randy's brother Rob is graduating next week from BYU-Idaho and we'll be going up for that. Probably post after that unless I feel the urge. Have a great week or so.

Lindsay's wedding pics

These are pictures I downloaded from Lindsay, my ma and pa at the temple












Here is the reception spread. Don't those cakes look yummy?

So many decisions, so little time.













Me and Randy, doing what we do best, standing around, or something like that.

#6 The Wodding (as my mom would say)

Where do I begin. We obviously all woke up early to get ready in time to be up to the temple by 10:30 am. Alina made hair appointments for my mom, her and a few other people, my mom looked really cute, they trimmed it and gave her big curls. Alina's hair was done up fancy, I loved it. Anyway, I had found a few people in my ward to help watch all the kiddos while we were in the temple. I figured it would be hard for a). Jon and James to handle 13 kids at the temple (5 of which are babies) and b). I would no longer have friends in my ward if I dumped all 13 off at someones house. So I got smart and had a few lined up, trying as best to split the babies up. Poor Bradley was still sick at this point and diarrhea had set in at this point, so I had someone with no kids come to my house to watch him and Collin. We got to the temple on time but the bride and groom were a little late getting there. It was a great ceremony, we were able to see some old friends from when we lived in Montana (they've come to I think almost all the Schmidt weddings so far, what great friends). After the sealing we took a few pictures and then booked it over to the church to set up table and chairs and get the last minute food preparations done.
This is a pic of Billy (I mean Will I will never be able to say his name) and his new bride Alina (or my new SIL) at the luncheon. Aren't they sweet. The food was yummy and we had a good number show up. We bought I think the right amount of food. Nothing ran out but it wasn't like we had a ton of leftovers. Enough to feed the troops at my house a few more days. After the luncheon Randy took our kids home to get naps/quiet time, while a few of us cleaned up.







We were home for maybe 1-2 hours, enough time for naps and teaching some of my family Ticket to Ride, (which we love btw) and then realizing we had to hurry and get our dress clothes back on for the reception. Alina and Billy wanted us there early to get family shots taken, since we didn't do them at the temple. We decided to not do them there, otherwise the kids were going to be in their white dresses and shirts while being babysat and then someone rushing down to get them and bring them all the back up. It just didn't seem that fun to me. However I didn't get any pics of my kids in their cute clothes, I'll tell you why in a sec. Alina said she'd send me some when they got them back, so that will have to be a later post. Anyway, the reception was beautiful. It was at an old house in Provo with a gorgeous set up. Oh and did I mention that Alina's twin sister made her dress for her? She's going into fashion design and heading to Italy pretty soon. It is beautiful gown.


At the reception there were an assortment of different cakes. I don't know the name of any of them but holy cow there had to have been about 15 different desserts, each one looked irresistibly good. I had two pieces and wanted more but just couldn't eat another bite. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, maybe Billy and Alina's photographer did, I'll cross my fingers. This is a pic of Laurie and her youngest Tate, (he's about a month younger than Malia) he wanted some dessert to, what a mean momma, hee hee.













-K- so the reason I didn't get shots of my kids in their nice clothes was because Randy and my BIL Jason went to go decorate Billy's car and took the camera so he could take pictures. So my sisters if you have pics you wanna send me, feel free. The reason why he had to take pics of it was because Billy had to go hide his car from Alina's family. Apparently in the past they have done some pretty crazy things to family members cars during the reception, like taking the wheels off, filling them with saw dust, putting the car up on blocks. Randy had to pick him up from his hiding place so he knew where the car was parked and we couldn't have let them leave with out it being decorated somehow. Randy and Jason wrote on the windows, "I am the ball" "I am the chain" "We love marriage" "Kids welcome" and my personal favorite "Doin Da Laundry" (it's an inside family joke for a little hanky panky), don't even ask how that got started.