Thanksgiving and The Blackest Friday of the Year

Ahhhh, this Thanksgiving was WAY too much fun. I haven't had a camera for a month and a half (well, I have Andy's work one, but that's only home about half the time and not always accessible. It drives me crazy to not have a camera!!!) so I don't have any pictures of the fun day. We were with Andy's family which is as good as my own. We had an amazing dinner, Andy's parents and his siblings are all wonderfully talented cooks. I think we had 8 pies to choose from as well. MMMMM, so good. Just thinking about it is making me hungry!!

We had so much fun playing games, scoring the ads (I was converted to Black Friday shopping last year..... and now I'm addicted), talking, laughing and just being together. I am so grateful for so many things and blessed with so much. Some of the top of the list are:

-My wonderful hubby and kids who I love love love!
-My parents, siblings and inlaws. They all do so much for me and my family.
-Good doctors.... they are truly few and far between (I should know.... I just noticed I have eleven different doctors phone numbers in my phone.... ELEVEN!!! We see a lot of doctors around here...)
-Good friends that help me out all the time- ladies who listen, help out with my kids and loves them even when they're stinkers, bring me dinners, send me notes of encouragement, are just there when I need them, and best of all, fun girls nights out! I have some lovely ladies in my life.
-My husbands job. They are so good to us and have been so supportive during all of my health issues and have given Andy ANY day off that he has ever requested so he can come to every doctors appointment, big or small.
-Good diets and being able to work out (spinning being at the top of the list).... I started the South Beach diet and have lost 6 pounds in a week! Go me.... I feel great :)
-Spending time with my family. I love to just relax together.
So many things that I love and am grateful for!


Later on Thanksgiving night, my sister-in-laws along with Becca and I, went to the mall which opened at 9 PM to kick-off the holiday shopping season. We had so much fun and it actually wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be. We finished there at about 11:15 so we could make it to Toys R Us by midnight, which was when they opened. I only needed a couple of things there, but a bunch of my sisters didn't want to join crazy Becca and I, so they gave us a list of stuff to get. Okay, seriously, Becca is the lady to go shopping with. She is one determined woman, and thanks to her, we got everything on our list, plus some! It was INSANE there but we were only in line for a couple hours (we both had really high heels on and ditched our boots while we were waiting. Me in my white ankle socks and Becca in her pink argyle!) and got out of Toys R Us by 2:30 AM.... just in time to go home, change into warmer, comfier clothes, and head to Target to get a good spot in line, which is where we were getting most of our stuff. Someone was kind enough to take the pic below of us making our game plan (haha!)


We got into Target at 5 AM and we were in and out by 5:45, only missing out on one thing on our list! Can I just say.... we are awesome! Off to K-mart for 1 thing, and then to Wal-mart for another couple of things. Finally..... we finished by about 7:30 and I went home and crashed..... for an hour until my lovely sister woke me with a phone call :) It was seriously so much fun, I got about 90% of my shoppping done, and awesome deals to boot. I love shopping.... especially on Black Friday.

Welcome Christmas!!!

Boondock's Par-tay

Boondock's Family Fun Center opened a new location in Kaysville and Andy's company was involved in working with them. They gave him some VIP tickets that were all inclusive with dinner and trying out everything they had to offer. We brought our 3 oldest (Baron would have been a pill- thanks for watching him Bree!) and had a blast. We were able to meet up with one of Andy's friends from work and his family. Thanks Amy, for all of the pics! (Our camera is still broken.... a new one is at the top of my Christmas list :) The kids tired themselves out for almost 6 hours, running around playing with every thing they could. It was such a fun night. I love Andy's job and the great perks that come with it!

The go-carts were fun, but it was SO cold that my fingers were completely stiff and bright red after our ride. It wasn't worth it....

Thanks for hanging with us Bran and Amy, and thanks for all the pictures!

The Tale of the Lost Glasses

A couple weeks ago Jonah came home from school without his glasses. I wasn't home, but Andy was, and he asked him what had happened. Andy called me and told me that Jo had come home without his glasses and that a boy in 1st grade had been chasing Jo at recess and Jo said his glasses had fallen off, but he just kept running. The boy picked them up and said "Haha! I have your glasses!" And he put them in is pocket and ran away. Andy was furious because we've had a bit of trouble with Jonah being bullied since he started kindergarten, and Andy had just had it. He was very angry and said he was going into that piece of $#@* school and telling them to take better care of our kids when they were in charge of them. I told him to calm down and wait for me to come home so I could go with him, but he wouldn't. I told him to at least calm down before he went in to talk to the principal. He said he would. When I got home he was gone. He came home awhile later and said that they had called the boy into the office and asked him about the glasses and the boy had told them he didn't have the glasses and he didn't know where they were. The principal told us that she was sorry, but there wasn't anything else she could do if the boy wouldn't admit to anything. So Andy and Jo had gone out on the playground and searched for the glasses, but they never found them. After Andy told me that, I started to get mad. The school wasn't going to do anything?! They ask the kid a few questions and that's it? That didn't fly with me.

When Jo woke up from his nap, I asked him to tell me exactly what happened. He explained everything to me (which I'm not going to recap because this post doesn't need to be longer than it already is) and I told him we were going back to the school to try and find his glasses. Before we left, I asked Jo if there was something we should do before we went to try and find his glasses. He thought about it for a minute and then said "We should say a prayer to Heavenly Father so he can help us find my glasses." I was so happy that he came up with that on his own. So we went and said a prayer. Jo offered it, and it was so sweet.

When we got to the school, I asked the office if they'd been turned in. Nope. So, we went out to the playground. I asked Jo to tell me again what had happened and show me where he was while it was happening. He did that and he said the boy ran over to the relo's (relocatable classrooms)
and ran in between two of them after he had taken the glasses. Jo said his bell rang to go inside then and he just went in. His teacher had asked him where his glasses were and I guess he was too scared to tell her what really happened because he just said they had fallen off. She had also taken him out to look for them and obviously, they hadn't found them.

So after he explained all that, we went over to the relo's and looked all around them and and also in the field below them. We kept searching and searching the giant field that is part of the playground. I felt like we were never going to find those stinkin' glasses and I heard a voice in my head say "Don't give up" So, I kept going. I had crossed the whole field one way and felt like I should turn around and go back the other way. When I turned, I noticed the sun glinting off of several things in the field. I walked to the closest thing and saw that it was a silver candy wrapper that the sun was making a glare on. I realized my problem. I had been going the wrong way. If I walked this way, the sun might leave a glare on the lenses and make them easier to spot! So, I started walking to everything I could see that had a glare on it. Most of it was trash and candy wrappers. I just kept going, praying in my head the whole time that we would find the glasses. I was coming close to the relo's again and realizing I had crossed the entire field again and they were nowhere to be found. Just then I took a step and felt the tip of my boot brush against something in the grass. I froze. Then I turned around and looked down.

There sat the glasses, in perfect condition, not a scratch or a broken piece on them. How had I missed seeing them, or better yet, stepping on them? I just started to cry. Jonah ran up, so excited yelling "You found them mom! You found them! Heavenly Father helped us, and you found them!" Then he noticed me crying and asked me why I was doing that. I told him that I was just so grateful that Heavenly Father cares so much about us that he would always be there for us and help us with such a small thing. And I am. It wouldn't have been that big of a deal if we would've had to buy new glasses, but I didn't want to have to spend the money, especially with Christmas coming up and because glasses are expensive! Jonah then told me that we should say a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for helping us. I completely agreed, and we did just that.

I am so grateful for my testimony. I love the gospel and I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost. At this time of year especially, I am grateful for the knowledge I have of the gospel and for the love my Savior has for me. I am so grateful that I found Jo's glasses.

Dinner

I do not know what my problem is lately, but I do not want to make dinner. Ever. The other day I came up with this little sugar filled, sweet treat that I like to call: Dessert for dinner. Terrible.So, it's white bread french toast. I had to go to the store for that because Andy specifically requested that if we were having french toast for dinner, it had to be white, not wheat, bread. I only buy wheat, so off to the store I went.

I was really hungry. Bad idea.

I thought we should have strawberries and bananas on our french toast, but then we'd have to have whip cream on our fruit. Then hot chocolate sounded good, and marshmellows on top of that. Ummmmm, ya, it was delicious..... and so, so bad. Andy loves whip cream. He went a bit crazy with it. And ate every bite. And had seconds. I, on the other hand, actually resrained myself.

I cooked up some bacon too. Why not? I thought. May as well get it all out there.

I think it's time for a diet (and extra excercise- see post below :) It's time to lose my unwanted, and accidently acquired ( I promise SOME of them really weren't my bad eating habit's fault :) ell bees.

No more dessert for dinner. Sorry folks :)

The 5K

Well, I did it. I ran my first 5K. I did it with Becca, and it was such a blast. Her hubby is in the U of U's pre-dental association and it was a fundraiser they put on for Operation Smile. I am glad I did it, even though I am SO not a runner. Give me a bike any day and I will school you, but put me on foot and I will get last. Every time.

I thought I was in shape, but apparently, I'm not. (I blame some of that on recent weight gain because of my hormonal health issues, but I always was one for an excuse ;) We go to the gym every day together and we run on treadmills. I don't think I've ever run outside before, it was so different and much much harder for me. My poor little heart rate moniter was going crazy most of the time trying to warn me to stop pushing so hard! It was funny. It definatly made me want to do something like this again. I actually signed up for a triathalon last year, and then all of my health problems began and I couldn't train, so I dropped out. Now that it's mostly under control, I think I will try to do it next summer.We had to be there at 6:45 in the AM. And it was like 28 degrees. And snowing. Here we are hiding out in the car before the race started.

Last minute sugar boost!

Get ready.... set...... go!

We finished! We tied for 23rd and 24th place. Our time was 33 minutes and 47 seconds. I say not bad, considering we got lost a couple of times!

Ahhhhh, I love my Becca, we do have some good times!

School Pics

The verdict is in: I have two totally cute kiddos :)

FOUND:

One ragamuffin

Also: Two mischevious ruffians at my dinner table, with some serious lack of manners

Oh, and one more stooge on my kitchen floor (who has a bloody nose from falling out of his booster seat, which is making me ill to look at)

Will the responsible party (aka "dad") please come forward to claim your property before the warden (aka "mom") disposes of them. Oh, and please stop working so late- we miss you!

Could Someone Please Tell Me...

Just when, exactly, did my baby grow up and become a little boy???

I found Bear like this- he had gone and gotten Jonah's Leapster, turned it on, and was playing a game. I swear, that kid is smarter than me.

Baron had his 18 month well-child exam about a month ago, and here are his stats:
head: 19 inches (65th percentile)
weight: 29 1/2 pounds (89th percentile)
height: 34 inches (91st percentile)

He is a huge kid. It's funny to see him next to kids his own age, he just towers over them. He is wearing a 3T and the boy is just solid. He was officially invited to nursury, even though he's been going when necessary (which I claimed was just about every week because of mine and Andy's callings) since he was about 13 months old. He loves to laugh and play with other kids. He still loves to eat, although he is going through a picky phase and stuff he used to love stays on his plate now. He has discovered treats and he just KNOWS when someone has something yummy and he is like a baby bird, standing there with his mouth open, waiting for you to feed him. He is as sweet as they come. He loves to snuggle, give hugs and open-mouthed kisses, read books, he loves Elmo and dancing and music. He loves to be outside and jump on the tramp. He loves to go "bu-bye" and runs to get his coat and shoes if he hears you say the word. He still LOVES his binky. He can be a huge whiner if he's tired, which drives me crazy. I have no patience for whiners. He doesn't like to put his nose in the corner, and he's very good at ignoring when I'm trying to get him to do something. In our crazy, loud house, he gets my attention by running up to me yelling "Mama! Mama! MAMA!!" and hitting my legs as hard as he can. He is one of my greatest joys, and I want him to stay a baby....

I guess it's time for another one :)

Jabber Boy

I listen to and learn a lot of things every day. My kids like to talk (what kid doesn't?) Sometimes they go on and on and oooooooooonnnnn. Sometimes I want to plug my ears, but I guess that wouldn't be such a great example. So I just listen and nod and smile and say "uh-huh" and "Oh really?" and so on.

Well, yesterday I heard about a lot of things from Jonah (he's my personal chatter box)- including (but not limited to):

- Jonah's new friend Mario who can't speak very well, and he's really shy and he doesn't ever want his mom to leave him at school, and when she does he cries.

-How boring school is even though he likes his teacher, and his friends, especially Bella.

-How Bella is his best girlfriend ever, and he will marry her someday, even if we move far away and he can't see her anymore, he'll come back for her and he'll marry her, in the temple, oh yes he will.

-How he'd like me to teach him how to play the game Yahtzee and after telling me this several times, I finally teach him, and then I get to listen to how hard this game is, and why won't those dice just fall on the number they are supposed to, and why does he only get three rolls, he wants more, why is this game like this? It's dumb, he doesn't want to play anymore.

-What an excellent player he is on the Wii and watch mom, watch! Watch me beat this enemy tank and shoot it and watch me shoot this one, and what about that one? Oh look mom, look at my score, I am so good at this game mom, way better than anyone else, I am such a good tank shooter!

-How he wants to take a bath just so he can tryout some old goggles he found- no matter that it's the middle of the day, he wants to get in the bath and pretend to be a swimming guy who can see underwater. Can I get in the bath mom? Can I? Can I? Can I???

-How pbskids.org has a new game on it! Wow, a new Christmas game with Curious George! Mom, come watch me play this new game with Cruious George, it's a new Christmas game and you have to do this, and this, and this.....

-How much he loves his Papa Bry and when I took the girls to dance, Papa came over and he brought Jonah a quarter, and Jonah was watching the movie Holes, and he really wanted to put the quarter in his piggy bank, but he didn't want to miss any of the movie Holes, so he put it in his pocket and did I know that the movie Holes is so awesome, and there are tons and tons of lizards at the end, and one of them bites a lady in the movie, and she dies! Oh, and there's his quarter, in his pocket, right where he left it, he better go put that in his piggy bank before he loses it.

And then last night after Jonah got out of the bath he started to tell me about something again and I said "Jonah! You sure do talk a lot!" And without missing a beat he said "I know! That's because I have a lot to say! And I also have so many questions."

Then late last night he was scared and he came in my room and he was crying about how scared he was (probably from that stupid movie Holes) and I told him that if he said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help him sleep and not be scared, then he would feel better. So he did that. And you know what he told me this morning? He said "Mom, the prayer worked! I heard Heavenly Father say in my head 'It's okay Jonah, I'll stay with you so you can sleep' And he did! I wasn't scared at all and Heavenly Father was with me!"

I think that was my favorite thing to hear about :) Love that boy.

Happy Halloween and Other Spooky Activites!

Well, Halloween at our house this year was kind of a bust. Since Andy and I were gone, we missed a few of our regular Halloween activities. We did manage to squeeze in a few though! And Nate and Annette were kind enough to take some pics of some of the stuff we did miss.

These are from halloween night right before trick-or-treating. Laylah is a Vamipress (not a vampire- she was very clear on that ;), Jonah is a red crayon (And Andy's mom made this costume for Andy when he was in kindergarten- I am going to track down a pic of Andy in it and post it one of these days!) Baron is a horse (all my kids were this horse, starting with Laylah when they were 1) and Daphne was .... sick. Sad, huh? That was my worst nightmare as a kid. She got sick Thursday and she just wasn't quite better on Halloween, so Laylah trick-or-treated for her. I felt like I had to tell every door why Laylah had two buckets. I can just imagine them thinking I made my kid carry an extra bucket for me or something! Daph was going to be a witch, but at least she was able to wear her costme once (the pics are at the bottom of the post) at the elementary school carnival.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

poor sickie

JERMAN HALLOWEEN PARTY

Poor Daph and Andy missed this party

Baron having a fit about putting his costume on

Our little devil dog

Still crying about having to wear a costume (we took it off right after this)

We had a yummy dinner and played fun games!

NATE AND ANNETTE PUMPKIN CARVING PARTY (Andy and I were gone- thanks for the pics Annette)

SCHOOL CARNIVAL

This was a week before Halloween and we made it home just in time for it after our trip to California.

Doesn't Andy look like a freaky weirdo?!

Laylah and Jonah's elementary school did a school carnival instead of classroom parties and school parade this year. I liked the carnival, but I love the school parade and class parties, so I was a little bummed they didn't do them. And it wasn't fun explaining to my kids that they didn't get to do it either. Oh well, they got over it.

We also missed Daphne's preschool Halloween party because she was sick the day they did it. I felt so bad for the girl. She missed every party we went to this year! And Andy's work also does a trick-or-treat day, but we missed that too because we got home from D.C. the day they were doing it and Daph was sick and my mom had my two oldest at her house, and it was just too much going on, so we missed it. Which the kids were really bummed about. They love the trick-or-treat at dad's work. Oh well, they got over that too. They said "We'll do it next year, right mom?" I didn't have the heart to remind them that we won't be here next year, so I just said "sure we will!"

Crazy, Busy, Gone, Sick, Missed, Happy Halloween!