A Most Wonderful Christmas-With Some Interesting Twists

Christmas-The "Wonderful" Part

We had a very merry and wonderful Christmas. It started at about 7:15 AM with little kiddos eagerly digging through their stockings to see what sort of amazing things Santa had stuffed them with.

Baron was ecstatic from the beginning. No hesitation-he acted like he'd been doing Christmas for years and was a blur running from one thing to the next, checking out everybody's loot. His squeals of delight made me so happy.

Everyone was thrilled with their gifts, and ever so grateful, which made me even happier, and a little bit proud too.Cruisin' (and crashin' :)

The Rockstar

Baron had to try out every single person's gift as soon as they would set it down. He would get more excited watching someone open something than he would openeing his own gifts.

Jo's new "friend"

Getting ready for the ball

I guess we clean up pretty nice :)


sissy-poos (with matching flowers in our hair-we didn't plan it, I promise)

Onto the next grandparents.... let's go ahead and sqeeze a nap in while we're at it.

Turtle Boy hiding in his shell.... not ready for the nap to be over yet

Ahhhh Love. (I look so excited because I just opened my in-laws gift to Andy and me-a memory foam matress cover- I slept SO amazingly that night)

The gifts seemed never ending-we are so blessed

"LOOK mom! Real makeup!" she said.

"Oh, terrific." I thought

Christmas jammies made with love by Grandma Collette (12 of the 13 grandkids)

Christmas- The "Twist" Parts

Daphne was sick yet again. She woke up throwing up in her bed at 5 Am Christmas morning. Hence, the puke bowl on the floor. Luckily she felt great by the time she woke up at a regular hour Christmas morning. I don't know what to do with that girl. She sure is my little sickie.

We had a bit of an emergency during our delicious Christmas dinner at my in-laws. My brother-in-law Ryan was holding my darling 2 year old neice Bella in one arm and a bowl of soup in the other and he started to walk down the stairs. He slipped or tripped (nobody saw, we were all sitting at the table still) and she hit her head extremely hard on the wall, or banister, or something. Since we didn't hear any crying we assumed everything was alright until Ryan just sat there and didn't try to get up. It was instant chaos as everyone rushed over and then everyone kind of freaked out. I didn't see because I had been the furthest from the staircase, and then I heard people yell "Call 911!" so I did since I was right next to the phone. Now, I have mentioned before that I am terrible in emergencies, so I probably wasn't the best one to call 911. I was shaking so hard that I almost dropped the phone several times. I gave them the wrong address 3 times, the wrong phone number twice, and I didn't even know what had happened, so the message kept relaying through me. Apparently Bella had kind of gone limp, ghost white, and then stopped breathing for a minute. I felt horrible for Breanna, Andy's sister, who had to watch it all. Andy tried to push her away so she didn't have to see it. I guess Bella kind of came to and started screaming, and a few minutes later the paramedics showed up. They took her to Primary Children's where they did a CT scan and made sure everything was alright. It turned out that she was okay except for a giant sized goose egg on her noggin' and they got to come back later to join us and finish opening presents. I'm so grateful everything turned out well, I know it could have been much worse. Bella must have a little guardian angel watching over her; lucky girl :)

We had to retake the Christmas Jammies photo after Bella made it back. She's in the very top right corner and was none too happy that we made her do it. That's the twist- aren't kids supposed to be happy on Christmas? There's a few criers in there, don't they know this is the happiest time of the year? :)

I hope everyone had a fun, safe, and Merry Christmas. We sure did, minus our little twists.

Happy New Year everyone!

Holiday Stuff (In a Giant Nutshell)

I really didn't want to catch-up with 6-7 different posts, so I'm posting all things Christmas related (up to the 24th) into one giant post. And it is GIANT including...

-Our ward Christmas party (complete with a visit from Santa)
-Daphne's preschool Christmas party
-Laylah and Jonah's Christmas sing-along at their elementary school
-Temple Square (the real one, where we actually made it downtown)
-Gingerbread houses
-The last week of babysitting
-Christmas Eve

SO, here we go...

Ward Christmas Party

We had our annual ward Christmas party mid-December. Baron had been really whiny that day, and we actually HAD to go because the primary kids were singing a few songs and I had to lead (I am the primary chorister). During dinner (after Baron had whined and cried and gone back and forth between Andy and I) he was walking around the table to go back to Andy and he threw-up all over. I mean like, ALL OVER. It was sick, but also pretty funny. Everyone was laughing, but also got right to helping us clean-up. I seriously adore my ward and all of my friends in it. They are the best. Andy took him home because the program hadn't even started yet. The kids did great singing and then Santa came. It was a fun night. (I don't have any pictures, but one of my friends is going to e-mail some to me, so when that happens, I'll have to add them in. No pressure Mindy- haha, j/k :)


Daphne's preschool Christmas party

I planned a little holiday party for Daph's little preschool and all the mom's were so great to help. We played several games- Red Reindeer Red Reindeer- Come Right Over Here, The Christmas Walk, Christmas Musical Chairs, and we decorated Christmas sugar cookies. We also did a little Secret Santa gift exchange which the kids loved. I think it was a success. Daphne loves her little preschool and I know she will miss her teachers and her friends so much when we move.
(I stole these pictures off of my friend Corrine's blog, and I am supposed to be getting more e-mailed to me- I'll have to add those in when I get them also :)

Laylah and Jonah's Christmas Sing-along

The day school got out for break was the elementary's Christmas singing program. It was so cute. Laylah and Jonah both sung so well and smiled and had fun. I love watching my kids do anything (as I'm sure any parent is) so, even though I had been so sick the night before, I couldn't miss it. We actually got pictures of this one, BUT Andy accidently deleted them. I'm trying to find people who may have some pictures of it, so I'll have to add those if I can find any.

Temple Square

We made it to Temple Square for family night the Monday before Christmas (along with the millions of other people who decided to go for Family Night before the snow came the week of Christmas) It was a lot of fun and I love that my kids are of the age where they ask a lot of questions and I can have teaching opportunities. I love to teach my kids about the gospel and our Savior and his birth. Even though it was absolutely frigid, we still had a blast. (Oh, and found a free parking spot a block away within 2 minutes- bonus!)

We went to see the Christus Statue and these 3 just sat and stared at it for 15 minutes. I had to drag them away.

Gingerbread House

We did a gingerbread house together and the kids loved it. I love doing fun Christmas stuff with them. I hope they have good memories when they grow up. They did a great job, I only glued the house together and then put it where they told me, and they did the rest. Baron just loved to sneek the candy and stuff it in his mouth.

My last week of Babysitting

The week of Christmas was also my last week babysitting Kajia and Javis. They have been such good kids and Laylah has loved having her best friend over every day. They truly are best friends and I know they will miss each other so much. It makes me sad to think about. And Javis and Daph will still see each other at preschool. Plus, my sister-in-law is the one who is taking over the tending, so I know we'll see them a lot. Anyway, I wanted to do something fun every day of the last week. We went to the mall Monday to play in the dino playplace. We stayed for 2 hours and I still had to drag them away. Tuesday we went and got ice cream. Wednesday I took them all swimming for nearly 4 hours. I'm glad the oldest 3 can swim because I could never do it if they couldn't. Six kids ages 6 and under by myself is a little tricky sometimes. Although babysitting was hard and it just added a lot of stress, I still enjoyed it and it was a little bittersweet that last day when their mom picked them up. I know we'll still see them all the time because they're in our ward, but it sure will be different and weird to just have my own kids every day-it'll seem downright easy! Anyway, I don't have any pictures of the week. I suck.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's, just like every year. It has always worked out perfectly that way because my mom does a big Christmas Eve celebration and then brunch on Christmas Day and then Andy's mom does a huge Christmas dinner. I love it. So, we went there and had an incredible dinner. My mom is an amazing cook and always goes above and beyond at her parties. I love it. I love that I still get to be spoiled by her (and my dad too, of course :). We had a wonderful little program, read some Christmas stories and watched a beautiful movie about Christ. We also made more gingerbread houses which my kids were so excited about. Gingerbread houses do not get old. I have several pictures of all of the MOMS helping the kids and one of the DADS sitting and doing nothing :)

Oh, except my brother Doug whose wife might kill him if he didn't help her :) hahaha...

The "Men" (and Suzanne who doesn't have kids)

Daph eating the leftover frosting

Our little fam

Looks like Santa came! (Santa wraps his gifts in white with a big red bow)

The stockings were filled with care

He ate the cookies, gave the carrots to the reindeer and drank the milk. He even left a note!

Christmas post to come....

The Story of the Stockings

I am a pretty organized person, for the most part. Once in awhile my life gets crazy and that isn't the case, until I get back on track. I'd like to be more organized, but maybe that'll happen when I'm dead. But that's a story for another day.

This story is about my kid's Christmas stockings. I absolutely love stockings- they have got to be one of my most favorite things about Christmas. I don't know why, but there you go. Every year I carefully browse store after store looking for the very best things to place in those stockings with care (just like Santa, of course). Sometimes I have things in mind to put in there months before. Like I said- stockings are special (I thought about it, and I decided I feel this way because my mom was always so incredibly thoughtful with our stocking stuffers. She's the best :)

So, naturally I finished my Christmas shopping about a month before, right at the beginning of December. I had everything for my kids, they were set. So, naturally, I stuffed every bag, package, and box into my storage closet, not to be looked at again until the week of Christmas, which is when I do all my wrapping (I HATE wrapping, I always put it off until the last minute). On December 22nd I had everything wrapped except for my kids stuff. I had the feeling that I should go through all of their stuff and just make sure I was set. I had actually had the feeling several times the past couple weeks, but like a true procastinator, I ignored it. That evening when Andy and I started going through the hundreds (okay, not that many :) of bags and dividing stuff into piles for each kid, I finally realized that something was missing. The entire bag of my 2 girls stocking stuffers (minus a couple of things) was missing. Gone. Nothing. I started to panic. Where was I going to get more stocking stuffers 2 days before Christmas?!?!

I called Target (where the majority of their stuffers came from) and told them my dilemma. They told me to come in and they'd look at my receipt and watch the security tapes to see if the bag was left and then refund me my money. "My money?" I thought. "I don't want money, I want my perfectly picked out stocking stuffers!" I did what they said, they found the mistake and refunded me my moola. I then proceeded to search and score the empty shelves and bins, practically in tears, looking for wonderful things for my more than wonderful girls. I did alright, finding several items (many of them were the LAST little something hanging!) and it turned out to be just fine.

I hope I learn from this experience, and I hope it helps me on my quest to stop procastinating and continue to be a more organized person.

BUT, things worked out this time (thank heavens), soooo, it probably won't :)

Is it Over Yet?

Okay, so I know this post will be totally random and probably absoutely boring. I'm just tired (seriously- I just spelled that word "tired" wrong 3 times before I got it right :) I haven't been in much of a blogging mood, but I sure am chuggin' along because it would be a nightmare to catch-up, especially this time of year.

So, I went to my Endocrinologist on Thursday, and overall it was very good news and I was actually quite happy after the appointment. She told me they re-evaluated the MRI and decided that it wasn't a tumor afterall, but just enlarged blood vessels. They don't know why they're enlarged, but the medication I'm taking (and s-l-o-w-l-y getting used to.... it actually doesn't make me sick EVERY day now :) is regulating my hormones, and overall things are looking much better. My last labs came back looking good- my thyroid is back to normal, my cortisol levels are going back to normal, my prolactin levels are much better than they were, and everything is working itself out with the help of my medication. Good stuff. SO- I am so happy to announce that I don't need to have surgury (I was so freaked out about having my head shaved and getting CUT open!) and that I can try to get pregnant whenever I want! That last part made me especially happy. I have wanted a baby for months- we'll see how it goes :) The one bad thing is that she wants me to eventually see a Neurologist because of my headaches. I think I'll be putting that off for awhile.

Other news is that my family is STILL sick. I cursed myself writing that letter to winter sickness a week ago. Baron, me, and Laylah have had horrible stomach bugs since then, and I'm sure it will continue around the family until every one has had it. Luckily it only lasts about 12-24 hours, so hopefully it is GONE before Christmas! I made us miss our annual little family outing to Temple Square because I thought I was going to die the night we had planned on going (seriously, I wanted to die) We went to eat, I didn't order anything and was in the bathroom half of the time (it hit me that fast- so gross. Plus, it blew my record of 6 years without throwing up!! I hope that wasn't TMI! hahaha). Hopefully we can go next week.

In other news still, we found a place to live in Virginia (pending the owners approval of us having a cute little furball) and we are planning the big move for the day after Valentine's. We have SO much to do before then that I can't even begin to comprehend it until after the holidays. Sell a car, tie up odds and ends, rent out our house, pack a million boxes, clean clean clean, among other things. My last day tending the cute little brother and sister that come over every day will be next Wednesday, and it's all craziness after that.

I love this time of year and I have truly been enjoying it with my darling little family that I just love SO much. I hope everyone is having a great holiday too. Merry Christmas everyone! The Big Guy comes in 6 days.... are you ready?? :)

P.S. I just had to say 1 more thing- thank you thank you thank you everyone for your prayers. Prayer and faith works, I am living proof. I love you :)

Post-edit: Not 2 hours after I posted this that Daphne and Andy woke up at the same time throwing up. All I can say is Oh. My. Goodness. It's poor Daph's 3rd time in a month with this!! It's getting to the point where it could be comical if it wasn't so disgusting. Even though I'm not feeling 100% yet, tomorrow will be the deepest clean I've ever done! Let's get rid of this thing once and for all. We're still waiting on you Jonah. C'mon, just get it over with.... it's not so bad.... after the fact.

Fairytale Friday

Some of you may remember my Fairytale Friday post about Laylah's kindergarten class last year. Well, now it was Jonah's turn. I was able to go help in his class a couple weeks ago and the fairytale I did was The Gingerbread Man. I read the story and thne we did the craft which was threading gingerbread men and then painting them with puff paint. It turned out so cute. I just love when I am able to go help out in my kids' classes.

I also love beoing a memeber of the PTO and getting to be involved with the school. This year I am in charge of the Birthday Table and teacher birthdays. I go once a month and pass out candy bars at lunchtime to the kids who have a birthday that month. I love it because all the kids come and give me hugs and it's fun to get to know my kids' friends and kids in the ward better. I'm going to miss the elementary school my kids attend, it has been a great school.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Today has been quite the day. Nothing in particular has happened, I just am feeling a little sorry for myself and a bit down. I received my results back from my second MRI a couple days ago, and it wasn't good news in any way. I go see my doctor next week to see what we do from here. Nothing had changed, the adnoma is still there. It didn't shrink or go away completely as we had hoped. I am still having headaches all the time, and the past week I've been getting dizzy a lot too. It's so annoying.

A lot of other things are going on in my life also- add it all up, and I'm just one big ball of frustration. It's hard to be happy and cheerful all the time. Sometimes I just want to be mad and ornery. But, that doesn't really help anything and then I'm just back where I started. I guess everyone has their days, but my "day" feels like it's lasting a lot longer than 24 hours.

I'm so grateful for the gospel at times like this. When I have to play the waiting game for so many things that will be happening soon; things that will be greatly affecting my life, it's nice to know I always have someone who knows exactly how I feel and that can sympathize and love me and best of all- wait with me. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father's love, as well as my Savior's. It makes things much more bearable knowing that They know how I feel and that I can be comforted by them. I'm so grateful for the gospel. I know I say it a lot, but it's so true. I just don't understand how people get through life without it.

So..... here's to hoping! Hopefully I can breathe, keep calm and carry on- one step at a time.

*Print available for purchase on etsy.com

Sick of Sick

Dear Winter Sicknesses....

Please please please, I am begging you to please just go away and leave my poor babies in peace. I know you took up residence here around Halloween and you've decided that our home is a great place for you to reside, but you have definately worn out your welcome (not that you were ever welcome in the first place). I am sick of the coughing, the hacking, the weezing, the puking, the snot rags (lying everywhere!), the runny noses, the bright green boogers peeking out of my darling children's noses- making them, decidedly, not darling. To date, you've hit all 4 of my kids with something or another and 1 in particular too many times to count (my sickie child, Daphne who's body seems to attract your germs with delight). I hate croup (2 cases- one of which almost landed us in the emergency room, thank you very much- or should I say, no thanks to you!), bronchitis (1 case), the pukey stomach bug (3 cases), and too many coughs + booger cases to count. Please, let me sleep instead of making me stay up all night cleaning up food that makes a second appearance all over the bed, or carpet, or pajammas, for which I am forced to stay awake all night and blog or fold laundry- because I have to make sure that it will land in the bowl, and not all over the floor again. However much I enjoy blogging (but not folding laundry), I'd much rather be sleeping, of course. I think you get the point, and I hope you understand when I say.... GO AWAY!!!!

Sincerely,
One tired Momma

Finally.... Christmastime!

Christmastime is here! And I am loving it. I am so happy it snowed yesterday. The past week we've been getting ready! My mom and sister and I do homemade toffee for neighbor/teacher/visiting teaching/whatever we need it for gifts and we spent a whole morning and afternoon making it one day. It was fun and we got 18 batches done in about 6 hours. Thanks mom for letting us destroy your kitchen!

Also, last week for FHE we (as in me and my kids, Rachel and her kids, and Becca and her kids- all of our hubbies were unable to make it) wrote letters to Santa, went to the special mailbox to mail them to him, and also went to see Santa at the mall. We had so much fun, but it was a little crazy with 8 little kids and 3 tired mommas. I can't believe how ridiculous the "rules" are this year. You can't take a picture of your kids with Santa- you have to buy the packages they offer. Rach started taking pictures outside of the entrance and a worker came and blocked her saying "Did you see the sign? No pictures" Stupid mall- I'll definately be calling to complain because that is ridiculous.

And lastly, we have our tree!- we haven't decorated it yet, but we have it. And it smells glorious! Andy got home yesterday and we did our annual holiday family trek to find our tree, had cookies and hot chocolate when we got home, made our paper chain (I can't believe there's only 19 days until Christmas!!), and filled our advent calender with candy. We couldn't do any of this before because all of our Christmas stuff was in our shed, and I don't dare venture in there. Andy has to get it all out. We're saving the tree decorating for FHE on Monday, and then we'll officially be ready to go!

P.S. I didn't get any pictures of the night because of my "no camera" situation. I'm telling ya- if Santa doesn't bring me a camera for Christmas, he's going to be in BIG trouble!

All the Things You Never Knew You Really Wanted to Know About ME!

Andy has been out of town all week in Virginia. I wish I could say I've spent the week with the kids doing magical Christmas things, but I haven't. We did a few fun things, but not many. We wanted to wait for Andy to get home to decorate the house and go pick out a tree, so we're doing all of that tomorrow- I can't wait for the magic of Christmas to fill our home! I am SO excited for Christmas!

Anyway, I have missed my lover, and right now I'm lonely and found this tag on a friends blog and decided to do it to waste some time. So- here I go...



1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought? Oh geez, I really shouldn't go to bed with my hair wet.

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now? Surprisingly about $50, which is weird- I never carry cash because I spend it too fast.

3. What is a word that rhymes with DOOR? MORE.... as in food. I want more food :)

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone? Stefanie (my SIL)

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? The one that rings when Andy calls.... Chris Brown's With You. (I know he's a total scuzzball, but I still love his music!)

6. What are you wearing right now? A way cute black shirt with white polkadots that my SIL Terra gave me, my favorite Lucky jeans, white fuzzy slippers, and a black headband.

7. Do you label yourself? Sure, I'm loud, obnoxious, critical, outgoing, and lots of other things- I hope people thing I'm caring and kind too :)

8. Name the brand of shoes you're currently wearing. Whenever I'm at home, I'm wearing my slippers (in the winter)- which is what I'm wearing right now. In the summer, I'm barefoot. I did, however, wear my BcBg black stiletto pumps with my outfit today while I was out and about. I kept noticing how old they looked and thinking that I'd like a new pair...

9. Bright or dark room. Dark.... always dark. Bright gives me a headache. I HAVE to wear sunglasses at all times when I am outside or I have a constant headache.

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? I love her, we grew up together and she was one of my little sisters best friends. She is so cute and fun and I am so happy for her!

11. What does your watch look like? I just broke my watch :( So now I need a new one! I always end up with a black and silver one though.

12. What were you doing at midnight last night? I was in a hot shower trying to make myself sleepy- hence the crazy wet hair this morning :)

13. What did your last text message you receievd on your cell say? I can't write that because it was a friend giving me her address, so I'll do the first one. It says "U R so beautiful, I luv u a lot!"

14. What's a word that you say a lot? It's actually 2 words... "hurry up!" but I also say "freakin'" a ton, which I'm trying to stop. It sounds terrible coming out of a child's mouth.

15. Who told you he/she loved you last? (excluding spouse, family or children) That would be my bestie Cristan.

16. Last furry thing you touched. My cute little furry puppy dog Sadie. I just patted her head.

17. Favorite age you have been so far? 18

18. What was the last thing you said to someone? "I love you boys, goodnight!"

19. The last song you listened to? Faith Hill's "Where are You Christmas?" on the radio.

20. Where did you live in 1987? Sandy, Utah across the street from Cristan!! hahaha... and in the same circle as my boyfriend, Ricky Plautz.

21. Are you jealous of anyone? Sometimes, but I really try not to be. Not in a bad way, just in a way that makes me realize that I don't have as strong of qualities as they do.

22. Is anyone jealous of you? I hope not, there isn't a reason to be.

23. Name 3 things that you have on you at ALL times. my cell phone, sunglasses, and it's a toss up between lipgloss and diapers.

24. What's your favorite town/ city? Ahhh, this is hard. I would have to say Paige, AZ because of Lake Powell. That has got to be my favorite place ever, and Paige is the town right next to Wahweap, my favorite marina in Powell :)

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it? Does a card count? If it does, then probably at the beginning of October when I mailed my sissy Rachel her birthday card.

26. Can you change the oil on a car? Haha, no way. I think if I had to save my life by doing that, I would die. Andy can though. Ya baby.

27. Your first love/big crush- what was the last thing you heard about him/her? That he was married for a few months and got divorced.

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now? yes- my two constant companions- headache and backache :) I'm so used to living with it though, that I don't really notice until I think about it- so thanks a lot.

29. What is your current desktop picture? Andy is always changing it- it is currently a picture of Daphne and Jonah riding down a grassy hill in a wheelchair. The look on Daphne's face is absolutely hilarious! It makes me smile every time I see it.

30. Have you been hurt by love? I guess so, but nothing too serious.

31. What time were you born, and how much did you weigh? 7:17 AM and 9 lbs. 5 oz. I wonder were my huge babies come from??

32. Where were you when 9/11 happened? Sleeping in my apartment down in Provo, Ut. My neighbor came running in my room and turned the TV on and I thought she was trying to show me a movie. It was weird. I had to work (at the mall) later that day and NO ONE was there all day. It was crazy.


Well, that blew 45 minutes. I hope you are happy that you know all of these useless things about me now! Everyone do it, I would love to read your answers and it was actually pretty fun! :)