Wishing you much happiness and....

Merry Christmas! Have a wonderful and safe few days! Much love to our family and friends near and far.

We are good birth control

I just have to write this for my future posterity because it was just so funny and typical of my life. Yesterday, my friend Mindy called me and we were trying to have a quick chat. She called right after Makenna woke up from her nap. She usually wakes up a little grumpy and is super anti having her diaper changed lately. So M was running around sans diaper and spilled most of a can of diet coke all over her but would not let me change her (so super ghetto). Mindy is patient through me dealing with the daily dramas of two young and opinionated kiddos. I finally get M diapered and dressed and get the kids bundled up so they can go play in the back yard. I'm sweeping the floor and keeping an eye on the kids outside. A few minutes later M starts screaming in the back yard. I go out and she is standing completely naked in our cooler that is still full of ice from the weekend. Knee deep in cold, icy water. Boogers dripping down her face and getting in her hair. Big crocodile tears. I fought the urge to take a picture and rescued her. Then I had to fight her to get rediapered and reclothed. At that point Mindy offered to let me go. I'm pretty sure that based on that conversation with me she won't be wanting any more kids.

My life, it's so glamorous. Hahaha.

I never do these....

but I like this one so much that I'm going to do it. And I enjoy reading other people's meme's on their blogs. Maybe you'll learn something about me you didn't know...

ABC's of me:

A - Available or single: No way! Going on 6 years of wedded bliss.
B - Best friend: Allen, of course!
C - Cake or pie: Pie. Preferably my mother in Law's pear pie. Yum.
D - Drink of choice: Diet Coke, lots of ice. Lemon wedge on the side
E - Essential item you use everyday: Straightening iron
F - Favorite color: Red to decorate with. Black to wear.
G - Gummy bears or worms: Yuck, neither. I'm a swedish fish girl
H - Hometown: Littleton, CO
I - Indulgence: Weekly date night with Al (we almost never skip a week). It is the best time of the week for both of us.
J - January or February: Both. How can I pick? My sweet babies were born in January and February
K - Kids & names: Carter (4), Makenna (22 months)
L - Life is incomplete without? My faith and family
M - Marriage date: April 27
N - Number of siblings: 3
O - Oranges or apples: Both. I love all fruit. I could eat an apple every day though
P - Phobias or fears: Raw meat. So gross!!!
Q - Fave quote: "Do I like smiles? Yes, but only if they are real and filled with life. And I also like tears. You see, truth is beautiful, no matter what the expression." Randy Bacon
R - Reason to smile: We finally bought our tickets to Hawaii yesterday! Whoop!
S - Season: Fall, hands down. I love the sights, smells, beginning of the holiday season, warm comfort foods
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Mindy, Kayla, LolliJayne (you know you want to), Meghan
U - Unknown fact about me: I can still do the splits on both sides. Random
V- Vegetable you don't like: I've rarely met a vegetable I didn't like. I'm not a huge squash fan. I have major texture issues
W - Worst habit: I consume a bit too much Diet Coke.
X - Xrays: Huh. I think I had my foot xrayed once when I landed on it wrong in gymnastics. I've lived a relatively injury free life, thank goodness
Y - Your fave food: homemade chocolate chip cookies, good mexican food (the spicier the better), gigantic, unusual salads
Z - Zodiac sign: Sagitarius

Pump It up!

Today Carter's preschool class had a field trip to Pump it Up. It's a great place full of those huge blowup bouncy toys that are usually found at fairs and parties. We were there for just over an hour and both kids were SO tired after playing. Of course, Carter cried when it was time to leave. We may take him on his birthday since he loved it so much. Not only is Carter's preschool teacher SO cute and good to the kids, she also plans awesome, fun activities.

Kenna's outfit

Last night was the reschesduled ward party. Makenna wore her cute Christmas outfit. I decided to just post another picture so you can see the cute shirt my mom made. We're casually thinking about going into business together to do boutique children's clothing. An outfit like this would sell for big bucks on ebay.

Pictures from the Storm

These are all photos from Friday when having no power was still novel and fun. By the next morning there were really no smiles on our faces. Here is Al boiling water on our grill for our hot chocolate.

Carter helping haul in some firewood.
This is one of about 5 trees that was down on one single street in our neighborhood. This tree is still down and the neighborhood just west of us still has no power thanks to this baby.

This tree fell down and crushed the house next door. I feel so bad for the people, their house has been deemed uninhabitable by the health department. This is about 2 blocks away from our house. The tree uprooted the people's entire driveway too. Another tree down on that same street. These are just a few of my pictures. Our church building lost 15 large trees in this storm. So sad, really.

For the Record

1. We are home. It is warm. Power came on sometime this morning. Al will be back at work tomorrow.

2. I love Christmas cards. It never occurred to me that there are actually people out there that don't like getting cards. But last year I was visiting with some friends in my CT ward and several people mentioned not particularly liking holiday greetings. So, in case you're wondering, I LOVE getting your cards. I love seeing how your families are changing and growing. I love reading the quirky things about your year and your lives. Please keep sending me your cards.

3. Yay for neighbor gifts. Neighbor gifts, I have decided, are definitely a thing of the west. We tried all 4 years in CT but every year people seemed surprised to see us on their doorsteps, yet again, with a small holiday greeting/trinket/treat. But this year we have not been disappointed. Today we arrived home to find a GORGEOUS holiday wreath on our door. It was even anonymous. So, thank you phantom wreath giver. We love it. It smells divine.

Pictures tomorrow!

Finally in from the cold

If you've been following the national news, you probably know that there was a major wind storm in the Puget Sound area (including Seattle) on Thursday night. It knocked out power to 1.5 MILLION people in the Seattle/Tacoma area, most of which are still without power. We braved it out for two nights but Makenna is still sick and when we woke up this morning the temperature in the house was 48 degrees. We decided to pack it up and head down to my sisters house in Vancouver. So we are here now, enjoying warm showers, warm food and a warm home.

I have tons of pictures to post later of all the trees that are down that took powerlines down with it. Within a couple blocks of our house there were 12 trees that fell and took lines down. We are hearing it will be days before the power is restored. We are very grateful to have had a well stocked 72 hour kit, a car with a full tank of gas (and an entertainment system since we packed the kids in with movies when we needed some warmth) and of course are very grateful for my sister and her family for taking us in.

This isn't exactly how we were planning to spend our last week before Christmas but it is definitely an adventure! It has been weird for everything to be without power - grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, etc. It has really made us realize how well we really need to be prepared. We will be buying a generator sometime in the future!

Anyway, we will keep the Blog updated with our whereabouts. If you have sent an email in the last few days (there have been a lot of you), we'll try to get back to you soon!

Our prayers are with our friends who are still in the cold tonight!

Easy, Cheap, Fast Christmas Gifts

Here are a few things that I made for neighbor/friend gifts this year. All homemade, fast and cheap. This one took me literally 20 minutes from start to finish last night. It's a 2007 dayplanner - total cost about $8 - including the $5 planner. Less if you have coordinating paper/ribbon on hand. Just cover the planner with paper. Tie one length of ribbon per spiral ring (I might add a second ribbon per spiral if I want a fuller look). Paint one piece of chipboard in a coordinating paint and glue to binder. Voila - cheap, cute, easy. (Forgot to add that I stole this idea from my sister)

I took these to a gift exchange last weekend and am taking them to my Visiting Teachees. Total cost about $4 including jar, candy and ribbon. I wanted to put a cute Christmas rub-on on the side but the ones I ordered haven't gotten here in time. Fill a mason jar with candy. Tie one thicker ribbon around the top of jar lid. Tie shorter, thinner ribbons around the fatter ribbon. Cover inner ring with festive paper. That's it. These have gotten rave reviews.

I made these advent calendars at my sister's Super Saturday way back in October. These took a couple hours to put together but I've given 5 away as gifts and people have loved them. These are activity advent calendars that you write a daily holiday activity on the tag. It's been a really fun thing this year. It is probably pretty apparent that I LOVE ribbon. I use it on almost every project and scrapbook layout I do.

We've been laying low for a couple of days because Makenna is sick with a nasty cold. It's been a nice change and I've gotten some stuff done around the house (like deep cleaning in time for Christmas company) and have had some good hang out time with the kiddos. We did miss our playgroup Christmas party today but I just couldn't take her as sick as she is.

All things Gingerbready!

These collages includes pictures from a few things, all gingerbread related. First, pictures of Carter with his graham cracker "gingerbread" house he made at preschool. Second, our family gingerbread house making party from last Friday night. Makenna's main contribution to the evening was being the candy tester. And now, 4 days later almost all the candy has been picked off and eaten by the kiddos. Finally, Carter's preschool fieldtrip was today to downtown Seattle to see the gingerbread village, ride the holiday carousel, see all the huge nutcrackers and eat at Starbucks. We even took the bus downtown, which he really enjoyed. Fun times!

More Pictures

A few days ago Carter wanted to make a garage for his cars. So we took a box and the kids decorated it with all sorts of crafty things.

While I was making dinner, Makenna was busy decorating herself... It was hilarious to watch since she was using the paint brushes exactly how I use my makeup brushes.

Earlier that day I took the kids to play at the Children's museum and we did the face paint booth. On the way home, I gave them each a blue candy cane and then Makenna fell asleep. She was none too pleased when I had to wipe her face before she finished her nap. This is a picture of my favorite new addition to my holiday decorations. I saw this last year at my friend Brittanie's house and fell in love with it. My mom gave me some of it last year and then I got the rest of the set this year for my birthday. I LOVE it. I am seriously considering keeping it up all year long.
Not quite as beautiful but completely adorable. We got this set for the kids this year. I've wanted it for a few years so this year we finally did it since we are trying to really focus on the Savior as the reason for Christmas. It's been a huge hit and every child who comes to our house loves it.

Santa Breakfast!

Our ward had a Santa Breakfast this weekend for all the kids in the ward. It was such a cute activity and the kids had a blast. Carter and Makenna were completely blown away by the real life Santa Claus. They also had a craft project and story time and yummy food.



Here's a little peek at the skirt I made for Makenna. My mom is making her a coordinating shirt so I will have to post a picture of her entire outfit when I get it!

We have a busy, busy week this week. Preschool field trip, preschool party, ward party, Nutcracker for me and Al, baby shower for a friend, etc. etc. Lots of pictures to come!

A new look

A big thank you to my friend Mindy for making my new blog banner. I love it and she is a pro! I have some more tweaking to do to get the rest of the blog the way I want it but it's a little lower on my priority list than some of my Christmas stuff. Hopefully later this week!

Thanks Mindy!

Family Pictures!!!

Gripe.

Just a little vent of a post.

1. I am prepared for the holidays, as you probably know. But lots of people aren't. I wish I could stay holed up in my house for the entire month of December but a girl has to get groceries (Costco & Albertsons) and Diapers (Target). It is a complete zoo out there people. Lines a mile long. Grumpy employees and customers. I have a couple of things I need to do at the mall this week that can't be avoided (non Christmas related) and I am already dreading it.

2. I REALLY wanted to find a snazzy dressy holiday outfit this year. Wouldn't you know I am fresh out of luck and ideas. The one year I need something I can't find a thing. Well, I can't find a thing that is modest and does not reveal my undergarments and that fits into my budget. I suppose I could go crazy and buy an expensive and beautiful dress at someplace like Ann Taylor but that is just so impractical. First, I dress up a total of about 2 times per year. Second, it is likely that I will be pregnant by this time next year (sigh) so it definitely would not be rewearable next year. And since it will probably take me 2 years to get back down to the size/weight I am right now, it is pretty pointless (bigger sigh-can you tell I'm so not excited to do the pregnancy thing again - but that's a whole other post). I did buy a cute top in CO but when I got it home it looked ridiculous with what I had envisioned it with. It's totally not salvagable since it is sleeveless.

3. Is it just me or are they putting out spring/summer wear earlier and earlier every year? As I was wandering through Target tonight, I noticed plenty of springy looking things in the children's department. I must admit that I even bought an outfit for M tonight. In my defense, the sizes at Target get picked over really fast. They were already out of 2T tee shirts so I settled for a 24 months onesie instead (which I'm going to have to exchange since Miss M is already practically begging to be potty trained and onesies just won't fly). Sadly, I am really aware of spring clothes this year as I am preparing to buy a load of Spring/Summer things in anticipation of our move to the land of no seasons (AKA Phoenix) sometime in the next 6-8 months. In case you're wondering, the Gymboree spring preview is unveiled on December 20th (see what I mean?!?).

The end.

The Trip

As promised, here are the details of our Thanksgiving trip. It ended up being a very different trip than we originally planned.

What we thought would happen: Leave Wednesday 11/22 and drive to Salt Lake to have Thanksgiving Festivities with Al's side of the family. Leave on Monday 11/27 to go to Colorado to spend some time with my family.

What actually happened: Al's mom called on Monday (11/20) afternoon to tell us that his grandmother was being released from the hospital to go home to die. She urged us to come to Boise as soon as possible to spend time with her. At the very last minute we decided to leave on Tuesday after work and drive through the night to Boise (good choice as the kids slept the entire way). Once we were in Boise we decided that we would stay for Thanksgiving day and Al's Utah siblings decided to come up as well so they could see Grandmother.

Al's grandmother has been ill and in pain for many, many years. As difficult as it was to say goodbye to her, we all knew it was what she wanted and what was best for her.

Thanksgiving Day: Thanksgiving day was so much fun. Most of Al's extended family lives in Boise so it was SO FUN to see everyone and spend time together. The cousins got together for an early morning Turkey bowl and had a blast.

We had a massive family dinner at a nearby chapel with all of the aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. I'm guessing there were 80ish people there for the dinner. It was great to catch up with people that we hadn't seen for years. Here are some pictures from the meal: This is Al's Uncle Bill pushing the kids around on the tables. I don't know if you can tell but every single child has a look of pure delight on their face! Our kids loved it!Carter and Makenna especially loved playing with their little cousin Lauren. She is such a sweet little girl and SO cute!!
Friday 11/24: Spent more time with Grandmother and family. We stayed by her bedside and sang songs as a family. Each individual family had time to spend with her to say goodbyes. We decided to continue on to Utah in the afternoon and that we would adjust our trip as necessary for grandmother's passing. Here's a pic of the drive down to Utah with Uncle Jake and the kids.

That evening at Steve and Meg's house, Jake opened his mission call and will be serving in the Lima, Peru South mission. We are all so excited for him.

Saturday 11/25: About a week before our trip, Al's brother Steve called me and told me that he had secured tickets to the BYU/U of U game for himself and for Allen. Al and I had been looking for weeks on Craigslist and ebay for tickets but decided the prices were just too steep for us. I knew Al was super bummed but he was ok with it. On Thanksgiving morning Steve presented Al with a poem about the BYU game. Here's Al's reaction when he realized he had a ticket to the game:

I knew it was a dream come true for him. Meghan and I decided to surprise our husbands with these shirts to wear to the game www.UtesSuck.com . Al showed me the shirt months ago and I had already ordered him one for Christmas. Their tickets were in the Utah alumni section and they apparently were harassed plenty for wearing them. I'm sure Al will give a blow by blow review of the game on his Blog, so I'll skip it here. They had a great time.

While the boys were at the game, I took the kids down to Provo and walked around campus, the bookstore and had ice cream at the creamery. We had lunch at our favorite Provo restaurant, El Azteca. That night we met up with everyone at Temple Square to look at the lights (it was a total madhouse). None of my pictures from TS turned out but we had a great time. This is the kids at the Joseph Smith building. Notice they are wearing their BYU celebratory garb.

At least the temple looks good in this picture. You get the idea though.

Sunday 11/26: We received a phone call on Saturday that grandmother had passed away at 10:30 a.m. The funeral was scheduled for Monday at 11:00 a.m. We knew the kids were burned out of being in the car so I decided to stay in Utah with the kids while Al went to the funeral with his siblings. I was especially sad that I didn't get to see Al's sister and brother who flew in to Boise for the funeral but it was the best decision.

On Sunday afternoon I took the kids up to my childhood best friends house in Syracuse. We hadn't seen eachother in 5 years since we lived on opposite ends of the country and were never in Utah at the same time (she just moved back from Las Vegas). We had the best time being together. I was sad when I finally had to leave to put my kids to bed. I'm definitely planning to see her more often now that we live in the west.
Monday 11/27: Al and his siblings attened the funeral and then drove home. I was able to have lunch with one of my dear mission companions, Lizzy. Unfortunately no picture (not sure what I was thinking). It was so fun to be with her for a short time. She works at Thanksgiving Point and I was hoping to take the kids to the dinosaur museum but apparently Makenna was feeling sick. 4 diaper changes and 1 complete blowout later, I decided to forgo the museum. I had to strip her down to her diaper and shirt and she was pretty grumpy. I did get this picture of Carter with one of the dinos. He was thrilled.

It was also super fun being with my sister-in-law Meghan. We went shopping at a very cool new store in the Salt Lake area called Tai Pan Trading Company and stayed up until all hours of the night chit chatting. Steve and Meg were wonderful hosts and Meghan made a SUPER yummy Thanksgiving Dinner that we ate on Monday night. Seriously, the best stuffing I've ever had. Yum!

Tuesday 11/28: We drove to Denver on Tuesday. It took us 12 hours to get there from SLC - normal time is 7 1/2 - 8 hours. The roads were treacherous from the moment we hit the CO border and were caught in the middle of a big winter storm. It took us almost 4 hours to get from the Loveland, CO exit to my parents home in Littleton (usually about 1 hour). The highway was actually closed at one point and we were stuck on the highway for over an hour, not moving. The kids did surprisingly well. I have never been so scared driving before. We are grateful we made it in one piece.

Wednesday 11/29: My 31st bday!! It was a pretty low key day, as far as birthdays go, which was fine with me. We got up and let the kids play in the snow for awhile. Ironically we were ill prepared for winter weather. Last year we went home for Christmas and it was in the 7os the whole week we were home. Anyway, the kids had a ball in the snow and lasted much longer than we anticipated.

We went to lunch with my parents and then I helped my mom in the afternoon setting up her creche exhibit (more about that later). Al and I were able to go out after the kids were in bed and had dessert and went to a movie (Stranger than Fiction, which I do NOT recommend spending movie theater money on - it's a definite rental).

Thursday 11/30-Saturday 12/2: The real reason we went to Colorado was to help my parents with the Interfaith Creche exhibit they were in charge of this year (technically it is my mom's calling but my dad was her total right hand man). My mom has been involved with the creche for the last 5 years - originally on the committee, then serving as co-chair for the past two years and then this year as the Chairperson. It's a huge, huge deal with thousands of people coming through the exhibit over a 4 day period. It is held at the stake center in my parents stake, but you would never be able to tell. They completely transform the stake center. The display includes over 800 creches from around the world. They had a Jerusalem room that held all the olive wood creches from Israel that was amazing (mom designed it last year). You felt like you stepped into a different time and place. There was a creche room for Asia and Africa, children's creche creations, a Europe/Americas room and Children's room where all the displays were interactive. It was amazing. The staging looked professional and was museum worthy.

This year my dad built a lifesize manger and animals to be displayed in the entry of the church as patrons were walking into the coat check area. It was incredible. Here are a couple pictures:
This isn't the greatest picture but hopefully you have some idea of the scale of the whole creation. This took up one huge wall of the entryway. Here's a close up of some of the animals:

And a picture of some of the camels that were outside the entrance to the exhibit.

I have many more pictures but since much of the work is copyrighted by the artist, mom asked that I not post them on my Blog. It was an incredible, testimony experience for all who visited the exhibit. It was so nice to emphasize the reason for this holiday season and the Savior's birth. You can see their website for more information: www.interfaithcreche.org

Mom did an AWESOME job organizing this event. It has pretty much taken over her life for the past year and will continue to do so as she is going to be the Chair for one more year. She was even interviewed on a morning news tv show to talk about it.

Saturday 12/3: Drove from Denver to Utah and spent the night with our close friends from CT, the Perschons. Our visit was much too short be we had such a great time with them. We planned out more details for our trip to Hawaii that we have planned with them at the end of March 2007. We can't wait to have more time together.

Sunday 12/4: Drove all the way from Provo to Seattle (16 hours with stops). What an exhausting trip. The kids did quite well and slept for much of the time. We were even able to meet up with Al's mom in Burley, ID for a quick lunch as we were driving through (she was on her way to UT).

Anyway, we had an awesome trip but are glad to be home!!

There's no place like home...

We finally made it home last night after our epic Thanksgiving trip. So much to do... unpack, get groceries, finalize things for Enrichment on Wednesday night.

But we're home and we had a wonderful, busy trip. We logged just over 3,000 miles on our car - yep, you read that correctly. Seattle to Boise to Utah back to Boise back to Utah to Colorado and then back home.

I took over 200 pictures on our trip that I'm hoping to get through sometime this afternoon during naptime and post the mother of all posts about our trip. For now, we've got the Christmas music cranked and we're getting back to the routine!