Christmas in July

O.k. Christmas is now going to be held in July! Why? Because we are finally home from Utah and it was quite the drive. We left a day early because of the road conditions and I always get sad and cry when I leave my family. We hadn't been in the car for 10 minutes when Nat threw up. Yikes! And so then Mason did and then it slowly trickled threw the family. Add a snow blizzard on top of that in Oregon and it was plain lousy! We stopped at a hotel in Oregon somewhere and tried to sleep off the yuckies. Being sick is bad enough, but when your husband (who's doing 99.9% of the driving) and kids are sick it is so miserable. I cried when we came into Olympia and vowed to never do that drive again!!! So to all you Utah family members, when we come for our July visit- expect Christmas presents because we are NOT coming in December. And now I must go becuase 4 out of the 5 of us have the flu. RATS!!!

Merry Christmas to all...

We are here in Utah. We left yesterday (Friday night) around 5 and traveled through the night. It works best this way because the kids sleep in their car seats. Lucky I know!! Then when they wake up we're at grandma's house. Not the case this time. We stopped in Portland and went to Chuck E Cheese to let the kids run around. After disinfecting them in the bathroom we set off. The roads were horrible!! Oregon was seriously like driving on icy potholes. I took a turn driving for a little bit but when the mile marker started waving at me, I decided that maybe I better stop. Our normal drive of 13 hours took 17. I am really starting to hate that drive. The kids woke up and we were not yet to grandmas. In fact there were 3 hours left to go. That made for cranky kids, dad, and mom. Add snow 80 % of the way and wheww we are finally here!! It is a massive winter wonderland!! It's cold for our kids but they are also enjoying it. It's great to be around family for the holidays and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas. Maybe we'll come home. But I am having doubts about getting back in the car. Melackaleeke Muka!

Coal, Castles, Canceled

O.k. so here are just a few random things to say. First of all, I don't know how to match the picture to the thing I just typed so you'll have to figure that one out on your own. See, reading my blog can be fun!!!!!:) O.k. first coal. Mason has been acting up latley and I got so tired of saying ,' Stop that! Don't! Be nice!' etc.. that Santa came early with a present just for him. You can get real coal at the dollar store and I picked some up on a whim. It has come in handy. I wrote a letter saying how he was a good boy and Santa loved him, but he was making poor choices and if he didn't start being nice and listening, then Santa would bring him some coal. In the bottom of the bag I put the real coal. I put it outside the front door, rang the doorbell, and ran through the garage. He opened the door and was so excited to see his name on the bag. Much to his dismay he pulled out the letter and the coal. Mason read the note and he went silent. Then he sat on the couch for a good 20 minutes and didn't say a word. Not a peep! I went and sat by him and he said," I don't want coal for Christmas, I want a basketball." Yep he was an angel the next day and for a few days after that. I never wanted to be one of theose moms that threatened with Santa, but by golly, I'm thinking that was a good move on my part.

Now Castles. O.k. Tyler LOVES his Natalie. I mean LOVES HER to bits. So what does she get for Christmas? Tyler found this website that makes bunkbeds that are shaped like castles for thousands- seriously thousands of dollars. He decides to make one for her. It's AWESOME!! He had it done in about a week and a half. So looking at the picture you can't see the top bunk but it's up there and Mason gets to sleep up there on weekends when there is no school. So he finishes it and I got the princess sheets and comforter and we made her bed and then I got the video camara and filmed her coming in her room. It's Priceless. She scream ," My princess bed!! It's a princess bunkbed! Thank you daddy! Thank you, thank you!! Then she throws her arms around Tyler and gives him the biggest hug. It's great. We don't seem to have a problem with her going to bed. :) If you read this love- you seriously are the Best Dad in the world.

Now onto canceled. I in no way mean to offend those that were raised here in WA and that live here now. But, is this state running on all cylinders? Look at the picture I took of the snow that fell Sunday night and school is canceled the next day? Canceled? And I can see the ground and the leaves and the grass? Seriously it's the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Truly. Maybe I'm being harsh coming from Utah where it can snow FEET and school NEVER got canceled. I can honestly sit here and I can't recall a single snow day in the history of school. Now, today it snowed about 5 inches. Odd for WA, and school was canceled again, leaving me some pretty happy kids and a awesome looking snowman. I can understand today, but Monday- give me a break! Oh, and school is canceled tomorrow as well. I don't understand why but I'm also not a bus driver so I'll just chill out and end my post.

Christmas time is here

It's Christmas time once again and this year Tyler and the kids lined the driveway with colored lights. It's pretty awesome at night and the kids, of course, love it. We cut down our tree and brought it home to decorate. Now, I'm not one of those moms whose tree has to look good at Christmas. I believe that Christmas is for kids, so let them decorate the tree however they want. So I strung up the lights, opened the box of ornaments, and said," O.k. guys it's all yours!" It was fun to watch them and 90 % of the decorations are at the bottom. One little branch has 6 balls on it alone, but it's their tree and that's what's important.

Now, I something to say. What has happened to babysitters around here? Has it really changed that much since I was a sitter? I never EVER put movies on and then raided the fridge. Here's what I'm getting at. We had our Elders Quorum Christmas Party Sat. night. I got a sitter that we had before and she seemed to play well with the kids. After I drove her home I asked Mason what they did. He said," We watched lots of movies and ate rice crispy treats." I asked him to show me and he pointed to It's Christmas time Charlie Brown- which I am fine with. It's only 30 minutes. But then he said " We watched the Lion King and the Bee movie." I'm thinking holy cow! That's way more than I liked!! Plus I told her that the kids could have 1 (one) treat not the whole pan of crispy treats. And she ate our Klondike bars and seriously half a carton of ice cream! Now, when I say help yourself to anything you can find- I don't mean every treat in the house. Am I alone in this thinking? When you baby sat did you all pop in a movie, after movie, after movie? I always wanted a snack but never dared in case they actually counted the cookies and then thought, ' Well Beck certainly helped herself to the pantry didn't she.' So there. It had to be said. And they're more expensive too, but that's for another day. O.k. all done. Merry Christmas.