Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays Everyone!

It seems each year gets busier and busier, especially as the children get older. So, for those of you whom I haven’t chatted with in a while, I’ll give a little summary of some things that happened this year.

In March, we took a 2 ½ week vacation down to southern California for a family wedding. We were able to go to Disneyland, California Adventure, the beach, and the San Diego temple. It was a great visit with family.

In June, Doug and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. What did we do, you ask? Absolutely nothing! That’s okay, someday when we’re incredibly wealthy we’ll make up for it. Also, in June, I competed in my first ever Triathlon. It was a great experience, despite the fact that I had gotten the flu the day before. I’m planning on doing it again next year, just to see what it’s like racing without being sick. Who knows, this might become yearly event. (see below in June's blog for pictures)

In August it was another quick trip to northern California for another family wedding (see below in August's blog for pictures)

September was back to school. Shannon and Bryson started the second grade. My parents sold their house in California and moved up here to be closer to my grandparents and us.

In October, for various reasons, I decided to start home schooling Shannon. It hasn’t been easy but I have noticed a big change. There is an excellent program here for home schooling so she’s not spending all her time with me, some days she is in an actual classroom setting where there are about 8 students in the class. I love it. I’ll home school Bryson but it probably won’t be until they start the third grade. He’s doing so well in the public school, I really don’t see a hurry to pull him out right now.

On one of our last beautiful sunny days in October, Olivia slipped in the front yard and smacked her forehead on some rebar. So it was off to the emergency room for stitches, two to be exact. She still tells every new person she meets that she hit her head on a bar.

November was a pretty big month. Olivia turned three and the twins turned eight. Shannon is now going to Activity days with our church and Bryson started Scouts. We had family come visit for their birthday and baptism.

And so it brings us to December where we come together to celebrate the birth of our Savior, and Aiden, who will be two. I always love this time of year, not because of the stress but because it makes me think more of our Savior and all the reasons why we have Christmas.

He always has a messy face. His new thing is climbing the fridge.

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

PS One of my new year's resolutions, keeping up-to-date with my blogging :)

Aiden and the stairs

Below is how Aiden loves to go down the stairs. He can even go faster than this but of course he won't do it on camera. I think it's so funny because sometimes you can hear his breath going out of him when he's going down.

Aiden and the stairs

Chicken Salad Recipe

This is my yummy Chicken salad recipe (NOTE: preparation time is 2 1/2 hours)

Bake chicken in oven
Start preparing lettuce
Make sure kids are including Olivia on the trampoline
Put lettuce in bowl
Let Aiden outside
Wash and start adding spinach
Let Aiden in
Continue adding spinach
Let Aiden back outside
Boil eggs
Let Aiden back in
Cut up radishes and add to lettuce and spinach
Clean up big puddle of pee Olivia has just made and Aiden is now playing in
Wash hands and remove chicken from oven
Go get Aiden who has now escaped out the front door because someone left it unlocked
Prepare carrots
Referee Shannon and neighbor girl fighting
Finish cutting carrots and add to salad
Let Bryson in since the door was locked
Peel and cut up cucumber, add to salad
Put in movie for Olivia and clean up the mess of videos now on the floor
Change Aiden's diaper since it is almost touching the ground and I'm on the floor anyway
Wash hands
Cut up chicken and add to salad
Peel the eggs
Answer the phone
Slice the eggs and add them to salad
Enjoy

Whew!

Camping

We try to go camping at least once a year, so the 18th, we packed up both vehicles and headed for the mountains. We were a little concerned because the forcast said rain was coming but we had already made the reservations and couldn't back out. Besides, here in the northwest, you can never rely on the weatherman. When we left Saturday afternoon, there were some clouds in the sky but lots of blue and it was warm. It was perfect when we got there. We set up camp and had a nice dinner of roasted hotdogs. As we were getting ready for bed, I started feeling a few drops of rain, hoping it wouldn't get any worse. Shortly after everyone was tucked into bed, it started raining. We woke up to sprinkles but around 11am it had stopped and we were able to enjoy our first real day camping. And what did we do? NOTHING! It was great. The kids went exploring a bit around the camp area but that was about it. I went to bed that night thinking, hoping, praying that it would be a nice day Monday, but alas, I was awakened by a sudden downpour of rain in the middle of the night. It was coming down harder then the previous night and it was still coming down good when everyone woke up that morning.





Doug did a great job getting the fire started and keeping it going all day. And it rained all day. We were greatful to have the tent over the picinic table but the sides still got wet so we were only able to sit on one side of the table and the boxes to the right, just over Bryson's head in the picture above were wet as well. The food stayed pretty dry, thank goodness.

Where's Aiden?

There he is! He sure had fun playing in the tarp.

I wanted to be able to enjoy the fire but we couldn't because of the rain so we hung a tarp over the tent that was over the table. It was perfect. The tarp was far enough away from the flame but close enough for us to still feel the warmth. The only complaint, sometimes it caught the smoke and funneled it into where we were preparing the food. We also had to put a tarp over the edge of the tent because water was dripping in through the zipper, soaking the kids' bed. We went for a drive after breakfast, hoping the rain would let up a little by the afternoon.

We did get a little break, for about 1/2 hour. Shannon, Bryson and I went for a walk, down by the creek while Doug put the two little ones down for naps. They showed me all the trails they found from the day before and Bryson even caught a salamandar. Wish I had gotten a picture of it but the whole way back to camp to show dad, they fought over who was going to hold it and I was at my witts end. So after showing daddy, they had to take him back. Ahhhhh, peace at last, at least for a little while.

We played games, read books, sang songs and roasted marshmallows in the rain. Thank goodness it wasn't really that cold.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, marshmallows.

It rains all night and wouldn't you know it, when we get up in the morning..........SUN! Figures, the day we have to go home. Oh well, there's always next year, right?

One last pose before we all head back home. Yes, Olivia is not wearing any pants. She was good the whole time until just before we left and of course everything is packed. I was able to find some underwear but no more extra pants because she had fun playing in the puddles. On a side note, we had brought the little potty used for training and had it in the tent for during the night. She still gets up at least once to go. It actually came in very handy. On the night it was raining really hard, I woke up to Bryson dancing in front of the door, whimpering and there was no way I was getting out of my warm cozy bed to take him to the "poop shoot". Boy was that thing full by morning. Sounds gross but it wasn't too bad, I had it lined with a garbage bag and feminine pad to soak things up.

All, in all, it was a good trip and something we'll always remember.

California Trip

Last weekend we went down to California for a family wedding. Mom and I drove down Thursday (she flew up here to help me). Doug flew down there on Friday and he and I drove back home on Sunday. It was a crazy trip but so fun to see family.

Cousins Jeremy and Jack.

Bryson on Jeremy's mo-mo with "cousin" Andrew. Shannon with my brother, Seth, on his mo-mo. The kids had lots of fun riding around the court.

The photo with ALL of us got deleted by accident so this is the only closest family picture we got. (Sorry Doug)

The kids climbing in the trees at one of the many restroom stops we made.

I'm sure it sounds like Olivia is a holy terror but she really is a sweet girl. There will be times when we're driving in the car or sitting at the dinner table and she'll pipe up, "There's Jesus." And we ask, "Where?" and she'll point out the window or somewhere else in the room and say, "Right there." Then she'll say, "All gone Jesus, bye-bye." None of my other kids have done anything like that so it makes me wonder and hope that she keeps that special connection with Him. It's also a constant reminder to me that we're not alone, even though we can't see Him, He's still there.

This morning, as I was cleaning up the mess Olivia made with the banana's downstairs, she was making another mess upstairs.

That is craft paint and she did manage to get some on the carpet. Thank goodness it all came up (thank you Leslie for the carpet cleaner, it has saved us many times).

Triathlon

For the past three months I've been training for a triathlon. As my Gramma says, "Why would you want to do that?" I don't know, it just sounded like fun, not to mention a good way to get myself into better shape. Friday, the day before the race, I wake up with the flu (I hadn't been feeling well the week before but I only had a cold, but the flu...come on!). I call Doug crying, "What am I going to do? I feel terrible!" Later that afternoon we get a call regarding our sleeping arrangements and the plans fell through for that. It was also questionable whether Doug was going to be able to get off work early since we were going to be traveling up to Seattle. I was devistated. All this hard work and the money that was put into this was all going down the drain. I called my friend who was going to watch the kids for us to tell her it wasn't going to happen and explained all that had gone wrong. She then tells me, "Well, I can get you a room at Best Western for free. Give me a few minutes." Doug calls shortly after that and says they found someone to do his last pickup so he'd be home early. Things were starting to look better, all except I still felt like death warmed over (I'm not even going to complain about all the things the two younger ones got into). Things ended up working out, we got to Seattle around midnight, I hardly slept at all due to my achey body, and was up at 6:30am to get ready for the race. I still didn't know how I was going to do it. We arrived with about 15 minutes before the race started. My friend, who was also racing, helped me get ready since I had no idea what I was doing. The race started at 8am with four waves going every 5 minutes, depending on the age. I was in the last wave (us youngsters going last). Once I put my wetsuit on, I didn't feel sick anymore and I was able to complete the race. The race was 1/4 mile swim, 14 mile bike ride and 3.2 mile run. I did the whole thing without stopping or walking and finished 109 out of 130 and with a time of 1hr 39min. After I crossed the finish line, that was it. My body shut down, I felt terrible again and slept from 6pm that night until 9am the next morning.

Waiting for my turn in the water. Each age group had their own color of swim caps.

The water was freezing! We were told it was about 60-65 degrees but it felt a lot colder than that. The girl behind me was the only one without some type of wet suit. I'm so glad I had one.

Me in the transition area heading off for the biking part. We couldn't get on our bikes until we got to a designated place.

Olivia's latest masterpiece

Thursday morning I had been upstairs for only 5 minutes and when I went back down, Olivia had opened the fridge and all my eggs and half a bottle of soy sauce were on the floor. Her hands and arms were covered in them and Aiden couldn't even stand up because the floor was so slippery. If you look hard enough you will see foot prints next to Olivia, which led right to the carpet and she even has egg shell in her hair.

The Adventures of Olivia Scene 3

As you recall, scene one took place in mom and dad's bedroom involving markers, a bed, and a 2 year old. Scene 2 was also in mom and dad's room with mascara, a 1 year old, and a 2 year old.

Scene 3

Mom is upstairs sorting the knee deep laundry since everyone is now resorting to the sniffing of clothes to determine whether they are wearable or not. The two little ones are no longer "helping" mom with the laundry and have managed to make their way downstairs. So far, no sounds of the pantry doors, a good sign. After a few minutes it gets awfully quiet. "Oh boy," mom thinks but suddenly hears laughter and the children running around. "Whew, they must not be into anything." Deep into her own thoughts mom realizes again, it has gotten way too quiet. She makes her way over the smelly piles of clothes and down the stairs. Where have they gone too? She sees one of the dining room chairs has been pushed over to the island, not a good sign. (Olivia has mastered moving the chairs quietly because she knows once mom hears the scraping of the chair, it's all over.) Mom rounds the corner and out pops Liv from behind the couch, half a bottle of bubbles in her hand. The bottle was full to begin with. "Great," mom thinks, "I really didn't want to clean the carpets right now." "Look mom, bubbles! Phlst," exclaims Olivia as she is trying hard to blow into the wand. Aiden has now picked himself up off the floor and comes staggering towards mom, rubbing his eyes. "Wonderful, Liv," mom tells her, picking up Aiden whose head and face is saturated with soapy bubbles. Mom quickly scans the carpet for the puddle she's anticipating. No puddles found, odd. Aiden has really begun to fuss now so she rinses him off in the sink, trying to get as much of it out of his eyes as possible. While rinsing him off, mom asks, "Livy, where's the lid to the bubbles?" "Right there," she says. "Where? Show mommy." "Right there," she says again, running into the kitchen. Mom sees the lid just as Olivia's feet go sliding out from under her. Whack! She smacks her head on the floor and is now covered from head to toe in bubbles. Aiden is quickly dried off and mom rushes to comfort a now hysterical Olivia. Once she is calmed down, the bubbles get cleaned up off the floor (so there won't be anymore acrobatics) and then it's off to the bath for Liv.

Stay tuned for more Adventures of Olivia.......

The picture is from after he was cleaned up. He couldn't open his eyes all the way and they were pretty weepy for a while. And yes, the cat is in the tub.

This is My Life!

I'm writing this mostly so I can put it in my journal but I thought you all would get a laugh out of it and possibly even relate.

Last night Shannon comes running in as I'm cleaning up dinner and says the next door lady needs me, her dog just got hit by a car. Doug hasn't gotten home from work yet so I tell Shannon to stay inside the house while I go see what's going on. Sure enough, the neighbors dog has gotten hurt and is bleeding a little bit and she wants to know if I know of any animal hospitals around here. I don't but she ends of getting a hold of someone who does and while she's making some calls, her son is upset so I sit down and try to comfort him and calm him down. Meanwhile, Olivia has escaped because Shannon is now outside wanting to know what's going on. I tell her again to go back inside and take Olivia with her. She leaves and comes back a minute later and I again tell her to go in the house, I'll be there in a minute. She goes back to the house again and I have to sit with the dog because the neighbor kids don't want to get blood on themselves while the mom goes inside to change out of her nice work clothes. I ask Bryson to please go and check on Shannon and the babies and he quickly comes back and tells me Shannon is in the driveway and both the inside garage and front doors are locked, meaning no one is watching Aiden and Olivia. I help get the dog loaded into the car, just imagining the mess the kids have gotten into. I wasn't worried about getting into the house because 1. the back slider door was unlocked and 2. we have a spare key hidden in the backyard. When I got inside, there was Olivia, shoving the last of the jelly beans into her mouth (she had climbed the pantry shelves and gotten the candy off the top shelf) and Aiden was sitting on the carpet with his diaper off, jelly bean remnants on his mouth. Wouldn't have been that bad but yup, he had a poopy butt. The messy diaper was by the pantry and poop was smeared all over the kitchen floor. I get them upstairs and into the bath just as Doug is getting home. The phone rings and it's my doula partner needing to talk about last minute details about a client of ours. So while I'm talking to her I'm trying to get ready to leave because Thursdays are my swim nights and my ride is going to be here any minute. Before Doug can even eat his dinner, I need him to finish bathing the kids because they're screaming and I can't hear Karen. Just as I'm getting off the phone, I see Lisa pull up. I tell Doug "thanks, I have to go, oh and if you hadn't noticed, there's a mess on the floor."

Please tell me I'm not the only one that has these kinds of days. Oh yes, Shannon couldn't play today as a result of yesterday's disobedience. And today was a better day.