The best birthday gift ever!

I think I'm sick of birthdays. Literally. For the second year in a row, I was really sick on my birthday. Does this mean I am sick of birthdays and don't want anymore (I will be 30 next year). It was not so fun, but birthdays can be good even if we're not, right? Most of the day was spent in bed, in the bathroom, trying to wrangle three little ones and keep them entertained while I was flat down, trying to wash some of the dirty laundry piles from the other family members who were sick as well, while Dave went off to work (he offered to stay home, but me being the prideful mother I can be sometimes declined because I'd be okay). That afternoon, when Emma got home from school, she told me she had a present for me. She had a big smile on her face and came and gave me this.

She stayed up the night before making this book for me, it was one of her many journals. I thought I heard her up, and I let her do quiet things in her bed if she stays there and tries to settle down since she's quite the night owl. She was very sneaky! She drew little doodles in it, on each page there was a little message or something about me. This is what it said (I've corrected some of the spelling mistakes on here so there will be no confusion, though i do love the second grade spelling): "Mom, we made you this book. Hope you enjoy it. Dear Mom, Cal said 'I love you'. Lucy says 'I love you'. Sweet mom. Best ever. Friendly. We love mom. Nice. So nice. Good. We love you. We love music. Best. Good at things. Helps. Helps everyone. Love. Cute. Love you. So fun. Loves cooking. Makes crafts. Builds things. Gentle. Polite. Played soccer and basketball. Love, Emma, Cal & Lucy." On one of the pages, it said "I want to give you these coupons". Inside, there were a bunch of cut out squares of cardstock that Emma made the coupons on. She wrote on them: "Book, You day, free day, foot bath, stop cleaning, foot massage, breakfast in bed, break day." She told me I could use them anytime I wanted, more than once, whenever I wanted. Oh, how she melted my heart! It was so sweet I cried! These are the best kinds of gifts, the ones that come from the heart. This made my birthday. I am so blessed to have such a thoughtful, sweet kids and husband, too! It's fun now that they're starting to do things on their own initiative instead of being prompted. Some days being a mommy is a thankless job. The faces and rears we wipe all day, the piles of laundry that never slow down, the dishes to load, meals to prepare, floors to sweep, the time you spend playing when you should be tackling the to-do list, reading the same book 13 times in one day...there is always so much and much of it is mundane work. And it is rare to hear a "thank you for taking me potty" or "that dinner was delicious" or "thanks for playing catch with me" or "I love you so much". It's usually "I don't need to go potty" or "This is gross, do I have to eat it?" or "can't we play something else?" or "I hate you, Mommy!" And it's frustrating and overwhelming and there are some days I feel like I'm going to explode. But moments like these make it all worth it! We did do a birthday make-up party the following weekend. We went to Cappy's, a little diner in town, for dinner and then played together at home and did a movie night. But this sweet gift from Emma and the other kids made my birthday and I will cherish it forever! <3

Tayla's baptism

We were able to go to Utah to attend Tayla's baptism the first weekend in January!  She is the first of our nieces or nephews to get baptized, so it was very exciting.  Congratulations on your decision to get baptized and take that first step to coming closer to Christ and becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Tayla!  We love you, cute girl!  It was neat to go, especially to reflect on my own baptism and confirmation and the covenants I made and have the kids get so stoked about someday getting baptized themselves!

The program was very nice...when the kids weren't being naughty! :) These cousins are on one when they're together, so we had to take some out to the hall a few times to calm them down and remind them to be reverent. Tayla's Grandma Gray spoke about the "Three Bear" and gave her three little bears with a little tag attached to each discussing the "bears" that it talks about in Mosiah 18 of the Book of Mormon when Alma was baptizing at the Waters of Mormon.  "As ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens that they may be light; Yea and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as a witness of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.  Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized unto the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you."  Grandma Gray said that the "Bears" included bearing testimony of the Savior, bearing one anothers burdens, bearing the name of Christ, and bearing your trials.  It was cute and a great way to relate it for the kids. Then all of the cousins sang "Baptism" and I played the piano for them.  They were so sweet and I love how you can hear their faith and belief when they sing!Then Grandma Ryerse talked about the Holy Ghost.  She discussed how the Holy Ghost is different for each person.  How it whispers to some and more of an audible voice to others, how it feels - sometimes it is strong and sometimes you really have to pay attention to feel it, how it is ideas that come to mind for others.  Then shared an experience she had as a student at BYU where she was crossing the street and saw a car coming towards her that was not stopping and she had the feeling to run, but the Holy Ghost told her to "Stop!", which she did.  She stopped but the car didn't and it swerved right to where she would've run if she didn't listen to that still, small voice.   Then we all went in to see Tayla get baptized by her dad, Jerry! She was so beautiful and excited! The kids all went to the font to see her up close. Then, as she was getting ready again, we got to write little notes to her that her Primary was going to compile into a book. Shortly after, she came back and was confirmed by her dad and her grandpas, her uncles (including Dave) and other family members were in the circle too. She had a huge grin on her face! After that, we had a party in the gym for her. We had BBQ sandwiches and sides, we brought our chocolate fountain and had all kinds of goodies with that. The kids loved being able to run around the gym and play together! Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to Tayla and had some cake. Later that night, Lucy & I got sick...no fun! And for about two and a half weeks, we'd pass around this nasty virus which was not much fun. I was so exhausted some days, trying to comfort the sick ones, disinfect and sanitize and clean and do laundry while still being sick myself. But we're all better now, and hope that's it for a while! :) Seeing Tayla get baptized made us very excited for Emma's baptism coming up later this year, as well as the rest of our kids! Being baptized was one of the greatest decisions Dave & I have made and are so grateful to be members of this Church and to have the gift of the Holy Ghost! What a great blessing!

2014, here we come!

Is it just me or is it hard to believe another year has passed and it is now 2014!?  We had a great day celebrating.  Emma drew up some "blue prints" for decorations and party plans, and we decorated and got some ideas together for crafts.  We had our friends the Powells over for dinner and some festivities.  We made some Chinese food - orange chicken and wontons.  It was fun getting to know them better, we've hung out a few times, and they're a great family.  We had some little crafts that the kids made - party hats, clocks, and confetti party poppers.  We ate some snacks and the kids watched a movie and played and us adults just talked.          

                                   

Then, when the clock struck 10 (we did it a little earlier so the little ones could celebrate too), we had a big bag of balloons at the top of our stairs we popped open, and the kids went wild playing with the balloons.  It was a party, they loved it!

After our balloon bash, our friends left and Emma, Dave and I cleaned up, played a bit, and watched the ball drop.  Emma made it to midnight.  She kept changing the time on her clock to match with the time it was to help her count down.  She popped her confetti popper, but stuffed it too full and nothing came out.  Coverton also woke up a little before that time and was up so we let him come celebrate with us.  Dave and I shared a kiss and then we watched the events on the TV for a while and then crashed and went to bed.

As for my new years resolutions, I've made it a goal to just relax more and not worry about my "to do list", do at least one scrapbook page a day to get caught up, become more dedicated again to scripture study by focusing on reading more and pondering more, exercising for at least 30 minutes a day again (I've been lucky to get 20 in lately), and being a happier, positive wife and mom!  

Happy 2014, everyone!  Hope it holds nothing but the best! 

Christmas Magic

Oh how we love the magic of Christmas!  It started for us long ago, but Christmas Eve is always especially exciting!  We started out driving down to Utah to be with our family!  The kids were happy Daddy got donuts for the drive down - sugar!  But not so happy our DVD player started acting funny and stopped working.  But they did well just singing, reading books, and looking out the window, the good old-fashioned things we did on road trips.

We first went to Aunt Lois and Uncle Keith's home for our annual Christmas dinner and program.  The dinner was yummy, we enjoyed visiting together, and Emma and Cal and Lucy played with the cousins.  Then we took a seat and got ready for the talent show.  This year, I played the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" on my flute while Emma and Amber danced around, Cal played "Rudolph's Little Brother" on the piano, and Lucy sang "I Am Like a Star Shining Brightly".  Of course, we had other great talents we got to enjoy by our family - story telling, jokes, guitar playing, singing, dancing, piano songs, etc.  It is always such a great night!

No, this was not their dance.  Emma loves to wrestle, and so does Amber...most of the time.

Can it get any cheesier, Cal?  Enjoying the show.

Coverton loved being passed around all night.  That was his talent!

Part of our crew.  Santa didn't visit this year, he just had an accident and couldn't make it.

Keith and Lois just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary - happy anniversary!  To celebrate, they went to the Holy Land.  They talked about their experiences and brought us all back nativity ornaments made from olive wood.

After the program was over, we rushed off to Uncle Brian's birthday party.  The cousins all had a happy reunion, like always!  Our kids always talk about the cousins and name their stuffed animals after them, we sing songs about them, and they love to draw pictures and write letters to them.  One Emma recently wrote to Tayla said "I miss you so much I could cry" and "You make my sad days happy and my happy days happier."  And "You are my B.F.F.C.  That stands for best friends forever cousins!"

As we do every year for Brian's birthday, we all have a turn trying to break open the pinata in the cave room.  It was a dragon this year, but of course, given a little cosmetic surgery from the big boys with duct tape so it wouldn't break after the first hit.  This was Coverton's first time, and I helped him a bit.  He liked watching it swing back and forth and trying to follow it with his eyes.  Lucy remembered what to do without any help and gave it a little hit.  Cal swung the bat very hard, almost too hard.  And Emma hit it, but not enough to break anything.  After we made it through almost everyone, the dragon broke open and candy went flying everywhere!  The kids scrambled off to get what they could!

Santa's little helper - Coverton's first Christmas!  We sang to Brian, and did cake and ice-cream, then it was off to get ready for bed!  The kids opened their new pajamas - the girls got matching Hello Kitty pj's and the boys got striped racoon jammies.

The boys were being silly and had a hard time winding down (can you blame them!?)

Lucy loves that Brody!

Before bed, Aunt Stacy read a cute book she wrote and illustrated that she's in the process of publishing to the kids.  It was adorable, she is so talented!  You would think that the kids would've been beat, but they were up almost until midnight, just too excited and couldn't sleep!  Some of the adults stayed up longer to get things ready, and Dave and I had to run to Walgreens to get a few last minute things, which was crazy!  We watched midnight mass and an old Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert on TV and hung out a little and finally went to sleep.

Uncle Jerry was the last one to wake up.  He teased the kids that he was still asleep and kept grabbing and hugging them all and said they were his teddy bears, "my teddy bear!".  They cracked up and thought it was so funny!

Then they lined up, youngest to oldest and we tortured them long enough in waiting, so we let them go see what Santa brought!

Lucy got a Minnie Mouse doll dress up set and Doc McStuffins bag, but she was more interested in Tayla's doll house.  She kept going back to that and playing with it all day!  I guess we'll know what to get her next year!  She does love her Santa toys now though.  :)

Cal got his Batman cave, which he loves so much!  He has been playing with it non-stop!  Grandma Sue & Grandpa Dan also got him lots of other super heroes and accessories to go along with it.

Emma got a real violin and was so happy!  She's been asking for two years to play.  She kept trying to play all day and asked me to teach her, but unfortunately, I only know how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and it sounds pretty horrible.  So we are looking forward to getting her into lessons.

Coverton got some fun things from Santa, too.  He got a new baby monitor, some rhythm instruments, and a mustacifier.  He actually really enjoyed the wrapping paper the best I think though.

Then we joined everyone and went to open all of the presents from Grandmas and Grandpas, aunts, uncles and cousins.  The kids always get way too many things (time to clean out the old and put in the new), but each thing is so special to them and they love it all!  

Here are the boys with their new facial hair, Cov with his binkie and Cal with one of his sticky mustaches he got.  Anytime Coverton is using that paci in public, everyone comments over how cute it is!  It is pretty funny!

After a magical morning of opening and playing with presents all morning, we made some pancakes, sausage, bacon and eggs for breakfast.  Then we cleaned up a bit, and went across town to Grandma Di & Grandpa Scott's.  It was so relaxing.  We just played with new toys, talked, read, and ate all night.  Mark, Mayela, and Amber were the only ones who came, but we talked on the phone to Adam & Meghan quite a bit and Aunt Christie, Rex, Jess & Adam came over for a bit.  The kids went sledding in the backyard.  Emma is die-hard and took her coat off.  They wanted to stay in their jammies all day and I said that was fine by me!  But Em was soaking when she got in so she had to change.  Amber liked going backwards on the sled best.  And Cal would run to get the maximum speed each time and loved going on his knees.

After that, we had a delicious ham dinner with all the fixings and all sorts of handmade cookies and candies that would put Martha Stewart to shame.  That's my mother.  And then we acted out the first Christmas.  We used to do that each year when my siblings and I were little, but then we grew up and didn't want to do it.  Now we have enough kids to, so we did.  It was sweet.  We hurried and put costumes together from the costume box, linen closet, and fabric scraps.  Lucy was Mary, Emma was an Angel, Marko was Joseph, Amber was a sheep, Coverton was Jesus and Cal was the star.  Grandpa read the passages from Luke 2.  Truly Christ still brings "peace on earth, good will to men" and always will.  It was the perfect way to end the perfect Christmas Day!

The day after Christmas, we went to Grandpa and Grandma Stoddards and we were going to do a snow festival, but the snow was too crunchy and you couldn't really make anything with it.  So we went up to higher ground and Grandma Di helped Amber, Emma and Cal learn how to cross-country ski at the park.  I wish I remembered my camera.  The snow was still pretty hard there, but the girls did very well after a while and were enjoying it.  There was a dog there that Cal played with the whole time!  It was so cute, Cal kept saying "here, boy!" and it would play fetch with it and throw a snowball in the air, which the dog would get.  They chased each other the whole time, and if we moved, the dog would come with us.  It was a very nice dog!  And Lucy liked playing in the snow fort and making snow angels and playing on the frozen playground.   That night, we all went to Zoo Lights.  It was really cool, we didn't see very many animals out, a few seals, some of the big cats, bats, and the reptiles and other indoor animals.  But the lights were great!

Friday was friends day!  We had to run to Ogden to get some errands done.  Then we met up with our good friends, the Yangs for lunch at Chili's.  At first, Emma and Elisha were quiet, but warmed up and acted as if they'd never been apart.

What a great family, we love the Yangs!

Eliana was kind of sad and Cal kept trying to comfort her.

Then we jetted off to meet Ted, Amanda, and Baby Genevive, who were also in town.  It was so fun to talk to them and see how much Genevive has grown since last time!  She's a cute little peanut. She and Cov had a great time playing on the blanket together, grabbing each others faces and rolling around into each other.

The rest of the weekend, we watched some college football, just hung out with the families while we could, got some shopping done and went to church on Sunday.  It was so nice!  Christmas is truly magic!