Our week of Christmas part 3

This is Natalie fascinated with the lights on my brothers Christmas tree. We went there the day after Christmas to have dinner and have picture done with all the grandkids of my parents. We had planned to do it outside but it was really windy and cold that day so we opted for inside. Hopefully I will post those pictures soon.

This is Nathan at my Grandpa's house. We visited him on Christmas day. He has a lot of animals that sing songs and my kids love to play with them. To be honest I think it gives Grandpa Great great joy to watch the kids enjoy them.

Taylor enjoying the Winnie the Pooh toy at Grandpa Great's. We had also visited there Nana great before this visit. It is great that my kids have Great Grandparents that they get to see pretty regularly.

Taylor organizing her stocking candy on Christmas morning. Gee I wonder where she gets that from. ;-)

Nathan pointing out that Santa had tried the cookies we left for him.

We really did have a great Christmas. We consider ourselves blessed in many ways. We spent a lot of time with our extended family and our little family making many memories. It was a busy and somewhat stressful time, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Our week of Christmas part 2

Tuesday the 23rd we had the lockshop Christmas party. We wanted to do something different and fun for the employees this year. Plus we needed to have a party we could bring the kids to since we both needed to be there. Before most of the lockshop parties were at an American Legion post and we sat there as everyone else smoked and drank. Obviously we didn't want to do that so we opted for a party at Speedway Racetrack in Phoenix. It was a lot of fun. The employees got to race indoor go karts (we have 7 employees in addition to us) The party consisted of 2 races each, pizza wings and drinks, we gave them all a small present and trophy's were given to the 3 fastest racers and I of course got the turtle award for being the slowest. THe picture above is of Nathan and Taylor doing to arcade race game. (you have to be 8 to drive the go-kart)

This is Preston (front car) in one of the go-karts. They definitely did not have leg room, but they were fun.

This is Nathan Taylor and Thomas (cousin on my side) I watched Thomas and his little brother Henry while most of the rest of my family went to see the Nutcracker in Phoenix.

Christmas Eve we went to my Parent's house for dinner and to act out the Nativity Story. This picture above is my brother and his 2 boys as the 3 wise men. They were visiting from Provo and it was so great to have them here to make memories with.

Here is the rest of the Nativity pageant participants. Nathan was the lone shepherd. Taylor the lone Angel. I am Mary, Preston Joseph and Natalie baby Jesus. Can I just say this terry cloth robe and towel were very hot. Plus I had a sweater on underneath. I was neat to participate in the pageant. I havent done that since I was probably 12. Thanks to my sister Sherri for gathering most of the costumes for us to do this.

Our week before Christmas Part 1

Monday Dec 22nd the cousins on Preston's side were in town for the big family party (125 + people in one house-crazy times) Anyhow the cousins came to my house and made ginger bread houses. The picture above is of Nathan and Daniel with their houses.

This is all of them during the construction phase.

Taylor and Chanelle with their finished products.

Most of the cousins on my side at our family Christmas party we had at my house on Sunday evening. We had a lot of fun. The night included a yummy mexican dinner, barking dogs a couple of videos (Mary did you Know? and Luke 11) We had all the family together. 10 grandkids at 9 adults.

This is the Gingerbread house that Preston and I made at my friend Hollie's annual Gingerbread party. (Friday the 19th) I am a little embarrassed by it. I really didn't have time to research any cute ideas of what to do we just threw it together with candy I found at the dollar store and what I found in my cupboards. It is fun to make though. Hollie really goes all out for these parties.

Saturday the 20th we had our ward Christmas party. THey fed us a really yummy spaghetti dinner, we had a program and Nathan dressed up as a shepherd for the Nativity Pageant. Preston and the rest of the bishopric were the 3 wise men and they did a little program part and handed out gifts. Sorry I forgot to my camera that night.

Sunday the 21st at church I actually sang in the ward choir for the Christmas Program. This was huge for me. I haven't sang in a ward choir since I was a teenager. I really enjoyed it and plan to continue to go. The highlight of it all (other then the amazing spirit you feel) was that Preston had to come off the stand and sit with the kids while I sat on the stand for the program. Of course they were angels for him. No tantrums and no throw up. I was really hoping for something to help him realize it is a bit difficult by yourself with the 3 of them. Oh well.

Wow 3 posts 1 day. Can we say catch up?

Taylor enjoying the spatula from the brownie dough.

The picture to the right is 3 of the 9 goodie plates I made for primary teachers, HT and VT families.

These bottom 3 pictures are what my house looked like after spending most of the day baking and doing work for the shop. I had also cleaned up some before I thought to take a picture of the mess. Taylors room isn't bad but it shows 2 of the 4 loads of laundry I needed to fold. I am glad I am done with that project and grateful that my kids were low maintenance yesterday.

Some Christmas picture moments

We went and saw Santa at the Chevy dealership by our house. I have done this for 2 years now. The picture is free and there is never a line. Preston and I did not plan to be in the picture but Taylor wanted nothing to do with the Jolly Old St. Nick. She told us that she wasn't scared of him. But when we walked up to him she changed her story.

This picture was taken on Saturday after we finally finished decorating our Christmas tree. It took 5 days. Preston put 2/3rds of the tree up on Tuesday afternoon. Thursday night he finished putting the tree together. It is 10 feet tall so that is why I didn't finish (in case you were wondering why I looked at a partial tree for 2 days) Friday night we decorated some. Finally finished decorating it Saturday morning. Preston made the comment. "We don't have to worry about a toddler to bother the bottom ornaments and therefore can decorate the whole tree this year." I reminded him that Taylor may be almost 3 but she is still Taylor. I find ornaments in random places throughout the house and she has broken 2 or 3 ornaments. That's our Taylor ;-)

Saturday is a special day

That wonderful primary song never meant as much to me as it does now. I am not quite sure why it is a primary song when it should be the Relief Society theme song. Anyways part of my personality is to set out what I am going to wear the night before I go to bed. When I worked I would set out my outfit, now I just have my gym clothes all ready to go. I even have Nathan trained that he sets his clothes out the night before. It just makes the morning routine go so much smoother. With 9 am church and 3 kids to get ready for church by myself Saturday preparation for Sunday is a necessity. I took a picture of my kids last Sunday before church. Taylor is definitely not in the mood for a picture, but overall they all look nice in their Christmas church outfits. In the span of 6 days the following items were lost and required tweaking of their outfits, thankfully I had time Saturday night to do this instead of scrambling Sunday morning.
1. Natalie red bloomers that went with this dress completely disappeared. So she is just wearing a white onesie underneath to hide her diaper.
2. Taylor's white tights now gone. So we substituted with cream and black shoes as opposed to white.
3. Nathan's black church socks gone. He is wearing navy blue, close enough right;-)
ANyways this is a random post but just something I have been thinking about. On a sidenote I loooove hand me downs. Nathan's sweater and Taylor's dress are both handme downs. Thank you to my gracious family and friends that help clothe my children.

Counting our blessings

This is my wonderful mom and Natalie when she came home from the hospital. We are counting our blessings right now because of both of these girls. In case you didn't know my Mom was diagnosed with Uterine Cancer in early November. She had a full hysterectomy done this past monday. During the surgery the pathologist didn't believe the cancer had spread by the look of things. We got her biopsy results yesterday and discovered that the cancer was contained in one polyp inside her uterus. She does not have to have any radiation or chemo. We are so happy and consider it a miracle that it was caught in the very early stages and taken care of quickly.
Now onto Natalie. She has had a cough for a couple days. I prayed that I would know when it got serious enough to take her to the doctor. Well she was coughing quite a bit yesterday morning so I made an appointment with the pediatrician. Of course she coughed maybe once after I made the appointment until we got there. Her lungs checked out clear. Oxygen level in her blood 97% and tested negative for RSV. YEAH!!! The ironic part is when the doctor checked her ears she has an ear infection in both ears. We were both shocked. The doctor stated "I did not see that coming." Natalie has never had a fever and doesn't act like she is in pain or bothered at all. But she is now taking amoxicillin (which makes her mad when I give it to her). I am grateful that I took her in to discover the ear infections before it caused any more damage. I am couting my blessing of prayer and the medical knowledge that is available.

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Okay I am finally posting officially about our weekend in Eagar. This is the kids on Thanksgiving day. I got the girls matching outfits at Costco. I never thought I would be a mom that dressed my girls alike. Of course I never had 2 little girls to dress up and didn't know how fun it could be.

This is Natalie with her Nana Great from Preston's side she is almost 93 and was able to come from Mesa to spend Thanksgiving with all of us in Eagar.

Natalie with her Grandpa (Prestons Dad) We got some cute video of the 2 of them talking.

Taylor all ready to ride her Grandpa's 4 Wheeler with her Dad. It was really cold so Preston didn't take them on many rides.

Nathan playing with his cousin Daniel. They were playing a game that is a mix between raquet ball and tether ball. Nathan is 8 months older then Daniel and they are pretty inseperable. (don't know if spelled correctly)

Taylor with her 8 yr old cousin Janelle. They were playing all kinds of songs on the piano. Taylor loves playing girly things with her girl cousins.

We had a great and relaxing weekend spending time with family.

We have another one

Thumb sucker that is. Our little Natalie has found her thumb. She is still getting the hang of it but is taking quite a liking to it. I must admit I am glad. Once they get the hang of it then I don't have to search for the pacifier while driving or when she is in her bed if she starts crying because she needs some soothing. It was pretty much inevitable that she would suck her thumb because when she was younger Taylor would try to help Natalie put her thumb in her mouth. Taylor is a thumb sucker too. Maybe it is a girl thing. Nathan never sucked his thumb.

Belated Thankfulness

My heart has been full of gratitude this past week for many reasons. It all started on Sat the 22nd we had a stake temple day focusing on a day of gratitude and we were to go to the temple grounds as much as possible. We started the day with Preston taking the youth of the ward to do baptisms for the dead. Then I met up with him to do a session. That afternoon we took the kids to the visitors center to see the displays. While there we decided to see the Joseph SMith movie. It was my first time seeing the movie and it helped me to remind myself of the sacrifices that were made to have the restored gospel on the earth. I am so grateful to live in a time when the gospel is on the earth in its fulness and that I can have the temple blessings to allow our family to be eternal. I am so grateful for a husband that is always respectful and helpful. Preston is a very busy man but he does what he can to spend time with me and the kids. I am also grateful for all 3 of my kids. They have very unique personalities that make life fun and interesting. I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We have been with family in Eagar AZ. We drove up Thanksgiving morning and got a rare treat of a White Thanksgiving. It rained on us the whole trip until just outside of Show Low and then the snow came and it snowed until just outside of Eagar. It was very pretty.

Love/Hate Situation

Lately I have been feeling under the weather. I have had a case of the flu and a lot of things on my plate with work, family life and church responsibilities. When things get like this around here I hate it because I can't keep up with it all.

On the other hand Taylor loves it. She can get away with a lot more when I don't have the time or energy to deal with it. The picture demonstrates that quite well. She has completely destroyed her room and our family room I just didn't take a picture of that. Also she dressed herself, which whe does everyday but yesterday was different. If you can't tell, she has her underwear on the outside of her shorts, her shirt is on backwards and she is wearing her brown church shoes with no socks and on the wrong feet. Oh well she is safe, has been fed and has had a fun day with her toys. I guess that is all that matters right.

We are the Ward Halftime Show

I feel bad for the members of our ward who attend church to learn from the speakers. If they sit around me and my kids they are destined to be distracted. Last Sunday was no different. We are sitting in the middle of the chapel (literally I usually sit in the middle of the midde pew) I look down at Nathan and he is looking really droopy, he informs me that he is really tired. NOw if you have a weak stomach stop reading this post now. Then about 10 minutes later I look down and he looks like he is about to cry. I ask if he is feeling sick. He says "Yes, I feel like I am going to throw up." I say "Okay HURRY lets go, start walking I will come with you." We start to rush out , we are almost at the aisle and then Nathan stops walking. I say keep going and the man we were standing in front of says "It's okay just keep going buddy." I then realize that Nathan has thrown up a little, he looks at me with panic and embarrasment on his face. We rush out into the hall and RUN down the hallway to the bathroom. We made it. Then I grab some wet papertowels from the bathroom. Nathan does not want to go back into the chapel but I need to because Taylor and Natalie are still in there. So he stays in the foyer. I go in sit down in front of the area where he threw up and clean it up. The sister sitting there had already started to clean it up with a box of kleenexs that she had put in her bag on the way out the door to church. Bless her heart. So we finish cleaning it up and putting the kleenexs and towels in the empty box and she takes it to the garbage for me. I then gather our stuff from where we were sitting. During the rest hymn I retrieve Taylor from the family that was taking care of her 1 row behind us and then get Natalie from the family 2 rows behind us that was taking care of her. We leave to get Nathan in the foyer. Taylor asks where we are going and states she wants to stay. I then summon Preston off of the stand he comes out and gets Taylor and then she sits the remainder of the meeting on PRestons lap on the stand. I take Nathan and Natalie home. I probably should send an apology note to the speakers for being so disruptive. It was kind of appropriate that there topic was about trials we have but that Heavenly Father is aware of us and that there are people to help us. I am very grateful for all the help from the ward members that our family receives.
A couple of side notes. Nathan did not throw up or really act sick after that, although he did stay home from school yesterday. I had a dream Sat night that Nathan threw up somewhere and somebody said Welcome to Flu season. So far I am the only one that is sick besides Nathan and mine isn't very bad. That same day our pet goldfish died, but it had lasted 3 weeks and we were pretty surprised it lasted that long.

Our GREAT Grandpa Great

Today is my Grandpa 90th Birthday so I thought I would take the time to post a tribute to this great man. My kids call him Grandpa Great or Taylor it sounds more like bompa rate. She will say I love Bompa Rate. My Grandpa is probably one of the greatest men on the whole earth. He is always so loving and caring. He took care of my Grandma selflessly for many years. When I was a kid we visited almost every Sunday evening and would have rootbeer floats. It was a tradition I cherished then and now. My grandparents house was always filled with love and reverence. Grandpa's eyes are dark brown and full of love. He is thought of as a lovable teddy bear. His nickname for me was dopey. I am not sure as to why but he has called me that ever since I can remember. Up until I was quite old I would perch on the arm of his recliner everytime I would go to visit. I just wanted to be close to him. I hope that I can be even half the person my grandparents are. I am sorry to all of you who have not had the privillege to meet him he is a wonderful man.
I would like to list some of the Grandpa isms
1. "Mighty Tasty"- No meal is complete without him saying this.
2. "Head first or feet first"- He would say this to whoever was sitting in his recliner when he came to sit down. When I was about 10 years old he picked me up off the chair after saying this. He was so proud of himself with the shock he created in me that he actually picked me up. He still gets a kick out of that today.
3. " It will cost you a quarter" He says this whenever you ask a favor of him.
4. "I am going to get a bean or two" This meant he was going to get groceries.
5. "I got my ears lowered" Meaning he just got a haircut.

There are many more but I will leave it at these.

New dresses and a bad mom confession

Last week Taylor and Natalie received new dresses from their Uncle Kendall and Aunt Liz. They are super cute and we love them. Liz's Grandparents own a clothing store in northern CA it is Rebecca Raggs if you want to check them out. They have a lot of reversible jumpers that are really cute.

Okay onto my confession it is a long story considered yourself warned. I wasn't going to blog about it but it is one of those stories to remember. Last weekend Preston Natalie and I went out to dinner and a movie. Natalie's favorite kind of pacifier fell into a parking lot during the evening and was run over. Well we picked it up and put it in the dishwasher at home to clean it. THe next morning Sunday I grabbed the clean pacifier out of the dishwasher packed it in the diaper bag and headed off to church. As I think all of you know Preston is in the bishopric so I sit at church with the 3 kids by myself every week although I do try to sit by friends that can help take care of the kids if I have to leave the meeting. SO I am sitting listening to the testimonies because Natalie is asleep on the pew next to me Taylor is coloring and Nathan is just sitting there playing with the R2D2 toy that he informs me he snuck into church in his pants pockets. (I don't let him bring toys to church, hence the sneaking) Well I look down at Taylor who is sitting on my lap and she is not coloring in a book she is coloring on the white part of her brand new dress with a purple crayon. I sternly whisper in her ear Taylor JO! (yes middle name was appropriately used) Well Taylor knowing she was just middle named and therefore in trouble starts crying and screaming uncontrollably. So I quickly turn to my friend behind me and ask her to watch Natalie and Nathan while I take out the screaming Taylor so I can stop disrupting the meeting. I take Taylor to the bathroom to scold and attempt to clean her dress (no luck, but it did mostly come out with desolvit and dreft) Now here comes the confession. When I return after the meeting is over a young woman in our ward is holding Natalie as she sucks on the pacifier from the dishwasher. When I take Natalie from her the pacifier comes out and displays black around her mouth and chin. I first say what is on her face. I then realize what it is and say rather embarrassed. "THat is part of the street on my baby's face, I so do not deserve Mother of the Week award." It was rather humorous. I wonder if the phrase "God made dirt and dirt don't hurt" also applies to the asphalt?

The faces of Natalie

My sweet little Natalie really is a good baby. She is content and happy most of the time. If she is tired or hungry she will cry but that is about it. Well in this first picture she is both tired and hungry. Being the blogger addict I am I decided to take a picture of her old man frowny face instead of feeding her. Often when she frowns the sides curve down a lot more than this but after 3 times of trying to capture the best picture I gave in and fed her.

This is Natalie the next morning after a good night sleep and of course she had recently been fed. The smile is a much more flattering look. Don't you think. She also has a bigger smile then this picture shows but I couldn't capture it, I am not fast enough on the trigger.

Veterans Day

Today the kids and I went to see the Mesa Veterans Day Parade with my Mom and Dad. The parade itself was pretty boring. THey spaced the entries way toooo much. At times we waited 5 minutes until the next entry marched by. They did have a very memorable entry. They had someone march (mostly scouts) carrying a banner with a picture of one of the soldiers that died at war from Arizona. There was quite a few and I just sat and cried. That type of stuff really pulls at my heartstrings. I love this shot of Nathan saluting the flag. When a flag came by he would stand up take off his baseball hat and put his hand on his heart. It made me proud to see.There were a couple of funny things that happened while watching the parade. One is when one of the dance groups came by. One of the cute little blonde girls probably about Nathan's age was dancing near our side of the street. She did kind of a funny dance step and was looking right at Nathan, she got pretty close to the white line which we were told by many policeman we were forbidden to cross. Anyways she realized where she was and headed back to the inner part of the street. Nathan then looks at me and says "What was that all about?" It was hilarious, he could tell something was different about what had just happened but not sure as to why. So of course being the mom that I am I continued to tease him whenever any girls marched by with a dance or cheer group. He would just cover his face with his hat. The other funny thing I will post is about Taylor. We had been there for about 2 hours when Taylor was getting very tired. This is how our conversation went.

Taylor : " Mom is there more?"

Me: "Yes"

Taylor: "WHY?"

It was a short conversation but the was she said WHY? To the effect of why are we still torturing ourselves was pretty funny. Maybe its one of those you had to be there things. Sorry it neither story was funny to you but they were better in the moment.

the apple that DID fall far from the tree

My son Nathan and I are alike in a lot of ways. I won't get into specifics but our personalities are quite similar. Well I discovered one way that we are not alike during our trip to California in October. Preston had a Clark security Expo and Certified Locksmith Test in Anaheim and we decided to turn the trip into a family vacation. I love roller coasters and I have ever since I remember. So on the first day we were there I decided the first roller coaster I would go on would be the California Screamin ride in California Adventure. I had never been on this coaster before and it went quite fast and upside down. Nathan was tall enough so I took him with me on the ride. While in line he was excited I assured him it was perfectly safe and that they are always testing the safety of the ride. As we get closer to the front we could see how they countdown and then shoot you off for the ride he then starts to get a little more nervous. I again assure him that it is safe and that I wanted him to try every ride at least once, he may find he really likes it and want to go again. During the whole ride Nathan is constantly sreaming "MOM THIS IS REALLY SCARY" I felt bad after we got off the ride but figured he would forgive me and be ready for smaller roller coasters later. Well I traumatized him, the whole rest of that day he didn't want to go on any coasters at all. The next day he went on a couple of roller coasters but we had to do a lot of reassuring and he missed out on some of the really neat rides like Indiana Jones because I assumed that because I loved roller coasters he would lover roller coasters. I will admit it is my biggest regret of the trip taking him on the scariest ride the very first couple hours, but he did enjoy himself and I think he has forgiven me. Maybe when we go again in 2 to 3 years he will be more ready. The pictures really tell the story. The first one is us in line, see how happy he looks. The next one is once we actually got on the ride before it started, he is trying to be happy but you can tell he is nervouse. The last picture is of the screen of the picture the ride takes, he is in the bottom right of the screen you can barely even see his hair. He couldn't even see in front of him because he was soo short. I learned a good lesson that I need to stop living my life through my children and instead trying to see life through their eyes.

It is Official

Okay everbody I am officially addicted to this whole blogging thing. I used to just be addicted to looking at every one elses blogs but now I am also addicted to my own. I am constantly thinking about what I could post about and I take pictures of my kids doing about everything. I hope it will eventually wear off, but at the same time it helps me keep updated on pictures and stories of what my family is up too since I don't write in my journal as much as I should. Plus it is great motivation to finish my household duties and shop bookkeeping stuff so I can get to posting. ;-)

10 Years of Wedded Bliss

1998 2008

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary. The ten years have gone by quickly but I also have a hard time remembering the single life, it seems I have always been married. I never thought as a teenager that I would love PMS so much. Okay I was being funny, but seriously I do love Preston very much and I am truly grateful for our eternal marriage. We have many years to come and I look forward to every one of them. I have to apologize for the pictures. I can't figure out how to use my scanner yet so I just took a picture of our wedding picture. And the most current family picture I have of us other then in the hospital is Disneyland pictures. Oh well.

Flu shots and Bribery

Yesterday I took Natalie to the Doctor for her 2 months check up and shots. Well Nathan stayed home from school because he had really bad allergies and his sinuses were causing him to be dizzy and to have a headache. He was also really tired from the allergy medicine. As we are driving to the doctors office I told Nathan and Taylor that we were going for Natalie and that she was getting shots so they needed to be good so I could focus on her. They were told that nothing would be done to them just Natalie. Well once there I decided to have Nathan and Taylor get their flu shots. Since I had said nothing would be done to them I had to pull out the bribery card. Nathan wanted to buy a toy at the dollar store, Taylor needed more she wanted a toy and an ice cream cone. Last night we went to the dollar store, at first Taylor carried around a baby doll for her choice, Nathan was taking quite a while to decide so Taylor continued to wander the store. Her final choice was Let Er Rip putty. I explained that it made tooting noises and that she would probably enjoy the doll more. Well as you can see we ended up with the putty and Nathan picked a car toy. Can you tell Taylor has an influental older brother.

Halloween

This Halloween was probably one of the most relaxing ones we have had in a long time. We went to one party where they had dinner and then we trick or treated in their neighborhood visited at the party for a while and then went home. Usually we drive to different parts of the neighborhoods in our ward boundaries to take the kids trick or treating to ward members. It was nice to not drive all around but we did get chastised a little by Nathan's primary teacher they waited until 9:00 with a big candy bar just for him and we never showed up. OOPS!! We will have to make that our first stop next year. In case you can't tell from the pictures our costumes were:Preston-Gorilla, Julie-Banana, Nathan-Iron Man, Taylor-Cinderella (I actual got a pretty tiny ponytail in her hair to make her look more glamorous, that is a huge success) Natalie-Bunny (it was quite warm that night so she was unzipped most of the night). The jack-o-lanterns this year were: One on the left was Nathans it is a ghost with BOO. The one on the right is Preston's it is the ASU Sparky. GO DEVILS

New Chapter or Midlife Crisis?

Well family and friends I am finally doing this. As you can see I set up this blog account 8 months ago and haven't done a thing since. I don't know if having my 3rd child or turning 30 or the combination has put me in a midlife crisis state. I have made some changes in my life and I guess having a blog will just be another part of this new chapter of my life. What changes you may ask. Well first of all I joined the local gym again after 4 years of no gym activity. I have a lot of exercise and weight loss to do to reach my goals but I am trying to be realistic. I have done pretty good at going. Another thing I changed was my hairstyle. I am back to having bangs after not having them for the past 7 years. I like the way they look (I will post updated pictures some time) but still trying to get used to the actual bangs. The last big change is I am trying to not wear my frumpy old t-shirts and jeans EVERY day. I am trying to look more feminine. I attribute this change to watching a lot of TLC and the show What Not to Wear is on often when I am feeding Natalie. So bear with me during this new chapter of my life. I can't guarantee great or frequent posts but I will do my best without stressing myself out.