Homemade Icecream

We got an ice-cream maker for Christmas from Brad's parents and we tried it out tonight. It was delicious! We made chocolate ice-cream with Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Yum!!

Eternal Families

We had such a good Christmas break. We were able to enjoy the weekend with family in Chicago. It was so nice to be with them and have a non-studying husband as well!
We did receive some really sad news about a family in our neighborhood, though. They were in their last year of Medical School and were on break visiting their family in Arizona. He is a year older than Brad and they have three little boys. He had a sudden heart attack on Friday morning and passed away. It is such shocking news and I'm still having a really hard time wrapping my mind around it. It is extremely sad and it breaks my heart to know that those three little boys are without a father. But the comfort in all of this is the fact that families can be together forever. They were married in the temple and sealed for all eternity so they will see each other again. I can't stop thinking about them and praying for them. I pray that this sweet woman can get through this trial and remain strong.

Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas Day.
I loved seeing the face on our children as they came down the stairs to see their gifts.
I loved eating yummy homemade orange rolls for breakfast.
I loved video chatting with our family, although I wish we could have chatted longer!
I loved being able to dive a few hours to see my sister in law and her family, and I'm grateful we get to be with them for the weekend.
We are so blessed!

Christmas Lights

Christmas Eve isn't Christmas Eve to me without Christmas lights.
Growing up every Christmas Eve was spent in downtown Salt Lake city at the Lights at Temple Square.
It was always so cold, but the lights are SO beautiful! My favorite display is the floating candles in the fountain. Here are some pictures from previous years:

This is my first Christmas Eve not being in Utah enjoying the beautiful lights at Temple Square, but our little family still had a great Christmas Eve!

We had a yummy dinner at home, followed by the best chocolate cake I have ever made! And then we got the kids ready for bed and surprised them with a drive around the city to see Christmas lights. We had fun seeing other peoples wonderful displays, and it was nice to be in our warm car!

I can't wait for Christmas day tomorrow! It should be so fun!

Crock Pots

I truly am grateful for crock pots. They make cooking so convenient. Especially when you know you are going to be gone all day. It is so nice to throw food in the crock-pot to cook while you are away and then come home to a ready and waiting dinner!
That is how it has worked every other time anyway.
Today, however, we were gone longer than we thought we would be. So when we came home our "ready and waiting dinner" was completely burned. Bummer! I was sad.
Did you know they now make digital crock-pots where you can tell it exactly when you would like it to turn on and start cooking your food? That way if you will be gone for a while, you can tell it to start cooking in a few hours.
Genius.
I will have to invest a smart little crock-pot like that someday soon.

Generosity

To the sweet old man at Meijer today that handed each of my children a $10 bill:

Could you tell just by looking at us that we weren't able to afford to fly home to see our families for Christmas this year, so we have to spend it out here by ourselves?
Could you tell just by looking at us that we have no income, are living off student loans, and have a $30 budget for each of our children for Christmas presents?
Could you tell just by looking at us that it hardly feels like Christmas time right now because my husband and children have been too sick and miserable to seem even the least bit excited?
Could you tell just by looking at us how much we needed an act of service to bring some Christmas spirit into our lives?
Is that why you decided to be so generous with your money and hand it over to complete strangers?
Could you tell how grateful we were for such a kind gift?
Could you see the tears of gratitude in my eyes as you walked away?
Thank you.
Thank you so much for your kind gift to my children. They will each get an extra special present now because you were so giving.
Thank you for reminding me that there are good, kind, giving people in the world that are willing to serve and share with others.
Thank you for reminding us to serve and give to others, even complete strangers.

Merry Christmas and may God bless you!



I also owe my parents, in-laws, and family a huge thank you as well for spoiling our children for Christmas. I feel like we have been constantly getting packages from someone in the family. My children will be so spoiled and I owe it all to all of YOU!
My heart is so full and I feel so blessed because of all the nice things other people have been doing for us.
We are so lucky.

I cannot wait to repay the favor!

Snow

It snowed here last night. And it actually stuck to the ground, and the streets, and even my car!
Kade was so excited to see it and play in it! That made it easy to cancel all my plans for the day because I did not want to drive in it.
So instead of going grocery shopping and going to the post office, Kade and I got in our snow clothes and went outside and had a snowball fight. Then we came inside and cuddled and watched a Christmas movie to warm up.
It was worth it. Those other things can wait anyway, right?

The Organ

I've always loved playing the piano and I've always loved listening to piano music, but recently I have a new desire to learn to play the organ. Learning to play the pedals has been the most challenging for me, but I am working on it. I should probably get some organ shoes before I get too serious about the pedals!
Today I got to go and practice the organ a little bit at our church with my two cute kids. I get to play for the congregation on Sunday (I'm filling in for the regular organist) and I'm a bit nervous. I think I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself because it is the Sunday before Christmas and I want it, especially the music, to be special and touch people. We will be singing "Silent Night" for the closing hymn. I love that hymn! Ahh, I hope I don't mess it up!

Brad showed me his new favorite video of Richard Elliott playing the organ. Maybe someday  I will be able to do this. You've got to aim high, right?

The Utah Jazz

Growing up my family and I were huge Utah Jazz fans. We would watch every game and I remember exactly where I was in our kitchen when John Stockton hit that fateful 3 point shot to send them to the playoffs against the Bulls in 1997. I even remember my Mom having to leave the room because she was so nervous.
The Jazz have changed a lot since then. Even Coach Jerry Sloan is gone. But when we heard that the Jazz would be in town to play the Pacers I was excited to go!
We sat in the nosebleed section and the Jazz lost miserably, but we had a good time with friends and the kids loved it! Kade was especially impressed with the arena.
Even my husband was cheering for the Pacers since the Jazz have been doing so poorly, but I just can't cheer against them.
GO JAZZ!

Hide 'n Seek

Tonight Kade wanted to play hide and seek with all of us. This has normally been a hard game to play as Kade usually ends up hiding in the same spot and running out to scare you the second you say "Ready or not, here I come!"
But tonight he was sneaky. We played as partners, so Kade hid with Dad and Tenley hid with me. Tenley, of course, gave away our hiding spot easily, but Kade stayed super quiet with Brad. We were impressed! There was even one time, when they were hiding behind some clothes in a closet, that I didn't even notice them at first. Kade sat as still as could be and didn't say a word. And he wasn't even afraid of the dark closet! I guess Brad's sneakiness is wearing off on him.
After hide and seek he wanted to play catch. But really all he wanted to do was throw a ball at Tenley's head and watch it bounce off. Poor Tenley miss. She was a good sport about it, though!
Tenley ran around the house all night wearing Brad's blue hair wig from college basketball games. She is so funny.

This is Tenley wearing the wig about 6 months ago. She still loves it.

It was a fun night :)

Orange Leaf

Tonight after dinner, Brad offered to take me and the kids out for frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf.  I would never say no to frozen yogurt! And Orange Leaf is my new favorite place! Their shop is so cute and their spoons are like mini shovels. And, of course, the yogurt is delicious! I should be more adventurous, but I always end up getting chocolate yogurt with Reese's peanut butter cup topping.
Yum, yum, yum.

Sunday Mornings

I love Sunday mornings.
We don't have church until 1:00 in the afternoon so we get to have a nice relaxing morning.
We stay in our pajamas as long as possible and I always make German Pancakes.
It's so nice to just relax and be lazy with the kids.

Last night Brad took some pictures off his phone and it was fun to see them! Here are my favorites (I have a hard time narrowing down my favorites!):

The kids riding the horse at the grocery store.

Kade got to go to school with Brad for a little bit. He loved checking out all of his "dental tools."

Kade smelling the roses.

The kids and I after FedEx dropped off my new stroller! We were just about to leave to go to the Children's Museum. It arrived just in time!

Tenley's new favorite toy... my keys.

Faith

After I heard about the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut I haven't been able to stop thinking about how grateful I am for the faith and knowledge that I have that families are eternal.
Life doesn't end after we die. Families don't end after we die. We will see our family members again and we can live together forever as families. I'm so, so grateful for that knowledge and for loving parents who taught me those important truths and live them. I love my family.
My sister in law posted the words to the hymn "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" on her Facebook page. They couldn't be more appropriate:

"And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on Earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the songs
Of peace on Earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on Earth, good will to men."

Modern Medicine

My son has, yet to be diagnosed, asthma. They won't give him that official diagnosis until he is older and has had more cases, but "it looks like that is where we are headed," the doctors say.
His labored breathing is usually brought on by a virus or playing out too long in really cold weather. When we don't act right away and start him on his albuterol nebulizer treatment this is what happens:

We end up in the hospital for a few days. Which is no fun for anyone!

But we are so lucky to be able to do treatments at home. And if we catch it soon enough he can get through it just fine.

Even though I'd rather that we don't have to deal with this at all, I am so grateful for modern medicine that helps him breathe more easily. I can't imagine having to see him suffer through it without medicine.

On a happier note Brad took his last final today! Now he has a break from school for 3 weeks. YAY!!!! The kids and I are so excited to have him to ourselves for a little while! Now it's time for drives to see Christmas lights, late night movies, sleeping in, big breakfasts, trips to the museum, present shopping, and lots of party time with Dad!

Preschool

Yesterday I got to teach these cute boys for Preschool. We learned about sports, played a lot of games, colored, read books, ate yummy snacks, and they ran around a lot!
I love that Kade is making some good friends from his preschool group and learning a few things on top of that! And I love it when it is my turn to teach them. I'm usually pretty exhausted afterward, but it is so fun to see them together and to see them learning.

Nights Away

Last night I got to leave my cute kids with my husband and go to a "girl party." At least that is what Kade calls them. It was a Christmas party and devotional with the girls I go to church with. It was such a fun night! We had yummy soup for dinner, with homemade bread. And then everyone brought their favorite Christmas treats. My favorite were the homemade peppermint patties. I need to find that recipe!
After dinner we gathered around the piano and stories of Christ's life were read, and amazing musical numbers were played. I was happy to be able to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" with two other girls, and play "I Know that My Redeemer Lives." It was such a beautiful night to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
When I got home, I was happy to see my husband and see how the kids did. I was not expecting what he told me!
When I left they sat down for dinner and everything was normal. After dinner they played in the living room and then Brad went to get them ready for a bath. That is when things got a little crazy.
He left Kade downstairs while he took Tenley upstairs to start a bath. While he had the water going he realized Tenley had pooped, so he went to change her diaper and she had blown out everywhere (She hasn't done this for months!). After cleaning that up, he left her upstairs, diaper-less  to take her diaper to the trash and get Kade to come upstairs for a bath. When he told Kade it was bath time Kade said, "I can't go right now." Brad asked, "Why?" and Kade said, "Because I'm doing something in my pants."
Brad then realized that Kade was pooping in his pants (He has been potty trained for months now and has only had a #2 accident in his pants once and that was several weeks ago). So he took Kade in the bathroom downstairs to get him on the toilet so he could finish what he started in his pants. He also had to clean up the mess that Kade had made in his pants.
About that time Tenley starts screaming like crazy because she is wondering where her Dad and brother are.
After getting Kade cleaned up they go upstairs to have a bath and then get in pajamas and go to bed. And then, to top the whole night off, Brad walked into the bathroom and stepped in a puddle of pee from Tenley.
On top of all of that, he has a huge test this morning that he should have been studying for last night while I was off at my "girl party."
I felt horrible listening to this story! I knew it was a bad night to leave because of his test, but I did not expect the kids to be so difficult. I never have a night like that with them (knock on wood).
I kept telling Brad how sorry I was, but I also couldn't keep from laughing at the irony of it all. How come those things only happen when I'm gone?
I guess I shouldn't be the one complaining. I got to have a fun girl party and miss cleaning up a lot of poop and pee.
Poor Brad.

Contests

My husband has always been the lucky one when it comes to entering contests. My favorite prizes that he has won are a Wii and a golfing trip to St. George, UT. But last week, I was the lucky winner!
I won this Phil&Teds verve stroller with a double kit:

I love it! Our previous stroller was a side by side jogger that I got from Craigslits for $50.

It was an OK stroller, but the front wheel didn't swivel and it was too wide to fit through some doorways. Our new stroller drives so smoothly and fits through any doorway! The kids seem to love it too. I was worried that my little girl would hate looking at the back of a seat, but she doesn't seem to mind it at all. It is such an expensive stroller and I'm feeling very spoiled!

Christmas Parties

Last night we got to go to a Christmas party at our church. It was a lot of fun! We had a yummy ham dinner, Kade and I colored pictures and made a reindeer ornament, we watched a neat video on the birth and life of Christ, the kids sang Christmas songs, and Santa Clause came. Kade even sat on Santa's lap this year! He is usually too scared, but when he saw Tenley do it he was OK with doing it too.

I just love Christmas parties! It is so fun to celebrate this wonderful time of year with others!

I wish I had pictures to show, but our camera is totally broken. Hopefully we get it fixed soon...

Fitsugar

I love to exercise. And I try to work out at least 5 times a week for 30 or so minutes each day. This wasn't hard to do with just one child, but it has seemed impossible lately with 2.

So I'm so glad that I came across the website fitsugar. It has a ton of different 10 minute workouts. 

Even after just 10 minutes I still feel like I got a good workout. And I love the variety that is offered. I've tried P90x, yoga, belly blasting workouts, and "do anywhere" workouts. And there are so many more I have yet to try.

I love this website! 

The End of the Day

Have you ever had a miserable, long, frustrating day? Where everything goes wrong and you are counting down the minutes for it to be over?
That is how my day felt yesterday.
I'm a stay at home Mom and I realize how lucky I am to be able to stay at home with my kids. I also realize that people have much worse day than I can imagine, but for me, yesterday was bad.
It really shouldn't have been that bad. It started out great. I woke up before the kids did and exercised. We had a good morning and we even made it to the library before lunch and read some books, played games and did puzzles. The book, The Polar Express, had just been checked in so I was able to check it out! I found a couple of good Christmas books for me to read too.
But in between all of that and the rest of the day my little girl wouldn't stop whining. And I couldn't figure out what she wanted. I would hold her, but then she wanted to get down. And every "toy" that made her happy, remote controls and cell phone, I wasn't going to let her play with. Whenever Kade would take a toy away from her, she would be inconsolably upset, when normally it doesn't take much to redirect her attention to something else.
She was just being hard. And the whining was giving me a headache.
Bedtime couldn't come soon enough so I put the kids to bed an hour earlier than I normally do. And then at last, silence!
After a few minutes, though, I started missing my cute kids. I realized how great they are even on their whiny days. They are so precious and I love them so much. So I went back in their rooms and tucked them in again while they peacefully and sweetly slept.
I'm so grateful for the quiet parts of my day where I'm able to reflect on and appreciate all the great things that I have. I'm also grateful for the not so quiet parts of my day that make me really appreciate those quiet times even more. I'm grateful for my cute kids who remind me what's really important in my life. And I'm especially grateful for a great husband who keeps me laughing through it all.

Visits and Movies

This afternoon I was able to go meet and visit with an older lady in my neighborhood. She lives a few houses down from my friend and today I got invited to go over.
Her name is Jean and she is the sweetest lady. She reminds me a little tiny bit of my Grandma Feveryear. Her house is similar and the smell is very similar.
Jean has an old upright 77 key piano. It is pretty out of tune and the sound wasn't great, but I got to play it and we sang Christmas songs together. It was awesome. I loved it. I need to work on sight reading, but they were nice and sang anyway!
Tonight we had our normal Monday night pizza. We usually end up watching a movie on these nights and tonight we watched The Polar Express.

This was always one of my favorite books growing up and I love the movie as well. Kade is in love with trains, so he, of course, loves this movie. The musical soundtrack is amazing as well. I love Monday nights!

Christmas Music

Our Christmas decorations are up and we have been listening to nothing but Christmas music around the house! I love it! Christmas is so much more exciting with a 3 year old around! We made a chain countdown and he loves cutting a link off each night and seeing how many days are left until Christmas day.
Kade's favorite song to sing lately has been "Jingle Bells." It's so fun to hear his sweet little voice singing that song.
My favorite Christmas song, depending on the day you ask me, is "O Holy Night." It's hard for me to choose one favorite so depending on my mood my favorite will change, but today it is "O Holy Night."
I'm so grateful for the reason that we celebrate Christmas. I'm so grateful for the birth of our Savior. Our weary world should rejoice. Let us all praise His holy name.