Christmas Morning

Well, this was our first Christmas with just our little family - in the past we have always been with either Jonny's family or mine. We're 30 years old, I guess it's about time! We had a great time - it was so fun to finally have Emma understand more of what was going on and be excited for Santa to come. Matthew was, naturally, more interested in eating the wrapping paper than anything else. So I let him. A little bit.

Let me tell you what, I had no idea how much work goes into orchestrating all the holiday hoopla! And we only have two kids, so the hoopla was pretty limited. Still, it was a real eye opener to me about all our moms do for us. So to Jonny's mom and my mom thank you, thank you, thank you, for all that you do to make every birthday, holiday, and every day so special for us.

We also cannot thank you ladies enough for coming to take care of us this summer when everything "hit the fan" so to speak. I am still humbled to tears when I think of you both getting up with my baby at night so I could rest and get better. I don't know what we would have done without you. We love you so much.

And on the 7th day...

I remember when Sunday was a day of rest. I would go to church, maybe have a couple of meetings, and spend the rest of the day spiritually uplifting myself - reading the scriptures, the Ensign, writing letters, writing in my journal...

Now it's just - I don't even know what it is. It's almost like if the government really cracks down on the whole waterboarding thing, they could make terrorists take small children to church during the 1-4 block when all they want is to be sleeping and all you want is to be anywhere but there with said children. That, or they could make them try to potty train Emma, but that's a whole other story.

Today I got out of church before Jonny, so I went to get Emma out of the nursery. I already had Matthew in the carseat and the diaper bag and my purse. Then they gave me the "treat bucket" for next week so I'm also carrying that and then Emma threw herself on the ground in the hall and started crying hysterically (no nap, you see?). She didn't want to go home. So I'm dragging her down the hall by the hand, trying not to hurt her or look like an abusive parent, which I was actually getting close to becoming. Fortunately Jonny heard her screaming and left his class to come help me. Hooray for the fact that we only have one more week until we change to 9-12 church!

and many more...

Happy Birthday to our cute Isaac on the 15th and Miss Liesel on the 21st! We love you little cuties!

Once There Was a Snowman

My Baby Boy

From this:


to this:

in six months.

Where does the time go??

Happy Birthday Mikey!

Today is my sweet brother, Mikey's, birthday. He was our family's little Christmas present in 1979. I don't know if grown men particularly like being called sweet, but he just is. He is also probably one of the funniest people I know. He is a hard worker, extremely intelligent, and very very logical (sorry Mikey, had to tease you a little...). This summer I went to Utah for a little family reunion - this is my dad holding Matthew and Mikey holding my little niece, Haley, who is a week younger than Matthew. I love you Mikey!

Biohazard #8743

Those of you who have children, or have spent any amount of time around children, know that from the actual delivery of the child for the rest of eternity is just one big biohazard after another.

It all started when I woke up Tuesday morning, with that old familiar feeling...the flu. The last time I felt that way was on a family trip to Hawaii when we all got sick and spent the week in paradise barfing our guts up. I kept trying to tell myself that I'd rather be sick in Hawaii than anywhere else, but that didn't really help.

Anyway, Jonny stayed home from work and took care of the kids. What a dream he is. I tried to stay away from everyone so as not to spread my germs, but Thursday around midnight I heard Emma crying and found her covered in throw up. Cleaning up throw up when you are just getting over that yourself is not something I would recommend. We threw all the bedding in the washer, bathed her and went back to bed. Jonny got up at 4:30am as usual - I can hardly think at that time of day, let alone exercise, but he does it 4x/week. Right after he got up the power went out and stayed off for almost 2 hours. Wouldn't have been a big deal if Emma hadn't started throwing up again around 5am. I just told her to throw up in her blanket because I couldn't see a darned thing.

Later that morning I washed the bedding a second time, just to be sure it was all clean. When it was done I started putting it into the dryer. If you have a sensitive stomach, stop reading now. As I pulled her blanket out of the washing machine, chunks of leftover throw up went flying all over the kitchen - onto the floor, the dryer, and into the basket of clean clothes that was on the floor. Then, when I took her blanket outside to shake it, the chunks of leftover throw up went flying off of the blanket and onto ME! I literally feel like I could puke just thinking about it again!

So, that would be biohazards #8740 and #8741, #8742 and #8743 would be the fact that Matthew now has something of the same bug and has had 2 major explosions in his diaper. Well, in his diaper is something of a euphemistic phrase, as it shoots clear up his back all the way to his neck. Remember that old Calgon bubble bath commercial? "Calgon, take me away?" Exactly.

More Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday this week to our cute nieces, Sadie and Madisen! Hope you girls have a great day - we love you!