Sledding- again

After all the snow that fell on Christmas we had to go sledding on Saturday so we bundled everyone up and headed back to the sledding hill. When we got there someone had made a huge jump at the end of one of the hills so Spencer (Mindy's 7 year old son) decided he'd try it out. I wasn't there yet but when I got there they all told me about it. He flew through the air (which you'll get to see Nicole do in the video below) but he landed straight on his back. He stood up screaming but that only lasted for a second at which point the screaming stopped and he fell face first into the snow- passed out. Luckily Jodene, who is a nurse, was there and quickly turned him over and managed to get him awake, his Uncle was also there who is a Dr. and he checked him out and didn't find anything wrong so off he went to continue sledding- he did stay away from the jump for the rest of the day though.

The second accident of the day happened a little later, it was not as scary and so we managed to get some pictures. You'll notice that my dad's laughing in the background and he's not laughing at Carter but at me for running over and quickly taking a picture- for the blog of course.

It was even Carter's Birthday. As I took him to the car he said "this is the worst birthday ever". He changed his mind later thankfully. After the bleeding stopped he just had a huge bruised bottom lip- just in time for the family pictures that we had scheduled that night. Even with the accidents it was another super fun day of sledding. Carter is even ready to go back.

Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas this year, Santa was especially generous. We started the celebration on Tuesday night with a party with the Lyman clan at our house, it was lots of fun.

I had to add this picture of Maxon- please don't call DCSF I promise he isn't abused. He fell and hit his head on my mom's table before coming over and then gave me the best beat up face ever for this picture.

Wednesday we went party hopping, starting at my parents house with the Halliday crew and ending up at Jeremy's house with his family.




Christmas morning we woke to lots of snow and it continued to fall all day long- it was beautiful.



The kids got sufficiently spoiled by everyone, Camryn's loot included a guitar-





A stable with some horses-



Her very own sewing machine-



Some of carter's favorites were his spy car-




New Wii games-




Carter and Logan got a lego table from Grandma Lyman-





Logan also loves his new Lion-



And his leapster-




And his new Cars and race track-




All of the kids LOVED their new blankets that Grandma Redd made-


I'd show the gifts that Jeremy and I got but they aren't nearly as exciting. Our best present was getting to watch the kids excitement all day, I wish I could keep the feeling of happiness in my house for the whole year. After opening our presents we went to Grandma Lymans and Grandma Redds followed by Grandpa Hallidays and then Grandma Blacks. Having so much family around makes Christmas in Blanding the only kind of Christmas I ever want to have. It's a little crazy to run from house to house but I wouldn't change it for anything. Tomorrow we will be going to Payson for a Christmas party with the rest of my family since most of them didn't make it for Christmas. And then it will all be over for another year : ( Thanks again to all of our family for making it such a special Christmas.

I DON'T WANT TO GO BACK TO WORK

I don't have time right now to add all the posts that I want to (Christmas, Carter's birthday, Sledding again and the bloody mess, sunday message, etc.) but I just wanted to take a moment and vent about the fact that the kids don't have to go back to school for another eight days but I have to work, it's not fair. There, I feel better now, still don't want to work but someone has to pay for all those presents.

Sleddin

Yesterday I took the kids sledding. There is a really good hill by the third reservoir and the kids had a blast. The hill is possibly a little too big for young kids but mine didn't mind. They crashed almost every time down the hill, as you'll see in the clip, I kept thinking with each crash that for sure that would be Logan's last time down the hill and that he'd want to go home but he'd just jump up and say "that was awesome" and run back up the hill. Jeremy missed out on the fun because he was in Las Vegas watching BYU lose :-( but the only way I could talk the kids into leaving was promising to come back this week while they're on Christmas break so we'll see if he's as tough as the kids.

this picture gives you an idea of how long and steep the hill is.

This is Camryn and Logan heading down the hill

notice where the track is?? And how Camryn is going off the track? I mistakenly thought that standing next to the track to get pictures was safe. A collision happened moments after this picture. My only regret was that I wasn't taking video for this one, oh well.

Sunday

I think The Sunday before Christmas is one of the best every year but this year it was especially good. Sacrament meeting was a musical program that was really good. My favorite part of sacrament meeting though was seeing a newly ordained deacon pass the sacrament for the first time. Carson is autistic, he is also the sweetest boy ever, loves everyone, has a hug for anyone at any moment. He was obviously very nervous as he held the tray with one hand and bit the fingernails of his other hand. Another deacon walked with him making sure he knew where to go. It was truly an awesome thing to watch, I remembered years earlier when I was in primary and Carson was a little. . . let's just say hard. I don't think if you would have asked me at that time if he'd be capable of passing the sacrament when he got older that I would have said yes. He has amazing parents and brothers and sisters who have done an unbelievable job of raising him. They are great examples of patience and love. I know I am a true blue blogger because as I watched Carson pass the sacrament I wished I could take a picture.

Cam's B-ball

Camryn finished her first season of basketball yesterday. She was a little bit timid in the beginning but improved a lot by the end. She had awesome coaches who did a lot to make sure that the girls enjoyed it, and she really did enjoy it.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

We FINALLY got our first real snow storm and I'm soooo excited. I love seasons- by the end of winter I will undoubtedly be cursing the snow and ready for the sun but right now I am so excited to see the white stuff everywhere, and that's why I love where we live. The kids were obviously pumped and woke up hoping for a snow day but they couldn't be that lucky. NOW I am ready for Christmas!!!

Carter and Logan had a little more snow to play with this time. Notice the nice snow angel between them.

Jeremy was excited until he shoveled and then he said he's ready for spring- scrooge!

Camryn's letter to her Dad.

ahhhhhh how sweet

Who's excited for snow???

These guys. I didn't think the skiff on the lawn counted for anything but they were sooooo excited and insisted putting their full snow gear on. Hopefully we'll get some "real" snow soon.

The Green windows

Today in Stake Conference Brother Johnson, who is an assistant in the Temple presidency, told a story about the Monticello temple that I had never heard and I thought I'd share. When the temple was built they used some green tinted glass windows. Several years later they decided to add on to the temple. The addition would add eight windows to the temple. When they went to order eight more windows they were very discouraged to find out that those windows were not available anymore. I can't remember if the company went out of business or that window was discontinued or what. So they were looking at all their possibilities, considering replacing all the windows on the whole temple, but of course that would have been very expensive and blown the budget. Someone mentioned that they had seen some boxes in the maintenance shed that they thought had windows in them. When they looked into it sure enough when the original windows had been ordered a mistake had been made and they had ended up with extra. They went and looked and there were eight extra windows.

I just think that is an amazing story. I thought back to the original contractor who had "accidentally" ordered the wrong number of windows and how disappointed he must had been when he realized. So often in life we make "mistakes" that end up being blessings. Our Heavenly Father is watching over us and knows what we need, even when we don't.

On a side note- the picture above is another amazing job by Brooke Pehrson. You can order copies of it- see her webiste for more details.

Only 23 days

I love, love, love Christmas time. I wish it was still three months away but that we already had the feeling and spirit of Christmas to enjoy for the whole time. Last night we put out the decorations. The kids had a good time decorating the tree and hanging stockings. If it weren't for having to find a place for the stuff 11 months out of the year I would love to have every square inch of my house covered in Christmas decorations.

I promise I put clothes on Logan every day, 20 or so times per day actually, he just always takes them off. Lately, he just takes his shirt off so he can be a "wrestler guy".
Daddy putting the star on the tree

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care.

The finished product.

Scout Audrey

Trent and Noelle blessed Scout on Saturday since our whole family was there as well as Trent's mom. She looked soooooo cute, we all love her so much- Logan asked Noelle if we could have her since she has two babies and we have none, seems fair doesn't it.

The cute family

A "less than happy" Scout.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great! My whole family ate at Trent and Noelle's house this year. We had way too much food, and a few too many small kids. It was a little crazy. After dinner we went and took some pictures since we were all there and then the boys went to a movie while the girls cleaned up the aftermath (not fair, I know). To make up for it the boys watched the kids the next day while the girls went shopping. Every year that I go shopping the day after Thanksgiving I swear that I won't ever do that again but this year it was all worth it because we did get some great deals. I won't list all the things I'm grateful for because I pretty much did that in my "livin in the 90's" post.

Hangin out after dinner.

All the grand kids with Grandma and GrandpaLogan learned this year what olives are for

Pie anyone??

The LIving Christ

I am sure today's sacrament meeting was really good, it was our Ward Conference. However, Logan really didn't let me listen to much of it. The topic was the living Christ and as we walked in we were handed a copy of the Testimony of the twelve apostles so I was able to read it after I got home. Thanks to a great bishopric for making sure I took something home just in case I didn't get a lot out of the meeting, I like the whole thing but I think this is my favorite: "We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles- that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."

The game of the year!!!

I am not sure the last time I was this excited for a football game but I can't wait until tomorrow. We will be watching the game at our house and anyone- Even those cheering on the Utes (as long as your not too obnoxious), are welcome to join us. We'll have a movie and games for the kids in the basement and some serious football food for the adults!! So come on over if you want, no formal invites are being sent so just seeing this is your invite and the more the merrier.

Livin' in the 90's

Today's Sunday message came from a talk given in Sacrament meeting by Gena Nielson on gratitude. She had recently been to a seminar where a guy talked about living in the 90's- and not the 1990s, but the 90% of life that is good. He said that most people have 90% positive and 10% negative in their life and that if we live in the 90% that's positive then the 10% negative will not seem so bad. I really liked this idea and needed to hear it today being as I've been throwing a small pity party all week for myself and feeling really picked on (see last Sunday's post for confirmation of this). So, after church I had to drive to Provo for some meetings this week and I had a good five hours to think about my 90%. In the process I was trying to think if I could even put into words what my 10% would even be and I was shocked, and a little embarrassed, when I had a hard time even deciding what it was about my life that could be considered hard. Everything that I had been complaining about, either out loud or in my head, seemed SO ridiculous so today I am living in the 90's but thankful for the 10% (which is probably more like 2-3%) that I've been given, and here's why-

I'm thankful for the hand prints on the walls, the toys on the floor, the pen on the couch, the piles of laundry and dishes. The only way this would end is if something happened to my family and I suddenly lived alone, or at some point in life- when my kids leave the house. I do not wish for either of these things to happen so I am truly thankful that I GET to clean up after them and hope in the process of it all they will eventually learn to appreciate it, and maybe even some day clean up after themselves (I know wishful thinking.)

I'm thankful for my husband's obsession with Xbox and here's why- Jeremy doesn't do anything half way, he's either in our he's out. I complain about this when he's playing the championship game with a team that he's worked with for years (which is only really weeks or months in real time) but I love this characteristic about him so many other aspects. Because of this dedication he is an awesome husband and father, an amazing employee and a strong priesthood holder. I will take watching hours of simulated drafts in Madden to have the husband that I have.

I am thankful for my serious, thoughtful girl. Even though this means that I go through all the effort of getting family pictures taken only to get them back without any that she's smiling in. Her seriousness and her concern for everyone else is amazing. She is always asking what she can do to help me, she is always asking how I am feeling. She has always been very mature for her age. I am so grateful for such a thoughtful kid.

I am thankful for my 6 year old who Loves every day of life. Even if this means that it takes him an hour to walk home from school because along the way he finds all kinds of adventures and excitement on the way home- even if I am worrying myself sick wondering what has happened to him. Even if this means that I rarely ask only once for him to do something because usually the first time he goes to do the task he gets distracted. Even with these things it is well worth it to see his face every time he walks in the door because he has "the coolest thing" to tell me.

I am thankful for my never quiet energizer bunny. I feel like I spend half of my life trying to get him to "be quiet"- whether it's in church or some other place that your supposed to be quiet, or at nap or bed time, or just because I'm trying to get some work done and I need him to be quiet. But I am so thankful for all the little treasures that come out of his mouth. Today as we went into church I said "now, the rule is you DON'T talk in church, OK. . . What's the rule?" to which he said "Don't talk, and don't ever give up". I am so grateful for the constant jabber that comes out of his mouth, most of which I can now understand.

I am thankful that I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of work I have. It was only five years ago that I was looking for some sort of job that I could do while also being a mother. I really just wanted something that would make a few hundred dollars every month, little did I know that it would turn into a career that I would love and be the perfect job to do while I raised my kids. So even though there are weeks when I wonder how I will do it all, I am so happy to have the job that I do.

I am thankful that every week I get to spend an hour with 11 crazy eight year old scouts. I'll have to admit this was a hard one to turn around, probably because it's a new calling and I'm still having a hard time mourning the loss of my beehives. But I am really grateful to have been taught, by great example, that you take any calling and do the best job you can at it. I know by doing this that the day will come that I even enjoy it- don't tell Brother Bethea I said that. This calling came because of my membership in the church and I wouldn't trade that for anything so I am thankful for it.

I'm trying not to be TAMNish but really I am seriously so blessed (if you don't know what I'm talking about you really need to click on the link and take the time to read the whole blog- you won't be sorry) and I am quite embarrassed that I ever felt sorry for myself. I am thankful to Gena for the great talk that she gave and for helping me to realize just how much I do have. Hopefully I'll remember for a while.

How sweet it is

Lately yogi has been having SUCH a hard time going to sleep. I'm not sure if he's inherited my inability to fall asleep without 30 minutes of complete silence and darkness or if he's ready to not take a nap (which by the way I'm not ready for) or if he's inherited his dad's distaste for being told what to do. Whatever the reason, we have had a struggle every night for quite a while. The other night we thought he had finally given in and gone to sleep and so as I went to bed I stuck my head in his room and this is what I found:

He had pulled the night light into bed with him had found a book and was "reading". At least doing that he was quiet so I just went to bed. I found out the next day that about 15 minutes later he had come out and watched TV with his dad for another hour or so. We've tried EVERYTHING we can think of. He shares a room with his brother and we've tried taking his "best buddy" away from him after a while so he has to sleep alone- didn't work! I told him he had to sleep in my closet the other night because everywhere else he was keeping people up- He went in, managed to TRASH the whole place in pitch darkness and never did go to sleep. Last night we tried saying he could either go to bed or sit on his dad's lap and not move or do anything, He would sit there until he was bored then say he was going to bed and go in his room and play in bed, at which point we'd get him out before he woke his brother up and start the process over. I've tried bribery, begging, yelling, ignoring, EVERYTHING!! So after staying up until 11 or so for the last few nights and getting up at 6 every morning it finally caught up with him and he just crashed on the couch next to me. And how sweet is he when he sleeps?

So I'm enjoying the moment and trying to be grateful for any sleep that comes without a fight, I would have preferred he wait until after lunch to fall asleep but I'll take it.