December Fun with Auntie Em

Auntie Em came up to stay with us for a couple of days. She wanted some time off work and some time to relax, so she came up to hang out. We both don't get to go home for Christmas this year or get to see the family, so it helps to hang out together, so we don't get as homesick. She still lives almost 2 hours away, so we do not get to see each other enough, especially in the winter with the weather.

But she came up Saturday night and got to see Corey dance...Then Sunday we just went to church and started decorating for Christmas. Matt and Em and my kids helped me carry up all the Xmas boxes and the tree and helped me put away all my Thanksgiving decorations. It was so nice to have help. I get so tired right now, that I can only do so much in a day. So we did get the tree put up that night and decorated, but it took us the rest of the week to finish decorating the house. It is alot of work, but once it is decorated, I love it. My kids also did some crafts with Em. Em loves crafts and so do my kids.....so I always keep a few on hand, for down time on Sundays or holiday vacations.

Monday, the kids did have to go to school, so Em and I just hung out.......went to a few shops, Em worked out, and later that night we took Corey and Cade and their friend Shaina to go and see the movie Tangled. Matt stayed home with Casen. It was the cutest movie. I usually don't get too excited to see kids movies, but this one was really funny and super cute!

Then Tuesday, we decided to meet Cade and Corey at school and go to school lunch with them. Cade loves that because he comes home for lunch this year. Next year he will get to go. And Casen loves to see Corey and Cade at school. So that was short and sweet, but I know it means alot to Corey. Later that night, after dinner, and after Matt got home, we decided to take the kids ice skating at the Eccles Ice Skating Arena. I can't go right now because I am pregnant and uncoordinated and to talk Matt into taking the kids by himself ,would be near impossible, so Em decided to skate with the kids, while Matt, me and Casen watched from the warm observation room. The kids had alot of fun and it was nice of Em to go with them and help me out a little. I was just not sure if we would get to do it again this winter with me being pregnant and a new baby here in January or Feb.

Wednesday, the kids had school again, so Em and I ran a few errands again....in fact we were in the car all day today, because we picked up Cade from the bus, ran some errands, went out to Wellsville to put my grandparents Xmas wreaths on their graves, then ran Corey and her friend to dance, and then finally made it home around 6:00. It was a long day and we were glad to be home. We ate some dinner and then the kids wanted to do another craft with Em, so I let them decorate Gingerbread Boys/Girls. They had alot of fun doing that too. It was nice having Em here to, to help them while I was making dinner and cleaning up.

Thursday, I finally started decorating the house again while the kids were at school and just about finished Thursday night. YEAH! Em had to say good-bye around 1:00, while I had to take Corey to the dentist and Cade to the dermatologist. So they all got to say good-bye.

It was fun having her here and I was sad to see her go....just the company of a sister is the best. I really do wish she lived closer. The kids love her too. She was in love with Casen this time. I have decided that she is ready for a baby. Her and Stephen really need to concentrate on trying for a baby. She also is obsessed with bulldogs. She made me stop in a Wal- Mart Parking lot so she could get out and ask this guy to pet his bulldog. And when we were in PetSmart with Casen and Cade, she stalked this guy around the store until she could get his attention to pet his bulldog. It was so funny! I love her and miss her already!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Only Thanksgiving Pic I got. I am terrible!

Thanksgiving was really great this year... I was kind of sad at first because I was homesick for my family and all of Matt's family was going to be gone to their in-laws houses....so it was just going to be our family and Matt's parents and we were going to go to Hamiltons for Thanksgiving dinner....but last minute, a few days before Thanksgiving, Lynley, my sister-in-law decided to have dinner at her house. I was so excited. My kids love to play with their kids and having it at someones house, just feels so much more like Thanksgiving. I was so grateful to her for doing this.

It turned out awesome. Her house was decorated so pretty. We all brought a few dishes to share...Nan and Norm came and brought some food, Lynleys parents also came and brought some food, our family brought a few things, and Matt's secretary Leslie also came. She was going to be alone, so Lynley and Chad invited her to come. All the food turned out so yummy. Lynleys family really prepared alot of food too and did alot of work to make it all look so yummy. It really made my Thanksgiving. We also sat around and talked afterwards for a couple hours. Then Matt was ready to go home and watch the Dallas Cowboys game in the comfort of his own home. So later that night, Mandy and Regan and their kids came over and we just hung out and watched a movie and ate left overs. I really enjoyed the day and it made me think of how grateful I am for family and how much our family has been blessed.

Friday was a dejunking day for me and an organizing day. Corey got to go to the twins 8th birthday, which she was so excited about and Matt got the day off too, to spend with the family.

Then Saturday, was Novemberfest, a craft show they have every year in Logan and Corey was performing and so were the twins. I went a little early with Corey and Cade to go and look around the craft show and then we also go to watch cousin Skye dance and Corey's friend Tyler dance and a few of Skye's cousins dance too. Their dance company was before ours. It was so cute to see Skye dance. She is 3 and she did so awesome. Casen and Matt came to see Corey dance and she did so awesome too. She was in a jazz number with her friend Shaina and also a hip hop number with Reygan and Ryley. She did so good in both of them. I was so proud of her. I always tear up when I see her dance because I know she gets a little nervous and I just want her to do so well. She is the type, that if she messes up in front of all those people, she would be devastated and cry. So I always tear up when she does well. Auntie Mandy and Nan were there too with Carma and Colleen to see Skye dance, so they stayed to watch Corey and the twins too. Auntie Em also came up to stay for a couple of days and got there just in time to see Corey dance too. I think Corey was excited to have all those people there watching her and supporting her. I am sad though because she does not want to do jazz/ballet next year, only the fun classes like hip hop. My little girl has an opinion and can't be talked into anything anymore.

Then Saturday night and Sunday we just hung out and started decorating for Christmas....decorating is not my favorite, but once the decorations are up, I love it! Em came up to stay for a couple of days, relax and help me decorate! I love it when she comes. It is a little piece of home around the holidays!

Thanksgiving Fun

November has NOT been too crazy of a month besides the kids going to school and their after school activities and trying to stay healthy for the holidays. But we have snuck a few fun things in there. We have learned how to make duct tape wallets, we have done a few fun Thanksgiving crafts, we have spent some family time in the hot tub, gone to the movies once, and found these cute SNOW HATS. The kids love them and I think they look so cute in them. So we did some modeling and took some pics in them.

I am kind of excited for the Thanksgiving break. I am not looking forward to my kids fighting all day, but I am excited for a short break from waking up early, carpooling to dance and other activities, and the whole regular day routine. Hopefully we can squeeze some fun things in there. Plus there is a craft fair in Logan that weekend and Corey has a dance performance I am excited to see.

And then Xmas will be here. And that is kind of sounding stressful to me. All the shopping, which I have started. And all the decorating...Em is going to come up and help me do that. And all the parties.....the ward one, which I am helping with and the family one which we have had at our house the past 2 years. But don't get me wrong. I am excited. I love Christmas. It is my favorite holiday. I am just tired this year and it all sounds exhuasting. I will just have to take one day at at time. Love this time of year though...all the smells, the music, the TV shows, the parties, the excitement, the shopping, the food, and yes the weather. I like the weather in Dec. and Jan. and then by Feb. and March I am over it. Excited!

A Day in SLC with EM

Matt was out of town last weekend on another little bike trip to St. George, so I thought I would take advantage of that and the good weather and go down to Sandy to see Em. We got up on Saturday and got ready and made the 2 hour trip down to see Em. We went to go and see her and Steven and their dog Mya and to see where they are living. So we stayed there for a bit and chatted and let the kids have a little break. Then we ventured on out.

First we went to a decorating store called Tai Pan for 30 minutes or so. It was Saturday and crowded, so we didn't stay for long. Not sure if there was some awesome sale going on or if it was just crowded cause it was Saturday. Not sure, but I was annoyed. It was too hard to even push a cart through there and Casen wanted out of the cart. So we got out of there fast. Then after we fed the kids, we decided to go on over to this Xmas Expo at the Expo Center in Sandy and check it out. I always see the commercials on TV and wanted to go and check it out. We actually ended up being there for 3 hours. And it was nice cause Casen slept in the stroller for half the time. It was crowded, but my kids were actually pretty good. There were alot of strollers, so it was kind of a nuisance trying to get down the isles. But it was still neat to see all the booths and buy a few things. They had jewelry, decorations, toys, frames, pics, hats, clothes, baby stuff, and food. It was almost overwhelming, there was so much to look at. I was hoping to find a few Xmas presents, but no luck there. Next year, I think I will not bring kids or a stroller and maybe things will be a little easier. But it was fun to be with Em and see all the fun booths and catch up on life.

Then afterwards, we decided to go and see my friend Sarah, who just had a baby a few weeks ago. We drove to her house, let the kids play, and visited for about 1.5 hours. It was a nice visit...fun to see her baby and get caught up. But Matt was starting to stress cause he was going to beat us home. OH NO! He gets stressed when his family is on the road and he is not with us...especially at night...when tired prego is driving. ( He does not trust me. When really it is the other way around. I never fall asleep driving. He is the one who falls asleep on road trips and I have to drive.) Anyway, we said our good-byes and by now we were all starving. So we went and got something to eat and took Em home and headed back to Logan.

It was fun to see Em and get caught up. I wish we lived closer and could do this more often. Love sisters....especially around the holidays when I am missing family.

We wanted to get home because the kids had their primary program the next day at church. Did not end up getting home till 11:30, but they all fell asleep in the car. The next morning, the program went nicely. Corey's speaking part went great, the kids sang cute, I made it through the program with only a little crying (sitting on the stage with the kids...I am a teacher in the primary), and Chad and Lynleys family came. Ryley, one of their twins decided she wanted to be in the program with a speaking part and everything, so they came to watch her. So that was making me emotional too. And Ryley did great too. The twins are getting baptized soon, so they have been coming to church lately. Corey and Cade are loving it. All in all, it was a good weekend and daddy got back safe and so did we.

Jen's Yearly Crafts

So every year, our church group has a craft night and it is really the only night I craft because they have everything there for you and they have someone there telling you how to do every step. And every year, I get overwhelmed because I sign up for too many things and can't get them done. I hate taking them home because it takes me to long to finish them. But anyway, here are my finished products. I made a picture clipboard thing. I do need to get an updated pic of our fam to put there. And my 2nd project was an Advent Calendar to count the days down to Christmas. I do have one more project that is sitting in my laundry room that has not been started yet. So I will show you that one when it is finished. It is a picture tree, that I am hoping to get done before my Xmas decorations go up. It was a fun night...a night to get away from the kids and enjoy some crafting, eating and snacking, and talking with the other neighborhood girls and moms. I look forward to it every year!

Making Treats W/ Mommy

This morning, Casen and I were feeling like we needed some chocolate....OK, I was feeling like chocolate and Casen always loves to help me lick the bowl afterwards. So we decided to make some brownies and he looked so cute and messy afterwards, I just had to take a pic.

The other reason, for this blog, is I wanted to show everyone our new stool we got for Casen or should we say for Matt.....The stool is for Casen, but it is also for Matt so he can sleep at night. Casen thinks he is a tight rope walker on our barstools and it makes Matt crazy. He thinks he is going to break his neck. Casen has fallen a few times....the other day it was really bad where I was worried about his neck....So when our new HUGE HARDY STOOL came in the mail, it was a relief. Casen likes to be up to the counter with the other kids and so this really helps to make it so he can and he won't get hurt. Anyway, I guess it was worth the money, for Matt's sake. Casen loves it and he doesn't argue when I tell him to get in his new seat. Matt really is a worry wart and it drives me MAD, so this helps me too, so I don't have to hear him whine about not watchin Casen good enough at mealtimes. PRETTY CRAZY DUTY STOOL, HUH?

Love the Holidays, But Missing FAM

So this time of year.....Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas and all the wonderful smells and decorations and change in weather really get me excited. They also help me to get through the dreaded LONG winters here in Utah. Come Feb. and March I get really burned out of the winter and am so ready for spring.

But anyway, after Halloween ended this year....I got a little sad. Sad because me and my sister Em are the only family here in Utah now and sad because my family (minus me and Em) are all spending Thanksgiving and Christmas together and I can't travel because I am pregnant. I am sad because I need a family fix with my mom and dad and siblings. I guess Thanksgiving this year is just my family and Matt's parents and it just seems so small. And Christmas has alot more to get excited about with MY OWN LITTLE FAMILIES TRADITIONS, but I still am really missing my family right now. I am too afraid to travel, because of my pre-term labor scare with Cade and I hate being away from my doctor and our hospital......and traveling is expensive with all the kids now and driving 14 hours is not fun with a huge belly and crying kids. So I am stuck here in Logan for the next couple of months. I keep trying to tell myself I will get to see my family alot in the coming year when I have the baby and afterwards, but it just seems to far away. My sister Em in Utah has to work alot and she is 2 hours away, so it is not like I get to see her all that much either and then when the weather gets nasty here, neither of us feel comfortable driving in the snow. So winters get long.

I think what it is....is that I am pregnant and emotional and need the support of my sisters and my mom. I am even getting emotional writing this.....I love the sister weekends where we go out shopping or go to the craft shows or just make fun desserts here at the house, watch movies, talk, etc. And I know my mom loves stuff like that....she loves holiday outings and traditions and really gets into the holidays like I do. Matt is NOT so excited about holiday stuff, so I feel like I do alot of stuff alone or stuff with him and the kids, but he is not enjoying it.

Anyways, just wanted to vent....Love the holidays, but also miss my family. It reminds me of the college days, when the seasons would change and I could not wait till the semester was over so I could go home and enjoy the holiday with my family. Usually I am OK around the holidays, but I think being prego is just bringing out the emotional side and I have just been wishing I had my family close by.

And to top things off this morning....I kind of had another break down because of Corey....I was reminding her about dance today and she whined and said, "Mom don't sign me up for dance next year." I got sad again, because there goes my little girl out the window...slowly growing up and turning into a tomboy. Why can't she like frilly things like tutus and skirts and dance class? I guess I better just pretend I have a family of boys and quit feeling sorry for myself. Sorry, JUST VENTING! Maybe if I go shop a little I will feel better!