Christmas Wrap-Up

Wow, what a fast Christmas time!  Unlike last year, I really got into the spirit and enjoyment of Christmas this year.  Last year was warm weather, I was extremely overwhelmed with a new baby, etc.  But this year, I was so excited to do all of our traditions, enjoy the time, it snowed!, I had vacation time, etc.  So anyway, I took the week before Christmas off of work, so starting 11 days before Christmas, I had my last day of work!  I called it my 12 Days of Christmas Vacation.  

Unfortunately, the first two days of it were spent either puking or taking care of someone that was puking.  We all got the stomach flu!  Yuck!  But by Monday everyone was back on track.  I used Monday as appointment day, ran around, got lots done.  I took this dog to the vet.  As you can see, he lays around a lot, getting old.  He has some health issues, skin infection, ear infection, skin cysts, swollen lymphnodes and a very bad spine and hips.  Those of you who know my dog, know that he doesn't usually lay around like this.  But a pampered dog he is, using a pillow and everything.

 And laying down AT the vet's office? Now that's just unusual!  This is after he peed on the Christmas tree in the corner...

I did other things like ski, wrap gifts, clean the house, get together with friends, run errands, shop, host a party, spend time with family, make treats.  You know, stuff I rarely get to do alone!

Reed and Nora did cute things.  This is one of them:  Reed made a bed for Mickey in the hall.  He told me to be quiet cause Mickey was sleeping.  I had to step over Mickey all day!

After lunch with friends one day, they both crashed in the car.  Can you believe that Nora is already big enough for the forward facing car seat?

On Saturday before Christmas, we went to Snowbasin to ski and visit Santa.  Here are the Duran boys and Reed getting close to him cause he had candy canes!  These three boys look so much alike!

 Reed was soooo excited!

 Nora not so much...

On Christmas Eve, I took Reed skiing and Lala met up with us.  It has snowed so it was a bit slow on the Little Cat lift, so Reed said it was ok to go up the bigger lift - Becker.  Oh and did I mention that he got rid of the Edgy Wedgy? (BTW - an edgy wedgy is the rubber thing that holds the tips of the skis together for learning skiers. Kids typically keep them awhile).  It fell off on Saturday and he didn't notice for half the run.  When he noticed he insisted that I put it back on, I tried to convince him to keep it off, but he really wanted that thing on.  So I put it back on and at the bottom bribed him with a new toy if he would try skiing without it again.  He said fine and from then on out, he is an edgy wedgy free skier!  He got a new book by the way.  So anyway, on Monday, we headed up the big lift with Lala and he skied the whole thing by himself!  I am SOOOO proud!

 Santa came.  Well, I did, but it's fun to say Santa did.  I love wrapping gifts purdy like.

 Reed and Nora got this new chair and table set from Grandma and Papa Fogg.  Now they each get their own chairs and won't fight over the one!  And they are adorable!  Reed gasped when he saw them on Christmas morning.

 As usual, we went up to Basin in the morning with our friends.  Here is Ethan and Nora hanging out.

 We usually have pictures of the toddlers but they would absolutely not cooperate this year!  Reed wanted to ski, Jane wanted to ski with Reed and Ava was having a little melt down at the time.  We never did get them all together again.  But we attempted the little ones!  Here is Ethan, Ben and Nora.  Aren't they so cute?

 My little Nordic girl.

 Lala and Nora

 The whole group!  from L-R: Sarah, Ethan, Ava and Jared Heilig, Ben, Pete, Amy and Jane Gompert, and me, Reed, Fogg and Nora.

 Three gens skiing together!

So after this, we headed home to make dinner while the kids napped.  We had the Scrip's over for dinner along with some new friends, the Brown's.  But I was too busy to get my camera out so I have NO pictures!  I have to admit, it was kinda nice to just be present and having fun instead of taking pictures.  However, other people took pictures which I have requested copies of.  I'll post when I get them.  The kids had a blast opening gifts, we had a great time with our friends and enjoying the true meaning of Christmas.

More later!

Carpe Diam

This weekend's to do list was full of things to do that don't really matter.  Work on Christmas gifts, make goodies for neighbor/teachers, clean, laundry, run errands.  So Friday night, I spent the evening starting those tasks.  I made to/from tags, I started prep on goodies, I started a couple loads of laundry.  And Saturday, after I made a few goodies, we gathered up the whole family and ran errands.  Feels so good to get things checked off the list.  After we got home, I worked on a few more tasks - yay for getting things done.  But I had to stop sometime during the day and enjoy what was happening in front of me.  This cute girl:

Well, I was cleaning up the kitchen and looked over to see this happening.  I laughed instead of getting mad and grabbed my phone for a picture.  You just gotta enjoy these moments when you get them.

Saturday night, Fogg and I went to a Christmas party.  We had a fun time, wish we had a picture of us all gussied up but oh well.

Sunday is when it all went off plan.  Nora woke up with a nasty cough so I ran her to the doctor.  Turns out, she just has a nasty cough, nothing more.  I worked on a few more things before we headed to church, but my timeline was starting to slip a little!  At church, Reed claimed the job of "superman" during the Away in a Manger song.  Classic.  On our way home from church, Reed asked if I would take him skiing. Though there was quite a bit left on my list, I thought "you don't get too many of these opportunities - go!"  Of course, without much thought, I dropped my to do list and seized the moment to spend quality FUN time with my favorite little buddy.  He skipped his nap (though he made up for it when we got home later) and we headed up skiing.  I love skiing with him.  So what if I have to lap the bunny run, the laughter and enjoyment that he has for my favorite sport is pretty much the best thing ever.  He laughed and laughed and we played games (which was my way of getting him to practice turning and looking ahead).  I just had a blast with my little buddy!

 We ran into Reed's friend Liam too!  It was Liam's first day on skis, so we rode the lift with him (and I'd give his dad some teaching pointers) then we would ski down!  Reed enjoyed having his buddy there.

 We took one hot choco break but before I was done, he was asking to go back out again!  We skied to almost 4:00!  I thought he would konk out in the car on the way home, but nope, he talked the whole way.  Then we pulled in the garage and he saw his sister at the door.  He yelled at me, "get me out, I want to see my baby sister!"  While I was getting him out, he said "I'm going to run in and give her a big hug and a big kiss."  Which he did - so cute.  Before I even got all of our stuff unloaded he was passed out asleep in his chair. 

I'm so glad that I skipped out on (well, actually postponed) doing my list and spent time with my family.  What an irreplaceable experience. I did spend the time after the kids went to bed (and while I was making dinner) finishing my tasks.  I worked on these:

And got a bunch of other stuff done. 

And it snowed again this morning.  Reed declared that he loved me more than snow as I was dropping him off at school - yess!

Tree, fashion, sleeping and lights

I got Christmas decorations up and I paired down a bit this year.  Last year when I pulled my decorations out, I found out that they had a lot of mold damage, so naturally a bunch of stuff got pitched.  This year, I just decided to keep it more simple and classy.  So anyway, there is a closeup of my tree.  I have a red and gold theme going on, my tree has a lot of pinecones, birds, owls, bird houses. 

Reed got himself dressed the other day.  This is how he presented himself on the first of December.  Very appropriate right?

Nora was fighting a stomach bug last week, luckily she is over it now.  She got up really early on Friday morning and wouldn't go back to sleep.  I propped her in the highchair with some Kix and a tv show and not too much longer, she looked like this.  She was pooped by 7am!  

One of "traditions" that we have started is going to the "Lights Before Christmas".  It's a bunch of lights they put up in a park in Layton.  We decided to walk it this year sense it was so warm *sigh*.  You can't barely tell it's us, but we're there!

Nora looking at the lights and Reed checking out the snake lights.

Thankful

I'm so sorry that there has been a shockingly low amount of posts in the past several weeks, you will find out why in a second.  But I wanted to just say that this post isn't about Thanksgiving (though a few pictures are here about it) but about how thankful I am for my life.  Though it's crazy (as described below) and busy and all that, really it's a good crazy.  I'm tired and busy because of my work.  Which I love and am so appreciative to have right now cause so many others don't have jobs, and especially ones that they actually like.  I complain about being tired from my travels lately, but really, it's not all that bad.  And my kids, they make me sooo very tired, but seriously, can they be any cuter and loving and adorable?  Nope!  Anyway, I really am thankful for my crazy life.

So since halloween, here is what I/we've been up to - I traveled to Denver for the day, I traveled to San Fransisco for 4 days, I hosted a jewelry party, Fogg went on a 4 day dirt bike trip, I traveled to Boulder, Colorado for 2 days, I traveled to Seattle for a few hours, I got on a plane less than 10 hours later with both kids by myself to visit my dad and grandma in Des Moines, Fogg started a new job, the kids got sick and I worked my fingers to the bone at work, finished off with Thanksgiving skiing and dinner with the Duran's.  *Sigh*

Pictures start a week or so ago, on a Friday night when Nora really wanted to put my boots on.  She actually got a couple of steps in before she fell over.

 I don't get too many pictures of the kids standing next to each other, the usually start walking off before I hit the button, hence why it's blurry.

The next morning, I headed to Des Moines with the kids to visit my grandma, aunt and dad.  Dad drove over from Chicago, my grandma lives with my Aunt Irene.  They have such a comfortable place and we were well taken care of and fed.  The kids immediately started playing with G-Pa.  Here they are playing a game of "belly pop".  The kids would put there heads on his belly and he would push it up and their heads would fly up and they would laugh and then do it again.

 G-Pa got Reed a coloring book but then Reed only wanted G-Pa to color in it.  He just watched.  Nora wanted to check it out.

 We found this picture of my Grandma from 90 years ago and I was shocked how similar Nora looks to this. 

 On our last day there, we went to the mall to run an errand for Grandma and who was in the middle with no line?  Santa!  Reed had to go see him.  So we did, he told santa that he wanted a car.  Good thing we've got that covered already!  He loves Santa, even though we tell him that Santa isn't real, that he is just a character like Spiderman.  We tell him that Christmas is about Jesus being born and that mom and dad give him presents.  But he disagrees and says that Santa gives him presents, that he loves him and asks if he is nice.  Oh well, gotta love the kids enthusiasm!  He isn't shy at all and just loves him.

 After seeing Santa, he went for a train ride.  He was the only kid on the entire train (not much Christmas traffic on a Monday in the mall!).  He smiles and waved at us every time he came around.

 Our first night in Des Moines, we went to a Christmas light display that was a fundraiser for the Make a Wish foundation.  It was a mile loop to see different lights.  Nora lost her shoe sometime during the first half, we noticed too late.  My uncle and cousin went back and miraculously found it!  I pulled Nora up next to Grandma, and though we missed it in this shot, they stared at each other for quite some time.

 Reed liked to play in the backyard on the swings.  Dad takes such nice photos, I just love his face, smile, bright blue eyes.  Love this kid!

Nora likes to be nakey baby, just like her brother.  We were changing her at this time into an outfit that Grandma had worn 90 years ago but let her run around nakey for a bit.

 Reed didn't want to be left out, so wanted his picture taken too.

 Here is Nora in the dress that Grandma wore.  It was very delicate and simply beautiful.  We have a picture of Grandma in the outfit that I'm going to print out and put in a frame with one of these.  Cool huh?  Almost exactly 90 years apart.

 Again, Reed got jealous of the attention and picture taking of Nora above and posed this adorable picture for G-Pa.

 We took some generation pictures.

 Grandma with two of her Great-Grandkids.  She has 38 great grandkids and 2 on the way.

 Four Generations

 I love Nora's curls.  In Utah they don't curl up as much cause it's so dry, but in Des Moines with just a little humidity they curled right up.

 G-Pa gave the kids these little elf ornaments.

 Reed called his "thingy thing" which out of his mouth sounded like "singy sing".

 Nora got into a play purse and put on the pearls and sunglasses and talked on the cell phone.  She was pretty excited about it.

Upon our return on Tuesday morning, Nora got sick with both a cold and a little stomach bug.  She wouldn't throw up everything, just her formula.  I think it might have been a bad can of formula actually.  She seems to be doing better, but she had a few bad times.  Now Reed and I are getting sore throats and feel a tad yucky - luckily not stomach bugs!  Despite that, he went skiing like a champ.  Picked up right where he left off last season.  He skied many more runs than we expected him to.

 

Nora napped at the bottom most of the morning.  It was actually quite warm and sunny, it was nice in the fresh air.

After skiing, we headed over to the Duran's for some dinner.  These three boys love playing together.  When I said smile, this is the look that I got from each.  Not sure what Reed's scowl is for.

Nora LOVES stuffing.  It was the first thing she went for and shoved it right in.  Check out her big eyes!

Well, that about wraps it up for the first few weeks of November.  I'm really looking forward to getting the house all Christmas'd up tomorrow and start our usual Christmas traditions.  I'm already done shopping - yay! - so I can just enjoy the holiday's.  

Cheers~