Tender Mercies

I have been debating whether or not to post about his, but since it's been such a significant part of our lives these past few days, and since I use this blog as sort of a personal journal, I decided to go ahead and do it.

Monday Jarom's niece, Sami, was hospitalized because she was pretty incoherent and couldn't remember things (not even her family members). After about 8 hours being in that state, she started to come out of it. They ran all sorts of tests and finally concluded that she had had a seizure. We all waited on pins and needles for the results of the MRI. After 2 long days, we heard the GREAT news that she suffered no permanent damage and she has a clean bill of health. We are so grateful for this blessing and want to let Sami know how much we love her!!!!!!


Sami as a baby; she is now a great big 10 year old. My how time flies!

The Paw Spa

My life has been so boring as of late. Well, actually it's never boring. Kate dumped an entire canister of sugar on my floor, cut (massacred) a entire pan of brownies, and stood on the door of the dishwasher and bent the rack track. But, I think I am so worn out of her antics, that not even blogging takes the sting out them.

Anywho...today's pictures are courtesy of my dog groomer The Paw Spa. My kids LOVE to go there because the groomers' dogs are always there. These two cute puppy dogs are all of our favorites. Meet Hope and Chloe.

While we were waiting for Johnny to get done getting his hair cut, we went to McD's. I SWEAR there is a scent or something in that place that says to my kids brains "You need to go to the bathroom. And not just the bathroom, but poop in the bathroom." It is insane. EVERY single time we go there my kids have to poop. I would say it's the greasy food, but my kids never eat their meals so it can't be that. It's just the secret subliminal message that only my kids' brains can detect.

So how was that for a really boring post. I need to get crackin' and get something good up here.

Down Town

Today the little kids and I joined Jarom for lunch at a local joint called Hot Diggety Dog. (Seriously a dive, but great food.) Anyway, we were driving through the old down town part of the city and Carter said, "HEY! We're in upside down town."

8 things that drive me CRAZY!

So, I've been tagged. (And it's actually a pretty good thing since I don't have a lot to blog about.) I am supposed to list 8 things that drive me crazy, so here goes. This is actually kind of hard for me, some things that are at the top of my list are NOT blog appropriate and then I can't remember other things. I know I say, "That drives me CRAZY!" all of the time, but when I sit down to think of what those things are, I just can't remember.

1. Not remembering things! (Post children, this problem has increased dramatically.)

2. Slow, old people drivers who take their half of the road out of the middle.

3. When people don't return my emails or phone calls.

4. Know-it-alls who give unwanted advice. (Although sometimes I find myself doing this very thing and then I just cringe.)

5. Seat belts that tighten just when you need to bend and reach for something.

6. WalMart (Just click on that and everything already said is exactly how I feel.)

7. Laundry & dirty dishes (They just NEVER go away no matter how hard I try.)

8. The smell of urine or throw-up. These will never go away no matter how much you scrub. (Any suggestions on this would be appreciated.) Oh--and stinky shoes too.

Now I am tagging Becky, Elise, and Rachel. Have fun guys, and I can't wait to read your lists.

I made it.

WHEW!!! Did I actually make it through December, New Year's, and the first Sunday of the new year in primary? This past 3 weeks has felt like one giant whirlwind with no end in sight. I think it's finally over now and some relaxation and laziness are due.

Besides dealing with mountainous piles of primary paperwork this past weekend, Alyssa, Halle, and I all got the stomach flu. It was awful. Thankfully Alyssa is now old enough to empty her own bucket into the toilet, and Halle NEVER misses the toilet (she would run up BOTH flights of stairs to throw up in the kids bathroom) so that made it a bit easier on Jarom. As you all know he does NOT deal with throw up.

Anyway, we're all feeling much better now. My friend Jennifer P. posted a hilarious video that all you moms HAVE to go watch. I laughed so hard, my sides hurt. So enjoy and be sure to leave her a comment, she loves to know who's peeking in at her. :)

Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam

My little baby Carter graduated from nursery to primary today at church. He's such a cute kid, we just love him to death. He did so good sitting like a big kid listening to the stories and songs. I think he'll do great as a Sunbeam. After church I asked him how he liked his new class and he said, "It's good, 'cept they didn't let me play with play dough." He's got good teachers though and I am sure they will do many fun things with him.

Looky Looky!

Okay, Elise, I just could NOT help it, I had to get them. I just love these shoes. I found a pair of Sketchers (plaid clogs) that I LOVED at Kohl's but they didn't have my size. I was so sad, but when I saw Elise's cute new shoes I just had to run and a get a pair. I used to consider myself pretty adventurous when it came to shoes, and owned many pairs. But since I've had kids I really have had a hard time justifying buying new shoes, and then finding ones I liked has been even harder. So, I decided that I was going to jump on these ones right away. Besides, how can you really pass up CUTE $12 shoes?

Their own rooms and still....

We built them their own rooms, but they still end up together quite frequently. This is how I found them last night when I went to check on them before I went to bed.

Waiting Forever

It just took a little too long to get everyone ready and out the door to go play in the snow. Carter sat and waited patiently and when I said, "Hop in the truck", Carter was out cold, snow suit and all.

Headers

I Want to Rock and Roll All Night!

The party lasted until 4 AM!!!!! The good news is that most of the kids stayed up just as long, the bad news is, Kate went to bed at 8 pm. (But she came and cuddled with me in the bed and I got to sleep until 9.) What a fun time we had.

The night started early with an adult dinner at The Sandpiper, where I got brave and ordered something with crab. (HUGE step for me, I DON'T eat things out of water.) It was actually pretty good, but I couldn't finish it all (it was all mental and I know it, but at least I tried).

After dinner, we headed over to the theater to watch National Treasure 2, and then it was back to the house full of kids to party. Here are the highlights.

Becky rockin' it on Guitar Hero! (I am sure she'll have more pictures from the evening on her blog.)

Fun times!


Fun Family! Carter and Ogden
Amber and Kaylin

Food, food....
and more food! (I think I still feel sick from eating it all.)

Who needs a mouth? Noses work great!

Chug! Chug ! Chug! (Good ol' Martinelli's, can't pass it up on New Year's Eve.)

Happy New Year everyone!!!!! I wish you all (and myself) the best luck at trying to accomplish those resolutions.

What to do with all his time?

What does your husband do when he only has one full time job instead of two? Mine does this:
Plays a little Guitar Hero III. (Okay a lot of it, we've both been up til 1 am every night this week playing this very addicting game. I have to admit, Jarom ROCKS at it.)

Cleans, organizes, and builds shelves for the garage. This place doesn't even look like the same garage. When Halle saw it she said, "What happened to the junk pile?"

Organizes and cleans the pantry. I can now see everything I have (as well as everything I need to go buy).Jarom taking time off from HP this past week has been very productive for me. Thanks for all your hard work J!!

Merry Halloween?

I keep forgetting to write this little funny from Kate down. When we were delivering our neighbor gifts all the kids would jump out of the car to go to the door. Kate was feeling completly left out as she was strapped in to her carseat. She kept saying, "I wanna trick-or-treat!" She thought the kids were getting something good without her.

What's that thing called?

And my final post for today (whew I'm all "blogged" up) is a funny from Carter. This morning bright and early he came in and woke Jarom and me up and said, "Wake up! I want to play the wiener!" It's called a wii son, a wii....

Santa Came!!!

When the kids came down and saw the breakfast Santa had left on the table, they were completely satisfied with that. They didn't even bother asking to go downstairs to see the toys. It was so funny, they just ran to the table and started opening juice boxes and some candy.

Carter got some tools. He's been so into helping Daddy build the basement and he's had a lot of fun with this toolbench. Aren't those goggles classic?

All the kids in their new robes and slippers. Yet another classic Christmas gift.


Don't mind my rotten little 2 year old in this video. She was upset that Halle had helped open the present. She wanted to do it herself. We have had MORE fun with this stupid thing than we probably should be having. Jarom and I can't get enough of Guitar Hero. It's just a blast!

Kate and her pretty baby. Santa could NOT pass this dolly up. It reminded him so much of little Kate. I hope Kate loves it as much a I do.

The giant aftermath aka Christmas tornado. It takes WEEKS to prepare for and only minutes to end up like this, but ahhhhh, it's SO much fun!

Christmas Eve

We had a full packed Christmas Eve, complete with shopping amongst the insane crowds for a few last minute items. We enjoyed cookie baking, snowman making, a yummy ham dinner, and opening a few presents.

I am still VERY new to this Picasa collage stuff, so sorry that some of the above pictures got repeated. On Christmas Eve we opened our ornaments. Kate got a little marshmallow smore princess just because it reminded us of her (a cute little chubby thing all dressed up). Carter got a soccer playing snowman because he took his first soccer class this past fall. Halle got a cute little mouse sleeping in a crayon box because she's our little artist. Alyssa got an Asian house and little girl because she has a new pen pal from Singapore. Jarom got a school house because he finally graduated from college and I got a Santa, just because he was cute.


We also opened our pajamas from Grandma and our gifts to each other. After the present opening we jumped in the car to look at Christmas lights. Then it was off to bed for the little ones, and surprisingly they went rather well and quickly.

Let it Snow and Snow and Snow....

We got dumped on Christmas Eve. It was so much fun to wake up to it snowing outside. (We're very grateful it waited until after we got home from Salt Lake to start though.) It just snowed and snowed all day. No doubt about having a white Christmas for us.

The kids played outside for a really long time. Worked out great for me, I got lots of wrapping and baking done. The snow was just perfect for snowman building and they worked hard.

The snow blower's belt fell off and we had to call my dad in to help us get it up and running again. Here he is giving it a whirl. He played with it almost as long as the kids worked on their snowman. (Look at all the snow in the driveway, and we had to plow two more times that day.)

A shot of my house with all the winter snow on it. (Jennifer, I took this just for you so you could see the outside of my house.) I thought it looked like a perfect winter postcard or something.


And finally, Frosty is up! A carrot nose, and oreo eyes and mouth, he got stick arms later. He's standing right out my back window, it's so fun to look out and see a great big snowman staring at me. I just love all this snow. It makes it truly feel like Christmas again to me. (But I wouldn't be opposed to it melting in February.)

Our Christmas Holiday

We've had such a fun holiday week the last few days. I have so much to blog about, so I thought I'd do it in stages. First up our visit to Salt Lake City. We enjoyed seeing the lights on temple square, swimming with all the cousins in the hotel, and visiting friends and more cousins.

Kate all bundled up, ready to go.

Of course, like the crazy woman I am, made it all the way to SLC without Carter's coat. (I also forgot shirts for Kate, pj's for Kate and deodorant for me. I think my brain is somewhere, just don't know where.) So we had to buy a new one for him. I just thought this was a cute shot of him and Jarom together.

Enjoying the lights on Temple Square.

On Saturday I had some time to kill so Kevin, Becky, and I took the kids to the aquarium in South Salt Lake. It's really small, but has some cool things and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. Here we are watching the octopus put on a show for us. It was really neat.

Trying to "pet" the rays. The water was just a little too deep, but every once in a while one would pop up near the surface.

We also thought we'd take the kids to see Santa at the mall, but I have NEVER seen so many people in a mall at one time in my life! The line to see Santa was at least an hour wait. (Not worth it!) So we just cruised around a little and tried to pile as many kids into one stroller as we could so that we didn't lose anyone. Thankfully it worked.

After this we went our separate ways, and I went on to see my good friend Julie (dumb me didn't take any pictures) and then down to Orem to visit my cousin Larissa and her girls.

Halle and Madelynn playing doctor. These kids had a blast together. It's so nice to be able to get them all together once in a blue moon.

Carter, Aurianna, and Alyssa playing "Don't Eat Pete!" I think these kids ate 20 packs of smarties. And of course, we couldn't NOT have a little trauma. I heard a CRASH and then Kate start sobbing and Aurianna bawling so I ran upstairs to see what on earth had happened. When I got upstairs I saw Kate naked, her hair dripping wet and covered in fish food. Aurianna was practically on her knees she was crying so hard and in the corner, the fish tank lying on the floor with fish, rocks and water EVERYWHERE!! Kate had climbed up on the dresser and pulled the tank down on top of herself. (Thankfully it was only a small one.) Poor little Aurianna was in hysterics thinking her fish were dead. Luckily they weren't and we saved them, but I don't know that I can say the same thing about the fish tank. Arggggghhhh.....my precious little Kate. Anyway, they all ended up in the tub after that little incident.

Aside from the fish disaster and a monster migrane on the drive home, I really enjoyed myself. Thanks to Larissa for housing us and it was great to see Julie too.