Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, the day is almost gone. Can anything be better than Christmas through the eyes of a 3 year old? Only thing I could guess would be Christmas through the eyes of a 4 year old, or a 5 year old, or a 6 year old...

Don't forget...

Don't forget the other afternoon when you woke up the twins from their nap. They didn't stir when you went into their room so you layed down next to Dylan and put your arm around him and stared at his face. His sweet face. Watched him rub his eyes. Watched his lips smack together. Smelled his breath on my face. Magical. Don't ever forget that moment.

Stay away Grinch!

I woke up this morning motivated. I was going to get my house spik 'n span and have my world in control so that when Daddy gets home from work today we could snuggle up, watch a movie, and wait for Christmas Eve to arrive and have a wonderful Christmas. I got up, swept, mopped, cleaned up extra toys in living room, vacuumed, straightened up downstairs, vacuumed, and felt pretty good about things. I sat down and called Brandt to check in and see how he was.

Thats when the blow came. This morning the piece of crap Post Office informed him that he was going to be mandated to work tomorrow. Normally I wouldn't care, but because we were told he would have it off and made plans then to have it ripped out from under us is what makes me so incredibly mad. One of the carriers (who is a real gem to begin with) called in sick for 2 days, Friday and Saturday, so Brandt has to work because she is such a blankety-blank. I understand being sick, but this lady called in sick last Christmas, too, and calls in sick around any holiday. So because of her selfishness my kids's Daddy won't be around for our Christmas parties. So, so, so angry. I've tried to let it fizzle and not let it get to me, but here I sit fighting back the tears. It just makes my heart heavy and rushes away that Christmas Spirit.

This compiled with a few other things going on in our lives is about all I can bear. I don't want to do anything. I don't want to "Christmas-up" my house. I don't want to be nice to my kids. I don't want to move. I'm ready to shut the doors, close the shades, and welcome the hermit life.

Why oh why was the timing so great for this one? Seriously....

Zoolights

Last year we wanted to go to Zoolights and for one reason or another we never made it. This year I was determined that we would go. Sooooo, we picked the coldest day ever and made our way up to the ol' Hogle Zoo. It was FREEZING I tell you, FREEZING!!! My parents went up with us and Craig's kids came and so did Brenda. A lot of fun, but it was nice to get back in the warm car, too. Was it just me or was December exceptionally cold? Brrrrrrrrr

What a whirlWIND of a week

I've needed to sit down and write down a few things about last week, and what a week it was. Exactly two days after a visit to nursery (perfect incubation time) I was awakened in the middle of the night by Charlie who had puked all over his bed. So I got up and gave him a bath, cleaned up the "chunkies," sterilized his bedframe and put all his blankets and animals in the wash. I put him back to bed and that was the end of that. He acted just normal after that.

We had our relief society activity Wednesday night so I was busy most of that day with church related things. That day we received an email stating that the storm blowing in was going to be a doosy and to make sure everything outside was put away. I thought it'd be a little windy but had no idea.

That next morning Brandt yelled for me to come upstairs to see the storm. Our BBQ had been blown into the grass, the cover missing (later to be found against the fence), the window on the side of our garage broken, shingles all over the yard, and a million apples and leaves on the ground. I have never seen continual wind like that. I just sat down in front of our large front window and watched the wind. Our neighbors siding was flapping in the wind. Garbage from dumped garbages and recycle bins flying all over. Trees bending in half (and to be found out later being completely uprooted). Shortly after coming upstairs our power went off. So that morning we did our best to keep the refridgerator closed and stay bundled up. We played card games. We played with our blocks. We drove our little cars. We read books. I put the boys down for a nap and decided that when they woke up we would go to my mom's house to sleep over since the temperature in our house kept dropping. When we finally left the thermostat said it was 57 degrees. Not too bad but I knew that after the cold night, we'd wake up to an even colder house. So - off we went to Salt Lake. Once I made it to the freeway, no problem. All the lights were out in Bountiful.

The next morning Brandt let me know the power was back on and we could go on home. We left my mom's just after lunch and as I was pulling into Bountiful, Dylan puked all over himself, great. I had cleaned him up and put everyone down for a nap. Cleaned up the carseat and the car while they all slept and then when I got Oliver from his nap, he was covered in puke. Sweet.

As soon as I got off the freeway that afternoon you could see the damage. The Taco Time sign was gone. The debris was everywhere. In my home I could hear all the chainsaws going continually. Just strange. A few of our neighbors had big pines fall down on their homes. We live behind the Bountiful Cemetary and they lost a bunch of pines. Friday night I had run out to get some milk and drove by and was just in awe. The huge root-balls just up in the air. I had ment to go over and take some pictures but with my three little ones it was hard to get the motivation to leave the house.

I started to feel crummy Saturday night and all day yesterday. Apparently we gave it to my mom, too, as she was puking all Saturday night, too. I finally took some pictures on my drive over to take Brandt his lunch this morning. A lot of clean-up has already taken place so my pictures don't do it justice.

Our church cancelled all meetings except Sacrament so that everyone could help with cleaning up our boundaries. Brandt took I think 3 loads in his truck and trailer to the dump. His last load he waited until later in the day since the line to dump was FOREVER long. He had backed up his truck and trailer and whoever loaded up his truck had branches all over so he couldn't see terribly well. So, he hit a van with his trailer. I guess the light covering of his trailer dragged against this old van and made a 2 inch gash. Awesome. We'll have to wait and see if these people file a claim. He said the van was at least a dozen years old but honestly? Just what we needed. A few hundred dollar service project. Fantastic. So that was the icing on the cake to an eventful week. Hopefully we'll be back to normal and able to widdle away our list to be ready for the big holiday coming up.

Here's a large tree at the cemetary:
This is a home on Brandt's route. I bet it was a large one by the size of the stump. This is on Brandt's route, too. Are you kidding me? It's obvious what happened...It's hard to tell but this tree is split in half. The top half is laying on the building.Here's the other corner of the same building. When I drove by Friday night the HUGE pine was laying on the building. You can see the damage to the roof and they layed the root-ball back in the ground so it wasn't a huge, gaping hole. Brandt actually lived in this apartment complex as a child I think the bottom window was theirs.More cemetary mess.

Been awhile

I hate when I don't stay up on my blogging because that means that many days have past that I haven't recorded any snippets of our crazy life. We've been busy playing and working and all of a sudden Thanksgiving is gone and we're running into Christmas. It's so sad how after Halloween the rest of the year just melts away.

The boys are good. They're growing way.to.fast. We took little Oliver into nursery yesterday for the first time. He technically isn't supposed to be in until mid-January but we thought we'd try it out this month since the twins will be in there for this month. And then they're in SUNBEAMS. Ok, please pause a minute...WHAT??? Oh man, it's too soon for mamma-bear. I'm not gonna handle them getting big so well. I already know I'm gonna tear up everytime I look out over the piano in primary and see my own kiddos. Just surreal. Don't even make me be there when they give their first talk or prayer. I'll be a sobbing idiot. But back to Oliver. He did so so so good. I took him in and he just sat there and played...didn't care that I was there...so I just snuck on out. Brandt went to get him after the 1st hour and they told him to leave him since he was doing so well. He said they were having snack and Dylan, Charlie, and Oliver were all sitting there at the table next to each other. The cutest thing ever. I went to check on him after our music time and they again told me to leave and that he was fine, so, he did great. When I went to get them after church they told me that he was so good that they'd just keep him. That's my Oliver-kid. He's just the perfect little guy. We're so lucky to call him ours.

Last week we snuck away to St. George for a little break. B had the week off so we ran away. My parents joined us and it was great. The boys always wanted to sit on the cooler rather than a chair and we enjoyed playing with the glass table. Yuck - handprint nightmare. We did a little of this. And a little of that. And some of this. (Or tried to do some of this. We can get a step or two out of him but that's it. Why walk when you can crawl?)

And some of that. It was a lot of fun. We also took our 4wheeler down and played on that, too, but I never took out my camara. On our way home we stopped and saw some of our favorite people and let the boys jump on their "jumper."

We drove home on Thanksgiving. We had to come back on Friday for the Ute game so we figured what's a day, so we came back and had dinner with B's fam. After the crappy game it probably would have been to our benefit to stay the entire week, but oh well.

And just a last little story. I was putting the twins in their room for a nap just a minute ago and Dylan saw his "daddy pants" (basketball shorts - he LOVES them cause that's what daddy wears to lounge around). He wanted to wear them and I kept saying "no-o" in a sing-songy voice. He promptly replied "ye-es" in a sing-songy voice. Man I love those kids. Constant hilarity. Is that a word? Today it is.

Yea for this time of year when people are kinder, blessings are noticed, and a wonderful spirit resides.

Did I miss something?

It's November. I think I've missed October. And September. Crazy that it is already time to begin to think winter. It's nice that the snow waited until this morning instead of raining on trick-or-treat night like usual. I feel like I've been in such a rut lately and all I've been blogging about is how it's just been rough being a mom. But alas, it is not always doom and gloom. I have really, really, really have been enjoying my boys as of late. They are so funny and so kind and so obedient. Yes, we have our moments (quite a lot of them) but overall they are really great little boys. They've been so excited with all the Halloween hubbabaloo and it's made my heart smile. For a moment last night while we were out wandering our neighborhood I felt a little guilty for not being home to pass out candy, but then realized that being out with the boys running up to our neighbors houses screaming 'Trick-or-Treat' was where I wanted to be. While they're so young and innocent and learning the ropes of Halloween it's fun to be there and a part of it. It, like everything else, will be a fleeting moment that I want to be a part of, relish in, and enjoy. Needless to say, it was a hit, we've eaten WAY too much candy, and I'm ready to think about Thanksgiving. Not quite ready for the colder weather, but on the bright side, one day it will be spring again so I can hang in there. How grateful I am to be where I am in my life. How grateful I am for our daily struggles. How grateful I am for the happy moments my little boys bring to me. How grateful I am for the upcoming season. I hope to remember that gratitude feeling throughout the rest of the year.