The END

This will be the last post for the year. 2008 that is almost over. Our Christmas was wonderful- maybe a little too wonderful. It's so hard to not get the kids the world each year. They definitely did not want for anything this year. On Christmas Eve we have a tradition of reading the Christmas story in the Bible after dinner and then opening one gift each- which is always pajama's. This year even Jeff and I got pajamas. Then we change into them and make cookies for Santa, then it's off to bed. This is the one night all year I look forward to because the kids go promptly to bed- no drinks, no extra hugs, no coming down stairs for one last kiss, etc. Jeff and I stayed up wrapping very late, watching Christmas Vacation and eating the cookies we left for Santa (Good thing the kids don't read this blog). This year it was a lot harder to keep Ashtyn from discovering the secret. She asked a lot of very hard questions and didn't like the "Because he is magic" answers we gave. I'm not sure she will last another year believing in Santa. Whitney woke up at 5 AM and came in to tell us she was hungry- knowing that we wouldn't let her go see the presents until 6. She layed in our bed and I went and slept in her bed. At 6:30 Ashtyn woke up and ran to each room yelling "It's Christmas". Jeff came and woke me up and I told him that you know you are an adult when sleep is more important to you than presents. I made the kids wait at the top of the stairs so I could catch their reaction on film. See here:

The first thing Ashtyn says to us as she sees the tree is "WOW Santa brought us way more presents than last year". She's right we went overboard. See here:

The reason I am posting that picture is so next year when we don't go overboard we can show her that she was spoiled the year before and didn't need as much. I have a habit of buying gifts through out the end of the year and hiding them- then forgetting about them and buying even more gifts- so that then when we bring them all out to wrap we realize that we may have purchased one too many things. I suppose we could have taken a few back- but I have to admit that the look on their faces when they see each thing is priceless- I get more joy from those few looks than anything else. This year the kids got most of what they asked for. However Whitney wanted a stuffed cat and "Santa" wasn't aware of this- so she didn't get one and there was a tear or two shed because Ashtyn got the stuffed dog she wanted and had told us about. But luckily at grandma's house she opened a stuffed cat from her cousin. Ethan loved all the transformers he got. Ashtyn got a nutcracker. Whitney loved her new water baby. Jeff loved the watch that I bought him. He got me two pairs of new jeans. Remember the perfest pair I got for my birthday- it got a hole in the knee- so I was super excited for new perfect jeans that have a 37 1/2" inseam- perfect.

After we opened all the gifts we played in our pj's until it was time to go to Nana and Papa's house. We stopped only for a minute to have a web chat with my dad in Maryland. The snow was very heavy on Christmas and we weren't sure we would make it to their house- my brother broke his shovel trying to clear the driveway and there were road closures- but we did. We got to talk to Jeff's parents on their mission also in a web chat then we exchanged gifts with all of his siblings and the nieces and nephews. The funniest moment was when Ethan was opening his present and when he opened the box there was some paper covering the gift and he thought the paper was the present and didn't know how to react- he almost looked sad and a bit confused and didn't know what to think- it was so funny and you should have seen his eyes light up when he saw the monster trucks under the paper.

After Nana's house we headed to Uncle Greg's house. The weather had cleared up and we made it out there just fine. We opened a few more gifts, ate some wonderful food and played games with everyone. I adored my gift! It was a black purse, tart pan and earrings. After we hung out here for a while we went to visit my grandma that lives in an assisted living home. We couldn't bring her with us because the snow was too deep and she can't walk well.

We ended the night driving home in a white out. I love the holidays! We are so very lucky to have so much. On Friday the kids slept over at their cousins house and Jeff and I spent the night returning the gifts that didn't fit right. The Sunday after Christmas we had a progressive dinner with Jeff's family. Dessert was at our house and I used my new tart pan to make the best white chocolate tart. It had strawberries and kiwis in top. It was great to get to see everyones decorations and what they got for Christmas. It's hard to believe that it comes and goes so quickly. Today Jeff took the kids sledding on the hill by our house. I remember sledding there when I was little too. I am not much for sledding any more. It scared me to death to see Jeff shove the kids down the huge hills. They had a blast!

Monday afternoon I went to lunch with my friends from High School. I love these girls! There was Jessica, Annie, Laura, Kathryn, Nicole and Tristan. There are more of us that couldn't make it- we missed them. I have known these girls for over ten years. They are all so awesome and I love that we are still friends. There was a table of gray haired ladies next to us and we got a glimpse of what it would be like in 40 years. Some of us have moved away and some have come back- we get together as often as we can. They are a huge support to me in my life. It was great to spend time with them. I have loved keeping this blog all year.

Breakfast

This morning we went to the annual Pearson Family Christmas Breakfast at Little America. This has been a tradition in Jeff's family for a long time. They use to go to breakfast on Christmas day- which was always too hectic- so the last few years they changed it to the Saturday before Christmas.

It was wonderful as always. The food is so good and because it is a buffet- there is plenty to go around. You can get anything you can think of. We love to see everyone and spend time with them. I love family traditions. This one has become one of my favorites. When we were first married I didn't really appreciate all the traditions Jeff's family has- but since we started our own family and our kids our getting older I value them so much more. Traditions are what hold families together. We have started some of our own as well. We hope this can continue to be our tradition even after his grandparents are gone.

Ornaments

Each year our family goes to Gardner Village and picks out a new ornament in the Christmas Shoppe. This year because it is so cold and also because the Christmas Shoppe is very fragile- we decided to go to Target instead.

Dad got a Utah Jazz Ball

Mom got a silver Eiffel Tower

Ashtyn got a nutcracker

Whitney got a peacock

Ethan got a silver snowman with a small glass jewel hanging in it's tummy

Zack(we had our cousin with us) got a pink high heel ice skate.

We love to have a reminder of each year on our tree. One day we will give all the ornaments to our children to decorate their own tree with. This is one of our favorite holiday traditions.

The Nutcracker

I had to cut this video into two parts in order to download it. Enjoy. Ashtyn is in the front-third from the right. Read all about this night in the next post.

The Nutcracker

Ashtyn loves ballet. This year we switched her to a new dance studio so she could focus on ballet. She loves to dance. We have been so happy with the new studio. This year they performed the Nutcracker. When I was a little girl my grandma took me to see the Nutcracker Ballet. I fell in love with ballet. I was so excited to see Ashtyn perform the Nutcracker. When we got there Whitney was crying that her stomach hurt. She had complained a few times earlier in the day too, but had gone to school and seemed fine. She gets a nervous stomach so it's pretty hard to tell when she is really feeling sick. I took Ashtyn to the dressing room to get ready. When we were finished she too said her stomach hurt. I asked her if she needed to throw up and she said no. I said ok let's say a prayer and ask that you can still do your dance and that your tummy ache will go away. A few minutes later she said that her stomach felt better. I left her there to go and find Jeff and the kids. When I found them Whitney was still crying. My awesome sister offered to take her home so we could stay and Ashtyn could dance. The performance started and Ashtyn was wonderful. When they were finished I went to find her and see how she was feeling and to my dismay she had gone off stage and thrown up. I felt horrible for her. She had throw up on her costume and shoes. She said she felt better- but we had to leave. When we came home we had found that Whitney had thrown up too and then a few hours later Jeff threw up. What a crazy night. They all stayed home today to rest. I feel so blessed that Ashtyn made it through her dance and that Whitney didn't throw up all over the auditorium. She has been practicing for weeks and on weekends too. Here are some pictures before her dance.

Weekend Update

Thursday we went to Jeff's work party. We started off with hors d'oeurves and then had a wonderful dinner. After dinner we got to enjoy a private concert with Peter Breinholt and David Tolk. It was amazing. He is such a wonderful performer and his songs are awesome. We loved it. He gave everyone an autographed cd to take with them as well. We were one row back. His music is so great live. It was a wonderful night. I have to admit that I looked hot- I'm only saying this because I never get dressed up any more- in fact I don't think I ever get out of my pj's..LOL. I love to get dressed up and go out. Plus I want Jeff to think his wife is the best looking wife at the party..LOL. Yep-I'm a babe!

Friday night we went to the annual Bud Party. The Bud's are Jeff's friends from high school- kind of like the Clan group of boys that I went to high school with. The Orgills have hosted the party for the last few years. We eat delicious food, catch up on each others lives and laugh our heads off. They do a white elephant gift exchange and this year we walked away with a sweet smelling candle from Salt City. Our friends the Rogers babysat the kids. It was so fun to see all of them. We all get along so well- even the Bud Wives.

Saturday was a crazy day. It snowed! It hasn't snowed for a very long time and I was beginning to get use to the nice non-December like weather. Ashtyn had ballet rehearsal for her up coming recital so we had to brave the elements. The roads were awful! No one was driving over 30 miles an hour on any road. Whitney and Ethan went to the Primary Christmas party. They got to see Santa. After dance we headed straight for the church to set up for the Ward Christmas Dinner that we were in charge of. Did I mention that Jeff was at work this whole time? We got to the church at 2 and decorated until a little after 4. Luckily we have an awesome committee that is very willing to help. We were expecting around 150 people. After we set up I ran the kids home to get ready and then gathered all the info we needed for our sub for Santa. The party started at six. I forgot to get the ice- so I had to run to the store. Luckily it had stopped snowing by this point. We had ordered turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy from an awesome local catering place- you might have heard of it- Meier's. I love the Meier family. I am friends with three of their daughters- one of which is on our committee (Love ya Melissa). Well the turkey arrived right on time, but their was a slight mishap with the potatoes so they were a little late- which luckily no one but the committee knew about and when they did arrive they were a huge hit. Wow their food is great! The Kearns Madrigals were scheduled to come and sing for us and one of their performers ran his car into a ditch on the slick roads so they were late too- but I have to give them a huge Thank You for coming any ways despite the crazy weather and situation. The only major thing that happened was a small person(child) called 911- hhhmmm didn't that happen a few months ago too? So the police showed up. I was mortified. Mostly because I had had the thought that I should unplug the phone- but I ignored it. You know the best part about these parties is that nobody is the wiser when things happen and the party was a huge success and enjoyed by everyone. We did a sub for Santa for two needy families and it was so awesome to see the support of the ward.

Sunday the snow was still coming down so Jeff went out to shovel before church. I bought Ethan a tiny snow shovel a while back, so he wanted to help too. It was the cutest sight to see my two guys out shoveling the driveway. Ethan loves to help. After a while the girls wanted in on the fun too.

Monday we went to a Christmas party at our neighbors house. There were three other families there. We had a wonderful hot soup dinner. They presented a lesson about the gifts of Christmas and then we played the game where you have to open a present with gloves on holding a spoon and a spatula- this was hilarious to watch the kids do. We finished off by decorating sugar cookies. It was so fun and so relaxing. After the stress of the ward party it was nice to feel calm.

Gingerbread

For FHE on Monday we built a gingerbread house and a gingerbread train. I love Wilton. They always sell the best decorating kits. I constructed the house and then let the kids go to town on it. Jeff did the train and despite his best efforts to create a perfectly symmetrical masterpiece- he too let the kids take over and go crazy with the candy. They turned out cute. We do this every year. It's really fun.

Tonight is Jeff's work party and I am so excited. They invited Peter Breinholt to perform a private concert. I don't listen to his music all the time but I like it.

The song Good Day is playing when you enter my blog and I put it on the playlist because it totally energizes me. A couple of years ago I started running three times a week to try and get a little healthier. I only made it six months because I discovered that I actually feel worse on days I run than when I just go about my normal routine. I struggle so much with fatigue. I spend at least half the day extremely tired- but that's where the song comes in- it's a total pick me up. When I was running it was on my Ipod and kept me going. It still does- whenever I start to feel tired I turn it on and it pumps me up at least for a minute. I'm still trying to figure out what makes me so tired (besides having three kids..LOL) but in the mean time it's nice to have a little pick me up. Some of my other favorite energizing songs are:

Pour Some Sugar On Me- Def Leppard

You Wear Flowers- Peter Breinholt

Real World- Young Dubliners

Fast Cars and Freedom- Rascal Flatts

What About Me- Keith Urban

Somebody Like You-Keith Urban

The Game Of Love- Michelle Branch/Santana

Crazy (James Michael Mix)- Alannis Morissette

Head Over Heels- The Go- Go's

Weekend Update

We spent the weekend putting Christmas lights on our house- I told Jeff that I didn't care if we had any, but the kids kept asking why we don't put ours up like everyone else- so he did. We went and picked out our Christmas tree- It smells so nice. Sunday we went to our niece Phoebe's blessing. I made an awesome new salad called BLT Pasta Salad- it was so good and everyone asked for the recipe. Here it is if you want to try it:http://www.recipezaar.com/BLT-Pasta-Salad-27195 . Then we came home and decorated the tree. We don't have a color theme or fancy things that we put on every year. We have a tradition of buying a new ornament every year. I love looking at the ornaments because each one represents something special to me. There are some that were given to me by my grandparents, some that I made when I was a little girl, some that were made by Jeff's grandma that is now gone, some the kids made when they were tiny, etc. It turned out beautiful. That night we had the missionaries over for dinner. Elder Heath from Idaho and Elder Valicola from Tonga. I made chicken gravy with mashed potatoes and raspberry jello salad. We were suppose to go to my brothers house afterward but the missionaries left later than we thought. Instead Ashtyn and Whitney made up two dances earlier in the day and they put on a recital for our family. It was so cute. We ended the night watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.

Photo Tag

I was tagged- yippee- I never get tagged, so thanks Nicole. For this tag you're supposed to open up your picture file, and blog about the fourth picture in the fourth file folder.

Here is the picture. This is rather coincidental, because here is Ashtyn with another black eye- the other one this time. She is seen here with Whitney and my sister Emily. My sister and my girls are best friends. They adore her. She is two years younger than me. We shared a room growing up, just like my girls do. I love having sisters! When we were little we would lay awake and talk for hours about what our houses would look like when we grew up and how many kids we would have, etc. In High School we did not get a long at all. But now I would consider her one of my greatest friends. Emily is amazing. She is the first person in my immediate family to graduate from college. Not only did she graduate, but she got her Masters Degree. She has lived in Utah, New Jersey, Arizona and now New York. She is smart, beautiful, very stylish, kind, loving, grateful, humble, sweet, honest, ambitious and spiritual. She loves music, art, running and probably a million things I don't know about. We are total opposites- a lot like my girls. I admire Emily a lot because she hasn't had anything handed to her and has had to work her way through a lot to achieve her dreams. I love her to death.

So now I tag YOU!

Aunt Ruth

I have a great great Aunt Ruth that is 95 and still living. We went to visit her yesterday because we had a picture that we couldn't identify and hoped she could help. She didn't recognize any one in the picture- but it was so nice to see her. She is as sharp as a tack! She loves the Jazz and was watching the game when we got there. She is so cute. She also loves butterflies like I do so we chatted about that. We didn't stay long because it was late and the kids needed to get to bed for school. On the way out Ashtyn was so amazed that she had met someone who is 95. She told me that she thought nobody lived that long, ever! She told Jeff today that we met a 95 year old woman who loves the Jazz. I hope we can see her again and I'll post a picture.