Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas

What's the latest you've ever had to stay up on Christmas Eve?
I can't believe it but this year, this very night is the latest for me.
It's 3:45 am and I'm almost ready to get to bed. Just working on one last gift. I had no idea I would be up this late this year.
We had a great Christmas Eve as a family - I'll post more on that later.
Luckily Jared and Kamryn were up until 11:00 and hopefully they will sleep in and I've given the other kids strict orders to sleep in or at least not wake up the little ones.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Very Long Day

After a very full, stressful, frustating and long day, it's so great to sit down and read my friends' blogs. It cheered me right up and brought a smile to my tired face. Thanks, friends.

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Christmas Concert

I just got back from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert at the Conference Center. It was FABULOUS!! I enjoyed it so much. I am so grateful to my friend for taking me as her date (since her husband was out of town and couldn't go with her).
My favorite choir number was The First Noel. It was absolutely beautiful.
I also loved the 12 Days of Christmas number. It was so fun.
And Kudos to my friend Paige (see her blog for her famous handshake after the concert). She is in the bell choir and they did a beautiful job and were a great addition to the concert.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

"Pne-MOAN-ia" and other sicknesses

It's not been the best week at our house.
Taylor has Pneumonia brought on by his asthma which first presented as croup. Some of the medicine he is taking is making him "crazy." I've never seen him so agitated and out of his mind. Thank goodness this morning he seemed to be back to normal and finally starting to do better.
Everyone but me has had some degree of the stomach flu that is going around. Brooke had the worst case and has missed 2 days of school and still isn't feeling great.
Justin missed school on Tuesday and has started feeling sick again tonight.
Paul is sick with so many things I can't list them and yet he still goes to work. I'm sure his co-workers are thrilled.
And knock on wood, I've managed to stay well through all of this. I hope that can continue at least until Christmas.

Monday, December 10, 2007

"I'm Not Made for Winter"

This quote was heard in the Charlie Brown Christmas show that was on TV tonight. It was said by Sally who was trying to get dressed in coat, boots, & gloves to go outside to go shopping.
I whole-heartedly agree with her! I'm not made for winter. Sure it's pretty right now but it's so cold and I've already had enough. And it's not even officially winter for another 11 days.
But on a happier note, I have to say how much I enjoyed the Charlie Brown show. It was new to me and with a new character who I love - Rerun. What a cute kid! I laughed out loud several times and enjoyed watching it with my whole family. Christmas time is great!

Saturday, December 08, 2007

Happy Birthday Paul

Yesterday was Paul's birthday. We went to his work party for his birthday - it was a perfect way to celebrate - free dinner, entertainment and no focus on Paul. I really wanted to let the MC know that it was Paul's birthday but he said he would be very unhappy if I did something like that. And I certainly didn't want him to be unhappy on his birthday. To pay tribute to Paul for his birthday I am copying an idea from another blog.

41 Great Things about Paul on his 41st Birthday
1. He is tall - that was a big plus for me when we started dated.
2. He has a great laugh! I love watching "Seinfeld" with him just to hear him laugh. It's very contagious too.
3. He is a hard worker.
4. He learned to play "Behind the Waterfall" by David Lanz on our new piano so that he could play our new toy. This is significant because he does not know how to read notes or play the piano other than this one song, which he learned by memorizing it measure by measure listening to me play it.
5. He is happy most of the time and it shows.
6. He loves to wrestle with his kids.
7. He just wants me to be happy.
8. It is fun to watch football games with him.
9. He enjoys life.
10. He is considerate of others.
11. He is VERY HANDY around the house.
12. He is happy to eat cereal for dinner.
13. He will eat anything I fix and is happy about it.
14. He keeps me warm.
15. He loves our kids.
16. He is happy to help out when I volunteer him to my friends and family.
17. He can draw cool pictures, this is especially handy to entertain our little ones during church.
18. He loves music - all kinds, well almost all kinds.
19. He loves to go camping at Washington Lake.
20. He indulges me when I want to use free airplane tickets so they won't go to waste.
21. He puts up with my PMS.
22. He is honest.
23. He honors his priesthood.
24. He fulfills his church calling.
25. He likes playing basketball with our boys.
26. He likes playing volleyball with our kids.
27. He likes playing football with our kids.
28. He likes playing soccer with our boys.
29. He likes to play.
30. He likes to play "golf" and "hearts."
31. He is tolerant of me.
32. He expects a lot of me.
33. He loves and honors his parents.
34. He has a testimony.
35. He loves Thanksgiving.
36. He isn't lazy.
37. He is handsome!
38. He enjoys all four seasons.
39. He provides very well for our family.
40. He is generous with his time and money.
41. Most important, he loves me.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Sickness update

Well, we made it through the day. No more throw up. Jared had a fever in the afternoon but seems back to normal today.
They both fell asleep sometime during Barney this morning (about 11:00). I put them both in bed and then went to bed myself. I didn't really get good sleep but I rested.
Kamryn woke up about 3:00 pm and was pretty ornery. Jared woke up at the point with a fever and didn't want to get out of bed. He went back to sleep until Justin got him out of bed at 6:00 - much happier. They ate a little and watched some movies and played and then went to bed at 9:30. I couldn't believe they went to bed that early after sleeping so much during the day. Now if I can just sleep.

The Trouble with Twins

One of the downsides of having twins is when they are sick.
I was up all night with both of them throwing up!!
That is the worst thing for me to deal with as a mother.
Kamryn was a lot sicker than Jared. She's still not doing very well.
Jared was actually quite funny at 4:00 am. He got the yucky stuff out of his tummy and then it was like he was on speed. Talking a mile a minute and being really quite cute.
Hopefully we'll make it through the day.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Forgotten Carols

I've been a fan of The Forgotten Carols for many years. Some years we read it as a family, some years with friends and some years we go to see the play. Brooke and I went to see it while we were living in Phoenix. I was pregnant with the twins at the time and it was a VERY emotional and spiritual experience for me. I LOVED IT!!! And I've been wanting to go again. So this was the year. I bought tickets the very minute they went on sale (and was disappointed to find that the best seats were already gone in a presale for members, since I bought tickets this year now I'm a member and will get those awesome seats next year).
I decided for our gifts to my parents, Paul's parents and my sibling to give to this year that we would take all of them to the play.
We went tonight to the opening night at Cottonwood High School. It was Awesome! I loved it again!! I highly recommend it and wish I could take everyone I know. I just checked Deseret Book website to see if there are tickets still available and there are - mostly singles but some together in the balcony. If you need something to really get you into the true spirit of the season, go see The Forgotten Carols.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

It's official

It's official - it's Christmas time.
For some reason, I've had quite the "scrooge" attitude about Christmas this year. Usually I start listening to Christmas music right after Halloween but not this year. I was so annoyed by the the radio stations with the super early starts that we boycotted them until after Thanksgiving.
I think the great long fall weather had something to do with it. It just didn't seem like Christmas. So the snow has helped it to seem more like Christmas.
Today was the day to decorate. But I also had to do laundry, errands, make a lunch stop at McDonald's for my nephew's birthday, make dinner, make slush for a baby shower tomorrow. But if we didn't decorate today I had no idea when we would do it.
Paul and Justin brought the tree up and then Paul went to bed. He's sick again and had a bad headache.
The kids were great to help and they took all the Christmas storage boxes upstairs. After we got all the boxes upstairs I plugged in the lights for the tree and the whole top of the tree is not lit and half of the bottom. Lights make me so crazy. We ended up not decorating the tree but did get the rest of the house decorated. I started out in a pretty bad mood and was getting after my kids for goofing off during the process. Luckily they don't take me too seriously and by the end of the whole process I was finally having fun and getting into the spirit.
Now if I can just live through tomorrow:
10:00 Festival of Trees to see my niece dance
11:00 Taylor's 1st basketball game this year
1:00 Friend's baby shower I'm helping to give
6:00 Ward Christmas party that I need to bring an appetizer to - have no idea what.
And now that's it almost 1:00 am, I'm going to bed.