Christmas Splendor

We went up to Logan to my parents for Christmas Eve. We had dinner, and opened presents, and the cousin's got to play together. My kids were very excited, because they don't see their cousins very much.



The kids were waiting for it to be time to open presents. And I look over and this is what I see. Jayson is entertaining all the boys with a game on his phone.
Ahh the joy of Boys!




After Grandma and Grandpa's party, we hurried over to Jayson's Grandma's party. This is his mom's mother. We haven't been to a party for her side of the family in years. His grandma had asked his mom to try and get us all there this year. She is living at the retirement home in North Logan. She had the party there. We arrived a little late, but just in time for Santa!
The kids had mixed feelings about old Santa. Haha! But the boys were good sports!
Tregan got a rock growing kit!



Dax got a bunch of tatoos!

Aty got some Elmo Books
 And as you can see she was Not Excited to sit on Santa's lap. We tried to take her to see Santa on a couple of occasions before this night, And she would be so excited the whole way there, saying. See Ho Ho" and then we would get there and walk over to where he was, and she would grab on to me as tight as she could and wrap her legs around my waist, and say " No Ho Ho" So when we heard that Santa was going to be at this party. I was interested to see what she would do. She watched him with the other kids, and didn't seem bothered. But when he called out her name, Dax tried to carry her over to him, and she started to scream and try and get out of his arms. I had to run to the rescue. She wanted no part in getting on his lap. So santa asked me to sit with her. So I got to sit on santa's lap too! But no present for me. Boo....
She grabbed a hold of her present and held on tight and screamed until he was done talking to her.
Silly girl!
After Santa left, Jayson's grandma gave all the granddaughters, and great grandaughters, bracelets that she had made. Which was so sweet. And she gave the boys remote control cars.





After the Parties, we headed home, to see if the pajama elf had arrived. The kids were so worried that we would miss him. He comes to our door every Christmas Eve to bring the kids their pajamas. With a note telling them that Santa is on his way, so they need to get ready for bed.  They look so forward to this every year. This year the Elf brought mom and dad some pj's too. I forgot to take pictures though. Oops!
We hung out for a bit, and played some card games. Then it was off to bed... Well, the boys went anyway, Aty on the other hand, well, I guess she was too excited to sleep! haha! I layed in my room with her for over and hour, trying to get her to settle down. I finally got her to sleep. And crept downstairs to check on daddy's progress. Three hours later. Everything was ready, and Santa could come. I was so excited I wanted to wake up the kids. I tried to talk Jayson into letting us just wake them up and open all the presents and then we could go back to bed and sleep all day. He was not convinced...
So, we went to bed.



Christmas Morning.
I told the boys they couldn't get up before 8:00. And if they did, then they had to quietly come in our room and wait until 8 to wake Aty up. Jayson had set up a trap for them in the hallway at the top of the stairs. With the baby gate and a sheet. So at 6:45 ish. They come in our room, and wake me up. Tregan is talking as fast as he can, saying something about being hungry and the gate and he couldn't get downstairs, and his tummy was hurting and he just needed some food....
Haha! Nice Try!
So I go downstairs and get him some crackers and tell them to go back to bed for a while. That lasted about 10 seconds. So I got up and talked to them in their room for a bit, until I thought it would be ok to wake up Aty and Jayson.

Aty got a Super Cute Pink Kitchen!
She however, was not in the mood.  She was excited when she saw the presents. And she started grabbing them and trying to rip them open as fast as she could. Which would have been fine, If they were all her presents. But they were not. And so the boys were panicking, and she screamed, and screamed! We tried to keep her focus on one thing at a time, but she was loving ripping the paper, fortunately, after a while, and alot of screaming. I put on Toy Story 3 for her to watch. Which is her new obsession. And then the boys and Jayon and I were able to continue our present opening in peace.  After an hour or so, her crabbiness wore off, and she played for hours with her kitchen.

They all got Bean Bags.
Which we needed in a big way! We were sick of sharing one couch between all five of us.

The boys both got Nintendo Ds Lites.
 The funny thing is though, that they both got pink. There is a story behind that. But it is a long one. So, long story short, the stores ran out of other colors, so Tregan had to get a pink one. And well, I guess the elves painted Daxton's pink as well. They were only upset for a minute thank goodness! We reassured them that they can get stickers for them to cover it up.



Santa brought them a Kinect
They were Extremely Excited about it!

 After we finished opening presents, I made a big breakfast, and we got to hang out in our PJ's. This will be our first year that we just got to stay home for Christmas. It was nice! My parents came and saw us for a little bit, they even played bowling with the boys on our kinect! We spent the rest of the day playing games and just being together.  We even had a big Turkey dinner, later that night, Jayson and I played Track and Field on the Kinect. It was exhausting! Ha Ha! We were so tired and sore the next day. Who needs the gym when we have a Kinect!

                                                 So that was our Christmas! It was a fun day!




 

 











Things that make me Smile

Seeing my little girl, Wrestle with her daddy and big brother.

Dax and Aty Dancing to Christmas Music

Building our Gingerbread house together

Watching Aty eat the frosting

Teaching my boys, how to make snowmen out of marshmallows

My Three sweet Kids and their smiling faces

Being able to go see Dax sing in his Christmas program

Watching him sing his little heart out!
So adorable! Melts my heart!

And of course, My daughter enjoying herself some Chocolate!
Ahh! What could be better?

Christmas is in the Air, Excitement is definitely Not, lacking at our household, as you saw above!
I love the spirit of Christmas and all the happiness and love it brings. I Love that I can be a mom to my three beautiful, sweet children. I love that I get to see them sing in their programs,  and see how excited they get. I love that Aty loves to make messes. (ok, not really, at least the clean up part, I don't love) But she does look pretty darn cute with chocolate smeared on her face! I love that this time of year, my kids are so happy and funny to be around. Yes, at times they drive me crazy! But it is So fun to be a mom. I wouldn't trade it for anything! I love that my boys jump at the chance to make crafts and help me bake. Because this is about the only time of the year, that I get that from them. They look forward to making the gingerbread house, baking the gingerbread men, and seeing if they come alive again!
It is so fun to have little ones in my house, It makes me sad to think of the future, when they are all grown up, and I don't get to do these things anymore. No more squealing with excitement on Christmas morning. No more wild, laughing, excited kids, that just
Can't sleep!

So for now, I will hold on, to these sweet moments with my little ones. And treasure them dearly! Because they are definitely on the top of my list, of things that make me smile!

Out of the Snow

We headed out of the snow for Thanksgiving this year. Off To Arizona! Thankfully, we all got over our sickness in time. Well sort of.. I was still pretty sick with a bad cough. And the snow storm threatened to stop us. But we decided to just Do IT! And we made it safely.
It has been over a year since the kids and I have been back there. It was kinda strange being there and knowing that we didn't have our house, to go home to. We went and visited our old town Anthem, and drove by our first house there. The boys didn't really even remember much of what they saw. Funny that they have forgotten already. We had to visit the famous Anthem Outlet Stores. They have a huge Christmas Tree every year. The kids used to always look forward to going there, and seeing it. They used to have snow machines that blew bubbly like snow, out. How funny is that? My boys loved it!It was a nice warm version of snow, for us. lol! And they also have a santa house with santa there. Aty was saying. "ho ho" The whole time, excited to see santa. But when I walked in the door and she saw the big jolly man in the red suit, sitting in his chair. She panicked and ordered me to take her out. Saying "no ho ho!" So much for that I guess.

Aty and her cousin Bella.
She was trying to read this book to her.
Aty had so much fun having her little girl cousin to play with. They both struggled a little with sharing however, being the only girl in their family. But they had fun. Every morning when Aty would wake up, she couldn't wait to get out of the bedroom and downstairs to see Bella, and of course the dogs. (she loved them!)

This was at the big park in Anthem, they have a lake there with ducks in it. It is a really fun, pretty park we used to always go to. We actually bid farewell to our only pet turtle, Flippy in this lake before we moved back to Utah. The boys have asked about him a time or two, wondering if he was able to swim and stay alive. We decided to take them back there,to see if we could catch a glimpse of old Flippy. But we didn't see him. Hopefully he is still alive and swimming somewhere. (poor turtle)

When we first moved to Anthem, we spent alot of time at this park, and these rocks were where the boys spent alot of their time.

They even have a sand pit with dinosaur bones

The famous splash pad, where they have about 5 different animals,that spray water. It was a very popular spot in the hot Summer!

The famous Christmas Tree
Tregan took a ton of pics of this tree. It was huge! But the ones I tried to put on here, didn't work. So you just get to see the bottom.


It was so fun to see Jayson's family and to be back in our old hometown! It is such a beautiful place. I miss the clean, beautiful landscaping everywhere you go. And of course the heat! We had 4 great years there, full of fun memories, and many trials. It all seems like somewhat of a dream. Now that we are living back in Utah. Aty was so small when we moved back here. So most of her life has been in Utah. It was a fun place to live. But I have to say, I am pretty partial to Utah, myself.



On our drive back, we got in a snow storm, by the time we reached Fillmore, the kids were so sick of the car, as well as Jayson and I. We decided to stop and get a hotel. Well I guess every other traveler had our same idea. All the hotels were full! So we drove on for a while longer, trying to see through the snow. And found a little hotel in a town called Scipio. They had a room thankfully. So we spent the night there, and headed out the next morning. We got home after noon, and ran the boys to school late. What a long trip back! Man 12 hours sure is a long ride!
But here we are, back in Utah in the freezing cold, and snow! Gotta love these Utah winters!
I am still, not loving them!

On Tuesday, Tregan went on a tour of the KSL studios with his scout troop. He got to meed Bruce and Carol. And watch them film the 6:00 news. He had a blast. I wish I could have gone with him.

Here he is with his troop

Mommy Needs a Break

From Sick Kids

This has been the scene in our house for the past week.
(cozy up on the couch eating our soup and sandwiches, calling for mom, every second)

It all started on Wednesday afternon. Daxton started coughing before his wrestling practice. I thought "oh great, here we go" we go to pratice, and I am watching him with an aching heart, as he wrestles with all his strength, the whole time trying to be brave and not cry, because he can't breath and feels horrible. It was all I could do to not run out and stop him from wrestling. If daddy hadn't been there I probably would have. Thursday morning, I wake up running a fever and really dizzy, pain in my back and stomach. I was trying to lay on the bed and not move, for fear that I would puke. Then I hear Daxton crying and wheezing trying to get air. I force myself to get up and take him into the bathroom to run the shower with steam to help him breath. Sitting on the floor, holding him, trying not to pass out. I try my best to take care of Dax and Aty, most the morning. While Jayson is busy working. By 12:00, I am so sick, I beg Jayson to get Aty to sleep, so I can rest. He does, and She and I, sleep for a bit. I wake up and feel awful, I have a history of kidney infections, so I think I better call the Dr. I go in and they do some test. They say that my white blood cell count is way to high, and he is worried that I might have an appendicitis. "What?" I ask. There is no way.  I am thinking I would be in way more pain in my stomach and not my back. He is sure because of my white blood count, and some of my symptoms, that it has to be.  I finally talk him out of sending me straight over to the surgeon ready to rip my appendix out. He puts me on meds for a kidney infection and make me promise, I will go to the emergency room if I get worse. I go home, kinda nervous." We have No insurance, I don't have time for this, Dax is sick, Jayson is working, What am I going to do"?  I just pray that I am ok through the night. I make it! He has me come back the next day for a blood test again to see if my count has gone down, it has a little. So I am free to go home. Still not really sure what it wrong with me.
MEANWHILE..
I am doing my best to take care of Dax, Aty and Myself. Daxton continues to get worse. The meds I am on, are making me way sick. And by Saturday, I am thinking we need to take Dax to the Doctor. I make him an appt, but then I am way too sick to take him. So we wait another day, thinking he might be better, but No! He is still coughing like crazy and so miserable! So I take him in on Sunday, get him some meds, and the Dr has me get my blood taken again. My count is normal. Still not sure what I have. He prescribes me new meds, and we go home.
Sunday night, Tregan starts complaining of a fever, and Aty is coughing more. "Oh My Gosh! Can I get a break Please?!!"

So here we are Tuesday afternoon, Daxton has finally gone back to school today, but not without tearing my heart apart. He was crying all morning, because he still feels crappy, and doesn't want to go. So I have to be Mean Mom, and telll him he Has to go. He has missed too many day. Here I sit worried sick about him now, wishing I would have just let him stay home. Stupid School anyway.. And
 Stupid Sickness!!

Day #8, Daddy, Aty and Tregan are sick, mom is on the mend. 

Poor Aty got pushed out of her space while the boys have been home hogging the couch and her play areas. She has been getting into all sorts of mischief, while I have been trying to take care of sickies, and myself.

It's a good thing my little snow white, is so darn cute!

Time To Wrestle

The boys were in a Wrestling camp this week. They had practice every night this week, and then the big tournament on Saturday. Daxton ended up getting sick with a bad cough on Wednesday. So he didn't feel good enough to go anymore. So he just went and watched Tregan. He was a little dissapointed, but he felt too sick to really care. I was very bummed, because he was doing so well at practice, taking everyone down. I knew he would have done awesome at the tournament.

Dax, Tregan, and their cousin Zack

The Wrestling room was so packed with kids and parents. So their are lots of legs in my pics.

Tregan did Awesome! I was so proud of him. He was alot more agressive this year then last. He pinned everyone he wrestled. The last kid he fought was tough, and so he ended up getting beat on the final round.
(otherwise he would have won 1st place)

He won 2nd Place!



The Proud, Sweaty, Wrestlers
Tregan and Zack



Saturday

Tregan had his very first Basketball Game bright and early at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
He is playing on the Jr Jazz team. He was So excited!
(doesn't he look so cute?)

He was very nervous before we got there. But he did Awesome! Even better then I expected. I was really surprised actually. He is so timid, and non aggressive. When he told me he wanted to play basketball this year. I was a little surprised, I wasn't sure if he was aggressive enough. But he played really good. He even made a point for the team. YAY!!

I didn't get any real great pictures, I was messing with all the settings on my camera, and trying to keep Aty occupied, so I got lots of fuzzy ones. Hopefully I can get some better ones at his next game.



Aty got a little bored watching the game after  bit, and started to wander.



After the game, and a quick stop at Krispy Kreme for donuts. Because Jayson insisted that was what boys do after the game. lol! I had suggested that we run to Costco. Since we had started our day so early. Which by the way, we never go anywhere before 8:30. So this was a huge accomplishment for us. So on our way to Ogden, we remembered that we had been wanting to go to the museum at Hill Airforce Base, we had tried to go a few weeks ago, but it was closed. So since we were heading that way, and it was only like 10:00 by then, we had plenty of time.

The planes are so Huge! My kids look so Tiny next to them.

I don't know the name of any of these planes. Jayson would be so dissapointed in me. Sorry honey! But They were really cool. The boys had a blast. Especially Jayson..

Aty was getting very tired, and she had not eaten much since she woke up, so she had a minor meltdown. I took her back to the car and gave her a donut.

As you can see, the donut was all she needed. She is all smiles now!

Tregan has been really into helping with Aty lately. He is always wanting to carry her. And she loves it. I love this picture of them. So Sweet!

Jayson was trying to get her to show us her signature face. She pulls this face whenever someone takes something she thinks is hers, or tries to play with a toy she has. She started it one day when a neighbor tried to sit on her swing. And now she is always doing it.

Squeezes

This was a chair they had inside the museum. It was one of the seats from the planes.

Daxy really liked posing in this. We got a few of him making dead faces. Not sure why he was doing that. (such a ham)

The A-10
Jayson' favorite plane

They had these little planes, that we had seen earlier. They were behind the ropes with the big planes. Aty had tried to climb under the rope to get them. Later on, Aty and I were in the restroom, and Tregan was waiting outside for us. I heard this man talking to Tregan. I was kinda panicking, thinking " I shouldn't have left him out there alone, now that man is going to kidnap him" I was hurrying to get out the door to him, and there he sat on the bench with this older man, who I found, worked there. (hahah oops, paranoid mom) When the man saw Aty he asked if she wanted to sit in the planes. Yay! So he gave her a ride.

She didn't really know what to think. I think she was nervous that this stranger was pushing her around in this plane. I was bummed because Jayson and Dax were somewhere else in the museum and they didn't make it back to us to see her. And Jayson had my camera. So I had to take these pics with my phone.

After she rode in this one, I tried to get her out, and she didn't want to. The man kept saying how it was time for him to go to lunch. So I had to pull her out.

Two hours later, we left the museum. Aty was exhausted and we still had to go to Costco. This is right before we left. Tregan was carrying her around and set her on the Toilet paper, she layed right down. I think she may have taken a nap there if we would have let her. Poor baby!

That was the end of our outings for the day. What started as just an early morning basketball game, sure turned into an eventful day. Jayson and I joked how It was a amazing the things you can get done when you get outta bed before 9 on a saturday. (haha)

Dax and Tregan were wrestling that evening, and Tregan yells " I just punched Daxton in the face and now his tooth is loose."  Um nice! at first I was mad because I thought it was his permanent tooth. Silly mom, he hadn't lost his other top tooth yet. I had lost track. Good thing though! So now Dax has the cute toothless grin.  Now he can sing " All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" (well sorta, his one tooth is already coming in) I always think of that song when my kids loose their front tooth. haha!