Fun Times and Random Pictures

For every holiday there is that one special treat that you look forward to. For me at Valentine's I LOVE JuJu hearts. (The red chewy ones that aren't hot) A couple years ago they started making them covered in chocolate! To die for! I had bought some this week and Brooklyn, Sean, and I had been enjoying them. Apparently, Gracie wanted in on the action. I was at the table blogging and Sean and Brooklyn were playing Rock Band and Sean yells out, "Um, Em come here." So I come running in and here Gracie going, "YUMMM YUMMM!" Her mouth was full I think she had 2 in each hand and you can see the chocolate dripping down her face. She was pretty ticked when we took them away from her and cleaned her up. (On the second picture down you will notice on Gracie birdie finger the burn she got when she touched my curling iron. The tough girl didn't even bawl. And yes I felt like such a great mom!)

The other night Brooklyn found a bunch of hats and put them all on and wanted her picture taken with them on. Silly girl!

Today Brooklyn wanted to go outsie with Sean and let Sandy (our dog) out and play in the snow. The past couple of years Sean has tied the sled to Sandy and had him pull Brooklyn. She wanted to try it again today. (Pay attention to Sean's laugh in the background)

*disclaimer- Brooklyn was not injured in these fall- she got up laughing

I just love my sweet family- I am sure glad I have them to keep me entertained!

St. George

Last weekend we headed down to warm, sunny St. George. Me and the gals hopped in with my parents and met Nat, Greg, and Garrett down there and the Andies and Pauline also joined us. One of the highlights of the trip besides seeing MaryAnn and her family, the WARM weather, and being crammed into a hotel room was the night Brooklyn lost Blacky. (Let me preface this story. When Brooklyn has a bath and little floaties like lint are in the tub she gathers them and sets them on the side of the tub and they become her friends.) So she was having a bath and found a "friend" and named him Blacky. She set him on the nightstand while she was getting her jammies on and somehow he got lost. This is where the meltdown begins. Ric is searching everywhere for him- I am on my hands and knees with a flashlight trying to find him- Paula is searching- everyone else is trying to find a black piece of lint that could pass off as "Blacky" but she wouldn't fall for. In the process we find all these other "friends" and put them is a cup so they won't get lost. We cannot find Blacky anywhere so we come up with the story that he must have run away to be with his family. Yes- we are talking about a piece of lint. She finally falls for it and decides that he is with his family. All day she had kinda complained that her ear was bothering her, but she had been outside so I thought it was from that. Well she just starts bawling that her ear hurts and she is thrashing all over the place obviously in pain. So she finally gets to sleep and wakes up awhile later and is just screaming saying her ear hurts- it is about midnight by now and Paula and Marlee decide they will go to Walgreen's to get some Tylenol and ear drops. I am dying because we are in a hotel and I am just waiting to get the call that we need to quiet down. The good thing is we had 2 rooms that were shared and one of them was on the end so that is were we had her. Anyways she finally fell asleep. At 3 am she wakes up again bawling and all loud and manages to wake up Gracie and Garrett. Garrett went back to sleep but Gracie thought it was playtime and was as hyper and happy as could be. I think she was up for about 2 hours and finally fell asleep- needless-to-say it was not the best night of sleep I have every gotten. On Tuesday Brooklyn had an appointment with the Allergist and when he looked in her ear he was like, "Wow! That is really red- does she have a history of ear infections?" So she really did have something wrong with her and is on an antibiotic.

The meltdown begins

Me looking for "Blacky"

Total devastation

It was 60 degrees and warm. I called Sean one night and he said to enjoy it because Cache Valley was inverted and it had been 12 degrees that day.

Gracie and Garrett sat there and emptied out Jan's bag. The 2 of them together is trouble.

One of Brooklyn's favorite things to do in St. George is to go to the Temple and Visitor's Center. We went 2 different times and spent a couple hours there and she was thrilled. This temple really is gorgeous.

Getting ready to come home. The sad thing is is that all of this luggage is just me and Nat's.

Grace just chillin in the rocking chair.

I am so blessed and lucky to have such a great support system in my life. I don't know what I would do without Paula and her family to help with the gals. My gals adore and love all of them. Thank you for your help and love Andies. And Nat- I don't know how I got so lucky to have Nat as my sister. She is not only my sister but my bestfriend. She loves my gals like they are her own and they love her that much back. Thanks sisto for all your help. And my parents- I don't even know what to say. They spent the whole weekend driving back and forth from Mary Ann's to the hotel to drive me and the gals around and trying to make us all happy. Thank you so much for all you do for us- it doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. We love you!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve day we went to Sean's grandparents house in Stone, Idaho. It was SUPER fun. All of Sean's family was there, his grandparents, an aunt and uncle and their boys from California, and an aunt and uncle and their boys from Las Vegas. Brooklyn LOVES playing with these boys and they love playing with her too. Brooklyn loved playing outside and riding on the 4-Wheeler. We had so much fun up there that I only took 3 picutres. We came home and caught the tail-end of the Maughan-Wright party it was fun to see family there that I hadn't seen in awhile. We came and the girls opened their Christmas jammies and Santa visited us that night. We had a fun Christmas morning at our house and the gals enjoyed opening their presents. We had a spectacular breakfast at Ric and Paula's and then headed to Sean's parents house. We got to open more presents there (and again I didn't take a single picture) Sean's mom made the girls a pillow using a square from a quilt her grandma had given her. They are really neat and I am going to get a picture with her and the girls with the pillows. We then went and visited Sean's grandma at Legacy House. Then it was time for our final destination, my parents house. It was all my siblings year at the in-laws for Christmas Eve so my parents had prepared a lovely dinner and all my siblings and their spouses and the Anderson's were there. It started snowing at about 4:00 and by 9:00 there was a foot of snow. It was fun a bunch of people got geared up and went to play and shovel in the snow. Brooklyn was complaining of her stomach hurting and just kinda laying around- finally she puked and didn't stop until 2 in the morning. The nasty flu also hit Sean, my dad, and me. It was snowing so bad and Sean and Brooklyn were sick that we ended up staying at my parents house that night. And me and the gals also stayed Friday night and my parents took care of Gracie and Brooklyn for me while I was sick. Thanks mom and dad- you are the best!! It is Sunday and I am still trying to get over it. It was a lousy way to spend Christmas night- but other than that we had a great Christmas!! (Looking through my pictures i realized that I didn't hardly take any at any event we went to. I will have to do better! :)

The drive to Stone was Gracie's first time sitting forward. She loved it!

Our family

Brooklyn and Uncle Kerry (he took her for a ride and even let her drive- she thought it was great! They make such a fuss over Brooklyn- she loves them a ton!)

Christmas Jammies (pretty sad this is the best picture I got of both of them- They were not cooperating with me taking a picture.)

Christmas morning- Brooklyn got a Leapster (Santa had a hard time with her this year because whenever she was asked what she wanted she said, "everything!" and meant it. Grace is in zombie mode- we woke her up and she was still pretty tired.)

This was what we saw when we opened my parents front door

Chels and Brooklyn look so cute as do Brian and Brett.

When they were looking for snow gear for everyone they ran across these old snowmobiling helmets- that are at least 30 years old if not older.

Merry Christmas!

I love the holiday season! I love everything about it. I have loved this year more so than years that have past- I have not allowed myself to get worked up and we decided to scale things down this year. What I especially love about this time of year is that we tend to reflect more on our Savior Jesus Christ. Last year being 9 months pregnant around Christmastime- put things into perspective. I don't know how Mary mustered the faith she needed to get on a donkey when she was having contractions. And then as I was getting my epidural and enjoying the nice hospital suite. I couldn't help but think of how devastated Mary and Joseph must have felt when they knew that the Savior of the World was going to be born in a stable. Jesus was born in the humblest conditions. I am so grateful for His life and example. I am also so grateful for the Atonement so that I can use it in my life. I am grateful for His death and resurrection and knowing that we will live with Him and our family again some day. I hope to try and reflect on Christ all year this coming year and not just at Christmastime! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Yesterday was Gracie first birthday! Looking back I cannot believe that a whole year has passed since she was born. It feels just like yesterday. I was induced with Grace at about 10 PM on the 19th and had her just after 3:00 AM on the 20th. Since she was born she has been such a sweetheart. She really is a happy baby. We have been so lucky with her- between 6-8 weeks she started sleeping through the night and has since. Here are some fun things about Gracie- she is walking all over the place, she has the cutest dimples, she has 4 teeth (2 on top, 2 on bottom), she loves to clap, she likes to point and say, "dat", she thinks that anything Brooklyn does is the best, and she has the cutest belly laugh. I feel so blessed to be Gracie's mom and to have her in our lives. She brings such joy and happiness to those that are around her. Happy Birthday Grace- We love you!

We had a little birthday party for Gracie at our house. She had her own little cake and I was really interested to see how she would do with it. (When Brooklyn turned 1 she wouldn't touch the cake- she didn't like to get dirty.) Not Grace- she LOVED it. She dug right in and had a blast!

7 Years

The 14th marks me and Sean's 7th wedding anniversary! I cannot believe how fast time has flown. We have experienced many things together. When we first got married we lived in the basement of my grandma's house in Wellsville. We had our own little apartment down there and made many memories there. We spent 1 summer in Atlanta, Georgia. We got roped into Sean selling Pest Control and making the big bucks (ha ha). Sean would tell you that I hated every minute of it down there. At the time I think I did. I had never been away from my family or Utah and was so homesick. We only had one car and Sean needed it so I was stuck inside by myself all day. Toward the end I got a job working in an Law Office- a member in our Bishopric was an Immigration lawyer and hired me to help do paperwork. That made my days in Georgia more bearable. We did some fun things down there and looking back now I have fond memories of our summer in Georgia. We came back to my grandma's and were both in school. My grandma eventually got sick and Sean and I had the priviledge of helping take care of her. Also at this time we learned that we were pregnant with Brooklyn. What joy and happiness she has brought into our lives and our families. We often comment that Brooklyn gave my grandma 1 more year of life. I was touched as I would watch Sean so tenderly take care of my grandma. They would watch sports together and Sean would come up and watch the Jazz with her. After she passed away we were on a walk and walked passed the house we would eventually buy. We saw it was for sale and made an appointment to see it. The first time we walked through it we knew we wanted it. It has been a great "first home." We have welcomed Gracie into our family and what a sweetheart she is- also bringing joy into our lives. In our 7 years we have had 2 babies, bought a house, both graduated from college, had 2 dogs, had 6 different cars, lived in 2 states, gone on some way fun vacations, and grown together as a couple. We have had our ups and downs- and continue to love each other. I feel so blessed to be married to my best friend and to have him as the father of my kids. Happy Anniversary Babe- I love you!

Christmas Tree Catastrophe!

The other night we had a MAJOR incident with our Christmas Tree. Sean, Brooklyn, and I were hanging out before she went to bed. My phone rang and I got up to get it- as I was turning around, I hear Sean yell, "Brooklyn! Look out!" I hear this LOUD crash and look to see this:

Christmas Tree on Brooklyn

This is what was under the tree when we put it back up

The tree after the incident

So to preface the tree falling- I have to explain. Our front room is too small for our tree. Our tree is artificial and one that you have to put in branch-by-branch. So our first Christmas in our house I came up with the idea of just filling the branches in the front and side and putting the back right against the wall. It does get heavy on the side with the branches so we put weights on the base to even it out. Evidently, the weights fell off- making the tree fall right on top of Brooklyn. Sean went over first thing to lift the tree off her and I was like, "Wait- I need the camera." It was actually quite funny! The amazing thing is that only 1 little bulb broke. We did have a mess after and I had to redo parts of the tree. But it is up and we have put more weights on it.