Season's Greetings and New Year Wishes

Happy 2009, everyone!

We've had a busy holiday season, and I must say, while it's always sad to see those Christmas lights lose their sparkle and luster, it is a bit a a relief to return to the normalcy of every day life. The house is slowly being put back together, bedtime is once again routine, and we are adjusting to the new year.

My birthday was before Christmas and I had a very nice one. We went to eat at MacCools and then Craig and I got to go out (just the two of us) to finish the shopping. I was so happy to spend time with him I didn't mind battling the stores and the crowds, or when I slipped in Walmart's parking lot and bruised my patella (kneecap) and compressed a nerve. Too bad it wasn't anything lasting, or I'd own the company (joking!). But it was fun to be a couple for a awhile. My favorite birthdays are the quiet ones where it's me and family.

We had a great Christmas! The kids had a ball at the Ford Christmas party on the 23 rd when Santa came and passed out some gifts and took each child on his knee. Sam and Jake were sooo excited to see him. Their little faces just lit up. It was pretty funny, too, when Santa asked Jake what he wanted for Christmas and Jake looked at him and said "presents" in a tone that was like, well duh! It was touching that when Santa left Jake ran back to him, threw his arms around him and said thank you and told Santa how much he loved him. (awww.) We went to my Auntie Katrina's house on Christmas Eve where the kids got to spend time with Grandma-great and my extended family. We enjoyed the white elephant exchange and the company of good people. Christmas Eve the boys set out cookies and milk for Santa with a few carrots for the reindeer. Christmas morning was full of surprises! We had fun visiting family and exchanging gifts across the board.

We have news: in the form of another gift, Craig accepted the Patient Care Coordinator position at Orchard Cove the week of Christmas. He is relieved to get out of the wound care aspect of nursing. He is great at it, of course, but he was getting tired of the monotony and problems associated with noncompliance and other things. (Ask him about it in person sometime.) That and he does not want to continue in wound care, as his interests lie in other areas of nursing practice. The PCC position is what he had to vacate last April, but now he's going back and we feel that this will be a good move for our family, as his hours will be regular once again to help with the child care issues. He's excited to return to the OC, where he loved the staff (and they loved him) and now there's a new director which will make life that much easier. I am grateful for the blessings given us through the trials of last year that was associated with SDCH and all the rigmarole we went through.

We had a great New Year's celebration with Craig's family playing bingo and setting off party poppers. It's such a gift to have such an awesome family to spend time with. I count my sisters-in-law at some of my closest friends. They are such wonderful women and a great example to me. (And those other inlaws and outlaws aren't half bad, neither!)

The snow keeps falling here, and we keep plugging along. Our goals for 2009 have been set which include more regular scripture study and more regular exercise. Sam has done remarkably well with potty training this past month and hasn't had any number two accidents for over a month now. He continues to work on the other part. We're tentatively thinking about a vacation this year and have told him that he needs to be in big boy shorts all the time in order to go (yes I have stooped to bribery and manipulation--show me one parent who never has!) so he tries hard every day. I think he just gets so busy he doesn't remember until "uh-oh!" Jake is turning three soon and continually amazes me with how much trouble he can cause. But he's my little sweetie and is so loving and funny it makes all the frustration worthwhile. Last Sunday he tied his blankie around his shoulders and was a "Superharold" flying around. (That's Jake for Super Hero.) Then he ate a "haggamer" (hamburger) for dinner. He still hasn't quite decided what kind of birthday party he wants, but it's down to digger trucks or dinosaurs. Miley is rolling all over the place, gets so excited for her toys and is now getting on her knees and trying to crawl. I've heard "mum mum" several times when she's unhappy and wants to be picked up, so I think we may have heard her first word! Wow! She is getting sooo big!

Phew! Now that's done. Please please please everyone, leave us comments or register with the follower we've posted to our blog! We're starting to think no one reads this anymore. The recipe is updated too, a posting to mark our commitment to a healthier lifestyle, so check it out!

Holi-DAZE and Hi-Jinks

Hey everybody! It's been so busy around here I don't know where to begin. The year is winding down and so time seems to be going faster and faster! Yikes!

Merry Christmas!

We had an awesome thanksgiving with my family and enjoyed the deep fried turkey! (Thanks, Pam and Gregg!) Craig made his famous parsley stuffing (the recipe goes back 6 generations) and we enjoyed the start of the holiday season. We were plenty busy planning and executing the ward Christmas party, so now that's done (thank heaven) and now we're focusing on this upcoming week of birthdays, parties and of course, Christmas! A bout of viral bronchitis got a strong hold of Craig and I the first of this month which we're working on getting over. It sure put a crimp in the "Let's get the shopping done before the big rush" plans.

Miley cut her first tooth, is now rolling all over the floor and her bed and play yard. We started her back on the solids slowly and so far bananas, sweet potatoes and oatmeal are "oookkkaaayy", but she seems to like Grammy's mashed taters and jello QUITE a bit. (She was throwing up after every cereal feeding before so the pediatrician told us to wait until she was 6 months to try again.) She's even started doing a "kiss kiss" game and trying to kiss everyone! So cute!

Sam and Jake have been in fine form. I think we entertain lots of people at work with our tales of the twin terrors. Last year, Jake bit a light directly off the Christmas tree. So far this year, no light bulbs down the gullet, but plenty of redecorating the tree, reattaching the noses of elves, rewashing clothing that he's sprayed with windex, febreeze or goo gone or a combination of the three, painting the kitchen floor with butter, clogging the bathroom sink with toilet paper, playing blizzard with a box of lucky charms, climbing the pantry shelves, dragging the car jack into the snow in the front yard and extending it up so he can jump off it into the snow drifts, taping over all the nicks and dings in the walls with scotch tape, falling asleep with his apples, and generally living up to his nickname of Jake the Quake. I had my first real lost kid scare at Smiths when he wandered off and I couldn't find him. A store employee found him 10 minutes later up at the front pushing a Rug doctor back and forth. This was after he took a Dora doll off a shelf and opened it so guess who had to buy the thing? Yay me. We were only there for pharmacy refills, too. He officially passed up Sam in the weight department and is now nearly 35 pounds, approximately 2 pounds heavier than his older brother.

Sam is doing well on his potty training (finally!) and has no has no BM accidents for a week. He still needs reminding to use the potty throughout the day for the other way, but takes himself whenever he needs to go. He's even telling me now, "I need privacy" when he goes into the bathroom. He's pretty proud of himself for being a bog boy. We got him the movie Wall-E for a congrats gift after his first true success and now he is definitely obsessed with Wall-E. We see it at least once a day and he has a Wall-E and EVE action figure. He LOVES robots now and plays like he's a robot when he helps me around the house. He's a pretty good "handy helper" with shoveling snow, too.

I love the Christmas season but I am having a tough time getting into the spirit this year. I guess I need to slow down a bit and enjoy it more. It's just hard because I keep thinking about everything I need to do everyday. Hopefully after this week I can spend some time doing the holiday stuff and feeling more of the joy. Craig is a great guy and a wonderful husband who has made such a great effort in helping with the decorating and getting ready for things. We haven't had many chances for date nights since Miley was born so is was so great to get a chance to go out and enjoy each other's company last weekend while doing some shopping sans children. I will post again in the coming days to let you know if I actually got it all done!

Counting Blessings: Gramma Great!

My wonderful grandmother came with my mom to watch the kids last Thursday while I worked. She came to see Miley and the boys since she hadn't seen them since we blessed Miley the beginning of August. I have so many special memories of her! She watched me when I was a little girl, and I have many, many childhood memories of the times spent at her home. Some of my fondest memories include: sitting on her lap and reading stories and singing the songs her mother taught her, making bread and eating it warm with lots of clover honey, picnics under the cherry tree, picking raspberries, going to the dress rehearsals of Ballet West and the Utah Symphony, making dolly clothes, banana milkshakes, and sitting by her as she played the hymns on the piano. She tells me every time she sees me about how she cherishes her memories of me...I want her to know how grateful I am to her for all my memories, and how she helped raise me and make me the person I am. My old gray granny is an elect lady! (That's what she calls herself--old gray granny!)

Our mothers, grandmothers and all our relatives are gifts, whether our relationships are tightly bonded or not. Each person in my life has touched me and helped shape me into who I am today. I am grateful for my ancestors and all their experiences.

Craig has wonderful memories of his grandparents, all of whom have now passed on. He shares many great stories about them that I love to hear. I am excited to share these with our children too. I was blessed to know and care for Craig's grandmother before we were married. She was a great lady, and one of my favorite patients.

My grandmother is in her nineties now, she's a little slower, a little more hard of hearing, but I love spending time with her and I loved seeing my kids with her. The boys couldn't wait to show her things and tell her all about their toys and stuff. Miss Miley was perfectly content to sit on her lap and look at her. She gave her a big smile first thing and there was a look in her eyes like "There you are! I know you!" I cherish these times because I don't know how many more moments like these there will be.

I am counting my blessings. Gramma-Great-Gramma is a blessing! (That's what Jake calls her, too cute!)

"Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

My Attitude of Gratitude

We had a family night activity not long ago talking about being grateful and counting our blessings. We wrote blessings on paper turkey feather and attached them to a turkey picture as we counted each blessing one by one. By the time the acitvity was over, that turkey looked more like a peacock. This is the perfect month to remember how blessed I am, so I am going to post my "attitudes of gratitude" this month to acknowlege how many blessings I enjoy.

Tuesday was Veteran's Day. I would be totally remiss if I did not offer my thanks to all those wonderful men and women, and their families, who served our country and who now continue to serve the cause of freedom in many divers places. Regardless of your political beliefs, our soldiers and sailors throughout the world deserve our vote of confidence and our thanks for being there. Their families deserve our thanks and our honor for all their sacrifices.

Many of our friends know that my brother Wade serves in the Navy. I have watched that service shape him from the boy I knew into the man I can see him becoming more and more each day. I am truly proud of him. This is what I wrote him earlier today. I'd like to share it so the whole world knows how grateful I am for the sacrifice that he puts forth, as he now stands as a representative of all those heroes before him. I am grateful to them for giving me the freedom I have to exercise my voice, vote, faith and beliefs.

Wade, I wanted you to know a few things.
I wanted to thank you for your service to our country.
I wanted to tell you that I have your picture in a place of honor in my home so that I can see your face each day and so I can teach my children about how brave you are.
I wanted to thank you for taking these years of your life and giving your time and service to this great nation.
I wanted to thank you for being brave enough to be the watchman on the tower and to answer the call of duty.
I wanted to thank you for standing up and being counted and for doing what I could never do.
I wanted to thank you for being braver than I am.
I wanted to thank you for saying that you would go where no one else wants to go, that you would represent America and show the rest of the world how good she is, and how good of a man you have become.

I wanted to tell you that I am so very proud of you for being where you are, and that you are an inspiration to me. I watch profiles of military families on the news and it touches me deeply because of your example to me. The plight of the military service men and women are near and dear to me because I know that every man and woman serving this country is someone's mother or father, son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin, friend.

Sometimes I miss you so much my teeth hurt.
Sometimes I lie awake and fear for you and what situation you may find yourself in out there.

You are always in my prayers.
I pray that you are safe.
I pray that God walks with you where ever you go.
I pray that you will come home safe and whole.
I pray that you can feel me hugging you from miles away like I am now.

You are always in my heart.
You are always loved by me.

Thank you.
Thank you for your choice to be a part of something larger that yourself.
Thank you for your sacrifices.
And thank you for being not only my brother, but also my friend.
I love you.

Sarah

Blessings: freedom, family, faith, love.

Verbosity

Okay. I know. My apologies to those who think that I have completely forgotten this blog. Honestly, I haven't. I've just been...busy. You know how time gets ahead of you, how suddenly weeks have passed and you're standing there thinking "what the heck??" That's how it's been lately. I know that's not much of an excuse, but hey, I got three kids and let's face it, my brain just ain't what it used to be. So, my truest, sincerest apologies for not keeping up with things.
Sooo, anyway, let's see, what can I share about the last three weeks of our lives? Umm...well. Okay, so, we've had Halloween, the seasons here in UT have gone back and forth between summer and winter lately, the election came and went, we've had family parties, our first shindig for our new ward, and the kids have been sick. So, here's the updates:
HALLOWEEN: Unfortunately I had to work Halloween, so Craig got the honor of dressing up the boys and taking them around for the candy craze. We actually had three Halloweens in a way, with our old ward's trunk or treat, Halloween, then our new ward's trunk or treat. The kids packed in a gigantic haul of candy. (We're talking three pumpkins full, and two ghost pails full.) Craig took the kids down to his brother's house Halloween night and they got to go around with their cousins. They thought that was awesome. Sam and Jake were ghosts, I spent the week before making and repairing their costumes. Here's some pictures of them with our own pumpkin patch.

All those pumpkins actually grew in our garden! First year we've gotten more than 2, and we got 17! Miley was a pumpkin too! She looked so cute in her little pumpkin suit! We also went to the family party and the kids loved the carnival that was set up for them.
The Saturday right after Halloween we did the ward party which turned out okay, I think. We had about a 100 people there is all, but people said that was a good turnout considering the size and the newness of our ward. (It's on the small side in numbers.) We're just used to activities having 200-300 people there. Now it's on to the Christmas party. It never ends.
SEASON CHANGE: With the cold snap a couple of weeks ago we had to say goodbye to the garden. We've been trying to get the yard cleaned out in preparation for winter. We kind of have to plan around the rain and when the trash cans are emptied. ;-) We lost quite a few tomatoes but enjoyed the last of the summer squash and a few late pole beans, beets and carrots. I actually donated two five gallon buckets of tomatoes to someone who puts up over 80 quarts a year!! (I stew them and can them, but I still had about 2 dozen quarts from last year so I elected to not do any this year.) And the folks at SDCH loved the 4 gallon-sized bags of cherry tomatoes we brought to share throughout the season, and yes, they were all from just 1 plant!
ELECTION: What can we say? Our friends and family all have differing opinions and we've heard it all from how the country's going to heck in a handbasket, to how it will be like the Kennedys again and all will be just groovy. We're going to sit back and reserve our opinions and judgment and take a wait and see attitude. We did go and do the early voting thing, though. It took about 1.5 hours in line, and when I got done Jake glared at the machine and asked "That was it?" He thought the sticker was a let down too.
In other news, we had dentist appointments and Sam and Mom ended up with bad news and have to go back. The dentist recommended Sam needs to see a pediatric dentist for his "holes." (That's what he calls the cavities.) He wouldn't sit still for a complete cleaning. We also asked about his thumb sucking, and the dentist said not to worry about it for now. Also, the kids have had the stomach flu this weekend and it was pretty hectic keeping up with them for about 36 hours. (Just one big round of emptying pink buckets and changing diapers, it's so much fun being a parent!) Mom got a touch of it for about 16-18 hours, but feels okay now.
So that's it. I think. I don't remember. Oh, the recipe was updated, Cheese Enchiladas that are great! And, we added a follower list, so be sure to register!

Rainbows Cakes, Linus Takes, Throaty Aches, Anniversary Dates

We just finished a unit on colors in "Sammy School", and the boys were so proud of their finished rainbows we just had to document the moment for posterity!
To celebrate the occasion, we made "rainbow cakes" (chocolate cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles) which Sam and Jake had a ball helping Mom mix and make. Looks like fun, eh? They're doing really well with the school time, they look forward to it, and Jake's speech is increasingly clear lately. They even know part of the Pledge of Allegiance!

Miley Sue has recently taken up thumb sucking (greeaaattt) like her biggest brother, but I've noticed the past couple of days she's pulled the "Linus" thing-holding her blankie and rubbing it on her face. It's soo cute, but she won't do it when she sees the camera, so I had to get her sleeping after she fell asleep doing it. We're still encouraging the "blinkie" (that's what Sam calls her pacifier) as often as we can catch her with her thumb.







Oh, we went to our new ward Sunday, which was okay. We have new callings--Activities Committee! YIKES! I think the Lord picked us because we haven't been, um, exactly Gun-ho about going to ward activities in the past, so now we get to plan them! (Yay us.) I don't know really what to expect, I think I'm a little worried about it and the time it will need. Everyone I talk to thinks it's such a fun calling, but they also add in the same breath "but it's so much work!" So, if anyone out there has any ideas for fun activities or know of one they went to in the past that they thought was great PLEASE let us know!

In health news, the boys had strep this week, so they're both on antibiotics. I'm praying Miley doesn't get it. They both got something called strawberry tongue, which is where the strep infection makes their tongues swell and look like a strawberry with little tiny sores on it. It's pretty painful. I think I'll look at taking out stock in children's Motrin and Tylenol when this stock market crisis gets straightened out. The kids being under the weather was the reason we didn't do anything super grand for our 7th anniversary on Sunday. I cooked a steak dinner that the whole family ate by candlelight, had a coconut cream pie for dessert and then Craig and I toasted each other with some chilled Martinelli's after the kids went to bed. It was quiet, but the bestest thing in my book is spending time with my family and my darling, wonderful kind, sensitive, handsome, funny, charming and adorable husband. I am truly happiest by his side and surrounded by my little whirlwinds of cute, fun and love!

Birthday Boy!

We celebrated Sam's birthday this week, which deserves a post all by itself! I can't believe he's 4!!! Where did all the time go? I really understand why everyone says that you blink your eyes and they grow up! We asked Sam what he'd like to do for his birthday and he said "Have a Thomas Party." Well, since the train museum is look but don' t touch, we said he could have a Thomas train cake, but we needed to do something like the Dinosaur museum or the Children's Museum. He decided on the "kid's museum" and it's all he's talked about this week. But, to keep a part of the train in it, we took Frontrunner from Woods Cross into SLC and then Trax to Gateway, where the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum is. Both the boys loved the train ride! (Miley stayed with Grandma Karen for this outing so the boys could have Mom and Dad's undivided attention.)

The "Kid's Museum" was a lot of fun! They had a ball station where the boys had a blast watching the balls in all the machines and doodads. They also have the Kid's Eye View, which is a construction zone, house, market, gas station, water works and farm made just for kids. The boys enjoyed looking at things and trying out the different activites. We noticed that they tended to gravitate towards "kinetic" things, like the water works and balls, and they spent time looking and watching and trying to figure out how it all worked.

The museum also had a TV news studio and a Lifeflight helicopter the kids could look at and climb in and out of. We had fun clowning around in front of the green screen (a little Who's Line is it Anyway flashback) and seeing the boys "fly the hellicoppa" as Jake called it.

We when got done at the museum, we strolled around Gateway and then headed home on the train. Then, we ate some pizza at Robintino's, picked up Miley from Grandma's and then came home for presents, cake and ice cream! Yum!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMY! YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF OUR LIFE AND SUCH A GREAT KID!! WE LOVE YOU!!!