Christmas gifts

Thank goodness I am feeling much better. I hope our house if finally done with it and I can go a week without cleaning up throw up!(even though I'm a nurse I don't do throw up well) I am always glad when Christmas is over. I think I get too stressed out and am ready to have my house back to normal. This Christmas was good despite all of the sickness. My kids are at such a fun age and all believe in Santa. I realize I may only have a year or two more of this so we are enjoying it. Tyler is really starting to ask questions and notice things. One of his gift's in his stocking had a price tag on it and he wondered why Santa would go to a store to buy a gift. Eric just told him that he can't make every toy and Tyler seemed fine with that. But, I wonder how long we can keep it up!


I decided it was time to give the girls a haircut! They were so excited. Kenadie's hair is really short but totally fits her personality. She is not a fluff girl and likes an easy hairdo and I like that it long enough that I can still put it up in front. I put some before and after pics of each girl so you can see the difference.








I especially love Kylie's new do. I love not having her whine as much when I comb her hair everyday!





Kenadie's favorite gift by far is the shopping cart that my parent's gave her. I requested an extra sturdy one since we've already gone through two. I love this one! It is a little tikes one and should last until Easton is big. I highly recommend it and it's affordable. Kenny loves the baby seat in front and packs a lot of stuff in the basket. Just this morning she had one baby in front and two in the basket. I asked her if she's just like her mom with three kids in the cart and she said "yes". What a good mom she will be someday. Kenadie got a new baby, church dress, princess puzzles, Dora memory game, artist lap table, Princess tent and sleeping bag, etc.






I don't have a pic of Tyler's favorite gift because he likes them all. He got a crystal growing kit from Santa and that experiment is in the works. My parent's gave him a rock tumbler since he loves to collect different looking rocks. He also got roller skate shoes, books, videogame, spiderman shirt and movie, and some money. He also went with my dad and uncle Larry to his first Jazz game the day after Christmas. Eric had planned the day off but they said he had work due to it's the busy season. Tyler had a blast though and told me how the bear did backflips, the huge tv screen, eating pizza and ice cream, etc, etc, etc.










All of the kids love the retro kitchen that Santa brought. I do too! It is so cute and sturdy. It took Santa's helper four hours to put together (and he is mechanically inclined). My parents got a bunch of food that is made out of wood so it can endure a lot of wear and tear. I am always being served food now and Kylie especially likes her Belle tea set that she got. Kylie got a new barbie, barbie beetle car, church dress, dress up shoes, barbie artist lap table, princess guitar, etc.







One of the gifts that my mom and dad gave Easton was this super cute John Deere lawn mower. It makes all sorts of noises and it has little pieces of grass that roll around in the back. Easton loves it and the other kids do too. Some of the things that Easton got was a "cars" double racetrack, puzzle, kichen dishes, Jack in the box, backpack, and some money.

What a week!

My sister and her family came into town from Oregon for christmas. It's always fun when they come since our kids are the same ages. My cousin Lindsey was also in town from Iowa so we got all the kids together and had a good time. We had a cousins christmas party on Sunday which turned out to be a disaster for me! Eric had to work so I had all the kids. We ended up leaving home a few minutes late then we had to stop so Kylie could pee. Then I had to get gas then Tyler threw up everywhere in the van. I had to call Eric and have him come early and take him home. By the time we got there it was an hour late and everyone had already eaten. Some days, it's just easier to stay home!


We spent Christmas eve's at my parent's. We ate, played bingo, sang songs, and the kids made reindeer cupcakes. We also watched some home video's of when I was 13 and let me tell you, it was scary! We came home and the kids are allowed to open a present from Eric and I. We always get them new pj's so they cute christmas morning! I started to not feel good and I knew what I was in for. All of the kids have had the flu all week and I'm so sick of cleaning up throw up!







This is what our tree looked like after santa had come. I will try to get pics of all of the kids presents and post them later this week. It was a rough night. Eric stayed up until 2am putting a kitchen together. Tyler and Kenadie both threw up in the night and we had to stop opening presents so I could. It was fun to see the kids faces but they are so spoiled! I got eric a movie, "tap out" shirt, and a work stool for cars. He got me slippers, a robe, 1/4 carat diamond earrings, and a digital frame.





I had to work christmas evening but I was still sick. I knew that nobody was going to cover for me so I went anyways. We were supposed to go to slc and Eric's mom and sister had got us hotel rooms. I wasn't going to go but Eric begged. I spent the whole time in bed while they went swimming. We were going to go to Spaghetti factory but we decided to come home early. I felt really bad that I had gone and ruined the whole trip. Thankfully, after three days I'm starting to feel better. I almost went to the emergency room last night because I was in so much pain. I have never had the flu so bad! Eric and I decided next year we are going away for christmas! Hopefully somewhere warm.

Work

Here is our work picture that we took-isn't it cute? I'm on the left side in the white labcoat. Dr Duke is behind me-he's the best and our medical director. Can I just say how much I love my job? We had our work christmas potluck today and it is always so fun. The food was wonderful and we ate until we couldn't stuff anymore. We did white elephant gifts and played christmas bingo with prizes. Then everyone put their name in a hat and got money. It started at $10 and went up to $50. I got $20. I love the people that I work with. Everyone gets along and we just laugh and have a great time.

Yay!

We got some good news this week! Do you remember the basement flooding incident? We got the bill for $7500 and we were starting to wonder how we were going to pay for it. The manufactor of the part that broke was examining it and finally came up with the conclusion that it was put on too tight. Our landscaper friend let up bill through his liability insurance and they are going to cover it 100%. They are even going to reimburse us for the bed that got ruined. Thank goodness.

Merry Christmas

new dog

Here is our new dog Duke. Isn't he cute? We finally decided to get a dog after many years of contemplating. Eric always wanted a dog but I'm more of a cat person. Our cat of ten years left one day and never came back so we decided to try a dog. We found Duke on ksl. He is ten years old and his owners had to move into a condo so they couldn't keep him. He is house trained and will walk by you without a leash. He sleeps at the foot of our bed all night which is nice when Eric is at work. He is great with our kids and even our cat Gabby.





Here are some pics of my kids in their fort this morning:

SLC

We took a overnight trip to Salt Lake just for fun. It was one of the weeks that Eric had four days off so we took advantage of it. We did a lot of shopping in Park City and Layton. On the way home we picked up a dog! His name is Duke and he is ten years old. He is a yellow lab and extremely mellow. Last night he slept at the foot of the bed all night long. The kids just love him already. Here is some pics of our little trip:

We took the kids to the Mayan. The food was ok but the kids really thought the divers and waterfall was cool. It was nice because it wasn't crowded and we were able to stand close.




After we ate, we went down next to the water and watched the divers. Eric and Easton stayed off to the side as not to get wet. Then, a girl dived right by them and they got soaked! I just had to take a picture.






We stayed at the red lion in the middle of slc. The funnest part for the kids was the pool, of course. Well, it was really a hot tub outside but it was nice because we had it all to ourselves. The only bad part was that Kylie coughed all night but the other kids slept well. The beds and pillows were so comfortable! I wanted to take some pillows with us but decided that a good mother wouldn't do that!






We went to Clark's Planitarium at the Gateway. Tyler especially loved it because he's really into the planets right now. We let them get some astronaut ice cream and they really liked it.

christmas time

It's been forever since I've posted. Our thanksgiving was quiet but fun. I had to work in the morning and early afternoon and Eric had to work at 7pm. We just went to
my parent's and had a quiet dinner. Here are some pics from Sunday:









We went to Crystal's baby blessing yesterday. He is so cute! We went to Crystal's parent's house and had yummy soup and desserts. (By the way,if Mandy reads this I want her recipe) My kids loved playing with Val and Kenny even called him "grandpa" I swear people think my kids don't get any attention at home because they want to play with everyone. After the dinner, we went to my parent's and ate a little more and the kids played with cousins. Easton didn't have a nap all day and by the time we got home we were exhausted! But, it was fun!


We had so much fun tonight! One of our christmas traditions is to go see the lights in Preston. We ate at "Big J's" and went to our favorite house, the Hollingsworth. They have so many lights and the kids love all of the disney characters. We especially liked the lights at the park that is set to music. On the way home we got ice cream and then watched "Charlie Brown's Christmas." Now I'm getting in the christmas mood.

Life

It's amazing how when you're gone for awhile you crave your usual routine and regular life. Well, now I think I need a vacation again! On monday night I scrapbooked with Crystal and got to hold her sweet new baby. Then I've been working everyday since and so is Eric. They are enforcing overtime so he's working six days in a row and appr 60 hours. His next check will be nice but it's hard putting the kids to bed, baths, homework, laundry, etc all by myself. It's not all bad though, I got employee of the month! It only took six years but hey, better late than never. I've also been getting really into Stephanie Meyer's series and will finish the third book tonight. (thanks Crystal) If anyone is looking for an easy read and really good book check it out. Her first one is called Twilight and is excellent. Well, I guess I better put kids to bed. Here is another picture from Hawaii and one of the boys. Don't they look alike?

Back to Life

Here are just some fun pics of the kids. Today was a challenge! The kids were horrible in sacrament meeting and we ended up being out in the hall most of the time. Easton is finally going to nursery and it is such a blessing. The kids have been a little more sensitive since we came home and I think they got spoiled from the "grandma's" Eric and I looked at each other today and wished we were back in Hawaii. Someday. Back to reality.