Forgotten Christmas Pictures

It's always fun being in town over a Sunday. I like going to my old ward and being around for Sunday dinner and visiting. 

The Sunday before Christmas was a little extra special because little brother, Craig, had just turned 12 and was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. With my dad as bishop right now, he kind of ran the show after church. Uncle Dwight, Aunt Jori, and Ben came, along with the Grandparents. Wish I had a picture! Better yet, I wish I had video of the silent room full of people waiting for the blessing, listening to Shelley's clear voice snapping at Jefferson over his cell phone! Haha. Poor Shells... she was just following protocol and had no idea anyone else could hear her! Something to laugh about later. 

That night we scarfed on nummy Snoring Enchiladas with Mattas salsa and sourcream. Later, it was brought to Travis's attention that Lane had a tooth with a grey spot on it. They wanted him to take a look at it, but Lane was in no mood for a check up! (He had just made a scene getting blood drawn the week prior.)

SO, we coerced all the other kids to get a "check-up" first and act like it was no big deal. Worked like a charm! Lane was saying "ah" before we knew it. Sure enough... a cavity. :( (Guess it was actually a few cavities.)

 But then, Marcie was not to be left out either! 

I had to post to Instagram... "Kitchen Floor Dentistry, now serving in Mesa!" :)

Grandma knows how to get on Weston's good side! We were all visiting around the island, while Weston, was getting snuck, pieces of brownie! I love my mom's face... "I might be guilty, but it's better to be fun Grandma!"

 Jefferson, on the other hand, was NOT Weston's favorite person after scaring him from behind. Weston kept one eye on him for the next 5 min. I don't think he even blinked. Jefferson probably should have given him some more brownie! 

2012 Christmas Card

I loooove getting Christmas cards.

They are the sole, redeeming quality of snail mail and well, the USPS in general.

And while I tried to include as many people as possible when sending them out... in case I missed you... here's the wrap up of our 2012!

Christmas Preparations

The Thursday after Thanksgiving, Travis's office participated in the city's Christmas Parade. 

I found out about it the day before. The same day they started making their float.

It was kind of a sorry, little thing. The float... not the parade. The tissue covered "tooth" on the back kept falling off and getting drug behind us. The parade, was actually crazy big. I never thought the people would end! The boys thought it was a fun time, and Trav got his exercise in, running along the side, handing out toothbrushes. 

I've never seen people SO excited for a toothbrush! 

I got started on my {neighbor treats} early this year! I had my sugar covered heart set on toffee.

I posted this to Instagram, in quite cheery spirits.

Watching Home Alone and making toffee. Then my candy thermometer shattered in the pot.

First batch: out.

Second batch-fourth batch: no good!

The butter kept separating from the sugar and I could not figure out why!!! I read so many cooking tips and was doing everything right! Major frustration. I finally decided to blame it all on my cheapo, old pots. Maybe next year, I can try again with quality cookware.

I did manage to salvage enough to fill my butter/sugar quota for the year and pass some out to a few friends. 

I also decided to devote the 4 hours necessary to making my yummy cardamom bread. 

And then burn it to a crisp.

I was 2 for 2 that week.

And none too happy about it.

We had our Relief Society Christmas party last week.

It was a progressive dinner at 3 different houses in the same neighborhood. We did appetizers and the "Christmas Jar" game at the first "Telestial" house. Dinner and a presentation on the symbols of Christmas at the second "Terrestrial" house. And dessert and my Udall Christmas program at the last "Celestial" house.

It was a lot of work and planning and running around like a chicken with my head cut off for 5 hours the night of... but I think it turned out nice and we got a lot of positive feedback. And Travis was my hero for rushing over the 3 bottles of salad dressing I left at home, right when 60+ women were expecting dinner!

At the last house, Joanne Payne had a really yummy, hot drink that's a nice alternative to the usual hot chocolate. Ready for the recipe?! You'll want to try this, I promise!

2 c. powdered milk

1 c. sugar

1 c. powdered coffee creamer

1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon

Mix together and add 1/3 cup to 1 c. hot water. 

I made a big container for my family to try Christmas Eve!! Yum!

This is our first year ever, to have Christmas lights on the outside of our house! It New York, there were no outlets on the outside of the house, so a long extension cord would have to run to the garage in back, and we weren't interested in a nightly trek across the snow to unplug them. The laziness.

Luckily, this house already had nails across the top, otherwise we might have had to resort to using hot glue! Apparently, that's the New Mexico way when it comes to hanging lights on flat roofs!

We got an unexpected Christmas package from the Shaws, complete with wrapped gifts for all and a homemade card by Gavin. The boys were so excited. We have the best friends!

The boys got to make pine cone "Christmas tree" ornaments at Musical Mondays at the convention center. The lady in charge had her baby the next day, so we won't get to go back til April! Sadness.

We made gingerbread houses for FHE this week.

Collin was so excited for this and we told him it was finally time, he cheered, "Yay!! Ginger head Brouses!!"

Here's the building materials:

The boys literally kept a steady stream of candy going to their mouths. I really thought they'd get sick. 

Turned out to be a fun activity, and here's a great tip for ya.... use a butter box to build around! 

No crashing walls and the boys were able to actually help with the "building" that way. And it was the perfect size to put a whole graham cracker on the two walls, and 1/2 cracker on the other two.

Getting out the Christmas decorations, I realized I didn't have a single nativity! That's pretty sad. So I decided to start out with the Fisher Price Little People one, so the boys could play with it. 

My cousin, Leah, put together the "gift" pictures in the background. There are 12 total, depicting different scenes surrounding the birth of Christ and include scriptures and hymns. We've discussed a couple over several different nights, and have just 3 left. It's been fun to teach Collin about the true meaning of Christmas and try to direct some attention to the Savior instead of just Santa. 

Another sad realization while unpacking the decorations... the boys STILL didn't have stockings! We only had the 2 we bought our first Christmas, from Home Depot! Haha, yes, Home Depot!

So I devoted an afternoon... and then some... to making stockings. Not your usual, pretty Christmas themed kind, but I like them better. :) Poor Weston's "W" fell and bit the dust, so he's anonymous this year.

Another new decoration to add to the list this year.... a new tree!

Our first 6 years of marriage did just fine with a mini tree, but last year, the pre-lit lights weren't working, among other things, so it didn't get to make the trek to New Mexico. 

So far, only one glass ornament has shattered on the tile, and our little gold star is the apple of Weston's eye. Too bad you can't see it in either picture! :(

The college across the main street from us, San Juan, did a "Luminary" night, where they lit candles in paper bags all across the campus. I cannot imagine the time that goes into this! And they are real candles, so explain how this is not a fire hazard?? Regardless, we took a stroll around and grabbed some very bad hot chocolate in the student center.

Then we crossed the street to our church building to see the all nativity displays they had up in various rooms. We ended by watching that new, short video of the birth of Christ in the chapel.
What an amazing video. You could really feel the Spirit. Despite, two incorrigible, wiggly boys, trying to divert our attention.

This Thursday night, Collin's preschool puts on a Christmas play at the high school. He has a short speaking part in it and is pretty darn excited to get to wear his pajamas, which is his costume.

So far, it's been a really nice month, getting ready for Christmas, but then Marcie ruined it by texting me that we needed to get to Arizona because it doesn't feel like Christmas until we get there! :) Just kidding, Marcie. I was just trying to forget about the fact that I'm usually there by now. Now suddenly I feel lonely and miss my Lindbloms! And Evans! :) 

The past couple of weeks...

The face Collin gives me when I say, "Smile!" 

Both boys have had bad bouts with sickness. Weston was first for about 5 days. Just a really high fever and lots of fussiness. Collin got it for a day, but miracle of miracles, was fine by morning. However, it came back the next week to put him out for 3 long, miserable days. I blame myself. He had been driving me NUTS the week before. I mean, I won't go into details, but I had about the most unkind feelings toward that boy as I've ever had in his almost 4 years of life. He was throwing constant, entitled tantrums. Demanding and whining and just acting nasty. From sun up to sun down. I wanted to sell him to the Indians. After a really hard week with him, I could not even handle peeking in on him Sunday night when he was asleep. We do it every night, and usually that's the time where your heart melts and you think, "Oh, but look how sweet he is". And you almost wish they were awake so you could snuggle them. Nope, I walked in with Travis, took one look at him, and nearly shuddered. I know that sounds horrible, and it is! But it's the truth. He had burned just about every bridge with me. I laid in bed, almost in tears and thought, "HOW? How can I wake up and do it again tomorrow?" 

Well, guess what happened in the morning?? He woke up terrible sick. And not really even the whiny, needy kind of sick. He just watched T.V., burning up between doses of Tylenol, occasionally wanting to be held. He was docile and sweet and so so sick. By Wednesday night, he was having hot and cold sweats. He almost seemed delirious, waking up through the night, so thirsty. He hadn't even hardly anything in 3 days.

By then, I was regretting my previous feelings, with fervor. I felt so bad for him. I was starting to get really worried. I laid in bed Wednesday night, thinking if he didn't wake up any better, I'd take him to the doctor. I would fast ...I would do anything for him to get better. I prayed and prayed that he'd get well. I told Heavenly Father how sorry I was. How much I wanted the "old" Collin back. Just let him be terrible and nasty to me again. As long as his body didn't scorch with heat, he could throw all the tantrums he wanted. I was truly repentant. 

And Thursday morning, Collin woke up better.

I was beside myself, happy. 

 I know it sounds crazy. Heavenly Father doesn't make our kids sick to teach us lessons. 

But maybe he does. It was certainly a lesson I needed that week. 

And it worked.

On his last sick day, he wanted to take a picture to send to Dad at work.

This might have been something that happened during the "naughty" week of Collin's. I don't see everything that happens between these two. But when Collin comes crying to me that Weston bit his bum, it doesn't take much coaxing to find out the reason why. And the reason why, is always that Weston has suffered some sort of abuse at the hand of his older brother.

He'll only take so much, you know.

And he doesn't have much at his disposal to fight back with.

I hope Collin learns this early.

At any rate, the Spiderman band-aid made everything better.

When Collin was sick, they took baths in different tubs, since when one was having a bath, the other just HAD to have his too. 

Weston was done with his, but he was not going to be left out of the fun! 

He seems to have thought a horsey ride was being offered. :)

Someone's teething. Canines on their way!

Collin's friend, Elizabeth, came over to play one afternoon.

I went to check on them and found them both in bed, playing with the blankets. This is will only be humorous for a limited time, Collin.

On Sunday, during Sacrament meeting, Collin fell asleep in my lap!!! Seriously, people, this happened. And he wasn't sick, or drugged. I was reading the Friend to him. Apparently the sedative effects of reading church materials is not lost on children. :)

This cracked me up.

We were at the bounce house place and these two boys walked by us. Collin immediately turned to me and asked, "Mom, are those boys Jefferson's friends?"

Haha! I guess when you have that "look" you must know Jefferson! :)

Weston's very fine {bed head}.

He has now turned the corner from being fine with getting his hair cut, to likening it to getting his arm chopped off. I really don't know what the contributing factors were. But now it takes both Trav and me to cut his hair.

Thus, it got pretty long before his latest trim. 

Cute stuff.

Snow!

Well, it started with just the lightest dusting, and the boys flippin' out with excitement.

They were literally scrapping snow off blades of grass just to eat it.

About as big a snowman as we could make. :)

Then a day or two later, a more legit Frosty was able to be built with what fell from the sky!

This just made me smile on the way to Sam's Club. 

It's super blurry, but there's a Pepsi in Frosty's hand. :)

Sunday night, it was so picturesque, looking out over the neighborhood.

And it just kept coming!

This morning makes the second day I've had to drive Travis to work in a week. 

Ol' Dirtay is none too fond of the snow. 

With bald tires, and an engine that misinterprets slippery slopes as a reason to go into high gear, we can't blame him.

I'm starting to feel like I'm back home in New York!

Cut it out New Mexico!!

It was pretty for a few days, but I'm done. 

This place shuts down for 2 inches of snow and it's kind of annoying.
I want my clear roads back. :)