For Ashley

My sister Ashley couldn't join us for Christmas this year and she keeps asking me when I'm going to get my Christmas post up. Since I still haven't taken down a single Christmas decoration, I was inclined to forgo the Christmas post (doesn't the word "forgo" remind you of the Bachelor?--which starts Monday by the way--set the DVR!) But I'm going to do it for Ashley. Everyone else probably should bail now. This is pretty long and tedious!

We did a ton of Christmas stuff this season and unfortunately, I forgot to haul along my huge camera for most of it. Thanks Sam for my new tiny red camera that I will have in my purse at all times from now on.

We rode the Polar Express with my mom and Ashley and her kids over Thanksgiving. It was so fun and I definitely recommend it. My kids favorite part was receiving a bell from Santa that belonged to one of his reindeer. The elves would come around and listen to the bell and tell the kids which reindeer their bell came from. Pure magic for a 6 and 4 year old.

Not my kids (I pulled this pic off the net--but you get the idea!)

The kids wore their matching pjs on the train. Here are the pjs for this year. I could really embarrass myself by telling you how much I stressed over finding the right coordinating pjs for the kids but I will spare myself the ridicule.


We also did our annual trolley ride with our neighborhood friends at Thanksgiving Point. We ride the trolley through the lights and eat ice-cream in the soda shop afterwards. I thought I was being so frugal by having my older kids eat the 25 cent cones. Well, they finished those in about 2 minutes and insisted on getting shakes as well.


My kids were out of school the entire week of Christmas so I tried to do something fun with them each day, such as swimming or the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was fun to spend that time with my kids but it also completely wore me out. I feel guilty that I consider taking all three kids somewhere a major effort.


The reward for me is taking my kids out to lunch. I've gone on record in the past saying how much I love the fries at T-Point. Still do!


The night before Christmas Eve, I made cut-out cookies with the kids for Santa.




Christmas Eve day, I took Sammie to a matinee of the Nutcracker at Capital theatre. We had just as much fun getting ready i.e., getting all dolled up and curling Sammie's hair and putting on lipstick, as we did actually attending the ballet. I'm so excited to do this every year with her. Afterwards, she chose to go to Kneaders for lunch. She has good taste! As a funny side note, there was some dude in the audience yelling "Bravo" about every five minutes and cheering so loud. He was up on one of the little tiny balconies right over the stage. I was so embarrassed for him.


Christmas Eve was spent at my parents' house.


We had amazing food and the yummiest chips and guacamole. I definitely think the chips and guac should be a new tradition. The kids were so cute in their nativity costumes:


And of course, they loved opening gifts from grandpa and grandma:


Isn't it weird how old kids look in pictures? This little man is my baby:


This is the last Christmas we will spend in my mom's house because they are building a new home and will move in the spring. Here is my dad telling Luke that he just heard on the tv that Santa was spotted over Canada. Luke eats that stuff up:


Christmas morning was fun. Each child with their favorite gift:



Sammie and her perfume.


Even our unborn baby boy got his own little pile and did pretty well:



The kids holding some of the new baby's presents.

Christmas Day Sam and I have a policy of not leaving the house. We eat a huge breakfast, hang out in our pjs, nap, watch movies and basically do nothing productive. I love it.

The day after Christmas, Sam's parents treated the family to a great brunch at Little America. Of course, I don't have pictures, but it was delicious and so great to see his family again.

There you have it Ashley. We wish you could have been here!

11 Years and Counting

Our wedding day, Salt Lake Temple 1998

Sam and I got married 11 years ago today. We got married on the Monday after Christmas, just like today. I remember it well because I had tried on my wedding dress on Christmas eve that year, a few days before the wedding and it was tight. I mean tight tight. My mom could barely get the zipper up. So I remember not eating much that Christmas in order to fit in my dress on the 28th. I don't recommend being hungry on Christmas. It was my biggest regret with a Christmas wedding. I've made up for it by bingeing on the 11 Christmases since.

To celebrate our anniversary, Sam and I are going to really live it up tonight. I'm thinking dinner and a movie. We'll probably go somewhere romantic like Goodwood BBQ and we'll get a cozy corner booth where we can gorge ourselves on the chicken nachos with no one watching. Then off to a movie.

The two of us bingeing. This is obviously a re-enactment. We usually both have our faces buried in our plates and we fight over every last bite.

Then it will be back home where I will slip into something sexy like my old pink pjs that Sam gave me the Christmas we got married. Yes, I'm still wearing them, pregnant and all. They're piling a bit and a little dingy but that just adds to their appeal. I'm surprised Sam can keep his hands off me when I wear them.

In all seriousness, I'm more grateful for Sam every year. He continues to make me laugh and he puts up with a lot of insanity. He is my best friend and I love him.

So babe, let's go celebrate with a couple of bottomless diet cokes and a pulled pork sandwich!

If you are really desperate for something to do and you want to read how we met, go here.

Sam is a Hopeless Romantic

Sam came home last night and told me he had a Christmas present for me. This is what it was:


A closer look at the box:


I stopped him before he started wrapping it. I like practical gifts but this is a little much. I have referred him back to my list and counseled him not to depart from it. I always love to read my friend Laura's blog posts about how her husband has strayed from her list and it never ends well, like this time.

Be Grateful for Your Husbands

Tonight I ran across this post on my friend Heather's blog about the new men emailing her from a dating site. I couldn't help but post this link on the heels of my Tiger post. There are some scary Larrys out there. Be prepared to laugh. Go here.

I Hate Tiger

First, thank you so much for all your kind comments about finding out I'm having another boy. This is why I blog! Now I need to climb onto my high horse for a minute.

I have always hated Tiger Woods. With all of the news lately, now I have good reason.

I have so many questions about this whole mess. But here are my top three:

1. How on earth did he keep this up for so long without the media finding out? There is no doubt in my mind that his manager and caddie had to have known. He was picking these ho-bags up at nightclubs for crying out loud! How did he get away with it?

2. Why on earth did these women sleep with Tiger for free? He is not attractive--he's no Denzel!--and he wasn't paying them a thing. I would feel better about this if they were getting paid. He is not cute, not funny, not charismatic. I get why Elin married him. I don't get why women sleep with him for free.

3. How is this going to affect the world of golf? I really don't care about the answer to this one. Golf is the most boring sport to watch ever. And don't get me started on how it should be called a game, not a sport (sorry Tyler!)

Even if Tiger comes back to the "sport," his greatness at golf will always be overshadowed by his weakness of character and lack of moral values. amen.

Boy oh Boy!

I'm having another boy....

I'm only 15 weeks but because we are still on the insurance from Sam's old company ie. the world's crappiest insurance, I wasn't going to be able to get an ultasound until sometime in February when our new insurance kicked in. So Sam insisted we head down to Fetal Studio (an ultrasound place in the mall--I know--only in Utah!) and find out what we are having.

So we did and I saw it before the tech even told me. So did Sam. Another boy. I was going to try to put up a good front for the blog and just announce it and let the congrats roll in. But to be completely honest, this has been a little hard for me. I really thought this was a girl, I wanted another girl and I wanted Sammie to have a sister.

Sammie took the news really well, better than I thought. She just keeps saying under her breath "We wanted a girl and we're getting another boy...."

I'm embarrassed for being even a little disappointed because 1) I have three healthy kids already 2) I already have a girl and 3) every child is a gift and I know when he gets here I will fall madly in love with him.

Ryan 6 weeks

The hardest part is that Sammie has been an absolute joy lately. I think four is the best age ever and she is the sweetest, cutest four year old around. I would love to have another Sammie and let her wear all of the clothes that I've spent literally thousands of dollars on (some still with the tags that were bought for this baby.)

But you know what? All of that is just stuff. It can be passed on to my sister when she has a baby girl, or my sister-in-law, or sold but Ryan will have a little buddy forever and Luke has been such a good, sweet, easy boy, that maybe I will just beg Heavenly Father a little for another Luke (but maybe with Ryan's dimples.)

Me and my boys circa 2008

We'll just do a little more basketball and a little less ballet. There will be more urine around the toilet and less clothes to buy, more transformers and less Barbies. More jokes and less drama. Another girl just wasn't in the cards for me. But I'm okay with that.

Tomorrow I will finally post my "I hate Tiger" post that has been in my brain forever.

Christmas Home Tour

The Nester is doing a Christmas Tour of Homes this year. Basically I gravy train anything she is involved in. So here is a peek inside my home at Christmastime:

The Family Tree:


This tree is in the (wait for it!) family room. I actually let the kids help decorate it--and then I fix it once they go to bed. It is mostly Santas and snowmen with a few random things mixed in. This is where we put the ornaments that the kids make at school. I also have a tradition of buying an ornament whenever I go on a trip. These go here as well.







I tie ribbon on everything that isn't moving:




Mom's Tree:

I almost get teary-eyed telling the story of how this tree came to be. My kids and I were at Thanksgiving Point two years ago riding the trolley with a group of people from my neighborhood. It just so happened that TPoint had put all of their Christmas stuff on sale half price that day. I fell in love with these red and green balls. I called my husband and asked if it would be okay if I bought a few things for a tree in the living room. He was distracted with some game and mumbled a yes. I came home with all of it.

I'm pretty sure I had this tree in the pre-existence--I love it that much. The kids aren't allowed to touch it or help decorate it. Ignore the lamp cords and the fact that I cut off the top of the tree in the photo.

My favorite red lanterns that stay up through Valentines Day:

Sammie's Sweets Tree:



There is a tree under all those ornaments, I promise. I collected ornaments for this tree over a couple years time from Taipan and Roberts. I love this tree. Sammie understands that she can help unwrap the ornaments but not help decorate the tree because of the flocking. I am very anal about some things and Christmas brings it out in me.

This pink velvet Santa stands next to Sammie's tree. It is over 50 years old. My mom had it when she was a little girl and I had it when I was a little girl and now it is Sammie's. She plans to give it to her little girl.


Luke's Sports Tree:

Luke decorates the entire thing himself and I don't touch it. My mom sewed the bball tree skirt.

That's it folks...Join the tour. I'm headed to your homes next!

Two Pink Lines

I'm not having twins (thank goodness!) but aren't these two the sweetest? picture from www.peekaboophotos.com.

Sam and I could not decide for the longest time whether we should have a fourth child. Honestly, I have had my hands completely full with three kids and Ryan might possibly have been the worst baby on the planet. No one believes me on this because he is an angel in public. But he is screamer and he didn't nap for a full year. And I had a really bad pregnancy with him. Sam and I were convinced he was sent as a sign that we were to never procreate again.

But somehow, someway I began to feel like I needed to have one more. Sam didn't want to. He was sure that my practically non-existent cooking and cleaning had no where to go but down if I had another kid. I assured him it wasn't getting any better even without one more. Further, he argued that our entire family couldn't ride in his jeep if we added another child. He honestly thought that was a valid reason to not have any more children.

I consulted friends and family. My friend Mandee told me I wasn't done until I had one too many. Others told me I had to try for a sister for Sammie. Still others told me I had my hands full and a mother knows her limits.

Somehow, I knew that despite the craziness at my house--the noise, the mess, the urine around the toilet, on the floor and up the walls in my kids' bathroom (Heaven help me if I get one more boy!) I had to do it. Because as much as I hate getting huge (and I will get huge) and as hard as newborns are, I know I will never regret having another child. I may always regret it if I don't.

The minute I got pregnant, it hit me that I already have one too many and I should have stopped at three. After a few weeks of sheer panic, I calmed down and began to be excited about this pregnancy.


Sammie has her heart set on a little sister and she has already told me she has no use for another brother. I've assured her that no matter what--we will always have the two of us--just the girls and we can go do fun things together. She replied that would be fun but that it would be even more fun with one more tiny little girl. She's right. But no matter the gender, I will be so happy with one more tiny, fuzzy, bundle of newborn love.

Here are some fun pictures of us telling our families at Thanksgiving. I was twelve weeks along and they were pretty shocked and excited:

My mom getting the news at Mimi's during Thanksgiving dinner.

Sam's mom getting the news at our home.

We told them we had some recent pictures of the kids are gave them these three pictures with the ultrasound photo on the bottom:

I'm too lazy to go find the ultrasound pic but you get the idea. I'm due June 8th!