Even More Christmas

Then we headed up north to Dustin and Caron's for even more breakfast and even more presents. Beck had so many presents he could barely hold them all.

Dustin's kids got Guitar Hero World Tour and so the first hour of the party was spent rocking! Those drums are so stinking hard! I hate them!

And cute little Emily in her Santa suit!

It was such a great day! Delicious food, great gifts, and wonderful company. I love spending time with family! Can't wait until next year!

Christmas with the Smiths

After we opened the presents from Santa, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for breakfast and for more presents.

Beck loved helping grandma and grandpa open up their presents.

Our presents were very practical, including emergency preparedness dust/fine particulate masks....

and food storage butter and cheese.

YUM! YUM!

Christmas Morning

We had so much on Christmas that I have TONS of pictures. So that you don't have to wade through them all in one sitting, I am going to chronicle our day of merriment over the next few days.

Beck got everything he asked for from Santa (and more), including his roller skates. He skates really well as long as he stays on the carpet. As soon as he hits tile, down he goes. I think we will have to practice a lot more before we can attempt the sidewalk.

Here he is with all of his loot! He was so excited and so happy! We still haven't played with everything yet! The funny thing is, after he saw what his cousins got from Santa, he is already making out his list for next year!

He says that his favorite present of the day was his new Batman costume! The wings fold in and then pop out and the gloves are motion activated to make fighting noises. He loves running around the house beating up the Joker (Jake).

It was a great Christmas morning!

Second Annual Feast

One of my new favorite traditions is our feast with the Jewkes. They come over on the Sunday before Christmas and we have a HUGE turkey feast. The kids then get just a small sampling of Christmas and exchange presents with each other.

They were so excited to open their presents and asked us every two minutes from when dinner was over, "Can we open presents now?"

Carmen with her new Ken Barbie.

Beck and his Ironman. This has not left his side since he got it!

It is so nice to have good friends in our life. We are so grateful for them!

Jesus of Nazareth

Every year at Christmas I try to watch the movie Jesus of Nazareth. I say try because it is over six hours long. I love this movie. I remember watching it as a kid with my dad. It brought the New Testament to life for me.

Because the movie is so long I usually end up watching about half and then fast forwarding to the end to watch the atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection. I am always reminded that without Christ's death, his birth, albeit miraculous, would mean nothing.

It's important to remember that Christ still lives and that he knows and loves each of us. May you feel Christ's love this Christmas and spread that love to those around you!

Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Card For You

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Fun with Gingerbread

We went over to Grandma Pauline's house last night to make gingerbread houses and gingerbread people. Ashley made the most fabulous homemade gingerbread cookies ever! They were DELICIOUS! We had so much fun making the little people and even made gingerbread clothes for them.

Here is my hula dancer.

Ashley's gingerbread couple.

Beck and Grandma working hard on their gingerbread house.

The finished product.

Only nine more days until Christmas! We can't wait!

Bodyworlds

We went to the Bodyworlds exhibit last week, and it was amazing! One of my favorites was definitely the archer because, even without her skin, she was just so graceful and beautiful.

I also loved going in to the room with all of the babies. It was amazing to see just how tiny they start out. You don't get that same experience from a picture in a book. The whole exhibit was just awesome! I loved that in the midst of all of the scientific facts and figures they had quotes around the different rooms talking about the heart, how it is the portal to the soul, and how it is the epitome of life and love. I found the scientific explanation of dying of a broken heart profound and also how pessimism can do more damage to your heart than hypertension or cholesterol. So everybody look at your cup as being half full!

The Ultrasound

We went yesterday to Fetal Fotos and had the ultrasound done. It is still sometimes hard to believe that I have this little creature in me. I have yet to feel him kick so that makes it a bit surreal. When we started all he wanted to show us was his face. He was curled up in a tight little ball with his legs tucked under him so we were afraid for a minute that we weren't going to be able to see what was going on down there.

The technician started poking my belly to make him move around, and finally he stretched his little legs out and we saw that he is in fact a boy.

We took Beck with us, and he had fun seeing his new little brother. He was amazed not only that there was something really in my tummy but that we were able to see him on the TV. We have not thought of a single boy name and so if you have any ideas...please let us know. Beck really wants us to name him Lightning or Leo (from Cars and Little Einsteins). Scott has vetoed both.

Drumroll Please...

Visit With Santa

While we were at the Festival of Trees, Beck got to sit on Santa's lap.

He asked for Tranformers, roller skates, and Cars stuff.

Just a little sidenote...Beck sent an actual letter to Santa in the mail that was stamped and everything, and a few days later, Santa wrote back! Beck was ecstatic! So if you need a fun activity for your kids with a great payoff, give it a try.

Festival of Trees

We went to the Festival of Trees this morning, and it was so much fun! I always love to go and support such a great cause like Primary Children's, and it makes me so grateful for my healthy little Beck. He loved all of the Christmas trees. Some of his favorites were...

The U of U tree. Go Utes!

The Superman tree.

The lifesize Grinch scared him just a little, and he had to have grandma stand in the picture with him.

We looked all over for a Cars tree, and finally found this little display right as we were leaving.

The very last thing we did was call the North Pole and talk to an elf on the phone. He thought that was pretty dang cool!

Dave's Birthday Party

We celebrated Dave's birthday last night. We had a fun party, and I had a headache when I got home from laughing so much.

My mom always gives the grandkids a Hallmark ornament at Thanksgiving. Beck was thrilled wtih his Buzz Lightyear and loved that he talks.

Sanya got a new puppy, Emily, and brought her to the party. I put all of my raging maternal hormones to good use and rocked the puppy to sleep after the kids chased her all over the house.

She is so sweet!

Taya Update

We were very optimistic last Saturday after Taya's weekly appointment because the doctor thought her eye was finally getting better. However, after this week's appointment, that optimism is gone. The doctor discovered a brand new ulcer forming on her eye and now thinks that this will just continue to happen. So we have one more checkup in two weeks and then it looks like we are going to have to remove the entire eye. It totally sucks, but she will feel so much better.

Here is her poor eye that looks SO painful and yucky! Poor puppy!

Wonderful!

I couldn't wait any longer. I just had to go see it!

Wednesday night I got the offer to go see Twilight with Scott's family. IT WAS AWESOME! There were a few scenes that weren't included or that weren't expanded and there definitely was not enough smooching, but I absolutely loved it! So cheesy, so dumb, and just absolutely wonderful!

Let's Go Utes!

It's going to be a great game!

One Down...Two to Go

I am done with my first trimester. I went to the doctor today and got to hear the heartbeat, which was awesome! I don't think I realized how anxious I was about the baby until I actually heard it...part of me still just didn't believe it was real. We get to find out the sex of the baby in 3-1/2 weeks, and I'm so excited!

And.....Done

I finished my Christmas shopping today. I hate even venturing into the stores during the month of December and I will especially not go on Black Friday. I think you people that go out that day are just downright braver than I am. I like to take my time without hoards of people breathing down my neck so my goal every year is to have my shopping done by Thanksgiving so that the presents can be wrapped and under the tree on the day after Thanksgiving. My Christmas list was easy this year so I got done even earlier than usual. There were some great sales out there...especially at Kohl's (lots of 50% off stickers). I would check it out!

Paramore Video

Twilight comes out in ten days. Erin and I are going to wait a few weeks before we go see it because we don't want to sit in a theater with screaming teenagers, but I still can't wait to hear about it!

This is the new music video by Paramore that was just released. It is cool! It takes a minute to load, but again, if it doesn't work, go here and check it out.

Paramore - New Music - More Music Videos

Brunch

On Saturday we headed downtown to Little America for brunch to celebrate Kyle's birthday. There was so much delicious food, and I ate waaaaay too much. I felt like death the rest of the day. The problem is that on a normal day (ya know, when you're not pregnant) you could eat a humongous amount of food for one meal and then not eat for like three more meals. However, I have to eat every two hours right now no matter what or I will vomit all over the place. I had a hard time leaving the couch all day because my stomach hurt so bad!

So yummy but such a huge mistake!

Yes We Can

I am so proud of our country that it was able to see past the negative ads, the rhetoric, and the lies and see the optimism and the hope that Obama offers. No matter who you voted for, I hope you can see the historic significance of this election and what a huge step forward we just made as a country. I am praying that Obama has the courage, strength, and faith to accomplish his goals.

I Love A Democracy

Happy Birthday....Everyone!

We had a birthday party last Sunday for Dustin, Jon, Colby, and Ellie. November is always a busy month for our family. It turned out to be a fun party.

Here are all the birthday folks (not counting Dave). I didn't even see Dave as I was taking the picture and didn't notice him until I downloaded it onto my computer. One of Dave's special skills is ruining pictures.

Dustin in his super cool new BYU beanie!

So...Happy Birthday Everybody!

Trick-or-Treat!

We have had so much fun this Halloween season! We have had so many parties, food, and candy that I think I'm going to puke! Beck decided right after he saw the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks about eight months ago that he wanted to be Alvin for Halloween.

He really loved being Alvin, especially when they ended up watching an Alvin and the Chipmunks Halloween movie at school. He was like a rock star! We went trick-or-treating with Carmen and Erin.

Carmen was Hannah Montana.

Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus.

After trick-or-treating, we went over to Jewkes for a little impromptu Halloween party and played games and ate the most ecletic pile of food you would have even seen....chips, salsa, and guacamole, banana cake, Warheads, fruit punch, cupcakes, cookies, and Sour Patch Kids. I still feel nauseous this morning! Bleh!

Good Lesson

So, Scott has a problem sometimes about returning his wet towel to the bathroom rack. He occasionally will leave it sitting on our bed, creating a huge wet spot. He did this on Saturday so that on Sunday morning he did not have a towel hanging up waiting for him. So, he used mine. I came into the bathroom and saw this and started teasing him, telling him to leave my towel alone. Beck, who was sitting on the toilet taking care of some business, quickly responded, "Don't fight! Mom, we share in this family. Dad needed your towel. You need to learn to share!"

Castigated by a 4-year-old. Wonderful.

My Little Taya

Taya is having health issues yet again. She now has an ulcer on one eye and we think an infection in the other eye. The cloud over her left eye is so big that she will be mostly blind by the time this whole process is over. She is having problems in that her cornea is not healing itself because the new tissue will not stick down to the eye. Because of this, she will most likely have to have surgery next week where they take a needle and scrape her eye to score it so that the new tissue has something to hang onto.

This is making me realize that at almost ten years old, Taya may not be with us much longer. I feel my mind is preparing itself for that in the near future, and I don't like it. Taya is a huge pain in our butts around here because she pees everywhere and barks and bites, but she is still my little Taya.

Thanks Beck

Beck came up to me last night, rubbed my belly, and said, "Look mom, the baby is already making your tummy fat." Kids sure know what to say to make your self-esteem just soar don't they? Scott sure thought it was funny though.

Shots, Shots, & More Shots

Beck had to go get his 4-year-old shots, his kindergarten shots, and a flu shot yesterday. In total, he had six shots. He tried so hard to be brave, but after the third shot, he started to cry. After the fifth shot, he started to scream. He kept telling me all day, "Those shots hurted really much!" He got rewarded for his bravery though. We went to McDonald's for lunch and then to Wal-Mart to pick a new Cars car. He limped all day on his sore legs, but isn't it funny that later in the day he felt good enough to jump on the tramp but he was too sore to clear his dishes after dinner?

Newest Trailer

Here is the latest trailer of Twilight. There is a lot of the same old footage but with enough new stuff that it totally makes it worth it. I have been having problems with my YouTube posts lately, so if it doesn't work for you, click here and go directly to YouTube to see it. It's awesome!

Beck's New Shirt

Yup! Beck is going to be a big brother! We just found out on Beck's birthday and my due date is May 28th so I am at about seven weeks. We had to go have an ultrasound immediately to make sure everything was in the right spot, and so we got to see a little heartbeat. We were very surprised but we are so happy. We had basically given up hope and were resigned that Beck was going to be an only child. We were ready to just move on with life with only one kid when #2 decided to show up. Beck is so excited to be a big brother and switches every day as to whether he wants a little brother or a little sister. We'll keep you posted!

Scrapbooking During Conference

I loved conference because not only was it spiritually uplifting, but I was actually able to get some scrapbooking done while I listened. I only got a few pages done, but it was still fun to work on them. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Imagine these two pages sitting next to each other in the scrapbook.

This is absolutely my favorite page that I've ever done! Beck just loves it!

I had so much fun doing these pages, but with my schedule lately, I probably won't get anymore done for six months...maybe during the next conference.