Santa Claus came to town....

Merry Christmas to everyone! We had a great day with our little family! I love days like Christmas because it makes me realize how truly blessed we are. After we opened presents we sat down to a yummy Christmas breakfast that Jason cooked for us and I just got all emotional thinking about how lucky we are...and No, I don't think it was the pregnancy hormones...well maybe just a little!
Christmas is so much fun when you have little kids! We were lucky enough to be in bed by midnight on Christmas Eve and didn't wake up til 7:00 AM, and it was a good thing because we needed all the energy we could get to keep up with the kids all day long! They kept busy playing from the minute they woke up to the minute they went to bed. It was so much fun watching them play together. Jaylee kept telling me that she was so glad Jesus had a birthday that we got to celebrate! I am too! I love Christmas and all the fun traditions it brings with it!!!
On another note, I didn't feel well all day long on Christmas and all day today either. Today I've literally been in bed all day hardly able to get up because I really don't feel well. My stomach feels like somebody punched it really hard and my back is killing me too (it kind of feels like my kidney region), so I'm wondering what's going on?? I've also been really nauseous and unable to eat and I feel weak and dizzy. I hope I'm not getting sick, but maybe I'm just preparing to go into labor?? My doctor has thrown me for quite the loop with all the different scheduling days for my c-section (that's what you get when you are suppose to be having a baby over the holidays and a doctor that wants to go out of town). It was scheduled for the 26th (today) and then rescheduled to the 31st (next Wednesday), so I was quite shocked to get a call today from the surgery dept. at the hospital telling me I was scheduled to come in at 5:30 AM on Monday morning (I guess it will be the 29th after all). So, I guess the doctor changed it and never bothered to tell me! I am glad though because I am so ready to be done...especially after the last couple of days I've had. Anyways, that is the update there. And no, we still don't have a name picked out! I have no idea what we're going to do because usually you need a few weeks to think about the name to decide if you really like it, so I hope I'm not calling the social security dept. every couple weeks changing things. Ahhh! Anyways, we will try and put an update on here as soon as we can!
We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that you will all have a very Happy New Years too!


Jaylee and Bretten putting out food for Santa and the Reindeer!


Jaylee, Bretten and Kaysen in their new pajamas on Christmas Eve!


Jason enjoying cooking up our Christmas breakfast!


Bretten!


Jaylee!


Kaysen playing with his new toys from Santa!


More Playing!


Jaylee and Bretten playing with the cool magnet set Grandma and Grandpa Crosby gave them!

It was bound to come....

Well, it's taken a while, but the snow has finally found it's way to Vernal! We got a little last week, but it wasn't much and didn't stay around for long. Well, this morning we woke up to lots of snow and it kept on coming all day long! We had big, white, thick, fluffy snowflakes and it was quite relaxing to watch it out the window all day long. Then the snowplow had to come along...whenever the snow plow comes down our street, he adds about 3 feet of snow all along the entrance to our driveway and puts huge piles of snow at the end of the street, which is right in front of our house! That's what you get for living on a dead end I guess, but it is so irritating, especially since we have to make sure the road in front of our mailbox is clear so our mail can be delivered.
Since Jason works late, the snow is usually frozen by the time he gets off, so there isn't much you can do by that point, and also, when the snow plow comes and pushes all that snow in front of our driveway, I always worry he won't be able to get in and out of our driveway with our old Geo, so once Kaysen went down for his nap, I took Jaylee and Bretten out to play in the snow while I shoveled the road for a few hours....I didn't even get to the driveway...just cleared the road in front of our mailbox and driveway so we could actually get in and out. Then to my great surprise, a very nice gentleman (I don't even know who he was), having fun in his little tractor came down the street and pulled up in my driveway and cleared all the snow and then went down in front of the road where I had been slaving away and pushed all that snow to the very end of the street! What a lifesaver! I think if I'd been out there any longer, I would've put myself into labor, so I was very grateful! I'm glad there are still some nice thoughtful people in the world!
Anyways, the kids had a lot of fun playing in the snow and I had fun watching them while I got in a good workout!


Jaylee having fun on the sled!


Jaylee and Bretten had fun playing on all the snow the snow plow brought down to the end of our street! They made their own little sledding hill!


Bretten jumping off the 'Snow Mountain!'


Look at our Snow Angels!!!


Jaylee and Bretten having so much fun making snow angels!

What do you do on a cold, snowy day?

Ever since her birthday, Jaylee has been wanting to play with this cupcake set that Grandma and Grandpa Crosby gave to her. I kept telling her we would have plenty of time to do it since she doesn't have school for a few weeks. Well, since it's been a few days now, she finally asked me at a good time (Kaysen was taking his nap), so I couldn't turn her down! This is the cutest cooking set and she loved being a little chef! She made carrot cake cupcakes and had a blast doing it!

MY OH MY! How the Time Does Fly!!!

It's official! We have a 6 year old...yes a SIX year old!!! Six years ago, it was December 2002. Jason and I hadn't even been married 1 year yet! We were living in a gross, over-priced basement apartment in freezing cold Laramie, WY. Jason was in his first year of Pharmacy School and we were as poor as could be! And yes, we were getting ready to have our first baby! We were so excited to become parents! The doctor had followed my high risk pregnancy carefully and induced me a week early, knowing the baby was going to be big (and also I'm sure he didn't want to have it impose on his holiday...I was due on Christmas Day!). We were in labor for about 25 hours, with several of those hours being pushing!!! Well, after a very intense, painful labor, we ended up having our precious little girl by c-section. She was perfect and everything we could have hoped for. It is over-whelming to think about how much one child can change your lives! Jaylee definitely added a whole new meaning of what happiness is and has been such a blessing to our family!
It has been fun watching Jaylee change, learn and grow over the years and we are just amazed at what a beautiful little girl she is! She was a hard baby, but in return for that, she has been a pretty darn close-to-perfect little kid! She already has such a sweet personality and has so much love in her heart! She is an amazing big sister and helps her little brothers out so much! She has definitely taught us a lot about being parents and we're glad she still loves us even though she's our little guinea pig and we get to make all the big mistakes on her. Thank goodness she is such a sweet girl and so forgiving! We love you sooo much Jaylee and you'll always be our little princess!!! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!


Jaylee opening her presents! She was kind of sad she didn't get to wear a cute birthday outfit to school, but it was her school's day to wear their school spirit shirts, so she had to settle for putting a cute little "Birthday Girl" ribbon on it!


Jaylee (and Bretten) getting ready to start the fun day!!! We woke up a little early so that she would have time to open her presents before going to school. She had a fun day because it was her school's Christmas party that same day. She was pretty excited for that because she got to take cupcakes for her whole class! Kids are so easily pleased!


Jaylee and her cake! She must have had Bretten's birthday fresh in her mind because she reminded me several times that we needed to make her cake (like we did with Bretten's party). Usually I buy the kids' cakes, but I think now we'll have a tradition of making them together...at least while they are young and enjoy doing it with me. The kids seem to like to be a part of it. I guess I need to learn how to decorate cakes better, because I'm about as basic as you can get! I'll enjoy my kids thinking I'm good at it though...while it lasts!
Jaylee was so sweet to share and make sure that everybody got a toy from her cake.


Daizy, Lily, Bretten, and Jaylee diggin' in!
Since Jaylee didn't get to have a Birthday party, we went to lunch with some of her friends and then had them over to play and share in some yummy cake!


Daizy, Lily, Bretten and Jaylee having fun with the party supplies!


Jaylee enjoying some of her cake!

Last of my simple days...

The last few weeks I've been trying to prepare myself for what life is going to be like with 4 kids!!! I don't know if you can really prepare for something like that! Life is a lot busier this time around with 2 kids in school and on different schedules! Then there is my youngest (for the time being) who is on a schedule of his own at home. I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna throw into this mixture, a baby that will be on a schedule that requires feedings and diaper changes every few hours! Is it possible?
I ran into a girl in my ward at Wal-Mart the other day and she has kids that are similiar ages to all of mine and she just had her 4th baby in October, so I asked her what it was like to have 4 and how she was handling it?? Well- her answer definitely didn't ease my mind! She said life was crazy and that it was harder than she thought it would be. (Yikes!) Then she told me that if I found out the secret to having 4 kids before she did, to let her know. So, Yeah- I'm still scared!!! Anyways, I guess I will try to enjoy my last week or so of the simple life! :)
(Simple Life to me: Things like only having 3 mouths to feed and clean up after, and kids that can all enjoy watching cartoons together while Mommy gets ready for the day, etc.!)

Christmas Traditions...

One of the kids' favorite traditions for Christmas is decorating a gingerbread house!Please don't mind Bretten in his Spiderman suit...he was on call to save the world that night! Poor Kaysen was in bed by the time I got around to taking pictures, so he didn't get his cute face in any of these. He was definitely there though and helped terrorize our project and ate his fair share of decorative candy!:





I love that a few of my kids are starting to understand more about the holidays and remembering what family traditions go with them. I would say that the Christmas holiday definitely takes the lead in the ammount of traditions we have though. I love all the traditions we have, from the simple/basic traditions, to the more personal family ones. I also love doing something new and finding out how much we liked it and deciding that we will make that a new family tradition.
Some of our favorite family traditions are:
-Setting up the Christmas Tree together (usually the Sunday after Thanksgiving)
-Decorating a gingerbread house together
-Doing our countdown calendars
-Driving around to see the lights on Christmas Eve
-Baking yummy treats to take around to our neighbors
-Picking out fun gifts for all our favorite people!
-Reading Christmas books all month long
-Watching fun Christmas movies all month long
-Listening to and Singing Christmas music all month long
-Acting out the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve
-Opening new pajamas from Mom and Dad on Christmas Eve
-Putting out milk and cookies for Santa and sprinkling "reindeer food" all over the driveway for the reindeer!
-We usually try and do the 12 days of Christmas for a family in need
-Sending out Christmas Cards (usually with a picture and update) to our loved ones! AND receiving Christmas Cards from our loved ones!!!
-Ward Christmas Parties!
-Work Christmas Parties!
-Teaching the kids about the true meaning of Christmas in every way we can throughout the month!
-Going to the store together and having the kids help pick out toys to donate to the local charities that collect toys for families in need!
-Donating to the food bank and teaching the kids about why we do that.
-Making Christmas crafts all month long
-Picking out a special ornament for each kid for that year; the kids get a new ornament every year and we write their name on it and date it so they will have them someday to remember all their Christmases by.
-Writing letters to Santa
-Drinking hot chocolate and eating buttered toast after a fun day out in the cold...I usually associate this with our Christmas traditions because it always happens several times during December and we always talk about how lucky and blessed we are to have a warm house and good food to eat and that there are a lot of people who are not as fortunate...like I said- teaching kids these lessons every way we can!
-Wrapping presents
-Yummy breakfast on Christmas morning (when I grew up we always had a big Christmas breakfast at my Grandma and Grandpa Crosby's house, but now we just have Jason fix us up some yummy grub!)
-After the kids go to sleep, Jason and I open our gifts to each other. After that is all over with, we really get into 'playing Santa' and bringing everything out of hiding and setting it all up for the kids. We usually stay up way too late and fall asleep watching a Christmas movie.
-I could go on and on, but my eyes are starting to close on me because I'm very sleepy, so I guess I will finish this list later!

Letters from Santa!

I found this really cool website where you can print off a free personalized letter from Santa! You don't have to register or enter email addresses or anything. You just put in a few pieces of information about your child to make the letter personalized and then you can print a really cute letter.
Just click ­Here to make your personalized letter from Santa!
My kids love getting stuff in the mail, so I'm going to put these in the mailbox for them tomorrow!
(A few things: where it asks you to enter a best friend's name, I put there brother or sister's names- it turned out cuter that way. Rather than a street name, it turns out better in the letter if you put your neighborhood name. For example, I put The Quailbrook Neighborhood. It will let you see a preview of different letters before you choose which one you want to print, so you can go back and change information if it doesn't word it the way you want. Also, is you've already had your kids write letters to Santa, the P.S. part at the end is really cute because you can write something like "Thanks for the letter you sent me last week!". Or you can just remind them to be good and keep helping Mommy out! lol!)
Have Fun!

Also I wanted to add another thing on here while I'm at it. My kids LOVE doing craft stuff. They are so good at entertaining themselves and being creative. They will go in the office and work on their little projects for hours at a time...no joke (well maybe not Kaysen...yet...but Jaylee and Bretten do)! I'm always looking for fun stuff for them to do and I enjoy doing crafts with them too, but even if I just present them with new stuff to do, they can finish things up however their little hearts desire and they love it! Anyways, I just wanted to put this website on here too, from Michael's, called The Knack. Just click ­Here and it will take you to a page where you can register free for their site. They have some cute Christmas activities on there right now that you can print patterns out for and just let your kids go wild! They will send you an email once in a while, if you want, that gives you updated activites that are appropriate for your child's age. :)

Our Thanksgiving Week!

Finally an update! We have been so busy lately and I haven't had a chance to sit down and write about Thanksgiving, but better late than never I guess! I did take my camera with me, but of course I only got it out to take a few random pictures of the kids playing around at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

My little sister Sunny had a baby shower the weekend before Thanksgiving, so the kids and I jump-started our Thanksgiving vacation early and traveled to Springville to stay with my parents. Being that Jason just transferred back over to Wal-Mart at the beginning of November, he of course didn't have the week off, so he told me to take the kids and go so that we didn't sit around in Vernal all week while he was working. Knowing that this was going to be the last trip I'd be taking for a long time, I decided to go!

We thought Sunny was due the 26th (3 days before my scheduled c-section), but her doctor just pushed her date back to the 31st, so we could very well be having our babies on the same day! How crazy! Maybe she'll get lucky and have the New Year's baby! She is having a little girl! Anyways, we had a baby shower for her at my Mom's and had some great food, company, and fun and I'm really glad I could be there for it.

My sister's and I were able to see Twilight together at Thanksgiving Point on Monday and that was a lot of fun! I'm so glad I didn't have to go alone because if I'd stayed in Vernal, I'm sure I would've been by myself. We had all set ourselves up for disappointment, so we were actually pretty happy with how it turned out. A little cheesey at times, but what love story isn't?! I loved that they could actually make a good entertaining movie without all the crap (language/sex/etc.) that other movies always have!

My little brother Danny and his friend Cassie got to my parent's house on Tuesday night. It was fun to see Dan because I hardly ever see him. He even babysat for me on Friday morning so I could go hit the Sales! I also got to hang out with my great friend Lacey, on Tuesday. We went to lunch and then hung out at her house and let the kids play while we sat around and chatted. It was fun to visit and catch up!
We spent Thanksgiving at my Uncle Jim's house (my Mom's brother). All of my Mom's family were there and it was good to see them and visit with them. There weren't a lot of little kids there, but Jaylee, Bretten, and Kaysen still found plenty of things to do to keep themselves entertained. While we were there, my Dad got a phone call telling him that his Dad (my Grandpa Crosby) was being rushed to St. George in an ambulance. He ended up having an emergency surgery and they had to remove 3 feet of his small intestine. We were all scared that we were going to lose him, but he pulled through! He had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks. What a day to have that happen. We definitely had a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day!!!

On Thanksgiving night, I got a whopping 4 hours of sleep! I headed down to Wal-Mart a little before 4 AM to start off my holiday shopping. I couldn't talk anybody into going with me, and I don't really blame them, but when you've got kids and the kind of bargain shopping mind-set that I have, you just can't pass it up!!! I still had fun even though I would never recommend doing Black Friday shopping on your own....especially when you're 8 months pregnant! I hit all the stores I wanted to and got all the deals I had set out for, so it was a success! I couldn't believe how many rude people I ran into though. Wow! That 4 AM shopping sure does bring out the worst in people! People were ramming into each other and bumping into my obviously pregnant belly without caring in the least bit. And, of course, I heard many people exchanging words I didn't care to hear! What a way to kick off the Christmas season...lol! It was nice to go shopping without my kids though, but I was so tired when I got back and my kids were wide awake and ready to play! At this point I was really wishing Jason had been able to come with us because I was in much need of a break! I had Jaylee and Bretten play with some play-doh and tried to sneak in a quick power nap while Kaysen was napping and that got me through the day!
That night, after the kids were in bed, I was thinking how great it was going to be to get in bed, but then Danny, Cassie, and I decided to go to the movie "Four Christmases". It was fun to hang out with them!
On Saturday we did a little more shopping with my sister Cari and then had to get on our way back to Vernal! The kids were pretty exhausted from our long 8 days away from home, so they slept almost the entire way. Jason was such a good sport to let us leave him alone on Thanksgiving. Actually with all the sports that were on TV that day, I'm sure he didn't mind having a quiet house! lol! He even cooked a turkey which I was grateful for because I love eating left over turkey all week long, following Thanksgiving! He was glad to have us home though and the kids sure did miss him!
Anyways, that was our Thanksgiving week! It was great to spend the week with family and we made some fun memories! We sure are blessed and are so grateful for the many blessings we enjoy in our lives!


Kaysen just chillin' in Grandma and Grandpa's yard!


Jaylee, Bretten, and Lucky (my parent's dalmation) The weather was so nice while we were there. The kids played outside every day!


Jaylee and Bretten running down the hill into the leaves at my parent's house!


All 3 of my little monkeys!


Jaylee playing with play-doh at Grandma and Grandpa's house!


Bretten and Kaysen playing with play-doh! (Kaysen was pulling his CHEESE! face. He reminds me of Chandler, on Friends, when him and Monica go to get their engagement pictures done and he just can't take a 'normal' picture. That's what Kaysen reminds me of when he's actually trying to give me a good picture...lol)



Some more of Kaysen's "CHEESE!" face! What a funny kid!


Grandma, Kaysen, Jaylee, and Bretten decorating Grandma's tree! They had so much fun and couldn't stop talking about putting up our own tree when we got back home.


Grandma helping Kaysen put an ornament on the tree!


My little Jaybird!


My little Bretten Boy!


My little Kayser Racer!


Cassie and Danny watching all the fun!

Beware of the Christmas Monster!

Kaysen kept pulling this over-sized stocking out of one of the decoration boxes while we were decorating our house for Christmas, so being the nice Mom that I am, I decided to put him in it and low and behold our own little Christmas monster was born!





Man- he can give some serious skunk eye...But, I don't blame him!