Christmas Memories 2008

Christmas Eve at Grandma Barbie and Poppie's House

We enjoyed Christmas Eve at Dave's parent's home with his sisters Cindy and Cheri. It was the perfect lead-in to Christmas Day. Here are my top 5 memories!

Top 5 Memories

5. Opening presents from the Lindsay side!

4. Delicious Ham Dinner with Barbara's yummy pineapple/walnut stuffing.

3. Discussing at dinner for the 2nd time what we should name our soon-to-be-born daughter!

2. Watching our children and Carson attempt to reverently act out the story of the birth of Jesus.

1. Learning that my father-in-law, Dale, had been in a LA gang as a young man......

WE LOVE IT AT GRANDMA BARBIE'S HOUSE!

Dave and Taylor on Christmas EveJaxson, acting the part of JosephAustin as the WisemanTaylor as MaryKids ready to come down the hall for everybody!Listening to Poppie read in the book of LukeAustin, trying to be reverantPRESENT TIME!!!!!

After leaving our grandparent's home, we came back to our house to get ready for bed! The kids were so excited! They wrote their "lists" for Santa, put out the cookies and milk and quickly hit the sack!

Jaxson (4), Taylor (7), Carson (8) and Austin (2)

Christmas Eve 08

Christmas Morning!

At 4 am, I heard voices coming from the room where the kids were sleeping. I went in to tell them to be quiet and go back to sleep since we weren't getting up until 7:00am. They were so hyped since they had seen the trail of reindeer drops (hershey kisses) leading to the living room so they knew that Santa had come! For the next 1 1/2 hours, I went in every 10-15 mintues to tell them to be quiet and go back to sleep! It reminded me of the days of yore when all of my siblings and I used to sleep in the same attic room and my brothers would wake up in the middle of the night and yell down the vents, "Merry Christmas! Can we come down now?" It always provoked the Christmas morning argument.....

Time to run in the living room to see what Santa brought!

Taylor and Jaxson got roller skates from Santa! They were so excited! The boys received new bedspreads for their new bunkbeds from mom and dad

Austin and Aunt Cindy!

Carson was thrilled to add to his Lego collection

LAST FAMILY PICTURES

I HATE pictures of myself when pregnant! My face is huge, my 8 chins just hang there, my neck and arms can make any NFL football player jealous and then my belly...... it is so huge, it practically blocks the sun if I'm in front of you!

Having said that, here is the last picture any of you will see of me until the birth of our little sweetie! :)

Dale

Barbara

Merry Christmas 2008! We had a wonderful Christmas season and feel very blessed to have good health, a baby coming soon, jobs and the gospel in our lives! Love to all!

Christmas Holiday Craziness!

The past few weeks have been fun, yet crazy! Here it is, December 22nd, and I'm not finished with my Christmas shopping. Seriously, I'm not. Are you worried for me? You should be. This year has been so difficult since I've hardly been able to walk for the past several months! I tried to do some online but that wasn't too successful when it comes to shopping for Dave's sisters, Cindy and Cheri. I still have to get them presents and my father-in-law, Dale. Neighbor's gifts are still in my house. Why? Let me show you how things are looking today:

Dave and Jaxson on the top of the driveway

Taylor and Natalie with the snowman they built in the backyard

Taylor and neighbor Natalie with their "snowbabies."

Where are the front steps?

Dave's new part-time job: shoveling the driveway twice a day! :) PS- the weather forecaster just said that Cedar Hills received 10 inches alone today! I'll dedicate those inches to my siblings, cousins and friends living in AZ and CA who are LAUGHING right now!! :)

This past weekend, we went to Park City to relax as a family. It was a great time, in spite of the fact that I had no swimming suit to cover my extended belly area and couldn't go in the hot tub with my family. The kids LOVED it! We stayed at the Westgate Resort. They had a kid's club where the kids hung out for a hour or so, we got to see Santa in the front lobby before we left and our favorite part was that everybody slept in until 8:30 am (that has never happened in our lives!).

Westgate Resort

Anyway, it is nice to be home, kind of snowed in with my children. They have been overall really good today. They just came in from outside so time to make hot chocolate!

2008 Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert

This year's concert was fabulous and my favorite by far! The guest artist was Brian Stokes Mitchell, a broadway singer whom I had heard a few months back at the Tanner Gift of Music Concert with my uncle. Brian was incredible!!!! He had a way of connecting with the audience along with an unforgetable voice! When it was announced he was the guest singer this year, I knew I had to go! I registered for tickets, along with asking my sister in Arizona and Logan to register also for me to go! Well, I wasn't chosen for tickets and was disappointed beyond belief! Neither my mother nor sister in Logan got chosen in the random drawing, so I didn't even bother to call Jenny in AZ to see if she got tickets because she had a new baby and was busy, blah, blah, blah. So, on Thursday the 11th of Dec, Jen calls me up to let me know that she hadn't gotten her mail in 5-6 days, but when she opened it, there were tickets for Friday, the 12th of December! She called UPS to see about overnighting expenses. On Friday, at 10:15am the tickets arrived at my work! THe Christmas concert was on!

Dave's mom was so nice to watch the kids overnight at her house so we could stay out as long as we wanted! Doug and Melissa (my cousin and his wife) got a family member to watch their kids overnight as well. After the concert, we had reservations at PF Changs at 10:00 pm and didn't leave there until close to midnight. Anyway, it was the greatest night and most wonderful date! The concert was amazing! I loved the bells, dancers, stories and music! The choir was amazing and Brian.....I am a bigger fan than ever now! He can SING! I love being close enough to attend spectacular cultural events! What a night! Wonder how many of these we'll be able to enjoy in the upcoming months with the baby on the way in about 6 weeks.....! :)

Thanksgiving 2008

We enjoyed another wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! On Thursday, we spent the day with the Lindsays. The kids were super excited-When we got to Dale and Barbara's, the table was set to perfection with Barbara's beautiful china and all sorts of little decorations.Off to the side was the "Boy Table" for the man children.....Cheri (chef elite) and Cindy making last minute preparations for the dinner. Cheri made the BEST turkey we have eaten. I guess watching Food Network really does have its benefits! Dale, probably the most grateful for the double root canal he had two days prior....Uncle Steve is always so sweet and kind to our children. Here is my personal favorite part of the dinner: Barbara's Stuffing! She makes it with walnuts and pineapple. It is really, really delicious!

Let's eat!
Great food, Great company!

Austin loved the jello with whipped cream!

Taylor was just so happy to sit at the grown-up's table! She just beamed!

After dinner, we wanted a few pictures of the kids. Here are Taylor, Jaxson and Austin with Grandma Barbie!

Aunt Cheri and Uncle Steve....teasing and tickling!
Dave, before dinner....

Here are a few more shots of the boys with Cheri and Steve

The next day, we drove to Unitah (mouth of Weber Canyon) to see my brother, Justin, and his family. They built a home there over the past spring and summer and we hadn't seen it. My parents were there so that was fun to spend the afternoon with them. Dad took the kids horse-back riding. Taylor and Jaxson both rode without somebody leading the horse so they were both very proud of that moment. Justin and Jana's home is really beautiful--we are so happy for them!

The rest of the Thanksgiving break was spent working at Oak Canyon (trying to get caught up after missing 6 days of school) and putting up our Christmas decorations. It has been another great year with great memories!

The consequences of doing the "splits" at 7 months pregnant...

Imagine doing this---- ----when you are about 7 months pregnant!

So was my fate last Monday night! We got the kids down to bed around 7:45pm so I said to Dave that I really needed a good soak in the bathtub because I was in pain. He turned on the Jazz game and told me to go relax. I got in the tub as it was starting to fill up with hot water when my feet slipped....going into the splits position! I screamed because of the pain and then tried to lower myself into the water. The hot water felt good so I just tried not to move and relax.

After about 30 minutes, I was hurting so I decided to get out. When I stood up and tried to climb out of the tub, I discovered I couldn't move my left leg because the pain was too intense! I yelled and yelled to my husband but he couldn't hear me because the Jazz game was blasting throughout our home. I finally made it out of the tub, sobbing, and then crawled for the phone in our bedroom to call my husband in the living room. He, of course, came running in. What a sight I must have been! :)

The next morning, I still couldn't move without intense pain so we called my doctor. He ended up sending me to the hospital to be checked out and to make certain the baby was okay. After an hour there, it was concluded that the baby is doing great but the mother is a mess! The doctor ordered me to go on bedrest for 7 days and to take a muscle relaxer to help heal the pulled ligiments and muscles. As glamorous as it might sound to be told to go to bed and sleep for a week, I was just sick about it. When we got in the car, I cried for about 10 minutes then went into planning mode.

Our neighbors and RS have been amazing! By the time we got home, they had arranged for 7 nights of meals and babysitting for the boys. I even got a phone call from a gal who is living in her parent's basement and moving next week who asked if she could bring over a dinner to freeze. She showed up yesterday with FOUR different dinners! I have been so amazed at the generous hearts of our friends and family. Barbara and Cheri helped out the first few days and then my mom came for the next two.

It is Saturday night and Dave is at our friend's house watching the BYU/Utah football game with the boys. I am here with Taylor, who has been throwing up for the past 4 hours. What a time!

BYU Game with Dave!

Last week, Dave surprised me with a Saturday date! One of his 80 year old girlfriends gave him tickets to the football game against San Diego. She told Dave the seats were good.

We dropped off the kids at Barbara's house (thanks SOOO much) and headed to the stadium. Our seats were on the 2nd row, 50 yard line! We were so close to the other team, I could have spit on them. I also got a great shot of the camera man's behind as it was right in front of us. We had the greatest time and totally want to get season tickets for next year! When I was a student at the Y, I had season tickets pretty much each year! We think the kids will enjoy it as they get older too.
Go Cougars!