Merry Christmas '14

Merry Christmas! I am actually blogging right amid the chaos that is Christmas day, where any kind of structure is out the window, and a hurricane of toys have come through the house, and meals consist of snacks, and cookies.

Kaj: You were so excited about your angry bird with tele pods this year. Dad and I thought for sure you would lose it over the skylanders that we have heard endlessly about for the last month, and that was not the case. I love how happy and excited you are for others. It is a quality I have noticed in you for a while, and I hope you come to know that this is a very special thing, because it is rare. I also have loved that you refer to gingerbread man, as well as gingerbread houses as "ginger batman" and "Ginger batman houses." It is hilarious, and awesome! I have tried to focus on the way I am saying it to see if I am, in any way, mumbling, and I feel confident to say that I am not, but, I am very slow to make the correction. It is my "moff cloff." You are a sweet brother, and becoming a better example all the time. I have overheard you talking to Josh when he is sad to calm him down, and telling him things to make him feel better. You have fun with Rowan, and really enjoy laughing with him, and playing with him, and he loves every second of that attention from you-it will amazing this next year to see what kind of buddies you will become. I love you, Kaj. I am very happy to have you as my boy.

Josh: You are almost 3- need I say more? I have seen some...changes in you the last few months, and I can see you are trying to test some limits, which is ok, Josh, you are growing up. You are fun, you are exciting, you are quick to help me, and very adamant about helping especially if Kaj is trying to help too. You are learning what it is to be a big brother, and you are very patient most of the time. You love stories, you love listening to the same story again and again. You have started recently coming into our room every night after putting you to bed and insisting you sit on the potty. You usually don't go. But, you sit there, and then you decide when you are done, and you always wash your hands, and off to bed you go officially. You love ninjago, and you are the "blue ninja" most of the time. You were excited about the your ninjago legos, and have been playing with them contently all morning. You talk so much. You love to repeat prayers, or somewhat say them yourself. I really love to hear what you have to say. You are smart, and silly- an awesome combination. I love the spirit that you bring to the house, always have, and it seems like you have been a part of our lives a lot longer than 3 years. I love you, Josh. 

Rowan: You are seriously so cute, and so fun. You have an infectious laugh, and I will do just about anything to get you to laugh-embarrass myself to new levels. You have been my best sleeper since 5 months old, and there are no complaints with that. You absolutely love time with your brothers, tubby time with all 3 of you is your favorite time. You are the fastest army crawling thing in these parts. You are now attempting stairs, which you can do successfully on your own with me by your side. You are a pleasant little guy, that really loves your food, and persistent that the food keep coming or you start with the screeching. You love being with the family. You are open to new faces, and usually give people a sweet smile. You have 2 bottom teeth, and I can see the top 2 slowing peeking. You are a good, sweet boy, and I am excited to see what next year is like with you. I love you Rowe bears. You are my little bug.

Playing Holiday Catch Up

It's been long enough since I last blogged that I am actually losing content, so I need to play my holiday catch up now. We visited Utah for an early Thanksgiving, and stayed for 6 days. (Not long enough) We had been anticipating the trip for a while, and I heard a lot of "Are we going to Mor Mor's today?" 

We left on a Thursday at 10:00am, we had been hoping to leave much earlier, but we had to get the car in to get the tires changed, which was a wise decision. The drive there was really really really long. Sam had been really into his second book of a series, and he put on headphones, yes, noise blocking headphones after about a half an hour, which was my cue that I was on deck. I wiped Josh's noise every 20 minutes or so the first 5 hours of the drive, and then a little less frequently after that, I was on shows, food, Rowan, the whole 9. I was thrilled to take the wheel for the last couple hours. Ok, so it was long, but, when I look back at it, the boys did so well. They were well behaved, they listened, they didn't complain. I have to say as far as a 10 hour drive goes, it could have been so much worse. We got in around 10:30pm, and were thrilled to get the boys set up to sleep, chatted for a bit, and then slept also. 

We had a great time with family, and friends. We saw the new and improved aquarium, and it really is improved! The boys really like running around looking at everything with their cousins. We got family pictures done while we were in town, which we are anxiously awaiting them-maybe not losing sleep over, but excited to see how they turned out, but it was pretty amazing, because we were able to get all the cousins in a picture, which seemed like an impossible feat the last time we tried. We played games together, we had the kids play and enjoy time with each other, we had a lovely Thanksgiving meal which as Sam expressed his excited for mashed potatoes and gravy I realized I may want to be a grown up sometime and try that out at my own home! What a concept! Anita came over, and I felt so grateful to be surrounded by my family. I really feel blessed to have all of them enrich my life, and now to see them with my kids. It means a lot. 

The down side of the time was as I had mentioned wiping Josh's nose the whole drive long, well that is because of course the day before we left he started getting sick, we had not been sick for quite a while before the trip, and even since getting home, just when we go on vacation. So, at one point Sam and I were both feeling pretty lousy, Rowan was getting sick, and Kaj just mildly got sick, but it was all while we were in town. I really loved visiting. I love being able to stay with my parents, and being able to stay and talk with them, and spend time after kids are in bed. I love how happy my boys are to be with their MorMor and Pappy, and how loved they are. It really does make such a difference just seeing that, because it honestly can be really hard living far away. The relationships that I want to have are very important to me, and I love spending quality time with those people, so I always hope that there is still room for me and my family whenever we visit, even when there are memories being built when we are not there, and so far, so good. It was also amazing how many members of my family commented on how great Kaj is. How well behaved, and what a great kid he is, and really enjoyed being around him. He is a great kid, I am very lucky to be his mom.

We also were able to see Jon and Mandy and their family. They had recently got into a house, and we were able to see it, and listen to the plans they have for it. They were really excited, and we were very happy for them. They have great kids. Ben and Elena were waiting for us to arrive, and helped welcome Kaj and Josh right away, wanting to show them their toys, offering to help with shoes and jackets...whoa! Is that what it's like to have older kids?! My goodness! We had some food, and great conversation. We went over to BYU afterward, and got some cookies n cream chocolate milk, it was pretty delicious.

We also were able to spend time with friends while we were in town. We had a fun night with Ashley, Justin, Kathy, and Becca. We played games, and had good laughs, and great conversation. It was so fun being with everyone. I was also able to see Kim Hughes, who I adore! We calculated it had been about 2 years since we had last seen each other. Which seemed so wild. It was so strange to me that she and her family are in Utah... because Utah will always be my home, with my family there, and here Kim is... my New York friend now in Utah! I know! Right?! Mind blown.

The last night in town, Erik, Sam, and I went to the shooting range, because I had never been, and practiced shooting, and I was terrified. It took a lot of time before I finally felt OK about the whole thing. We met up with my parents, who had the boys at the Lego store, and we had plans to all go see the newly renovated Anita's house, but the boys were tired and cranky, so I was able to go, and it was nice being able to leisurely walk around, and enjoy really looking at all the amazing changes that were done. It was also fun to go with my dad, who could explain the details, and just how tricky parts of it were to do, and to still end up so amazing. It really is so strange that we even lived there once upon a time, and after seeing I definitely think Sam should see it for himself when we go back. 

All in all, so awesome to see everyone. We have a great family, and I always look forward to my visits. I miss them, and think of them every day.