Sunday, December 7

We celebrated Jen's birthday at my parents' tonight. Everyone pitched in and got her a Kitchen Aid mixer. She was very happy and we were so happy to be able to replace her old mixer that she had broken.

 

 

Saturday, December 6

The kids and I have been wanting to decorate the house for Christmas for days. I told the kids the house had to be cleaned first. I don't see the point in putting Christmas up in a dirty house. So I spent a good portion of both Thursday and Friday cleaning and while daddy was at work today, we brought all the boxes up and got started. It took almost all day but we were done and took the empty boxes back downstairs before the end of the day. Mission accomplished.

 

 

 

Friday, December 5

Happy birthday to the best sister ever! I love my sister and simply don't know what my life would be without her in it. She is the most thoughtful, loving, caring, and giving person I know. I am so thankful that we are best friends in addition to being sisters. I hope she had a happy happy birthday.

On her birthday, I was finally able to get furniture in Ricki's room and somewhat arrange it. I still need to clean and bring in the rocking chair but otherwise, her room is complete. We'll just have to push it all to the center of the room when we finally paint the walls. :)

 

 

Thursday, December 4

I am so thankful that my face waited until after Simon's work party to blow up like a balloon. It's a little hard to tell in pictures but the left side of my face (so the right side in the picture) is about double in size. I kinda freaked out about it and called the Endodontist but he said that it was pretty normal. He did, however, put me on a different antibiotic just to be safe. I stayed home all day!

 

 

Wednesday, December 3

Simon went with the kids to their STEM (career) Day. He took a money counter and worksheets and had a blast with the kids. Tonight, Simon & I went to a fancy work Christmas party at Tucano's then came home to find these elves on our porch. We were elfed! It's just a fun tradition our neighborhood does at Christmastime. Thank you to whoever thought of our family! So fun!!

 

 

 

Tuesday, December 2

Instead of a root canal, I had oral surgery! The Endodontist decided that cutting my gums and removing the drill bits from the top would be easier and more effective than trying to go in like a normal root canal. 2 hours, lots of laughing gas, and 5 stitches later... They did remove all 3 drill bits successfully and cleaned out the fluid pocket that is eating away my bone.

Top Picture: Obviously still feeling the affects of 2 hours of laughing gas and pleasantly numb from the Novocain.

Bottom Picture: Lying on the couch in pain, putting on and taking off a cold compress every 10 minutes to hopefully reduce the swelling. Miserable.

 

Monday, December 1

Some days you just need a Diet Coke! Today, I needed a few!! We had lunch at mom's before bowling, went to bowling, and bowled the slowest team on our league. We left around 3:45 and had a plan for mom to help Amie by taking Quinn to gymnastics. Amie texted and said Quinn's gymnastics clothes were in her car so we ran to her work and got them. Mom rode with me to bowling so I ran her home then hit the road in just enough time to get Nick to piano. However, we had a snag. When I was at Costco to get gas, mom called and said her purse was in my van! I waited at Quinn's daycare for mom to come get her purse but by the time I got out of there, I ended up being 15 minutes late to take Nick. Grrr! After all of that craziness, I cracked open a DC and sat back for a second. :)

 

 

Sunday, November 30

My sweet little Zacky won't go to nursery by himself. This is a new thing as he's always loved nursery. I sat in there with him for a little while, until he was comfortable, then went to Relief Society. Tonight, we had dinner at Dave & Viv's and Ryan & Ashley were there. Ricki and Henry had fun rolling around on the floor together.

 

 

Saturday, November 29

Today was a hard day. Amie had to go to her old house and get the remaining belongings that Chad so lovingly (not) left scattered all around. She called me upset so I ran over there and helped box things up for a couple of hours. When I got home, everyone was hungry. We had promised to take the kids to the "updated Wendy's" so we loaded up and went. I had a million coupons so we tried to use them at the register. After 4 people tried to assist in taking our order, everything got screwed up and the manager said I only owed him $6.15. We all got a really nice dinner for six bucks! It was awesome!!

 

 

Friday, November 28

While everyone was out doing their Black Friday shopping, the kids and I mostly stayed in. I did go run a few Scentsy errands and did a quick return at Hobby Lobby but otherwise, we were home. We should have got Christmas out but it didn't happen. The only thing I did was turn around my Give Thanks sign to say Jingle Bells.

 

 

Thursday, November 27

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at my parent's house. I asked dad to snap a couple pictures of my family for Christmas cards this year. This was the best one. :) After dinner and dessert, mom pulled out our annual gingerbread houses and the kids had a blast making them. I just love our family traditions!

 

 

 

Wednesday, November 26

My day started out better than it ended. The top picture is at Nick's school. I went to help out with their Native American Pow-Wow. It was fun to help the kids learn about the Southeast Plains Indians, have them try fry-bread, and play an Indian game with them. This afternoon, I went to my Endodontist appointment. On the left side of the screen is a tooth with a normal root canal. The one on the right is a root canal on my very back upper tooth. The little white lines you can see protruding from the root are drill bits left in my tooth by the dentist that did my original root canal! You can't see it on this shot but the area above my tooth is filled with fluid and is beginning to erode the top of my tooth and bottom of my jaw bone. If I had left it much longer, I would have ended up having to have this tooth pulled. I have a root canal scheduled for Tuesday. Joy!

 

Tuesday, November 25

Do you want the good news or the bad news? Well, the bad news is that I'm looking down the barrel of another root canal...on a tooth that's already had a root canal...and getting a new crown. Awesome. The good news is that dad has the week off, my dentist's office is right by his house, and it was nearing lunchtime when I got done there. Zacky requested Wendy's so that's where we went. It was a fun lunch date with daddy!

 

 

Monday, November 24

I guess I'm a gambler. I didn't really think of that when I won $50.50 at Strike at Rich bowling!! It was super fun to be the big winner. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with my prize money...shoes?!?

 

 

Sunday, November 23

With BJ recovering, we decided to take dinner over to Jenni & BJ's and eat with them. BJ is doing really well but he's super sore so after dinner, he went back in his bed. We have a big inside-joke about Simon going in and "spooning" with BJ. Ah, this looks pretty innocent to me though. :) We also had the fun and rare opportunity of sitting and visiting with Madison and Lori. The Hernendeen's just moved into Jenni's basement for a short time and Lori is here for Thanksgiving. It was a really nice and enjoyable evening.

 

 

Saturday, November 22

Today was a great day! We dropped the kids off to Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Jim - they are saints! We've been wanting to take Dave and Viv to dinner to thank them for all of their help on the basement (labor and/or babysitting) so we took them to see "Catch Me If You Can" at Hale Theater. It was so cute! Afterward, we headed downtown for a super yummy dinner at my favorite restaurant Tucano's. We had so much fun on our all-day date!

 

 

Friday, November 21

Seriously, can't resist these cute faces! Funny story today: We went shopping for Christmas with Grandma Howard today and Zack went out and got his shoes on and got in the car by himself. We got all the way to The Children's Place in Jordan Landing and walked in before I realized that he wore one of his cowboy boots and one of Nick's! He had a hard time walking the whole time we were out. Silly boy!

 

 

Thursday, November 20

We're beginning the super fun process of decking Nick's room out in University of Utah décor. This gem arrived today and I'm not sure who was more excited to open it; Nick or Simon.

 

 

Wednesday, November 19

I just can't resist these sleeping babies and their cute faces. We had Halle and Brielle after preschool today and I guess Zack was worn out from playing hard. I checked on him in his room and he said, "I'm tired. I'm going to take a nap". Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, I found him like this.

 

 

Tuesday, November 18

It's been an eventful day! Zack, Ricki, and I finished canning applesauce with the last of our free apples from friends' trees. Around the same time, poor BJ went into surgery to have his back fused. It's a big surgery with a huge recovery time but thankfully, everything went well and he's recovering nicely.

 

 

Monday, November 17

Leave it up to Aunt Jenni to give this baby her first sip of Diet Coke. Teach 'em young. That's her motto! :)

 

Sunday, November 16

It's Sunday, cuddle day! I love my sweet, squishy, cuddly baby girl!

 

 

Saturday, November 15

There were so many things I could have taken a picture of today but I had to snap one of this cute boy. This is the first snow of the year. We don't have snow gear out yet but Kendra and Zack insisted on walking in the fresh snow so they alternated cowboy boots and made footprints in the snow. Another fun event of the day included a trip to Ikea. With all 4 kids. Never again!

 

 

Friday, November 14

Sara is in town for the weekend, was going out with some friends (including Amie), and invited me to come along. Even though I've been gone from home a few nights this week, it was a really nice break from my normal routine. We had dinner, listened to live music, and visited. It couldn't have been more fun!

 

 

Thursday, November 13

Tonight was card group. Unfortunately, mom had a church meeting and Jenni had to work at her new Harmon's job so I opted to skip out too. I actually ended up going to a very informative DoTerra class but sent my Christmas tags to card group. They were fun to make. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with 45 tags though! :)

 

 

 

Wednesday, November 12

We have the best home teachers ever! Last time they were here, Bro. Williams mentioned that he goes out of town sometimes and his wife is home alone. We told him to let us know next time he was going and we'd invite her to dinner. We had her tonight and it was so fun! We figured out that I went to school with her son. I remember him but didn't know him very well. I hope we do this again soon!
 

 

 

Tuesday, November 11

THEY'RE IN THEIR OWN ROOMS!! IN THEIR OWN BEDS! HOOOOORAY!!!! :) Simon had the day off so we spent it getting their rooms set up. They still don't have closet organizers, closet doors, or bedroom doors but those will come. For now, they are snuggled in their cozy beds.

 

Monday, November 10

We are getting carpet! YAY!!! Oh happy day... Yes, I am VERY excited!

 

 

Sunday, November 9

This is kind of lame but that's how we roll. Netflix finally updated Grey's Anatomy with the latest season so Simon & I are watching it each night. We really have a lot to do but we're super excited that it's back on!

 

 

Saturday, November 8

Amie invited the kids and I to see "Big Hero 6" with an event put on by her work. It was super fun! They even provided each of us with a drink, popcorn, and candy. The kids were in heaven! I had to slip out early to go to Robynn Clayton's funeral but sweet Amie kept the kids for me so they could finish the movie and Simon & I could go to the funeral without the kids. It was a beautiful service and I'm sad I didn't get to know her very well.

 

Friday, November 7

I'm kind of a mommy push-over but these kids right here ROCK! We went to parent teacher conferences last night and they both got a better report than I could have ever imagined. Kendra is right on track and progressing very well. Nick is a rock star and doing amazingly well both socially and academically. They wanted to go back to the book fair today so we did and I ended up spending nearly $30. It was worth it for those amazing reports though! I love them!!

 

 

Thursday, November 6

This is a random picture. After parent teacher conferences, I went straight to a Scentsy party. This gal's house was so beautiful! I loved her decorating style and how she incorporated turquoise into her decorating. Look how super cute her pantry door is! I asked her if it would be okay to take a picture because I may or may not be considering doing this in my kitchen.

 

 

Wednesday, November 5

Dori got a haircut and I am so glad. She gets so long and yucky, it's nice when she goes in for a grooming. She comes back white, fluffy, and smelling so good. She's a sweet doggie and we're glad to have her as part of our family.

 

 

Tuesday, November 4

I was on-the-go today but I took about an hour out of my day to do a project for Nick's teacher. She needed 35 red and 35 green strings cut for an art project they are doing at the end of the month. It was fun to sit and work on it while catching up on Gilmore Girls. :)

 

Monday, November 3

It's been kind of a horrible evening. Today, I found out that a 23-year-old girl from my ward was killed in a horrible car accident on 11400 South Mountain View Corridor. I am devastated for her family. Especially her husband and her baby that is the same age as Ricki.

If there hadn't been enough tears tonight, Zack smacked me right in the eye socket with the back of his head when I went to kiss him goodnight. I was immediately in tears and my eyelid swelled up very quickly. I'm guessing I'll have a wicked black eye in the morning.

 

 

Sunday, November 2

Ricki's first baby piggy-tail. It's curly in this picture because it is still wet but as soon as it dried, it was straight as a bone. I looked up pictures of Kendra at this age and they are twinners! It's amazing how much they look alike!

 

 

Saturday, November 1

With Gary & Alexis in town, Dave, Ryan, Ashley, and them went to the Real soccer game (we were invited but Simon wanted the full day to work in the basement so we didn't go). Instead, we had Viv watch the kids while we went and picked carpet and finalized our order. Carpet is coming NEXT MONDAY!!!! YAYAY!! We brought pizza back for dinner and enjoyed our time with Viv and Henry. Later tonight, I was canning apple pie filling and realized the pain of working for hours on a canning project just to have not one but two of the jars crack in the hot water canner! Now all of my jars are a sticky mess!

 

Friday, October 31

Happy Halloween! We had a busy night. The kids and I carved pumpkins before Simon got home then we went out trick-or-treating minus daddy and Ricki. We got SO much candy! I couldn't help but put my sweet baby in a pumpkin! She hated it until she figured out that it tasted good. :)

 

 

Thursday, October 30

Gary & Alexis came into town for a baptism on Alexis' side of the family so we took advantage of the time and got pictures done. We went to FotoFly and as you can see, they turned out so great! I loved the kids and their matching colors. I can't wait to get these printed and on my walls.

 

 

Wednesday, October 29

Day 1 of my canning experience. Mom and dad gave me all the rest of the tomatoes from their garden so I decided to can whole tomatoes and spaghetti sauce. It wasn't too hard but I hope they 1- taste good and 2- don't get anyone sick. I have a lot to learn from my mom. I should pay closer attention!