A Great Time

Scott's parents are leaving tomorrow morning and we will miss them. We have been spending every evening/night with them since Christmas and we have definitely had a good time. We are so grateful they were able to come up for the holidays!

I usually like to leave the Christmas tree up until after the New Year, but this time I was ready for it to go. David knocked it down(it's second time), knocking most of the ornaments off, and I did not have any desire to fix it. It was dead anyway, and I thought we'd better be rid of it before there's any chance of the baby coming. But what to do with it? Our managers took 6 months to remove the Christmas tree pile from last year(no joke). Well there really wasn't any question at all. Scott knew he had to burn it! lol. So we took it with us to his sister's house tonight where we were going to hang out with his parents for the last time, and Scott made a ball of flames out of it. =)

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

My Sister in Law Hilary with her son Owen. Such a cutie

First we did a live nativity with all the grandchildren. My kids were wise men again since they already had the costumes put together.

Here is Scott waiting on the side with Sydney.

Our nephew Andrew who was a shepherd.

Niece Tory who was Mary with little Owen as Jesus. He was looking at the ceiling fan and very happy the whole time.

Nieces Cece and Naomi who were angels, and Justin who was the star.

And since we ended up short a wise man Scott was a good sport and was the only adult in the play.

Scott's parents and our brother in law Rick and a couple of his boys, Simon and Justin.

After the Nativity we had a little gift exchange with all the grandchildren. Sydney got a little wand. David got a little squishy ball.

This picture is totally out of order. Should be with the sledding pictures below. Is anyone else having problems moving their pictures around once they're uploaded? Suddenly one day mine stopped letting me do it.

Christmas Day

This is the only picture I took of Christmas morning because I took videos. Sydney looking at the presents right after waking up.
After having our own little Christmas morning we headed over to Scott's older sister Heidi's house where all the family was staying. We had breakfast and then opened the presents from Scott's parents. Then we did our brother in law Jason's family tradition of giving the adults and big kids a Nerf gun still in it's packaging, racing to open them first and then having a shoot out. I missed most of it because I had to change Sydney's diaper, but they had a blast.

Scott and his brother Russ

Jason

After the adults and older cousins were done the little cousins got to have a turn...

Heidi helped Sydney load up the gun and Sydney loved it.

Riley and Grandpa having a fun time.

And David loved shooting Mommy. He thought it was pretty funny. hhmmm.

He was so cute doing it though. Look at that concentration.
In the afternoon some of us went sledding. I didn't sled because the hill was too rough for an 8 month pregnant lady, but I took pictures. I didn't get any good ones of them actually sledding because our camera does not handle movement well at all.

Naomi, Scott and David after just going down. David is telling Daddy he did not like it at all.
Simon
Heidi was very nice and helped me with Sydney so I didn't have to hold her so long.

The whole sledding crew minus Simon and Jason who were on the hill.

After being forced to go a few times and not liking it, David had a great time just staying at the bottom and watching everyone else go.

Jason with his 3 older kids.

Later Christmas night the adults went to see Sherlock Holmes. We all thought it was very enjoyable, and though I don't think I'd buy it, I'd like to see it again.

We had a great time with Scott's family this Christmas and are grateful that they came to us since we couldn't travel. Thank you!

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

List 10 things that make you happy, and try to do at least one of them today. Link back to the person who tagged you, and then tag 10 other blogger's who brighten your day.

Going on a date with my wonderful husband

Cuddling and talking to my beautiful children

Eating Chocolate and fruit

Waking up and realizing my kids are still asleep and not banging at their door

Seeing my husband play with our children

Reading an awesome book

Feeling my baby move inside me

Exercising regularly

Playing the piano

Taking pictures for people and then editing them

This tag came from my older sis Annalise at And Now For Something Completely Different

I'm tagging:

Orchid
Becca
Leanna
Lindsey
Kelly
Janel
Melanie

Private:
Katie P.
Stephanie K.
Rebecca P.

Brushing up on his face painting skills...

Today I left for a couple hours to run some errands while Scott was home with the napping kids. When I got home I found David in the bathroom looking like this...

Scott had fallen asleep cuddling with Sydney(I guess she woke up earlier than normal) on the bed, and when David woke up and found he was unsupervised I guess he couldn't resist Mommy's eye liner and squeezing his tooth paste all over the floor. I have to say that even though I was not happy about it, I thought it was pretty funny at the same time. We Mommy's have to laugh at those things some times right?

35 Weeks

As of Monday I was 35 weeks. I can't believe I am so close. I've gained 23 pounds so far, which is more than I did with Sydney and probably will end up more than the 25 total I did with David. I blame the holidays, but at the same time I don't think I look any different from the previous two pregnancies so that's weird. Anyway, it doesn't really matter anyway I say. =) The baby is healthy and head down(good boy!), and has definitely dropped. I don't think this happened prior to labor with my first two, but I feel SO much pressure much of the time, especially when I'm trying to speed walk. That's a joke now. lol. Plus he looks like he's hanging lower than he was before. My midwife says she doesn't think he's a big baby and probably won't be above the 7 lb range. That's good with me! David and Sydney were both right there as well. I am feeling more uncomfortable trying to sleep at night but really I can't complain. Compared to other's I have it good. I'm excited to meet this little guy but at the same time, not before the holidays are over. I'm looking forward to a baby free Christmas!

We Three Kings...or Four

Last night was our ward party and our family was asked to be wise men for the live nativity. Yes, I was a pregnant wise man. lol. I forgot to ask someone to take pictures during it so here's a couple of just the kids afterwards. My costume was just a blanket draped over my shoulders and Scott's was like David's except that his sheet was wrapped around him like a robe. I worked all day to get them excited about this, because past experience says they will get very unhappy and uncooperative if they notice people are looking at them more than usual. David understood that he was going out there to give baby Jesus his present. Well the kids were awesome! I'm sure it helped that they turned all the lights out over the audience so they couldn't see all the people, but both our kids just walked out there no problem and sat down quietly. No fidgeting with costumes or trying to run away. And David jumped right up after a minute when I told him it was time to give Jesus his present. The whole thing was SO cute(even though I myself felt a little silly), and everyone thought they were the cutest. Afterwards Sydney didn't seem to mind her costume even still and was content just wandering around in it. So cute. =)

Trying To Stay Entertained

With the freezing cold weather we've been having I haven't been able to take my kids outside unless I need to run to the store. It has been a little hard because I feel very cabin feverish, but we've been able to stay pretty entertained. The kids are entertaining each other pretty well these days so that is really nice for me. For example they've spent a good amount of the last couple days playing with one sheet of stickers...

I also let David watch the Polar Express for the first time. Intense part!

After the train is safe again...

We've also had plenty of time for art, puzzles, reading stories, and building forts. In the summer time we spend a lot of time out side so we don't always get to each of these things every day. Everything has it's season right? Anyway, I am really looking forward to Scott being done with this semester and having a nice relaxing Christmas. We are staying in Rexburg this year and so this will be the first time for me not spending at least part of Christmas with my family. I've already been sad for a long time thinking about it, but at the same time I am looking forward to seeing most of Scott's family and not traveling(driving) or living out of a suit case with 2 young kids for 2 weeks. And now that we have our kids and David is starting to understand and be excited, it will be fun to have our own Christmas. At least until after we're done opening presents and then we'll be off to see Scott's family! Ok wow, I just realized I am just totally babbling and probably not making any sense. Anyway...I'm looking forward to this Christmas even though it will be different then what we've done before!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland...or ice box

In the past my friend Kelly and I have taken our kids to
the indoor track on the BYU-I campus to go walking when the temps dropped too low. But this winter I really didn't want to do that again, especially now that David has no friend to entertain him. So my current walking friend and I have been going to the park after the kids are in bed to do our speed walking. We are pretty sure we're crazy(the temperature tonight was "10 degrees, feels like 0"), but at the same time it is fun to get out after each day and chat with my friend. And after we've gone for a bit we usually feel nice and warm. Well, with the exception of the exposed skin. We had to start covering most of our face because the inside of our noses will freeze. Don't know how long we'll be able to keep this up since it's only going to get colder, but I'll have to take a little break anyway after the baby's born in about 5 weeks, so hopefully by that time it will have warmed up a little. Until then, I think we are crazy, but it's fun!

Book Lovers

My kids really really love to read books. Hope this sticks with them.

Here it is

I wasn't originally going to show off our tree because it isn't amazing, but what the heck. It's still fun to see a lighted tree in our apartment and the kids are loving it. I am, however, very happy with how this turned out... I just twisted a regular garland around our existing clock and added a few little ornaments. It looks pretty cool on our wall.

Getting the Tree

Saturday morning we took off with Scott's older sister and her family, and his younger brother and his family for the mountains to find our Christmas tree. Our car almost didn't make it to where we were going, but we got there! We couldn't find any 'real' Christmas trees so we all got a lighter green pine tree. I guess we just don't know where to go to get a beautiful tree. But it's cheaper and more fun this way so it's ok. David and Sydney didn't like it much though. They both cried for most of the time. Oh well. Scott and I were still able to have a good time. Here are some pictures...

A Jon Schmidt Concert Long Overdue

When I was about 10 years old my parents took my siblings and I to a concert (in Everett, WA)featuring a pianist named Jon Schmidt and an a'capella group called the Knudeson brothers. I remember really enjoying the a'capella group and being wowed by the talent and humor of this pianist. He even laid with his back on the piano bench, head under the keys, and played a complicated song he wrote-upside down. After the concert ended I remember my family was really excited to buy the Knudeson brothers tape. But I really wanted some tapes of the pianist. I don't remember if we bought all three tapes of Jon Schmidt that night, but if we did just buy one, soon after I had all three.I remember going home and learning to play a simple(VERY simple) song I had made up upside down just like he did. I remember playing his tapes over and over in our house and listening to them constantly on my walk man while on road trips with the family. When I was about fourteen years old my grandma bought me one of his piano books which I immediately started to learn to play from. Even though I almost never practiced my scales for my piano teacher (terrible I know!), I always practiced Jon Schmidts music. His music was exciting and interesting, and so much fun to play. To this day his music is the thing I look forward to playing the most. He is my hero when it comes to music. Why it took me 16 years to go to another one of his concerts I don't know. But Saturday night was such a big deal to me and I was SO excited! Finally I was going to hear and see this guy play in person after all these years of idolising him. Scott, being the great husband he is, came along with me mostly for the ride. Leading up to it he didn't seem particularly interested or excited. Little did he know! Little did I know even. We were both SO impressed! Both of us REALLY enjoyed the concert, finding ourselves laughing out loud even for most of it because he is such a great entertainer. One of the first things he did was play Rudolph the red nosed reindeer upside down with his legs crossed and foot waving. And of course all of us in the audience were waiting for him to play "Love Story meets Viva La Vida", a mash up of Taylor Swift and Cold Play songs that was a you tube hit. He didn't disappoint. The whole concert was such an experience and I can't believe even more that it took me this long to go back. I will be doing it more regularly in the future! It makes me even more happy as well that Scott enjoyed the concert as much as I did and was really impressed. After all, he influenced my piano playing, ability, and taste for music, for most of my life.

To find out more about Jon Schmidt, his concert schedule, or to listen to some of his music, go to his website. I suggest starting out by listening to "All Of Me". One of my favorites since the beginning!

I know it's blurry, but it's him!

I recorded just the end of the Love Story meets viva la vida song. It comes in towards the end of them singing at the climax.

Thanksgiving Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank you to Rick and Heidi for opening your home to us. Even though we don't get to go "home" for Thanksgiving, we have a great time with the family we have here. Scott's older sister and her family live just 15 minutes away, and his little brother and family live just a few minutes away. It has been a lot of fun spending time with them. Yesterday we all joined at Scott's sister's house for a wonderful meal and then some relaxing, and then we went to Scott's little brother's house(who just got an enormous TV) and watched the Polar Express. That was fun on such a big screen and everyone else hadn't seen it in a long time so they really enjoyed it too.

Here we are just starting our feast. You can see there was another table where Sydney sat and all our nephews.

Sydney talking to me about the camera. My kids would only eat the rolls. Go figure.
I had some requests for the recipe of the stuffing I made. I wish I could take credit for it's awesomeness but that goes to someone on all recipes. I guess I can take credit for the fact that I went WAY outside what I am normally comfortable with(fruit in stuffing?) but it had the most and best reviews so I thought I'd give it a shot. And it was SO good! Anyway, here is the link.

I just really like the way rustic things look when covered in snow, so I had fun taking pictures of these pots for a minute. Not too long because it was FREEZING!!!!

I love Thanksgiving, but what I love even more is that when it's over it's Christmas time!! And tomorrow we're going out to chop down our tree in the forest!! Yay!