Disaster of the Day

So yesterday in my race to do laundry I must have left the huge plastic container of laundry detergent to close to the edge of the washing machine and my old friend gravity and Mr. Murphy came by for a visit while we were out. When we came back, the hallway right by the laundry room did smell suspiciously and overwhelmingly like laundry soap but as I had been doing laundry all day I thought nothing of it. A few minutes later when I did go in there to change out the laundry what to my wondering eyes did appear but a gallon of blue laundry soap upside down all over the rug, seeping through the rug and splashed up on the wall. Thankfully I had 2 things in my favor- Don was home yesterday and I had said my prayers. The rug promptly went into a large black trash bag-that much soap and it would have taken 10 washings to get it all out and plus the backing has been coming off that rug for a while now. It took almost all of the rags in the cabinet to get all the soap up. Don was holding onto my belt loop so I could straddle the mess and get to the cabinet with the rags and not fall on my butt. Did you know that laundry soap is extremely slippery? The good news in my laundry room floor is exceptionally clean and I get a new rug!

We Are All Dumber For Being Here

Please please please PLEASE!
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON MALL COP!!!!!!

The boys went to a hockey game with Aunt Darbie last night so Don and I went to dinner and movie while we waited. I was not in the mood for hockey-should have gone anyway. Thank goodness the movie was very short-right at an 1 1/2 hour. There were some funny parts-drunk people are especially hilarious-but not funny enough to redeem the movie. This definitely qualifies as one of the STUPIDEST movies I have ever seen. I almost had Don talked into a new purse and shoes just for making me sit there with him.

I Hope That This is the Worst Thing I Ever Do To My Kids

OOPS!

I cut Connor's hair this morning and trimmed around the back by taking off the guard. I forgot to put it back on before I started on Caleb's hair.



Luckily it was in the back and at first he thought it was ok. That is until we went out in public. He kept his hand over it the whole time we were in the store and has decided that he will wear a hat forever. He did say "Oh good now I can wear a hat to church." Sorry buddy everywhere but church!

He thinks it's funny here until he goes out in public. Sorry Caleb!

Follow Up

So we get back from McDonald's and I am so excited to have a read-a-thon but my children decided that they would rather play with friends. Well poo on them-I will go have my own read-a-thon on MY bed with MY pillows and eat MY Oreo Cookies. SO THERE!

Week In Review

Last weekend was a busy one. Friday was Cody's 16 birthday. I wanted to surpirse him by bringing lunch to him that day for him and a couple friends but they had semester exams and were out of school by 9:40-why even bother going? So I found that out earlier the week before and called one of his friends to help make arrangements with all his other friends for a surprise birthday breakfast. I made a breakfast casserole, grits, bacon, sausage and about 40 pancakes. The kids all got there right after school and Don had gone to pick up Cody and drive him around Overton for a few minutes until all were assembled and then they came back. Seriously he did not have a clue what was happening and so he came in the door and headed toward his bedroom yakking away to his dad the whole time before we yelled surprise and he figured out what was happening. Megan did a good job keeping it a secret. The kids all had breakfast and then to my dismay the party continued. They hung around until 2:00 when we finally kicked them out. His friends that came were Megan Potter, Shelby Bennett, Jessany Mortensen, Sterling Waite, Daniel Gourdin, Emma Hardy, Allison Hardy, Jordan Hardy, Grant Mecham, Pamela Mecham and a foreign exchange student whose name I did not catch. They played Scattergories and then watched a couple episodes of Supernatural-again to my dismay. We left for St. George to go to dinner right after we picked up Caleb and Cayden from school. The plan was to go to Texas Roadhouse but it was particularly busy and we did not want to wait. We went to Ruby Tuesday instead. After dinner and a short perusal through Barnes and Noble-ok 30 minutes and few purchases later we went home to wait for the arrival of Grandma Penny, Granddaddy Larry, and Mawmaw. While we waited Cody opened his presents from us. He got some new white church shirts, a new Ihome, and a electric keyboard. They arrived around 10 and we helped them get settled in. Saturday morning we had another big breakfast and then Don, Larry and Cayden went for a ride in the Rhino while the rest of us risked our lives on the freeway as we let Cody drive to Mesquite to go to Walmart. He did much better than I thought he would although if I was a smoker I would have gone through a pack in the 30 minutes we were driving. He is getting much better at driving and has gotten a few in hours in in the last few weeks. We came home from Mesquite much poorer and very hungry so we made dinner. We had hamburgers, chips, Suzanna's yummy fruit salad and homemade salsa. Cody made a lemon ice box pie for dessert. We settled in for an uneventful evening watching 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and then my parents watched National Treasure while I laid on my bed watching hour after hour of Bones. My neck was giving me trouble again-shocker! Sunday morning dawned bright and clear-seriously with the weather hovering around 70 all week. We made biscuits and gravy and Connor went for his interview. We also got started on some of prep for the after church meal. I made Frog Eye Salad and the angel food cakes for the dessert. Then we got ready for church. Connor was called up on the stand to be sustained to the office of a deacon and recited the 4th Article of Faith. After Sacrament we went to the Bishop's office for the ordainings. Don ordained Cody to the office of a Priest with Granddaddy Larry, Grandpa Don, Bishop Barlow, Bill McConnell-2nd Cousenlor, William Stratton-1st counselor in the Young Men's Presidency, Greg Chappell-2nd Counselor in the YM Presidency. Then Cody got to stand in the circle as Don ordained Connor. The Deacons quorum presidency was also in attendance-Sean McConnell, Devin Mortensen, Mitchell Eide and Jeremy Waite. As soon as the Amen was said for Connor's ordination Cayden jumped up out of his seat and said " My Turn". He was quite adament that he get a blessing too but we told him it wasn't his turn. In hindsight we should have just let Don give him a short blessing too but oh well. Don's parents and Darbie were there with us too. After we were done in the Bishop's office we went home to get ready for dinner. We had a baked potatoe bar (the potatoes were the size of footballs and took almost 2 hours to bake) with Chili and Broccoli Cheese soup plus all the other fixings for potatoes as well as Frog Eye Salad, green salad, and my mom made rolls. For dessert we had Snow Tunnell cake without the tunnel-Cody's traditional birthday cake request. Chris and the girls came over for dinner although we missed Dena and Ashley who were in Arizona. Dave and Amy did not come either. I love having yummy food to eat but it takes so long to prepare and then almost as long to clean up. My parents decided to stay overnight again and go home Monday since it was Martin Luther King Day. I think that they probably were wishing that they had gone home Sunday night but Larry had a bunch of conference calls early Monday morning so they ended up not being able to leave until 2. Cody had friends come over again around 11 for a contination of the Supernatual marathon and so there was a bunch of screaming girls and very loud sound effects all afternoon. It was really rather obnoxious but hey we decided that it was better that they were all here so that we knew what they were doing as opposed to being somewhere else getting into all sorts of trouble. The kids went back to school onTuesday and had a short week because there was Teacher Development day on Friday. I made baked potatoe soup with all the left over baked potatoes from Sunday on Tuesday as well as homemade rolls and monkey bread-a new family favorite. One of my goals for the new year is to use my food storage at least once a week if not more so the bread was part of that. I went to the temple Wednesday morning and Don has had a show in Vegas all week. Thursday I made a quiche and whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffins-again the food storage and I even ground up my flour again with my handy dandy wheat grinder. I ground up a whole #10 can just so that I don't have to do it as often. That was after I ground up part of another can and realized that it had weevil carcasses in it. Now I could have gotten away with it with noone the wiser but there is just something psychologiallyand morally wrong with eating weevils even if they are all dryed out and ground up in the flour. I threw out the rest of the can and the flour. I guess if we were starving I could gag it down and of course I would not tell anyone but now is not one of those times. Thank goodness! The kids are home today and it is rainy and wet and muddy. Lovely-couldn't it have rained yesterday when they were in school? If Caleb gets all his missing assignments done I told them we could go to McDonald's and then have a read-a-thon this afternoon. Connor and Caleb are going to the hockey game with Aunt Darbie tonight so Don and I will take them in later to meet her. Bad thing is that Don is already in there at the show and says that he wants to come home and then go back in tonight. I don't like that but whatever! He just knows that I don't like to drive at night and besides we would have 2 cars in there also. Happy Friday!

Caydenisms

On Wednesday night Cayden was getting ready for bed and Don went in to say help him with his prayers. Cayden had been looking for his baby doll a few minutes before bed and we could not find it. Before his prayer started he told dad that they needed to pray for baby. Don told him to go ahead but Cayden always says "Help me" so Don helped him start his prayer then gave him the chance to continue. But then he said again "help me" so Don continued with the prayer with Cayden repeating after him. After a second or two Cayden looks up and whispers "Dad, we need to pray for baby". So Don helped him pray for baby. Then Cayden went to bed. Don came in to tell me what had happened and Cody overheard him and said that he thought he knew where the doll was and so we found it. Don took it to Cayden and Cayden said "I knew it! I knew we would find baby." So Don had a quick little talk with him about how he prayed to Heavenly Father and Heavenly Father heard him. I don't think that Heavenly Father was overly concerned with the location of baby but he was concerned with the heart and prayer of a little boy and a little boy's mom and dad.

Last night Cayden found a long thin dowel in my office. He asked me what it was and I said that I did not know. He said "I think it is a whoopin stick". I said "a what?" and he said "A whoopin stick. You know like you beat our butts with." For the record-I don't beat my kids butts with sticks but it was amusing none the less. I told him to go and tell his dad all about it. Kids can be quite entertaining when they are not making you insane!

We Are A Happy Family

I just had to post this before I forgot. Tonight during scripture study we were talking about prayer. We were talking about how praying is like calling Heavenly Father and that he answers our call through the scriptures and through the Holy Ghost. Cayden asked how Heavenly Father talks to us. Then I said that he talks to us through the scriptures. I was sitting on the couch with my scriptures open on my lap and Cayden was kind of sitting at my feet. He raised up on his knees and turned and laid his head down and put his ear to the scriptures to hear Heavenly Father. It was so sweet. It was one of those times that you just want to last forever. Of course I had to rain on his parade by saying that we have to READ the scriptures and that is how Heavenly Father talks to us-through the words. He is so innocent some times and believes literally what you say. I wish it were that easy -to just put your head down on the scriptures and listen.

In other news-The Little Red Hen Visited My Kitchen
Last Thursday I made homemade bread. I got out my new handy dandy wheat grinder and ground up my own wheat and then I made the bread with the flour that I had ground. In case you were wondering my children were true to the story by not helping me. Although Cody did make cupcakes during the time that I was making the bread so I guess he was helping a little bit. I took a loaf to scouts and then we had the rest for dinner. It was quite tasty with my homemade peach jam.

Connor is loved by so many people. He went to tutoring on Monday and came home with 2 presents and a birthday cake. His math tutor gave him a cute frog decoration for his new desk that he got from Grandma Adams' house. He also got some peanuts and peanut butter crackers. Then he went next door to Grandma Millie's. She is snowbird elderly lady who come here during the winter. She lives in Idaho during the summer. Connor's math tutor helps take care of her and Connor goes over to visit and help her a few times a week. He has helped her put up and take down a few strands of Christmas lights, pulled weeds around her steps, planted some bulbs for the spring and just visits with her. She gave him a nice card with a little bit of money and then she told Meals on Wheels lady that it was his birthday earlier last week and so the Meals on Wheels lady made him a homemade birthday cake. It was the perfect FHE treat for last night. I am glad that there are so many people that love and appreciate him for who he is.

Speaking of FHE-last night we had the quietest FHE in history. Don has had a lot of back and neck pain the last few days and so he finally took a pain pill about 5:00. About 5:15 he was dead to the world and so the kids were pretty good about being quiet. We had FHE in my bedroom because Don was crashed on the chair and so we tiptoed around him and tried to be quiet as possible. Not that I think that he would have noticed if a dumptruck drove through here but it had quite the effect on the kids. Of course it did not hurt that the lesson was on service and selfishness. (none of that mattered this morning or tonight though-in one ear and out the other)

Caleb had a missionary experience last week. He came home from school and asked if he could invite a friend to church with us and I said yes. He also wondered if he could bring him to scouts with him and I told him go ahead and to ask. He got turned down but I am glad that he had the courage to even try!

I guess since I have mentioned almost every one in this house I better say something about Cody. He has driven for and hour and 15 minutes since yesterday and all of that in the dark. He has to have 40 hours of daylight driving and 10 hours of night driving to get his license. At this rate it will take 100 days of 30 minutes a day to get this done. We just don't drive that much so I told him that he needs to take every opportunity to drive so he can get his hours in. He did ask to take on the freeway and drive to Mesquite this weekend but I am not quite that comfortable yet with all of this so we will wait a bit to venture out on the freeway. Pray for me-oh and for him!

Weekly Wrap-Up

Monday-It was so hard to go to bed Sunday night and get up early on Monday since Chirstmas vacation was over. Don left for Atlanta. We did FHE on Sunday night so that he could be here. We have implemented a new rule. Along with the no playing with friends we have decided that Monday will be No TV Monday in attempt to eliminate 1 non-essential thing from our lives. Connor and I did homeschool and started a new BYu independent study history class. We are also reading the John Byetheway book on Honoring the Priesthood and a book about Daniel Boone.
Tuesday the kids had Karate and I helped in Cayden's class.
Wednesday-Cody stayed home sick and Don came home from Atlanta late. Connor went to his last time of 11-year old scouts. I made a huge pan of Baked Ziti and homemade rolls and monkey bread with all the necessary ingredients courtesy of my mom for Christmas-thanks mom.
Thursday-Cody was sick again and stayed home. Caleb and I went to scouts. I have not slept worth a dang all week partly from the 2 weeks of staying up late and getting up late and then with Don being gone. Caleb went on a field trip to see the Las Vegas Philharmonic. He was supposed to wear nice clothes-ie slacks and a nice shirt and so we got those out Wednesday night. Thursday morning he had gotten up a little earlier and put on his suit with a tie. When Don got back from taking hiim and Cayden to school he said that he watched the other kids walk into Caleb's classroom and most of them were still in jeans and t-shirts. A few were in slacks but Caleb was slightly over dressed. Don and I decided that the jacket and tie would not last all day and would be in the backpack when he got home. We were correct. Thursday night I got a phone call from one of Cody's girl friends wanting to reserve him for January 24 for the Reverse dance. She knew that Cody would be 16 by then so she wanted to make sure she got him first. I said that it would be ok and then she wondered if she could come over "ask" him. She and her friend came over after dark and and made chalk outlines of "bodies" and wrapped caution tape all around the yard. Then she taped a sign to the front door that said "Cody, I will just "die" if you won't go to Reverse with me" Cody was asleep in his room the whole time and Connor and Caleb were in the backyard when the girls came over. Cody had no idea anything was going on and Connor and Caleb were freaking out because "someone was in the garage". We had to tell them to hush and just wait because it was a surprise for Cody. They were about as excited as Christmas morning. When the girls got done they ding dong ditched us to let us know and then we sent Cody to the door to see. He was shocked! The girls were waiting across the street in the dark and ran over after a minute of watching Cody. Cody is currently trying to figure out a way to answer her. I am not sure that I am ready for this yet.




Friday-Cody really wanted to stay home again but 3 days in a row is not a good idea with 5 honors classes. Connor and I did homeschool again. I finally had a breakthrough. When we read Daniel Boone I read and he gets to be Dainel Boone and act out what the story is saying. He can't hardly sit still so at least this way he has to listen to understand what to act out. Maybe it will work. I love Fridays. We didn't do much. I felt like I had the flu on and off this week-mostly on especially Friday. I did nothing the rest of the day and the kids just messed around.
Saturday was major yard clean up day. We cleaned up the back yard and cleaned out the garage and storage room and washed the car that had been cleaned since we went to Utah. The kids worked hard even though they complained and fussed and fought the whole time. It is so much fun being a parent. I made broccoli cheese soup and more rolls and more monkey bread.
Sunday-Today was Connor's birthday. He woke up bouncing off the walls. He got to choose breakfast and dinner. He wanted to have biscuits and gravy for breakfast and grandpa's chicken spaghetti for dinner (I made it though). We made him wait until after dinner when we grandma, grandpa, Aunt Dena and Laura came over for cake and ice cream. He wanted a Skor cake which ended up being Butterfinger cake because we had no Skor candy bars. We sang to him and let him blow out the candles. Then he got to open his gifts. He got a pair of binoculars and some new white shirts for church from us as well as an IOU for a new bed set and some posters that were ordered 10 days ago but did not get here yet. He also got some moola from grandma and grandpa and an Itunes card and a new zip tie and a tie tack from Aunt Dena. The gift of the evening was the new cell phone. We put it in a box and then in a bag. As he was reaching into the bag Don said "Now Connor I have to tell you something really important." It got really quiet as everyone turned to listen to Don. As Don was saying that he was dialing Connor's new cell phone number and the phone began to ring. Noone knew what is was and Connor as soon as Connor figured it out he went nuts! He was whooping and hollering and he jumped out of the chair and ran around the couch to the family room ecstatic. It was pretty funny and Don got it all on tape. It was a quick celebration as Connor and Don had to go to the Priesthood Preveiw meeting.

We have had to improvise with the candles the last few birthdays because I have forgotten to buy candles. We used a 6 and a 5 and 1 regular candle to make 12.
Connor had to sing with his class Called to Serve and of course he sang it with gusto. The other boys sang with their heads down and like most 11 year old boys. That is one of Connor's favorite songs and he sings it like he means it.
Cody had his interview today for his birthday next Friday and he was sustained in church to the office a priest. Connor will have his interview next week and and will be sustained then. Both boys will be ordained that Sunday after Sacrament meeting. In case any of you are wondering Cody will not be getting his liscense or a car for hs birthday. You have to have a permit for 6 months here in Nevada and he has only had it for 3-not for the lack of me trying to get him to do it but he just is not overly concerned about it just yet. He can get his liscense at the end of March assuming he gets all his drive time in which is 40 hours worth. It might take longer as he has driven for all of 20 minutes in the last 3 months and that is not for the lack of trying there either. We ask him all the time if he wants to drive and even Grandma Dottie has called to tell him that she wants to take him but he declines every time. Oh well just keep on saving me on car insurance!
December and January just kill us! My birthday, Christmas, Connor's birthday, Cody's birthday and then Cayden's birthday on February 6 does not make for a very thrifty month. Come February 7 there will be a moratorium on spending-oh wait we are going to Disneyland, then Provo for Owen's blessing and then Don and I are going somewhere nice for our anniversary. Hmm I wonder what April is looking like. Curse you Easter Bunny!

While You Were Not Sleeping

So I am not sleeping at the moment and you must be thinking that it really is not that late but I have tried to go to sleep earlier the last few days because we have been being such lazy bums over the Christmas break and I have been so tired the last few days. **Important Info-Lortab is not stronger than Dr. Pepper-what? you thought I gave it up for New Year's?-nope not on my resolutions list. I have had a headache for 2 days and my neck started giving me trouble AGAIN so I have been taking Advil and Tylenol on and off all day and then finally broke down and had a Dr. Pepper at 6:00. You would think that it would be out of my system by now especially because I took a Lortab for my neck and headache at 9:30 but alas I am still awake. Don is in Atlanta which just compounds matters-stress, single parenting, lack of sleep, etc. So you may be wondering what I have been doing for the last 2 hours since my kids went to bed.
1. I have updated my Good Reads list-even going to my bookshelves and looking at all the books that I have read this past year and the ones that I have purchased to read-wow! I need to stop buying books.
2. I have wasted a few minutes on Facebook but not much-I really don't like Facebook-I feel like a snoop.
3. Ordered a few books from my local library as well as a few seasons of CSI NY and Bones.
4. Flipped channels
5. Watched the news twice
6. Blog hopped
7. Checked my email twice
8. Looked at the KSl site twice just in case anything changed in the last 2 hours.
What are the things that I could be doing but would rather waste time online?
1. Read one of my many books that I recently realized that I have.
2. Laundry-it's never ending
3. Shred a large pile of documents from the files that I cleaned out last night.
4. Clean one of the many areas that I made a list of yesterday.
5. Dust my shoes
6. Watch one of the 3 movies from Netflix that I have had for 2 months
7. Make a list of the lists I need to make
What a dilemna-are you bored with this post yet? Well let me humor you with a little story about what not to do.
Speaking of the shredding of documents-Last night I decided that I was going to go through my filing cabinet because I am running out of room and it is time to make the 2009 files and move the 2008 folders down. In order to that I needed to through the pile of receipts and bills and checkbooks and medical records that date back to 2006. (Is there a pill for OCD?) The to-be-shredded pile got quite large so I enlisted the help of the kids in shredding this stuff. We overheated the shredder twice and had to wait for it to cool down. We filled 1 black garbage bag with all the shreds. After the second overheat I decided to quit before I blew the whole thing up. I told Connor to take the bag of shreds outside to the garbage-mistake #1. Instead of going directly to the garbage cans he took a detour to Caleb's room to show him. Caleb had taken a shower and was getting out. Well if you know my kids you will know that they do not even attempt to dry off even a little when they get out of the tub but instead like to get out, then grab their towel. Sometimes they bypass the towel all together and just start putting on their clothes soaking wet. Occasionally they do get the towel off the hook so that they can throw it on the floor. In order to get their towel, they have to reach around the corner into the other part of the bathroom. Occasionally they happen to glance in the mirror and make the discovery that dancing in front of the mirror naked is much more entertaining than just regular dancing. Even better than that is dancing naked in front of the mirror when you are soaking wet because the water flies off of you and onto the mirror making really cool designs. Sorry I digress-back to the story. So Connor goes in bathroom and shows Caleb the big bag of shreds. He tells Caleb that it is really heavy and so Caleb decides that he has to test his incredible muscles He goes to pick up the bag to see how heavy it actually is. At that very moment-the stars were perfectly aligned and my guardian angel was out for coffee-Connor reaches up from underneath and flips the bag upside down. Can you guess what happens next? 1 black garbage upended with a billion little pieces of shredded paper dumped out on the the wet bathroom floor. I was so mad-mistake #2. I should have taken a picture but it was such a wet horrible mess I grabbed the vacuum instead-mistake #3 Since I was in my office when the disaster happened the boys had to walk all across the house to tell me. Keep in mind that Caleb is still wet, wrapped in a towel (you did not think that he would dart through the house buck naked did you?) and the static in the air thought it would be fun to join the party and attacked Connor's clothes and socks so plenty of those happy little pieces were stuck all over him-well now they are all over the house. Not a happy moment and not my best entry for mother of the year. Note to self-find a pill for OCD and just burn the stinking stuff next time (without the help of the kids).I think that I am staring to get tired so I bid you stalkers all farewell. This blogging thing is much cheaper than a therapist!

Ok so I just reread my post from last night and realized that the Lortab must have been doing something because some of my thoughts and sentences were slightly incoherent and my spelling was awful-I know that I reread it before I posted it but obviously not with my brain on full power. I guess I should seriously not not drive while on Lortab. DUI is much worse than BUI-Blogging under the influence.

December to Remember Part 2 or Happy New Baby

We left for Provo Saturday morning after hurrying to pack everything we own and straighten the house. We stopped in Mesquite for lunch and drove straight through to the Kolob exit so that we could throw out the trash so mom did not barf-must have been leftover sickness from Friday. After an uneventful drive-thank goodness-we arrived in Orem at just the right time to meet all of my family at Chuck-A-Rama. This family meal was paid for by Mawmaw as her gift to all the adult grandkids. She has decided that this will be a new tradition. Works for me. All of my siblings and their spouses and kids were there except Laurel who lives in Albuquerque and all of my Aunt Pam's kids were there except for David who is on a mission. If I can count right I think that there were 32 of us. So much easier than buying gifts for 12 grandkids and 8 spouses. After dinner we went to my mom's house, opened gifts for that side of the family and had our Second Annual Christmas Jeopardy Showdown. After an hour of tense competition Caleb and Don took home the coveted Gnomeholio that has adorned my brother's mantle since last year when he wagered a hand to answer the Final Jeopardy question. He was the only one who got it right regardless of his wager. This time he wagered "your mom" and all his money and he lost. Caleb and Don did not have the absolute correct answer but made an actual wager that still left them with the most moola at the end of the game. On Sunday we went to church, came back and took a nap while watching 3 hours of the weather channel while Comast got the cable working again and then had a yummy dinner of roast and mashed potatoes with the family again. After dinner we played Mad Gab-possibly a new family favorite and watched something that I can't remember. Monday we went shopping and to see Bedtime Stories-pretty cute and pretty short :) Don and Connor and my brother Chris went to a Jazz Game that I gave Don tickets for for Christmas while Caleb, Calley and I went shopping again. Caleb wanted to shop for clothes more than go to a Jazz game. Tuesday we went to Burger Supreme and then Tales of Despereaux. Don and me and Chris and Anne went to Yes Man-don't bother it was nasty- and then to Olive Garden while my mom graciously watched the kids. Our plan was to go home on Wednesday so we went back and got things mostly packed so that we could just get up and load on Wednesday morning. Well at 9:00am my sister called and said that she thought that she was in labor. She went to the doctor who told her to go home and wait because she was not for enough along to go to the hospital yet. At 11:00 my mom and I went out to her house and got Abby so that she would not drive her mama nuts while her mama laid on the couch counting contractions. We took Abby home and played with her all afternoon. Suzanna went to the hospital at 2pm and Owen Ryan Pitts was born at 8:02pm that night. Don and I took Abby out to see her new baby brother who she thought should be named Tigger incidentally. We had to wait for a bit while the nurse did all those normal tests on Owen before we got to see him. She kept him an exra long time we thought but she said that he was breathing pretty hard so she wanted to watch him. Hmm maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was screaming his head off because he was sprawled mostly naked on a hard table being poked and prodded while his mommy was in another room far away from him. She watched him for a bit and then decided after calling in the respiratory therapist to tell her things were ok that we could see him. Don and I went on a food run for Suzanna while we waited. It was New Year's Eve and most things were closing up but we were able to snag Arby's right before they closed. We made it back and were able to see and hold Owen for a few minutes before we took Abby back to grandma's for the night. We left the hospital and got back to grandma's 10 minutes before midnight. We grabbed the pots and pans and the poppers, put the New Year's Eve tiaras on the kids and waited for the ball to drop. The kids ran outside banging pots and pans and screaming at the tops of their lungs. There were alot of fire works going on around us and down below in the valley so other than it being 15 degrees outside it was fun. It took a few minutes to get the boys settled down and to bed. WE got up Thursday morning and packed up and ran out to the AF hospital to so that the kids could see baby Owen for a minute before we headed out of town. We also stopped at Mawmaw's to get some doughnuts and chocolate milk that she bought for us for the ride home. Oh-Chic Fil A was a requirement for the ride home too. We got home around 5 and unloaded and unpacked and then started putting away all the Christmas stuff. We got all the inside stuff packed and put away Thursday night and then finished with the outside stuff on Friday. And with all that the holidays have come to a close around here-just in time for school to start on Monday.

December to Remember Part 1

The kids last day of school was December 19 and then the fun and festivities really started! We went to Forgotten Carols that night in St. George. This has been a tradition for us the last few years. I really think that this is production is what brings me the true spirit of Christmas. I think I need to see it in October or at the latest before Thanskgiving so that I can remember what Christmas is all about. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner that night before the show-apparently blowing th tradition of going to Pizza Factory according to Cody. Then on Saturday we went into Vegas for the Adams' family Christmas party. First we did a bit of pre-party shopping and then we met at Darbie's house and put togther 100 or so sack lunches for the homeless. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then put in a huge orange, a bag of peanuts, a granola bar, a bottle of water and a small baggie of Christmas candy. Then we loaded up and drove down to Main and Owens and handed out the lunches. That is such an eye opener down there. There were people just layed out up and down on the street with their blankets and backpacks. Some of them even looked like they could just put on a suit and walk right into a bank or an office building. We had all 100 plus handed out in less than 10 minutes. Then to cancel out all the good that we did we went to Bucca Di Beppo and stuffed ourselves with fantastic Italian food. I hope that we can make that a new tradition-and not just at Christmas. Sunday we went to church and I gave mt talk-see previous post. Also Connor and Caleb decided that they were going to rearrange the rooms AGAIN! This time Connor decided that he should move into Cayden's room and Cayden should share the room with Caleb. This seems to be a Sunday theme here. There is some sort of confusion as to whether or not they got permission from Don who was asleep in the chair. They say that they asked Don if they could do all of this switching around and that he said yes but Don says that he was asleep and vaguely recalls responding in the affirmative to their request but won't confirm that he remembers what they asked for. They could have asked to take the car to Vegas to buy smokes and tequila and he would have said yes at that point. Don and I actually had discussed the rearrangement of the rooms in an attempt to curtail the fighting that goes on between Connor and Caleb-let's hope it works. Monday, Don took the boys to Vegas for their annual shop for mom and eat out trip. Don has done this for as long as I can remember with the kids when they have been old enough to be a help as opposed to a hindrance in the matter. I do believe that taking children shopping at any age is a hindrance but what do I know-consequently this shopping trip only happens once a year-probably because it takes that long for Don to work up to it again. I stayed home and finished up the neighbor gifts and the gifts for friends. I did spend time visiting my good friend Wendy that day because it was her birthday. That night for FHE we finished up the delivery of gifts and read a few Christmas stories. Tuesday was clean the house for Santa. Connor and Caleb went to Grandpa's to make their traditional gingerbread house and then the Zundel's came over that evening to share gifts with each other because they were leaving for California the next day. Wednesday we got ready for all the Christmas Eve excitement. Don and I made a last minute run to Walmart for my tradtional "we need to get this for so and so and what if it's not enough for so and so, so we better run to Walmart to be sure" trip. Then we came home and got ready for our big dinner. We did it here at our house and I even got out the good dishes that we never use. We made bacon wrapped asparagus, homemeade salsa and a cheese ball for appetizers. Then we had 2 turkey breasts that were delightful as well as twice baked mashed potatoes, spinach and clementine salad and homemade rolls. We had a short and not so reverent Christmas porgram about the night in the America's when the Savior was born. Dave and Amy were our narrators because Grandma and Grandpa forgot their glasses. Cody was our pianist from a distance we sat in the family room and he played the piano in the front room. He was really fast and we were really slow so it did not sound the best but oh well. It was not the most spiritual of programs because of the fact that I have children. At one point during one of the songs-I can't remember which one-Cayden stood up and went to the middle of the room and started twirling like a ballerina. There ya go-prime example of my life! After the "program" we had dessert. I made Buche De Noel, and chocolate pie and we had a pumpkin pie from Costco. It was tasty. The point was to do all the work on Christmas Eve so that we could have leftovers on Christmas Day. After all the company left we watched some of Christmas Vacation and some of the 24 hours of Chirstmas Story that was on TBS. Cayden was concerned all month that because the Christmas tree was in the front room away from the fireplacfe that Santa would not see it when he came down the chimney and then he would leave without giving out the presents. He decided early in the month that we needed to write a note to tell Santa that the tree was in the liviing room. So on Christmas Eve Don made a sign a that said "Santa, the tree is this way" with and arrow pointing toward the living room and taped it to the wall just above Don's reclinder so that Santa would be sure to see it. Cayden was quite relieved. Cayden also set out some cookies on Monday to be sure that we did not forget. He just set them on the hearth without a plate because Santa did not need a plate. We convinced him that we would leave out some fresh cookies and milk right before bed on Christmas Eve. That was a hard one to swallow for him. Anyway, after reading the story of Christ's birth from the Bible, and opening our traditional pajama present, the kids went to bed but not to sleep. Santa waited until 11 but then just started to put out the stuff because there was alot to do. Did you know that a big wheel takes as long to put together as putting out all the other gifts and the stockings? I did not know that either but found out while Santa built the Big Wheel-trying hard not to use profanity while beating plastic pieces into place. The rule for Christmas morning has been as follows for the last few years. The boys cannot come out to the family room but they have to go to Cody's room and then he calls the house phone from his cell phone and then we go and get them-with the camera all together. Caleb said that he woke up first at 5:00 but waited until 5:45 to wake up Cayden and Cody. Cody said that he was awake until 3:00 because he was so excited for Santa. So we got up at 5:45 and saw what Santa brought and opened presents. The kids made a haul as usual. Cody got a digital camera and accessories and a new bed set with the comforter and sheet. Connor got an Ipod and an Ihome. Caleb got a Nintendo DS and accessories and Cayden got a Big Wheel and a new CD player for his room. The 3 younger boys each got Terrainiacs-big tough remote control car things-too. Don gave me a DVD/VCR combo for my room and a neoprene sleeve case for my laptop and a lap desk for my computer so that it is more comfortable to use it in my bed. I also got Mamma Mia and my own pink set of tools. Don got Sirius sattleite radio for his car, new cologne, some new books and some clothes. I forgot to make the traditional breakfast casserole on Christmas Eve so instead at 7:00am I made it after opening all the gifts and let it sit until 9:00-it still worked even though it did not stand overnight. Don and I went back to bed until 9 while the kids watched one of their many new movies. We have had a big breakfast Christmas morning at our house for the last few years and this year was no different. We had the casserole, grits, bacon and pancakes. Amazingly the breakfast only took about 20 minutes to get ready while the dinner the day before took 3 hours to get ready. All of these meals were consumed in under 30 minutes but the breakfast took the least amount of time to prepare. Hmm-maybe we should eat breakfast all the time. After breakfast and cleanup we went to Grandma and Grandpa's and opened our gifts from them then we watched movies and vegged the rest of the day until dinner at 5. We did it again at our house-this time we used paper and plastic. Don's mom made Rigatoni and Darbie made Frog eye salad. We also had left overs and more appetizers-I made crab cakes and we still had the cheese ball and chips and salsa. It was fun day filled with what we do best-sleeping and eating. Friday I woke up super super sick with a stomach bug and stayed in bed all day while the boys and Don put the house back together and did laundry in anticiaption of leaving for Provo on Saturday.