Christmas in California!

So we had a wonderful Christmas this year!! We got to see everyone, stay with both Tim & Amanda for a couple days and Doug & Becky for a few more. We got to see Paul & Christa's new house. AND we got to take a huge family picture with all of us there! Lots of fun! On Christmas Eve the kids all made cookies for Santa and that night each kid put a cookie on the plate for Santa and then Keilana put the plate on the piano. They were so cute and excited!
Ryan, Dylan, & Ben all LOVED each other and had so much fun hanging out while we were there. You'd think they saw each other everyday.

Doug also took us for a tour of McDermmott which was AWESOME! Very impressive. Maybe someday we'll have an opportunity to go and play some laser tag or something!

Home for Christmas....Are We There Yet?

WOW! What a year for everyone to be home for Christmas! I'm so excited we get to be home for Christmas!! We got to leave Friday the 19th and stay a night in Vegas before arriving in California the next day. We've kind of been making the stop in Vegas more of a habit and tradition to help break up the trip for our boys and just so that we don't feel rushed while we're traveling...that's gotten us in trouble before. And it's just been fun because the boys love it!

I called Paul's mom to let her know we were finally on the road and she said, "Where are you now?" And I said, "Orem." Then she laughed and said, "No, really. Where are you?" And I had to tell her, "Really, we're in Orem still!" We had been hoping to leave a bit sooner than we actually did; we didn't get on the road until 2:30. It had already started to snow before we left but fortunately by about Springville we had already outrun it and we had clean roads the rest of the way to Vegas.

Ryan was so excited for "vacation". After we finally left Orem we repeatedly had to try and explain to him that vacation is a time, not a place....all the way to Vegas he asked when we were going to be at vacation! I think he equates vacation to a hotel room. But the drive went very well. And except for Ryan asking "are we there yet?" every 10 miles (Paul & I had always wondered when that was going to start!) the boys did really well. They took turns napping and we stopped for dinner in St. George on the way and we still made it to the hotel in Vegas at a decent hour.

The boys watching football (what else is there?!) in the hotel room.

Then Saturday we got a late start out of Vegas and ended up driving straight up to Fresno for Paul West's birthday party! That was fun because we got to see Christa's new house and new baby right away--BOTH VERY CUTE!--Mom & Chuck and Doug & Becky & family were all there, and a few other people I wouldn't have seen otherwise. Ryan was so excited the whole drive that he would get to see "[HIS] Keith" that evening! And for the most part, I think the boys all played well together! (And it appears I didn't get any pics at Christa's BUMMER!!)

Then we made our way southbound again to Amanda & Tim's. They also have a very cute little house! And a nice backyard. The boys slept in Clayton's room.

Sunday we got to go to church in Tulare where everyone but Doug's family and Brad also attended that day. President and Sister Dredge were the speakers and I felt like I really scored! They are just such wonderful people. Janae was there visiting from Arizona with her family and it was really good to see her.

I remember thinking during sacrament meeting, after the Young Women sang a beautiful Christmas song (they sounded like angels!) that I really wanted to go to Young Women's that day. I totally forgot that Mom was the Mia Maid adviser! After Sunday School Christa and Lissa both told me they were going to Young Women's with Mom and I thought "SCORE! I get to go to Young Women's today!" So the three of us crashed Mom's class for the third hour. It was so great to be in there with the girls I used to babysit 10-15 years ago!! Anyway, it was great fun and I look forward to the rest of the week! So far this trip is off to a great start!

Poly Pellet Fiasco

The same day Amanda had her baby, I was getting ready to put together "I Spys" for both my kids and my niece and nephews. We don’t usually worry about presents for our nieces & nephews but I figured since most of the things I wanted to put in them were sold in bulk, so to speak, I may as well use the extra things I would have to make an I Spy for all the kids instead of just mine.

After gathering over 100 things to go into each of the pouches, I shopped all over the place for poly pellets which are tiny, whitish little plastic pellets used for helping to hide the items in the I Spy. The thing I didn’t realize is that they are very popular around here this time of year. I called and visited several stores before I finally actually found any. Even then I wasn’t sure if I had enough. I cleaned out the last two stores that were carrying any and I had just under half of a 2-lb bag left of Evelyn’s and prayed they would be enough.

That afternoon, after we got home, I was getting the lists ready to go so I could go over to Evelyn’s house to put them together that evening. Ryan and Ben were excited to go to Grandma’s house and Ryan especially, had been telling me every 10 minutes how we had to go to grandma’s house…...so imagine my surprise when I was finally ready to go and I walked into the front room to find poly pellets, about 3 of the ten 8-oz bags plus the bag Evelyn had given me, scattered all over my living room…in the shag carpet! I was so upset (it’s not like I could just go out and buy more!) that I sent the boys to bed immediately. NO Grandma’s house, NO dinner, nothing! Ryan didn’t take me very seriously, I guess, because he kept opening his door, turning on his light, and challenging my authority. So to get him to take me seriously, I went into his room and thought, You think you're so smart? Well guess what! I'm SMARTER!! And I took his light bulb! (I was seriously upset!) Then I put him in bed again, told him to go to bed, and shut I the door. After that he went to sleep.

I called Paul, who was already at his mom’s waiting for us, and let him know we would not be over there. I knew it was going to be tight on pellets before this little fiasco and now after, I was sure there wouldn’t be enough. Paul came home right away and patiently helped me to clean up the pellets…I had been picking them up by hand but he, being the intelligent man he is, cleaned the vacuum out and then vacuumed most of them up….but I’m pretty sure there’s still at least half a bag of pellets still in my carpet. After vacuuming them up, Paul rinsed and sifted and dried them for me and I think we recovered the majority of them.

Meanwhile, Evelyn, who heard about my problem before Paul left her house, took Kendall and they went out looking for poly pellets everywhere she could think of. She didn’t find anything except for some pellets that were more like real glass and were about $12-$13 per 8-oz bag as opposed to the $2 per bag I paid. The next day she asked around at the high school where she works and found someone who had a 2-lb bag who said she’d sell it to me for what she paid for it! It is SO NICE to have a mother-in-law who cares and has connections! We finally got the bags put together tonight and we used all the poly pellets...and there were just enough! THANKS MOM!! I just hope all the kids love them!

The finished product! If you look closely, Evelyn was able to sew each of the kid's names into the fabric on the back! I was able to personalize them a bit too so they're all slightly different on the inside! It was fun!

Tuesday night I went downstairs and found hundreds of my pictures scattered all over the family room. Talk about frustration! I thought Monday night Ryan would have learned his lesson… Just Sunday I think is was, I found Ben with a black Sharpie…yep…coloring all over the copy machine and cabinet in the room downstairs. It seems like lately they’ve just been acting up like crazy and I just can’t figure out why!! And it’s both of them!! Anyway, I hope this doesn’t keep up for too long. They’re driving me nuts! But hey! We get to go to California tomorrow! YAY!!

More New Babies!!

Becky gave birth to the newest member of their family Kylie Clark, on Friday, December 12th. She weighed 9 lbs, 11 oz and was 21 inches long. Keilana & Dylan were very excited to meet their new sister. Mom & Kylie are doing well!

Amanda & Tim VanderArk had a new addition to their family as well, December 15th. Claire June VanderArk weighed 8 lbs, 12 oz and was 20 inches long.

CONGRATULATIONS!! Christmas is going to be so much fun with so many babies!!

So far I don't have pictures of either of them. But Becky has pics up already of Kylie on her website....the link is listed <----- over there.

Busy Sunday!

Today we were privileged to go to Clark's baby blessing. When we got to the church Lissa & Nate weren't there yet and they attend a ward in a double-chapel building so we went into the north chapel like Melissa told us. After we'd been sitting there a few minutes or so, the bishop of that ward came up and introduced himself to us so we let him know we were there for Nate & Melissa McDonald's baby blessing. After thinking about it for a moment, he asked if we were sure we were in the right chapel because he didn't recognize the name McDonald. I told him she told us the north chapel and then explained that they were pretty new to the ward and since she had just had a baby, they hadn't been there much....then he thought a little more and emphasized a little more that he was fairly certain there were no McDonalds in his ward and suggested that we try the south chapel because he didn't want us to miss the blessing.

Just after we left the north chapel, Nate's family showed up and asked where we should be. They had understood the north chapel as well but we told them we were going to check the south, thanks to the bishop. Upon entering the south chapel, I noticed one of Lissa's good friends, Amy, right away. She and her husband also live at the U and I knew they were in the same ward. So we all sat down and waited for Lissa & Nate.....sacrament meeting started....Nate's dad, Curtis, started getting a little nervous and got up to see if he could find them and then they showed up a little after that. I was glad that they made it to the correct chapel too! ;)

The blessing was very nice and we all went to Nate's parent's house afterwards for a very yummy ham dinner! Ben & Ryan enjoyed their house and it was fun to see them all.

Prior to knowing about the blessing though, we had already invited Paul's parents over for dinner that evening and we didn't want to cancel on them last minute so after a little bit at the McDonald's we had to get home....where we had yet another yummy ham dinner, though not as yummy as the first.

Overall it was a busy, but enjoyable sabbath day!