Today at church during combined Relief Society and Priesthood we Watched a talk by Brad Wilcox called "His Grace is Sufficient" It is a great talk and I also think the perfect time to listen to it as we think about changes we want to make for the new year. I know the video is a bit long but I promise it will be worth your time. (His talk starts at 1:45)



 You can find the full printed text here

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Afraid of the dark...

but didn't want to sleep with light in his eyes...of course Hayes comes up with a solution!

Lyla and I had a fun day together. Going from three kids back to one for a day makes doing things a lot easier. I took her to the park and library, organized the laundry room and toy room and went through my filing cabinet while she was taking a nap. She was jabbering a ton, I think still trying to figure out where everyone else went. She got a book for Christmas that makes animal noises. She loves when the bear growls. She had me read it over and over and would giggle whenever it got to the bear. It was fun to have so much one-on-one time with her today. Now I want to have some one-on-one time with all the members of our family.
Bracken had a great time skiing! He got home with the kids at 9:30 tonight. The kids were awake enough to walk up the stairs and once they got in their beds they were asleep again.

All the snow in Utah had Bracken itching for a ski day so on a whim, he took off tonight to Salt Lake to go skiing with his brother, Kade.  Hayes & Kamri have been begging to go to Utah to play in the snow. I realized this might be their chance to go (plus then I wouldn't have all three alone!)  I tried calling all my family in Cedar and no one answered, thankfully Brooke called back right as Bracken was about to leave. She's nice to let Bracken drop them off at her house for the night/day while Braen goes skiing. Hayes & Kamri were so excited when they heard Brooke said Yes, they rushed to get in the pajamas and get in the car.  The fastest I've ever seen them get ready for bed!  Lyla and I had a quiet night, she had a long bath and stories before bedtime. Now I'm going to go read in bed.  I think it's working out well for all of us! Let's hope there is as much fresh snow up in the mountains as reported and Bracken can have an awesome ski day!

Today I went in for my glucose test. I was drinking the orange drink and Lyla was begging for some. I kept telling her it was yucky and she couldn't drink it.  Kamri corrected me saying Yes! She can drink it when she's older and she's pregnant!  The glucsose test is a big milestone for me, I didn't get to take it with Dane and when I got home from the hospital the drink was in the fridge. It was a rough moment throwing it away. When I was pregnant with Lyla, Bracken hid the drink until I had to go in for my labs so I wouldn't have to see it if anything were to happen. I'm grateful he takes care of me and is thoughtful of things like that. 

27 weeks tomorrow!

Christmas Day

Can you tell who is excited and who stayed up way past her bedtime?!

and me running to get in the picture before the timer went off....the kids could only wait for one picture.

Hayes-telescope, headlamp, legos

Kamri- Our Generation doll, dollhouse, hairstyling kit

Lyla-shopping cart, ball, doll, puzzles

They loved the spin art.

Bracken surprised me with a beautiful chest to hold all of Baby Dane's stuff in.  I had mentioned before that I wanted to get something nicer than the plastic tote that I have had it in and found something that was perfect.  It has a second compartment inside and will hold everything perfectly.  

I on the other hand, got him some candy, a pan for his popcorn and told him I would order him a watch...definitely need to up my game next year.

After opening presents we went to Rod & Cindy's for breakfast, came home and got to conference call in on EJ's, excuse me, Elder Leavitt's phone call (my little brother)  and then spent the day lounging around while the kids played with toys.  My grandma started writing her history and gave us all the beginning parts of it. I loved reading it and hope she gets the rest of her life written down. I look up to her so much and love reading about her life.  

Bracken was back at work today, a bit of a let down, I have to get used to him working again instead of getting a whole bunch of time off during Christmas when he was in school!  I thought he would have today off so I scheduled my injection appointment at 8:30 a.m. which meant I had to leave with all the kids by 8.  It turned out to be a pretty good thing since it got us up and going, the kids were pretty good sports about it.....I was the one getting the shot after all, not them!

One of my favorite lines from sometime in this Christmas season was Hayes & Kamri were talking about the Wisemen and the presents they brought to Jesus.  Kamri said Gold, Frankenstein and Hayes added, and Murmur!!  Now that would be a sight!

Christmas Eve

Bracken came up with the idea for us to have a Christmas Eve Feast.  Everyone got to choose what they wanted.  I missed taking pictures of most of the preparations but one of the requests was watermelon so here are the girls helping Bracken cut it up.

 Lyla discovered her ability to get around the kitchen counter tops with the stool.  She spent the night pushing it from one place to another and climbing up to help. With me having heart attacks and running to save her from a perceived imminent fall, thankfully none happened.

Hayes & Kamri made the place cards

 and The FEAST.  Consisting of Turkey, Rolls, Potatoes, Corn, Candied Yams, Orange Chicken, Rice, Lasagna  Edamame, Apples, Oranges, Watermelon, Grapes, String Cheese and Hayes's version of a Crepe (tortilla with nutella). To drink we had Egg Nog or Sparkling Cider.  A very random assortment of food but it was delicious and it has been nice to eat the leftovers today!

The kids opened their Christmas Pajamas from Great-Grandma Anne. 

 Then they searched for the Christmas Mouse who leaves a box of books for them to find.  They found it was a lot harder to find the box at our house rather than having all the cousins helping to find it at Mimi's house.

 Then off to bed.  Although this little Cindy-Lou Who wandered down because she couldn't fall asleep.  Thankfully, the child who hasn't reached the age to know when they are catching Santa!

Santa Claus Came to Town

Just before midnight...

Sibling rivalry

For now I think they just enjoyed the fact that they could make the signs for their room...it wasn't really enforced.

I finished Christmas shopping today so bring on Christmas!
We missed my side of the family's Christmas party last night and Brackens side tonight. We are missing out but it has been nice to not have to pack up on top of getting ready for Christmas.

At naptime today Lyla waved goodnight to Hayes and Kamri, walked up stairs to the toddler bed that has been set up in her room for a few days and laid in it with her binky and burp cloth.
I sat in the room for a few minutes and she was asleep. She slept for all of naptime and laid down without a fight for bedtime too. She must have been eyeing that bed ever since Kamri vacated it for a twin sized bed.
They do grow up way too fast!

Moments I loved from today

Kamri, Lyla and I were grocery shopping today and I stuck two boxes of Golden Grahams under the basket of the cart. Kamri walked behind me and saw them, started giggling and exclaimed..You got the BEST CEREAL EVER!!!! It was cute and hilarious.
Then she asked if I would get her a doughnut. I said no and she decided she'd buy some with the Christmas money (a $2 bill) she got from Great grandpa Jolley. Later in the rush of checking out I realized I had paid for it instead of holding it out separate for her. She was crushed, she loves paying for things and getting the change and receipt. I was in the middle of explaining how it worked out better for her since she had the doughnut AND all her money when she saw the bell ringer for the salvation army. She asked if she could give her money to the kids that are poor and she stuck it in.
Tonight Lyla was stealing Hayes's Ninjago Spinner and running away while mischievously laughing. Hayes would slowly follow her protesting just so she would keep laughing.

Heather and Hunter rolled into town tonight. They are staying the night and have a wedding in the morning. It's nice to see them and have visitors! They got to witness me eating a spoonful of ice cream only to have half of it fall from the spoon and make a bank shot off my belly into the garbage can....graceful!

Change is an interesting thing. There are positives and negatives to change...

Bracken worked late tonight so I was putting the kids to bed on my own. In our old house they all slept in the same room. I would sit on the floor and watch them drift to sleep as I sang songs, Waiting to hear each of their breaths turn slow and deep.
Now Hayes has his own room which provides him the ability to stay up a bit later and read. He asked me to come sing to him after I was done with the girls. I was lamenting in my head how this was taking twice as long. Then I went into Hayes's room. Now that we have the space, he has a twin bed instead of a toddler bed so I laid in his bed with him and sang as he fell asleep, his arm wrapped over me.
I know that won't happen every night, but I enjoyed the one-on-one time I had with Hayes.
Today has been full of getting errands and chores done. Thanks to my Mom and Madi coming I finally feel like I'm to the point where we are unpacked. There are a few things left to do but now we can live normally. Tomorrow I'm going to focus on having a day to just play with and enjoy my kids. Sometimes I get to caught up in being "the mom" instead of being "their mom" if that makes sense. Plus they are so funny when I decide to slow down and enjoy them being them.

I went to the doctor today and no bedrest yet!! This was the week I got put on bedrest with Lyla. I'm still taking it easy and counting the weeks but so glad I don't have to start laying down all the time just yet!

My mom came into town last night and she brought my little brothers girl friend, Madi, along with her to help me out. They have been so great today, running errands, watching kids and getting the house more settled. I am truly spoiled!

Hayes made two goals at the beginning of the week, to learn all the kids names in his class and to read the book of Mormon. So far he knows 7 kids names and has read to chapter 11. I love how he can set his mind to something and just do it. Definitely got that from his father!

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

The view looking in our front door.

Only 9 days left but we finally got the tree up and decorated. I love having a Christmas tree!

Our Christmas tree is up! The latest we've ever gotten one but we made it before Christmas. The lights are on but we are going to decorate tomorrow. After spending a ridiculous amount of money on a tree shorter than I wanted I am rethinking the whole real tree thing...maybe we will invest in a fake one.
Ideally we'd be able to go cut down one and enjoy the outing but since we live in the city and don't own a truck...a fake one is looking increasingly the way to go.
Kamri had a birthday party to go to today. After a week of no scheduled social outings for her she was excitedly counting down the days. She wore her sparkly shoes and "gorgeous bracelet" to the event. The party didn't disappoint!
Bracken organized and cleaned the entire garage. It looks amazing! He worked hard all day, I wish I could have helped more but I'm grateful he takes care of me and the baby by making sure I take it easier.

Belly Shot

After I had Dane I promised myself I'd be better about taking pregnancy pictures when I got pregnant. Here I am and haven't taken the obligatory "belly shot", so now I am repenting.

25 weeks today!!

And I even got all dolled up for Bracken's work party tonight and then didn't think to take the picture until I had already changed back into my comfy pants that have holes all over. This is more true to life I suppose! I live in these pants when I'm at home.

I'm being a blogger slacker tonight. No pictures, nothing.

Our gas got shut off yesterday even though I had transferred it to our name.  Frustrating. The gas company couldn't give us a time of day, just anytime between 8 a.m. and 10:30 p.m. someone would show up and if you weren't home it wouldn't get turned on.  The gas guy showed up at 4:50 p.m. to turn it back on.  Thankfully he showed up then since I was suppose to leave by 5 to make it on time to Kamri's dance recital.  It was a bit chaotic but he left at 5:15 and we rushed and made it just in time for her to dance. Thankfully we didn't miss him since I was not looking forward to another morning of cold showers.

Kamri was darling. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Tonight I spent the night scrubbing a spilled smoothie out of the carpet.  The kids had stayed in the dining room with it but someone had stuck it up on the ledge and then it fell towards the family room and made an amazing five foot range splatter across the carpet.  I was looking forward to a few minutes of down time tonight.....maybe tomorrow!!

Stairs

When we were looking at houses the kids were sold on any house that had stairs.
Lucky for them the house we loved did indeed have stairs-- an abundance of stairs. The stairs come up halfway from two different rooms and then turns into one the rest of the way up..if that makes sense.
They are always hanging out on the stairs, they knew their preferences well!

Enrolled Hayes at his new school, he starts tomorrow. Went grocery shopping. My friend Britney came over and unpacked my kitchen and helped carry boxes around the house. She was awesome. I called utilities and Internet and got those switched over. It was a productive day.
There was a knock on the door this afternoon and it was a neighbor boy. He asked "Can......the boy....come out and play?" Hayes was excited to have a buddy to ride bikes with. It made me happy that he can go do that now!!
Tonight I went back to the old house to get a big painting that I didn't want to get ruined being moved on the truck. I took out all the car seats to out the seat down so it would fit in the back, drove the 25 minutes back to the old house, and was locked out. I forgot the keys!!!
You win some, you lose some.
At least it was a nice quiet drive....

It's a bit chaotic around here but we'll slowly get settled in. Hopefully we'll get Internet hooked up soon and can post some better pictures.

Moving Day

Saturday was spent moving. Our friend Allen R came with a big truck at 7:30 am and Bracken, him and A teenager in our ward, Mark, started loading up. I finished packing up the odds and ends while they went to unload the first load. Our friend Shaun met them up there to unload. They ended up taking two loads and later I came up in the car with a load while Bracken stayed and finished cleaning the house. We got the kids to sleep on their mattresses at 8:30 and we went to sleep at about 10. Bracken worked non-stop all day. I'm grateful he worked so hard moving and still stayed back to clean so I could come rest on the couch. He made sure I took it easy. even though I know I should be taking it easy, it is still hard to not help out more.
It was a tiring day but so nice to be in our new house!

Thanks so much to my friend Heidi, she helped me pack this morning, otherwise it would have been a very late night. She packed the kitchen while I did clothes and other random light stuff.
I spent the afternoon waiting at our new house for the fridge to be delivered. Kamri's friend Natalie came up with us and those two and Lyla had fun playing in the backyard.
Bracken did a lot more packing tonight and hopefully I can get the odds and ends packed up while they load the truck.

Well this house is a disaster full of boxes and odds and ends everywhere but by this time Saturday it should be spotless and we'll be unpacking at our new house!
I did a lot of organizing/packing today. Kamri, Lyla and I did sneak an hour in at the park, it was such a beautiful sunny day, I didn't want to keep them indoors! Lyla has mastered going down the big slides by herself but Kamri still loves to "catch" her at the bottom. When Hayes came home he made himself a hut out of boxes to hide and play angry birds.
We took a load of stuff to the new house tonight. We got up there and realized the house key was on Brackens car keys and we drove my car. No problem we thought, there is a garage code, but the door to the house in the garage was locked too! Bracken unloaded the stuff into the garage and we left. Oh well, tomorrow we'll remember the key and get inside the house!

Lego Monsters

Today was a long day. I'll let Hayes take a turn at blogging by posting his monsters from The library Lego Club.

My favorite part of today was as soon as Hayes got home from school he went in the backyard with Kamri and they played together.

I love overhearing their conversations as they are playing about secret missions or how they are getting gold out of the pebble they are hitting with a rock.  

And I love that they are outside doing it, because they seem to believe that even though they are two feet away from each other, it's still normal to talk like you are a football field away....

Signed

We signed papers on our house today and we'll be moving Saturday!!

We did a walk through inspection of the house today and I intended on taking pictures to post but I forgot. I got too excited looking at everything and thinking of where we're going to put everything.  I'll post some later this week.

Better get packing!

Nerd Wars

Hayes loves math. Bracken made up 10 addition questions for him to see if he could get them all right. It took a couple times of him correcting himself but he got them right. Then he wanted payback so he made up a loonnngg multiplication and subtraction question for Bracken. He didn't want to leave me out so he made one for me too. 27 minutes later...
Bracken showed Hayes how to use the calculator to see if we got all the right answers. Bracken and Hayes did, sadly I messed up on the last addition part. 14 digit number multiplication is a doozey.
Hayes told he'd give me an easier problem next Sunday. I told him I'd think of another family activity to do.

My favorite line today was when Hayes was facetiming Grandma Niece and she asked him what he wanted for Christmas. "A revolver!" He meant a rover...a robot he read about in a catalog but we all had a good time laughing about it while he showed us what he really meant.

This afternoon we all went Christmas shopping for the cousin presents. When we got home Bracken and I told the kids we were going to clean up the house until it was all clean and work as a team. Hayes and Kamri told us when they were finished with a job and then they'd get a new one. They picked up toys, cleaned the bathrooms, swept, shook out rugs, etc. They were working so well I ran out of ideas so I had them take picture frames off the wall so I could pack them. They were such good workers and didn't complain. Sadly, chore time isn't always like that!
Bracken and I went on a date tonight to the movie Lincoln. A great movie, even though we already knew how it would end.
Lame joke. I know. It was a great movie though.

Last night Hayes slept walked into our room. I tucked him back in bed and their room stunk. Upon further investigation I found Lyla had thrown up all over herself and fallen back asleep. Gross. Poor girl. After I cleaned her up I put her on a towel in bed next to me. She would kick, take her binkie out and throw up into a burp cloth. Repeated every half hour or so for three hours. Not fun, but it was nice that she did the same thing every time so I could keep the mess contained. I cancelled my plans of running a few errands today since the thought of a barfing toddler in the middle of a store did not sound appealing. Thankfully she woke up happy this morning and didn't have any more symptoms, just didn't eat much all day. (which is very abnormal for her.)

We went to our Stake's christmas musical tonight. It was well done! All three of our kids were tired and spent the majority of the musical wiggling as much as humanly possible in order to keep themselves awake. Not the best when you are trying to keep them quiet and not bothering those around you. I did manage to keep Lyla away from any other kids. Hopefully we didn't get anyone sick...

Lyla has started saying "No" but she uses it at times that I really think she means Yes. The past two days she has answered many questions with this cute "Noooo..." said quietly and with a tone suggesting she's not sure she can get away with saying such things but she's going to try!

She is also copying everything Kamri does. Yesterday Kamri put her ballet and tap shoes in a bag to get ready for dance. As we were leaving I went to get Lyla's shoes out of the basket in the closet. I knew they were in there earlier that morning but they were no longer there. Lyla was carrying a purse, ready to go, with her shoes inside.

It was an early christmas morning for Hayes today. He discovered before breakfast that Star Wars Angry Birds had an update to open the levels on the planet Hoth. He came running to me before breakfast asking if he could update it. He spent any spare moment I would let him playing or showing off the new video to his friend Sam, Kamri and Bracken.

Complaining and realization of the need to stop complaining

An appointment with my specialist doctor today.  They did another ultrasound to measure my cervix and it hadn't shortened more from two weeks ago, great news!  I have another appointment in three weeks which puts me just before the 26 week mark which is when I had Dane and when I went on bedrest with Lyla because my cervix shortened.  I have been trying to take it a lot easier this pregnancy than last so hopefully I'll last a little longer before I have to go on bedrest, we'll see.

After the ultrasound tech left, the specialist came in to talk about the cervix measurements.  I assume he didn't remember my medical history and didn't read his charts because what he told me next was the same thing he said during Lyla's pregnancy and thankfully my OB supported me in disregarding what he said and doing something else which produced a positive outcome.  I reminded him of my history and what happened with Dane & Lyla and he was like oh yes, thank you for bringing that up! Then changed the plan of care to what it should be. (There is a lot more details, I realize this is vague but it would be a novel if I wrote it all.) Then asked me to schedule extra appointments in advance so we wouldn't have to have this conversation again (aka he would remember next time) Needless to say,  I was so frustrated by the time I left his office. I have already paid him the same amount I will pay my OB for my ENTIRE pregnancy, including delivery and we're only halfway through the pregnancy....then I have to be the one to tell him what needs to happen, which was the same thing as last pregnancy and should be in my charts somewhere.... LAME. I wish I could take what I paid him and give it to his ultrasound tech and my OB...

After I left the office I called Bracken. Bracken is great for me. He let me vent and be all hormonal and helped me figure things out.  Later I talked to my mom and complained about what happened at my appointment.  She asked about the house and if we were going to move on Saturday which doesn't look like it will happen, hopefully later next week.  As I was wishing we were moving in on Saturday I realized....I'm totally whining about first world problems.

I live near and am able to pay for advanced medical care, my baby is still growing inside me and I have an amazing support system to make sure that everything possible is done to keep that baby in my tummy.  We're moving to a house that I am beyond thrilled about, who cares if it's a week later. I needed to get over my pity party because Life is good.  Really good.  I needed a little time to be upset about a doctor that made the same mistake twice and didn't look over his chart but now I'm over it.

Life is good.

23 weeks in this pregnancy down and hopefully at least 13 more to go!

"A Good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything." -Irish Proverbs

I saw this quote on pinterest and oh how true it is!

I'm hoping a good sleep does us all wonders tonight. Nothing THAT horrible happened tonight but some tantrums from kids and tired/impatient parents makes a long sleep seem VERY desirable! One of those times that I just hope they don't act this way for other people...

Family Home Evening

Bracken taught the lesson on service and used Elder Ballard's talk from October conference about how a bee only contributes a tiny amount of honey but every bee contributing makes a big difference. Our service might seem small but if we all serve in a small way we can make a big difference in the world. We made a honeycomb out of a toilet paper roll and fill it in as we share acts of service we did during the day. The kids had fun gluing and paper clipping, then making the paper clips into a chain..we may have discovered a new quiet toy for church.

Photoshoot

I wanted to get a picture of all the kids in their Sunday best after church and I'll let you guess. Who was willing, who tried their hardest not to smile and who ran away....

 and she learned how to say "cheese!"

At least I got some cute ones of Lyla in her "Ms. Frizzle" Dress!

Sunday Walk

A beautiful day for an after church stroll....

 Our neighbor thought it was so cute they were holding hands.  Really, it was their way of making sure the other didn't get to be the leader.

 Must stay awake....

 and no pictures of me, the outfit I was sporting was almost as awesome as Bracken's.

Isn't the asphalt lovely in November?