Merry Christmas!

I am so thankful for Christmas, and the celebration of the birth of Jesus. My family has been so blessed this year. Friends, Family, Strangers have come into our lives and brought joy, through time, support, prayers, gifts, yummy food, and love. The Chief and I have been in awe and amazement for the past month. It has been difficult to be on the receiving end this year, but it has also shown us how important acts of kindness are, and how they touch us.

We were able to go to Idaho to visit my sister and her family. We drove up on Thursday. We were going to come home yesterday, but I was sick and did not feel well, so we decided to come home Friday late afternoon. Yesterday, we spent the day together, read Christmas stories, and the Chief and I made a wonderful German dinner for the boys: Wienerschnitzel, spaetzle with brown gravy, rotkohl, and potato balls. It was all so yummy. I also had tried my hand at making a caramel coconut flan. Yes, I realize it is not German! We were so full from dinner, we didn't even eat the dessert last night! We had it for "lunch" after church today!

We are headed to our friend's home today to have Christmas dinner with their family. We are all so happy and filled with the Spirit of Christmas!

Oh, I almost forgot...the best Christmas present of all came in the form of the Chief receiving a job offer this week as well. He will be working in his field, and it is something he is so excited about. The job comes with a longer commute, but that's fine...we'll be staying put, and I'll be able to cut back on hours soon at the second job.

Merry Christmas!

More photos will come soon!

My baby is 6!

Six years ago, I was awake in the middle of the night too! I had had a horrible cough, similar to the one I have now. I had woken with a coughing fit, and naively believed that I had coughed so hard that I wet my pants, not realizing that my water had broken. Some hours later, when I finally got it that Seth would be born, we packed up his older brothers, and headed to my sister's house in Lehi to drop them off and head to the hospital. I still believed that somehow they could stop my labor, since it was 6 weeks before my due date. But just minutes after arriving at the hospital, before the midwife even had a chance to take off her coat, Seth came flying out, and our adventures with this little boy began. Even now, we haven't decided if he looks more like the Chief, or more like me...he is himself...with a little mixture of both of us thrown in.

Here we are six years later, and he woke us again in the middle of the night with some aches and pains. He took a shower, and announced that it helped me feel better. Then laying in bed, he kept talking our ears off. Maybe it is a combination of uber-excitement over his birthday party or his weird desire to be the first to find Eli the Elf, our elf on the shelf, or maybe it just is a coincidence, but it definitely takes me back to six years ago, when he entered the world at 5:19 a.m.. 

Now, my tiny baby has grown into a cute, inquisitive, active, funny boy with a loose tooth that he doesn't want to fall out! He loves to cuddle, and play with his hotwheel cars, ride in bike, play soccer basketball and soccer. He is learning to read, and loves going to school. He loves traveling and is a good companion on road trips or just running errands. He doesn't watch a lot of television, but if he ever gets to pick what to watch, he'll pick Caillou over anything. Seth is one awesome kid, and I'm so grateful he is a part of our family, and my baby boy!

Happy Birthday, Setheroo!

We love you so much!

An Unbelievable Saturday

I'm going to tell you a story this morning. Maybe one day I will be able to laugh at it, but not yet. This story starts a few weeks back. My McKay asked if he could go with his two good friends to see a special showing of the Pokemon White movie, which was only playing one show this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday. Not wanting to break the Sabbath, he knew that Saturday would be the only day he could see the movie. We told him yes, as long as he had money for the ticket, which he did. So that was the plan.

The Chief and McKay before a campout, 2010

Then, a wrench gets thrown into the plans....when they announce a Boy Scout Camping trip scheduled for Friday night. Such a dilemma, as the scouts didn't plan to return until noon, long after the movie started.

Finally, the Chief decided he would go along on the camping trip with McKay, so they could leave early in the morning, and be home for the movie. Did I mention that the Chief had a surgical procedure the previous day? It wasn't a huge deal, and the doctor said it was fine to go as long as he wasn't doing heavy lifting or walking 5 miles!

So, Friday came...and off they went. Soon, after they arrived at the campsite, an hour and a half south west of us, it began snowing. And the temperatures plummeted. And they discovered that the van somehow got a flat tire. So, they put on the spare. And did their best to stay warm.

The next morning, I get up and head to work, taking advantage of still  having my sister, Kari, here to watch the other two boys. The Chief calls me at five to 9, and tells me they are underway and all is on schedule. I take my next client back. After a few minutes, I hear my phone vibrating. I ignore it. I ignore it 3 more times. Finally I answer and the Chief tells me he has another flat tire. They are stranded!

So, my stress level increases as I continue to work with my client, and stay focus, and say a prayer that they will find a solution.

They ended up waiting for two hours, until the scouts were coming down, and saw them on the side of the dirt road. They helped them take the two tires that needed repairing and brought them back home, dropping the tires off on the way.

Meanwhile, my last client canceled so I was able to go home and get Seth to his basketball clinic on time. When we returned home from that, the Chief and I took off to go retrieve the van. We picked up the tires and headed out. We decided to make the best of it and call it our "weekly date" doing for a car ride. It took us an hour and a half to get down there, with the Chief forgetting a little where the turn off was, but we did become reunited with the van! Then the task of putting on the two tires. It was so cold out there, and the wind was blowing. I did my best to help the Chief, while he did the majority of the work. Finally, with the sun going down, we finished up and took off again, this time with me following the Chief.


As we were driving, I heard a noise, like a rock bouncing around on the side of the car. It worried me a little, but we had been on a rocky road, so I just assumed that was what it was, as it stopped after about 20 seconds. We planned to stop and gas up at a Station we saw that was a decent price ($3.08/gallon). Since it was next to a Super Walmart, I told the Chief I was going to run in there and pick up a few things. He came over afterward, and looking to park near me, located the car, and then noticed that I was missing the gas cap from the car. What next??? There was an auto parts store nearby, so the Chief went there and bought us a new gas cap.

We just looked at one another in disbelief! How had our day gotten so crazy? Most of the plans that we had made didn't happen! We figured we could either laugh or cry. Or write a long blog about it! Guess what choice won out? The blog for now, as I just couldn't get myself to laugh about it yet!

The good news was I was able to get home in time to go to a girls night out with some very wonderful women in my neighborhood! It was a really nice evening, after a really strange day!