We Have a Tooth!

Tyson had a really rough night about 3 weeks ago. We toughed it out and in the morning I discovered two tiny little white lines...both of his bottom front teeth were starting to come in. We've been watching them over the past few weeks and tonight I finally felt an actual tooth! The other tooth is just about there, as well. My handsome little charmer is getting so big.

10 Musings From Our Vacation

1. I hate Nevada. It wouldn't be such an ordeal to drive to Santa Rosa if it weren't for Nevada. Luckily, my kids were amazing in the car. We ended up having to leave a day earlier than planned because the weather forecast didn't look so good. We stayed in Reno the first night, then got up early and left to do the rest of the drive. Our plan only slightly worked...by 9:00 a.m. Reno was already a winter wonderland, which made our drive through the Sierras a bit of a nightmare. I told Alex that I felt like I was about to give a talk in church for the whole drive: stomach in knots and sweaty hands. I was so relieved when we got far enough into California that the snow turned to rain and the roads weren't dangerous. Here are my girls at the beginning of our drive:


2. I have a great family. We had so much fun with my family. It was pretty much non-stop chaos, which was overwhelming at times, but we had a good time! My kids had so much fun with their cousins Abby and Sam, who they rarely get to see. We miss them already.

Tyson with my dad.

Tyson and Holly with my Aunt Carla

3. I really love my extended family. All my cousins have married awesome people, and I love the rare times that the whole family gets together. I have really fond memories of Pedersen Family Parties (PFP's, as my cousin and I have dubbed them) growing up, and they don't disappoint even now. It's full-out craziness with everyone together, but I love it. We toned down the party this year (after 2 family weddings and a mission farewell, nobody felt like going all out!) and just the little grandkids got stockings. It was a really nice little gift exchange.

Holly with my Aunt Suzi

Holly with my cousin's daughter Ella.

Alli opening her stocking.

4. I guess I will always be a California girl at heart. It rained a good portion of the time we were there, and I loved it. I came back to Utah and snow and was a little bummed about it. I love and miss the rain! I have to give snow a little credit, though, because the aftermath of a storm made for a spectacularly beautiful drive through Tahoe.

5. I have some pretty awesome Grandmothers. One lives in Salt Lake and the other lives in Santa Rosa. I got to spend a lot of time with both of them on this trip, and I really love being around them. I love for my kids to get to spend time with them, too.

Here are a couple of my kids with my mom's mom, who we call Bedstemor.

A double-sided 4 generation picture!

6. Weddings are a lot of work, and a lot of fun! My brother got married on the first Saturday we were there. I would be lying if I said it wasn't complete chaos the first two days we were in California. But everything turned out well and we all had fun. My cousin also got married a few days later, and we all had a blast dancing at the reception. I so wish I had my camera there. Here are a few pictures from my brother's wedding and reception. Sadly, none are of the bride and groom because it was raining so we just hurried to the car...

7. Christmas! I love Christmas. I love Christmas even more after having my own kids. It's fun to see them get so excited. It was fun to take my kids caroling with all the family in town on Christmas Eve. All in all, we had a great time celebrating the big day. There's so much I could write about, so I just won't...here are pictures instead!

Christmas Eve jammies!

How we all felt at the end of the morning...

8. My brother will be a great missionary. I just dropped him off at the MTC this afternoon. We were able to be in Santa Rosa for his open house and farewell, and spent lots of time together during his last pre-mission week.

9. My random plug: I love Oxy stain gel. That stuff is magic. At my brother's pre-wedding lunch Holly started crying so I gave her a hug for awhile. When I pulled her away I discovered she had a bloody nose...all over my white sweater. Luckily we had our luggage in the car so I hurried and changed, emptied a water bottle on the blood spots and left it in my car. That night we picked up some Oxy stain gel and the stain was gone the next day. This isn't the first vacation it has saved me on, either. Next story: Holly was taking a walk to the park across from my parents and slipped and fell in the mud. Light khaki pants + mud=disaster. We washed them once with some stain spray at my mom's, but the stain was still there. I took it back to our hotel, put some gel on it and washed it again...no stain. Miracle. After we took her muddy clothes off, we put on some random tye-dye shirt we found. Cute, huh? Notice her new short haircut!

10. Last, but not least. I'm so grateful for my family. I know everyone brags about their husband, but seriously, mine is the best. He did the dishes every night at my parents. Picture this: very full house, no dishwasher. He spent some good quality time with that sink. He's the most thoughtful dad and husband and always, always, always puts us first. I couldn't have married a better person for me. I love my kids, too. They keep me so busy, and pretty tired, too, but I love them so much. I am beyond blessed and spoiled.

The girls were being awfully quiet in the hotel. I found them with the pack-n-play turned on its side with the tv on in the bedroom. Silly girls.

Random

Just a couple cute pictures! We found Brynne and Tyson like this the other day. Brynne threw a blanket over both of them and was "reading" a book to him. I love moments like this.

And I couldn't resist this one. Check out my happy guy in his exersaucer. Love my boy!

Sunday 10

1. December is CRAZY. Just crazy. Even when we're home, we're so busy with laundry and cleaning and reading and just life. Oh, we're also busy cleaning up the entire roll of toilet paper that Alli and Holly decided to decorate their room with yesterday. Boy, was I excited about that one!
2. Monday was our annual Lambs Restaurant outing with my extended family in Salt Lake. Always a good time, but we were sad that Neil and Cindy couldn't make it.
3. Alex had basketball games Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. He'd probably get mad if I wrote about how he butt-dialed us on Wednesday near the end of his game, and the girls and I put it on speaker phone and listened to what was happening for about 20 minutes until he realized we were on...so I won't talk about it.
4. Thursday night Alex took Alli and Holly to his work party and I enjoyed a little quality time with Brynne while Tyson took a nap.
5. Speaking of Tyson, he slept through the night last night! I put him down around 9:30 and I didn't hear a peep from him until 7:45 this morning...and that was only for a minute until he went back to sleep. I woke him up at 8:50 to go to church. I am so proud of the little guy! We also buzzed his head this week. And he started eating vegetables and likes them! Big week for Tyson!


6. Thursday morning Mary and Ashlee took me out to breakfast at Kneaders for my birthday. I love my friends, and I love Kneaders french toast! Afterwards, Ashlee and Jensen came over for awhile so Ashlee and I could catch up and the kids could play.
7. Friday was my birthday, and a fabulous one it was! Alex insists I don't have to count 27 as my "late-20's", so I'm claiming mid-20's still. Alex made me breakfast in the morning, and I opened my presents before Alli went to school. The kids gave me a couple books, and Alex gave me a really nice camera, which will be my birthday/Christmas present. I've had such a fun time playing with it, and I'm excited to keep learning new tricks!
8. Friday afternoon Becca took me out to lunch, and Liz and Kim came along, too. Zupas was especially yummy that day, after a recommendation to mix the Wisconsin Cauliflower and Tomato Basil soups. SO delicious! After Zupas, Liz took me to Best Buy to get a camera bag and an iTunes gift card (new Timmy music for my birthday...it doesn't get better than that!) We picked up Alli from school and came home to play and hang out for just a little bit, then headed down to Orem to get Lindsay and Brevin. Holly stayed there to play with Brooke, and we took Brynne and Alli down to Alex's parents. Lindsay and I took the babies to the basketball game at Maple Mountain (we won...phew!) then went to my birthday dinner at Ruby River.
9. Yesterday we had the Stoddard family Christmas party. It was simple, fun, and fairly free of chaos...just how I like it! Alex's parents gave all the little girls (2-7) matching dresses. They had a blast dancing around in them and acting like princesses. Here are the girls all lined up and closing their eyes, waiting to see what their present is:

More pictures from the party...fun with cousins, Daddy, and Grandpa!

10. After the party Alex went with some of the other guys up to Salt Lake for the BYU game. I came home with the kids and made some cookies while the kids watched Shrek. They ate grilled cheese sandwiches on the couch for dinner and just relaxed. It was a good, calm evening at the end of a busy, busy week!

Sunday 10!

1. Another busy week! Monday afternoon we had the carpets cleaned in a few rooms. I think my kids could live in a furniture-less house. They were having a blast in the empty family room waiting for the carpet guy to show up.

2. Tuesday Alex had a basketball game in Tooele, so the kids and I ran a couple errands, including Costco, which I LOVE at Christmas time.

3. A few weeks ago I volunteered Tyson to be in a quick study at BYU, so we headed down there Wednesday morning, did the study, then made a quick run to the BYU bookstore for some presents. After BYU, we went to Cindy's to hang out for a bit, then went off to rescue Liz from the car place, drop her off at Costco, then meet up with Cindy at the mall.

4. Thursday afternoon we went to Alex's first sophomore game at Mountain View. They won, and I learned that I can handle 4 kids at a game decently well.

5. Friday afternoon I helped my neighbor paint for awhile. That night we went with Cindy and Chad to Provo Towne Center for Red Robin and Santa. Brynne even sat on Santa's lap, which completely shocked us!

6. Saturday morning Cindy and I threw a shower for our soon to be sister in law, Dani. It turned out to be really fun, and Dani was a good sport and let us make her play a funny/embarrassing game, which she totally rocked.

7. After the shower, Cindy and I did a little shopping, and picked out these cute outfits for the little boys for the wedding:

8. Saturday night Mark and Liz came to watch the kids. Alex, Tyson and I were asked to play Joseph, baby Jesus, and Mary at a live nativity that a lady in our ward puts on. That was such a cool experience. It was so neat to hear the little kids walk in and say "is that really baby Jesus?" Standing in that barn coupled with the french horns outside playing "Silent Night" was a really moving experience for me. Tyson fell asleep for awhile in my arms, then slept in the manger for a good 20 minutes.

9. Mark and Liz brought the kids to see us, and Brynne didn't even recognize us. It was really fun to see the kids come in.

10. We went to Texas Roadhouse with Alex's parents after the nativity. I could eat their grilled chicken salad every single day. Sooooo good.