2008 Christmas

Yes, I am really posting about our 2008 Christmas. I am pretty sure that I have never put this story on the blog and I felt that is was time to put it out there. On December 17th, 2008, I actually had some time to myself one evening to go shopping for Christmas. I had already purchased most of the presents for the kids but had not purchased anything for Tom or myself (yes, I buy most of my own presents...I get what I want this way). That night I sat in front of the tree in my warm house and wrapped each present and put it under the tree. The next day I called Tom at work only to find out that he had been laid off, for the second time that year. It was devastating and a tough pill to swallow. I hung up the phone and then went straight to the Christmas tree. I got down on my knees and with tears in my eyes unwrapped all of the presents that I had purchased the night before and took each present back to the store to be returned. I was not crying about the presents having to be returned but rather facing more time being unemployed. I was already tired from the first experience, I was not ready for another one. Even with the sadness I was feeling I was reminded of something far more important....the birth of our Savior. Christmas is not about the presents that are under the tree but rather the love and gratitude we feel toward our Father in Heaven for sending His only begotten son to the earth. The Christmas season is also about remembering the Savior and His life. Looking back on the experience, Christmas 2008 was my favorite Christmas. I will never forget the amount snow that fell that day! The beautiful white blanket of snow that softly covered all of Utah. We were all by ourselves that Christmas. It was just our family and we had a really low key day. I loved that the kids were so happy to play with their new toys and I was grateful that I was with them and able to play with them. I was grateful that we were in a cozy, warm home that protected us from the cold. I was also grateful for our Bishop who came by on December 22nd and dropped off $400 in Walmart gift cards so we could buy food. It was a very, very humbling experience for me but one I will always remember with great fondness and gratitude.

President Monson said it best in his 2009 Christmas devotional talk when he said this, "Brothers and sisters, this joyful season brings to all of us a measure of happiness that corresponds to the degree to which we have turned our minds, feelings, and actions to the Savior, whose birth we celebrate.

There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus the Christ. Let it be a time that lights the eyes of children and puts laughter on their lips. Let it be a time for lifting the lives of those who live in loneliness. Let it be a time for calling our families together, for feeling a closeness to those who are near to us and a closeness also to those who are absent.  Let it be a time for discarding the meaningless and for stressing the true values. Let it be a time of peace because we have found peace in His teachings. Most of all, let it be a time to remember the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the Wise Men.

My brothers and sisters, may the spirit of love which comes at Christmas time fill our homes and our lives and linger there long after the tree is down and the lights are put away for another year."

Kellen's make shift underwear

On days that I have clinicals at 6:30 in the morning, Katie and Kellen spend the night at my mom's. The night before I prepare their lunches and their clothes so that they are ready for the school the next day. Today was a little different. Apparently, I forgot Kellen's underwear. My mom told him to go "commando"(no underwear underneath his pants). He didn't like that idea and created some underwear of his very own. It was very creative I must say. He took the shirt he was suppose to wear and put his legs through the sleeves. He then put his pants over the shirt. I guess it worked because no one could tell. He wore his pajama shirt to school with his sweatshirt zipped up. I commend his creativity today and vow to always remember his underwear from now on. Oops! I guess later that day, Scott (my brother) found some clean underwear in his laundry. I think Kellen left them there on accident one day and the underwear eventually found its way down to the laundry. Good times!

Little tid bit about Katie

I post a lot of stories on Kellen because he has a few good one-liners every now and then. So Katie needs some attention too!

Katie  has not been blessed with the math gene. She has a million other wonderful qualities and talents, math gives her a hard time. She sits for hours at the table pretty much hating life when she is doing math. She has been working really hard to improve and has done a really great job. She wakes up every morning at 6am to do math worksheets before she gets ready for school. In her nightly prayers she always asks for help on math. I know that she may not be a straight A math student but she gets an A+ for her efforts on improving her math skills! Love her!!!!

Kellen's proposal

I know I post a lot of stories about Kellen. Truth is, he is a little out of control with his funniness. He proposed today to a girl in his class. Here is the story:

Kellen looked at Addie, Addie looked back.

Kellen took out his CTR and asked her if she would marry him. She then looked at her friends and was thinking for a bit. Then she said, "Why is he doing this, this is weird!"

Kellen then sat there. I asked him what he did after that. He said, "Nothing. I was dead".

So there you go, Kellen has his first proposal under his belt. Hopefully he waits until after his mission to do it again!

Kellen & his love of girls

For a couple weeks Kellen has been expressing great interest in girls. About two weeks ago we went to Iceberg to get the kids some ice cream. While Katie was waiting for her turn to sing Karaoke (something I would never do and I commend her for having the guts to do it), Kellen was talking to Tom about good places to meet girls. Tom of course had to be funny and tell him that the girls bathroom was a great place to meet girls. Kellen loved that! Tom then taught Kellen a little pick up line...I wonder if he uses this to pick up girls at the lunch table in first grade. Here it is...."Hey girls, you like Tacos? I like Tacos." Or "Hey girls, you like hamburgers? I like hamburgers." Kellen has been perfecting that line at home for a while now.

Today Kellen asked his friend, who happens to be a girl, the best way to get girls to pay attention to him. She told him to chase them. He told her that he had tried and it wasn't working as planned. Reese then told him that she always chases the boys that she likes. Anyway, I listening to this conversation while driving and was quietly cracking up! I never thought my young boy would be trying to get girls in the first grade...I guess we are going to have to watch out for this girl loving young man:)

Night time sleepies

The other day Kellen told us a little story about the sleepies he finds in his eyes after he sleeps....

Kellen-Mom, what do you do with sleepies in your eyes after you sleep?

Me: You can wipe them away from your eye.

Kellen-I don't know where to put them after I wipe my eye so I just put them back.

Me: Ew! You need to wipe them on a tissue, throw it away and then wash your hands.

Kellen-That takes too long...

I did not convince him to be clean about removing his sleepies....

Answer to my prayer

 At times my life seems to little heavy to handle and I start to crack. Last night I went to have dinner with some old friends. Sad thing is, I couldn't do it. I sat there for fourty five minutes unable to talk much. I didn't want anyone to ask me anything about my life because I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to sit and complain about it. I am sick of dealing with being underemployed for over 5 years. I am sick of the pressure of nursing school and I have another year to go. I would like everyone has who a primary calling to do their calling! I would like everything to be perfect and I would like to live without trials....I know, the life without trials thing will never happen.

 I was sitting at the computer earlier today and the pressure hit and tears were falling down my face. Oh, and it was an ugly hot mess! My mascara was gone because it was all over my face. I was just thinking about the upcoming semester, the primary program, and Tom's business and I felt like I was in a pressure cooker and ready to burst! Then I prayed.

 All I could get out was, "Heavenly Father, please just have someone call me right now. I know that I will sound like a blubbering idiot but a call would be nice." Truly, I wasn't expecting anything. Usually, I just put myself together and move on. Today was different. Not more than a minute passed and my friend Jen text me. She was with me the night before and could tell that I was having a hard night. Then she called. She let me complain on the phone. Then reminded me that everything was going to be okay.

 So, without a doubt, I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers. He may not answer them all the time right away. However, today was different. He answered my prayer through someone else. I will always be grateful for the power of prayer and watching my prayer be answered right before my eyes. I am truly grateful for my Father in Heaven.

Spa Day!

Recently Katie invited her friend Reaghan to have a spa day. They painted their nails, soaked their feet, relaxed with a facial mask, and then took turns painting their toe nails and helping each other. Here are some fun pictures of their spa day.

We bought the masks at the dollar store. The masks come as actual masks that you just lay on your face. To me it looked  a little creepy! They thought they were hilarious! 

Here they are soaking their feet....while looking creepy!

Kellen had to try a mask too!

He knows how to do spa day...laying on the couch with a nice soothing mask.

Oh, we went to the dollar story and Kellen picked out a candy. Behind that lovely smile is a ring pop. He looks a little creepy here.

Love your Minions

Tom just had a birthday and of course I had to do a cake! I found a cake on Pinterest of "Dave the Minion" from Despicable Me 2. I just had to do it! Luckily, Tom likes that movie and loved the cake. Katie and Kellen helped me make it. They brought it out of the refrigerator and said, "Happy Birthday, Dad. Love your little minions". It was awesome!

Katie says thumbs up on "Dave the Minion".

Here is "Dave" in all his glory!

One more for good measure ;)

San Diego here we come!!!!

This year we were invited by some ward members to go to San Diego with them. We had a blast! And here we go!!!

 Love that face!

 Here was our home away from home.

 The first night we went to the Mormon Battalion. Loved it!

 For the 4th of July we went to Coronado Island. The sand was so soft and the waves were perfect! Katie, Kellen and Reaghan were busy building a big hole.

 Kellen is buried in the hole that the kids built.

 Hey Katie, are you stuck in a giant hole?

 If you look closely you can see Kellen's head popping up. Yep, it was about three feet deep.

 We were super lucky to have Uncle Scott join us for our 4th of July fun! Here he is enjoying a delicious sandwich.

 
These guys next to us built this tunnel that kids could climb in. Katie loved it!

\\

 Katie, Kellen and Megan decided to jump in their hole again and all get buried together.

 Tom is going snorkeling!

 Looking handsome in his life jacket. Kinda funny cause that is not his like jacket, nor does he need one. It was Katie's jacket that had lipsticks and lips all over it.

 Kellen!

 This is La Jolla beach. If you look close at the rocks, there are seals all over.

 The black dot on the rock is a giant seal sun bathing.

 Scott is the one in the red suit. He went in with Andrew and Reaghan. The water was really cold!

 Katie!

 This beach had a ton of rocks. It was really hard for people just to walk in. You had to step lightly to avoid falling in.

 Kellen and Reese.

 Reese started filling up Kellen's shirt with sand. Look below for the after photos.

 Grant and Scott hanging out.

 More sand in the shirt....

 Tom took Katie in to snorkel. She is a little fearful of the ocean and it was super cold. She got to see some cool fish under water though.

 Here is the final picture of the shirt filled with sand.....

 Roar!

 We went to walk around on the San Diego temple grounds. It was beautiful.

 Kellen really wanted a "booty" shot.

 Mega, Aiden, Becca and Kellen playing in the trees.

 Our little monkey, Katie.

We found several rolley pollies on the trees. Everyday, before leaving for the beach, we had to make houses for them so they wouldn't leave....they left anyway.