The End. And Beginning.

It is hard to believe that the end of the year is here. I have so many things on my mind so I am just going to have a brain dump.

For my birthday, my friend Jami gave me a lunch date. We finally found a time where our husbands could watch the kids so we went out a few days before Christmas. We went to a place called Bullritos. I had never been there before but I loved it. They have free ice cream, too. It was pretty awesome. We were supposed to be home after an hour so our husbands could go play racquetball together. We stayed for almost two hours. It was so fun to visit with her. She is going to have a baby boy at the beginning of March.

The day after Christmas we went out for ice cream. Alex was stealing everyone's ice cream. That was fine with me though, because his tasted better than mine.

Edison really liked eating the mini spoon. I gave him a small bite of sherbet and he hated it. He doesn't like cold things.

100 days ago I started reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning. Today, I finished it. It was a great experience and I am glad I was able to finish it so quickly. It definitely was not easy for me. I have noticed a change in myself though. I love the Gospel.

I wanted to recap my favorite 2011 moments with links to the posts about them. But as I started thinking of my favorite moments, I realized most of them are undocumented because they are my feelings. So many moments that bring tears to my eyes.

Holding Edison for the first time.

The feeling I have toward the people I met in Ithaca, and realizing that they taught me how to be a mom and friend. I will never forget them.

That moment when we were in Arizona for Thanksgiving and Flannel got home, gave me a hug, and I cried. I had really missed him.

Phone calls with my mom and sister.

Holding Alex and realizing that his legs are hitting my legs. He has gotten so long.

Every time I see our almost empty dirty clothes hamper and realize how blessed I am to have my own washer and dryer so I can do laundry whenever I want.

Instead of listing specific resolutions, I wanted to come up with one word that could rule my thoughts and actions over the next year. I hope to come up with a Word of the Year each year that will set the standard for my new year. If I am running, or cleaning, or snuggling, or reading, or driving, I want to do each of those things with a specific goal, an overarching theme. My word for 2012 is breathe. Sometimes I feel like I am suffocating under my to-do lists or my kids needs. I am completely missing the point of being a mother. Next year, I plan to stop and breathe. I will breathe to leave a gap between my gut reaction and the reaction my kids and husband deserve, I will reprioritize so only the important things take a place in my life, I will simplify so I have room to breathe, and I will act with a purpose. I am looking forward to the new year. Breathing keeps me alive. I look forward to living a little more.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was better than I could have imagined. It was amazing. I am so happy. I love my family. Sam was so supportive of my lunacy and Alex and Edison were adorable. I loved every minute of it.

I woke up early to make cinnamon rolls. Alex wakes up around 7:30 every day so I wanted to have breakfast ready right when he woke up. He decided to sleep in on Christmas. We finally went into his room and woke him up at 8:15am.

We carried him into the kitchen without letting him see the balloons in the living room. He was perplexed by the pillow and blanket barrier we set up in the walkway that he could see from his high chair.

He was so interested in the fish. It was awesome.  Edison was just confused by the whole situation. Fish are totally against our rental agreement. I bought seven fish on Christmas Eve. Today, six days later, all the fish have died. So sad. Tonight, Alex asked to feed the fish. I had to tell him that the fish were all gone.

Edison actually took bites out of the orange. He also got his first jar of baby food. We have just been feeding him pieces of whatever we were eating but I wanted to see what he thought of baby food.

Santa brought Edison some little puff cereal things. He hates them. Alex also hates them. Sad day. I was able to find some Mini Eggs for Sam. I am pretty proud of myself for that one.

Remember this Cozy Coupe we found for free by our neighbor's garbage can? A few days before Christmas, Alex's car mysteriously went missing... I was able to give it a complete makeover in one nap time. I took the pieces apart. Cleaned it. Wrapped grocery bags around wheels and steering wheel, and started the painting. My wedding ring has become such a part of my hand, I held the door of the car in my hand and spray painted. I had paint on my hands for a week and I had to get my wedding rings cleaned. Luckily jewelers do this for free. They look so fancy and sparkly now!

I was really hoping that Alex would still like his car. He loved it! He ran straight past all of the balloons and into his car. He spent the rest of the day playing in the car. Every time he would unwrap a gift, he would go back to his car to play with it while sitting in there.

They were also big fans of the balloons and they have brought days of fun.

A few weeks ago, someone left a bag full of gifts on our doorstep. They were all wrapped and labeled for the boys. The nice Secret Santa gave the boys so many awesome toys! A few months ago I took away a lot of Alex's toys and hid them in a closet. He just had too many and wasn't cleaning up after himself. I wrapped those toys for Christmas and gave them back to him. He seemed a little suspicious of some of them, but he was excited and has been playing with them all week.

 Edison decided he needed to eat his new monkey.

We got Alex some sunglasses. Every time we drive somewhere, he complains about it being so bright outside. He is actually complaining about his right eye hurting a lot. I think I need to take him to the doctor.

SAMta got me a picnic basket. I am so excited to use it!

Alex has not left his Mater and McQueen toys once. He takes them to the gym, to bed, and to church. He loves them. Every time Alex would unwrap a present, he would be holding one or more toys he had already unwrapped in one hand and use the other hand to unwrap the new gift. Once he saw what was in it, he would bring the "old" toys over to me and say, "All done" and then go back to Sam and get his new toys. It was hilarious.

I made these fabric roads out of some old jeans my thunder thighs wore out. I just cut the jeans into strips, painted dotted lines down the center using yellow fabric paint, and then put small pieces of velcro on the bottom so the roads will stick to the carpet better. Alex loved driving his cars on the roads and I like how little room they take up and how easy they are to put away. Win-win!

I got Sam a bidet for Christmas. It was a huge surprise. He didn't ask for it, I just thought he might like it. He does.

I have long suspected that I am my parents' favorite. I could probably write a book about this topic. My parents do so much for me. We wouldn't have been able to get through graduate school without their loans. We had planned to pay them back starting in January. This gift is unbelievable. We owed them a lot of money. A lot. Like, half Sam's age times a thousand.

Our church was at 11am on Christmas (usually it is at 9am) and only lasted an hour. Christmas on a Sunday was the best idea ever. I really enjoyed going to church and spending an hour focusing on our Savior. After we got home from church, I made the family take another picture. The kids were not really feeling it.

That night, we went to the Thomson's for dinner. I made ham, garlic-herb scalloped potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Jami provided rolls, salad, and drinks. It was so fun to visit and play with them for a few hours. Alex is obsessed with Addi. Sam and Jason have started playing racquetball all the time. And I think Jami is pretty cool. So we all get along.

Addi also got a goldfish for Christmas. Jami helped Alex to feed it.

I have felt so blessed throughout this whole Christmas season. I cannot believe how much good I have in my life. Our home teacher asked us this month about our blessings and I can't stop thinking about it. Every blessing I have is because of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I was able to spend Christmas with Sam, Alex, and Edison and reflect on my love and our Savior's love for them and all of us. It was a beautiful day. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We went over to the Cannon's for dinner on Christmas Eve for a traditional New Mexican dinner. Terri and I serve in the Young Women's presidency together. I was very unsure of what to expect out of a New Mexican dinner but it ended up being delicious. Terri made carne adovada, beans, potatoes, tamales, and red chili sauce. I brought the pumpkin pie. This was kind of a last minute thing. We had planned to have Christmas Eve alone and I had already bought everything to make our own meal. So instead I made it all on Christmas Day.

Edison managed to grab his bowl of Kix and dump it onto the ground. Alex was very hungry but didn't really like his "burrito" so he and Edison were on the ground together shoving Kix into their mouths. It was entertaining. But I felt bad because their house is spotless and we were totally destroying it.

Matt played a few Christmas songs on the guitar. I had forgotten to bring my violin which is too bad. I think that would have been fun. Alex enjoyed playing with Jason and Ian, although they kept running out of the play room to tell us that he was playing too rough with their toys.

In New Mexico, they light luminarias on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, in Texas it was raining. The bags were soggy messes and on fire simultaneously. It was pretty impressive. Once all of the candles were lit, we walked around and put them out, then gathered the bags and tossed them in the garbage.

I am so glad we did it though. Alex was in heaven. He loves being outside so much. We let him run around outside, at night, in the rain. It was like Christmas or something. Oh wait...

I think it looked awesome and feel we should adopt this tradition. I remember some people doing it in Arizona, too.

We headed home around 8pm to get the boys ready for bed. We had to take pictures first though. Sam's sister Emily bought these pajamas for Alex two years ago (so Alex was four months old). We squeezed almost-nine-month-old Edison into them. He looked ridiculously adorable.

Have I mentioned that keys are his favorite toy?

It is a tradition in my family to act out the Nativity. Our Baby Jesus was not a fan of his swaddling clothes and our Joseph just wanted to wear his cape in peace. So to save The Bible from "Jesus'" destructive hands, Sam finished the reading for me.

Once the kids were in bed, it was time for Santa! I cannot describe how giddy I was. It was like I was being sneaky and awesome all at the same time. Sam was surprised by most of it so it was fun to finally have the secrets in the open. I think I am still a kid at heart. I was having a hard time not peeking at what Sam put in my stocking.

I wanted to get Edison a cheap toy that would be fun to play with. Kids love balloons; Edison is no exception. We blew up 135 balloons. It took us two hours and a small piece of skin came off of one of my fingers from tying them. My thumb ached for a few days and was basically nonfunctional.

Then we were off to be nestled in bed for a not-so-long winter's nap while visions of sugar plums danced in our heads.

The Countdown to Christmas

Since the time we decided we would be staying in Texas for Christmas, I have been worried about not being able to make it compare to Christmases growing up, for both of us. Traditions are a serious business. People get very upset if traditions are broken. Luckily, Sam and I were not too caught up in the details of the holiday, and we were more into the spirit of it. We had a very busy month though. Looking back through all of these pictures, it was a great month. It was rare that we were just sitting around bored. Sam got home from work one day and asked me if I was trying to do a craft a day or something. I wasn't, but I was just much more creative this month. I loved being able to do whatever I wanted without worrying about breaking other peoples' traditions. I just got to make my own!

First, we bought our Christmas tree. It was kind of a crazy night where we went to three different places in a rush before I had to get to a YW Presidency meeting. We finally found a good tree, brought it home, I helped Sam carry it in, and then I left. The lights didn't get finished until two days later.

I could see us having two trees one day. Sam really wants real trees; I don't mind either way. However, I love decorating a pretty tree. But one day the boys will want to put their own ornaments on. For that day, Mommy will need her own tree.

It was kind of my pride and joy for the whole month.

Two years ago my mom made this advent calendar for me. It looks just like the one we had growing up (which she also made). We haven't been home for the whole month of December before but this year we got to hang up all of the ornaments! It was fun!

Alex got to decorate his own little tree.

Edison does not like being Santa.

The youth in our ward went on an awesome hayride to look at Christmas lights. It was a cold night, which I was glad about because it added to the feeling of it!

We had some friends over for dinner and a craft. We ended up going to the Thomson's for Christmas dinner.

Other friends came over a few nights later. For dinner and a craft again... We went to the Cannon's for Christmas Eve dinner.

Lily and her mom Kristi came over for lunch one day.

I was pretty hands-off with the gingerbread house this year. It ended up very Alex-ed.

I made little trees with our names on them so we could tell each person's stocking apart from the others.

We went to the gym on a Saturday and Santa was there! At this point, we had not told Alex a single thing about Santa so he had no idea what was going on.

More pictures from the Festival of Lights. We left our parking spot quickly so someone else could pull in. The boys loved driving around not buckled in.

We made a snowman and played Pin the Carrot Nose of the Snowman.

Rudolph came to Chick-Fil-A. Alex got his face painted to match and he loved it.

We drove around to see Christmas lights. Some people go all out!

Alex learned how to sing Jingle Bell Rock. Sometimes he loved it...



...Sometimes he hated it.

The  boys have been very into the Christmas tree. Alex is pretty good about not touching it, but Edison swats at it every chance he gets.

It sure is fun to hang out under the tree though.

I was mostly worried about being forgotten. I wanted our families to at least be a little sad that we weren't there, since we were sad. We were not forgotten at all! We got so many Christmas cards! I felt very loved throughout the whole month and there was not a tear or any pang of loneliness from me!