Sunshine In My Soul

December at a glance....

in a futile attempt to get caught up before the new year and afraid that I'm not going to be able to make it happen, I decided what better time than now to produce the worlds longest post? Okay, so maybe it won't win the prize for the longest post ever, but I'm just warning you ahead of time. You might want to grab a snack or two....

For the WHOLE month of December, we got to enjoy this! Thanks, Babe, for helping me get the whole house decked out in Christmas Spirit (as the kids would call it) BEFORE Thanksgiving. You're the best!

Okay, let's see if my memory can recall just a few weeks ago. Oh yes...we started the month off with a trip to Califor-NIE-AY. Brett was ATTENDING a seminar (yah...not teaching...weird!) on Saturday and Sunday, so we decided to head out after he finished work on Thursday around 2:00. The drive went surprisingly well and only had to make one last-minute emergency potty breaks. You know the kind right? Where you are driving through a town and you ask everyone, "Do you need us to stop so that you can use the restroom? Because there isn't going to be another one for a really long time." Everyone says no and you keep on driving. Well, we were pretty much out of that town when Little Miss yells from the backseat, "I gotta go!" Luckily there was one last truck stop to save the day.

Friday was pretty much perfect! Almost.... It was so fun spending the day together as a family....visiting the Aquarium Of The Pacific and touring The Queen Mary.

Waiting for lunch at Boston's before heading over to tour the Queen Mary....

Caught this little guy, PRETENDING to take a snooze on the deck.... sounds good to me!

At dinner, Chubs kept holding his mouth and whining and refusing to eat dinner. Now anyone who knows Chubs KNOWS he likes his food. I mean, his nickname didn't just come from anywhere. We didn't just pull it out of a hat. This kid likes his food! I was thinking, however, the other day, that sooner or later I'm going to have to give him a new nickname. With all of the running around that he does, he is starting to slim out a bit. Anyways back to The Macaroni Grill....he didn't want to eat his dinner. Bummer! Because it was delicious! We drove back to the hotel and started driving around the parking garage to find a parking spot. Around and around we went. Level 1, full. Level 2, full. Level 3, full. Level 4, full. Dizzy yet? So we get to level 5 and Chubs starts holding his mouth and whining again. I hand him my iphone to play with...that ALWAYS works! Well, it helps with being bored or sad, which unfortunately was NOT his problem! He let loose. Let's just say he had a tummy ache. As we frantically tried to get him out of his 5 point harness carseat so that he could finish throwing up OUSIDE of the vehicle, it just continued on and on and he made quite the mess....ALL over himself, AND his carseat, AND the car, AND the parking garage floor, AND his blankie. Ugh! NOT the blankie...that is one thing he simply cannot live without. Not fun!

Once we were back in our hotel room, though, he was running around, wrestling his brothers, laughing and making all kinds of noise. Saturday morning, totally fine! Awesome! We decided to head out to visit the La Brea Tarpits. So, so cool! We enjoyed touring the museum, watching the movies, checking things out. Near the end of the museum, Chubs started holding his mouth and whining. Oh dear! I scooped him up as fast as I could, racing toward the bathroom at a full sprint. I must have looked like some crazy lady, making a mad dash, with a LARGE whiney 2 year old in her arms. We ALMOST made it! Oh dear! What a trip! We spent the rest of the day cooped up in the hotel room, watching endless hours of Cartoon Network. Oh geez. Shoot me now!

Sunday, he really was better and we spent the morning at the Santa Monica Pier before heading for home.

See that guy on his cell phone? He's a movie star....but I can't think of his name....ergh! He kept smiling at Little Miss and winking at Chubs. Fun times! I whipped out my camera to take a picture of Little Miss and he kept his distance after that.....

When you can't quite get the ball to go where you want it to, just get a little closer....

Let's see the first weekend of December - blogged. Awesome! Now for weekend #2. Oh yes! So my older sis called me Friday night just as we were heading out to an adult Christmas party at church and she left a message that basically said, "Eric just told me that he doesn't really care if he goes to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert tomorrow night. So......if you want to hop on a plane and come visit me, we could go together with Mindy and Becca!" Heck yes! It was a bit tricky finding substitutes last minute for ALL of my responsibilities at church, but we did it....thanks to Brett offering to lead junior primary singing time for me. He's a GEM! So Saturday morning after the childrens primary activity day and Bear's first piano recital, I booked my ticket, packed my suitcase, and headed to the airport! With 3 of my sisters surrounding me, we headed over to the Conference Center and enjoyed listening to the choir and guest performer, Natalie Cole. AMAZING! We ate dinner at The Lion House. Yum! I got to spend most of Sunday with my sisters and then headed home. It was perfect and just what I needed! (I'm hoping she'll send me the picture we had taken of the 4 of us together on Temple Square).

The next weekend my baby sister arrived with her new husband to stay for a few days. My parents came, too! We hosted the annual Cousins Christmas Party and had a blast eating yummy snacks, opening White Elephant Gifts (thanks, Cami, for the freaky monkey thermometer...it's my FAVE!), and playing Nertz! So, so fun!

Amidst all of that, I managed to squeeze in a few photoshoots for some friends - Heidi (she finishes off my quilts fabulously for me) brought over her boys, 4 of them to be exact...5 and under, I met up with Heather where we tried to get pictures of her gorgeous family, to no avail, due to one sick, sick little guy (hey, I'm just glad I didn't get puked on :) ), and Cyndi's fabulously beautiful crew. Here are a few faves from Cyndi's shoot...

We snapped a few pictures by the Christmas tree after church on the Sunday before Christmas. Moose is ALWAYS making some kind of goofy face...

When my parents left to go home, they took Little Miss with them, knowing we'd be coming just a few days later. The smile on her face as they drove away, was PRICELESS! She was in heaven!

Wednesday, we headed to my parents to enjoy Christmas there with my two youngest sisters. We baked peppernuts, acted out the nativity, watched all kinds of Christmas movies, had cheeseball fights (you throw those nasty Cheeto-y cheeseballs at each other trying to get them in someone elses mouth....still can't remember where that tradition came from), and played loads and loads of games. (I still need to download pictures)

Christmas morning, I heard the boys stirring and then whispering and getting excited. I checked the clock - 3:45 a.m. A few minutes later, they asked, "It's Christmas. Can we get up now?" Ha ha! They are SO my children! I told them to go back to bed...that 6:00 was the earliest we'd go see what Santa brought. I layed there, excited...anticipating the joy and fun of Christmas morning. Soon enough, it was time...

JOY....

but this little guy was happy enough with a tub of Teddy Grahams, a car, and an apple...

Later on, we went outside so I could play with one of MY new toys....while Chubs played with one of his....

Later on that day, we took the boys out for a mini-photoshoot. REALLY mini. Like 5 minutes, mini. My fingers were frozen and I literally thought that they just might fall off. I'm a wimp. I admit it! This AZ desert is even way too cold for me. I simply cannot stand being cold and think I'd probably do best in a tropical climate....like Hawaii. Yes, Hawaii sounds nice.

My boys and things that make me smile and more reasons why I LOVE you so much:

Chubs: you have figured out how to take pictures with my iphone and take all kinds of pictures of "blankie". Sometimes you even pose "blankie" before taking the shot. Then you bring me my phone to show me the pictures that you've taken and say, "See? Blankie!" Sweet! I also love it when you sit on my lap and we look at pictures on the computer. As we go through pictures of each person in our family, you shout out their names. When we come across a picture of you, you shout, "Blankie!" Because, of course, Blankie is in pretty much every shot of you. Every morning you make me smile, as we sit at the table, tummies full of whatever delicious breakfast daddy has just made for us. He starts handing out the scriptures and your chubby little hands reach out for your own set to "read along". I LOVE listening to your baby jabber as you take your turn reading, copying what we've just read. I LOVE to hear you say, "Zarahemla" and "transgression". I love how you scoop of handfuls of my hair, press them to your nose, inhale as deeply as you can, let out a loud sigh and say, "Num, num!" Love you loads, sweet baby of mine!

Moose: I would have to say that my favorite part of this Christmas season, was taking you Christmas shopping - just me and you. You grabbed your wallet, jammed full of coins and many dollar bills that you had been saving and saving and hopped in the car with me. As we drove along, Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Chirstmas Is You" came on the radio. We both used our thumbs as microphones and sang our hearts out, dancing in our seats, and pointing at each other when we sang the word YOU. Then you leaned over and said, "Mom, you sound just like her!" Oh yes, buddy. Only in my dreams....and maybe in the shower...and maybe with the radio turned up so loudly that it drowns me out. I had the best time watching you pick out exactly what you thought everyone would want, going up to the checkout, and watching you count out your hard-earned and well-saved money. We loaded those special gifts in the car and hopped in. You opened your wallet and realized you still had a bit of money left. My heart melted when you said, "Mom. I want to get Bear and Little Miss one more gift, if that's okay. I LOVE seeing how happy people get when I give them something special." Back in the store we went to pick out more presents. I love you and your tender heart!

Bear: I cannot believe how quickly you are growing and becoming more and more responsible each day. You are almost up to my shoulders now. I don't know how I could survive without you. You make the kids lunch each day and are quick to offer to watch the kids when I need to run a quick errand. You rarely complain when I ask for help and you work so hard. The other day you asked me if there was electricity when I was a little girl and if there were telephones back then. Ha ha! Yes, bud! I'm not quite as old as you think. You cracked me up when you called me in to help you set up an account for Little Miss and her littlest pet shop animal online. You had typed in my e-mail address, my name, and most of my birthday. You got the month and date right...but the year? Well, I wasn't exactly born in 1939. Good guess, though. Watching you perform at your first piano recital this year, made my heart beam with love for you. You had just started taking lessons about 6 weeks prior and you did amazing! "Jingle Bells" with BOTH hands. You ROCK! Thanks for being the oldest and for understanding me. You know when I need some space and encourage the kids to play outside. I can hear you shooshing them and whispering, "Don't ask mommy for anything right now. She's having a hard day today." And I'm sorry that I've been having lots of hard days lately and that you've had to pick up a lot of the slack and that I haven't been my normal self. You deserve so much more than I often feel like I have to offer. With all of my heart and all of my love, I thank you for being YOU....