Western Night... YEEHAW!

Brinley had a Western Night at her school so we put on our best western attire and kicked up our boots for some good ol' fashioned line dancing.  Such a fun night dancing with this cute little family of mine.

 And I must say, I was very pleased to see this hanging in my daughter's school...

Spotlight Family Style (My Hus-beyond)

So lucky to be a part of your life.  Here are just a few things I love about you...

1. Sometimes when I fall asleep on the couch he carries me to bed
2. He’s a great provider, he does an excellent job at making sure we have everything we need
3. He makes mistakes, but he always admits it and he does whatever it takes to make it right
4. He kisses my forehead
5. I don’t think there has ever been a time where someone was stuck on the side of the road that he didn’t stop to push or pull them out.  Ever. 
6. He tells me he loves me everyday
7. He built me a house
8. One time when I got to work there was a hot chocolate sitting on my desk waiting for me
9. He writes me love notes
10. He tickles me
11. He has pretty blue eyes
12. He has big muscles
13. He believes in God and it shows in his countenance
14. He’s the best Dad in the whole world
15. He works hard, really really hard
16. He lets me have whatever I want, honestly he does
17. He says, “I’m sorry” and he means it
18. When I don’t know what a word means, he usually does and if he doesn’t he’ll make something up
19. He laughs with me
20. He never leaves without kissing me
21. He’s a genuine good guy
22. He goes to the gym with me
23. He has a great smile
24. He hangs stuff on the walls for me and doesn’t complain no matter how many times I make him re-do it
25. He does dishes
26. and cleans toilets
27. He watches romance movies with me
28. Sometimes we read together in bed
29. He makes the bed
30. We go on really fun vacations together
31. One time we went camping in Logan and ended up in Vegas the next day
32. We play checkers together
33. He drinks my green smoothies no matter how healthy (gross) they are
34. He has bought me hundreds and hundreds of flowers
35. and picked some for me too
36. Thanks to him I own lots of diamonds
37. He doesn’t get mad at me.  Ever.  And if he does it doesn’t show. Ok, I’m sure he gets mad at me, but he’s really really patient.
38. He opens the door for me
39. He’s an excellent protector, I feel safe with him aka he has a gun and he knows how to use it.
40. Sometimes we dance in the kitchen
41. He’s a giver. He's always wanting to help someone out.
42. He checks in with me everyday via text, email or whatever.
43. He buys me random cards and gifts
44. He puts gas in my car
45. warms it up for me
46. and brushes the snow off for me when needed
47. He’ll go skinny dipping with me (ha ha)
48. He grocery shops with me… every week!
49. One time when I was pregnant I really wanted a pita so he went and got me one and brought it home to me.  I ate it and wanted another one so he went back and bought me another one.
50. We make cute babies! 

Sweet Simplicity

I love the simplicity of children!  Brinley has had a savings account since I was pregnant with her.  She goes to the bank with us.  She hands her money to the teller and states that she wants to put it in her savings account.  Today in the car out of the blue she asks, "Mom, what happens at the bank when our piggy banks get full?"  Love their simple little minds!

Christmas Day

 Santa came!  Brinley woke up and in her humble manor climbed into bed with us and said, "Mom, can I snuggle you?"  Dustin and I exchanged glances, then I asked her if she remembered what day it was.  "Yeah", she said, "It's Christmas"  I remember Christmas being a MUCH bigger deal when I was a kid, but I have to remember this is just Brinley's personality. She's humble, I can't think of a better word to describe it. So, we woke Lunnie, went into the living room and I'll be honest their "under joyment" was kind of disappointing.  The girls are simple.  They don't need or want for much.  We over did.  Brinley still wasn't feeling well.  We went to Steve and Jill's for our traditional Christmas breakfast that we all love so much and spent the afternoon at my parents.  Both girls slept through us opening presents there.  Sad!  So disappointing  but still a good day.  So many people love and spoil us.  My Mom amazes me.  I can't believe what she is able to accomplish.  I have always said that we should skip Christmas (Ok, not skip it... I LOVE Christmas) but we should keep it small and just go on a family vacation or do something fun as a family instead.  Maybe next year we'll actually do it, clearly the gifts don't matter much and if our 5 year old is unimpressed, what's the point?

Celebrating Christ in our Lives

Christmas was good.  I love that no matter how much our lives have changed, how so many things are so different from the way they used to be, some things are exactly the same.  I love traditions.  I love it when things feel normal.  Christmas was peaceful.  We go to my parents on Christmas Eve.  We had a nice dinner.  Once a year Dad play for us.  It all felt just like it does every year and I love that. Tavie choreographed a dance, her and Abi performed it.  I'm was super impressed!  We love to go to Grandma Cazier's afterwards.  Jill gets out her guitar and we sing carols, Linds and Lora (Just Lora this year) play their violins.   It was just a really good night.  Christmas Eve is my favorite!  Our poor girls weren't feeling too great. This Christmas Eve was just a simple memory that means so much to me, tucked away now in the book of life.

Our December (Part Two)

We met some of my family at the tabernacle so the kids could see the nativity.  When I was younger, this was one of my favorite things... still is.  I'm a Christmas girl.  Love it! Then we walked across the street to the Blue Bird and my parents treated us to hot chocolate and ice cream.  I love that our kids get to make so many great memories together.

 Then finally, some we had a few days off.  We planned a weekend to Salt Lake so we could take the girls to see the lights.  Brinley was feeling a little better, but not quite up to par.  We still enjoyed our long weekend.  The lights at Temple Square are really amazing!  So beautiful!  Our friends recommended Estes and since we LOVE New York style pizza, we had to try it!  It was really good, but of course nothing compares to Lombardi's.

We stayed at the Radison.  It's really nice, but we won't ever stay there again.  We refuse to support a place that has porn so accessible to children and just so accessible in general.  We headed back to the hotel at about 9:00 and since Brinley wasn't feeling so great we thought we would just watch a Christmas movie.  There is something seriously wrong with society!  How is it ok to just turn the TV on and be exposed to that whether you want it or not?  Thankfully Brinley didn't catch it, we don't know how on earth we would have explained that to our 5 year old.  When we complained (not to get our money back, but to protect our children and other children from a very sick and dangerous thing) the response we got was, "We try to meet all of our clients needs."   Like I said, it was a great weekend and a really nice hotel, but the Radison will no longer be seeing us.

The girls loved swimming, we did quite a bit of shopping then Malinda had us over for some yummy homemade chili.  Dustin was able to see most of his family and they spoiled our kids.  It was such a fun weekend and a much needed break!

Our December (Part One)

We had been gearing ourselves up for a crazy December.  It was pure madness!  My life pretty much looked like this:

And I don't even know what Dustin's life looked like.  It felt like we NEVER saw him!  But looking back we were still able to make some pretty great memories last month.

Brinley took it upon herself to decorate for us (looks like they call it a tree skirt for a reason).

I try to get a picture of my kids in front of the Christmas tree and this is the best I got.  Whatever.  I'm so over not having my camera!  I hate blurry cell phone pitctures and that brown overlay in all of them!  

 (Technically this happened in November)  Like I said, we were gearing up for a crazy December. 

 Dustin had to work late so the girls and I walked over to the Live Nativity.  It's just across the street at the barn my girls absolutely love!  They always love seeing the animals and the camel they bring in for the nativity is always fun.  London especially loved the wagon ride.  

Brinley got to decorate her very own Christmas tree in her room.

I gave Lunnie her first haircut. 

Yeah, she can't sit still for two seconds. 

I had a heck of a time keeping London out of the tree, nativity, presents and everything else.  

Most of my Christmas shopping was done between the hours of 8:00 pm and 1:00 am, when my family was in bed.

 The kids made Gingerbread houses at Grandmas's

London can't stay off of the stairs there

I took my girls to the mall to see Santa, but he was CREEPY and Brinley was not interested in seeing him at all.  She said she was scared of him and wanted to know why his beard was that funny color because it's supposed to be white (pretty sure he bleached it).    Anyway, he was obviously not the real  Santa, so we just played on the toys instead.

 We made cookies for the "real" Santa

Lunnie ate cookies for the "real" Santa.

To Be Continued...

This Gift

This little gift has made me practice my patience lately yet we are really good friends.  We have always been good friends, ever since she was a baby she watched out for me.  She was concerned about me on days that I needed someone to be concerned.  Her little spirit has a deep and genuine concern for others.  I love her spunk and her determination even if it does make things challenging for me, but aside for her stubbornness she has got to have the sweetest soul I have ever know.  I'm actually shocked at how great she is with London.  She is so cute with her and always helping me (sometimes a little too much).  She's always making sure London has what she needs, food, toys, binkies.  The other day she even got London out of her highchair when she was done eating (yeah, like I said, a little too much help).  There is nothing I love more than watching them together! She's a gem in school and seems to pick up on things really quickly.  She loves spending time as a family and reminds us that she "feels left out" when she has to go to bed, but Mom and Dad get to stay up.  However, usually Dad and Lunnie go to bed early and Mom and Brinley stay up.  We really love this time together.  We usually read and read and read or sometimes paint our nails.  My very favorite thing about Brinley right now is that she often sneaks notes and pictures under Dustin and I's pillows for us to find when we go to bed.  They make us smile every time!  Thanks for being so cool Brinley Babe!  I love hanging out with you.  

Costume Hair

My Mom is doing pretty good.  These past few months have been such a blessing!  The treatment she is on now has allowed her to have some of her normal life back.  For this we are forever grateful.  I remember a few months back meeting her to do a little shopping and afterwords went to lunch.  This was an experience I that I didn't know we would ever have again.  It's so good to have "HER" back, for her to live and be able to do some of the things she enjoys.  Another pro to this treatment is that her hair is growing back.  Everyone loves her wig!  It looks so great on her, I don't think many people even know that she wears it.  She still wears it most of the time because her hair has grown back so curly and it's still pretty short so it's hard for her to do anything with it, but anyway one day she didn't have her wig on and Brinley wanted to try on Grandma's "costume hair".  I could NOT resist posting these pictures of the girls, I crack up every time I see them!

Making a list (and checking it twice)

I'm not really a New Year's resolution kind of girl (this surprises people).  I am huge on goals, but I'm more of a do what I want when I wank kind of a gal (I don't necessary think January 1st best time to set goals), but this year I have found myself with a whole slew of New Year's resolutions and you know what they say, "If you don't write it down, it won't happen"  and... my list is so long that I'm having a hard time remembering them all in my head.  So, without further ado, I bring you my 2013 New Year's resolutions.  In no particular order...

* Take the kids on at least one family vacation, somewhere that takes either several hours in a car or an airplane to get there.  We're thinking sea level.
* Plant at least one tree
* Improve my garden (vegetable, herb and flower)
* Get lean in 13!  Lose 7 pounds and change my physique, I'll spare you any more details.
* Clean up my eating a bit.  It's not bad, but there is always room for improvement.  I want to buy more local and organic food.
* Get new floors!!!
* Redo the bathroom... again!
* Try a new class
* Paint our cabinets
* Redo our 72 hour kits
* Become more "emergency prepared"
* Improve our food storage and better organize it
* Clean out our garage.  I always hope that people don't judge us by the way our garage looks!  Our house doesn't look like our garage.  Well, at least not all of the time.
* Increase our life insurance
* Achieve our financial savings goal
* Get London's birth certificate.  Yes, she is 16 months old.  No, I never got her birth certificate.  I don't know why, at first I spaced it and then it was one of those things on my list of things to do that ALWAYS gets put onto the next day's list.
* Read at least 12 chapter books with Brinley (one per month)
* Date more.  No, not more than one person, but date my husband more.  I know I should have a set goal here like every week or something, but I can't right now.  It's too hard.  Ok, the goal is once a week, but I'm not really expecting to achieve it. We did so good at weekly date nights pre-London.  Things change, but yeah, just more dates.
* Complete 100 random acts of kindness
* Print two years worth of blog books.  Yeah, I'm behind on that too.  Are you surprised?
* Family night!  Yeah, again we were great at this pre-London.  Weekly family night is the goal.
* And speaking of how kids change things and make things hard, my next goal is to put some thought into baby # 3 cause kids are the best and we love them!
* Get my patriarchal blessing.
* Perfect our budget.  This is more of a 'should be' goal than an actual goal because it probably won't happen, but I want to want to make it happen.  It's SO hard!  Everything is ALWAYS changing and blah.  We aren't good at it.  There I said it, but we wish we were so that's kind of like a New Year's resolution, right? Spend every penny on paper with purpose, blah blah.
* Play more!  There have been times where all we do is play.  I'm sad to say 2012 was not that way.  Sure we play, but we will play a whole lot more in 2013!

Wish me luck!