Christmas

I have so much to document for Christmas.  I was really going to stay on top of my blogging this month but SOME promises were made to be broken. OOPS.  This month started out so busy.  I think the first week we had something every night on top of battling the stomach bug. YUCK! 

With hopes that the tree would be up the first week there just wasn't time so we finally got it up and decorated the second week.  The kids were really hoping for a REAL tree with our traditional decor but that wasn't looking likely.  So I pulled out the wonderful pre lit tree, my favorite, and my Twelve Timbers ornaments.  After a few moans from the kids they eventually warmed up to the idea.

                          

With Christmas sneaking up on us, it was now time to see Santa.  Cam offered to come home at lunch and watch Shane so I could take the three older kids but I could not let his first Christmas go by without a pic with Santa.  So we braved the storm and wrapped Shane up and took him out of the blanket long enough to snap a picture.

Christmas came, ready or not, and we got a lot of fun things.  I recall the kids saying several times. "This is the best Christmas so far"  Words I love to hear.

               

                          The reaction of getting a Wii.

                     Shane got a Bumbo. (First time sitting in it)

                                

                    Some of the other fun stuff the kids got.

We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope you all had a great one too.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

What have you done?

What Have You Done?
To participate, just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. It's kind of fun!!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis(with a piece of paper between it and my hand)
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors    

35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business(started selling Scentsy)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury(called for duty but never went to court)
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

Gardner Christmas

Every year we get together for the Gardner Christmas party.  This party is always one I look forward to.  The food is always wonderful and the gift exchange is always exciting. This year it was at Suzi's house in Annabella.

                            

                                         

The kids on the ride over to Grandmas

After stuffing our faces with lil smokies, tortilla wraps, chips and dip and of course all the goodies,  chocolate butterscotch rice krispies, Polly's caramel chocolate bars, candied corn pops, caramel popcorn, etc.

                   

Christian keeping his eye on the treats.

The kids and most of the adults went on a hay ride and did some caroling around the neighborhood. (My pics of the hayride didn't turn out so well.) Those of us that stayed behind made hot cocoa so when they returned from their frosty ride there was something warm.   After the hot cocoa the kids where playing so well that the adults did our gift exchange.  Everyone always brings something that they would like so sometimes you end up with your own gift. So much fun.  The kids were starting to get restless so it was time for them to open their gifts.  After that everyone started to head out for the night.  It was a perfect way to get me in the holiday spirit.

Stockton's 5!

                 

I can't believe that he is 5.  Where has the time gone?  Stockton is such a joy in our house.  He keeps us laughing until we can laugh no more.  He is easy to buy for because he is all boy.  If it is a weapon of any kind he is thrilled.   This year he got a nerf dart gun, pixos, which I am still picking up several a day from the floor, and a Cabelas sweatshirt.  He is so much like his father it makes me laugh. 

                       

We Love you Stockton.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Business Venture

                                     

Hello to all of my Blog followers.  I am trying something new and am now an Independent Scentsy Consultant.  I love their products and thought I would give it a shot.  One of my close friends, Tori, has also decided to join me in this venture. 

To order from us you can call or email or you can visit our website set up with Scentsy, www.scentsy.com/cindymoms.

We look forward to your business and support.

Crazy Hair Day

The  week of Halloween it was Red Ribbon week and of course they always have to have CRAZY HAIR day.  This is one of my favorites and I can get really creative with the hair.  Sean always has his own idea of what he wants so I don't get much say in it.  This year we went for the spikey red look since it was also WEAR RED day. 

                  

 

I have to say this is one of my favorites for Lizz.  We couldn't decide what to do until the morning of.  Another brilliant idea if I do say so myself. Of course she loved the idea too until the kids at school said she looked like a hammerhead shark.  That never crossed my mind but she had a good attitude about it.

Halloween

I am a little late on blogging Halloween but I wanted to let everyone know how crazy and forgetful I can be.  On Halloween the kids did not have school so we had a nice relaxing day.  After getting Shane bathed and dressed in his cute little pumpkin shirt I wanted to make sure and get a few photos so I took some right after he was dressed and happy. 

   

So here is the best part.  Apparently sometimes I can't remember that I actually have a camera because I only got pics of Shane.  After getting dressed for Trick -or- Treating we went to  Grandpa Potts' house where he took some pictures of the kids, I will have to get copies from him.  I kept telling myself to take one before they got ready for bed but obviously I FORGOT again.  UGH!!  I hope to get my memory back soon. 

 

LOOK how big!

Time has gone by so fast. When I first had Shane I remember thinking 2-3 weeks in the NICU was a really long time.   when we were in the car to come home I told Cameron that is seemed like a long time but it also seemed like a short time that we were in the hospital.  It is so weird how fast time flies.  The picture on the right was when we first brought him home and just barely over 5 lbs.  the picture on the left was taken yesterday and pushing 10 lbs.  I am so happy to see how big he has gotten.

Pumpkin Carving

For FHE this week we carved our pumpkins. It was about 7:30 before we got started so we were pretty sure we were in for a long night but it went rather smoothly and quickly.  Shane was even in on the fun.  I think he enjoyed being out in the middle of everything.

        

        

  Stockton wanted one with fangs and blood.

               

Elizabeth had a hard time deciding what to do but after drawing it up on paper first we ended up with a "Princess" pumpkin.

              

Sean wanted to spend a little more time on his but it was getting late and ended up with a great pumpkin that looked almost as scary as he was.

              

Shane even carved a pumpkin.  Ok, so I helped a lot, but it was the kids idea for the features I just cut it out.

          

     HAPPY  HALLOWEEN!

Wireless

So a couple of weeks ago at Elizabeth's baptism we had Shane in his carseat and in tow the oxygen and an apnea monitor.  It is always an ordeal to go anywhere.  One of our friends who also had a baby asked us why we didn't order a wireless baby.  Of course we laughed and I replied that they took the last one. :) 

                                 

Well as of last Friday we are officially WIRELESS!  The oxygen is off and on Thursday evening we received a call from the Drs. office and they told us that our last download came back clean and we can be done with the apnea monitor.  I was so excited I had to show Cameron by turning off the machine.  Ok,  I was so nervous turning it off that I turned it back on for one more night.  I know sometimes it would be easier just to leave it on but we will slowly get back to normal with our perfectly healthy baby boy.

               

Baptism and a Blessing

What a special weekend we had.  We had planned for months to combine these special events.  With the early arrival of Shane it seemed we may not have been able to continue with the plans.  Elizabeth was so excited for her baptism I could not bear to ask her to wait so we continued to plan on it.  As for Shane's blessing we jumped back and forth on what to do.  At first we thought we would try to do it the same day but then not so sure we wanted to impose on Lizz's special day so then we thought we would just wait a couple of months to bless him, but then we had so much of our family planning to be here we decided to go ahead and bless him as well.

On Saturday the 11th Elizabeth was baptized and it was so special.  Thanks to my sis-in-law I was able to have some great pics of this special day. ( I forgot my camera, duh!)

 

On Sunday the 12th we blessed our special little boy Shane Cameron.  Because of him being premature we decided to go ahead and bless him at home.  It was wonderful and I have to say the spirit was so strong in our home that day.  I did have my camera this day but of course the batteries were dead.  I got a few before it completely died but some were from Candy ( Thanks Candy).

 

We had most of our families here for these two special occasions and it was so wonderful.  Thank you all so much for coming.

Bekah and Jereon traveled from Florida and Rachel came from Maryland.  Also my Uncle Shane, Gail and his daughters Whitney and Mckenzie came from Idaho.  What a distance for all of them to travel but we are so grateful.  We also had Carson, Angie and their family and Todd, Candy and their family come from up North.  Mom came from Price and then of course all of our family that lives here.

We are so thankful to have such wonderful friends and family.  Thank you to all of you who traveled so far to share these special occasions.  It meant so much to us.

Fall Sports

 I know it is just barely fall and I am calling these fall sports.  Close enough right?  I wasn't able to get to as many games as I would have liked this year but I did get a few pictures. 

Sean (#3) just finished his last year of flag football.  He is a super fast runner and just loves football.  He talks about playing in the NFL and would love to play for the Denver Broncos someday.  I love his dreams and ambitions.

 

Bottom picture: Sean about to make a touchdown before his flag was snagged.

Elizabeth (#12) played her second year of soccer.  I know she loves to play but sometimes I think it is more social for her.  At least it is some form of exercise even if she was chasing boys rather than chasing the ball .

Again I did not get many pictures because I wasn't able to make it to as many games.