Happy New Year!

For new Year's eve we did our traditional junk food dinner.  My mom made a delicious seafood dip and topped it off with some 2013 bread :)  We hosted at our house this year with family and the Tolmans.  We all made it to midnight for the first time ever.  Well, the babies were in bed.  Xiana and Brian both brought in the new year.... that's definitely a first!  We had such fun playing games, visiting, and eating food.  The kids played, went through boxes of pops while the big kids let off fire crackers. We ended the night with a movie and a game of family feud.  I didn't get pictures of everyone... some pre-partied here and then went out.  It was a wonderful way to ring in the new year.  Hard to believe a year has passed already. 

Super Man

Kolton has stayed home sick from church many times this cold and flu season.  Still, superman wouldn't be excluded from the going to church picture.... super man!!!!!

Our first time making cake pops... Xiana has a heavy hand with the sprinkles.

Grandma and grandpa got Xiana this awesom building set. Whenever Kolton goes down for a nap... we break out the big guns.  She can follow the directions and needs minimal assistance. I'm very impressed. 

Thought you'd like to know...

Thought you'd like to know that my little brother, Garrett is getting married!!!  I can't believe it.  And I love his fiance.  Everyone who meets her loves her.  She is lovely!

 

Also, writing a book is hard work.....

 

And...

 

I just started selling the most awesome jewelry ever.  You should probably buy some :)

 

www.lenaya.origamiowl.com

 

much love!

Better late than never!

I already completed 2012 blog to book print out, but I forgot to put some fun updates and intersting things in it.  But... as it will be coming very shortly, this will, instead, be the first of 2013.  It's hard to believe that it's already 2013.  2012 seems like such a blur.  I keep expecting a less busy year... every year... so far that has yet to happen.  Of course time is a funny thing.  Right now I pray for more of it, but it probably won't be long before I crave the constant demands of young motherhood and work.  Just like the quick passing of 2012, time will evaporate and I'll cling to the memories of this busy season in my life.  The other day I went to Costco with my mom.  I had a particularly trying week with sick kids, cold weather, lots to do and no reprieve.  Mom was bemoaning the fact that she had to go to an empty house, again, for what felt like a long time what with my dad being so busy.  I thought going home to an empty house sounded pretty much like paradise.  It's funny how we desire a little taste of something else, but anything in excess is hard to appreciate.  And yet, there are beauties in ever season... magical wonders that make it all worth it.  So, this year one of my resolutions is to embrace the season.  Yes, I have an absolutely crazy 1 1/2 year old and a perfectly chatty 5-year-old, and an ever moodier 11-year-old... and it gets exhausting, but when they're out of this stage... I will miss it. I really hope that I can do more enjoying and less complaining this year... among many other things!
So... with absolute certainty that I'm missing copious amounts of awesomeness in this family, here are the notes I forgot to include in 2012

• One night while saying prayers, I was having Kolton repeat after me.  I said, "thank you for mama." "mama!" "thank you for daddy" "daddy" "thank you for animals" "whoot whoot"  He's got it down!
• He LOVES spicy salsa.  He eats it by the bucketful saying over and over again, "bapi" (spicy)
• He sings songs all day, but he really just wants to listen to Justin Beiber's "Baby" approximately 5 million times per day.  He insists all day, "babay, babay, babay." He did it the other day when Nic was in town. He asked,"what's babay? his bottle?"  Imagine his surprise at my response. 
• He has also taken to singing, "look down" in an imposing voice mimicking Les Miserables
• He indiscriminately calls the fire, all fire, "bampa"  It must be what he hears because he never falters.
• We had some friends over for  New Years and they have a baby just his age.  He didn't like sharing his toys with her and at one point cried to the adults, "baby night night!"
• He can jump out of everything including but not limited to: his crib, baby gates, all bookshelves, and his changing table. He is a mountain goat.
• His language is exploding. The other night I told Xiana to get her scriptures and as clear as could be he said, "scripture" and brought them to us.
• When he hears rap music he dances with swagger.  Kid has moves too!
• He's still a little bully, but he's so darn cute that it's hard to get mad at him. Every time we count to put him in time out we say, "one," and he says, "twoooo teeeee."  Or else he says, "peekaboo" It's hard to punish him.
• He loves to play a self invented game where he pushes Xiana running all around the living room yelling, "go go go go."  It brings him endless delight.
• He also loves when Xiana pulls the cushions off the couch and plays slide/trampoline with them.
• He is a smiley little bugger that can't resist the fridge, brushing his teeth (or eating toothpaste) running around like a crazy person, and climbing.  He's a handful, but he's pretty awesome nevertheless.

• Little Miss Xiana is turning into a little woman.  She surprises me all the time with some of her profound little insights.  It's hard to imagine at times that she is at an age that she'll remember.  It's also a little unnerving.
• She loves to take bubble baths, color, watch tv, and play with her friends.  She's getting pretty good at games and puzzles.  She continues to have an excellent memory and a ridiculous vocabulary.
• The other day we were driving and she said, "Last night on youtube we watched a flash mob proposal.  You should have seen it!"  I don't know very many 5-year-olds who would say such a thing.
• Then, when discussing the taste of some essential oils she interrupted to exclaim that they were "very potent."
• She came to me one morning and said, "mom, when I was a baby I was the bestest baby, and Kolton is the worstest baby.  But when I'm a teenager I'm gonna be the worstest teenager and Kolton is gonna be the bestest." "WHy would you say that?" I asked.  "Because you did"  I told her I was definately wrong because she was going to make wonderful choices all of her life.  SOmetimes I daresay she will.
• We watched a movie together that was quite sad, and as she wept, I saw that she's just as sensitive and vulnerable as I am.  It made me feel even more bonded to her; because I understand so well.
• She too, is obsessed with Les Miserable and has memorized "Castle on a Cloud." It warms my heart.
• She's doing well in school and anxiously awaiting kindergarten.
• She has six articles of faith memorized and got to go to a rewards pizza party because of it.  She was about half the next biggest kid's size.  She was so much younger than the rest, but fit right in.  They were playing musical chairs and she couldn't even reach the tall bar stools.  Eveyr time the music stopped, one of the bigger (think close to 6 foot) boys would pick her up and put her on a chair. It was sweet.
• She's a major help around the house.  She's now earning tokens for media time and so far, it's effective.  She'd watch tv all day long if I let her. 
• She hasn't been coming with me to Young Women because it's on Wednesdays now, and we all know how she loves her American Idol.  Funny girl!
• She's precious... this little girl! 

Happy Birthday Brian

For Brian's birthday my mom kindly came over and watched our sick kids while we went to sushi and The Hobbit.  A few nights later, she again welcomed our sick kids into her home for dinner, cake, and ice cream despite Xiana throwing up minutes before we left.  Happy birthday to our dear daddy.  We don't know what we would do without him!  For one thing, we would probably freeze :)  I'm so thankful he's mine and I'm his.... it was a wonderful day!  Happy Birthday babe!

family pics

We ran outside in the freezing cold accompanied by my sister in law and snapped some photos.  For a 10 minute photo shoot, I'm pleased with the results.  My other friend is editing one of them so that I can blow it up and replace our ancient family photo.  Then we set the timer on my father in-law's camera and got a shot of the whole group.  When Jenn and I went to put his pictures on the computer to share with everyone, it suddenly disappeared.  We were panic stricken trying to look for it without anyone realizing it.  Finally, we were too desperate to be able to hide our fears.  Kevin teased us appropriately, but we were genuinely afraid.  Kevin asked if Kolton had put it in his jammies (it didn't take anyone long to discover that he is a non-stop full of mischief sneaky, crazy, hand full of a little boy). I assured him the Kolton hadn't touched the computer.  We took the chair apart and had the whole house in a frenzy.  Brian again asked, are you sure Kolton doesn't have it?  It seemed absurd which I stated for a second time... just as Brian pulled the sd card out of Kolton's jammies... what a little turkey!  All was not lost.  It was a great relief. 

ramp

One of our friends has a dad who is wheel chair bound.  Because he was coming for the holidays, Brian built a ramp in her new house.  The kids loved it... especially the tire swing.  We have so many trees I'm really racking my brain to figure out why on earth we haven't had one for a long time now: a perplexing question that I intend to answer promptly.

Oh there's no place like home for the holidays...

 

 After a fun filled, slightly uncomfortable trip, we were all happy to be home.  We had a scare that our water main had burst in our absence so we hurried home to see if Brian could fix it.  Our second Christmas miracle was that he couldn't find a leak.  I'm not sure what made it bubble up and puddle the day my brother-in-law stopped by, but whatever the case, I'm grateful for Christmas miracles.  Xiana asked Santa for a gymnastics Dora.  He delivered.  She does a full routine... she's cute, and a little bit freaky.  One of Kolton's many gifts was this fun tent and tunnel.  He loved climbing through and acting crazy.  We'll see how long this tent survives his rough tendencies.

Xiana practiced roller skating on the carpet in the living room.  This is exactly as it should be I feel.  She was so funny with her absolute inability.  I fear I've deprived her and hope for many more living room sessions in her future.

It snowed in Battle Mountain, but the kids were still sick enough that it wasn't entirely tempting to them.  I'm happy to report that the first morning we were home, they geared up and headed out.  They jumped on a snow covered trampoline, played with spoons and bowls making all kinds of creations, and attempted a snowman.

Brian has been playing with his new trucks pretty much non stop since we got home.  He's like a big kid... except that his toys are way more expensive!  The trucks are a lot of fun.  They can go up to 60 mph, but they are entirely unmanageable about any faster than 30.  Kolton loves them yelling, "caa, caa caa" repeatedly.  He gets cold much faster than the bigger boy and comes in the house crying, "coold... owie!" in an effort to get me to hold his frigid hands.  While we had a wonderful time visiting family, it was also nice to be home.

Christmas!

Christmas morning I had been up with the flu all night.  Thankfully, I was spared a long drawn out process.  Xiana was pretty listless still, but Brian assured me she needed to eat and drink.  I was doubtful, but he was right.  As soon as she ate a banana and drank some soda, she perked right up.  Kolton acted fine, but he had approximately 10 dirty diapers before 8:00 am so I was tired, and worried.  And yet, Christmas went off without a hitch.  Everybody got completely and utterly spoiled rotten. Kolton had enough attention span to open most of his gifts, Xiana got everything she asked for, and Ekco got a surprise new keyboard so she could learn to play the piano.  My big surprise was a new shotgun which I promptly took out to use.  Ali made beautiful scarves for all the girls.  It was a triumphant day.  Everyone ate scones, felt better, and relished in the Christmas aftermath coma.  I'm so thankful to be so blessed. 

I couldn't help but think on Christmas and on the days following what a superior experience it was to deal with sick and whiny kids on Christmas in comparison to the poor parents whose children were not there for Christmas in Connecticut.  I couldn't help but think of how painful it must be to look at the presents under the tree for your sweet 7-year-olds who were no longer in this life.  What do you do with the gifts?  I can't imagine the grief as they returned those prizes, broken hearted and empty.  This Christmas wasn't perfect, but Christ is.  Because of His birth, all of those little victims are saved.  Becuase of the very reason we celebrate this season, those hearts will be healed, sorrows reclaimed, and life reinstated.  I am very grateful.