Zoo Lights

We went to see the zoo lights on Saturday with Brian's family. I thought it was very cute. The only thing that would have made it better is if our zoo pass would have let us get in for free. It was a lot more fun that I thought it would be. Matthew loved it too. Every time we stopped he'd say "see more animals, mommy!" We ended up staying until closing time.

Christmas

Yay for Christmas! This was the first Christmas we have spent in our house. We've gone to Utah the past few years, but this year decided to stay and celebrate with the Harris's. We missed my family a lot, however it was nice to have Christmas in our own house. Matthew doesn't quite understand everything that goes along with Christmas, but this was definitely the funnest year with him.
Brian ended up not having to work on Christmas eve (small miracle!) so we spent the day together. We watched a Christmas movie, then went out to have a pizza dinner; Brian has requested this become a tradition. We came home and did bedtime stuff as well as leaving cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. I had most of the presents wrapped, but we did have one item that needed assembling.
Christmas morning Matthew got up a little before 8, but just came into our room and got in bed with us. Then we got up and opened presents which was a hoot! Christmas is definitely more fun with kids.


Sweater from Grandma.

Opening Aunt Tiffany's present. (Thank you! Brian thought it was cool too!)
And yes, my child is eating chocolate for breakfast . . . . oh well, it was Christmas, right!?


After tearing Matthew away from his train table (seriously, the kid cried when I told him he needed to let me change his diaper and get him dressed at 10) we got ready to head up to Loveland. Brian's sister and her family came down from South Dakota on the 26th so we did our gift exchange then. I spent a lot of time eating, reading and watching tv . . . . so it was pretty awesome. I did learn how to make the world's best cinnamon rolls from my mother in law so at least I did something productive :)

It's a little late, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone! We're so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. You guys are the best!

Sesame Street Live

My father-in-law came across some free tickets for Sesame Street Live up in Loveland. Matthew has seen Sesame Street a few times, but he's not a huge fan. We thought it would be fun and the price was right! Matthew got bored after intermission, but we still had a good time. Thanks Nana and Papa!

Not better yet

BreAnn now has toxemia. Her levels were really high and they were going to test her again. If her levels were still high the doctors said they are going to have to take the babies.

I guess when it rains it pours sometimes. It does give me comfort to know that the Savior and our Heavenly Father are aware and concerned for them.

I'll post again as soon as I have word.

My cute husband

Brian has this funny habit of leaving cupboards open and then forgetting to close them; I like to tease him about it. He's perfect in so many other ways I have to find some way to even us up! Anyway, he was emptying the dishwasher a little bit ago (thanks honey!) and decided this was the best way to accomplish the job.

Hopefully last update

BreAnn was released from the hospital yesterday, catheter free. She will be spending most of her time at my parent's house the next few days because there are more people there to help her.

Thank you for all your support and prayers!

BreAnn update

BreAnn had surgery Tuesday to remove the kidney stones. The doctors were afraid that if they left the catheter in it would get infected. They were going to take it out last night if her kidneys were looking okay. Then they were going to move her out of ICU. If everything continued to look okay she should be released today.

Prayers needed

I don't normally publicly solicit help for things like this, but my brother and his wife could really use some extra prayers right now.

Reader's digest version. BreAnn is 31 weeks pregnant with twins. She thought she was going into labor on Friday so went to the hospital. Turns out she has kidney stones and one of the babies is basically sitting on the kidney without the stones. A catheter was inserted into her back and will probably have to stay there until the babies come. They thought she might have a blood clot in her lung, but later determined that it was pneumonia. She was transported to Utah Valley Hospital because it has better equipment for her condition. They expect her to be in the hospital until Wednesday.

As bad as that is, they are going to have to be paying for all these costs out of pocket. In January IHC will be making donations to a number of patients that will essentially be free services. We are hoping and praying that they will be selected.

Right now the babies appear to be doing fine. The doctors are hoping that she will make it four more weeks before delivery.

Any prayers that could be offered in their behalf would be greatly appreciated. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. I will keep the blog updated with any changes.

Christmas Festivities

I got this idea from my mother in law last year (it's similar to Marguerite's version). We traced our hands and made a Christmas tree out of them. Matthew had lots of fun putting the ornaments on.

For the ward Christmas party Brian was asked to be Santa Claus. We were kind of confused by this; he's not exactly physically similar to Santa. They said it was a small suit. So he agreed. The white hair almost covered his entire face so getting a picture was pretty difficult.

Matthew waiting for Santa. He was very concerned about where Santa went after giving out candy canes. I told him Santa had to go see other kids and give them candy canes too. He was repeating that all night long and into the next day (but how is that different from any other day? Oh wait! It's not :) )

My cute little reindeer.

Our "nice" tree (or boring tree as Brian calls it) upstairs.

Decorating the more colorful, fun tree downstairs.

Matthew helping; he kept calling these beads a "macaroni necklace."

The finished product downstairs.

We have a couple of other small trees (we call it the forest). I let Matthew decorate the "widdow baby tree" as he calls it. He hung everything on two branches I think. Thanks to Melissa who instead of criticizing the poor decorating job, complimented me on letting him keep it how he wanted it (thanks Melissa! It totally made my day!)

Quotes

I was talking to Brian about how I've gotten word of some men reading the Twilight series. His reply about his resolve to never read it-"I'm a bad person, get over it." Ouch, honey!

Matthew is turning into such a funny kid! We have been putting up Christmas lights. A couple of times now after we turn the lights on he says, "Man, that's pretty."

Today in sacrament meeting I was attempting unsuccessfully to get Matthew to speak quietly. I leaned over and whispered "We need to whisper in sacrament meeting." Matthew (not quietly)-"WHAT?" We're going to have to work on it some more.

The First Snow

I took Matthew out to break his new snow boots in. He wasn't too excited about them until he discovered he could walk in all the snow he wanted and his feet stayed dry. The snow we got today is much better so I'm sure we'll be out again tomorrow.

My goodness, he is such a cute, fun boy!

Thanksgiving

We went to Utah for Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun and as always wished that we could have stayed longer. We played a lot of games, had lots of yummy food, went to see Twilight, put up the Christmas tree, saw the lights at Temple Square and watched White Christmas, a family favorite (well of the girls anyway).

Four generations on my mom's side

Four generations on my dad's side

Every year we have a contest to see who gains the most weight during Thanksgiving dinner. We even have a trophy for the winner. Yes, we are that cool ;)

Me and Tiff (yes I know she has this picture up on her blog too).

My grandpa carves figurines out of wood. This is Matthew and my youngest sis, Mindy decorating their ornaments.

Gift from Grandma

Grandma sent Matthew a package in the mail with these stars and planets to play with in the bathtub. He was pretty upset when he had to get out :(

In this picture I told Matthew to give me a big smile and this was what he did-

Boo at the Zoo

We went to an event called Boo at the Zoo today. It was crazy busy, but lots of fun. We had to park quite a ways away and take the shuttle which Matthew loved! There were different booths set up where the kids could walk around to trick or treat. We even found some Storm Troopers posing for pictures which made the trip worthwhile for Brian!I had promised Matthew that the next time we went too the zoo he could ride the train, so here he is with daddy-

Yay 5k!

I ran my first 5k yesterday. The weather was beautiful! It was a pretty low key event, but I enjoyed it. I was proud of myself because I ran the entire length. At the end the only thing that kept me going was the cheeseburger I promised myself for after :) I was looking for Brian and Matthew at the end so I didn't check my time, but I think it was around 34 or 35 minutes. Not too bad for my first try!

Before the race

Anna (my faithful running friend) and I after. Poor thing had a cold and she still came.

Playing in the leaves

Fall is my favorite season. I love the beautiful colors, comfortable weather and crunching in the leaves. Here is Matthew playing in leaves that blew into our yard.

Halloween at the office

I thought it would be fun to have the kids in Brian's office get dressed up in their costumes and trick or treat in all the offices. Then the company agreed to buy a pizza lunch for everyone too. I think everyone liked it and we'll do it again next year.

My new favorite author . . . .

Elizabeth Gaskell. I know some of you already know about her, but I'm posting it anyway. I finished reading Wives and Daughters and really loved it. I also watched North and South last week and now I'll have to add that book to my list too. I like Jane Austen, but I found Gaskell's characters and plots to be a little different and refreshing.

Utah vs Wyoming

So we got to go to the game in Laramie. Brian's brother and his wife went with us and Nana and Papa took care of Matthew. We were prepared for rain and snow since that is what was forecasted all week. It rained all the way there and back, but it was sunny for the game. Towards the end we were in the shade and the wind started to get really cold. It was so much fun! I miss being able to go to every game. I just have to say that all things considered, this trip to Laramie was much better than the last one. Most of the Wyoming fans left at half time. The worst thing was all of the garbage that was blown onto the field. I just love college football, don't you!?!

Look how happy we are! :)