Price & New Year's Eve

Since both Eric and I had almost two weeks off of work for the holidays we decided we would go to Price for New Year's. We left Saturday, December 28th at about 7:30 a.m. We stopped at Cabela's on the way, but didn't find anything. Eric was hoping to look at a hunting backpack, but they didn't have it. We got to Mary's at about noon, then a little while later we took the kids swimming at the Price pool. Mary called a girl that she crosses at her crossing guard job to join the kids. Marissa, Zoie, and Travis also met us at the pool. The kids love to swim and it is a nice way for them to get rid of some of their energy in the winter. They swam for about 2 hours and then we went back to the house for some dinner. We were debating what to do for the night. Travis invited Eric over to his father-in-law's for the UFC fight. Larry had bought the fight for the evening. Maisie was busy playing with the girls, so I thought I would take Parker to the movie at the last minute. We had to rush out of the door to make it to the show on time. We went to "Walking with the Dinosaur's." It was a pretty good movie. About 10 minutes into the movie, I got a call from Eric. Apparently, I had walked out the door with his coat which had his wallet and keys to the car, so he couldn't go to Travis's. He was not happy at me. When we got back to the house, Travis had come and got him so he could still watch the fight. Parker started complaining about his ear's hurting. I figured he had swimmer's ear. He went off the diving board almost the full two hours we were at the pool. I decided I better run to Walmart and get him some stuff for his ear's so we weren't dealing with this in the middle of the night. It took a little while for him to calm down and finally fall asleep. The next day we put the drops in his ear's again and then he was fine the rest of the trip.

Sunday, December 29th, Eric and I went to the Vea farm to visit family. We stopped by Uncle Jerry's, but he wasn't home, so we went over to Aunt Francis'. Mary brought the kids up to visit Aunt Francis and Uncle Tallee. We stayed for quite awhile and then we went over to Cody & Lexi's. They ended up feeding us pork chops.  We didn't stay too late since both Cody and Lexi had to work on Monday.

Monday, December 30th, we went up to the farm again to try and catch Uncle Jerry and Aunt Bonnie. We really wanted to visit Uncle Jerry. Recently, he was diagnosed with some type of throat cancer. He is on the mend and looks pretty good. He said he is finally starting to feel better, but lost quite a bit of weight. The kids stayed with Mary and then she brought them over to Cody's a little while later. We didn't know how Uncle Jerry would feel about having rowdy kids around. It was really good to visit with them. Bridget, Ray, JaSalene, Rylee, and Raygon ended up coming over to Cody's. It is always good to see them. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Again, we didn't stay too late since Cody and Lexi had to work the next day.

Tuesday, December 31st, we didn't do a whole lot during the day. It feels like we wake up and then we wait for breakfast to be brought to us and then pretty soon her comes lunch. Mary loves to cook and is really good at it. It is no wonder I gain weight over the holidays. In Price we sit around and eat way too much. We went to a early dinner at Farlaino's. The waitress was giving Eric a hard time cause he didn't want to order anything except for water. She brought him a plate with a little piece of lettuce and a couple tiny carrots. We got a good laugh. We got several invites for New Year's Eve and tried to hit all of them. We stopped by Diane and Phillip Lodeserto's for a bit. They are good friends of the family. Then we went to cousin Josh & Jodi's. I am glad we got to see them. Now that we all have kids and they are growing up, we just don't get to see the cousins very often. We stayed there until about 8:30 and then we went to cousin, Patrick & Celeste's. Patrick and Celeste are so fun. We love spending New Year's Eve with them. Patrick is a mortician and he had is apprentice, Tanner, and his girlfriend Marki, over to. They were really cute and fun. Both of them are also EMT's, so they were on call. Tanner ended up getting called out to transfer a pregnant woman from Price to Provo. He was really bummed he had to leave. Marki stayed and hung out with us. We watched a movie and then rang in the New Year with good company. We didn't end up leaving until about 1:30. We were all tired by the time we got back to Mary's. It was nice to fall into bed. 

Wednesday, January 1st, we had a hard time getting up. I don't think we all got up until about 10. By the time we ate breakfast and packed our stuff, we didn't leave until about 12:30. We got home just before 4. We did laundry and unpacked. I ran to the grocery store to get a few things. I had to be back to work on Thursday. Eric and the kids got two more days off. I loved the holidays, but was glad to get back into a routine.

December 26, 2013

We ended up over at Sallie's again. It is so nice to have such a great neighbor and friend. She is like family to us. Sallie, me and Maisie went to the movie Saving Mr. Banks. It is a movie about the story behind Mary Poppins. I think it was a little over Maisie's head, but she still enjoyed it. It was a bit long, but overall really good. We stopped and domino's afterwards to pick up pizza and sandwiches for a late dinner. I think the main reason why I gain a little weight over the holidays is I am completely off schedule. I work much better when I have a set schedule. 

Elves

Christopher, Christina Marie, & Mittens weren't very exciting this year. Maisie and Parker actually weren't as excited about the Elves visiting our house as much this year. They may or may not return next year. We will see. Here are a few tricks they had up their sleeve this year.

2013 Christmas

Christmas morning is always an eventful day. We wait until the kids wake up. This year they didn't wake up until 8:30. We decided a couple of years ago that Maisie and Parker would take turns opening their gifts. This way we all have to watch each other open their gifts and it takes a bit longer than just tearing into our gifts. They were very excited with what they got this year. Maisie got an Apples to Apples dice game, clothes, earrings, dork diaries book 1 and diary, ipad case, TV and tv stand, PJ's, rainbow loom. Parker got UNO dice game, marbles for his marble solitaire board game, three Ninja Turtle lego sets, lego play mat, 2 shirts, sticker book, Ninja Turtle underwear, ipad case, pj's, headphones, TMNT shredder, and a box of lego's. I got a set of cooking pans, and a nice tripod for my camera. Also, pj's and a Christmas outfit. Eric got a metal detector, a shirt, pj's and two investing books. We had a great time and everyone loved their gifts. It took us a while to get going with the day. Parker had to put together his lego's and we told him he couldn't take them to grandma's. We went and said hi to Sallie and Jerry before they headed up to Idaho to visit Ken's mom and sister. Then we got ready and headed over to my family's to spend the afternoon. We finally got their about 1:30. I love the holidays and just relaxing and spending time with family. Some of us girls did our nails with Kelsey's new shellac stuff. My mom cooked a great dinner. Turkey, salad, rolls, and pumpkin pie. After my parent's opened their gifts, we went over and visited with my grandma and grandpa Hendrickson and gave them their birthday calendar that I have gotten in the habit of making them for Christmas and they look forward to receiving it every year. They have a lot of birthdays to keep track of. I believe it is close to 130 and they still send birthday cards to everyone. It was great to visit with them. We didn't stay to long cause the kids were anxious to get home so they could play with their stuff. 

I had off work from December 20th to January 1st. Eric was off from December 23rd to January 4th. It was great having all those days off for the holiday. One bad thing about it though, is we stay up way too late and sleep in way too late. It takes a lot of adjusting to get back on schedule.

Christmas Eve

Eric decided that he wanted to start the tradition of deep frying a turkey for Christmas Eve. Little did we know it would turn into quite the ordeal. The night before Christmas Eve we decided we better start preparing this thing and make sure we had enough oil. We put the turkey in the pot and then filled it with water so we knew how much oil we would need. Well I had bought a 4.5 gallon jug of peanut oil from Sam's a couple of days ago, but as we were filling the bought with water we soon realized we weren't even close to having enough oil. We put the turkey in a brine which was kosher salt and brown sugar and water. So Christmas Eve morning I went to Sam's to pick up another jug, but they were out. So I ended up at Walmart. They were almost sold out, but I was able to get 3 more gallons of oil. It was a little more pricier than Sam's but I figured at this point we had to cook they dang thing. 

Sallie and Jerry came over at 1:00. We starting the oil at about 1:00 and by 2:00 it was up to temperature. We put the turkey in and the cooking began. It took another 15 minutes to bring the oil back up to temperature and then it had to cook for about 35 minutes. It looked so good when Eric pulled it out. He was so proud of himself. It was a pretty dang expensive turkey, but it tasted really good. We also cooked yummy potatoes, yams, and a veggie tray. Sallie also brought Eric's dessert. The dessert has been named after Eric since it is his favorite. It is hard to get him to share it. We enjoyed the evening listening to music, watching a movie, and playing games. We opened out pj's and they left about 10:00 and then we went to bed.

Maisie's 11th Birthday

I can tell that Maisie is growing up. She didn't know what she wanted for her birthday. This is partial my fault, because I spoil her rotten. When you have everything you want it is hard to think of things that you want. I told her I didn't have anything for her birthday and that turned into a big two year old fit. I was partially kidding, but it was partially true. I realized that everything I had bought for her was for Christmas. I asked what she wanted and she couldn't think of anything, but she wanted to be able to open something. I took her to Kohl's to pick out a coat. She didn't want a coat, but I didn't know what else to get her. She finally was happy with getting a coat for her birthday. On her birthday, I gave her a pair of boot slippers that she had seen in the black friday ads. She didn't know I had gotten those, so she was happy with that surprise. 

For her birthday party, she invited her friends Sadie and Olivia to go swimming at Mountain Crest. They swam for about an hour then we stopped by McDonald's and got hot cocoa and then they decorated cupcakes as owls. They are such silly girls. They enjoyed the rest of the evening hanging out in her room. Laughing and giggling.

Regina's 40th Birthday Party

December 14, 2013

Regina invited me to her 40th birthday. It was the most amazing adult birthday party I have ever been to. It was a themed birthday party and everyone was asked to wear a costume from either the Wizard of Oz or Oz the Great and Powerful. I was the wicked witch of the west. I thought my costume ended up being pretty cute. I wasn't sure how to make my face green so at the last minute, I used eye shadow. She served a yummy dinner which was chicken, orzo, salad, rolls, and yummy cake. She then hired a local magician to perform for us. I never quite understand magic. It just amazes me how quick they are. Tom, her husband, was the photographer. He had set up a cute Oz background and was sure to get everyone's photo. We played a trivia game and then opened gifts. She got some amazing things. Then the dancing began. I had a great time and it was fun to visit with old daycare parents that I just don't see any more. Regina is such an amazing person and she deserved such an amazing birthday party. 

Parker being a goof

December 13, 2013

Parker can be such a goof ball. He loves to dance and sing. If we turn on the music, he's a dance. He allowed me to take some photos of him dancing around. I love that he still let's me take his picture.

Parker gets in trouble

December 11, 2013

Parker had a really rough week. I got a call from Susan at the school. She said, "I had a little problem with Parker today, he needs to talk to you." My first thought is oh great, what did he do now. Of course, he gets on the phone and is crying and can't talk. It took a minute for me to get out of him what he had done. Apparently, he was running in the hall way and Susan asked him not to run and he turned around and with his hands said, "Blah, Blah, Blah!" and kept running down the hall. She had to go get him and bring him to the office. I can not believe my sweet little Parker did this. I was so embarrassed. When Susan got on the phone, I apologized and told her I would talk to him. Well when I picked him up, I was very upset. It took me awhile to calm down. We later had a talk about respecting others especially our elders. Sometimes, I think, Parker likes to do things to try and make his friends laugh. I told him he doesn't need to misbehave to make his friends laugh or to keep friends. I grounded him from his ipad for one week.

Then later that night, he was in his room, cause he knew I was mad. I here him telling Maisie, "don't tell mom." I go barging in there, "don't tell mom, what?" They both stare at me with fear in their eyes. "Tell me now." Maisie hands me a grocery bag of lego's from my mom's. Apparently, he took them from my mom's without asking. We had to have a little talk about taking things that are not ours. Doesn't matter who's house or who's stuff it is. We do not take things that are not ours. He cries and tells me he didn't know. Yeah, whatever. So he got grounded from his ipad for another week. I told him to look at the Christmas count down. 14 days til Christmas. I asked him how many days there are in two weeks. "14". Guess what, "you get your ipad back on Christmas. I will just wrap it up and you can get it back for Christmas." He was not very happy, but I was so mad at this point. The ipad was the only thing that I knew would torture him. He has become so addicted to that thing that it is driving me crazy.

Then Friday, when I go to pick him from after school club, one of the after school club teachers comes up to me and says. I need to tell you what happened today. Oh great! So apparently he walked by another volunteer and hit her on the butt. OMG!!!! I looked at Parker and gave him the evil eye. He had know idea why I was mad at him. I told him why he was in trouble and the whole ride home I could tell he had know idea that he had even done anything wrong. So again, I took him to his room and we had a talk about what is appropriate behavior and what is not. We should not be touching people in inappropriate ways. Our bodies are our's and we shouldn't allow others to touch them. I had to calm down from this one and use it as a teaching moment. I could tell he had no idea he had done anything wrong. The next week the school counselor also had a little talk with him and I think that helped. 

It was a rough week, but we made it through. I think a lot of it is anticipation for Christmas. I remember Maisie having a rough time in first grade. I think at this age they are trying to learn their independence and what is appropriate and what is not. I guess it is all about growing up.