A Weekend of Firsts

You can't really see it through his hair . . . but Austin had his first stitch this last weekend. Ben had taken the kids to his basketball game at the church. Apparently, Austin had climbed up on a table . . . fell . . . and hit his head.

Luckily, one of the guys playing basketball was a doctor and had his kit in his car. He stitched Austin's head right there at the church . . . and yes . . . he only needed one stitch!

Ben was ordained as a high priest this last weekend also. He is now serving in the bishopric of our ward. Thus . . . a weekend of firsts (if "firsts" is even a word)!

The Castle

A little over a month ago this beautiful building, (the Provo Tabernacle . . . picture courtesy of somewhere online) caught on fire and was completely ruined. SO TRAGIC!

Gwen, who is 4, has loved this building along with everyone else familiar with it. She always called it "the castle" and claimed she would get married there.

The other day we were driving in Provo, and she started talking about how sad it was that "the big castle" burned down. Then, with a sigh, she said . . . ,"now I guess I'll just have to get married in the temple."

I tried hard not to laugh out loud.

Piano

I taught my first piano lesson today . . . to a child other than my own! Ben has thought I should try my hand at teaching for awhile . . . I have just been hesitant for various reasons.

I thought it went well! It was so fun! And I realized that I should really be utilizing those 10 years of lessons . . . thanks to mom and dad.

It really was fun!

Our Backyard

Our backyard just opens up to the mountain. I'm really tired of the snow . . . but this has been so fun for the kids to have their own sledding hill . . . where I can still see them outside my kitchen window!

Wyoming Christmas

For Christmas this year, we went to Wyoming to spend it with Ben's family. Halle ended up feeling better by Christmas Eve . . . so we hopped in the car early that morning and made it to Cody by the late afternoon. It was totally different than our normal Christmas routine, and hard for me to figure how to do it . . . but it was fun. The kids had a blast and Abby told me she will "remember this Christmas forever"!

Santa in the past has always brought the "good gifts". This last year or so . . . I have been kind of mad that we have been doing it that way. So many times this last year Abby has said to me things like, "Mom, I am so glad Santa gave us a trampoline last year . . . you guys NEVER would have spent $300 on one". Or the time she said, "I'm going to ask Santa for my American Girl doll, because Santa's elves can just make it in their workshop for FREE, and you would have to pay $100 for one".

Oh and by the way . . . Abby still 100% believes in Santa. She told me this year that kids at school have told her Santa is not real, and that it is really just your parents who give you all the gifts. But Abby DOES NOT believe that AT ALL. She believes she has proof of Santa and stands by it without wavering. It's really fun to have all my kids believing . . . but I starting feeling weird about Abby feeling like she was doing me a favor asking Santa for all the big things she wants.

Maybe I'm selfish . . . but I want the credit now. Santa will still come . . . but this year he brought snowsuits and a winter coat. And that's all he is going to do from now on!

Going to Wyoming made it really simple. We really didn't have room to bring too many gifts. I told the girls that in Wyoming . . . they would only have Santa gifts to open . . . as long as he comes. So we brought our Santa gift . . . but then I brought the "favorite" gift along also to come from Ben and I . . . since I knew Santa would not bring anything to play with. That went really well!

We saved the gifts we had gotten each other and stuff at home to open when we got back. I have to say though . . . it was SO anti-climatic to open the rest of Christmas a few days later. The kids enjoyed it I'm sure . . . I just felt like the "feeling" wasn't there anymore. I felt like I could have gotten away with not having anymore presents to open . . . that going somewhere for Christmas was enough.

As fun as it was, I don't plan on going out of town for Christmas again for a long time. But if we do . . . it will just mean a Santa gift . . . and maybe a gift from mom and dad. No more presents to open at home later. Most times, less is better anyway.

Thanks for having us Fales! Despite how this post sounds, we really had a good time!

Almost

The roads looked good and the car was packed. We were on our way to spend Christmas with Ben's family.

Halle did have a fever yesterday and said she wasn't feeling good . . . but did not have a fever this morning . . . so we were sticking with our plan.

Once it was time to actually put kids in the car though, Halle seemed worse. She was shaking and felt really hot. She complained about her throat and stomach hurting. Off to the doctor we went, and strep throat she has.

Poor little thing. She feels pretty terrible. Needless to say, we will not be heading out to be with Ben's family.

What would we do without antibiotics?

Early Break!

I didn't know that schools closed here because of too much snow! But that is what has happened today! Christmas break is starting a day early!

It has snowed so much!

This blog has been incredibly neglected for a couple months. I'm not even going to try to blog about our lives the past couple months . . . I'll just put it in a nutshell version.

Halloween

I had a birthday

We were able to buy the house we wanted

We moved

The girls switched schools

Thanksgiving

Lots of family in town

House guests

Adjusting

Ben is 3/4 done with his MBA program

Christmas is coming too soon

I feel like scrooge this year . . . even though we have a lot to be grateful for

Better updates ahead!