CHRISTMAS EVE

Every Christmas Eve, my family has a Christmas program. This is the part of Christmas where we spend our time thinking of the Saviour and all He has done for us. We read stories, sing carols and when we were little we dressed up and acted out the nativity. With our kids, though my sister has a really cute puppet set that the kids use to act out the Christmas story. It gets a little crazy with all those kids, but they love it and Christmas is all about the kids!

Another tradition we have on Christmas Eve is to eat pizza and drink soda pop. I know, it's a little different, but it's a fun tradition and it's one that my family loves! Who doesn't love pizza and soda pop?

Christmas Eve dawned cold and snowy. I thought for sure Pete's work would be canceled again. Especially since they only had to work for five hours. No such luck. They had them come in. The roads were bad, so he took the van to the bus station and then took the bus and train in to work. He was starting to get sick with a sore throat the night before. As the day progressed he lost his voice. The snow kept coming down and they decided to let everyone out at noon. So, Pete's friend took him to the bus station, so he could bypass waiting for the train. He stood out in the freezing cold for an hour waiting for the bus. By this time he was really sick. He headed to the same day clinic and got the verdict! Strep throat! YUCK! On Christmas Eve! Well, at least he was able to get a prescription, so he could start feeling better.

This year Christmas Eve was held out my house. My sister, her family, my mom, dad, brother and Pete's mom were all there. It was so much fun to have so much family here. The kids loved having the grandparents there and they always love being with their cousins. This year for the program, Brandon was able to play a few Christmas songs for the program. He has been learning piano and he is picking up on it really fast. Kenyon, Tyler and Shannon all read some Christmas stories and then we had our puppet show nativity. It was such fun!

My poor sick baby!

I love Christmas Eve. It is so magical. I love thinking about that first Christmas when Jesus was born on to this earth. I love to remember all that He has done for us and remember that I need to be more like Him all year round.

The puppet nativity

Another tradition we have is to open one present on Christmas Eve. We always give our children something to do with bedtime. This year they got some really fun pillows.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Oh the weather outside is frightful... or it has been for the last week and a half anyway! I am behind on my blogging, but I still need to blog about all of our LOVELY snow! So here goes...

On December 14th, we woke up to a skiff of snow on the ground and the snow was still coming down lightly. My kids were so excited. You must realize that to kids in the northwest a skiff of snow is exciting because we usually don't get much more than that. The snow that day didn't amount to much, but there was still snow in the forecast.

We didn't get anything on Monday or Tuesday on Wednesday we woke up to another skiff. Seriously, maybe an eighth of an inch. Not much. I got my kids ready for school and then called my friend and found there was no school! Are you kidding? There's nothing on the ground! So, we had a fun day cleaning the house for Grandma P. to come. On Thursday morning, we wake up and there's a good inch on the ground and it is coming down hard! I figure for sure there's no school today. Wrong! School's in session! Amazing! They cancel for nothing on Wednesday and hold school when there's actually IS snow on the ground. Whatever! Off to school they go. They had lots of fun walking and throwing snowballs with their friends all the way to school.

Luckily by mid morning the snow stopped and Pete's mom's flight was able to land without any problems. On Friday it snowed most of the day. By this time I was a nervous wreck. My parents are driving here for Brandon's baptism and there's a huge storm predicted for Saturday and Sunday. I was so afraid that they were going to cancel his baptism and we had all these people who came out for it. I kept thinking snow, snow go away come again in January! No such luck. We got a ton of snow on Saturday and Sunday, but still held the baptism even though church for the whole stake was canceled.

On Monday the 22nd it didn't snow much, but it was cold. Pete's mom's flight was canceled. What to do? While Pete was on the phone with the ticket agent to reschedule her flight and they were deciding between her leaving on Christmas Eve or the twenty sixth, the last seat for Christmas Eve was taken! Too bad Grandma, you have to celebrate Christmas with us! Everyone was very excited to have Grandma stay for Christmas.

Tuesday was another semi snowy day. By this time we had about ten inches of snow. We had snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas day as well. By the end, I figure we got about 15 inches of snow. That is a ton of snow for this area. In the seven years we have lived here we haven't gotten close to that amount of snow. It was a lot of fun!

This is our snow coming down on Christmas day!

The kids enjoyed making snow angels and a snow man with their uncle Nathan. Pete and I looked and looked for a sled, but they were all sold out. We will have to get one when they get back in stock and hopefully we'll have more snow this winter and we can actually go sledding. If not, I guess we'll head up to Mount Hood.






I am hoping that with the winter starting out this way we will get at least one more big snow storm this winter. I do miss the snow!

A White Baptism!

It has been very snowy here the last few days. We got a little bit last week and on Friday we probably had an inch or so, but on Saturday it really started coming down. I was getting very anxious since Brandon's baptism was scheduled for Sunday. Pete's mom's flight was scheduled to leave on Monday evening, so we really had to have the baptism on Sunday. Saturday night we found out that all Sunday meetings were canceled by the Stake President. Oh no! I asked Pete to find out about the baptism. Our Bishop said he would call the Stake President and find out. The Stake President made an exception and allowed us to hold the baptism. Phew!

Brandon's baptism was wonderful. It was so special to have it be the only meeting on that Sunday. We had so many people come even though the weather was so yucky. They changed the time from 6:45 pm to 3:00 because they were hoping it would be better driving conditions. We called all of those that we knew wanted to come to let them know about the time change.

Brandon was baptized with his friend Jensen Bowen. Brother Jackson conducted the meeting and of course that is special since he is our neighbor and good friend. Brother Young in our ward spoke as well as our home teacher Brother Brinkley. They both did a wonderful job. Brandon was baptized and confirmed by Pete. It is so wonderful to have a husband who holds the priesthood and is worthy to perform these ordinances. Brandon had such a sweet smile on his face through the whole meeting. You could tell that he was feeling the Spirit.

I thought it was so neat that Brandon was baptized on such a snowy day. It is so rare for it to snow a lot here. I wanted him and Pete to have their pictures taken in the snow. I had no idea as I walked outside that it had started snowing again! It was really coming down! We got some really cute pictures of them in the snow.

What a wonderful and memorable day. Brandon, you are such a special boy and you give me such great joy. I am so grateful to be your mother!

Ginger Bread House

One of our annual Christmas traditions is to make a ginger bread house. This year we never seemed to have time to do it, so we made it on Saturday, December 20th with Grandma Summers and uncle Nathan. The kids had a lot of fun and it turned out cute!

Brandon's piano concert

On Tuesday, December 16th, Brandon had a mini piano concert at his piano teacher's home. His piano teacher is our good friend Karen Zundel. She had all her piano students come over for treats and then to play some Christmas songs. Brandon is doing very well at piano and he LOVES it! He had all his songs memorized and he played them very well. Good job, Brandon!

Christmas Family Home Evening

For the last three years the Reid's invite us to their house one Monday in December for a Christmas Family Home Evening. We first have a Christmas lesson and then we go caroling to people's homes in our neighborhood. This year it was SO cold that we only caroled at two homes. Then we come back the Reid's and eat treats and then do a gift exchange with the kids. My kids just LOVE it. It is such fun. Thank you Reids for such a special tradition. Our kids look forward to it every year!

Brandon's birthday celebrations

For Brandon's birthday he wanted to go ice skating. So, we looked up the times for open skating at the Mountain View ice arena and found out that on his birthday they had a Christmas ice skating show and then open skating afterward. We decided that would be great fun. So we went to McDonalds and then to the show. Boy, was it cold in there! They started the show 20 minutes late and by 8:00 it wasn't even half over! We know Jaron and Shay wouldn't last, so Pete suggested that we go home and have cake and icecream and then I would put them to bed and Pete would go back and go skating with the boys. So, that's what we did and it turned out great! In fact, one of our tickets one a prize. We got 10 free sessions of iceskating! That's a $75.00 value! That was pretty exciting!




On Saturday after his birthday we went to Chuck E Cheese's. I don't really like that place, but my kids love it and it's all about them! They had great fun and with all the tokens and games played the tickets we got bought one bag of cotton candy and 4 curly straws! I always think their prize selection is just silly. The kids loved it and Brandon was happy, so that's all that matters.

He had a wonderful birthday and we really enjoy doing things as a family. I really like having a year of just family parties. It is such fun to do these fun activities with my kiddos.

As you can see Jaron really enjoyed
this ride! Shaylee enjoyed listening to him scream!

Christmas Tag

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, & try not to be a SCROOGE! Copy this entire post & paste onto your own new post! Change all the answers so they apply to you. Then tag a bunch of people you know....Tis the Season to be NICE!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper of course! Gift bags on Christmas? How BORING!
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. I HATE needles everywhere from the real Christmas tree. It drives me NUTS!
3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take the tree down? The day after New Years day.
5. Do you like Egg Nog? Nope.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? My cabbage patch kid. Her name is Felicity Melaney and I thought it was the most beautiful name I'd ever heard!
7. Hardest person to buy for? PETE! I never know what to get him!
8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids. They always have something they want.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, we have three. We bought one two years ago that I LOVE. I had my eye on it for awhile and Pete bought it off ebay for me. It's the Jim Shore one.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I LOVE Christmas. I really don't care what I get.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? "It's a Wonderful Life". Pete and I watch it every Christmas Eve.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Of course! Usually just a neighbor gift. Not a family one. SORRY!
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? All the yummy treats! Especially Fudge Meltaways
16. Lights on the tree? Of course!
17. Favorite Christmas song? I love "Silent Night"
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We stay home. It's too far to got to Utah anymore.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes. DUH! Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Ruldolph!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? We open one Christmas present on Christmas Eve. That's a tradition passed down from my family. All the rest on Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People putting their lights out before Thanksgiving is over. I don't care if you put them on your house, just don't turn them on. Let's give Thanksgiving a little respect!
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I love snow flakes. They are all over my tree and banister.
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Ham, augratin potatoes, green beans, rolls, deviled eggs and layered dessert for dessert.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? A trip. Just me and my husband. That will be for our tenth anniversary, though. I already have my present. A new camera and a new washer and dryer. And hopefully a new table in the next few weeks.

I tag........ Julie C (because you need a new post girl!), Cindy (because you never did my last tag!), Ericka (because you ALWAYS do my tags) and Rebecca (because I always like to hear what you have to say!)

Cute Sayings!

On December 11th, Shaylee woke up and said, "Mommy the sun is not awake. It's still in bed and it's dark. Shouldn't the sun be awake?"

It was a dark and dreary day, so I think she was confused. Every morning she gets up and says. "The sun is awake, so I can wake up, too." I think she was afraid that I would tell her to go back to bed since it was still dark out!

Happy Birthday Brandon!

Eight years ago today I became a mother. It was a bittersweet day. My baby was finally here after nine anxiously awaited months! I thought the day would never come. Everything started out normal with my labor. We had him scheduled to be induced a week early. When I went into the hospital I was already in labor. By 10:00 I was already to 6 cm and everything was going smoothly. I was in pain and decided to have an epidural. After I was given the epidural at about 10:30 they decided to put the catheter in and drain my bladder. When they did this the baby, who's head had been resting on my bladder dropped further into the birth canal and as he did the cord got pinched in between his head and the birth canal. His hear rate plummeted from 120 to 60! The nurses frantically tried to get it back up, but nothing worked. For some reason there were no OB's in the the entire hospital at that time. My doctor was at his office. Dr. Melendez, a doctor who just happened to be driving by the hospital right before all this happened decided to stop and drop off some paper work. He normally would not have done this, but he felt prompted that he should. He was at the desk when Brandon got into trouble.

He came into the room with an ultrasound machine and took one look at the baby's heart rate and said, " We need to get him out, NOW!". They put my bed down, threw some scrubs at Pete and off I went to the operating room. They had to do it so quickly that they were not able to get me under the general anesthesia fast enough and I felt them cutting me! I didn't care, I just wanted my baby out!

I was under when they actually pulled him out, so I don't remember any of this. We have it on video tape because they told Pete to video it since I was not awake. They were afraid that he would die and I would have never seen him alive. His apgar score was a 1. He was blue and floppy. They had to put a tube down his throat and finally at around noon he started to cry! This is the first sound I heard as I woke up. I had no idea that my baby had almost died.

He was in the NICU the whole first day since he was having convulsions. They wheeled me into see him, but he was up so high that I could only touch his foot. I couldn't see his face. He spent most of that day screaming and shaking. Pete spent a great deal of that day rocking Brandon. He seemed to calm down when he was in his daddy's arms. Pete and my dad gave him a blessing and he improved from there.

Twenty four hours after giving birth to my baby, I finally held him in my arms! That was a sweet, sweet moment. I know that Brandon was saved because he has a special mission on this earth. He is a precious little boy, who has given me such joy. He has been a light in my life since the moment he entered this world. He is my first born, he made me a mother and he will always have a special place in my heart.

Happy Birthday, Brandon! I love you!

Brandon was born on December 12, 2000 at 10:56 am. He weighed in at 9 lbs. 5 oz. and was 20 inches long.