Norr Cabin Trip...Day 2

Friday morning Papa was in charge of making breakfast since that's something he usually does. We had pancakes, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and eggs. It was yummy and we quickly found our bellies full. 

Em was so funny with Lydi and wanted share all of her food. Lydi was pretty patient until Em fed her eye..lol I love these 2(they are only 9 months apart) and I'm sure they will be great friends.

Im not sure who was more excited about opening presents Kimber or the kids. Although the original plan was to wait and open them that evening after Christmas dinner they were dying to be opened. So we let the kids each open their gifts from Grandma & Papa. We had a "gift" chair and unless you were sitting in it you couldn't open a gift. Emmy got some books and a stuffed turtle

Gracie got a Jasmine doll, along with a cute new outfit

Hallie got some fun sticker kits and bead kit

Then we headed outside to check out the surroundings and find us a good sledding hill. We all got bundled up and headed out. We had gotten about 6 inches of snow the night before so we were excited to do some sledding.

We sledded in about every configuration possible it was so much fun. We sledded on one of the semi main roads we posted an adult at the tp and the bottom to watch for cars. Luckily we never saw any other cars and the hill was perfect. I haven't been sledding...like really sledding in years. It was seriously so much fun

This is Maddi, Gracie, Kim, Lydi, Papa, and Emery

Our group picture! It was so fun to all be together and just be having fun

Here is our cabin from the road it had 7 bedroom and 5 bathrooms at just over 4000 sq feet it was the perfect size for our families

Hallie, Kinley, and Nate having the time of their lives

The hill was a bugger to climb back up though feeling the burn for sure

Hallie and Kinley made up a song about hot chocolate that was so funny you could hear them singing it constantly

After about 90 minutes toes started to get cold so we decided it was time for a hot cocoa and movie break for some of us. The others stayed out to play for longer

Hallie stayed out with Matt and the other boys. They went exploring and found a playhouse covered in snow with a slide

After we warmed up a bit Gracie opened her birthday present from Luke...can you tell she was excited?

She got new Elena of Avelor dress up shoes...she loves them 

Then grandma got out one of her crafts she brought for the kids to do. They decorated foam wreaths

After they finished their wreaths we decided to do gag gifts while the babies were down for naps. Some of them were really funny and of coarse inappropriate

While we finished dinner the kids did some just dance. I was really glad we had taken it. We debated since it was a pain to get all the wires out of their sleeves behind the wall. We also decided to just take the just dance games knowing that the video games would just cause problems with sharing. It was a great call on all accounts. The kids were so funny to watch..even the babies got involved. Luke who has always been to cool to dance didn't want anything to do with it...just isn't his thing. 

This particular night we did Christmas dinner. But before dinner we wanted to open gifts. Ez and Kyle had to run to the store to get a Rx for Rigs and while we waited I busted out this game our friends gave us. It was a huge hit and super silly

While we were being silly Em found her way into the game room and read some stories(I love the love my kids have for reading)

Then finally it was time to open presents. This time we went from oldest kid to youngest since we had done the reverse earlier in the day. Hallie got boots, some crafting activities, and  new silky pjs

The other kids were very patient waiting their turn

Gracie got a book, silky pjs, 

Emy got a cute new shirt and some bows

All in all it was a fantastic day so many memories made and fun times spent together. That night we had Christmas dinner and just enjoyed being together. I had a come to Jesus moment with myself and Matt. Although its hard to explain I'm going to do my best. I feel like I have never had more than a few true friends. Having the personality I have I seem to attract people who need me instead of want me and when they don't need me then our friendship kinda dissolves until they need me again. I feel like unless I'm helping/serving someone I hold no purpose. Although logically I know that sounds silly 

Norr Cabin Trip...Day 1

Now that our families are getting a little older we have all decided we don't want to travel for Christmas anymore. My mom understandably was upset about this but we are doing our best at evolving with the times and finding ways to still create special memories together. Kimber had the great idea to rent a cabin in Cedar City(about 1/2 way for each family) and spend the weekend before Christmas together. Kimber got the cabin booked in August and the planning began. I was asked to be in charge of all the food. I was happy to do this since then I could make sure I could eat whatever we were eating. There ended up being 10 adults and 7 kids. That was lots of people to by food for. I stressed and worried a ton about having a enough or to much. I wanted to eat things that everyone would like and have plenty of snacks that no one would be hungry. 

When the day finally came we ended up with 3 coolers and 5 totes of food. Nic was awesome and came up the day before we left and helped me prep quite a bit of the food. Luckily we have a big car or we would have been in trouble. Here is the car all packed up ready to hit the road

We got on the road about 1 after picking Gracie up form preschool. We grabbed food in Centerville and then got cruising for Cedar. Em was not a fan of riding in the car for that long. The dvd player helped a lot but she was still sad for part of the ride. Hallie and Grace were good and content to watch tv and snacks

No one slept although the all probably really needed a nap especially Em

We got to the cabin about 5:30. We got unpacked and settled. Got all of the food squared away and dinner started. We had soup and rolls since it was something easy to keep hot so as people arrived they could have hot food. Kimber asked that we each bring an activity or game to do with the kids. The first night she read the train story by President Monson and gave each of the kids a little train to remind them of the story 

The kids were all so excited to race their trains

After a little racing it was time for bed. That first night was really rough. We paid to have 2 rooms so Hallie and Grace would have a bedroom as did we. We were connected by a bathroom. It was nice that each family had their own space meaning their own bedroom and bathroom. The girls kept talking and woke Em up after it took almost an hour to get her to sleep. I was super frustrated and angry. After finally getting them to sleep several hours later we stayed up and waited for my parents to arrive before heading to bed. Em woke up about 5 but once I reminded her where we were she settled back in and slept until late morning. The next morning we all woke up ready for fun now that everyone was there

Slap Face & Candy Making

Hallie seems to bring home just about everything from school. This time it is a viral rash they are calling slap face. It starts with rosy cheeks and turns into a lacy rash on the rest of the body. It can be itchy and in Hallie case it was. Once the rash appears they are no longer contagious so by the time she showed symptoms everyone else had already been exposed. We went to the pharmacy and got some benadryl to help.

Even though she wasn't feeling 100% she was still acting pretty much fine. She helped make and dip all of the chocolates. And did spend a little time on the couch because the benadryl made her sleepy. She was pretty funny she thought it was going to completely knock her out. After she explained I understood why she was anxious about taking it.

I love this sister of mine. She is so helpful and always willing to drop whst she is doing to help me. I hope she knows/feels I would do the same thing for her. I love getting together and working on projects together.

Update:Gracie and Em have both had slap face at this point Gracie wasn't itchy at all and so far Em isn't either just the pesky rash. 

Snow & the Huntsville Ward Party

We have finally started to get some snow up here. I love the white fluffy stuff and prefer for it to snow if its going to be cold for sure. We have spent a lot of time looking at our Christmas tree and watching the beautiful white snow flakes out the window. 

The girls have been pretty good about helping me clear the snow. Sometimes that just means letting me get it done. Em likes to play with the bubble machine while I plow the driveway

Our cute snow crew

The ward does the Christmas party on Saturday morning. They do breakfast with a whole bunch of fixings. It was yummy and I was super excited to see Santa there. The girls were all so excited to see him and tell them what they wanted. 

Hallie told Santa she wanted some clip on earrings

Gracie told him she wants a Barbie doll castle

And Em...well she thought Santa was really cool until I set her on his lap and then there was nothing but tears. I tried really hard not to laugh

The girls got some coloring pages from the local grocery store that they can color and return for a deli cookie. The girls are really into coloring right now and spend quite a bit of time coloring throughout the day. They are both getting really good at staying in the lines. They are always coloring pages to give as presents to everyone.

Fun Weekend???

This is a weekend I look forward to most of the year. It is the weekend that the ABC Christmas Party and the Weber Graduation Celebration fall on the same weekend and we get to have 2 nights in a row for date night. On our way down the first night we saw a mama and a baby moose one on each side of the road. We don't see them usually outside of this time of year but this time of year we see them quite regularly but it doesn't make them any less cool

We ate some amazing food, dress up fancy, and hold hands all while not worrying about loosing a child or buckling kids in car seats

While out on Saturday night we got a text from our babysitter that there was water pouring thru Gracie's window. We immediately left and rushed home. Matt called our neighbors Perry and Matt M. and they were nice enough to rush over and get the pumps running until we got home. This time the water was much worse than last time. When we got home the water was out to the hall(Gracie's entire room was soaked) and then we found water in Hallie's window well and her carpet was wet as well. We also found water in the playroom. Its so frustrating. We had to cut the pad out of Gracie's room  because it was soaked. 

Luckily we have some great friends and they stayed and helped us clean up as much as we could. They brought fans and shop vacs. We moved furniture and laid things out to air things out

Although the weekend was not what we planned I'm grateful my girls and Matt are ok and we will get thru this. We have now dried everything out and have decided not to put carpet pad back down until we make sure the water is gone. We have also put floats and pumps more permanently in the window wells to if there is more water it should kick on automatically. Im sure we will have multiple times to test and see if we have fixed the problem. Fingers crossed we fixed it

Fun Filled Saturday

Saturday was a glimpse into what "normal" life must be like. We really didn't have plans which was awesome. We spent our morning coloring tree ornaments(Gracie's request) it was fun and something we could all participate in

 Then we got ready and headed to Kaysville for Kinley's Christmas Dance Program. It was fun to see her do her thing although she was so concerned with staying on her x that she barely moved at all...lol

After we grabbed some lunch at Grannie Annies 

 After we filled our bellies Matt and I decided to take the girls to see Moana. It was so cute and it was a good movie that we all liked. Em ate lots of treats to keep her quiet but we still had a great time. We took our picture while Matt was out getting popcorn since the couple next to us had some and Em had a freak out so of coarse we needed popcorn too

By the time we were done it was dark and it was time to head home and go to bed. I ended up getting called off work for the next day so we stayed up so Matt and I stayed up and wrapped a bunch of the Christmas presents for the kids so now our tree doesn't look so bare. I love days like today. Being together and doing fun stuff. I think having a "normal" life is something we could really get used to

Busy Busy Emy

Oh this sweet little girl has become so busy over the last month or so...she can be exhausting. She climbs everything, is super fast, and curious as all get out. While I was getting dressed in my closet only a few feet away she found the makeup and put lipstick all over herself and my bathtub! But I think she was more mad when I washed it off. At 19 months she says mama, dada, baba(bottle), cheese, hi, bye, all done, nini(good night), kiki(kitty). She gets super excited about her blanket and binki, when dad comes home from work. She is so intelligent and understands just about everything you say to her but whether or not she chooses to listen is anyone guess.  She is trying to decide whether she needs one nap or two which can make her super cranky some days. I love when she snuggles and some days we watch a lot of Mickey Clubhouse just so I can have some extra cuddle time. When she wakes up she yells for either Matt or I to come get her. She has become a super picky eater but loves fruit snacks, cottage cheese, peaches, pears, apples, string cheese, popcorn, and corn puffs. 

She can also be super sweet! She loves to play with her sisters no matter what they are doing. She loves to have her picture taken and says cheese when she is ready. 

And once in a great while she likes to be cuddled before I put her to bed and once in a blue moon she actually falls asleep. I really miss her being little when she used to cuddle all the time.

I love this sweet spunky girl although at times she can be exhausting. I'm so grateful to have her as part of our lives and our family. She brings us such happiness and joy