"Is Christmas Over?"

Well it is Sunday, December 28th which makes it 3 days post Christmas and the third day in a row that Camryn has asked, "Mommy, is Christmas over?" I am assuming that until the tree and Christmas remnants are gone, she will continue to think it is still a party everyday and that mommy doesn't get out of her p.j's till...well never, and daddy is home watching football everyday and playing with her in the snow whenever she wants. Frankly I am okay with this because this poor kid's world is about to be rocked not only with the end of the holidays, but also with a new baby in the house so we might as well let her live it up now!

Bry got her and her American doll matching dresses for Christmas when he was in NYC a few weeks ago and she was so excited to go to church today with her doll... so cute!

Christmas dance recital

Camryn and her cousin Halle were in the same dance recital this year and for as much work as it is to get them all dressed up, sit through the rehearsals and not really know if they will even know what is going on when the curtain goes up...it was TOTALLY worth it! They were so darn cute and of course Camryn just loved the spotlight and kept waving at the audience until the curtain closed!

My camera broke right before the performance so here's a pic from Janice of Halle and Camryn after their big shot in the spotlight!

Camryn saves Christmas!!

Ahhhh.... Christmas through the eyes and mind of a 3 year old. She has saved Christmas for her mommy. As tired, swollen, road ragin', uncomfortable and flat out tired as I am, the last couple of weeks as the Christmas season has come into full swing, Camryn has reminded me of the magic of the season. I don't know if it is just the perfect age or what, but I don't ever want to forget the precious things she says and does everyday that remind what it's all about! Here are just a few...

*Telling Santa when she sat on his lap... "Shhh Santa, be very gentle."

*Saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone in the checkout lanes and making them smile.

*Reminding me more than a few times during the day, "Mom, I am being good for goodness
sakes!!"

*Asking Bryan and I every night to take her to see all the "magic Christmas houses" which basically means all the houses on our street with any sort of inflatable Christmas character in the front yard.

*Telling me at the end of a very long day... "mommy, I had such a good time shopping with you today at the Walmart store!"

*When I need to lay down during the day and she comes and softly touches my belly and says..."Is your baby hurting you again?..."


Thank you for saving Christmas baby girl!!!

Da-da-da-DA!! And his response was....

exactly what I thought it would be...
except he didn't direct his anger at me surprisingly. He was really ticked off at the "sales guy" who "took advantage of his beautiful pregnant wife" okay, he didn't say beautiful... but I know he meant to.
Anyway, he ranted about how he wouldn't pay it and I think he even mentioned getting "Gephardt" if he needed to and at that point I couldn't take it anymore and let him in on the joke. He didn't think it was funny until the next day.
Good job Shawn and Brandon!!

"IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE"

So as I have mentioned in previous posts, I have been more than unmotivated to get into the hustle and bustle of the holiday, decorate my house, shop, offer random acts of service, etc. So I actually have an excuse... I am freakin' 8 months pregnant. My husband on the other hand, whom I love madly, unfortunately does not have this excuse and his 'to-do' list is gathering dust on my magnet board. For the past two weeks I have placed this list very conspicuously so he would not be confused as to what needs to be done before this baby comes in 5 weeks.
To fully appreciate how incredibly funny the joke is that is about to be played on him in a few hours, a little history is needed.
Bry loves Christmas lights. Lots and lots of lights. It is usually top priority this time of year for him to get lights up. Well it has been a bit crazy the past few weeks and so when he mentioned that he needed to get the lights up I suggested to him that the priority right now needs to be the nursery, household projects and suggested that I find someone to pay to put them up. He reluctantly agreed and adamantly said no when he found out they would charge $400.00 to do it, so therefore it hasn't been done and then he took off for New York for 4 days on business. This is where it gets really good. Bry has an incredible tight knit, wonderful group of friends who are just so cool as to invite me to come to dinner with all the couples even when Bry is gone. So at dinner two nights ago I was complaining a little about how much we have to do yadayada, and how he didn't want to pay to have the lights put up and so forth. Well two of his buddies, Brandon and Shawn got this great idea that they were going to come and put up our lights and then leave a fake invoice for an absurd amount of money. They instructed me to play along and tell him some guy was going around the neighborhood offering to put up lights and that Camryn was begging for lights and I just gave in and said yes.
So sure enough they showed up yesterday and hung the lights and as Camryn sat on the grass and watched them Shawn kept telling her it was a "Christmas Miracle" that the lights were being put up and she kept repeating it the rest of the day..."Mommy, daddy's friends came and gave us Christmas miracle!" They also left this fake invoice for a total cost of $613.18.
So Bry gets home from his trip in about two hours and I must admit I am getting a little scared as to his initial reaction... I don't know if I can go along with it for even a second, but for a good laugh down the road I will do my best.
Stay tuned for how it all turns out and I must say, even though these two tough guys say their intention is to play a joke on Bry...it still was the sweetest act of service and I for one truly appreciate it and love them for it!!

THANKSGIVING 2008

As much as I hated to post this picture...(you know an 8th month pregnant woman holding an enormous stuffed turkey can never be flattering) I just couldn't refrain from plain old bragging about the one productive thing I did over the holiday in St. George... my turkey.

Of course I can't take all the credit... the beautiful blonde next to me and my dearest friend Stacy taught me all I know about the preparation of this delicious turkey that I have made the last three years for Thanksgiving. One can only appreciate the feat of this turkey by understanding my lack of culinary skills growing up and even until I got married. Most of my high school friends, mission companions and college roomies can attest to this. However, since I was blessed with Stacy in my life about 5 years ago, she has not only been my own personal Martha Stewart... the girl can seriously do just about anything and make it beautiful, but she has been the greatest example to me of selflessness, patience, unconditional love and kindness. Even during the very difficult times of her life she will her put own pain aside and help anyone in need. I have witnessed her countless acts of kindness, that she just views as 'being a good friend' countless times and many times, I have been the recipient, like this weekend in St. George, when I had not an ounce of energy to do anything, let alone prepare a turkey and pies for my family, she saved me and helped me get it done.

I am grateful for so many things this holiday season, but especially those people in my life who are just so much a part of my life and day to day living and spirtual and emotional survival that I almost take advantage of them being there.

Bring on the Castor oil!!!!

Okay so I am really not going to drink Castor oil to get this baby out early, mainly because Bryan made me try it a week before I was due with Camryn...one of his many
'Farkus' experiments and of course it only caused 3 days of the 'you know whats'... and 3 days of the silent treatment towards him.
I have about five weeks left and I have been trying to figure out why this last stretch seems so much harder than it was the first time. I am blaming it on it being the holidays. Usually I love the hustle and bustle and the planning and get togethers and just the whole craziness of the month of December. But lately I find myself just driving aimlessly throughout the day, or parked in Mcdonalds parking lot (ok, with maybe a happy meal...or two) just to avoid all the 'decorating, shopping, nursery finishing, cleaning, and organizing' I should be doing, but have no energy for. BUT... today is a new day and so after a little inspiration from a post by my sister-in-law Janice on her blog, I am just going to buck up and choose to not spend my last five weeks eating cheeseburgers and instead of resenting that I can't be the superwoman, superwife, and supermom I want to be... I am just going to simplify--relish the moments of the season prepare for our new baby and just be grateful for life!