Sledding Fun!

Darren took the boys sledding on Saturday after we got hit with another couple inches of fresh snow Friday evening. They love the snow and never complain about the cold. They hit park after park all afternoon and even slid down the slope in our cul-de-sac. Our poor neighbors that live on the the hill. Boys are so cute when they are all bundled up!

Christmas Pics!

To start off - we had a great Christmas. Don and Mom DeGracie from Arizona spent Christmas with us this year and the boys loved it! They LOVE Uncle Donny. We ended up being snowed in for 2 days - probably due to Mom D wishing for a White Christmas. The city wouldn't snow plow cul-de-sacs until all the city streets were clear and since it never stopped snowing - we weren't able to get out of our street. We woke up Christmas morning and couldn't leave until Saturday - we even missed Christmas dinner with the extended family and the gift card exchange! Thank goodness I had bought cards that I would want to end up with.

Uncle Donny promised Canon he would take him to see Twilight if he read the book in 3 weeks and he did it! He finished on Christmas night! He was so excited and we were amazed that our 8 year old could accomplish something so big - a 500 page book! Are you kidding? We are so proud of him and he really enjoyed sitting in his room reading his book. He is already wanting to read the second!

We hosted the Carlson Christmas Eve party and packed the house with over 30 people. We had great food, talked, played Ping Pong and opened a few presents. Unfortunately I failed to take pictures.

We only had Ranie and Colin join us for Christmas morning this year which was unfortunate for our kids but I am glad they were there! The boys had an unbelievable Christmas and got more than they asked for. Our then 4 year old, Blaze, kept asking Santa for a bike ramp and was so specific about how it was to look. It had to go up and then have a platform and then go down and he promised everyone who told him it was too dangerous - that he was not getting the unsafe kind. If there is such a thing. Santa came through even though he thought he was too young and Blaze was thrilled. Too bad he won't be able to use it for about 3 more months. Canon asked Santa for an iPod ( I didn't even know he knew what one was) so Santa got him a blue one. Within an hour of opening it up - he had 3 albums already downloaded. He loves it and it is so great to hear him sing with the headphones on - thinking no one can hear him. I got a new zoom lens for my camera, something I have wanted for a year. I wasn't supposed to get gifts this year but I got one anyway! :) Darren wasn't good enough, according to Santa, so he enjoyed getting gifts from family!

We surprised the boys with one last gift at the end of our 3 hour marathon of gift opening. The boys opened up the first "1 of 3" gift and saw the Wii logo and freaked. They were so excited - they never really asked for one but mentioned it would be fun to have. We were so glad they were excited. We bought a couple of games, 2 wheels and an extra controller. They have played it everyday since. It has been a fun family gift for us.

We are sad that Christmas is over and that our decorations have to come down. We will miss the food, the music, the treats, the lights, the gift-giving and the family. We have begun the countdown for next year! We hope everyone had a great Christmas as well!

Waking up Christmas morning...


Waiting on the stairs for all cameras to get ready...











Canon's Christmas gifts...


Next years Christmas card....


Blaze's Christmas gifts...

I'm Loving Christmas Lights!

I wanted to wait until the first BIG snowfall to take pictures of our lights. It is so beautiful when the lights shine through the snow. Pictures can't possibly detail how pretty it is outside, especially mine, but I thought I would share anyway.

I am so glad my little family loves Christmas and loves displaying it. We started listening to Christmas music on November 1st, decorated the house a week later (although our neighbors refused to let us turn them on until Thanksgiving) and had our indoor trees up and decorated within a week. The music plays at all times, even during bath time, and we have attempted to watch a Christmas movie or cartoon every night this month. We hope to increase our Christmas book selection as well.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas this year. Love you all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAZE!

Today is my little buddy's birthday! He is 5 today! I can't even believe it. He is such a crazy, wild, fun, energetic ball of boy. We love him so, so much! He is always on the go and says the funniest things. He isn't afraid of anything and loves to be active. Right now he is really into rifles, machine guns, pistols, basically anything that shoots. He loves Indiana Jones, figurines and all super hero's. He loves Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry and SpongeBob. His favorite thing to do is ride his bike and play in the empty lot a couple of doors down. He loves his friends and will play with anyone - no matter your age. He really likes going to preschool and is learning a lot. He is just so much fun to be around and he just loves his baby brother to death. I call him "The Smother Brother". We are so excited that he is part of our family! Happy Birthday Blaze! We are so proud of you!

December Birthdays! Why Have Them?

So - Blaze's birthday is December 15th. Let me just say that I didn't plan it that way as he was supposed to arrive around January 18th. I had always thought it totally cruel to have a child born in December and swore I would never do it to mine....let me also say that I have said many "I will never..."'s but I end up eating my words.

Both of my parents' birthdays are in December and I always felt sad that they had to celebrate it just days before Christmas after waiting an entire year for presents. Because of that - we decided that this year we would instigate the celebrating of "THE HALF BIRTHDAY". Blaze is so excited about the concept. Basically, on his real birth date he will receive one nice gift from us and then whatever he gets from family members - grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Then - on June 15th - he will get a real birthday with lots of gifts from us and a party with his friends. I mean what can you possibly do in December in the snow in the cold a week before Christmas when all the money is spent? Trust me - Darren and I are doing this mostly for ourselves. Anyway - we celebrated his birthday on Sunday since his real birthday lands on a weekday AND he was born on my mother's birthday!

Here are the photos...
He chose the Transformers theme this year because he was also sharing his party with his Dad.

Just Practicing...

So - the weather in Utah has been amazing for December so I thought it would be a good opportunity to take some pictures of my boys. I really do need to get them professionally done but at the last minute - those are hard to find. So...here are the results. As you know with three little boys, not everyone smiles at the same time, looks in the same direction or cares that mommy really hopes that one of these turn out.










By the way - we dyed Canon's hair the night before. He is not really that dark. He went from naturally blonde to a brunette for two months and now he wants to be black, or close to. He secretly wants to look like Troy Boulton so we are helping him get as close as he can!

My Poor, Poor Baby....

And my poor, poor parents. So - Sunday night was not a good night for my little Pierson. He didn't sleep well and didn't want to lie down or allow us to sit or lie down either. All night - Darren and I took turns holding him while he uncomfortably tried to sleep. I thought it was just gas...it turns out it was much more than that. He woke up a little bit better so I figured it was a bug that came and went. Unfortunately for my parents - it wasn't a bug.

I dropped him off and went to work, calling frequently to check in. Each time I called I could hear him crying in the background, sounding extremely uncomfortable. When my mom called to say that he was inconsolable - I dropped everything and ran to take him to the emergency room.

Darren and I felt he must have a blockage or an obstruction because my sweet, always happy baby was crying like we had never heard before. I couldn't get him to stop and it took two hours of crying and morphine to finally calm him down. Let me just say that today - he has no voice.

They put 2 bags of IV through him, morphine, tylenol, ibuprofen, took his blood 4 times, used a catheter to get a urine sample and took an x-ray. Lucky they didn't find anything serious in the x-ray. What they did find is that he has a virus so bad that it caused tons of ulcers to form in his mouth and throat making it difficult and painful to eat, swallow, cough, anything. It even hurt him to poop. He was dehydrated, has pharyngitis and a fever of 102. They got his temperature to go down but we had to keep the IV in his arm and he had another LARGE dose of fluids put through him today. In the end - he was blown up like a sumo wrestler baby. He was unrecognizable to me but the picture doesn't do it justice. Poor baby. He is sounding sleeping right now - thank goodness but I know it won't last long.

Just thought I would let you all know that we have been functioning on NO sleep, NO food and tons of soda. Thanks for your prayers! Here are a couple of pictures to document this lovely occasion.

We just got him settled after getting his blood drawn...





Just got the morphine...


Liking the morphine...


Trying to rip the cast off...


The next morning coming back for more of the same....notice the new red cast...


Sumo baby after way too much IV....he can't even open his eyes!