New Year's Eve

The last few years we have started having some friends over for a New Year's Eve party. So this year we decided to do the same and invited several of Robby's friends from growing up and their families over. We had lots of food and planned to make scones, which is what my family always did on New Year's Eve.

We were having a good time and there were 8 kids running around all over the place. At about 8:15, Owen came flying into the room on his Scuttlebug (a little 3-wheeled pedal-less bike thing), rounded a corner and fell off right into a kitchen chair. His hand went immediately to his head and by the time I got there his head was gushing blood! Ahh! Everyone immediately started cleaning up and packing up to go since they knew we needed to take him to the emergency room. Luckily, Maddy and Sawyer were there to take Jack, and Robby and I left to take Owen to the ER.

After three hours in the ER and 11 stitches we made it home right before midnight. Owen was a good sport and did really well at the ER. He cracked his head open all the way to the skull and needed three stitches under the skin and eight on top. We then had to wake him up every 2 hours all night to make sure he didn't have a concussion. Owen definitely made our New Year's Eve much more exciting than we had planned!

Christmas

Before we knew it this year it was already Christmas! We knew Christmas was going to be busy because Robby's brother Sawyer was getting married on the 19th, we just didn't know how crazy it would get!

On December 16th we flew to Portland to drop the boys off at my parent's new house. (They had just moved in a few days before.) It was freezing when we got there and they had already had record amounts of snow. It took my parents almost two hours to get to the airport to pick us up. We spent the next day getting the boys settled then Robby and I left for Salt Lake City. The roads were so bad in Portland that we had to take the train to the airport. Little did we know this was only the start!

We got to Salt Lake and spent the 18th just hanging out with family. My sister was moving that weekend so I helped her pack up her kitchen and get things ready for the moving truck. On the 19th we went to Sawyer's wedding at the Bountiful temple. When we came out of the temple it was like a blizzard! Poor Maddie was freezing in her dress and we didn't get many pictures outside. We then went to a luncheon at Rodizio's, where it snowed the entire time we were there. After a scary drive back to Kelsey's house thanks to Dave, we went to Sawyer and Maddie's reception. In all it was a fun day and we were glad we were able to be there to see Sawyer and Maddy get sealed.

The next morning, the 20th, we woke up to catch our flight back to Portland. We got to the airport, returned our rental car and boarded our flight. After sitting on the plane for awhile they told us the Portland airport was backed up due to snow and that our flight would be delayed. We sat in the airport for several hours before they finally canceled our flight. Thankfully, Kelsey and Tommy live near the airport so they came and picked us up since our new flight was not until the next day.

The next day we got all packed to go only to find out our flight had again been canceled. We called Southwest and they didn't think any flights would be getting into Portland for awhile. So we changed our flight to go to Seattle instead and got a rental car to drive to Portland. When we got to Seattle we waited for our luggage for two hours before they finally realized all the luggage had been accidentally taken off our plane before we even left Salt Lake! So we told them our address in Portland and got on the road. We stopped at Walmart to pick up tire chains and supplies only to find they had no chains and that the roads were to bad to drive anyway. So we found a place to stay (Robby's cousin's husband's parents' house) and hoped to get out the next morning. Luckily, we woke up early the next morning, found tire chains and finally got on the road to Portland. The roads were pretty bad but we were able to drive about 40 mph most of the way. We finally got to Portland, dropped off the rental car and hopped on a train to my parents' house. After $300 (for a rental car and tire chains) and 3 days we finally made it to Portland!

We were glad to make it to Portland for Christmas and to finally see Owen and Jack. It was the first time I had ever left them and I had not prepared myself for how hard it would to get back to them! Once we got to my parents' we had fun playing in all the snow and spending time with almost all of my family. Owen was very excited for Christmas and really got into it this year. It was fun to watch him be so excited for Christmas.

Luckily, we had no problems getting back to Sacramento. It was fun going to Portland and Salt Lake but it was definitely nice to be home again! Oh and we just finally got our luggage back a couple of days ago from Seattle!

Once my dad sends me the pictures from Christmas, I will add them to this post!

Thanksgiving

I know it is way past Thanksgiving but since my last real post was Halloween I have some catching up to do.

We had a fun Thanksgiving with lots of Robby's family visiting. All of his siblings were in town and we even got to meet his brother Sawyer's fiance, Maddie. Because there were so many people in town Kelsey and Tommy stayed with us at our house. Owen was very excited to have someone staying with us.

On Thanksgiving day, Robby and all of his brothers woke up early to go to a ward tackle football game at the nearby park. They had a lot of fun but were all very sore afterward. I think they forget they are no longer 17!


Robby came home with a totally ripped shirt and sweatshirt and a sore right arm. I kept ignoring him until I saw what his arm started to look like. This picture was actually taken when it looked pretty good. At one point his arm was black and purple from his wrist to his armpit.


If it hadn't been so cold that morning we might have gone over to watch the game but instead the boys and Kelsey and I stayed home to watch the parade and make rolls for dinner. While we were home we even had wild turkeys walk right across our front yard! I didn't get the best picture but there were about 9-10 turkeys just walking down the street. We have seen them on our street before but what are the chances they walked by on Thanksgiving?


That afternoon we had a wonderful dinner with the whole family. We are so lucky to have so much family nearby to celebrate holidays with.

The next morning Kelsey and I got up at 3:45 so make it to the sales. We hit up Kohl's at 4:00 (to get Owen some awesome Tonka trucks for Christmas that he loved), then went to Old Navy at 5:00, then on to the mall! We were very tired but it was fun to go out Christmas shopping. I don't think I will make this a tradition though!

That afternoon the boys all went out for a bike ride while the girls threw a bridal shower for Maddie. We were surprised the boys were up for the bike ride after the football game. Owen was sad he couldn't go on the bike ride so Robby and Tommy took him for a shorter ride after they got home.


The next week, after everyone left we got out the Christmas decorations. While I decorated the inside of the house the boys went out and put lights on the house. It was pretty cold but the boys still wanted to help Robby. Jack only caused a couple of lights to break so I guess it turned out okay.

Crazy Busy

Okay, okay, I know I haven't posted in over a month now, but Primary is filling up all of my time. We had the Primary Program at the end of November, then there was Thanksgiving of course and ALL of Robby's family was in town. Last night I had my Primary Board Meeting/Christmas Party. I have to do Priesthood Preview on Sunday, then the Santa's breakfast on the 13th of December! Ahhh!! And then we leave on the 16th to go to Portland where we will drop off the kids with my parents so Robby and I can fly to Utah for his brother's wedding. Then we will fly back to Portland for Christmas and then fly back the day after Christmas for Robby's brother's reception. Whew! It's nuts around here.

I promise I will post some pictures soon. Although that means I will actually have to take some first...

Halloween

Two weeks ago Robby had to go to Montreal for work training to the boys and I headed to Portland to visit my parents and brothers' families. It was a crazy week but we enjoyed seeing everyone and it was nice to be home by ourselves while Robby was gone. We got to see my parents' house, although it was pretty much gutted at that point. We are excited to see it finished this Christmas.

The entire week we were in Portland we were preparing for Jeff and Augusta's annual Halloween party. They go all out and I am pretty sure they have more Halloween decorations than all of my holiday decorations combined. While getting ready for the party we were anxiously waiting to see if my sister-in-law was going to have her baby. She was hoping to not have until after the party. She made through the party but unfortunately she is still waiting for that baby to come!

Jeff and Augusta not only go all out on their party but also on their costumes. (The party has a strictly enforced costumes required rule.) Dressing up is not really my thing but they insisted I wore Augusta's strawberry costume from a previous year.

Here is everyone in their costumes for the party. (Augusta, Jeff, Scott, and Tiffany)


Here is Augusta and I in costume at the party. I know. I can't believe I am putting this picture up for everyone to see.


Before Jeff and Augusta's party we took the kids to the neighborhood Halloween party. They had several games for the kids to play.

Here is Owen (Snoopy), Jack (Charlie Brown) and James (astronaut) all ready to go.


The week after we got back from Portland we took the boys to two trunk-or-treats and out to actually trick-or-treat on Halloween of course. For some reason we never got all the cousins together in a picture so here's the best we got of Owen, Mayce and Jack together.


A couple of days before we went to Portland we got together with Erin, her sister-in-law Kerry, and her cousin Britney and had a craft day with the kids. They made tie-dye shirts, pumpkin bats, and decorated cookies. It was crazy but I think we all had fun. Here are all the kids in their tie-dye shirts. Thanks for the picture Erin! (We drew jack-o-lantern faces on the shirts after the party and my kids got tons of comments on them when they wore them on the plane to Portland.)

Jack is Stuck in the Toilet!

Like always, we went to Robby's parents' house for Sunday dinner yesterday. After we ate dinner the kids were all playing and Robby and I were doing dishes. Suddenly the kids came running out yelling, "Jack is stuck in the toilet!" Jack loves splashing in the toilet whenever a bathroom door gets left open so I assumed that he had gotten his arm caught in the toilet. Much to my surprise, when I got to the bathroom, he was actually sitting IN the toilet. I almost died! Of course I screamed for someone to bring me a camera before I got him out but unfortunately he climbed out himself before a camera got there. Bummer. It would have been a good picture to embarrass him with later. He was pretty upset once he got in the toilet so I am hoping he won't want to do it again, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Hopefully, everyone will remember to shut the bathroom door from now on.

Planting Flowers

Now that the weather is finally starting to cool down, we have been spending more time outside. It is nice for us to get out of the house during the day. Today we bought flowers to plant in our planters. We got mostly pansies since they seem to do really well in our yard but we also decided to try some snapdragons. Assuming the neighborhood cats don't use our planters as a litter box, which they usually do, we will have some nice flowers in a few weeks or so.

The boys really liked to help plant the flowers. Owen always had his shovel handy to dig a hole for me. Jack just liked to play in the dirt. He kept climbing into the planter and I kept taking him out. He finally got strapped into his stroller to keep him out of the dirt. If I hadn't just put fertilizer into the dirt, I probably would have just let him play in it.



It may be hard to see Owen's shirt, but it is the shirt he was given at preschool. I don't know what it is but he seems to pick the ugliest shirt he owns and it becomes his favorite shirt. As soon as it is clean, he puts it back on. It used to be a shirt with dogs on it but now it is the preschool shirt. I should stop buying him nice shirts altogether! I guess it is just part of having a 3 year old.


When we planted the flowers in the backyard Owen was finally able to distract Jack by teaching him how to go down the slide. This slide has been in our yard for a few years and is a little worse for the wear. Grandma Corbridge (Robby's sister's husband's mom...phew) brought this to Owen with the intention of us fixing it. It never got fixed, but it still works so oh well. It is small but pretty steep so Jack would go flying off the end every time. Luckily, it kept the boys busy so I could plant the last few flowers.



When we finished planting the flowers, I pushed Jack in the stroller around the block so Owen could ride his bike. Owen is not the bravest on his bike. If there is the slightest hill he rides his brakes all the way down. And if there is a bump, he gets off and walks the bike over the bump. He is starting to get a little better but I don't see the training wheels coming off any time soon.