Christmas Traditions

Our family Christmas traditions are a combination of my family, Jonas' family, and stuff we made up on our own. I think we are still in the process of making some so hopefully we get a new one each year...

FHE - we have a special FHE the Monday before Christmas that I got from an FHE lesson exchange. The kids get to decorate a little Christmas tree with different ornaments that all have meaning for the real reason for Christmas.

sugarcube houses - we have done gingerbread before but growing up we did sugarcube houses. That's what we are going to do this year, probably next Monday for FHE.

Christmas cookies - this year we are making Christmas cookies with some friends on Saturday.

Candy Cane popcorn - got this one from my sister in law, and we love it. Last year we ate it all instead of giving it out to people but this year we are giving it to people hopefully. :)

Christmas Eve - Mexican dinner and Christmas lights at the temple with all the fam, I don't think I have ever not gone to the temple on Christmas eve!

Christmas morning - growing up we all met in my parents room for prayer and then went to see the tree in a line youngest to oldest. We did presents and then stockings after breakfast. Jonas' fam had stockings first and then presents and then breakfast. For our family... we wake the kids up because we, meaning I, are too excited to wait until they wake up. We have prayer and we watch Luke 2. Then we open our stockings. Then instead of passing out presents, we give each other the present that we got for someone, hoping to make the kids more excited about giving. :)

Christmas breakfast - biscuits and gravy, egg nog!!!

Christmas dinner - ham and potatoes

12 days of Christmas - I really really want to start this tradition, it sounds like so much fun!!! I hope to get it going this year.

Christmas PJ's - this is from Jonas' fam, they get PJ's on Christmas eve. My family also got to open one present on Christmas eve, so we do PJ's, they usually aren't Christmas PJ's just fun PJ's. :)

stockings - Jonas always had an orange in the toe and "little cheese" in his stocking so we do that. The "little cheese", I am having a hard time describing, but it's that round cheese ... hmmmm..... anyway, then other stocking stuffers and candy of course.

decor and lights - we have almost always had a real tree. In Idaho we went and cut one down the day after thanksgiving. We haven't been very good about doing that in AZ but we have been getting a real tree. I love the smell!!! We always decorate the day after thanksgiving. I hope to get better about decorations and lights on the house because we really don't have that much. The kids love to drive around and look at lights, we have done it for the past 2 FHE's and we have some pretty good lights in our neighborhood.

nativity - Jonas grew up acting out the nativity on Christmas eve. Jonas and I were Mary and Joseph the first time I went there for Christmas. We tried to do it with our small fam in PA and last year my fam did it and it's a fun part of Christmas!

toys - this year, I am making/encouraging the kids give some toys to needy kids, I think we will do this next week. We are also going to get one of those tags off the tree at Walmart and buy a new toy for someone.

Anyway, I am always looking for more traditions - they make Christmas awesome!!!

I might be missing a few like ward Christmas parties and hot cocoa, but that's a pretty good chunk. I love Christmas!

busy season

What a busy week! For me anyway. I like downtime and I like my kids to have downtime. And lately I've been wondering if they have too much going on. The girls have a Christmas dance show coming up at the Mesa Arts Center and they have to go to extra classes for it. So we get to drive an hour round trip for an hour worth of dance 3 times a week instead of the usual one. It's fun. :) Kyla went to her first speech therapy this week. I really like the new clinic she's going to now, especially since it's close to home. She has been to her occupational twice and her speech once and both seem really good. This week she is starting her music therapy and I'm hoping that will be good as well. So we go there for 2 hours on Wednesday and one hour on Thursday. Luckily there is a train table for Jaxon in the waiting room, now I just need a kindle or something. :) Jaxon had his home meeting for early intervention on Thursday so I think he will get some services going soon as well. I think next year, Kyla will just do kindergarten and therapies. I think it's good for kids to have plenty of time to just be kids.

Travis and Kristin and fam were still in town this week from thanksgiving and it was so great having them around. We had their cute kids over to play on Wednesday. Friday we had a family get together and said bye to them until next time. Saturday I took the girls to the Nutcracker. Last year I only took Maelie. This year I decided to try and let Kyla have a chance to come. I told her that there were boring parts and she could only go if she could sit and be quiet for a long time. She really wanted to come and she did fantastic. She had tons of questions during the first 1/2 and wanted to know what was next the entire time. But I am glad I brought both girls, it was fun for them, especially because cousin Kailin was a cute little angel! Saturday night we had our ward party. We met at the church and took a hay ride singing Christmas carols through the neighborhood and to a ward member's barn for a Christmas program. I had to take Jaxon out to see their trucks because he was being so loud. That kid has been yelling a lot lately. In fact, yesterday in church I had him in my primary class with me because he wasn't being nice in nursery. He is fine as long as he has his own space, but that's not gonna happen all the time! Anyway... back to the ward party - after the program there was donuts and cocoa and a hay ride back to the church. I am wishing time would slow down a little - my 29th birthday is approaching!!!

turkey weekend

We had a great thanksgiving weekend. On Tuesday Jaxon and I went to Kyla's pie party at preschool. She showed me all the dinosaurs she loves to play with everyday at preschool just like last year. Maelie had a healthy feast on Wednesday at school... here they are looking cute in their pilgrim hats.

On Thanksgiving morning, Jonas played football, the kids and I watched the parade while I baked. Then we headed over to my parent's house for the feast. I forgot my camera all weekend but we had a good time over there. My entire family was together which was awesome. The kids had fun doing some Christmas crafts and later that day we all went to see Tangled - way cute movie!! Friday morning we went to play wallyball and that is always fun. Grandma and Taani watched all the kids at the park. The kids have loved it that we have been going to play with their cousins every day this weekend. After wallyball we went to buy a real tree. We got a smaller one this year to save some money. We love having a real tree in our house, it smells so good! This is the best by far time of year. I loved the Christmas music and how excited the kids were to decorate the tree. Jaxon quickly found all the ornaments that had wheels on them. :)

Saturday we went with my whole fam to Shamrock Farms to do a farm tour and everyone had a lot of fun. And soon we are back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner and 2 bday parties. Merry Christmas!!!

Gilbert Temple

The kids are in to mess/tent making these days :) And Daddy encourages it!


It's so great that we get to see a temple go up and in my hometown! It was awesome to watch the groundbreaking at our stake center. Last Sunday we went to the grounds and were able to drive in but I didn't have my camera. When we were in Rexburg, a family we knew took a pic of their fam every fast Sunday in front of the Rexburg temple as it was being built and we thought that would be cool. Well, when we went this Sunday with our camera, the fence was locked so we couldn't go in and Jaxon was asleep in the car. So I snuck my camera thru a crack and took a pic and took a pic of the girls in front of the fance. It sure was a beautiful day today all cloudy and windy and a little rain. We had a good weekend, Friday night at a friend's house and Saturday night at our stake rodeo. The kids got to ride a pony and loved petting the goats and sheep. When we made it over to watch the rodeo Kyla had a breakdown so we went home. And we are so excited for thanksgiving week! Yay for only 3 days of work and school!!!

I had icecream on Friday night.... I shared one of those little pints called "five" with 5 ingredients with Jonas, the mint kind and it was yuuuuummmmyyyy!! I'm not quitting just needed a little break and icecream totally calms me, haha!!! I started Jillian's 30 day shred on Saturday - trying to push thru this!!!

HAPPY TURKEY WEEK!!!!

1 month

When I started the no sweets, exercise hard every single day thing I didn't weight myself because I didn't wanna know. I use the wii fit to keep track of my weight but I hadn't used it for a while so I'm not at all really sure where I was when I started. Today was my one month mark so I figured I could probably weigh myself and I most likely lost some weight. Well, the little line went up into the obese section. I have never ever ever been in the obese section, except for when I was 9 months pregnant. Let me tell you, it felt completely awful. I cried and I cried and I cried. I don't want to go anywhere, I am so embarrassed about how I look. I wish I could just be happy with me no matter what. Weight is something I am probably going to struggle with my entire life and I've gotta get a handle on it. I am not at all sure what I will do now. I haven't ran to the store and bought every sweet in sight yet but I haven't exercised today either. I have done the Firm for 26 days in a row except Sunday and maybe I gained muscle but right now I don't care. Just seeing how big I have gotten is so depressing. I wish that I didn't feel this way and I know I will get through it. I wish I didn't get so depressed about something so stupid. I'm not sure where I am going with this post just felt that I needed to write down my feelings.

thankful

It is true that we kind of forget thanksgiving, it's just kind of in there between halloween and christmas. But it is an important holiday, to take time and think about all we are grateful for and all we do have instead of all we want/think we need. I am so thankful, no my life is not perfect, but I am blessed. I am so thankful for the gospel, the atonement and all the amazing things that come with that. I am thankful for my husband Jonas. He is a great husband and father and sometimes I wonder why he chose me. I am thankful for my 3 beautiful children, I don't even want to think about life without them. I am thankful for my parents and Jonas' parents and all they have done and still do for us. I am thankful for siblings and all family. I am so lucky, so blessed.

Maelie reading her library book to Kyla after school

Last night we made our annual thankful turkey :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

It's November? WHAT?!?

My October disappeared, I think it was because we were in Canada for 1/2 the month. So it feels weird to think that it's November!!!

The weekend we got back from Canada was my 10 year high school reunion. I had fun in high school with my group of friends and I am still in touch with the people I care about so I wasn't planning on going. I also didn't feel good about my weight and had nothing to wear. But I started thinking I would regret it if I didn't go and I got talked into going. Friday night was the family picnic so Jonas and the kids came too. It was fun to see some people and the kids had fun on the bounce house. Jonas knew some of my friend's husbands so he was good. I wish I left it at that. I ended up going on Saturday night with Emily and Kirsi. It was fun in a way but in another way it was just kinda weird. Here are a couple pix off facebook from the reunion.

Emily, me, and Kristen... Emily, Brittany, Brooke, me, Crystal, and Celeste

We have always only had 1 car. It has worked fine for us up until we bought our house and Jonas' work is 15 minutes away which isn't that far but when I need the car which is almost everyday, I have to drive him which ends up being an hour. And with the kids' schedules getting more complicated we made the plunge and bought a 2nd car. Nothing fancy, in fact both of our cars aren't worth very much so we are at liability only for both of them. Anyway, we are loving it! So nice! And now if a car breaks down we won't have to borrow a car from someone!! Yay!!

Jonas is doing good with work. There are rumors of another layoff coming up soon so we are getting applications in to other jobs just in case. We have made it thru 4 layoffs since he got his job back. But I guess that Orbital has been getting some new contracts from the government so hopefully the layoffs will calm down!!!

Maelie is still doing awesome in first grade. She is still liking piano and dance. We are done with drs for the time being for her tummy pain since we pretty much figured out it's nothing serious. I am pushing fruits and veggies and fluids on her and she is taking probiotics. So far, ok. :)

Kyla is doing awesome in preschool. I just had her year meeting and she has become a different child in the last year and should be way more ready for kindergarten next year. NEXT YEAR? WHAT?? She also likes going to dance class. On Friday I found out that she has qualified for DDD (dept of developmental disabilities) which means she will be getting some free services.

Last time I took Kyla to her developmental pediatrician, Jaxon was with me. Just by watching him play, she thought it would be a good idea to get him an evaluation. Well, today was his evaluation and he received the same diagnosis as Kyla - at risk for autism or PDD-NOS. Here we go again! Jaxon has a speech delay and I need to get him going with DDD as well and he will be evaluated for the preschool Kyla is in next month. Anyway, it's a little overwhelming but it is also good to get going on these things that will help them out. The dr is hopeful that both of them may outgrow their diagnosis's.

And that's about all that's going on in our life. I am still going strong on the Firm and no sweets. I am so glad it's getting cooler out. I love this time of year - if only it would slow down!!! I just know Christmas is gonna be over before I even realize it was December!

halloween

On Saturday night we went to Grandma and Grandpa's ward trunk or treat. Maelie was a ghost, Kyla was Mickey Mouse and Jaxon was Buzz Lightyear.

trick or treating at Grandma's house .... the halloween costume parade

All done trunk or treating, hanging with Grandma and Shannon .... the cutest Buzz ever!

Jaxon with Shannon and Zac the monkey.... Kyla got a Mickey painted on her face

Kyla and Anna dancing .... Maelie with her face painted

the kids picking out their pumpkin to color.... Kyla picking her prize at the cake walk

Jaxon loving the prizes... Kyla with Anna the hippie chick

Maelie with Jakob the family tree.... Alissa the ballerina

Jaxon did not want to put a costume on this year, but after we gave him some candy he got over it, phew!




Maelie wiped out with her hand in the candy :) Happy Halloween!!!

Oh, and yes I made it thru halloween without eating any sweets~ I also took 1/2 of the kids candy and put it in the freezer for their stockings. :)

Annual Pumpkin FHE

Last night was our pumpkin FHE! We made our own Jack-o-Lantern Pizza. Then after our lesson the kids painted a pumpkin and Jonas and I carved the Jack-o-Lantern just the way they wanted it.

Maelie is a ghost this year and the only one with her costume ready. She had a bday/halloween party on Saturday and here she is, the cutest ghost around. Today she had crazy sock day and I thought she looked so cute. Originally she was going to wear flip flops with the socks because they are toe socks but she had PE...

I have done the firm and stayed off sweets for one week! Woohoo! It is still hard but it feels good to be in control and doing something. It is hardest to make myself do the Firm everyday actually because it is wasting me so bad! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... :)

my goal

So I have been pretty depressed oh since Jaxon was born but mostly in the last year. I have been gaining weight out the wazoo and it's so not good. I have decided to quit all sweets until March 1st. I have done that before when I was at BYU-I and lost some good weight. I am the type of person that has a hard time keeping sweets limited so I think it's better for me to quit them completely. I realize this is hard and I realize completely cutting it out may cause you to binge. But I'm doing it anyway. I have done it before and I am doing it again. And what better time than right thru the holidays? No halloween candy, no thanksgiving pie, no birthday cake, and no Christmas treats. I CAN DO IT!! Jonas is doing it with me. I hope I have the will power for this because I really need to do this. I am starting TODAY and I am also doing the FIRM every single day (except Sunday) or something else equally difficult as well as taking the kids to the park in the stroller a few times a week. I did the FIRM this morning and it kicked my trash because I am so out of shape. I know that it's good to be happy no matter what but I am having a really hard time shaking this depression and I need to get healthy anyway! For me and for my family. I am also trying hard to just eat really healthy, lots of fruits and veggies and less processed. So here we go!!!