Merry Christmas all!

We have had such a busy, but fun December. And Christmas was a blast... like usual!

Here are a few of our favorite things...

Tucker's 32 birthday

Lights at Temple Square, SLC

Cayden's school christmas program

Ginger bread "houses" at Grandpa Steve's

New christmas jammies

Christmas Eve with Grandad

The girls

Christmas morning at home

Christmas with Grandmachele and Grandpa Norm

Christmas with the Hyde's

Hope you all had as much fun as we did! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TUCKER!

Hope you had a fun day, and even more...hope you know how much we love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Everyday I love this man more! I am a lucky girl!

(stolen quote from my friend's blog!)

I would have posted a picture, but...

This is a shout out to my good friend whose kids threw up on her face the other night. I feel you sister! And yes, that is a very good form of birth control!
After two of my kids spent the night throwing up, it was my turn to sleep by the bowl. Boy was that fun. No. My Mom (the greatest mom in the world!) came over in the morning to take the kids so I could sleep it off. This is what I heard this morning while pretending to be asleep...
Grandma: "Cade, make your bed after you get dressed."
Cayden: "No, my Mom usually leaves it like this so it's already messy when I get back in."(uh, no.)
River: "Don't worry Cayden, after I make my bed, I'll make yours too." (awe)
Kaleigh: "Cayden it's time to go. I got your shoes for ya." (sweet)
I just had to smile through my misery.
And then...
Cayden(coming to say good-bye) "Mom you should brush your teeth. And your nose stinks too." (thanks)


So this is what we've learned from this bug:
1 Don't even get out of bed in the first place, the motion will make you spew.
2 Don't eat anything*...it will come back out.
3 Don't drink water, rinse or brush teeth after vomiting, you'll vomit water. (thanks Dani)
4 Pedialite tastes gross, it will make you throw up. Drink gatorade instead.
5 *Jello, in large amounts will NOT make you throw up.
6 If you're lucky, it will only last 24 hours...per person!

And last but not least and only because I was feeling sorry for myself... my laundry tally for the night.

Kaleigh's sheets, pillow case, and comforter cover and matress pad
My sheets, 3 pillow cases and bed blanket
4 jamma shirts
4 jamma pants
5 blankies
5 hand towels
2 bath towels
1 River outfit
1 bath rug
whatever was laying on the laundry floor that all the nasty laundry landed on
and...thank goodness for my "little green" that truely CAN lift throw up, poop and whatever else!

Oh, P.S. Tucker googled this bug, it has a name but I can't remember, and something like 67 kids in one day, at one elementary, stayed home from school. WATCH OUT! It's coming to get ya!

HELP!

What are you all doing for your husbands for Christmas? Can anyone give me the perfect idea? Or even just a good one??? I'm dying here...UGH!
Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. We sure did...lots of turkey. Mmm. And soon to come, Tucker's famouse turkey chowder. More yum.

I Love You Tucker!

Tucker and I recently celebrated our 10th anniversary and I just can't stop thinking about how much I love him. So here's a few reasons, one for each year, why...

1. He's always ready to go to the temple and sometimes sneaks out early in the morning just so he can go.

2. He is the GREATEST DAD EVER! Always has a minute for the kids, even when he doesn't actually have a minute.

3. He NEVER complains...

4. Even after he's just cleaned the entire house and done all the dishes, and I've rearranged everything.

5. He's a genius. He can fix, build, create, do/undo & figure out ANYTHING!

6. He always checks to see how I'm doing and then brings me a treat when needed.

7. He spends a lot of time working, studying, working, applying, working... just so our family can be comfortable and happy.

8. He gives really good FHE lessons and always remembers that it's monday.

9. He's served 4 years going on 6, in the USAF to help keep our country free.

10. He loves Me more than anything and always lets me know!

Just look at this face...how could you not love this!

TAG...

So, I'm finally getting around to this tag, now that Halloween is over. But I'm not smart enough to click, paste, post, so you don't get the cute little tag picture that goes with this.

Seven interesting things about me?? Here goes...

1. I HATE dishes in the sink. I pretty much hate all cluttery things, but dishes in the sink is my worst. I'll stay up till midnight, just so I don't have to come down to them in the morning.

2. I don't like smells either. If I can smell it, I have a headache. And if it's on me I have a migrain or a bloody nose. Camp fire and gas (Leish, that one was gross!) make me feel like my chest and throat are closing and I'm suffocating.

3. I also don't like (let's just get all the dislikes out first) exercising. I do it everyday and dread it everyday. Even while I'm doing it, I'm dying to get it over with. I grumble while I'm putting on all the garb, grumble walking down the stairs, grumble about which video to pick, grumble while I march in place, grumble, grumble, grumble. And those dang happy people telling you to smile... don't like em.

4. ...BUT if I don't exercise, I don't sleep. I'm one of those people whose brain just doesn't shut off. I lay in bed and think all...night...long..... Usually about nothing and if it is something good, I don't remember when I wake up. I just can't sleep. Hence the not answering the phone in the morning EVER!

5. Which leads me to my worst, most all time LEAST favorite thing to do...talk on the phone. UGH ! Hate it. Yes, I screen and listen as you leave your message.

6. hhmm... can't hink of anything positive. Here's one from Tucker. He thinks I'm a good cook. I do like to try new stuff and I LOVE flavor. I don't think there is a spice, in the bottomless pit of spice, that I don't own. If a recipe calls for it, I buy it.

7. I LOVE magazines. I love to see how people look, decorate, cook, whatever. My all time fav is Cottage Living. I just love to sit and do nothing but look at useless magazine things and dream about having my own cottage. And I have a million magazines that I can't let go of because someday I might use one of the ideas!

8. Oh, did that say seven things? Just one more... for some reason I can remember your phone number. If I've dialed it, it usually will come back to me, no matter when. Can't remember anything important and I'm definately not good at math, just phone numbers.

I'm sure there's more to me than just this and I probably thought of it last night while I wasn't sleeping, but like I said...it's gone, all gone.

Now... I TAG YOU! If your reading this blog, consider yourself tagged. I like to read all the fun stuff, Shanda, Lanae, Mandee.

Spooky Souls and Trick or Treats

A bit more Halloween for your entertainment! (Or, maybe just mine.)

First... my awesome party with my awesome people. Well, some of them anyway! I for one had a blast, loved the costumes, ate way too much food... hope everyone else did too! Kudos to Josh and Heather and Norm for best costumes! I think Harry and Hermione must have cast voting spells on us! And I know this is going to be picture overload, but the costumes were too good to not share. So Shanda and Mandee, these are for you!

Not too sure why Obama was there!

Are they not adorable?!

And second... Trick or treating with some of our cousins at Grandmachele's house. A fun new tradition so she can see all the grandkid garb. A good tradition too because by the time we hit all five houses in her circle, my kids are halfway done for the night. Yay! Good thing for little kids. Love 'em!

Happy Halloween All!

Happy Halloween

Every year Grandmachele and Grandpa Norm have a ward carnival that we like to crash. It's totally awesome! The kids love to wear their costumes as much as they can, so we crash any party we can find! We love to be with our best girls too!

We love you Merlin and Drezilla!

YES on Prop 8

I know alot of us are really worried about the future of marriage, our children and the future of our great church. This is a note from my sister who recently moved to california and is really feeling the pressure to spread the word on Prop 8. Although most of us can't vote ourselves, we can certainly do more than nothing, and we need to. Spread the word. Vote YES on Propostion 8.
(For more of her story go to her link on my sidebar, Shanda McHenry)


Public Blog for Prop 8
Hi Everyone. I'm making my blog public for a while. I'm planning on posting a letter on here to tell why I support Proposition 8 and ask you all to vote YES on 8 if you're from California. If you're not from California, I'm hoping you'll spread the word to your friends and family who are. Hopefully, by making my blog public, more people will become aware of what's going on and what could potentially happen to our children and families if this initiative is not passed. I realize Prop 8 is a state initiative so if you're not from California you may not be familiar with it. Even if you're not from California this could be coming to your state too. Proposition 8 is Pro-Marriage and Children not anti gay or lesbian. Prop 8 states that marriage is between a man and a woman and will be put into the California constitution. For more information on Prop 8 go to ProtectMarriage.com or click on the Yes on 8 image at the top of my blog for a direct link. I'm drafting my letter and will be posting it shortly.

Kodak Moments

Just a few pictures from our week...

We spent the day with cousins and Grandmas and witches at Gardner Village.

Kaleigh dropped a pumpkin on her face and broke the stem off on her eye. OUCH.

River got a sweet new "do." But don't worry, Im growing it right back out!

And a "rare" moment from Cayden. This boy NEVER takes off his clothes. Love the boots babe!