Forgotten

On Mon. I saw an article about a couple different instances where parents left their kids at Chuck-E-Cheese by accident. I remember thinking I can see how that could happen when your with a big group and you think your kids is with an aunt or grandparent. But I think it is pretty ironic that this happened to me the same day I was thinking of how easily it could happen. Here's the story.

On Mon. Kali had a futsal game and Conner had practice. They overlapped each other. So I took Scotty with me and took Conner to practice and Jimmy took Sophie with him to Kali's game. As I was leaving Jimmy mentioned that there were some envelopes he needed me to stop by the post office and get in the mail TODAY. So I tucked that in the back of my head and then went and dropped Conner off at practice about 20 minutes away. Then I tried to find my way to Costco and took a long cut (opposite of short cut). So I get to Costco and get all the shopping done. By the time I got out of there, I thought I better hurry to get to the post office so that mail could go out today. It was about 10 to five. At that point I had totally forgot that I needed to pick up Conner at 5.

Oh, let me back up. In a hurry to get out the door, I left my cell phone at home. So when we were almost to Conner's practice I told him he needed to leave his phone with me so I could have it incase I needed to get ahold of Jimmy or if their practice changed locations like it had last week. (we got a text to pick up the kids at the coaches house half was through practice) So in my head, I was thinking I need to have it just in case that happened today.

So at 4:50 I head to the post office and then head home. I unpack the car and start on dinner. I start thinking about when everyone will be home so I can have it ready. Jimmy and Kali should be home at 6:20ish and Conner should be home at.... ahhhhhhhhh, I was supposed to pick him up at 5:00!!!!!!!

It was after 6! And it takes 20 minutes to get there. It's at a park in American Fork. I hurried and called Jimmy hoping he was still aways from home and closer to Conner than me. But nope he was just around the corner. Within 30 seconds he was home and took my car to go get Conner. On the way he called Conner's couch who lives close to the park and asked him to go see if he could wait with Conner until he could get there. Jimmy asked him to call as soon as he found him. Then Jimmy was supposed to call me and let me know he was okay.

It took the coach about 5 minutes to get there and then about 10 minutes to find him. That was the longest 15 minutes of my life. I was so worried about him. At first the coach didn't see him. He was sitting on the grass close to some cars and so he was kind of hidden.

Poor kid. Luckily it wasn't really cold out. It was in the 60's but there was a bit of a wind. He said he was cold and after awhile he was worried that I might have gotten in an accident. He went and hung out at the park equipment and watched a baseball game for awhile. Then he sat on the slide and put his shirt over his shorts and tucked his hands inside his shirt. There was a dad with some young kids playing at the park for awhile and I told Conner he should have asked to use his phone. (I felt awful that I had HIS phone) He said he thought about it but was too shy/scared to do it. He said he was so hungry too and the guy had Wheat Thins that Conner was drooling over. Poor guy!

When his coach got there Conner got in his car and waited for about 10 minutes until Jimmy got there. I felt scared, guilty, desperate, embarrassed, thankful, relieved- all within 45 minutes. Conner was a bit upset with me but he was also very understanding and didn't hold a grudge. He knew how terrible I felt.

Anyway, not my proud mommy moment but one that I will want to remember and tell Conner's kids about it someday when he leaves them somewhere. (hopefully that won't happen) But I do remember my mom leaving at piano practice on more than one occasion and I would start to walk home after awhile. It was probably about 1.5 miles away and I must have been in 5th grade.

Seconds Anyone??

It's been a couple months since I've written anything. Camile called me today and told me she updated her blog and I should check it out. For a minutes I thought she was announcing she was pregnant with #4. But nope, her girls Carly and Ellie got their ears pierced. But I decided from her example to be better about blogging.

So today, my niece Ashley texted us and asked if she could come over with one of her roommates. She goes to BYU and we always love to have her around.

I wasn't planning on anything great for dinner and by the time I found out she would be coming, I had already started a small dinner in the crock pot (not enough for two extra mouths). I was making some chinese honey chicken without frying the chicken first, this was an experimental meal. (one that I would not usually feed to guests) Well, I added some left over chicken from a rotiserie chicken and since the chicken didn't look the same, I decided to shred it. I saw an idea on Pintrest to put the chicken in the kitchen aid blender and it shreds the chicken. I've done it before and it worked great. For some reason though this time it didn't look the same, it was really shredded, like canned chicken and it smelled like it too.

Anyway, I didn't have time to do anything else so I threw it back in the crock pot, hoping it would taste okay when it was hot.

Well, it didn't. It smelled like dog food (and kind of looked like it too). The wild rice was kind of mushy. I decided to not say anything though because maybe I was just being too hard on it. Ashley's friend took a big scoop of it and I wanted to say you don't have to eat all that but I figured it would be better to just act like everything was fine. If I said it wasn't good and sorry, what if they then felt like they had to say how good it was and take seconds to prove it. They both finished their plates off but no one asked for more.

When I had a private second with Jimmy, I asked him what he thought of it when we were cleaning up and he just whimpered, "errrrrr".

I have a ton left, maybe I should see if Rosie will eat it. I will need to invite them over again soon to redeem myself. Yikes! It was BAD!!!

Present Spoiler

It's always hard to get presents for Jimmy. It seems like he just gets what he wants when he wants it & doesn't wait for a birthday or holiday. So he lacks the need for things. This year, I thought I would finally get something that he hadn't gotten for himself first. So I had heard good things about Tom Shoes. Jimmy has mentioned before that he wants some casual shoes to wear with jeans. So I went to Nordstrom's website and got some Tom's. A few days later Jimmy and I were on a date and we stopped at the mall to get a few things for Christmas. While we were there he said he wanted to stop in Journey and see if they had some casual shoes he'd been wanting. Dang! So he found a pair he wanted (some Croc canvas slip on shoes, that he said are so comfy) and ordered them in his size. That is how we work with Christmas, we shop together and get what we want and then give it to each other. So usually this would be fine but this time I wanted to get him some shoes. So I told him I had ordered him some and said we'd just take them back if this is what he wanted. When mine came in the mail, he decided he liked them and wanted them too. ( I was just going to return them) He got light colored ones and I ordered dark so I figured he could get them for his birthday in January.

While we were at the mall, we looked in a jewelry store. He has lost his wedding ring (3 times). After his first gold one was lost. I got a titanium one off Ebay, and then he lost that one and he got one at Walmart. So needless to say, with his track record of loosing rings, I wasn't about ready to buy him one for $300+. We ended up looking at ones for me. It was fun trying them on and seeing my finger sparkle with big diamonds but at the end of the day, I can't justify spending money on something like that when we could put that money towards a family vacation or something. A ring you can't take with you after this life, but memories and building relationships are priceless. So I left there with an idea of what style Jimmy liked and they told us that Tugstan rings were nicer than the Titanium we probably would have bought. So I went home and found a Tugstan ring and ordered it off Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/320799657811?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_1985wt_1165

It was only $12.48 with free shipping! So I was excited about giving Jimmy this gift and surprising him on Christmas morning. This made up for the shoe thing.

That very day Jimmy came home from grabbing some stuff for me at Walmart and he had on a Tugstan ring from Walmart (for $50). It looked almost just like the one I had picked out for him but mine was better. So I told him he needed to take it back that I had ordered one already!

So Jimmy had no surprises this Christmas! But he got a nice ring and he'll be getting a pair of shoes he likes in a couple weeks! I guess great mind just think alike, right?

Christmas Day

After staying up with the older kids until 11:30 we told them we needed to sleep in until 8 am. At about 7:50 Sophie came into our room and a few minutes after that Conner and Kali came in. They had both slept on the guest bed so that we would all be on the top floor in the morning. I guess Conner woke up at 7:30 and then woke up Kali because he was so excited.

We came down and they waited on the stairs while I went to see if Santa had come. I took my camera and took pictures of each child's pile. When I got to my pile to take the picture, I realized that when Jimmy had went downstairs to "grab his phone" right before bed, he was actually setting out a crock pot and a cozy blanket for me. That was a nice surprise.

(our family pile of gifts from Santa)

(Scotty's pile)

(Sophie's piles)

(Kali's pile)

(Conner's pile)

(my pile)

(Jimmy's pile)

I had put up a gate on the stairs the night before because I was afraid Sophie would wake up in the morning and instead of coming and getting us she would go downstairs to see if Santa had come. One of my favorite parts on Christmas morning is seeing the kids faces as they see what Santa brought them. The gate worked great- no one saw before they were supposed to.

Jimmy was in charge of recording with his phone and I took pictures. Scotty slept about an hour after the rest of the kids woke up. It was fun for them all to see what Scotty got and how he reacted to his cars track.

(this is a Messi Barcelona jersey Conner really wanted and Santa brought one for all the boys with matching shorts, so cute)

This year Santa didn't set out as many gifts and Jimmy and I wrapped some from us. I also set up a little store for the kids to come and each pick out gifts for each other earlier in the week. They were things that I had gotten from either garage sales or DI so they weren't expensive gifts but things I knew each person would like. They did chores for me or actually paid me money for the stuff so it was really from them. Kali made a shirt for Jimmy to wear and Scotty to play on. It was another idea I found on Pinterest. <http://thebluebasket.blogspot.com/2011/09/tutorial-car-shirt.html#more> She drew a town with fabric Sharpies and then gave Scotty some cars to drive around on it. Jimmy gets a little back scratch/rub (which he is always asking me and the kids for) and Scotty gets to play cars. She did a great job on it!

So they each had a few gifts from Jimmy and I and 3 gifts from their siblings. Each hour or two we would let them choose a gift to open. It was so fun because it made the gift giving and getting part of Christmas last all day long.

I couldn't find a couple shirts I got for Kali while we were in St. George and a shake and go fire truck I got for Scotty there too. I bet they are somewhere together but I still need to find them- it's bugging me. Another thing that bugged me about Christmas was no snow- it just doesn't seem right. It was so nice yesterday that we opened the sliding door and the kitchen window and let the cool air in. I am not too big of a fan of cold weather and snow but there is just something about the clean white blanket of snow that makes the season feel so cozy and beautiful. Next year maybe we'll take a two week cruise during Christmas break to Hawaii and purposely get out of the snow but this year, I missed the snow.

We decided we'd just have the kids snack on some pop tarts and goldfish crackers they got in their stockings before church and then cook a big breakfast after. We had church at 11 and they had a great program filled with Christmas music and one speaker. I got released as the primary 2nd counselor and then recalled as the 1st. I've really been doing the 1st counselor responsibilities all along but since we were getting a new member of the presidency we decided to make the switch so it would be easier with the Stake presidency to know who was doing what.

We came home to make the breakfast and Jimmy told everyone it was mandatory to get back in their jammies. It was going to be a jammie day. Kali put on her new velor sweat pants and Sophie ended up in her dress the rest of the day (mainly because I never helped her change) but the rest of us went and got our comfy stuff back on.

When we went to make the traditional spam and eggs we realized we only had 4 eggs. That would just not do! Jimmy's dad always would make Bisquick muffins, spam and eggs and hash browns for Christmas morning. I still remember turning up my nose at the spam part of the eggs and picking out just the eggs to eat. But now since I've tried it, I've decided I like it. (kind of like the book Green Eggs and Ham but for this it would be called Scrambled Eggs and Spam) We brown the spam and so it is just a bit crispy and Jimmy puts in cheese with the scrambled eggs. I know, I know, not the most healthy but once a year we spurge! So since we didn't have the eggs, we decided to make Bisquick pancakes (another favorite for the kids since I usually make whole wheat blender pancakes and they never have just white flour ones) We had 6 pieces of bacon in the fridge from the salad I made for Jon & Luci's so we cooked that up and then I made the pancakes look like reindeer. I saw that idea on Pinterest. <http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com/2011/12/rudolph-pancake-breakfast.html> We also had hash browns. It was a hit!

(those are plates my parents gave me a couple years ago that we used as a family the whole time growing up. Makes me think of my childhood when I see that pattern)

(this morning (26th) Jimmy went out and got some eggs and we did the spam & eggs this morning instead)

After we cleaned up, Jimmy and I went and took a nap. I used my new blanket Jimmy gave me. The kids did well without us and let us sleep! Scotty was taking a nap too.

After our naps, Jason and Kassie came over with a ham to cook, some rolls, mashed potatoes, and green salad. We also had some of the leftover stuffing casserole and frog eyed salad. It was a great meal. We played Ticket to Ride and watched a basketball game while dinner was cooking.

After they left we played Qwirkle some more and let Scotty watch some of his Cars 2 movie.

It was a great Christmas! It is so fun watching our kids get gifts that they are so excited about. I'm sad the day is over but know it will come so fast again next year and we'll make more fun memories. And next year, I'll take more pictures at our family get togethers!

Atkin Christmas Party, Pajama Party and Christmas Eve

On the 21st, we got together at Jon & Luci's house for our Atkin Christmas party. Jimmy's parents were there & Jason, Kassie and Arianna came too. Luci had made pulled pork that we ate on rolls, baked beans, funeral potatoes, and we brought a green salad. Everything tasted great. McKenzie sat between Scotty and Sophie in the kitchen & we ate in the dining room in peace. It was great!

We had a white elephant gift exchange in the basement. (we took some pictures of this one) Jimmy got some safety goggles and the pink basket that Jon is holding Kali stole from him. Sophie is holding a ipod speaker bag with towel that got stolen from her but she ended up with a purse/wallet that she really likes and she got to keep the lotion that was in the other gift. I got some Bath and Body works lemon soap that I am loving in our kitchen.

On Christmas Eve Eve (23rd) we got together with Ken, Gina, Brigham & Emma, Steph & Bryant, Andrea (my cousin) & Andy and his parents. Everyone wore their jammies and we had breakfast for dinner. We had breakfast casserole, fresh fruit with dip, sweet rolls and juice. We haven't been good at taking pictures at our family get togethers so no pictures of this event either. Bums me out. Pictures are so fun!

On Christmas Eve, we invited Jason, Kassie & Ari over (we were in jammies again for this too). The other kids had already opened theirs at Steph's house so Jimmy and I opened ours. Mine are the comfiest jammies I've ever owned. We got them at Costco the brand is Aria. Typing about them now makes me want to go slip into them. I'll be right back. :) OK, much better and I got some grey slippers to match.

We had a chicken, veggie, stuffing casserole, fresh baked bread, frog eye salad (Jimmy's favorite that we never make) and they brought a green salad. After we cleaned up dinner we did the nativity. We were short some people. We only had one wise man, Kali, one Shepherd, Conner, two angels, Sophie and Ari, Scotty was baby Jesus, Kassie was Mary (perfect since she is 8 months pregnant) and Jason was Joseph. Jimmy was the narrator and I was the producer. Then we watched a you tube video Breath of Heaven. Very pretty music with the nativity story. (I took some pictures with Kassie's camera so someday hopefully I'll get them on here)

After that we opened a family game, Quirkle. It's a fun game that we've played several times since. We stayed up until 11:30 on Christmas Eve with Conner and Kali playing and then Jimmy and I were up until 2 am! Crazy us for letting the kids stay up so late!

Ugly Sweater Party, Grand America & PJ's

On the 17th (Dec) we got together at Ken & Gina's house for our annual Ugly Sweater party and also to celebrate Blake's birthday. I already wrote about what we did for Blake's part of it in an earlier post. We had it at Ken and Gina's house and had stroganoff and potatoes. The last couple years we have had it closer to Christmas but this year my parents were going South for Christmas and we wanted to do it when they were here. My mom had a stomach bug though and after we went to the cemetery they went back to my house and missed the rest of the get together. We were all sad they weren't there.

I am kicking myself that we didn't take any pictures. No one did! Ryan had rigged together a sweater with a stuffed animal and it played music, Ken had a big Santa face on his sweater. (I had given it to him for his birthday) Emma wore the sweater I had gotten for Brandon for his birthday (he had to work) and she had strings of beads draped all around it. Steph had cute out Snowmen from a previous sweater and pinned them on a plain black sweater. Ashley had a plastic pair of ski's in a clear pocket on her sweatshirt. I wore a pioneer looking apron that went to the ground. It was yellow and red. Jimmy, Conner and Aaron wore ugly cardigans. Kali wore a cute red sweater but then we uglied it up with a stocking that clashed. Sophie wore her dog sweater but it looks cute even though on an adult it would of be ugly. Camile borrowed a sweater from someone in her ward- she gets double points for that.

Steph's best friend, Michelle, came with her little boy, Hudson. It was fun to see her.

We had prizes courtesy of my mom and I think everybody got something. Except me, I was the prize giver (with Steph's help) and at the end, there wasn't anything I wanted.

Then we had our white elephant gift exchange. Some of the highlights were the colt and horse picture (that keeps getting exchanged for the last couple years) I added a oval wooden (cut from a tree) picture of a horse. So now it's a set. The little ping pong table showed up again too but it came with a big bucket of nuts and chocolate. Aaron stole the toilet paper and soap from Kali which she was grateful for. We had a great time. Since mom and dad weren't there, they ended up with the two last gifts.

The next night, Sunday, we went and dropped the gloves off down town at the homeless shelter and then we went to the Grand America for the window display. Everybody gets a card and you try and find the star in each of the displays. At the end, we turned in our cards for sugar cookies. There was a life size ginger bread house that was neat and pretty trees all decorated through out. It was a fun adventure.

Next we went and looked at the lights at Temple square but the drivers got in a traffic jam so they let us out and then we walked around (Scotty stayed with Jimmy) and then we caught Trax back and met them in the parking lot where we started across from the Grand America.

Then we went to Steph's house and had chili and baked potatoes. The kids opened their jammies from Nany Nette and Grandpa. Sophie was so excited to have the same nightgowns as Carlie and Ellie. Kali and Emma got the same jammies and Conner and Brigham got long johns to go under their clothes when they go sledding or snowboarding. The girls all put theirs on.

Scotty's new thing when he gets a picture taken is he smiles real cute when you tell him your taking a picture and then he says, "I wanna see it" when you finish. He loves to see how he looks. So cute!!

We also gave mom & dad their 2012 Calendar. They loved it!

M is for Movie Maker & Artist, Kali

So for our family Christmas card/letter this year, we are keeping it short and sweet. For those who want more details and pictures, I suggested they check out our blog. But since I just barely started blogging this last month, I have some major catching up to do. To help me stay on track and focused, I am going to use the layout of our Christmas card and expand on the tidbits of info and do a post for each.

M is for Movie maker & Artist, Kali. Kali has the creative bug. She can always be found writing stories or scripts, taking pictures, drawing, recording herself singing, or sitting with me at the computer looking through Pinterest. (an online pin board with tons of craft and home decorating ideas)

When I need advice about where to hang something or if a color looks good with a project I’m doing, I ask Kali for advice. She has a good eye for that kind of stuff.

She has a blog too that she updates every so often.

She keeps busy with jump team two days a week at school and is often found practicing on the driveway with her friend, Madi. Jump Team is a jump roping after school activity that she does with 45 other 6^th graders. They get to travel to other schools and do assemblies. At the end of the school year, they have a performance for their families.

Her favorite colors are blue and green and you won't ever catch her wearing pink. (except for at Jocelyn's wedding I got her in a matching dress with her cousin, Jenna) She likes to be comfy and wears her soccer warm ups to school all the time. During warmer weather it's her soccer shorts and basketball shorts. Her other favorite thing to wear is skinny jeans- a criteria for Kali when she puts something on is it has to be comfy. She likes to play soccer during recess and during the holiday break she's been practicing jump roping in the garage so she'll be picked to be on the traveling team.

She loves noodles. She doesn't like meat very much. She likes veggies but not much fruit. Her favorite thing to drink is water and hot chocolate. She doesn't like juice but she'll have soda sometimes.

Kali enjoys being social and has lots of friends. If we were the same age I bet we'd be best friends. She likes to giggle and be silly but is also very responsible and a great babysitter. I enjoy doing projects with her- it's fun being her mom and watch her grow.