Snow, Snow and More Snow!

When the weather man said last week that we would get snow, I said, "Okay, whatever" because we usually don't get much snow when they say we do, and the first day they said we would get snow, we didn't get it. But on Saturday we woke up to snow, and it only seems to have stopped for a few hours since then! I went shopping around town on Saturday and flakes as big as feathers were falling from the sky. I loved watching them fall because they moved so slowly. I had to wear my boots around town because things were pretty slippery! That afternoon we had a birthday party for my niece and after that we all went sledding. It was so much fun, and it was Uriah's first real sledding trip. He loved it, and would even go down the hills by himself. He would go down, come back up, and jump right back into a sled to go down again. On Sunday it snowed even more and Uriah and I went to play outside. He is a little snow bunny. He probably could have stayed out there for hours, but when the wind kicked up, mommy wanted to go back inside! We had some hot chocolate after we got inside to warm us up. Yummy! Right now, I look out my window at work and I can barely see across campus. It looks like someone shook a snow globe outside! I love watching snow fall, especially when I'm inside and warm (^_^)

 Jordyn didn't quite know what to do out there in the snow. We pretty much held her the whole time.

 "What is this thing I'm sitting in, mom?"

 Uriah with Uncle TJ.

 This is the only time Jordyn smiled while we were out sledding. The rest of the time, she didn't make a peep...no crying, no laughing, no talking, just straight-faced.

 Uncle Kacy took Jordyn for a ride down the hill.

 This is pretty much the face she had on the whole time.

 Uriah with uncle TJ.

 Uriah getting ready to go down all by himself.

Jordyn and Uncle Kacy.

I Can't Wait!

So, the problem with me buying Christmas presents early, is that I want to GIVE them early! I have been this way since high school. I love seeing people's reactions to the gifts I give them, but more than that, it's just that I love giving! I've already bought the kids' presents, and while I know Jordyn really wouldn't know one way or the other what a present was, I can't wait to see Uriah open his presents. I must admit I have spoiled him a little bit this year. I got him some Thomas and Friends trains and some clothes, but what I'm most excited about are the Woody and Buzz Lightyear dolls that I got him. About a month ago I had gotten Uriah a really big Thomas train set that you would put together and it had a zip line for Thomas to go down and a logging factory that put logs in a train car. I had my heart set on getting this for Uriah because I was sure he would love it. But the other day, I bought a Jessie doll for my niece's birthday and Uriah wouldn't leave it alone. He kept sneaking into my room and trying to play with it. That's when I decided that, since Uriah already has a ton of train tracks and expansions, that I would take the Thomas train set back and get the Buzz and Woody dolls. I think that was the best choice, and now I can't wait to see him open them on Christmas day!
Shopping for kids is easy. Shopping for spouses, however, is hard, especially if your spouse doesn't give you any ideas of what they want! It took me weeks to get Jared to give me some ideas of things he wanted for Christmas, and he finally told me a few things that I could work with.  I guess I should be thankful that he doesn't ask for a lot.
Well, I have been going to the gym 6 days a week for about a month now. I am very happy that I have been able to keep myself at it. There have been a few days where I haven't been able to get up in the morning, but I always make sure I find the time to make it in the afternoon after I get done with work. I know I have lost a few pounds, but I'm not really keeping track much because that's not really my goal. Yes, I want to lose some weight, but mostly I just want to be active at least once a day, and I know that doing that will keep me healthy. I am also trying to work on my eating portions, because I know that can make a big difference, but so far I haven't been very good at it. It's hard, and I am getting better, but it's still something I'm working on. I am so thankful for that membership to the gym. Working out really does make me feel good, and I get to go swimming whenever I want to! I have always loved swimming, but I've never wanted to pay to go to a public place by myself, and we don't get out to go as a family very often. But now that I've got that membership, I can go whenever I want. I usually reserve it for Saturday morning, because there's hardly anybody there and I can swim laps to my heart's content! I don't know what it is about being in the water, but I sure love it! Last week, however, I suffered a muscle spasm in my back and I had to go to the doctor and get some muscle relaxers. That was some really bad pain, and I learned that it was probably because I wasn't warming up very well before I started exercising. I learned I need to work more on my core muscles by warming them up, because they are some of the most important muscles when it comes to exercising. After that muscle spasm, I make sure to adequately warm up every morning!
Jordyn was sick last week. She had a fever every day until I took work off Friday and took her to the doctor.  We found out that she had an ear infection and a cold virus, a rash and some wheezing when she breathed. Thankfully we got her on some antibiotics, which have really helped, but she can't seem to shake this silly cold virus. It has really been sticking to people this year. Uriah has been healthy so far *knock on wood* and has been his little silly self. Ever since he started going to the day care he has really learned how to talk better and he has learned how to say a lot of things. My new favorite phrase is, "I don't know where it is." He makes me so happy when he talks and I can understand him! I love my kids so much, and I don't know where I would be without them.
I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving...I think it takes too long to get here! Ha ha. I was really really excited for Black Friday, but now that I've gotten most of my shopping done, I don't really know what I would go shopping for on Black Friday, unless there was an incredible deal on something I needed or hadn't thought about buying before.
So.....I've kind of lost my will to digitally scrapbook. I was really excited about it, and it was a lot of fun. I did pages for Uriah's 2nd birthday party and I was happy with them, but I never printed them because I didn't have the money. Then I did a project for my brother and sister-in-law and I digitally scrapped their pages. They looked so good on the computer, so I got them printed through Costco (because they printed 12x12 photos) and when I picked them up, I wasn't really that happy with them at all. They looked sooooo good on my computer, and on print, not so cool. Some of them turned out pretty good, and others were too dark or too light. I don't know if that is the printer's problem or mine, but when I saw it, I just knew that digital scrapping could probably never replace doing it by hand. There's just some sort of pride that I feel when I scrapbook by hand, like when I make cards or my own pages...I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I looked back on when I started scrapping Uriah's baby pages and I really missed doing that, no matter how big a mess I made when I did it. So, we'll see how my transition back to real scrapping goes (^_^)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Every year, I look forward to Halloween so that I can throw my annual Halloween party. I have been throwing parties since 7th grade, when someone told me I was too old to go trick-or-treating. This year we had a great time. We played games and had lots of good food. It is always nice to spend time with old and new friends.

This is the cupcake cake I ordered from Wal-Mart. It's very yummy. I love their buttercream frosting, it's just so sweet!

This is the peanut game. You had to get peanuts from the plate to the bowl with just a straw. It was a lot of fun to watch people play it, and to watch them try and cheat by holding other people's straws.

My brother-in-law drew this for my "Witch Wart" game. Each player had a piece of gum to chew, and then they had to try to stick it on the witch's nose, blindfolded.

This was the winning wart. Pretty much spot on! 

This is me spinning my hubby around to play the Witch Wart game.

 Uriah was Thomas the Tank Engine for Halloween. For some reason, I felt like his costume was a little plain, so daddy suggested that we draw puffs of smoke on his cheeks, because Thomas' funnel ends right at Uriah's neck. I think that made it look much better! Uriah liked getting his face drawn on too.

 Jordyn was a black and white kitty for Halloween. I added her whiskers and pink nose because I think that really added a lot. A lot of people asked me if she was a panda bear, and I had to tell them, "Uh..no!" It was just hard for people to see the long, black tail on the back of the costume. Kitty or panda, she sure was super cute!

Friday night was my party, and Saturday we went to a ward dinner and trunk-or-treat. Uriah did really well at saying trick-or-treat and he loved getting the candy. When we went back to our car, there was a woman in a van with her door open, and Uriah thought she was handing out candy, so he walked up to her and said trick-or-treat, and she took a piece of candy from one of her kids and gave it to Uriah. She thought it was really funny. Now Uriah will probably think that candy comes from cars. 

After the trunk-or-treat, we went to visit some friends we hadn't seen in a while and to visit family. Needless to say, we were pretty exhausted by the time we got home. So, we put the kids to bed and watched a Halloweeny movie, but it didn't take long for us to fall asleep. I love Halloween, and getting to see people dressed up and to dress up my kids. To me, it is one of the most exciting times of the year!