Holiday Hoopla

Boy, am I backlogged with blogging. Working full time and having 3 kids leaves little time for much else, including taking pictures and writing a blog. I will try to come up with the important highlights of the last few months.

In November there was Thanksgiving (obviously) and we had a nice dinner with my family at my sister's house. Bonnie has 2 cousins that are close to her age. Jayson was born 2 days before she was and Liberty was born the day after.

 Bonnie and Liberty

 

 

Bonnie and Jayson

My sister Lindsay moved to Colorado in July and I have missed her so much. Thankfully, she was able to come and visit us for Thanksgiving week.
We stuffed ourselves silly and played a few games. Then I went Black Friday shopping. Whoopee!
Everything I wanted went on sale at either 8 or 10pm and wasn't in high demand, so I was out of there at 10:30.  I bought new phones for me and Jared. We decided to drop AT&T since our contact with them was up and we switched to Straight Talk. Everything about it has been great so far and we have not been disappointed.

Jared has been working very hard to finish this semester. It is his first semester in the Respiratory Therapy program and he has had a lot of work to do. Finals just finished this week and it's so nice to know that we can just have some time to relax.

At the beginning of December we had our usual Hunsaker Christmas party with the extended relatives on my mom's side. We had lots of great food and fun at the auction and then the kids got to sit on Santa's lap.

Uriah asked for a guitar, which was the first (and last) time we had ever heard him ask for that. Santa even asked him if he wanted an acoustic one and Uriah said "oh, yes!" Silly boy.

Jordyn refused to look at Santa for the longest time, until finally we had bugged her enough to look up. Then she made this face...

 

This was Bonnie's first time sitting on Santa's lap and she had absolutely no troubles at all. She just kept looking at him and then looking at us. She loved the cookie that he gave her. She is the first of my children who didn't get sad the first time they met Santa. I don't know who this man is, but I think he makes the best Santa I have ever seen. His beard is real and he tells all the children who sit on his lap that he loves them. He even told me he loved me when he gave me a hug. I wish everyone were just a little more like this man.

 

Since October, Bonnie has gone from crawling a little to crawling almost faster than we can walk down the hall. If you go in the bathroom, you have to shut the door really fast because she is right there on your heels. She pulls herself up to the furniture (or the wall, or your legs) and has even been standing by herself for about 5 seconds at a time before hitting the ground again. I have a feeling that she will start walking around 11 months like Uriah and Jordyn did. She is such a good baby and brings lots of joy to our house.

 

Jordyn was pretty much potty trained at day care. We tried to potty train her at 2 1/2 years old during the summer time and nothing ever stuck. When I found out her teachers at day care said that they worked on that in class, I didn't think much of it and said to myself "Good luck!". Jordyn has been in panties and away from diapers for the past 2 months and I am forever grateful to her teachers for teaching her to use the potty. It really saved us time (and money!) having her learn to do that at school. She can go all night without needing to go potty and she even tells us or goes by herself when she needs to. She loves to wear her princess and Hello, Kitty underwear.

 

 Here is my sweet Jordyn "helping" me put the lights on the tree.

 

Santa and Mrs. Claus were saying hello to customers at Costco and I thought Jordyn would want to get a picture taken with them. I guess I was wrong.

 

Uriah is 4 1/2 now and has learned how to write his name. He is very much interested in electronic games, which I am trying to wean him off of (unsuccessfully). He is learning and growing by leaps and bounds, and next year he will be going to kindergarten. He says the sweetest things to me and tells me I am his best friend.

Urah and his Angry Birds winter coat

 

Today is Jared's birthday and on Sunday, Jordyn will be turning 3. I haven't even started on Jared's cake, but last night I went to my brother-in-laws house and worked on Jordyn's cake until midnight. I got the idea to make a doll cake from a friend of mine who made one for her daughter. I thought they were adorable, so I searched Google for images of a Tangled doll cake and knew that I just had to make one for Jordyn's birthday, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do it alone. Thanks heavens my BIL was willing to help. I made the cake and the frosting, prepared the fondant and helped sculpt the cake under the fondant and then Adam just took it from there. There was so much more detail we could have put on it, but by midnight we thought it looked excellent and didn't need anything else.

I couldn't be happier about the way it looks, and I can't wait for Jordyn to see it!

 

Tonight I will be making Jared a German Chocolate cake and tomorrow we will be having my family's Christmas party and a party for my nephew Phoenix (whose birthday is also today).

 

For Christmas, we will be at home. Jared's parents will stop by our house in the morning on their way to Rexburg. I am hoping that we will get to go see Les Miserables at the theater.

 

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

This Is Halloween

Anyone who knows me well knows that Halloween is my favorite holiday. I have been having Halloween parties since the 7th grade and I haven't missed a year. This year, however, I was seriously thinking about not having one. I was running out of ideas. My friends and I had been playing the same games since childhood and the thought of trying to entertain a bunch of adults and keep them all happy was worrying me. The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that this was going to be the year I broke tradition and didn't have a party. Anyone who knows me well also knows that, when I plan something, I don't like to back out. The party idea never left my mind, and two weeks before Halloween I decided that, instead of canceling my party, I would change the intended audience. Since all of my friends have children now, I would instead have a Halloween party for little kids. Boy, I thought I was a genius! I planned the party for the 27th and invited most people I could think of who had children my son's age. The day of the party I was running around cleaning and doing everything I could to be ready. It didn't help that we had a Primary Program practice that morning that I had to take Uriah to, but we still went to that and got the house ready for the party. I bought 3 pizzas, 3 containers of cupcakes, juice and drinks, apple slices and caramel dip, had some friends bring caramel popcorn and "ants on a log", not to mention the candy, and everything was eaten. I have never had that happen before, but was very grateful that there weren't leftovers. I was only expecting about 5-10 people because that's all who RSVPd, but I had probably 20 or so in my apartment before the night was over. I bought a bunch of stuff from the Dollar Tree and made gift bags for all the kids. They really liked them, and I was happy that everyone got to take something home.

I didn't want to over think this party, so I promised myself I would keep it to 2 hours max, and I had planned 3 activities.

 

Here are the kids watching "Ichabod Crane". I love this cartoon, but actually thought that it would be too dull and old for the kids. To my surprise, they loved it!

 

After the movie, we played Freeze Dance, where the kids had to dance and act silly until the music stopped, and then they had to freeze in place. It was a great way for them to get their wiggles out.

 After the dancing, the kids took a break and then we jumped right in to "Pin the Wart on the Witch". The kids loved this game. They especially loved being blindfolded.

They all lined up for their turn to put a sticker on the witch's face. The party was a success, over by 7, and a few friends stayed behind afterwards to watch "Dracula: Dead and Loving It". I'm thinking, if having a party for kids means it gets done earlier and I can have the rest of the night to myself, that's not such a bad thing!

 

 

The week before my party, our ward had their trunk-or-treat. We share our stake center with 3 wards, so we have to take turns and alternate Saturdays every year to accommodate the various Halloween parties. The kids had lots of fun at ours. I actually wasn't going to dress up this Halloween, but right before the trunk-or-treat I decided that I would make my son's wish come true. He had been telling everyone all month long that he was going to be Mario for Halloween and mommy was going to be Luigi, but I kept telling him that mommy wasn't going to be Luigi. Well, long story short, he won.

 I did this digital scrapbook page from our trunk-or-treat. Bonnie was a monster, Jordyn was Minnie Mouse and Uriah was Mario. The missionaries also came as Mario and Luigi, and Uriah didn't want to leave the big Mario's side all night long. They even had a costume parade and games for the kids to play while the parents set up their trunks.

 

 

On Halloween, Uriah got to wear his costume to day care and at lunch I brought him back to my office for our yearly costume contest. He got the most cheers and won a prize for the best kid's costume. He was pretty excited. He walked around saying, "It'sa me, Mario!" That's my boy!

Jared had a class that night, so I went with my parents to a tri-ward trunk-or-treat (which was WAY too crowded) and then when the hubs got home we went to visit a few people we know and then went to G&G Nichols to get a picture taken. So here we are, Halloween 2012: Minnie Mouse, Luigi, Mario, a 1-Up mushroom, and a monster.

 

This was the first year I have ever dressed up as anything, and I will never forget the joy on my son's face when he would look at me and tell other people who I was. Here's to many more great Halloweens!

Destination: Colorado

In August, my sister moved away to Grand Junction and I just didn't know what I was going to do with myself. She was my confidante, my friend, my "person", right here available to me whenever I needed her, and just a short car ride away too. Not being able to see her every day was going to be hard for me. I dealt with the sadness by ensuring myself that I could talk to her every day, or at least once a week. That didn't happen either. She was always so busy organizing her new home and working her new job that we rarely talked or skyped. We sent texts, but that just wasn't the same. I decided that I was going to go down and visit her, but our money situation right now did not allow for that and I knew it. She said they were going to come home for Thanksgiving, so that's what I started waiting for.

Then my mom called me one Thursday and said that she had a 3 day weekend coming up and wanted to take a "wild hair" and drive to Colorado, and she wanted to know if I could go with her. Would I?? I was so excited! So I asked Jared if I could go and take Bonnie and Jordyn with me and leave him and Uriah home for some bonding time and he said I could. I don't like to leave my children for long periods of time, but I felt like I just HAD to see my sister again. So on Friday we left at about 4 in the afternoon and (due to traffic crap in Utah) we got to her house at about 1:30 in the morning. It wasn't a terrible ride. My mom and I can laugh and joke and talk for hours and hours, so really, it was enjoyable. I thought I was going to be able to spend some one-on-one time with my sister, but my brother-in-law had some other plans in mind.

 

After we had breakfast at Dennys on Saturday, they drove us to the Colorado Grand National Monument. It was really cool to see this mini canyon in the middle of nowhere and see how time has created a beautiful landscape.

 

There is a winding road that just keeps taking you up and up...

...through tunnels...

and around scary curves until you get to the top, and then there is about 15 miles or so of road paved right on the edge of the cliff. You know, so you can drive and look out the window at the same time...

Heights have always made me nervous, but now that I have children, I hate them even more. The thought of Jordyn being out there so close to the edge made me sick. I kept a close eye on her and made sure she didn't run too fast or get too close or scream too loud or step too hard...I may have been a bit paranoid.

 It really was a beautiful view.

 I thought this looked like it could be the Starship Enterprise in rock.

 My brother-in-law likes to torture me, or anyone he knows, so when he walked to the edge with Jordyn on his shoulders, it was all I could do to not scream at him.

 I told her, "Hold on to his face and don't let go!"

 This is the "falling" rock. It used to be a part of the big cliff face but has been eroded into it's own, free standing piece. It looks like it fell off.

 Miss Bonnie enjoyed the monument from inside the car. I couldn't bear to have two children out there on the edge.

 These were called the "coke" ovens. I don't really know why. They sure looked funny though!

 

 This one is Independence Rock, and in July some people climb up there and put a flag on top of it.

 

We saw some big horned sheep on the way back down. On the other side of those bushes, there were about 10 more of them, but if we tried to stop to get a picture, cars behind you would honk because you were blocking the road.

 This one is called "balance" rock, for obvious reasons.

 

After the canyon ride I was ready to get my alone time with my sister, but they still had more plans for us...

 

 The Grand Mesa is the top of a hill/mountain that looks like a giant sand pile but has rock at the top. This particular mesa is covered in trees, and October is the best time to take a drive through it because the leaves are all changing color. It was beautiful up there. There was even a lake nestled in the middle that you could fish on, and there were camp grounds and a lodge where you could buy anything you would need for fishing and camping.

 The trees seemed to go on for miles and miles.

 This was the other side of the mesa. You can see that we were a little late to the leaf party, a lot of the trees had shed their leaves before we got there, but we still got to see some beautiful colors.

 

After our trek across the monument and mesa, we had dinner and then went back to my sister's house. We lounged about on Sunday and watched conference, and my sister took me to the mall for some short sister-sister time, and then we went back to their house to just relax before we had to make the long drive home.

I have not been very many places in my short life, but I am glad that now I can add Colorado to the list of places I have been, even if I was only about 30 miles in from the border.

A Beginning Before The End

My collegiate brain keeps me on semester time, so for me, the new year begins around the end of August/beginning of September, because that's when the academic year starts. Even our health insurance works that way; the deductibles refresh in July instead of January. Work has been pretty busy since the new year started. I did a lot with organizing the new student seminar the week before the semester began, and I have been coordinating the senior seminar for students every Friday. On the plus side, I am officially in my new office (delighted squeal) and I feel like I am in office heaven, although I do really miss having someone right there whom I could just lean over and talk to. I was thinking about what I was going to hang on the walls of my new office and I just didn't know what to do, and then one of my coworkers inspired me. He pretty much has his office plastered with Star Wars toys and collectibles, so I went right to work: I measured my Lord of the Rings posters and found frames for 2 of them and am having the 3rd one framed. They've just been rolled up in a tube for the past 4 years and I decided my new office would be the best place to display them. They make great conversation starters :)

 

Jared is two weeks into the Respiratory Therapy program and I think he is liking it a lot. He has had to buy a lot of things for the program (scrubs, stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, etc) which has been hard for us because we don't even know how we are going to pay for our daycare and rent right now, but I know we will be able to work things out. The other day, he had gotten out of bed quickly and hurt a muscle in his back, and then on Friday morning he woke up and his left leg was numb and he couldn't feel anything touching it half the time. Well, long story short, he got 5 xrays and an MRI (because when a doctor recommends you get one or lose function to your leg, I guess you don't tell them no), they called us after the MRI to tell us to get to the ER right away for emergency surgery, and so we get to the hospital and check in, and the doctor comes in and says it's not as bad as they thought and we can just go home and get some rest. So now, we have to pay a bill for an MRI, xrays and a trip to the ER when we really didn't need it. *sigh* Even though he doesn't have to have surgery, he does have a very large herniated disc in his back, that we are hoping, with time, will fix itself. "This life is a test, it is only a test..."

 

Last week we decided to take the kids and Jared's cousin to the fair. We had lots of fun eating yummy food and looking at things. We walked around for about 3 hours and, needless to say, my legs were ready to give out from under me when we got back to the car.

 

We had to find a place to sit so we could eat our yummy scones and honey butter. As Jordyn would say, "doo-lish-ush!"

 Uriah kept standing in front of Jordyn when I wanted to take a picture of her. Silly boy!

 Jordyn got all messy eating a chocolate strawberry. Jared's cousin told her to touch her forehead, so what does she do? Yeah, she got it all in her hair. Silly girl!

 I'll never get over the blue eyes all my kids keep getting!

 I walked the kids over to the shark show so they could see the sharks and see the guy swim with them, but this is what I found when we got there. Poor little guys were tuckered out!

The boys and their giant turkey legs!

We had a good time at the fair. It was nice to get out of the house and get some air. And I have decided that, when my guinea pigs go to heaven, I am going to get a floppy eared bunny!