2014 Wrap Up (and Christmas!)

On January 2nd I got an email with these little gems attached. 

Sweet little Camden looks even more terrified in HD! But also, what the heck Cedar Hills. You email me these on January 2nd? Um, ok...

Now back to mid-December--->

My little sister is getting married in March and my mom came out to help her nail a few wedding deets down. One of which was THE dress! Anne went shopping with just her and my mom on Friday afternoon and then was nice enough to invite Lindsey and I along to see the final choices on Saturday. She ended up with a beautiful dress from the same little shop that both Lindsey and I found our dresses at! So fun.

And in case you were wondering, this is not the dress she went with. But let's be honest, Anne could wear a burlap sack on her wedding day and look gorgeous. She had nothing but beautiful options to choose from and  I LOVE the dress she picked! 

 Pretty much immediately after my mom left we were stuck with the plague. Ryan got it first with a fever for about a day and a half. Then Brady came down with a fever that lasted for eight (8!) days. During that time both me and Camden fell victim to the flu bug of death as well. I'm talking fever, chills, runny noses, the works.

My two sickies

 Being sick with your children is kind of the worst, but it also kind of worked out somehow. They were pretty low maintenance while they were sick. They had no appetite and just wanted to lay around all day. Turns out so did I! So I spent the majority of my day resting on the sofa with a sick Camden on my shoulder. We pulled a crib mattress downstairs to lay in front of the couch where Brady passed out for the day.

There was one day in particular where I literally thought we would all die and no one would know. Ryan was at school and Zach was at work and we just didn't move for hours and hours. Ibuprofen, Nyquil and ice cream got us through but it probably took a good 10 days before we were feeling only slightly functional again. This was the week before Christmas. (Thank goodness I got most my shopping done early!)

The Saturday before Christmas my grandma hosted her annual Christmas dinner/party. We were coming out of our fog of sickness and were actually feeling fairly crappy but we sucked it up and went anyway. Christmas comes but once a year you know!?

I just told the kids not to breathe on anyone or anything. I think we did a pretty good job tricking people into thinking everything was fine. And as far as I know, no one got sick- so no harm no foul right? A Christmas miracle.

Ryan has memories from last year and was super excited about the present stealing exchange game. He made it to the final three! That's a pretty big deal (I also think people were really nice and let him win a few times... but his luck ran out with Lindsey and Wren!)

Ryan ended up with some straw glasses. #winning!

Camden wanted to get in on the fun.

We knew it was a fun party when we pulled into the driveway to see this in the back seat. (And they all transferred to their beds! Score!)

The Sunday before Christmas we hosted the Bellows Annual Christmas get together. I didn't take a single picture. Could be because I was running around trying to make all the ingredients for Cafe Rio salads. Although delicious, I think next time we will just go to Cafe Rio. Or order pizza. :)

On Christmas Eve Eve we made some Rice Krispy Christmas trees. I had pinned the idea on Pinterest earlier in the season and was actually planning on having the kids make them at the Bellows' party but we didn't end up having enough time.

Christmas Eve Eve also marks the end of the reign of Elf on the Shelf. Since he goes home with Santa on Christmas Eve night, Christmas Eve Eve is the last night I have to get to hide him. It was wonderful. Until next year!

Zach's parents came to our house on Christmas Eve and we went to the new Penguins movie at the discount theater and played Monopoly. Zach cooked for us and it was a really relaxed and enjoyable day. We ended the night by reading the story of Christ's birth and watching a rendition of "The Night Before Christmas". Zach made some of his awesome chocolate chip cookies for Santa (he appreciated it).

The next morning I was woken up at 6:45am by this:

Actually, Zach "psssssst"ed me at 6:30am. He swears he was "psssst."ing over me to Ryan in the doorway and that he was not, in fact, the first one up on Christmas morning, but this remains to be proven.

It wasn't long before Brady and Camden were coaxed out of bed by promises from Ryan that,"Santa came!" To say he was excited would be an understatement.

I used to think there was nothing better than being a kid on Christmas morning. I have come to find, however, that there is actually nothing better than being a parent and watching your kids on Christmas morning. I just love it.

The boys were so excited for all their gifts. We divvied up all the gifts into piles (a totally new concept for me) and took turns opening them. Present opening at my house growing up was complete chaos and I thought there was no other way... but I have to admit- it was mildly enjoyable to watch everyone open their gifts and see their reactions. What I've come to find is kids don't know any differently so, to them, this is how you do Christmas. And they thoroughly enjoyed it. Loved it even! It was Christmas! I guess I could come around to a more civilized Christmas morning after all.

The grand finale was a family gift from Santa. There were several gifts addressed to the family. One Wii U sized gift with lots of little dvd case sized presents to go with it. You'd think it was obvious what was under the wrapping, but Ryan was shocked. shocked! to open the gift and find a Wii U for the family. I wish I could have gotten it on camera. It was the highlight of my Christmas day. 

The boys and Zach spent the majority of the rest of the day playing the Wii U in the theater. It was a great day!

The day after Christmas we wasted no time in heading down to St. George to spend some good quality time with Pam and Doug and the Brooks family.

The Brooks' boys got fishing gear for Christmas so I'm sure you can imagine what we did first!

Ryan as he was reeling in a fish that he (and Zach. fine. mostly Zach.) caught. Either which way, his face is awesome.

First catch of the day!

Of course, the boys all had to touch it. 

Logan got a measuring tape for Christmas, so he took care of seeing how long the fish was for us- 15 inches!

I gave Camden a dummy pole. Only problem was, he ain't no dummy. It entertained him for a time... but not nearly long enough. He ended up getting bored and decided wreaking havoc on the more dedicated fishermen of the group was much more fun. So we ended up banished down by the bank of the river. We threw rocks for a while- right up until he started getting too lazy to go get more rocks and just started hurling handfulls of mud into the water. What a mess. We then attempted a game of catch which lasted maybe 3 seconds. Things finally wrapped up after he fell on a rock and bit his lip. I called blood and told the older boys we were through. I think next time, Camden and I may hang back and let the older guys have at it on their own. We just don't have the attention span required for fishing. And when I say, "we" I really do mean "we".

The kids did lots of Wii U playing, went to Jumping Jacks, Ryan went hiking and to the park with Ky and Logan, Brady and Ryan went swimming with Zach and Pops and they got some great cousin play time in with Logan and Isaac.

Meanwhile, I was dying of strep throat and didn't even know it until the day before we were supposed to leave. I wish I had gone into the doctor sooner. Lucky for me, Pam and Ky were awesome at picking up my slack with the boys. I was so grateful for them. And for TV. And specifically HGTV's "Love it or List it" marathons.

We drove home on New Years Eve almost exactly 24 hours after I got on drugs for my throat and I felt so much better! We got into town and two hours later headed down to the Smith's for some New Year's Eve fun!

More on that later!