New Year's Ramblings

As the last moments of 2008 wind down, I have been thinking a little bit about all that has happened this past year. Not too much thinking, just a little. In the few moments of boredom tonight. Mostly I've thought that this past year has gone by way too quickly. Surely 2008 just began and hasn't come to a close. Surely. Granted, there were things that seemed to take forever and I looked forward to ending (namely the elections), but for the most part, it went by quickly.

The biggest thing for us this year has been Dylan's birth and subsequent surgery. Can't say that I'm sad that part went by quickly. I'm quite glad that part is behind us. We're very glad that we have him. To tell the truth, this is the main thing I think of when I think of the past year. We've had other things, both good and bad, but this is the thing that stands out the most. (The other things include a wedding, family moving away, family moving near, passing of an uncle and a neighbor, and the birth of a new niece. I could probably list more, but I won't.)

I can't even begin to know what this coming year will bring, but I hope that it will be a year full of good things for everyone.

And just because I want to make this post a little more interesting, here are a couple of pictures. The first is Jimmy eating an Oreo from our snacks for New Year's.

The girls were having fun blowing the horn things much sooner than was time. They have since ruined the horns, so if any are still awake come midnight, they won't have them to blow. Maybe that's a good thing.
I look at this one of Dylan and think, "Look, Ma! I'm getting hair!"

Sara's Wedding stuff

Yes, we had a busy few days. Why do you ask?

Anyway, the day after Christmas we decided to drive up to Logan and spend the night in a hotel since Russ' little sister, Sara, was getting married in the Logan temple the next morning. We decided that it would be a whole lot easier to get the kids ready in time to be there if we were already up there than having to drive up there that morning. The roads were icy and snow covered, but travelling wasn't actually all that bad. I had driven on worse, so it wasn't a big deal. Except for when the old man driver in the lane next to me decided he had to be in my lane and came over into my lane and didn't even seem to notice me nor the honk of my car. I was luckily paying enough attention that I managed to slow down enough that he didn't hit me. Just annoyed me when he went back into the other lane about 30 seconds later. Ah, well.

I think the kids were most excited that the hotel had a heated indoor pool. They had a blast at the hotel. We got a room that had 2 queen sized beds plus a pull out sofa bed. The three girls slept in the sofa bed, as you can see in the first picture.
Jimmy talked Russ into sleeping in one of the queen beds with him. Which meant I had a whole lot of room in my bed. Which was nice. Doesn't mean I slept any better than I usually do though. Dylan still woke up once and Russ snored loudly enough that I was surprised he didn't wake up the kids.
Sara and Andrew's ceremony was really nice. Afterward, we went to the Blue Bird diner for the wedding luncheon. It was good. But it was also snowing lightly in Logan, which meant it was snowing harder through the canyon. Which they ended up closing, so we had to drive the longer way back home. Not that I'm complaining or anything. The longer way had roads that were clearer. At least until we got to the freeway. Then it was back to icy roads for a bit. Luckily, everyone made it back down in time for the reception. Which was also nice. Jimmy and Emma were supposed to help clean up the tables. Jimmy did a pretty good job, for the most part. Emma didn't want to do it and so didn't really. Ah, well.

Here's a picture of Sara and Andrew as they were about to cut the cake.
I'm just throwing this picture in. I had taken a picture of Russ holding Dylan just before but he wasn't smiling and wasn't happy with how the picture looked. So he gave this cheesy smile instead. Yeah, I'm really not sure which one is better. :)

Christmas

As usual, Santa ended up bringing a little bit more than he needed to for Christmas. The kids had a blast though. They didn't get as much this year as they had in other years (but who did?), but you wouldn't know it by the total destruction they left in the wake of their opening presents. Jimmy had Emma and Molly up around 7, but took them in the basement to watch tv until others were awake. Finally around 8, Emma couldn't stand it anymore and woke up Lyssa. They all seemed very happy with the things they got.

Dylan here is wearing an outfit he got for Christmas. The rest of the pictures are the kids with what I think was their favorite present. Jimmy was thrilled with his Nintendo DS. Really the only thing he asked for.

Later that day, we drove down to my parents. We had already given them their gifts and vice versa because of the big storm predicted for that day, but it wasn't coming in as early as they had said (at least not for our end...the very South end of the valley woke up to a foot of snow...us, none at all), so we decided to drive down and try to beat the storm. Which we did with no problem since the storm didn't really come until a few hours after we got back home. We had previously had a Christmas party with them and two of my sisters and their families. Unfortunately, that was during the time that I couldn't find my camera. Had fun with it though. Kids made little tie die t-shirts (with fabric markers). Anyway, I hope everyone had as enjoyable of a holiday as we had.

Christmas Eve Party

Every year we have a Christmas party with Russ' family on Christmas Eve. This year we opted to have it at a church just because the group is getting a little bigger and we would fit easier. When we got to the church, I realized that I had forgotten to bring our camera. That I had spent hours looking for before finally finding. Not to let those hours go wasted, I ran back home and grabbed the camera. So we were able to take a few pictures. And I'm posting some of them. Lucky you.

In this first one, Jimmy appears to be doing his best Michael Jackson impression (not that he actually knows who Michael Jackson is....). Okay, he was really just hamming it up for the camera and showing one of the gloves that he was given. His cousin, Sadie, is sitting next to him.
We have a program every year as part of the party, each family group taking some part of it. Dylan was swinging away happily in his swing while this was going on (part of the time sleeping). I looked back to check on him at one point and noticed his cousin Josh helping out nicely by giving him a bottle. It was cute.
Sara and her new husband Andrew played O Holy Night for us. (Anyway, I think that's what they played...I was gone for most of their part...taking Lys to the bathroom for one of the several times she had to go that night.)
Michelle read a Christmas story for the kids. I snapped this picture when most of them were actually paying attention. Okay, half of them.
Mike had us do progressive limericks and then read them for their part of the program. Some turned out amazingly well. Lovely pose here, doncha think?
Okay, I do have other pictures I could post, but I won't. Mostly because it was going slow and wasn't pulling up the thing to post more. So this is it. All in all it was a fun night.

Stupidog!

Sometimes I wonder why we have dogs. Today is one of those days. We had a nice morning going to the temple with Sara only to get back to my parent's house (who were tending the kids) to have a message there from a policeman calling to say they picked up our dog (they went off her rabies tag to find her owners and the vet still has my parent's address and phone number for her). I called him back and he told that she had been under the freeway when they caught her. I was amazed. Any time the dog has gotten out, she's gone down the street and back and that's it. The freeway is a lot further than she's ever wandered. He said he didn't know how I was going to get a hold of Animal Control then decided to find out for me. He told me the Animal Control officer was going to call me right then. So he called and I gave him our address then loaded up the kids and we headed home to meet him.

We had good timing, at least. We had just pulled in the driveway when he pulled up to the house. He was very nice, at least. He told me that she had actually gotten on the freeway. Went up the off-ramp then circled around to the on-ramp and came down that. They caught her near a Winger's restaurant. I thought she would sleep the rest of the day. She was limping a little and looked tired. But she has gotten up a couple of times since getting back home. Guess I need to find something stronger to tie the gate shut. Or not let her in the back yard when we lock her out of the house and just lock her in the garage. Ah, well. Guess it could have been worse.

Jimmy and the talent show

A quick update. It pays to bribe children to find things for you. I told the kids I would give a dollar to whoever could find the camera. Less than a minute later, the camera was found. Yay!

Anyway, today was the school talent show. Jimmy was very excited about it and that Russ took off so he could see him. When Jimmy came in and sat in his chair to wait for his turn, he told me he was so nervous he was shaking. Didn't really look nervous though. Here's a picture of Jimmy sitting in line.

The talent show started out with the school choir performing a few numbers. I was impressed with the choir. After the choir finished they did the individual performances. There are some talented kids at his school. Several played the piano, one played the harp, one did a magic show. Jimmy did storytelling. Read a story he had written. He did a really good job and had most of the audience laughing at his performance. I sat by a guy I had gone to high school with (played cards every day at lunch with a group of my friends) and after Jimmy finished, he leaned over and asked me who Jimmy has for a drama coach. I laughed and said he does it all himself; that he's very good at the drama.

Russ had the camera and filmed Jimmy's performance. Has a lot of background noise, so it's not the easiest to hear, but here it is:

Where oh where could it be?

I would have something I could post about today. Really. I would have pictures, even. Unfortunately, I can't find my camera. I saw it sitting on my kitchen counter. I decided that was a bad place for it and distinctly remember picking it up. What I did after that, however, I couldn't tell you. Did I go into my bedroom? The living room? Not a clue. I've looked in those places, by the way. No such luck in finding it. I really wanted to find it before now, too. Molly had a Christmas program with her preschool. I wanted to take pictures and maybe a little video. Ah, well.

Her program went well. They acted out a quick nativity scene (Molly was an angel) and then sang a couple of songs. Molly didn't do the actions. She was being shy. She did sing though. The kids then presented their parents with a wrapped gift. The gift was a framed picture of Molly (well, mine was of Molly..the others were of the other kids. Would have been a little strange if everyone got the picture of Molly) dressed up as a wise man with the saying "Wise men still seek him" printed on the picture. On Thursday they are going to a nursing home to put on their program.

Last night we had a Christmas party at my parent's. The kids enjoyed tie-dying t-shirts (as is evident by their wearing the shirts today). The food was good and we all had a good time. Again, no pictures. Ah, well. Hopefully I will find the camera by Friday for when Jimmy is in the school's talent show. Or else you may find another post telling about something without pictures that help to make it more interesting.

Funny video

My sister posted this link on facebook. I thought it was pretty funny so decided to post it here to share. It's a Christmas parody of Twilight. http://www.take180.com/s/ep5l7

Loosing teeth

This past week, Jimmy and Emma each lost a tooth. I actually wasn't going to post about it, but Russ wanted me to tell more about Emma's lost tooth. Just because it was kind of funny.

Emma's tooth has been really, really loose for a long time now. But when it comes to anything that could potentially cause pain or bleeding, she gets very anxious and wouldn't even let us come close to touching her tooth. Anyway, Jimmy lost his tooth one day and the next evening we were gathering for family prayer. Emma was making noise so Russ went to nudge her with his elbow to remind her to be quiet during the prayer. Only she moved just as he went to elbow her. Moved just right so his elbow hit her mouth. And not all that softly. She immediately began to cry, "My tooth!" with distress. His elbow apparently hit just the right spot that her tooth fell out. She ran into the bathroom to get some tissue. She had been distressed right at first, but came back in with a grin and was very happy that her tooth was out. Just seemed kind of funny to be saying yay for an elbow to the mouth.

Yeah, so not the best story in the world, but hey, it's a post.

Russ and his new car

Well, Russ got his new car today. After his died and we borrowed my dad's convertible (and he managed to kill that one too), he decided to take the day off to get a car. He already knew one kind he liked so it didn't take him long to find it. Just took a bit to get all the stuff signed and whatnot. Anyway, here's a picture of him with his car. Taken with my cell phone camera, so it's not a great picture. I moved our camera and can't remember where I put it. Story of my life lately. Ah, well.

Dylan's echo

Dylan had his echo today, as you are probably aware. This time the appointment went longer than the last time. Mostly because of the hour wait in between the echo and talking to the doctor. But that's okay.

Dylan was kind of cute during the echo. They had a tv in the room and it was set to Cartoon Network. Dylan stared at the tv for a little bit then turned so he could stare at the monitor and watched that screen for a little bit. Then he started to grab the cord for the echo tool that was being used. The lady doing the echo tried to get him to grab a different cord because he made it a little hard to move it. But he didn't want the other cord, he wanted the one right in front of him.

When I was finally able to talk to the cardiologist, he said that everything looks about the same. Still has a little bit of a leak, but nothing to worry about. He said that the conduit will eventually need to be replaced (to which I thought, "Well, duh, that's part of having truncus, it eventually needs to be replaced"), but hopefully will be later rather than sooner. He said Dylan looks good. I take him back in 2 months to get another echo just to check again. Kind of funny though. I will go back for Dylan's 6 month checkup and the next echo the same week, kind of like this week. All in all, Dylan is doing pretty well.

Dylan's 4 month appointment

I took Dylan in for his 4 month checkup today (as well as for his second synagis shot). He's doing well. He now weighs an even 14 pounds. He really didn't like the shots and wasn't thrilled when the doctor was examining him. During the exam, Dylan leaned over and grabbed my hand and had a look on his face like, "Help!" But he did give the doctor a nice big smile when it was done. Then came the shots. Ah, well. He's about the 60th percentile for height and around the 30th for weight. I take him tomorrow for his next echo. I'll be sure to post about it after.

Since I had a bit of time after his appointment before I needed to get Molly from preschool, I decided I would make a quick run to Costco. Ended up not happening though. As I was driving there, a guy honked at me (my first thought was, "What did I do?!") and then yelled to me that my tire was quite flat. So I changed directions and headed over to the tire place. Turned out that the tire had a lovely gouge in it and couldn't be fixed so I needed a new tire. Really not something I planned for today. I just wonder why cars decide to talk to each other and have things happen around the same time. Russ' car is dead. It probably could get fixed, but would cost a lot and we've already put a lot into his car this year so think it's time to replace it. Ah, well.

December birthdays

I realized today that I haven't done my monthly birthday post. So here it is. Happy birthday this month to Jared and Alex! Hope you both have a great one!