Christmas

We just returned from our visit home for Christmas. We had a wonderful week that was, as holidays seem to go, a little too short. We had a bit of everything: loud and busy surrounded by lots of people and quiet and introspective with a few loved ones. It was a lot of fun.

I feel like we used our vacation time more efficiently this visit. Obviously it's hard to divvy up so short a time amongst so many family members, but we did our best. And the time we did spend was spent well. We tried not to be frazzled and rushed. We tried to enjoy whatever we were doing while we were doing it. I think it worked. At least I felt more relaxed.

All of Brad's siblings were in town and his parents had some fun things planned for us. We made gingerbread houses, stained-glass ornaments, and held a not-to-be-forgotten Christmas Eve program that included 4 Mary's and 3 Baby Jesus' (I was the pregnant Mary, then handed the role off to the three new mom's with their three new babies). Good memories.

Brad's master plan for our gingerbread house - a hobbit hole

My family was all in town too, but not for long. My sister and her family moved to Alaska two days after Christmas. Still, we had some fun together holding Nazareth Night, going to a cabin for a couple of days, seeing Les Miserables, and finally sending Hayley, Justin, and baby Jocelyn off at the airport. Good memories there too.

Each of our families had family pictures taken while everyone was in town. That is always awesome when you're pregnant, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? No, it was actually fun to see everyone looking snazzy (even if Leah did ruin the Hansen's pictures by throwing a tantrum and laying on the floor).

All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas break. I don't know when we'll all be together again with us having a baby soon then moving across the country. Our goodbye's were a little more bittersweet this time around. Darn family. It would be easier if we didn't like them so much! At least we have some good memories to hold us over for a while.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Wish

I haven't been able to sleep well lately. My mind has been full of too many things: pregnancy, Christmas planning, worrying about moving in six months (silly), Mormon women wearing pants to church on Sunday (also a bit silly), and of course Newtown.

After hearing the initial reports of the shooting (while my kindergartner was at school), I turned the news off feeling overwhelmed and devastated. I didn't want to hear people trying to make sense out of an act that was utterly senseless. I've largely kept the news off since then, but it's been on my mind. And every once in a while I come across a picture of a beautiful child - one that reminds me too much of mine - or a picture of young parents like Brad and me, and I cry for them and their grieving families. I feel like they deserve my tears and my prayers. Like maybe tears from a stranger help somehow.

I came across this quote in a blog the other day. It rings true with me: "(My son) is developing in warp speed these days. I am so aware of him. His little self fills a room. I owe him the world. I am responsible for giving it to him. This little sliver of his life, it is mine to improve. And it is awe inspiring and overwhelming and comforting even, in a strange way...We are responsible for each other and we do our best. Together we can make the world go away."

Tomorrow we begin our drive home to Rexburg for what will probably be our last Christmas home for the foreseeable future. We'll spend the week with the people we love most in the world. What a blessing.

So this year my Christmas wish is that I will spend my time improving the sweet lives around me. Maybe I can't protect them from the awful, tragic things in the world but I can love them and treasure them. I can make home a safe and separate place. I know my efforts are sometimes clumsy and distracted, but I'll try my best.

Hopefully we'll remember what an incredible opportunity we have at this time of year: to celebrate the life of the One who will heal all the hurts and pains we endure in this life. And maybe, with that knowledge and a lot of love, we can make the world go away for a while.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

North Pole Cruise

Early in December we booked a cruise to the North Pole via Lake Coeur d'Alene. The ship was run by elves. It was totally fun.

There were light displays all over the lake.

When we got to the North Pole, Santa was there to greet us (with his helper Pepper Mint)! He even read us his Nice List and guess who was on it? Both Alaina and Leah.

Lainy told me later that she was surprised she was on the nice list because she'd been throwing a fit in the car on the way to the cruise... Good thing Santa is quick to forgive!

On the way back to Coeur d'Alene we noticed that there was a young boy throwing lawn chairs off the back of the boat... It was kind of hilarious until we told the captain and the boy got in trouble. His mom didn't act very surprised. I wonder if he was on the nice list?

The girls had a great time and so did we. We wish we could be around for a repeat next year. Hopefully Boston at Christmas-time is magical too!

Letters to Santa

Last weekend we went to Macy's where they have a cute little letter-writing center set up. The girls each sat at the desk and crafted their letters to Santa.

Then they put the letters in the mailbox.

Leah asked for a Belle doll with a blue dress.

Lainy asked for a remote control car and a talking Jessie doll.

After a visit with Santa, they might just get their Christmas wishes!

We also stopped at an old hotel downtown to see the Christmas decorations. The girls found a real ballroom with marble floors and walls lined with mirrors. Brad and I were admiring some paintings and turned around to find this:

Who can resists twirling and dancing in a real ballroom?! Girls are so fun.

Movember

The residents at Brad's program decided to grow mustaches this month to raise money and awareness for men's health.

Brad's facial hair over the month has gone a little like this:

First the goatee, which I really didn't mind. He looks...distinguished?

 Then this beaut of a mustache...

And finally the full on 'stache.

He's been sporting the 'stache all week. Every time I look at him I think "MUSTACHE!", which isn't really what I want to be thinking about my normally extremely handsome and kissable husband.

Is Movember over yet?

Sidenote: according to the tally yesterday, the residents at Sacred Heart have raised over $1,000 for the cause. I guess that makes it all worth it.

Robbed

Do you want to hear a story? A good story involving a stolen bike trailer, a suspicious craigslist posting, doctors posing as thugs, and a sting operation overseen by the Spokane Police Department?

I thought so. Here it is.

Last week I forgot to put our stroller/bike trailer in our garage after I used it. I left it by our back door and totally forgot it was there. When I went out the next morning, it was gone.

I freaked out. It feels so awful to have something stolen from you! Especially if that something was your Christmas gift and you've used it a lot and loved it a lot, and it was taken with your daughters blanket and a couple toys inside. I felt sick.

Then, I got on Craigslist, you know just to see if maybe someone was trying to make a buck off our misfortune. There, in a listing posted that very morning, was a trailer just like ours. The pictures were grainy but I was pretty sure it was ours. I have never seen another trailer like ours, ever. But there one was - same colors, same model, everything added up. Besides, ours had a little identification sticker (with our names and phone number) on the front bumper and I thought I could see it in the picture. Not clearly, but it looked like something was there.

I emailed the listing. Our trailer was stolen in stroller form (without the bike trailer attachment which was sitting in our garage) so I asked the craigslist people if the bike trailer attachment was included. They emailed back (very quickly) and said they did not have the attachment but were "in the process of ordering a new part from the maker".

Since I own that trailer, I know that the company that makes it went out of business a few years ago. I called the company using the only number I could find online to check about ordering a bike trailer part. It was disconnected.

Hmmm, suspicious. Very suspicious. Why would they try to sell a bike trailer/stroller without the bike trailer part? And why would they lie about ordering a new part? I was convinced it was ours.

I called the police. The secretary that answered took a description of the stroller and my information. Then she told me that since it was Friday morning, no one would look at our case until maybe sometime next week. I told her about the craigslist ad, how I suspected it was ours and why. She told me she couldn't help me or give me any advice. "But what if it's gone by the time you get back to me?" I asked. She said again that they couldn't help me.

I was pretty upset. Isn't it the police's job to help victims of a crime? I hung up the phone and cried.

When Brad came home we decided to get a group of friends together and confront the craigslist people. We didn't want to go alone for obvious reasons: they might have stolen it and they were selling it for $100 and expecting us to show up with cash. We didn't want to risk anything.

So I set up a time and place to meet them.

Brad recruited a couple of his resident friends to follow us to the meeting place and sit in their car, ready to jump out if anything went down. Then, an hour before our meeting, we decided to call the police and tell them what we were doing. The police said they would send a car to the store and watch for us.

Feeling better about things, Brad and I set out for the meeting.

On our way the police called and said they had one team in the store watching the security cameras for us and another team in the parking lot. They told us where to park so they had a good view.

"Wow," we said, realizing that we were part of real life sting operation. "They're really going to help us!"

Once we were in position, the police called again and said we needed to get the people to pull the stroller out of the car onto the sidewalk. "Once it's out of the car we can swoop in," the officer said.

Brad and I looked at each other nervously... "swoop in?"

Soon a car pulled in next to ours and a lady got out. We introduced ourselves as the craigslist people. She opened her trunk and pulled out the stroller. Before we knew it two cop cars had screeched to a stop behind us and officers were getting out.

"Um, what's going on?" the lady said.

"I'm going to be straight with you," I said, "Our stroller, one just like this, was stolen last week. We're going to look at this and see if it's ours."

"Oh," she said, and the police took her aside to question her.

Brad pulled out some pictures we had of our trailer and started comparing them to the stroller while I examined it by hand. The officers helped.

To make a long, very tense twenty minutes short, it soon became obvious that it was not our trailer.

I couldn't believe it. 

Not only did it not have the sticker (but it could have easily been removed), ours was simply in better shape. This one's tires were bald and the wheels were missing their reflectors. The canvas was faded from the sun and there were a few tears on the back that ours did not have. I'll spare you the minute details, but basically, all these things couldn't have been done to our stroller in the few days since it had gone missing.

So, with all those strange coincidences (no bike trailer attachment, it showing up on craigslist the morning after ours was stolen, her strange story about ordering a new part, etc.) it wasn't our trailer afterall. No matter how much we wanted it to be! We were disappointed. And embarrassed.

The police were very nice about everything, even offering to keep an eye on craigslist in case any others showed up. The lady was...mad and very quiet. But seriously, can you blame her? Brad's doctor friends, all pumped for a show-down, slowly filed out of their car asking, "Uh, what just happened?"

So we went home stroller-less. It took about an hour of Brad and I sitting blankly on the couch making comments like, "Did that really just happen?" and "I still can't believe it wasn't ours." and "Did you see that lady's face?!" before we could finally laugh about it all.

Seriously. Did that really happen?! It really did. CRAZY. Bless our hearts.

So we're still hunting for our trailer. (But maybe with less gusto.)

And now we have a good story to tell. One that I'm sure we'll be telling in our family for a long time.

In case you see someone wandering around with it, here's a picture of our stroller. In our beloved Seattle last Spring. With my kids inside. So sad it's gone!

P.S. Please say a prayer for the poor lady who showed up expecting to make $100 bucks and ended up being accused of a crime and questioned by the police instead. We feel bad. Though I don't think, given the situation, we would have done anything differently...Would you?

Road Trip

Cassi and the girls at Spokane Falls

The girls and I went on a spur-of-the-moment road trip last week. We went home, to Rexburg, because with grandma's and cousins and brand-new babies to meet, where else would we go?

Here's how it went down: Cassi, my youngest sister (age 19), opened her mission call Thursday night, then flew up to Spokane to stay with us for a few days. She's going to Antofagasta Chile, leaving in February. I told her she owed us some one-on-one time before she leaves and luckily she complied. She's beautiful and smart and funny. We loved having her in our house. And since she was here and I really wanted to go to Rexburg, I decided to drive her home. Or rather, as it turned out, she drove.

We got there Sunday night and left Friday afternoon. We squeezed in as many activities as we could: an Election Night party (which ended on a sour note), a violin lesson with Grandpa H., the high school production of Beauty and the Beast, lot's of time admiring adorable new babies, playing with fun cousins, and a trip to the temple with all of my siblings. There wasn't enough time to see everyone we wanted to see and do everything we wanted to do, but we had such a wonderful visit. Our family is so awesome.

While I was driving the 8 hours back to Spokane on snowy and sometimes very scary roads, two things kept going through my mind: I am grateful for my trusty 4-wheel-drive Subaru, AND it was all worth it to spend a few days with our favorite people in the whole world.

So, dear family, thank you for making time for us during our ill-timed, whirlwind trip to see you. Thank you for understanding that we try our best to make time to see as many of you as possible. Somehow it never seems enough. Thank you for your friendship. For good conversations. For playing with my girls and ignoring their tantrums when they've spent a week staying up way past bedtime. Thank you. Thank you. We love you.

See you at Christmas!

Halloween 2012

Lainy was Cinderella for Halloween.

Leah was Belle.

I usually try to avoid the typical, obvious, way-overdone costumes, but the girls really wanted to be Disney princesses, and we already had the dress-ups (no buying costumes!), and this seemed to be the year of Disney (we went to Disneyland afterall)... so we just went for it. They were darling. We had a blast.

For the ward trunk-or-treat the girls convinced Brad to dress up as Prince Charming. I was Gus-Gus.

Our favorite part of Halloween this year was taking the girls trick-or-treating. We've never actually gone door to door in a neighborhood. This year we met up with the Jones and went to an awesome neighborhood. It was so fun! The girls even got a few king-size candybars!

We had a great Halloween. Hope you did too!

A Halloween post is not complete without pumpkins! From left to right: Alaina's cat, Leah's monster, my witch, Brad's tribute to our baby

Ultrasound

Yesterday morning was our ultrasound.

Brad told me he would do his best to make it to the appointment but he would probably be late. So when I met the ultrasound tech I told her that we wanted to find out the gender of our baby, but that my husband might be late so could she wait until the end of the ultrasound to tell us? She said yes.

And we looked at the baby. Head, face, lips, heart, belly, spine, fingers, toes... Everything looked perfect. And still no Brad. So she started measuring baby's legs and I noticed something...

"Is that what I think it is?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Yep," she replied. Then she typed BOY and took a picture.

Brad walked in a couple of minutes later so we showed him too. He was flabbergasted. I was happy. And that concluded our ultrasound.

So, believe it or not, we are having a BOY. We are thrilled!!

Lainy wanted a baby brother, so she is really excited. She said she didn't want her daddy to be so outnumbered anymore. Leah wanted a sister. When we told her the baby is a brother she said, "But a sister will play princesses with me!" She looked very sad. Brad told her that maybe a baby brother can play the prince. And Leah was pacified. Heaven help this little boy!!

Baby Boom

We had three babies born in our family last week. Two in the same day! A bit of a baby boom, to say the least.

It was a fun week. I loved getting the late night or early morning texts bearing the good news. And I loved seeing the darling pictures of brand new baby faces that came later. Mostly, I loved hearing that despite some earlier complications, all three babies and mommies did great and are home and healthy now. Isn't birth a miracle?

Here are the new little ones (and don't they have fabulous names?!). We can't wait to meet them!

Richelle and Bryce's baby Richard Nolan

Bryant and Rachel's baby Max Bryant

Hayley and Justin's baby Jocelyn C.

It makes me excited to add our little one to the mix next Spring. Our ultrasound is Tuesday morning. Do you think it may be, possibly, a baby boy? Or another adorable girl? We shall see!

Alaina's First Violin

Brad's family came to town last weekend and brought something very special for Lainy - a violin! A real one with real strings just her size (which is tiny). Lainy was so excited!

It was really sweet to watch Lainy and her Grandpa explore the violin together. He taught her about the different parts of the instrument and how to take care of it. Then he got her all set up in the correct playing position. By the end of the weekend she could play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (with lots of help).I'm so glad he was able to deliver it in person. It made Lainy feel so special.

The plan is to have Lainy take lessons from her Grandpa via Skype with Brad and/or me helping on this end. I think it will be just the challenge Lainy needs to keep her little mind busy (kindergarten isn't quite doing it for her). Music is so important to our family. We are excited to get her started!

Here's a video:

Not one to be outdone, Leah has been practicing her little foam violin too.

Of Lakes, Kayaks, and Perfect Fall Days

Life is pretty good these days. The weather has been awesome: the perfect kind of fall weather with warm sunshine and the occasional crisp breeze. We are loving it. Plus I am feeling 100 times better than I was a few weeks ago (and that means everyone is happier, right?).

Saturday we borrowed a friend's kayaks and spent the day at the lake. It was perfect.

I ask you, do kids come any cuter than this?

Okay then, maybe this?

And, after a long day, do daddy's come any sweeter than this?

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Rodeo

Earlier this month we ventured over to the Spokane County Fair to see the rodeo. Brad claims to have never been to a rodeo before (which I have a hard time believing since he grew up in Idaho). And since cowboy blood runs in my veins, I decided we needed to go.

First we checked out what the fair had to offer. It was pretty typical fair stuff until we ran into the Mutton Bustin' booth: A venue where parents were putting their 4-6 year old children on sheep to see if they could hold on for 6 seconds. Sort of like a child version of bull-riding.

We cheered on the kids (many of whose rides ended in a face full of dirt and tears) and laughed at the parents. It was great. As we walked away Leah cried "I want to ride a sheep!" Maybe next year...?

Unbeknownst to us, the rodeo was actually a national-circuit rodeo (not just a small county affair). So the cowboys were really, really good and the rodeo ran very smoothly. It was probably the best rodeo I've ever been to. We saw bareback riding, calf roping, bronco riding, steer wrestling, team roping, barrel racing, and bull riding. Some of the cowboys had won upwards of $200,000 this year in their events and there were national champions from recent national rodeos competing. It was awesome! We all loved it!

Leah liked the barrel racing

Lainy liked the clowns

I came away thankful for good, old-fashioned fun and thinking about cowboys and horses and my Grandpa Smith. I seem to a remember a time he entered my sister and I in mutton bustin' and laughed his head off when my sheep just sat down instead of running. He passed away two years ago the night we were at the rodeo. It seemed appropriate to be doing what we were doing that night. He would have loved it. Love you, Grandpa!

My beautiful grandmother and cowboy grandpa

Kindergarten

Alaina started kindergarten last week. Here she is in all her first-day-of-school glory:

When the big, huge bus that was taking her to school pulled up that first day I almost didn't put her on it. It looked way too big and she looked way too small. Lainy, however, was totally unconcerned and jumped on the bus with a little wave at me. She's too grown-up these days.

After she came home Lainy told us how she had helped a little boy in her class. He was crying for his mom and Lainy asked her teacher if she could help him. Her teacher said, "Sure!". So Lainy went and talked to the boy and "calmed him down" and helped him write his name. Isn't that sweet?

Coming home

One of the perks of having Lainy in school is one-on-one time with Leah. We've never had much before (last year when Lainy was in preschool I had my little nanny job). I love having Leah all to myself. She starts talking the minute Lainy gets on the bus and doesn't stop until we pick Lainy up 3 hours later. Who knew she was such a chatterbox? It is adorable and I am in love with my little 2-year-old all over again.

On our way to get Lainy

I admit, I am enjoying having a schedule again. Summer was pretty awesome - we played with friends and went swimming nearly every day - but it's nice to get back into a routine. Know what I mean?

Here's to a great school year!