Always Late

Every Christmas I try so hard to get a start on things early.  It just isn’t my nature to be overly prepared for anything.  So, every year I decide to get things taken care of early so I can enjoy the season.  Every year Christmas comes and I am kicking myself for the things I didn’t get done the way I had wanted. 

So, here’s the story this year.  Those of you beloved friends and family who have yet to receive a Christmas card.  They are in the mail.  Yes, they were just dropped tonight, but they are technically “in the mail.”  I did get pictures done in the fall so they would have beautiful colors and be ready for Christmas cards.  No, I didn’t get on top of the whole card thing until like a week ago.  Lame.  I make myself so mad. 

I do have a fun Christmas post coming, but in the chaos of my home post-present opening, I seem to have misplaced the cord to my camera.  It has been a wonderful day, and I am super-duper excited to post the video of Pete.  He was so dang cute this morning.  I, on the other hand did not look so cute, so there may not be any pictures of how beautiful I look on Christmas morning.  I know, you are all very disappointed. 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  Remember I love you, and to prove it, the card is in the mail.  Or, because I am an airhead you can tell me if I forgot.

‘New Moon’

My friend Jaime rocks for a million-bazillion reasons, but lately there was one particular thing that she did that stood out.  She got us tickets to an advanced showing of New Moon.  So, a bunch of us girls went together on Nov. 19th (Thursday, that’s right, booyah) to see the movie.  We got there extra early so we could sit together which apparently isn’t important when the theater is reserved.   We felt kind of silly sitting there an hour and a half before the movie started with hardly anyone else in the theater.  It was okay though because it was good company.  We talked and laughed and our butts already hurt before the movie even started.  I took some pretty rad pictures, but I don’t know if the girls are going to kill me for posting them.

That is actually the main purpose for this post, seeing as I saw the movie a month ago, but only found the cord and downloaded the pictures now.  Now, I am putting it out there for all of you to see what a goof I am. No teasing.  

This is Becky, Jaime, and me.  Apparently when I hold the camera AND take the pictures I get crazy eyes.  I know this now because I have crazy eyes in every picture where I am holding the camera.  Of course, my friends look lovely.  On account of the crazy eyes, I handed my camera to Jaime to take pictures.  Here is what we got.  Notice, no crazy eyes.

A Jaime centric photo.  This does in no way reflect her personality, I assure you.

After several tries we all got in the photo. Jaime was not pleased with the way she looks while holding the camera, Becky looks a little tipsy, and I was practically sitting on Jaime to get into the picture.  But, no crazy eyes, mostly.

These are pictures we took while the others were getting their snacks, etc.  My lens had a fingerprint on it when  we took pics of the whole group of us, so I will have to see what I can do about that and post later.

The movie was good.  I have to remind myself that it will never be as good as the book, so take it easy on the criticism.  Things like, I thought Jacob’s house would be light yellow.  I don’t know if it says that in the book or if that is something I made up in my head, but having it be red was a little disappointing.  Little things like that always bug me when they make a book into a movie.

So, all you Twilight fans, its some good fun, and Jacob’s not too bad to look at for a couple hours regardless. 

 

Hair

So, it happened.  I always knew in the back of my mind it would.  I tried for years to dissuade her.  I thought the years where I would worry about it were coming to an end. Then it happened.  She cut her hair!  I had often told her, as a good mother should, that if she cut her own hair it would make her ugly.  Now that I think about it, that may not have been the best approach.  

When I saw her and what had been done I could actually physically feel the anger heating up my chest.  I knew in that moment I had better just not talk about it then.  I very calmly called the mother of my daughter’s partner-in-crime and we talked about it. 

I guess today will be another haircut.  Her usual stylist is booked out through January, so unless I can persuade her with my desperation, I have no idea what we are going to do.    I will hopefully have pictures to post of the new haircut soon. 

Opinions please.  Should I let her keep bangs, or make her grow them out?  I will not tell you my opinion in hopes of getting honest answers. 

Gettin’ on my game face for a call to the stylist now. 

  While I am at it, I can’t help but put up one of the beautiful pictures Haylee did. 

Big boy…not so much.

Today as I got ready to take the kids to school I pulled out one of Jake’s hand-me-down coats for Pete.  As I put the coat on Pete I was met with a flood of memories of Jake in that coat.  The main one being, that is the coat I sent Jake to preschool in.

The significance of this is in the fact it (mostly) fits Pete.  Days after Jake turned 3 I put him on a school bus that stopped outside our townhome and sent him away for half the day to preschool.  My perspective was different then.  Jake seemed so big to me.  As I look at Pete in the coat I know he is still so young, and though Jake was 7 months older than Pete is now, he was too.  

With Jake’s vision issues I know it was the right choice to send him to preschool where he was getting more time with therapists.  But as I look at Pete in his coat I think, Jake had to grow up pretty darn fast. 

This is Jake getting off the bus on the last day of preschool before summer break 2004.  He turned 3 in January  and this is May. 

One of my favorite pictures of Jake when he was little.  

I miss the time with my little Jake.  He is turning 9 in January and I can’t help but think the time when it isn’t cool to kiss his Mom goodbye anymore, or tell me how his day was or even talk to me outside of grunting will soon be here. 

He is my first baby.  He is the one who taught me what it meant to be a mother.  He was the first one I felt that motherly instinct,  where I would do ANYTHING for him.  Walk through fire so he doesn’t get stung by a bee, you bet.  That kind of skewed logic that you never understand until you experience it.  I love him so much.  And even when he doesn’t want me to tell him that every single day, when he leaves, when he comes home, when he goes to bed, when he gets up, just when we are sitting near each other,  I will still tell him.  I love you Bubs.    

 

Hawaii

Nate and I took a vacation! I know you are in shock. Just pick yourself up off the floor and you can read about our grand adventure. Okay, that may be overstating it a little.

Nate's Dad talked Nate into going to Hawaii with them. See, it doesn't take much talking for me to go on vacation, but I like to. Nate on the other hand is a home-body. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Nate's Dad had been successful.

We flew into Honolulu on a Tuesday afternoon. We were suffering greatly from jet-lag, so this day was basically shot. We went and walked around near our hotel, and then got some "dinner" even though it was only 4:00.
The next day we drove up north to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was a great day except for one slight mishap. Our first stop was to visit the New Zealand village. There we played a game with sticks. Apparently, I am not very good at throwing a stick at the same time I am supposed to be catching one with the other hand. So, instead, the stick hit me right in the eye. I guess in a way, I caught the stick with my face instead of my hand.




The next day we visited the Pearl Harbor Exhibits. I found it very impressive, but really heavy stuff overall. That is why I chose this picture to show. It was very interesting, but definitely no reason to be smiling. It is me and Nate's mom, Marilee.



We flew to Kauai that evening. Kauai is beautiful. We spent most of the time going to see the beautiful scenery on the island. We visited the Tropical Botanical Gardens, several waterfalls, Spouting Horn, Waimeia Canyon, and several beaches.

We went to see a lighthouse and from that one you could see another in the distance. It was all just very breathtaking. (Oh, and for my Dad and brothers, there is a golf course right up the cliff here. It was a beautiful location.)



Another photo from the same spot. We went looking in tide pools for little fish and other sea-life I cannot identify. Isn't Nate being friendly - a wave AND a smile.


My favorite part of Kauai was taking a charter boat ride up the NaPali Coast. It was more beautiful than my limited writing skills can describe. We saw sea turtles, and dolphins swam along in front of the boat.


I began snorkeling, but had to cut it short because a man on our boat was having heart problems. I was really proud of myself for actually snorkeling. I thought I would be too scared. I really would have liked to have done it more.


After our boat trip up the coast we went to eat at the perfect restaurant. The levels were tiered so every table had a view of the ocean and it was right on the beach and open air to the beach. We ate dinner and watched a beautiful sunset.


This was the first trip I wasn't ready to come home at the end.

It was a great trip. This is me and Marilee saying 'goodbye' to the beach and the ocean.


For all of you who have ever had Nate get his hands on your camera, here is the ever-present foot shot. He even got my foot in this one. Our feet, in Hawaii.

Anniversary

I am not under any illusions that I am a great writer. I began the day before my anniversary trying to write the story of how Nate and I met and ended up married. It just wasn't working for me. I really tried, but to no avail. So, instead I am going to post a few pictures from our wedding. These pictures had been packed since we moved and I just dug them out of the box a few months ago. I had to scan them in because we got married 12 years ago, which was before all the digital hooha that there is now. So, here, for your viewing pleasure, Nate and Kris, April 3, 1997.



Maybe someday I will be able to sputter a few coherent words that would tell of the circumstances of mine and Nate's meeting and falling in love, but for now, a picture has to do the job.

Baby Girl is 6 (On January 12, so by Kris standard time this post is right on time)!

CAUTION PICTURE OVERLOAD!!



Emma is 6. No kidding. All of you who are thinking, 'what she isn't 14?',no, no she is not. She just thinks she is. I am really not ready for her to grow up. So, the fact that she had a "Glamor Party" for her birthday really didn't help. On her actual birthday we went as a family to Chuck-E-Cheese. Nate was surprised that the pizza wasn't nearly as bad as he thought it would be. Pete loved riding in all the little vehicles that just go up and down. Both Emma and Jake liked the shooting games. That was a little disturbing. Emma really likes this booth they have that gives you a sketch of yourself. She also really liked the animatronics. The theme was something about "Back to the 80's" so they had Chuck-E singing all sorts of crazy 80's songs. They weren't very good in the 80's, they were even worse with Chuck-E singing. Just imagine this mouse singing "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". Yeah, it was bad. But we were together, and Emma, being the cheeseball that she is said 'that was all she wanted for her Birthday to make it the best Birthday ever!'
Her second party was one after Jake's baptism. We had a luncheon after the baptism. Since there are 4 of us who have birthdays in a 3 week span that also overlaps Christmas and New Years we thought we would give our friends and family a break so they only had to come to Mapleton once and do a combined birthday party. So, she got to open the gifts from grandparents and some family friends that day, and so did Jake. They each blew out candles in a cupcake and we called it good.
Her third and final party was her party with her friends. It was a 'Glamor Party'. I should have taken a pictue of the invitations I made, but I didn't think of it at the time. The invitations were little purses that told all the party info and asked the girl's to come dressed in their most "glamorous attire". It was a roaring success with all the girls. There was sparkling grape juice to drink out of champagne flutes and pink cupcakes. We did hair and make-up and ended the whole glamorous party with a fashion show. It was really something. It made Emma happy, so I guess in the end all was worth it.



I am so glad I have a such a sweet little girl. We have a wonderful relationship and I hope to always have that with her. Her heart is so good. She is always trying to make everyone around her happy. So, Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

Okay, here is the problem I have encountered, when I went through the pictures of Emma to put up here...well, there were like close to 40 that I wanted to post. So, I am going to post a few of my VERY favorites and then I am going to do one of those slide show things for those of you who care to indulge me in my affection for pictures of my daughter.

One of the first pictures taken of Emma after she was born. She weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs. 5 oz. She was only 5 weeks early and I got to take her home from the hospital with me!
Emma after she was a couple months old.
Emma enjoying a nice, refreshing beverage.
When Emma was almost 11 months old she broke her femur. She had this nasty cast on for about 6 weeks. It was awful. She learned to crawl with it though. She is a tough cookie.
Emma at Christmas time when she was about 1. She was already such a beauty.





Emma at Disneyland for the first time.





Emma as Tinkerbell for Halloween when she was almost 2.



Gorgeous Em, and yes, I am totally biased.


Em at Bob and Erica's wedding. Beautiful.

Emma last Christmas

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad! Today is my Dad's Birthday and I just can't help but be a lemming and write a little about why I love my Dad so much and wish him a Happy Birthday.

Actually, I have been thinking a lot about the things that my Dad has taught me and the ways that he has influenced me. He has always been such a force for good in my life, I thought that I might list a few of these things.
One of the largest ways my Dad has influenced me is that I am a dyed in the wool BYU fan. I can remember as a child spending days just going down to campus. Just to spend the day there. We used to sing the 'Cougar Fight Song' on road trips. I also have attended BYU football games with my Dad since I was too young to even need a ticket of my own. Through the years I am sure I often took these opportunities to spend so much time alone with my Dad for granted, but even as I sit here and write about it I am brought to tears thinking of all the fun times I had with him going to the games. Along with going to the games, he gave me a love for football that most women are never able to attain. I can honestly say I enjoy a good football game considerably more than my husband. It is a strange twist.


My Dad is the most fair man I have ever known. He always gives people the benefit of the doubt. This is something that I admire, but have not perfected. This did give me a good start in life dealing with other people though because I didn't have any experience with being judgementmental or prejudiced.
My Dad was always a wonderful spiritual leader in our home. He taught me to make a decision about the important things in life once and then be a good enough person to stick with the decision. He made the decision he would go to Church on Sunday, so there is no question on Sunday morning, he already made the decision a while back. It makes for an easy Sunday morning. I don't know if I have explained this quality very well, but I think that it has been of great benefit in my life. I don't have a lot of times where I have to figure out what I am going to do, I have already made the decision. I fulfill callings, because that was a decision I made when I received the calling. That is what my Dad taught me through his example.

One thing that I didn't realize until recently is that my Dad, along with my Mom, provided a safe, happy environment for me. He protected me from so much of the rotten things that he saw at work, and never brought it home. I am so grateful that I grew up feeling safe and happy and always knew my home was a haven from the world. I often, in talking with my friends, say I grew up in a "happy little bubble", and frankly, I am grateful for that bubble that was provided. I may be a bit naive, but I don't know it.


One of the things I am most grateful for is that my Dad taught me to have a good sense of humor and some moderation in my life. Life should be fun, and my Dad taught me that I should be able to take time and enjoy the things I like to do. He has always been a hard worker, but he also showed me it is okay to go to a movie instead of spend the entire day Saturday working. You can do some of each, fun and work.
My Dad has a great sense of humor and some of the greatest movies are movies that I first watched with my Dad. Indiana Jones, Die Hard, and Romancing the Stone are all movies that I remember watching with Dad.
One of my greatest memories that my Dad probably doesn't even remember is the first night of bombing during Desert Storm. My Dad let me stay up late (I was in 9th grade) and watch the news with him. I am so much like my Dad in my love of politics, current events, and history. I didn't know it then, but that interest in what was going on and watching that together was something that was so neat to me to be able to share with him.
There are so many things about my Dad that are so extraordinary. I am so grateful that I was able to be raised by such a caring, loving, strong, spiritual man. I can't express in words how much I really love him, but I hope he knows. Dad, Happy Birthday!

Mom and Dad for Christmas. Awhh.

8 Is Great Part 2

On January 10 Jake was baptized. It was a great day for our family. As we talked before he was baptized I was amazed at his level of understanding of the gospel and the ordinance that he was participating in. I don't think I knew that much at his age, and I don't think I taught him all he knows. Regardless, he knows and it makes me happy.
We had so much family travel and send their love and support I was so grateful for the efforts that were made.
The baptism program was short, but went very well. Jake actually sang a song all by himself. I was so proud of him. There have been many people who attended his baptism who have commented to me about how sweet and wonderful his song was. It was good for him to learn the words to the song too because they talked of the covenant he was taking.
I am so proud of my Jakers. It is times like this that make me so grateful to be a mother and to have these sweet (most of the time) kids in my home. I sure love my Jake. I am one happy Mom.
Oh, plus we didn't get any great pictures. Seriously, these are the best of them. Bummer.

Here is Jake in his new suit that he got for his baptism. He is just being goofy. We get goofy or eyes closed. Take your pick.


Here are the guys ready for the baptism. Those are pretty stylin' outfits.

8 Is Great!

My Jakers is 8!! It is absolutely nuts. I can't believe he is getting so big. He has been such a wonderful little guy to have in our family. We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant once and I saved his fortune from his fortune cookie because I thought it was completely meant for Jake. The fortune reads "Your smile brings happiness to others." I think this perfectly describes his affect on others.
The thing that continues to amaze me is what a happy, optimistic, sweet personality he has after everything he has gone through. This sweet boy has overcome many things already in his life, and always is surprising me with his cheerful attitude. Most of the time I don't think he even knows he was dealing with more than most kids do. He brings me so much happiness (most of the time, he is an 8 year old boy) and he keeps me on my toes. I know there is no way for me to let him know how much I love him, but every day I will keep trying.