The Holidays

I hate when I wait this long to update my blog because I know I'll forget things I would have wanted to write down. But, it also means we've had a busy, fun couple of months!

I will write down a few highlights and let the pictures do most of the talking.

November:
Regular day-to-day, another round of swim lessons, and Thanksgiving spent with both families. Layla and I went and saw The Nutcracker and I was pleased that she loved it! Mitch took me star gazing with his telescope up Big Cottonwood canyon, but it was kind of a bust because the moon was too bright. But I love him for humoring me and my love of the stars ... now if he would only take me to see the northern lights, ha! My brother Jordan and his family came in town for Thanksgiving and it was great to see them. Things have improved immensely with Tenley, so that was a plus! Tennesey is cute and it was the best to see all the cousins playing together.

Nutcracker ballet.

December:
It was my birthday. It's sad that only a month later I can't remember much about it! Oh yeah, I got a pair of new glasses that I love and totally splurged on. Mitch made my day by having a coworker bring back Lou Malnati's pizzas from Chicago for me ... the yummiest pizza ever! We also went and saw the comedian Jim Gaffigan and laughed our faces off! It was a great birthday! The bad side was that Kathy fell and had emergency hip surgery a couple of days before my birthday; that poor lady can't catch a break, I swear! I sure hope she gets better soon!!!

An update on Layla's Refelctions contest poem: she is now on to the Regionals level! She and one other boy were the only two from the entire school to advance to Regionals. I am so proud of her! To be completely honest, when we went to the event to see if she had won at the district level, I gave her a little pep talk and said, "Most kids don't go past the school level, let alone the district level! I'm just happy you entered; I never cared if you won or not, I just wanted you to have fun doing it. I'm so proud of you and if you don't win, don't worry, it's awesome you made it this far!" and so on. Imagine my surprise when we walk in the room and find her entry with a big "Winner!" ribbon on it! She was shocked, and proud, all while staying so humble, which made me even more proud of her, ha, ha! We should find out this month if she was a winner at the regional level or not. If she is, she'll go on to state!

Winner at the school level and district level!

I have enjoyed being  part of the PTA this year. I am on a committee with two other women and we help with the school reading challenges and a book club for the 5th and 6th graders. I love it! Here are some pics of the decorations we made for the latest reading challenge. I was pretty proud of us and our creativity!

 

Another piano recital. She played Ecossaise and did well.

Oakley got baptized and she asked Layla to sing a song with her (When I Am Baptized) as part of the program. It was SO sweet and I was very proud of both girls. We love Oakley and were very happy for her. I hope these two stay friends for life and really are college roommates like we always tell them they should be! ;)

Marcus got his first professional hair cut and it was incredibly hard to get a good picture of him afterwards. Good thing he's so handsome! It was getting too hard for my mom to cut because he was pretty wiggly and whiny, so I took him to a hair place just for kids and he did much better. When he's older I'll have my mom cut it again. :)

We enjoyed the Chinese exhibit at the Children's museum over Thanksgiving break!

 

Layla is always making party invitations. This one made me laugh!

I bet you can guess who's this is! :)

The kids still LOVE sleeping over at Mammey and Grandpa Miles's house and beg me to have a sleepover often. I love that they have so much fun there, and as an added bonus, my mom sometimes sends us hilarious pics like these when the kids are away!

 

The count down for Christmas was on! We had chocolate calendars, a paper chain, and books to help us count down. My mom was so cute and rented 24 Christmas themed library books from the library, wrapped them all up individually, and then the kids opened one a day. That was a really fun tradition that we looked forward to each day.

Reading our countdown book.

I truly enjoyed helping in Layla's class Christmas party this year! I was in charge of a game and we played "snowman bowling," which was a hit. I love seeing Layla in her class with her cute friends!

Mitch took two weeks off of work which was amazing! The Wednesday before Christmas we drove down to St. George and stayed with my grandpa until Friday. It was an excellent way to pass the time while waiting for Christmas. We went to the dinosaur museum, went on a little hike, ate delicious pie from a famous pie shop in Veyo, and played lots of ping pong. It was great to visit with Grandpa and Zing and they were incredibly gracious hosts.

I was originally holding the dinos hand to keep it from tipping over, but then I forgot to let go!

This is how I will always remember my grandpa:

out in nature, bending over to show me something and teach me all about it.

The downside to the trip was that Marcus got sick. He took a two hour nap on Thursday after lunch in Veyo, and he NEVER takes naps anymore, so we thought he was getting sick. He didn't eat dinner that night or breakfast the next morning. We packed up the car to head out and he said his tummy hurt, so I grabbed a few plastic bags. He threw up 3 times on the way home. I felt like we handled it well and were very calm and patient, especially considering at one point we were pulled over on the side of the freeway, changing his clothes in the freezing cold. The poor little guy only shed a couple of tears (literally) and was so sweet and calm the whole time, and he was the one who was sick! Layla definitely cried way more than he did, ha, ha!

Since the next day was Christmas Eve, we decided to cancel our plans with the Botts, which was a bummer. But the next day Marcus was just fine, and didn't throw up at all. The Botts still didn't want us to come over just in case, so we had dinner at my mom's for my uncle's birthday (he was in town with his new girlfriend, Lily, whom I'm REALLY hoping he will marry because we loved her!). I was glad we still got out of the house and had fun on Christmas Eve.

That night, 23 hours after throwing up the day before, Marcus threw up again! Bummer! And it got all over his bed this time! Double bummer! He was SO sweet about it though and kept saying, "I sowy I make a big mess, Dad. I sowy you hafta do waundwy, Mom." Melt our hearts! He is the sweetest, even when he's sick! We didn't want to get anyone else sick, so we didn't go to my grandma's on Christmas morning, which was definitely weird and made us feel like we were missing out! Thankfully Marcus felt pretty good Christmas morning and we had a blast opening presents!

Santa came to the Miles Christmas party!

The kids were both brave and sat on his lap.

Marcus had no hesitation telling him a list of things he wanted.

Layla was more reserved, but did request a couple of things.

The kids were beyond excited and they were very sweet and grateful for their gifts. They gave lots of hugs and said lots of thank yous. It was a great parenting moment to see their excited faces and hear their cute little voices! They both got bikes and sleds and way too many toys. Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year, and we weren't at my grandma's, we went to church. I love going to church on Christmas Sunday. Nothing brings the spirit more than the beautiful music and the gratitude for the birth of our Savior. As we were sitting there, I thought, "If Marcus was sick for no other reason than to make us come to church today, then it was all worth it." I was actually grateful for the several days of vomiting, so that I could be sitting in church on that day, soaking in the beautiful spirit I felt. And of course we sang Silent Night and I cried, just like I do every time that song is sung. It is my favorite Christmas hymn.

After church my parents, grandma, and Kent and Lily came over for a while. It was fun to see them again and show them our gifts. Of course the house was wrecked from the aftermass of Christmas, but I told Mitch that this year I would not be such a Nazi about it and would let the mess remain as long as everyone was having fun. I lasted 3 days, which is a miracle for me! Then I got grumpy and made everyone clean up, ha!

Harvey loves the kitty castle Santa brought him.

Since we cancelled all our original Christmas plans, we spread the events out over the next week. On Monday we went to Grandma Ruth's and opened gifts, then to Brock and Natalie's for more gifts, then to lunch, then we took Lily sledding with us while Kent skied, then out to dinner with my parents, grandma, and Kent and Lily. It was a long, super fun day.

I was so happy that the kids both loved sledding as much as they did. I honestly expected Layla to be scared, but she wasn't at all and giggled the whole time. I was so proud of her! This was my first time sledding since I was 12 and broke my arm tubing down a much-too-steep hill. I conquered my fears and had a blast!

On Tuesday we did the Bott Christmas dinner, poems, and gift celebration. It was great fun! The kids were so excited and spoiled rotten and it was fun to have baby Vivian with us.

Playing together on Christmas morning.

On Wednesday I ended up taking Marcus to the pediatrician because he had a nasty sinus infection. I always take him when I don't need to ... it was just a viral infection, kind of a waste of my time and money. At least he got better fast.

Other highlights of Christmas break:
We discovered that Layla had head lice. Boo! We treated it and finished a couple of days ago. Fingers crossed that we killed all the little buggers!

Layla lost her first top tooth on New Year's Eve. It was pretty darn loose, so Mitch said he'd pull it out. Her look of shock and surprise was classic when she realized it was out of her mouth and in the paper towel! Now she looks cute with one tooth missing, and I'm sure the other one will be out by the end of this week.

Mitch and I hosted a game night with some of our friends from the neighborhood for New Year's. Well, we actually had them over the night before. It was fun to celebrate without the kiddos and my cheeks hurt by the night's end from laughing. We had a little party with just the four of us on New Year's. We watched a movie, ate homemade pizza and ice cream, then did our annoying blowers and noise makers and then put the kids to bed at their normal time and didn't feel bad about it. They didn't know the difference and they have the rest of their lives to stay up late. Mitch and I made it to 11 pm before we konked out, only to be awoken at midnight by the neighbor's fireworks.

This week it was back to school and work. Layla's school started two hours late today because of the snow storm, so we made French toast and painted her fingernails. I almost let her stay home from school to hang out with us, but she seemed excited to go, so I sent her.

Now it's 2017 and I'm ready for a new year! I am going to babysit our niece, Vivian, twice a week, starting on Monday, and I am looking forward to that. I think this year will be great and I'm very happy that I get to spend it with my favorite three people in the world!