Mitch . Lacey . Layla . Marcus: The Rest of 2017

This is going to be a quick post because I have to pick Marcus up from preschool in 30 minutes. But I have a lot to write about, so it might be jumbled, sorry!

Christmas Sunday

Obviously, the most exciting thing around here lately was Christmas! It was such a good one! I thoroughly enjoyed the entire 6 weeks of counting down after Thanksgiving. The kids were beyond excited and it rubbed off on me. We did a few service activities: we passed out candy canes in the Smith's parking lot (it's always great to make someone smile!), we took supplies to the animal shelter, we are still in the process of donating some old books the kids picked out, we took dinner to several sick neighbors, and other things I'm sure I'm not remembering now. I had intended for us to do a lot more, but Marcus and I were sick for a solid 8 weeks and that definitely put a damper on things. Then Marcus ended up with an ear infection, a full body rash, and strep throat. Yay for antibiotics! It was a miracle that no one else ended up with strep! We were all healthy for the weekend before Christmas and the rest of the holidays.

In December Mitch and I were able to attend Layla's Parents Only ballet recital. The studio is tiny and so they only invited 2 guests per dancer. It was more of a dress rehearsal. She will have an actual recital in May. I wasn't sure what to expect since this is her first dance class, but I was worried because she literally never practices her dance at home. Well, I was right ... she was the worst ballerina on the stage! LOL! She wasn't terrible, but she definitely didn't know the dance as well as the others. She is very graceful and the moves she did know she performed flawlessly. There were just a lot that she didn't know. So, I told her she has to practice for the rest of the year. On the upside, she looked beautiful in her leotard and tutu and she had a big smile on her face the whole time!

My mom was kind enough to join Layla on a field trip in December. They went to This is the Place Heritage Park and froze their butts off. It was only 20 degrees that day! But they were troopers and had a great time. I was grateful that my mom was willing to go since I couldn't take Marcus and it would have been an all day event for me. She was able to just meet them there. Most of all, I'm thankful for the relationship my mom (and dad) have with my kids. It's pretty special! I also helped out in Layla's class Christmas party. It was fun and the kids put on a ukelele concert at the end. I was happy because Layla has loved learning to play the uke this year and I knew she was getting one on Christmas morning!

The day Layla dressed herself and did her own hair.

The kids also passed the time waiting for Christmas by building cardboard rockets and playing silly dress ups. Marcus played with Smith almost every day most weeks. They are great buds.

We celebrated my birthday in December. I had a hard time turning 34. Not because that's so old, but because it means that Marcus will start kindergarten next school year! It is incredibly bittersweet! Besides feeling a little sad about that, I was spoiled on my birthday (the whole week, actually!) and appreciated feeling loved by so many. I went to lunch with good friends and Mitch brought home dinner that night, along with beautiful flowers and some delectable cupcakes. The kids gave me a really pretty necklace with a black pearl in it. I bought myself a (new to me) road bike a couple of months prior, so I reminded Mitch over and over not to buy me a birthday or Christmas present. I was relieved he listened, because I would have felt really guilty otherwise! That weekend we also went to dinner and Mitch was so sweet and had secretly invited one of my best friends, Liz, and her husband to meet us at the restaurant. We went bowling after and had a great time! I am excited for this new chapter in my life! Not sure if I mentioned it on the blog or not, but I am going back to school to earn a Master's Degree in Educational Counseling to become a school counselor. The program is through Utah State (I will attend the Kaysville campus) and takes 3 years to complete. I will start in 2019, when Marcus starts first grade and after I finish the prerequisite courses. Here's to 34!

But back to Christmas... we tried really hard to focus on Christ during the holidays. We talked about the real meaning of Christmas a lot and read Luke chapter 2 a couple of different times. I felt like it made the holiday more meaningful to have that focus. We read lots of Christmas book and watched lots of Christmas movies. The Friday before Christmas we had the Miles Christmas party at my parents' house and Santa came. It was a great time.

This pic is for my posterity. ;)
This is my Grandma Miles, who always had
Santa come to her Christmas parties when I was young.
I actually teared up when this picture was taken.
She has dementia now and doesn't remember me anymore.
But she was happy to see Santa this year. I love her!

Jordan, Tenley, and Tennesey came and it was great to see them again. My uncle Kent was also there so that was nice. We were able to spend more time together on Saturday. The rest of the holiday was a blur of present opening and eating. Marcus finally got the Raphael Playset he had been asking for for a long time. He LOVES it. Layla loved everything she got, even more than I thought she would, which is awesome. On Christmas morning she said, "Thanks, Santa!" then looked at me and winked. Yep, she knows the truth, has for several years now, but this year around the first of December, Mitch and I talked with her about it officially. So sad, but she is very logical so I kind of expected it. I don't know that Marcus really believes either. He told me this year that, "there's no way a reindeer can have a red nose! That's not true!" and when we got out the elf on the shelf, he freaked out. He was literally mad and yelling that "an elf can't move by himself! He can only move if you move him!" Poor kid, we were totally messing with his mind and it upset him. Funny thing is, he went along with it for the rest of the month and was so excited to see what the elf was doing each morning. I'm pretty sure he knows the truth, but I can't have that talk with my FOUR year old! I need at least two more years. At least! I guess this is what happens when you have very logical, insightful children.

Sometimes you get so many Christmas gifts, you have to write a list of "fun things to do" so you
make sure you play with them all! I sure love Layla and all the lists she makes!

Another thing I loved about this Christmas was that Marcus would pray and say, "Please bless that it can be Christmas soon" and one time also added, "for Jesus's birthday party." His prayers kill us because they are the sweetest, most hilarious, most spiritual prayers any four year old has ever said.

We let them frost their own graham crackers.

One downside to Christmas this year was our Carpet Drama. We picked out new carpet in October and scheduled to have it installed two days after Christmas since Mitch would be off work. Long story short, it wasn't installed because the carpet was on back order. We have since learned we can't get the carpet and had to choose a different one. I just wish they had told us sooner so we could have picked a different one and still had it installed on time! Now they are (at least they better be!) installing it on Friday this week. I'm sure it will look great and I'm excited about it, just wish it had gone as originally planned. Also, Mitch worked so hard to put wood end caps on our stairs before the carpet is installed. It looks amazing! You can see in some of the pics in this post that the stairs are torn up. That was during the construction process. My dad came and helped on Saturday. Now they are done and beautiful! I will post a pic once the carpet is in.

I love my life. Mitch and I feel so blessed, especially as we celebrated Christmas with our loved ones. It was such a joyous, stress free, happy time. The New Year was also great and we are so excited for 2018. Mitch is a techfellow at work now and he is looking forward to the opportunities that will bring. We are just at a really great place in our lives right now. Most of all, our testimonies of the birth of Jesus Christ and what that means to us and for us brings an immeasurable amount of peace, happiness, and meaning to our lives. I wouldn't trade that for the world! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!