Christmas 2009

This year was such a fun year for Christmas. Evan is understanding so much and Makiah is getting old enough to enjoy all the fun. I saved up a little so I could splurge on my kids this year. They really deserved it, we are always so careful on how much we spend at Christmas. It was nice to put away the "baby toys" and buy some games and toys that will actually be played with rather than thrown around. We started some traditions that we hope we will enjoy each year. Christmas Eve was filled with goodies, movies, letters to Santa, a yummy dinner, a drive to see lights, a lesson on Christ's birth with the nativity, a gift for Christ, and of course a sleepless night :) Really, it took Evan awhile to wind down and it also took Dallas a while to get to sleep as well. I think I even remember him jumping on the bed out of excitement... yup, that's Dallas. I think he loves Christmas the most out of all of us.

The letters...

 

Dallas and I were not going to give gifts to each other this year, but we both kinda broke that rule and went out and got each other something. Dallas wrapped his and I could not figure out what it was... I had a few ideas but they were wrong. The funny thing is on Christmas eve I had a dream that his gift to me was a vacuum. The reason why that was so funny is, when I opened the gift it was a vacuum. Weird. I am the worst at guessing and then I dream and guess it right. And who would have thought a vacuum? Really. Dallas on the other hand guessed my gift as soon as he saw it. A drum kit. He was the happiest dad on Christmas.

The kids loved every one of their gifts! Thank you awesome family who didn't forget us :) We wish that we could have been with you on Christmas, family just completes the day. We missed so many of our old traditions that just are not the same with out our families.

The long awaited choo choo train and choo choo train tracks...

The face tells it all... she loves this doll! She also got a stroller and cradle for her baby. Evan now wants a baby too... maybe for his birthday :)

 

I've been wanting to get these kids a table for so long! Thankfully Santa was able to work something out :)

Special note to Grandma's and Grandpa's: Evan looooves his putator (computer) and dacuum (vacuum). Makiah is enjoying her tea set, care bear and rocking chair. Dallas and I are also enjoying the fun gifts you sent us. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We love you and miss you so much.

We LOVE Christmas :)

Christmas Eve was a loooong but fun day for us. We were all so excited for all the fun. It took Dallas a long time to fall asleep and he was the first one to wake up... of course, he is a child at heart :) Ever since we set up the Christmas tree I've been wanting to get this shot. Dallas gets so sick of me asking for his help with my photos, but he was willing to put up with me to get this...

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas... I'll be back to tell you all how ours went :)

loVE it!

I love this picture of Kiah, love it! Today I posted it on my photo blog for Constructive Feedback Friday at i ♥ faces. I am so glad I posted it! I have gotten some great feedback and I have seen a few edits of my photo that I love! My favorite was done by Rachel at Savor Photography and she did such a great job. I am now insisting that I learn how to use Photoshop. Really, I want to be able to make my photos look like this. Love it. Love it.

Discovering me.

Have you ever had a blog post in your mind? Something that you want to say, but you kept replaying it your mind to make it sound right? Then you just put it aside like it doesn't matter and then it just keeps coming back to you like it needs to be said. Well I have. And here it is... only, I am not a writer by any means and it might not mean anything to anyone but me. But that's okay. It needs to be said before I go crazy thinking about it.

I got a message from my little sister on facebook. What she said pretty much summed up how I was feeling. To tell you the truth, I started crying when I read it. She said (and I hope you don't mind me quoting you, Bethany), "I think that we both know that you are supposed to be in Indiana. You know you are conquering the world. And if the world is to be conquered, it might as well be conquered by you, am I correct??" I may not be conquering the world here in Indiana, but I am conquering MY world. Which is what this long awaited blog post is all about.

Discovering me. That has always been hard for me. I am a dependent person, really, just ask Dallas. I don't think I would survive on my own. For this reason I am glad I found Dallas, who is very independent in many ways. We mesh very well together. I know this sounds all Saturday Warriorish, but we were meant for each other :) I honestly feel that Heavenly Father saved him especially for me, because I need him. Because of him I am here, in Indiana, where I am finally finding myself.

When I first got married, life was not easy. I went through a lot. Especially after I had Evan, and even more so when I was pregnant with Kiah. I was bored. I was depressed. It is crazy how easily Satan can make you feel worthless. Even to the point where you feel there is no point in anything anymore. Here I had a beautiful child and another on the way and I had a hard time enjoying it at all. I knew that this life was what I wanted but at the same time I didn't know who I really was. I relied on my family for EVERYTHING. They were my life. I wanted to be closer to them. When I was away the bordom kicked in again and then the depression.

I tried different hobbies and things to make life fun. I wanted to be more than just a mom who cooked, sewed and cleaned. But in my mind that was who I was supposed to be. My mom tried to help get me involved in projects and things. Nothing ever clicked. I couldn't find who I wanted to be.

When Dallas talked about moving away I thought he was crazy. Living just 2 hours away from family had been hard enough. We had a lot of disscussions about this and it never ended well. He applied to grad school at Purdue and I just kept thinking that it wouldn't really happen. But the day did come that he was accepted to Purdue. And we both cried, because somehow we both knew that was where we needed to be. Strange isn't it? How the Lord knows exactly what you need and when you need it? I thought the solution to my problem was getting closer to family, when all along I needed to be far away.

Since I've been here in Indiana I have become slightly more independent. I have been happy. I have found what makes me happy. I have discovered that I don't have to be the mom who cooks, cleans, and sews. Those things all come in handy being a mom and all. But now I know that there are talents hidden deep in there somewhere just waiting to come out. I am my own person. As much as I want to be close to family, I had to be away to truly find myself.

Now Dallas and I have our future ahead of us. There is the big question- Utah or somewhere else? Some of you probably wonder why I want to move back to Utah now that I have had this experience. I think now that I know that I can do things on my own, I won't rely too much on my family even if I did live close. I want my kids to grow up knowing their grandma's and grandpa's. I want my kids to have what I did as a child. Family. On the other side of things some of you are probably wondering why living outside of Utah is even an option. Well, life goes on outside of Utah, and I am having a wonderful experience here in Indiana. Sometimes I wonder what else is out there. There is also Dallas, he wants to travel. There are so many places that he would love to see. I guess what I am saying is we'll see what happens :) We'll see where the Lord wants us.


"Bloom where you are planted." Thanks Bethany, everything you said truly helped. No worries I will continue in my conquering.

I usually don't open up like this. I hope it all made sense and I hope it didn't sound corny. For those of you who took the time to read, thanks for listening. Sometimes it just feels nice to vent, to let it all out :)

Countdown: 10 days

I love Christmas :) This time of year is so much fun and I love it! We are all so excited for next week we can't even stand it. Most of all I am excited for Dallas to be finished with this semester (only one more to go after this!!!)

My kids are getting so excited. Evan talks about Santa alllll the time. When we ask him what he wants Santa to bring him he says, "a choo choo train and choo choo train tracks." I don't think that will be a problem for Santa ;) Today he saw a big fire truck at Walmart and now that is what he wants :) Yesterday he told me that he wants to give Kiah a present, he is so sweet. Evan has watched "The Santa Clause" soooo many times it is ridiculous. Dallas and I have the movie memorized.

Today we made chocolate dipped pretzels... I have never made them and they turned out really yummy!

 I found these HERE... they are tasty! Find more Christmas goodies HERE.

 

I attempted to get pictures of the kids by the tree... They are soooo wiggly!

 

Kiah's hair is now long enough for these little piggies, I love it!

 

 

Oh yes, we can't forget Santa...  We got to see him at our ward Christmas party. Evan did NOT want to sit on his lap. Kiah didn't mind after she got her treat :)

Enjoying the goods...

Traumatic experience

Dallas was talking to Evan tonight after he got home late from church. Their conversation went a little like this:

Dallas: Did you have a nice day today?
Evan: Yeah.
Dallas: What did you do?
Evan: I fell in the potty.

Dallas thought it was hilarious and laughed and laughed. Evan just stared at him, he couldn't find anything funny about it. I guess it was a pretty traumatic experience for him :) Poor Evan, he really did fall in the potty. I thought it was funny that it was the first thing he thought of to tell Dallas.

i ♥ faces -7th place!!!

I have been following the i ♥ faces blog and I enter a photo every now and then. They have a theme each week and this past week's theme was "i ♥ tooshies". I didn't have a photo to enter, but I really wanted to so I took a bunch of photos of my kids. This one (below) was my favorite and I entered it. Today I was looking at the winning photos and as I scrolled down I saw my photo! Ahhhhhh! I was super excited! I was so surprised to see that I won 7th place :) Check out the i ♥ faces blog to see the other winners, they are so cute!

Pictures :)

Pictures anyone? If anyone is interested in getting their photos done (family, couples, kids, babies, high school seniors...) I would LOVE to do them for you! I had so much fun taking Holly's family pictures and Kim and Brandon's pictures :) and I am dying to do another photo shoot. If you are interested call me, email me or just leave a comment on my blog and I'll get back to you. The photo shoot will be absolutely FREE and it will include a CD of high resolution photos from your shoot. Don't be shy... let me know if you are interested!