I'll warn you now, this is going to be a monstrosity of a post... I hate it when I get so far behind on blogging, but life just seems to keep moving along at a faster and faster pace. I don't have pictures from the first few days... so you can just scroll to lower portion of this monster to see what you really came here for.
We had a great Christmas season. Friday December 17, we hit the road north around 2 pm. The kids were good, the weather was fine. We had a reservation for a suite to sleep all of us (in beds!) in Gallup. I think I'm the only one who didn't sleep very well and that's just because I was sandwiched between a 2 year old and an infant on a sofa bed without a warm enough blanket. I was happy to get up early Saturday and hit the road early. The drive was really uneventful, other than the fact that every time I took the wheel the weather took a turn for the worse, be it fog, rain, snow or ice. Thankfully, Ethan drove the majority of the time and we made it to Utah without a hitch! We were so excited to see our families.
Highlight of our arrival: Eliza running from the van as she exclaimed, "Grandma Jane!" right into grandma's welcoming embrace. Sweet, sweet memory.
Sunday morning we got up and drove a little bit more north to go to church with my parents. My dad was speaking and it was fun to be there with them. We hung out with them for a few hours and then headed back to Ethan's parent's to get ready to go to SLC to his grandma's party.
The kids were still a bit restless (rightfully so) and Levi was showing everyone how fast he could run. He ran from the stairs down into the living room and just before reaching the couch tripped and fell, his head making contact with the wood frame of the couch just under the cushions. Poor little guy had blood rushing out and freaked his Aunt Erin right out. We decided he needed to go to the Emergency Room and were trying to figure out who should go, me and one other person. But we had Grandma's party to get to as well... I asked Levi who he wanted to go with him and he without hesitation he said, "Erin." So she forgot about her queasiness around blood and drove us to the ER. He got right in and the doctor was able to use glue to seal the wound. They told us not to cover it, so you'll see plenty of Levi's injury in the pictures below.
We had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's party and were completely in awe at their continued generosity. Some of the kids' very favorite gifts from Christmas were given from them! Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa! We love you!
Monday we hung out during the day with Ethan's mom. I had to run to Target to get some things on our way out to my parents' house. We made gingerbread houses with my brothers and their families and then we went caroling to some of my parent's neighbors. It was such a fun night! Perhaps one of my favorite of the trip! The gingerbread houses wouldn't stay together, but the kids were more than happy to just eat the candy and they each took a piece of the walls of the house smothered in icing and candy and chowed down. The pictures are on my brother's camera and I'm waiting for my sis-in-law to send them to me...
Tuesday we pretty much just hung out all day. Nice and relaxing. My mom had her knee operated on, so we came out to help her and my dad. Then we partied with my siblings again. I sure love them all!
Wednesday was also pretty relaxing. And Ethan and I got to go on a date! Our awesome friends from optometry school had a little reunion/party. It was so much fun to see so many friends again! The boys all talked shop most of the night, Ethan was really excited to see his peers and get some insight into the civilian world of optometry. We have a decision to make soon... at the end of the night we took a picture of all the girls, but there wasn't one of all the boys. Too bad! fyi~ Bolton and the other baby in the picture were due on the same day and born about a week apart. They were such cute little chubby buddies! Such a fabulous group of people we knew in Oregon!
Thursday I tried to capture not only Levi gash, but the two black eyes that accompanied it. These pictures just didn't do it justice. His eyes were really black and he was swollen, it was so sad.
Eliza woke up with a ruptured ear drum, so a trip to the walk-in clinic ensued. Luckily, once it ruptures, the pain decreases quite a bit. Then the kids got to go play with their cousins and Ethan and I got to play with his siblings. The party planners, Brindy and Kim, did an AMAZING job planning this fabulously awesome party!
First we ate yummy Cafe Rio pork burritos. It was so nice to hang out with these awesome people. We don't get to nearly often enough. I don't remember what this picture was about, but Jeni was excited about showing it to us... (sorry Jen!)
After dinner we cleared out the tables and played Christmas Minute to Win It! Brindy and Kim put so much work into this spectacular game. It was so much fun. We laughed and laughed and laughed.
Round one Sarah and Dave tried blowing a card to stay on the edge of the table.
Eric played Jingle Bootie, he had to shake all the bells out of the box while it was tied to his bootie!
Jason had to arrange some gift bags by size across the room, using only his mouth (I only got video of this one.).
Ethan had to eat a gingerbread cookie from off his forehead.
Tom had to catch a red pom-pom on his vaseline covered nose.
Success!
And Jane had to do one of the games that someone else did, because we are such a big crowd. She ended up eating the gingerbread man too...
Everyone completed their task in round one and was able to move on to the next, more challenging, task.
Round two began with Dave fishing for candy canes with a candy cane... oh yah, the big candy cane was attached to a pencil he had to hold... in his mouth!
Eric and Sara had to place these boxes in order of least to most jingle bells, just by jingling all the way.
Jeni had to stack these nuts in a tower 6 nuts tall, using a candy cane.
I had to do something, I'm sure I was embarrassed, but I don't remember what it was.
Tom and Lisa had quite the task of spinning with this ribbon around them, their task was to move an ornament from one side of Lisa to the other.
Jane and Erin had to balance a yard stick and two ornaments atop a roll of wrapping paper. I only have video of that too.
After round two, there were 3 finalists, Jeni & Jason, us, and Erin and Jane. First Jeni and Jason beat us in a paper snowball fight. Then Erin and Jane beat Jeni and Jason in a toss the cotton balls through a wreath and into a bucket contest.
It was such a fun night! Thanks everyone for making it such a blast, but especially Jeni and Jason for hosting and Kim and Brindy for planning.
Friday was Christmas Eve and we had a busy day. Our first order of business was to pick up our kids from my brother's house. Next I took Bolton to the walk-in clinic because he'd been up all night (honestly, it was terrible!), he had an ear infection with the doctor saying, "Don't be surprised if the ear drum ruptures." Poor guy, we got the meds for him, then we headed down to South Jordan to the Call Clan party. It was so nice to see everyone! We even got to see Ethan's cousins that live in North Carolina and Florida! We LOVE it when we get to see them!
Miss Eliza and Mister Levi love their aunt Erin.
The $5 gift exchange is pretty risky business with kiddos, but we all ended up having a great time and leaving happy.
Isn't Jane cute?
After the game we ditched out on the dinner and rushed up to my parent's house again for our Christmas Eve party. We had fondue for dinner and dessert. Yum!
After dinner we enacted the nativity. We had shepherds...
...Wise Men...
...Angels...
...Mary, Joseph and baby...
...a star...
...and a narrator...
It was really nice. We also did a talent show and gave everyone an opportunity to perform. It was so much fun to see what the kids came up with. Bryant's talent was fainting, Levi did jumping jacks, Eliza sang with me and Jonas was a stinker and one of the only people who didn't do anything for it!
Then we kicked everyone out and opened Christmas jammies. I love how Jonas put a T-shirt over his. Funny kid.
Saturday morning we were excited, Christmas was finally here! Poor sick kids look so out of it in all these pictures...
Eliza was happy with her puppy and carrier from Bryant.
Levi's favorite gift was his pillow pet from Jonas.
Jonas' favorite gift was his Kung Zhu from Eliza.
Bryant loved his laser tag from Bolton.
My mom made Eliza's cute nightgown (even after her surgery!) and I made her some cute felt food and an apron. I'll be doing a tutorial on my book nook soon if anyone's interested in checking it out.
We got all the boys baseball gloves. I'm so proud of this picture, Jonas is the only one of the kids who gets excited outwardly (takes after his momma in this) and this was a great moment! Love his face.
The family got a couple wii games.
Bolton got a new toy and rolled all over Grandma's floor with it.
Bryant't favorite gift. Super Mario Galaxy 2.
It was a great Christmas day!
I don't have pictures from the rest of our trip, but will write another post detailing our activities the 2nd week. But couldn't resist ending with this picture. This sums up Bolton little life right now. He is constantly pushing himself into a corner or under something and getting stuck. He started getting up on his knees and rocking while we were in Utah, but he still hasn't figured out how to move forward.
Every night after the kids go to bed, Bolton gets some quality time with Dad eating rice or oatmeal cereal. As you can see, he likes food (love those cheeks!). He can also feed himself finger foods and loves to eat his little sweet potato puffs.
Bolton continues to be such a delightful baby. We couldn't ask for a more happy and pleasant babe. He spends the majority of his time smiling and laughing at his siblings and they love him for it.
He has been my earliest mover, first rolling at 3 1/2 months. We've got tot enjoy the chub while we've got it, he is officially crawling at 6 1/2 months! I can't believe he's crawling already. Definitely my earliest. He wasn't quite there when these pictures were taken, I think that's why he looks so serious. Now, he gets up on his knees and just starts to giggle when he actually can go where he wants to.
I just couldn't resist this lower lip pic. He reminds me a lot of Jonas, as a baby, in this one. Jo was always super serious, my brother loved to say it was because he was so chubby and reminiscent of Winston Churchill.
My personal favorite. It captures his personality to a T. Content, sweet, happy, pleasant, a pure joy!
My personal favorite. It captures his personality to a T. Content, sweet, happy, pleasant, a pure joy!
