Christmas 2015

It's nuts to me that another Christmas has come and gone.  The years keep going faster and faster.  The last few months have gone much faster than I thought they would.  Living in this little two bedroom apartment has been rough but I've gotten used to it so that's a plus.  However, the water heater went out on Christmas Eve.  That was fun.  Took them 5 days to come fix it.  I showered once in ice cold water and thought I was going to die.  It was one of those colds where you physically cannot breathe.  I kept gasping and gasping.  I'm pretty sure that was the fastest shower I have ever taken in my life.  Nate gave it a go too and he squealed like a little school girl the entire time.  Good times around here.  Just an FYI, we did all shower more than once in those 5 days.  Luckily we were in Heber for part of it. Then we invaded my sisters house.  I'm sure they loved that.

We still don't have a date on when our house will be done.  Looks like it will be going into February.  Bummer.  

I got a bit sidetracked there.  This was supposed to be a Christmas post.  So Christmas was good.  We didn't go too overboard which I'm grateful for.  I really really dislike how worldly Christmas has become.  I hate feeling like everything has to be a competition.  The boys seemed to be happy with what they got so that was a plus.  There was a bit of a tantrum thrown by grif because he thought his new bike was too big.  Sorry buddy but your old bike was just way too small.  Then he decided to throw anther fit when I asked him why he wasn't wearing his slippers.  That was one thing he really wanted.  Well Santa made the mistake of getting Spiderman slippers and he hates Spiderman slippers.  We had a little talk after that about being grateful for what you have. I also had to be the bad guy and tell him the real deal about Santa so he could grasp the concept of how expensive Christmas can be for moms and dads.  He's 10, it's fine.  Now he thinks it's awesome he's part of the "Santa secret club".   I then told him he could give me back all of his presents for being so ungrateful.  That's when he realized how much he loves his new slippers.  

This kiddo almost got to sing all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth.  But one tooth was stubborn and didn't want to come out in time.

 We played a little Christmas Eve Bingo.  Who doesn't love Bingo?

Getting ready to go see the goods Christmas morning.  Dad is such a party pooper and makes them wait forever.  I was pretty mean too and threatened to take away all their toys if they woke me up before 7.  I'm working on that nurturing thing.

and Christmas wouldn't be complete without a picture of all the grandsons in their pj's from Grandma and Grandpa Squeaker.

The dreaded day came

Dilon has been wrestling for a couple years now (shocker! another post about wrestling.  Tis the season.)  and the dreaded day finally came.  He had to wrestle a giiiirrrrrrrrllllll.

Nate has said from the get-go if he ends up going against a girl to wrestle her like he would a boy.  She's the one choosing to wrestle boys.  I have to say I agree. 

I have waited for a moment like this. I'm sorry to say I missed it.  So did Nate.  Such a bummer.  Dilon had to hitch a ride with a friend because it was a couple hours away in Idaho, I had to take Dax to Ogden and Nate had to play Santa.  I hate the fact that there can't be two of me so I can be in two places at once.  I'm betting Nate is pretty thankful for just one of me.  

I don't like it when I have to miss some of their stuff.  

Anyway, Dilon had to go up against this girl for first place and got the job done. It was nice to have a good week because he's been struggling this year.  But he's getting better and stronger and that's all you can ask for. 

The winning streak also continues with mr. dax.  He wrestled his end of season city tournament today and won 1st. 

 I wish this next picture was more clear because it cracks me up.  Dax is full on wrestling right there but not really being challenged so when that happens he just looks out into the crowd and watches the people.  Usually he has a cheeser smile.  I think he was mostly just bored here.

 I would like to consider myself a winner right now too.  Look at this freezer full of meat.  We bought half a cow and I don't know who's more excited, me or Nate.  Merry Christmas to us. And Happy Birthday, Happy Anniversary, Happy Valentines Day--here's some beef.

House update

I was sure I would be posting a bunch about the building process of our house.  Turns out building isn't quite as enjoyable as I had imagined so I haven't been very good at documenting it.  Like I've said before, the builders have been incredibly busy so it seems like ours keeps getting neglected.  The last couple weeks though they have been working away.  We now have it framed (most of it), electrical done, plumbing done, heating done, roof (mostly) on.  I went there yesterday to get some pictures but there were people everywhere so I felt awkward.  I didn't think they really wanted to stop working to say cheese for me so this is all I have.  Nate playing inspector gadget.

I'm in the whiny stage of building because things don't seem how they are supposed to be so I keep complaining to Nate until he checks with the builders that all is well.  Everyone seems to be able to picture it finished but me, so I freak out a little at times that they're not doing it right.  I must have been a builder in another life.  Also, I think I may have some issues but that's another post for another day. 

Here is a pic nate got a couple weeks ago.  If you imagine most of the roof on and windows in that's what it looks like now.

Slowly it's coming along.  I'm not sure I want it to go any faster though.  I'm loving our little two bedroom apartment so much I think we may just throw a for sale sign in front of our house and stay here forever. 

He's on a winning streak

Dax must have rubbed elbows with someone who is lucky because the boy is on a winning streak right now.  The tree we decorated for his class was one that got picked for the district art show.  There wasn't supposed to be any coloring,  just the use of random stuff.  I had a flashback of a little art project from when I was in grade school that involved tissue paper, glue, and the end of a pencil and that's what he wanted to do.  Funny I can remember that but can't remember where I leave my keys at least 3 times a day. 

It turned out rather cute I think:

Then the town was doing their annual coloring contest.  A bunch of businesses around town have pictures the kids can color and if their picture is picked they get a prize.  All the other years they have done it they have only been able to win from one store.  This year they didn't have a limit.  So Dax, Baylor, and Grif colored their little hearts out.  I got a phone call saying that Dax and Baylor had won at the same place.  Then I got another phone call.  Dax had won again.  Then another, and another, and another.  The kid won 5  places. Quite impressive because there were quite a few pictures turned in at each place.  Poor Grif was the lone ranger who didn't get picked.  But that's okay. He doesn't seem to get too hung up over stuff like that.  He's his own kid living in his own world.  For example: 

 These are pictures of him at a wrestling meet.  He doesn't care that half the gym is full of loud crazy people.  He finds his own place to be and does his thing.  Whatever makes the kid happy. 

Anyway back to the coloring contest. 

Here are the winnings:

 Sunglasses and candy from the eye center

 A gingerbread house kit from sierra homes

 the finished gingerbread house (pretty good for our first one ever)

 several toys and treats from tremonton parks and rec.

 chocolate and money from members first credit union (that's my kind of prize right there)

and a nerf gun from davis glass which was already banned because those little suckers sting when they hit.

Here's to hoping his lucky streak continues.  I'm just going to make sure I'm standing close to him at all times so I can have a little luck thrown my way too. 

more fun from the wright house

The happenings around here for the evening:

**loud crying from 4 year old

 

me: what's going on boys?

 

baylor (between sobs):  dilon hit me

 

me (in volumes louder than I would like to admit):  dilon why the heck(or a word close to that) are you hitting a 4 year old?

 

dilon:  because he sat on me for like 5 minutes and kept farting.

 

baylor (giggling):  sowwy mom.

Does this stuff happen to anyone else or is it just me?

We're stockingless

Now that the turkey has officially been devoured we can get ready for the jolly fat guy to come.  I am a firm believer in waiting until Thanksgiving is over before pulling out the Christmas tree.  Call me bah humbug if you must.  

Since Thanksgiving has been over for 3 days now and all the leftovers have been polished off, it's time to pull out the red and green decor. Oh wait, we can't.  It's packed in places that are unreachable at the moment.  We warned the kiddos there would be no tree this year.  Nowhere to put it in this tiny apartment.  That's fine.  We just improvised

A paper tree plastered to the wall.  Quite impressive if I do say so myself.  

The kids are fine with no tree.  Nate's fine with no tree. I'm fine with no tree.  So tell me, why did I almost start crying when I realized we wouldn't have our stockings this year?  Nate's mom makes the cutest stockings.  Everyone compliments them when they see them.  What is Santa going to do when he comes here and can't find the stockings?  I'm sure he will improvise as well. 

Nothing to blog about

So I feel like I'm in a funk.  Nothing to write about anymore.  It's not that there's nothing going on....wait yes it is, there is nothing going on.  Our house is still going extremely slow.  So slow.  No pictures to post because nothing is really happening with it.  I'm trying to be patient.  I know the builders are extremely busy, but man I was hoping we would be in this year.  That's not happening.  It's out of my control.  I'm trying not to let it get to me.  But we should have a roof by the end of the week.  Woohoo!!

I just sit around this little apartment and dream about having clean carpet and a pantry to put my cereal in.  One day.  

I keep thinking the kids have to be doing something crazy I can blog about but they are actually being normal.  Or close to.

I was a little hurt today when Baylor decided to draw a picture of me.  Here it is:

Can you see it?  I hope you can see it.  I'm raising a little Picasso here.  I asked him what the bumps were and he told me they were my fat belly.  Thanks for the confidence boost little buddy.

So that's it.  That's all I've got.  2 weeks of no posts and this is the best I can do.  Sorry to disappoint.

Happy Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween!!!!

From:  Mr. & Mrs. Claus, Scream Dilon, Pizza Grif, Officer Dax, and the Hulk Baylor. 

p.s.  I wouldn't mess with us.  We're a pretty scary bunch.

Christmas is coming

So I really have no idea what to get the boys for Christmas this year.  We are down to a couple months until the big day and I need some ideas.  I have told the kids a thousand times Christmas isn't about presents.  This year I really don't want to go overboard and spend a ton but I still want it to be fun for them.  Anyway, I asked them to make me a list of things they would like.  I would like to share with you what Grifin's list is.  Remember, the boy is 10.  And he asked for a bed for Christmas last year.

 This years list:

1:  Automatic (electric) toothbrush (just a little side note on this, we went to the dentist yesterday and the hygienist said grif had the cleanest mouth on a kid she had ever seen.  He just may be slightly OCD.  Wonder where he gets that from).

2:  Slippers

3:  BYU or USU shirt

4:  Gift card to Maddox or Cafe Rio

5:  Flashlight with laser pointer

Is this a typical 10 year old boy's request?  Not one fun thing on there unless you consider brushing your teeth fun.  Practical little fella.  

I have been bugging Nate for the past 4 years to take us to Disneyland again.  There's never any money.  Such a bummer.  So my new plan the last few weeks was to convince him to take us for Christmas because once we have a bigger house payment I'm convinced we will never go on another family vacay again. He wasn't having it.  The boys were even willing to go gift free this year.  But no, Nate said if we went it would take the money we have set aside to finish the basement.  Who needs a finished basement anyway?  Then I found a killer deal on a trip to Disney World.  We could meet my brother and his family there and go on a vacation that I thought would never happen in a million years.  It was a little more than going to Disneyland but I had it all worked out so it wouldn't be too bad.  However, if you stop and think about dropping that chunk of money in one week it makes me want to vomit a little.  Disney World or braces for Dilon?  Tough choice.  

Again it was a no go for Nate.  I accepted defeat.  I realized that we don't need to spend that kind of money to make memories with these boys.  I am fully committed to using the money to finish the house.  

Last night as I'm having the kids write their lists Nate decides to pipe in with "why are you making Christmas lists?  Aren't we going to Disneyland?"

This husband of mine is going to be the death of me.  

Happy Fall

I am loving this fall weather.  Loving this time of year.  Apparently Baylor is too because he's not one to want his picture taken but when we brought our pumpkins home I got a "take my picture mom"  for the first time ever from him.

For the last couple of weeks we have been a house divided.  I have 2 youngsters who have wanted to go to the haunted corn maze and haunted school.  And two youngsters who wanted to do the regular corn maze while the sun was still shining.  So we compromised and did both.  We started out at the corn maze for family night.  It was not haunted but Nate made Baylor cry more than once by shoving him into scary props.  How many times do we need to go over this Nate, it does not make them stronger.  I just makes them more afraid of their dad.  Back off buddy or you may be pretty darn afraid of this awesome wife of yours.  

Then Dax decided it would be funny to run ahead and hide in the corn to scare us all as we walked around the corner.  Well played buddy. 

 After the corn maze we took Dilon and Dax to the haunted school because they just had to go.  Dilon already went with his friends and told Dax it was too scary.  He would cry.  Dax didn't care, he wanted to go. Okay then, don't say we didn't warn you. Nate kindly volunteered to stay outside and wait with Grif and Bay while I took the other two in.  Funny how that worked out.  Dax walked through that thing like he owned it and led the way.  Me and Dil followed behind and Dilon wouldn't let go of my arm the entire time. The only time I saw Dax jump at all was at the very end when he walked past what he thought was a statue, until it moved.  

Apparently those two had devised a bit of a plan because Dilon knew when you walked out of the school there would be a guy with a chainsaw.  Well those two ditched me and took off running leaving me to fend for myself in the dark with chainsaw man.  I'm 36 and don't run.  Ever.  I tried it a few times to help get in shape but that didn't work out so well.  So here I am half attempting to jog away (cute mental picture, I know) and chainsaw man kept coming after me.  He made me run.  I had to run.  I didn't pay 6 bucks a person to run.  I want my money back.

So after we got home the boys wouldn't stop talking about how awesome it was.  But when I went to put Dax to bed for the night I could see his eyes kind of darting around the room looking for stuff.  Finally I leaned down in his ear and whispered "you know if you're scared you can just say a prayer and it will help".  I kiss his cheek, walk out the door, then turn around to see this

I love these boys of mine.  Happy Fall.

Boys of fall

Football season has come and gone again.  We still couldn't get Grif to play because of the whole he doesn't want butt sweat thing.  Dax is so ready but has to wait until next year.  But Dilon went out and killed it this year.  This was the first year of him playing where he was serious about it.  Wasn't afraid to tackle, wasn't afraid to get tackled.  He got to play a whole lot more because of it. He has grown so much this last year and I love watching the young man he has become.  He is usually the smallest guy in the bunch but that didn't stop him.  

Look at this pic for example.  He's the little one in red wrapped around the kid in the white jersey.  

Perfect example of "it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog". 

I think this next picture says a lot about the kind of coaches these boys have.  They are awesome.  

 Such a great group of kids here.  So glad Dilon gets to be a part of it.

Now on to the wrestling season!

Apartment living

I've been debating on doing this post for a few weeks now.  I wasn't so sure I wanted to remember our days in this teeny, tiny little apartment six of us are trying to live in.  But I figured, hey why not?  When I look back at this it will make me appreciate my new house that much more.  Speaking of the new house it is such a slow process. Everyone warned us it would be but man it's taking forever to get moving.  Hence the reason there are no new pictures yet.  Our builders are super busy which is great for them so I know I just need to be patient.  The stuff to start framing was delivered today though so soon it will start looking like a house is going up.  Yay!

Anyway, a little sidetracked there.  I figured I would post about our apartment adventure. We have now lived here for almost 8 weeks.  Man our house should be halfway done by now I swear.  Oh well I'll get over it.  I just want to pat myself on the back because I was sure I wouldn't survive the first month.  

Let me give you a little glimpse of the living situation.

 Random crap everywhere!  A toolbox on the kitchen floor.  Nowhere to store food.  Who would have ever thought you could miss a pantry?  Well I sure do.

 Case lot sales this last week and I can't pass up a good deal so I'm just piling food on the the table and chairs because there is literally nowhere else to put it.

 Deep freeze in the kitchen corner.  Awesome.  Tablecloth over broken blinds.  More awesome.  One cute kid who doesn't care a bit.  Most awesome.

 No need to deal with bed frames.  Throw four kids in one room and mass amounts of chaos are sure to ensue.  And that they have.

 Anyone have any idea how hard it is to put 4 kids clothes in one tiny closet?  Also do you have any idea what this does to my ocd?  I've just given up on trying to be organized here.  Not happening.

 Oh look!  More piles of stuff randomly stationed throughout the place.  Don't judge on the amount of toilet paper right now.  Case lots, remember.  Plus there are six of us.  That should be gone by next week.

Anyone who really knows me knows that I don't like clutter on counter tops.  The bathroom is killing me.  Who builds an apartment with absolutely no storage.  No closets, drawers, nothing.  

One more great thing about living here is trying to use our grill out back.  Every time I am cooking on it there are random people out there just hanging out.  Do I offer to have them come in and join us for dinner?  I don't know.  

I use every excuse possible to get out and do something.  I show up to get the boys from school 30 minutes early because I would rather sit in the car than sit in the apartment.  Then I just get to deal with this

Now someone slap me and make me remember how blessed I am.  I need to stop complaining and be grateful for a roof over our heads.  Plus it's making us bond more as a family.  That's worth it. Totally worth it. Only a few more months.  I can do it!

Happy 4th Bay!!

Happy Birthday Baylor!!  My baby is 4.  I might cry a little today.  

Then I would be crying right along with him after this little incident

Oops!

Plus, I think the person working the bakery is color blind. 

I opted for a store bought cake because I had a little surgery last week so I'm still not feeling up to par.  And he thought it would be awesome to go pick one at the store.  Sweet.  Works for me.  

Now the tough choice is to go spend another 10 bucks for a mediocre cake or work up the energy to bake him a 2 dollar delicious cake.  Decisions, decisions.  

Happy Birthday buddy.  We love you!