Valentine's Day

I really wanted to make Valentine's Day special this year so I decided to try and make the day as special as possible. Since it was a Monday we started off the same way as usual; getting everyone up and to school and Cole and I off to work. Once we were all home Cole and I surprised the kids with some cool Valentine's Day gifts.... he had them go upstairs so that I could set up their gifts. Little did I know that while they were up stairs they were getting my gift together. They came downstairs carrying flowers, chocolate and a Starbucks gift card... I was so excited! We hadn't planned on doing gifts for each other but Cole told me that Tanner was adamant that they get something for me. He has such a big heart! The kids were excited to see their gifts on the kitchen table... Tanner got a Nerf basketball hoop and ball and Peyton got a huge coloring book and glitter glue! They were both ecstatic...Cole did such a great job picking out presents. The kids played with their new toys and went through all their school Valentines. After gifts I started putting together our Valentines Day dinner... roasted chicked and lemon pasta with salad and pink 7-Up to drink! Jessy and little P were able to join us for dinner... as it was cooking we rolled out sugar cookie dough and made heart shaped cookies with pink frosting! It was so fun to spend the evening together and celebrate our love for each other. One of the best parts of the day was reading the Valentine's day card that Tanner had made for Peyton at school. Not only had he spent a lot of time coloring it and used his best handwriting but the letter he wrote melted my heart:

Dear Peyton,

I love you with all my heart. You have sparkle eyes. You look like a princess with your blonde hair. When I hug you I feel so warm and safe. Even though we get in a lot of fights I still love you!

Love, Tanner

I absolutely loved reading this... I am so happy that he cares so much for his little sister and I hope that is how they always are. What a great day... filled with love!

Sick Sick Sick

The last two weeks have been a roller coaster at our house... it started out last Monday when Tanner started crying about not feeling well. I automatically assumed that Tanner was feeling fine but just didn't want to go to school... I pressured him to get ready and eat breakfast and we headed out the door. The entire way to preschool Tanner sat in the backseat and cried... I realized when I got to preschool that he really wasn't feeling well. I took Peyton in and had Tanner "pretend" that he went into his room so that Peyton wouldn't be upset. We left daycare and I called Grandma Jane to see if she would spend the day with her oldest grandson. Ofcourse she said yes and we met at Starbucks to make the exchange. I felt as though he was probably a little sick but more than than I thought he just didn't want to go to school. Well.... I was wrong. He ended up spiking a fever that day and was very lethargic.

About half way through the day my phone rang and I got a call from Discovery that Peyton had a fever and was complaining of not feeling well. Cole went and picked her up and took her home for some Tylenol and a long nap. By the time I got Tanner picked up from Grandma's and got home we had two really miserable kids. Daddy was able to stay home with them on Tuesday and half day Wednesday... I spent the other half of Wednesday with them and then Grandpa Frank and I split Thursday. Grandma Jane volunteered for Friday and spent the day with them again. It took the entire week for them to get better... break their fevers and get re-energized. We were on the mend.... WRONG! Saturday when I went to Glenwood Peyton got another fever with Grandma Jane... this had been a week of off and on low grade fevers....

Sunday morning I took her to docs on call and sure enough she had an ear infection and a very red throat. I felt so bad.... I should have never have waited as long as I did. A few prescriptions later and a few more days of rest and we are finally on the mend.... I THINK. Tanner still has a really nasty cough and I probably should take him in too....

On top of all this Cole and I both ended up fighting off the same thing. It has been a long and exhausting two weeks! However I am very thankful that colds are all we are fighting off.. I know that our trials and tribulations could be much more difficult than a cold.... so I will take those coldsand be happy!

Joys of Parenthood

Reflecting back on yesterday I can't help but laugh....

My morning started off early, very early to say the least. Tanner had an accident aout 3:00 in the morning and I happened to be sleeping with him. I didn't even know that he had done it until he woke me up. At that point he had already changed his clothes and laid down towels on the bed. He was so upset and felt terrible... he hasn't had an accident for a really long time. I kept telling him it was okay and he finally settled down and feel back asleep.

I got up at about 5:45 and was struggling to get going. I decided to take my time and was fine with being a few minutes late to work. Tanner ate breakfast, I got ready and Peyton slept. Around 6:45 I decided to finally wake Peyton up... we had gone to bed too late the night before and I wanted her to sleep as long as she could. She was super tired and cranky when she got up. She decided she HAD to have Cheerios before we left so I let her sit down for a quick bowl of cereal. When she finished I told her she had to go potty before we left.

I sat her on the toilet and squatted in front of her to try and console her. I was just talking to her and telling her she was going to have a great day... that being at school and playing with her friends was so much fun. As I am doing my best to cheer her up, she sneezes, unfortunately for me she was still peeing. In an instant I was completed covered in pee.... but, mission accomplished Peyton was laughing! She kept saying "I am so sorry I peed you mommy".... I couldn't help but laugh.

The story continues though... when she sneezed a big blue bead came out in the snot. Peyton proceeded to tell me that she had shoved the bead up her nose at school. I couldn't believe it... who KNOWS how long it had been up there? I felt so lucky that it came out... I can't even imagine what would have happened had it stayed up there and we didn't know it! What a mess....

Tanner got a pretty good laugh out of everything too... he was just concerned because we were so late. He thought for sure I was going to be in big trouble! Ha... such a rule follower... just like his mom! Needless to say I was very late to work!

Sledding

Every since we saw our first snowflake of the season the kids have been begging to go sledding. We finally got enough snow the week after Christmas to go sledding. We headed out to the desert with the Meyers to see what we could find. Although there wasn't a lot of snow we managed to find enough to go sledding. The kids had a great time! You can tell by the after picture that the girls we pretty much exhausted.

Reflecting Back on 2010

I thought it would be fun to do a calendar recap of things we did in 2010.... especially since I wasn't doing any blogging then. I am sure that I will miss some things but I will do my best!

JANUARY
RMSHA race season starts
Tanner starts wrestling
Colorado Springs for wedding dress shopping
8th grade basketball tournament
Mat Cats Tournament
East Asia Class

FEBRUARY
Doctors Appointment
Superbowl
Valentine's Day
Zatarain's Party
Sam's Birthday - Party at OM Pool
Tiger Wrestling Tournament

MARCH
Tanner American Fun and Folk Song Performance at RimRock
Little Warriors Wrestling Tournament
Spring Break
Grand Valley Class
Digornio Party
Jackson

APRIL
Tanner Tackle Football
Ryder's Birthday Party at Canyon View
Jessy & Jenny's Birthday
Baby Will
Kamdan's Birthday

MAY
Landscaping
Jessy Wedding Shower
Jamey Baby Shower
Mom's Birthday
Jessy's Bachelorette Party
Football Party at Reed Park

JUNE
Jessy's Wedding
Baby Presley
Yearbook Camp
10 Year Reunion

JULY
Lake Powell
Courage Classic
Tanner's Birthday

AUGUST
Peyton and Sawyers Birthday - Superheros and Princess
Back to School
Grandma's Campout
Tanner starts baseball

SEPTEMBER
Tanner Baseball Games
Cole's Birthday
Angel Garden Dedication

OCTOBER
Tanner Field Trip to Cross Orchards
Cole to Idaho
Apply for passports
Little P's Birthday
Harvest Fest at Maggie's preschool
Halloween Party with baseball buddies

NOVEMBER
Las Vegas
Garth Brooks Concert
National Social Studies Convention
Thanksgiving

DECEMBER
Maggie's Birthday at Kidzplex
Parade of Lights
Fruita Parade of Lights
Christmas

Christmas and New Years

I can't belive that as I sit here 2010 is gone and 2011 is here already. We have had a wonderful winter break and I am not looking forward to heading back to work in a few short days. We have had a lot of free time together as a family and we have really enjoyed each minute of it.

One of our favorite traditions each year is looking at lights. This year we piled into Uncle Nate's truck... we drove around and checked out all of the great Christmas decorations... but we couldn't do it without a little Starbucks!

Flash back to Christmas Eve Day.... Instead of sitting around all day constantly telling the kids to stay away from the presents we took them bowling! We met Aunt Jess, Uncle Nate, little P, Grandma Jane, Grammy and Beck for some family fun. The kids had a great time as did we adults! We had pepperoni pizza, cheese pizza and jalapeno poppers along with a few pitchers of soda! After shoving our faces there we headed to the mall to top it off with some Diary Queen. Blizzards, smoothies, ice cream cones and root beer floats.... What a great day!

We spent Christmas Eve at the McKinley's. Jess and Nate made a great Mexican spread for dinner. We hung out there for most of the evening and then headed home for the "...night before Christmas." Grandma Jane came to our house after Aunt Jess's and we put out milk and cookies and reindeer food. Then we read the "Night Before Christmas" and got everyone tucked away snug in their beds! Tanner and Grandma upstairs and Peyton snuggled in between Cole and I.

I had given Tanner specific instructions to not be downstairs before six o'clock in the morning. At 6:01 I was shook awake by a little boy who couldn't wait another minute to see what Santa had brought him. We woke up Peyton (who wasn't impressed by being woke up so early) and they headed in and found presents left by Santa. New shoes, Beyblade stadium and stockings full of all sorts of good things! The problem after we opened Santas gifts was that we had to WAIT until 9:00 for everyone to come over so we could open the rest of the presents. We decided we better do something to waste time.... we loaded everyone up in Coles truck and drove to Grandmas to pick up a pan and a gift that was left there. We then went to City Market where we loaded up with orange juice, donuts and of course Starbucks! By the time we ran those few errands it was time to head home and open gifts. The kids tore through gifts and were so excited by everything they got. Tanner loved his football jerseys, movies, clothes, NFL helmets but most of all his cell phone! Peyton loved all of her new clothes, mermaids, books but most of all her DS. Both kids have been spending time playing with all of their new things.... they are definetely two lucky kids. After tearing through presents we hung around all day playing, relaxing and of course stuffing our faces. Prime rib, baked potatoes and salad.... super good! We also played a few games of Left Center Right which is always a good time.

Most importantly it was great to be together as a family and enjoy the time together.

Maverick and Telemarketers

Last night I wasn't feeling great... I have had a terrible sore throat. I decided to take a hot bath and try to warm up and feel better. When I got out I was so stinking hot that I was thirsty... so I decided that I needed some pop. Unfortunately that is something I rarely buy because otherwise we would drink it constantly. So, in an effort to make mom happy Cole and I loaded up the kids and headed to Maverick! Here we were at 7:00 at night at the local gas station loading ouselves and our children up with all sorts of sugar! Each of them chose a soda and a bag of candy... Peyton picked out a Diet Coke and Sour Patch Gummies, Tanner had a fountain Cherry, Vanilla Pepsi, BBQ Cornnuts and a bag of his own Sour Patch Gummies. On top of that Cole and I both had a fountain drink along with a bag of White Cheddar Popcorn, Gummy Bears and Gummy Worms! Both of the kids were ecstatic... our kids eat a lot of candy and drink a lot of pop the way it is; especially compared to all my nieces and nephews. Going to Maverick on a school night though... that was EXTRA special!

We came home from the gas station and just hung out. The kids gorged themselves on all their candy and soda and Cole and I sat at the kitchen counter and talked. It seems like it had been forever that Cole and I just sat and talked... granted we were interrupted every two seconds by the family "princess" wanting to refill our pops but that is what being a parent is all about! While we were chatting Cole's phone rang, he didn't recognize the number but answered it anyways. It ended up being some polticial telemarketer. Cole is so patient and nice... I would have hung up immediately. Instead he started talking to the guy and then realized he didn't want to be on the phone with him. Once you get a telemarketer talking its hard to get a word in edge wise... so Cole takes the phone holds it about six inches from his face and starts saying " hello"..."hello"..."hello" and then a click! I am sure the guy on the other end had no idea that Cole was going to hang up! ;)

By the way... because of all the soda Peyton drank... we ended up wearing a pull up to bed.