Christmas Flu Bug

Last night we went into check on Jack before getting ready for bed, and I smelled something gross. I went over to peek in at him and he had thrown up and just gone right back to sleep. He was covered from head to toe....disgusting. So we woke him up, changed his clothes and bedding and he fell right back asleep. He had been acting normal all day and even put on a little show for us right before going to bed, so we had no reason to think he wasn't feeling well. He woke up today feeling fine, but doesn't have much of an appetite, which is unusual for him. He took a four hour nap (which I was super happy about) and woke up acting totally normal, again. We have all been pitching in, trying to get Christmas Eve dinner ready and my dad says, "Umm...Stacey, Jack is throwing up all over the carpet!" They have brand new carpet (of course) so Justin and I quickly cleaned him up and the carpet. This is my first experience as a mom cleaning up grown up throw up. I used to think that baby spit up was bad...I would go back to that in a heart beat. So now I am praying that the throwing up is done and that no one else gets it. We are flying to Idaho on Saturday and if we aren't done with the bug, I have a feeling it will be great fun. :)

Merry Christmas!

The sky is falling!!!!!

When my sisters picked me up from the airport, we were having a friendly conversation when my sister, Angie, starts yelling "Oh, my gosh! Oh, my gosh!" As we look, a huge tree falls on top of the truck right in front of us, then rolls back and we crash into it. The tree stretched across the whole road. After we hit it, there was tree EVERYWHERE! A bunch of people got out of their cars and cleared the road before we even realized what had really happened. Luckily, Angie's car isn't too bad, even though it will still be expensive to fix. But the truck in front of us, was totaled! The tail gate got ripped off and landed about 100 feet behind us. The girls inside though didn't even have a scratch. We were all so lucky! It was the weirdest thing that has ever happened.

We sat on the side of the road for almost two hours with crying boys in the back, waiting for the intern policeman to figure out how to give us a police report.

Notice the tail gate that the fireman had found a ways back...it's a little smashed.

This is our scared faces....Aaaggghhh!!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

I LOVE this time of year!! I feel like I start anticipating Christmas
in July! We've been able to do a few things to get ready for the Christmas holiday, despite Justin being M.I.A. right now due to boards.

I made this wreath at our enrichment, and totally love it on my red door!

Sarah dropped by this super cute Christmas calendar!! It was a small price I had to pay for so much in return... I am in love with it! She is the most creative and talented friend I have. If you want to visit her blog and find the link to her Etsy shop, click HERE. This is only a sample of all of the cute things she has made.

Last night we went to the Lake Metroparks Farm Park, in Kirtland. We took a wagon ride through a display of lights, and we also got to see Santa!

Waiting for the horse-drawn wagon.

The excitement!

We tried about 50 times to get a cute picture of us and Jack (actually looking) and we failed. This was the best option.

Jack and I had been talking about seeing Santa ALL day and when the moment finally arrived...

...meltdown! Jack had a death grip on Justin's sweater as he was trying to put him on Santa's lap. He was so sad!! I was laughing to myself while we were waiting in line because it seems like all the parents want to get their child's picture taken with Santa and 9 times out of 10, this is the reaction you get out of the kids. Why do we torture them so??

The second Justin picked him back up, Jack turns to Santa and happily says "Bye, bye Santa!"

Figures. :)

Thanksgiving in D.C.

This Thanksgiving, we were able to spend the weekend in Washington D.C. with Scott and Denisse. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner (Denisse and I did the whole thing!) with Denisse's family. When we weren't eating, we spent our time seeing as many sites as we could possibly squeeze in. We were able to see so much, but we are already making an intinerary for our next trip there. In some of the museums, you could spend days there and not see everything. Here is a sample of what we did get to see...

World War II memorial

The Washington Monument

This is the ONLY picture I have of all three kids! I can't believe I didn't take any more. They were pretty good for being strapped in their strollers for 3 days! This is at the Lincoln Memorial.

On the steps of the Lincon Memorial

Scott, Briell, Jack, and Justin at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Standing in line for food at the FDR Memorial

The Library of Congress. My FAVORITE building. The inside is so beautiful!!

Jack on the steps inside the Library of Congress.

View from the Library of Congress.... BEAUTIFUL!!

One of Dorothy's original size 5 ruby slippers from the film Wizard of Oz, inside the Museum of American History.

The Hope Diamond. 45 karats!! Inside the Museum of Natural History.

Checking out the butterflies at the Museum of Natural History.

As we were walking by the White House, President Bush landed in a helicopter on the White House lawn...random!

This was one of my most favorite vacations of all time. We had so much fun. It was non-stop and packed full of fun and interesting things, and engaging conversations. Seeing all the monuments and memorials, and reading quotes from the Founding Fathers, made me realize that they were truly inspired men. They were led here by our Heavenly Father to establish this wonderful country that we live in. Hopefully we will always remember the values that this country was founded on and that we never stray too far from the country these men established.

A big thanks to Scott and Denisse for letting us stay at your house!! We miss you guys already and we can't wait to come back!