Santa visits the ward party

Winter

We enjoyed such beautiful weather in November. Really, it was so nice. And the night we went to pick out our tree (December 2) was mild and nice. We ended up with a 6 ft Grand Fir, even though we thought we'd get one like we had last year. We didn't have lights for it, so all we did was set it up and take a pic.

Then the storm rolled in.It snowed all day Tuesday and I sure got my workout shoveling snow twice before I went to pick the kids up from school. The little boys, and Bex, thought it was awesome and went out to play.

After the storm, it got cold. I mean REALLY cold. The temperature has been hovering around 20 during the day, but in single digits, flirting with negative numbers at night. We had tickets to go to the Live Nativity in Alpine with our friends, the Konold's on Thursday, and we decided to brave it and go.

It was COLD. Even with the hot chocolate we had in our bellies, we were all freezing. I think it was 6 degrees that night. There was a lot of crying going on, and not just from the kids. McKay told us, "Guys, I don't like snow" about an hour into the night. Still, despite the frigid temps, it was a cool experience.

Where else can you get a camel photo bombing your winter photos?

The highlight was definitely the baby Jesus, who was kept in a nice toasty stable for our viewing pleasure. So sweet, although a bit of soft music would have made it so much better. 

On Friday, we headed to St. George to go to the temple while Kimmy took out her endowments. It was a ton of fun, but we couldn't escape the snow. It snowed all day Saturday, and we came out of the temple to find a blizzard like I've never seen before.

We went to my grandma's for dinner, and the boys had a quick snowball fight.

It snowed six inches on Saturday (the most they've seen in 39 years) and the town was basically shut down. Luckily, grandma was prepared with some gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate.

Church was canceled on Sunday, so we had lots of time to spend with our family, playing games and trashing grandma's house.

The roads home Sunday afternoon were clear and we made it home safely, to find another 3-4 inches had fallen here at home. Jeff pulled out some pliers and pulled out Allie's tooth that had been bothering her.Nice work Dr. 

Yesterday, we finally got lights for the tree and finished our decorating. It looks nice. And the kids can't pose for a pic with any kind of consistency.

I love the fireplace at Christmas. It looks like it was made for it.

Finally, to be caught up, here are a couple more pics from the last week. This is Bexy's favorite spot at dinner (or any meal): under McKay's seat.

Carter and McKay have been playing a lot together lately, and this was an especially fun game for them. Carter was walking his "puppy" with the "leash" (a bungee cord). They played this for days.

And here's one of my boys and me, and proof, again, that they can't be serious for a pic.

34

For my birthday, we had a quick lunch at Cafe Rio, where Carter was not a happy customer. He did NOT want to wait in line, and sat and cried until the second the food appeared. 

Jeff's got it figured out, and every year we get to enjoy a yummy Coldstone cake. Best cake/ice cream ever! Photo bomb Allie

We also did a dinner with Jeff's family the night before my birthday at Happy Sumo (my fave). I sure love these people and the stretchy pants the girls gave me!

Thanksgiving 2013

This year was our Trapnell Thanksgiving year, so we decided to have a Pre-Thanksgiving with Colleen and Tom's families the Sunday before. We opted to do homemade Cafe Rio, and it turned out fabulous.

For real Thanksgiving, I was in charge of rolls and rainbow jello. My mom would be so proud.

The only pic I got of the kids waiting in line before we prayed.

And one of the toast we had over the amazing spread

Rainbow jello slice

I'm not sure how this pic of Bex got on this post, but here it is. Nachooooooooo!

Jeff and I did some Black Friday shopping (mostly for his assistants for Christmas) and that was quite an experience. Hopefully it was worth it for the 3 iPad minis, two laptops, Dyson vacuum, and KitchenAid mixer we ended up with. Not to mention the strep throat I suffered through for four days after we were finished!

Lighting of Riverwoods

On my birthday, Jeff had tickets to the Jazz game and was taking a dentist, so we were on our own. We decided to brave the cold and the crowds and go to the Lighting of the Riverwoods. And after we got ditched by my brother and his girlfriend, we really were on our own. The lines for Santa and the carriage rides were way longer than we hoped they would be, so we mostly walked around and saw all the lights.

We wandered into the Provo Beach Resort where the Paul Mitchell girls were doing hair and face painting. There were no lines in there (well kept secret, I guess), so the girls got their hair done.

We did wait in the line to get our free photo, and it turned out pretty dang cute. Happy 34th to me!

Hernia round three

There must be something in the water. Or the amniotic fluid. Or something, because when Kyla showed us her "big lump" on her groin, we knew immediately that we had another kid with a hernia. Allie had her belly button fixed a couple of years ago, and Carter had his own inguinal hernia fixed in January. Kyla 

had to show them both up, though, with her double inguinal hernias (we could only see the one on the right, because it was HUGE, but there was also one on the left). So, we had a quick consult and scheduled surgery for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We had to act fast, since we were nearly at our family deductible for our health insurance, and we wanted to get it taken care of before January when Obamacare makes things a lot trickier for us. 

She was pretty excited about the surgery, and not the least bit nervous. We had to be there (in the Riverton hospital for insurance purposes) at 6:20 am, which meant we had to get up around 5:15. Still, she was in good spirits before surgery.

Her favorite thing was playing the XBox while we waited. 

The surgery itself took about 30 minutes and it took her another 15-20 to wake up. Unlike her siblings, she did not wake up crying uncontrollably, but was quite pleasant. She was in a bit of pain (and she told me she wasn't expecting that), but not bad overall. 

We were able to leave at 10:00 and were home by 11:00. She was a bit nauseated on the drive home (thank goodness for barf bags), and she spent the rest of the day laying around watching movies. But by evening, I was trying to convince her that she needed to wait a few days before she starting doing cartwheels again. Her recovery was quick and easy and we couldn't have asked for a better experience. 

Let's just hope that Damon and/or McKay aren't next...