Highlights from Christmas Day

Bad picture... Great gift!! :)  (My new Cannon 1200  and it's PINK!!)

Waiting for their turn for gifts, they decide to help Kamryn play with HER first one! :)

(Crayola Color Wonder Markers and Paper)

First Dollhouse

 Ryan and I got a Cow Pitcher from my Grandma Moe.  I love it!  So many memories from her house up in Northern Idaho when I was a child!

(*Side Note: Notice Ryan's nice facial hair?!! He doesn't get to grow anything very often because of his job, but when he has a week vacation...he takes his chance!) :)

Kamryn got a stuffed Puppy from Grandma Moe.  We got to go up to ID to visit TWICE this year and both times Kamryn found this puppy and carried it around everywhere!  So Gram decided to send it down for Christmas.  Such a sweet gift!

Kamryn trying to fit IN her dollhouse... silly girl! :)

Talking to Elder Eric Moe on the phone! (See earlier post for entire story!)

Kamryn's first play "hut"/"fort"!  :)

Kamryn got her first set of nest cups!  Probably the cheapest gift she got, and she LOVED it! :) 

The Simple Life of a Toddler!

Opening a book from Mommy and Daddy.  As the day progressed, Kamryn really started understanding how to unwrap gifts!  It's amazing how fast they catch onto things sometimes! :)

Ryan's big gift this year was a Netbook.  (as if we don't already have enough computers in our lives!) :) haha  No...we decided to get this because our laptop is on its last leg AND Ryan takes the bus to work a little more now that we live further from work, and it would be nice for him to have something to DO on the bus! :)  (For all of you who have never held or used a netbook...they are SO SMALL and SO LIGHT!!  I still sometimes can't believe how small it is!)

Kamryn, with all her gifts!!

Grammy and Grandad got her a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Playset and some Play Food.  Both were a big hit...but I don't have individual pictures with them for some reason... :(

Ryan and I with all of our gifts.  We sure are loved.

(Although, after I set up everything and we took this photo, I realized that I left some MAJOR things out of the picture on accident!!  Oops!!) 

My parents' big gift to us this year was ready-to-go 72 hour kits for both Ryan and I.  We just have to add important documents and clothing!  What a wonderful thing that we probably wouldn't have gotten done ourselves as soon as we should!  Thank you!

Ryan's parents' big gift to us this year was an Ipod Touch.  We LOVE it! They gave it to us before Christmas so we could take it to California with us. . . but it isn't in this picture! :(  Thank you! (I think I DID post a picture of us with it, however, in a past post!)

Playing with my new camera!!

(Kylie and Krista also got the same camera that I did...so there are some pretty weird photos of us all!) :)

Playing some new games my family got for Christmas!  This one is called Sitting Ducks!  Not bad actually...pretty simple, but fun!

It was a very Merry Christmas!  Fun times for us to remember!

Christmas Morning

Eating Breakfast before looking in our stockings! (Waiting for Grammy and Grandad to get up!) :)   They went to midnight Mass the night before with our good friend, Lori.  So, they had an excuse to try to sleep in! :)

Stockings!  Which one is mine?!

Here's mine, Mom!! :)

ooo...who cares what else is in there!  I found M&M's!  (Mommy luckily put on a bib quick!)

What's this?!

(A Mickey Mouse Tamborine also in her stocking!)

Mmm...this is the life! (Creative way to use a tamborine!) :)

Funny Story Friday #1

I decided I'm going to post at least one funny story every Friday...just to try to keep up with the great things that Kamryn does every week! :)

This week I have FOUR to report! :) (However, a couple would've been last Friday but I didn't get to blog then...so we're catching up! Doesn't it seem like I'm ALWAYS playing the catch up game! sigh...)

Funny #1: Mine and Ryan's Funny
So, Kamryn wasn't feeling well a couple of days last week. She woke up in the middle of the night and I told Ryan to turn on the humidifier to help her breathe and sleep. Good intentions, right? Well, in the morning the humidifier was STILL GOING (I guess we filled it up a lot) and everything around it was sopping wet!!! Her humidifier is kept on top of our brand new bookshelf, and next to it were some small plastic disney figurines, easily wipeable, and a Belle barbie that she got for Christmas last year and IS STILL IN THE CARDBOARD BOX!! Uh-oh! SO...we had another "Christmas Morning" and opened the barbie. (oh, and did I mention that the water warped the back of the bookshelf a little bit and there was water dripping down the back onto the next shelf which was also wet...along with everything ON the shelf!) :)




Kamryn, very interested in what is going on.

Was into brushing the doll and the horse's hair...that's about it. I had to convince her to touch both of them!




(Below): The Cardboard Remains...it really almost fell apart in my hand it was so wet!


Needless to say, I have now moved the humidifier elsewhere! I'm just glad nothing got completely ruined!

Funny #2: Kamryn, the artist!

New Years Eve we got home REALLY late. We were at parents houses for the day, put Kamryn to bed at my parents around 9, hung out there and celebrated the New Year, and then woke her up to bring her home around 1am. I had her blankets and binkies and sippy cup that she goes to bed with, in my purse. So when we got home I emptied my purse of her things right there at her crib, and then she went down and Ryan and I went to bed.

The next morning, Ryan went in to find this in Kamryn's bed:





Uh-oh! She had gotten a hold of a SHARPIE PEN out of my purse that I left within reach of the crib (oops) and decided to make an art project of her bedding!! She had a little on her hands, but nothing on her face! Thank heaven she didn't EAT it!! I am still baffled as to how I even left my purse in there AND within her reach! I must've been REALLY tired...because that is somehting I would be conscious about! :) (normally!)


Funny #3: Kamryn's Independence

I was working on the computer the other day and turned around to see this:




Kamryn has been very good at not getting into kitchen cupboards and pulling things out...till now! Now she thinks that it is normal to pull out a box of cereal and just sit on the couch and snack the day away! :) Silly girl! I don't think Ryan or I EVER just sit down to snack on a box of cereal...but apparently that's what she wants to do! :) (This was more just cute than funny...) :)

Funny #4:



I almost don't need to explain...but the story makes it better!

Kamryn was walking around with these veggies and just gnawing on them (she often does and we watch her closely!) She was acting like she was done with them, so I told her to throw them away if she was done. She took them to the trash can, opened the trash can, looked in, but decided to keep the veggies, and closed the trash can. She went over to the couch to play and we didn't think anything else of it. Usually when she is done with food or drink, she'll just leave it next to her toys and we clean it up when we clean up toys--easy enough!
About 2 hours later, AFTER KAMRYN WAS IN BED, Ryan and I both looked at the bookshelf at about the same time and just started laughing! We giggled for a long time about what Kamryn could've been thinking! :) Apparently she needed to save her veggies for later!

Christmas Eve in California

Some fun memories from Christmas in Newport:

*Our View on Christmas Eve
From our balcony in the condo... not to Shabby for December 24th, eh? :)



Kylie took these excellent pictures!


*Christmas Eve Dinner--Finger Foods!!
It's been a tradition in our family since before I can remember, to have finger foods for dinner on Christmas Eve. So, even when we are out of town for Christmas, we still can do it! :)

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts!! SOOOOO yummy! (If you've never had them, you must try one before you die!) :)

Potato Skins, Mozzerella sticks with sauce, Spicy orange Chicken tenders, Ham rolls,

Beef Stick, Cheese, wheat thins, Cream Cheese with Chile sauce, Rice Krispies and Carmelita bars

Brandon...anxious for the store-bought Drinks! (What an 11-year-old...)

The Chef in the Kitchen (He had help...but he was the constant in the kitchen!) :)


*Gingerbread House building contest
Not as many of the kids wanted to participate this year. Austin was so excited to do them though, he could hardly wait until Christmas Eve! :)

Team 1: Mom, Dad, Krista, Ryan, Brandon
Team 2: Ryan, Katrina, Kylie, Austin, Kamryn

Nice House

Not too bad looking yet, eh Ry?? :0)


Kamryn feasting on a Candy Cane from the Christmas Tree! Yum!

*New Jammies!
My mom got us all pj's for Christmas. (those of us who were there for Christmas Eve...sorry Kels and Zac). The Girls got Tinkerbell and the Boys got The Grinch. (Mom has better pictures of all of us...sorry!)

Kamryn unsure about what this is in front of her...

I want the camera! I don't know what this package is that you put in front of me!

Kamryn and Mommy in New Jammies!

We all watched "It's a Wonderful Life" in our new jammies and then it was time for bed so Santa could come!

What a Day!

*Note: Yesterday was kinda a rough day... this was started yesterday, but I was unable to finish it because it got so late. So, here it is! WARNING: A little bit of venting is found here!*

I woke up this morning to Kamryn screaming from her crib. Usually she is very happy in the mornings and will often chatter to herself and play in her crib for a while (sometimes up to an hour) before she'll start really "crying" for us to come get her. So when I heard her crying loudly at 8 this morning, I knew we needed to go see what was up! So...I turned to Ryan and woke him up! ;) Ryan, being the wonderful husband and father he is, just rubbed his eyes and jumped out of bed to investigate. It turned out that she really was just ready to be up and had a VERY WET diaper! But Ryan and I sure weren't quite ready to get up...so he turned on Winnie the Pooh for her out in the front room and came back to bed.

We layed in our warm cozy bed for another half hour before Kamryn decided to come in and "bug-us-out-of-bed"! :) (However...she was VERY cute! She came in to color with my pen and journal, then took my phone, then went into our bathroom, then shut the door, then went to her bathroom, then came out and shut that door, then brought back my phone...and the only way I could convince her to GIVE it to me was me offering to feed her! Hence...I HAD to get up!) :) So, we all went out to the kitchen for breakfast.

Ryan sat down at the table with his computer--started some work (and played a little on facebook) :) My checklist began:
*Kamryn cereal
*Ryan some food
*my bowl of cereal.
*start loading the dishwasher

*Kamryn crying for attention (playmate)
*play with Kamryn
*read with Kamryn

*change Kamryn's diaper
*find clothes for her
*No clothes in her room... oh yeah...they're in the dryer (from Monday!)
*get out her laundry

*feeling really sore in my hips.
*Feeling tired
*Ignore the soreness...I'm always sore! It comes with pregnancy!
*found a diaper
*found clothes (leaving the majority still in the dryer however)!
*change Kamryn.
*Kamryn Struggled and cried
*finally dressed
*Distract with a toy
*didn't work
*finish dishwasher
*Kamryn "helping"
*sweep floor (that I've ignored all week)
*feel hot and claustrophobic
*turned on the ceiling fan and sat down on the couch
*Looked at the clock--it's only 10:05.

*I'm exhausted!

I was so frustrated because I was SO tired! I shouldn't be tired. We'd only been up for really an hour!! grrr.....

But I stayed on the couch for only about 10 minutes and then decided that Kamryn and I both needed to go take a nap. so that's what we did. Next thing I knew, it was 12:30 and we were both waking up. It was almost time to take Ryan to work! I felt 10 times better after I slept!

Then this afternoon I had a Dr. appointment at 3. Ryan had a meeting at 2. (His office is across the street from my Dr.) so we drove down together at 1:15ish with a stop at wal mart on the way. Dropped Ryan off at work, the Kamryn and I ran to the bank and to Babies R Us. Kamryn ran around Babies R Us like it was heaven! So much to touch and so much to take off the shelves! (I've never really seen her so aggressive actually! It was funny!) Luckily everyone at the store thought she was just cute and fun so they didn't care that she was a little crazy! :)
We barely made it back to Ryan's office for me to then run over to the Doctors. I was feeling fine and happy...then I decided to tell the nurse about feeling out of energy and just on an emotional roller coaster all of the time. And of course...being the emotional person I am... I cried as I talked. Cried to the nurse. Cried to the doctor. Felt kinda dumb but oh well! :) I've always been a crier! :) The nurse decided to check my iron levels. As soon as she mentioned it I was like "duh"! Of course! That would make sense! AND SURE ENOUGH...my iron count is low!

The doctor also talked to me about not being too much of an overachiever and being too hard on myself. I haven't ever felt like I'm too hard on myself, but I AM often telling myself to stop doing so much and stop pushing myself! And sure enough, as I wrote the above checklist of this post, I can see what the doctor meant! I mean...why did I decide to sweep today?!! I've been putting it off for a week...why not one more day?!! :) And Ryan can get his own breakfast(which he usually does...I was just being nice!) ...I don't always have to entertain Kamryn...and I can ask for help! It's just not in my nature so it's harder for me to not just do it myself! I don't have to go shopping! (although I enjoy it! That was my "fun" thing to do for myself today...but with Kamryn it requires too much energy!)

After my Dr. appointment, I RAN to go get Kamryn from Ryan before he needed to start shifts at work. I showed up and Ryan immediately asked "What's wrong!?!" (He could tell I had been crying...blochy faces do that somehow!) :) haha I told him that nothing was wrong...I was just emotional...like usual! Even though he had lots to do, he hugged me and kissed me and truly was focused on me...to make me okay. I was grateful for his support....and cried again of course! :) But had to pay attention to Kamryn now, called my sister Kelsey to tell her I was done, and she came to get us. (She was graciously taking Kamryn and I home so that I could leave the car with Ryan). I decided I needed to go do something fun after a day like today...so I took Kelsey out to dinner! (My treat since I was pulling her away from homework! She was very willing to go anyway, but me paying helped of course!) :) We enjoyed a dinner at Wingers and then headed up to my apartment.

When we pulled into the parking lot, after a 15 minute drive, I suddenly realized "I don't have a key to my house!!" I had left the keys with Ryan because our car key is on there...and didn't bother to think about needing the house key for myself! Oops! Another pregnancy flaw...total memory loss and forgetfulness!

SO we turned around and headed back to Provo, where Kamryn and I hung out at Kelsey's apartment until Ryan got off work. Finally at 9:00, we were headed home! Ryan felt so bad for how exhausted I was that he pampered me a little last night and we just enjoyed eachother's company. Thank goodness I have a husband who takes good care of me and can be an emotional and physical support when things are just a little bit off!

What a Day! No wonder my energy is off, my emotions are off, and I get frustrated easily!! :) Luckily these days only come around once in a while, right?!