DECEMBER

Dec 5-

I got a kick out of  Murphy sometimes. Especially on this night when I was getting ready for bed and he laid down under the robes. But then when he sat back up and looked at me he was wearing Jesse's robe on his head. I sent Jesse the picture while he was at work. And Jesse wrote back "Haha cute dog! He misses me so he is in my robe" 

Dec 6

Again while I was getting ready for bed Fynn passed out in our bed waiting for me. His big brothers were at Jenny's house watching the Utes get their butts kicked.

When I came back over to the bed I saw him passed out on the couch and just couldn't believe how big my baby is getting.

Look at the squishy sleeping face. He's adorable huh?

Dec 9

Murphy climbed into the bed while I was making it and it's like he wanted me to make the bed wth him in it.

We attended the Annual Ugly Sweater Party with friends in our ward. Seriously so much fun! Everyone there makes me laugh and we have such a good time together. I wish I would have gotten a photo with everyone there. I remembered to do it when there were only the 4 couples left.

We also all bring a white elephant gift and the gift that Jesse brought, Jeff ended up with it. The fat belly fanny pack. It went well with his "World's greatest farter" shirt.

I was happy Jesse wore the reindeer full body sweater that I found  at Walmart.

Dec 11

I'll tell you what, you know you have a good dog when he's constantly getting laid on and roughed around with by Fynn and Murphy does NOTHING! He's such a tolerant dog.

Always good to attend the Temple with my YW presidency. We needed to figure out new advisers and specialists to request to be called. So we go and discuss stuff in the celestial room. It's been unifying for us.

Dec 12
Jesse was really sweet and bought me this poinsettia plant. And that morning I noticed that it was totally wilted. I was so sad I thought I had killed it. But I gave it a bunch of water for one last saving grace. Then the next time I looked at it, I noticed how perked up it was again. Oh I was so happy that I sent Jesse a text telling him it was resurrected!

Dec 13

So the boys wake up to get ready for school while I'm at the gym. Usually by the time I get home they are close to being all done and we can read scriptures. When I got home from the gym that morning and I walked in to Cyrus cooking eggs I was so proud of him. 

Dec 14- ZOO LIGHTS

Heidi had a pass for all of us to get into the Zoo Lights and she made arrangements for us all to get together on a day that we all could get together. Andrew and Emily happen to be down from Logan as well so we all got to have the cousins together at the Zoo Lights!

These are some of my most favorite people. Even though they aren't my blood family they treat me like I am. I feel more love and acceptance from any other "in-law" family around. I feel like they are home to me. I love being with them and they love being with me. I feel like I can be myself and their is no judgement. It's such a blessing in my life to have married into this AMAZING family!

Dec 15
Mike played his trumpet in an orchestra and we got the chance to go listen to him. They played songs from the Handel's Messiah and it was so Angelic and just perfect for this Christmas Season. The boys were so giddy every time they heard the trumpet playing.

After the concert we drove to Draper's "Tree of Life" and stayed long enough to get a picture or 3 before we froze our butts off.

Dec 19

That morning Ryker had wrapped a gift for his secret Santa at school. I took the boys to school and came back to get Fynn ready for school. I found him wrapping something and he told me that he was wrapping a surprise for his friend at school. He was so proud when he was done.

I was able to peak inside one of the corners to see what was in there. And Fynn had wrapped our broken kindle tablet. Haha. He was super insistent on taking it to school. He put it in his backpack and everything.

When I dropped him off and his teacher came to the car door to get him out he was telling her all about the surprise that he had and that someone was going to win the prize. He walked into school and I had to explain to her what was going on. I told her I just didn't have the heart to tell him that he couldn't take it to school. I told her what was inside and not sure what was going to happen from all of his planning.

We were both just laughing about it and how cute he is.

I never heard what happened at school. But he never came back  home with the broken tablet, so I'm assuming one of his friends ended up with it? Haha.

Dec 20
Holiday Sing Around to ring in the Winter Break for the boys. Gosh I just smile the whole time these boys are singing. Each grade, starting with Kindergarten and working their way up to 6th grade usually sings 1 or 2 Christmas songs and then a song in Spanish.

The whole 6th grade class. Can't believe this is Ryker's last year singing in an elementary Christmas Program. I remember just awing over his first Preschool Christmas Program and now he's 8 away from JR. HIGH! Eek.

And cute little Cy singing his heart out about "Mr Grinch".

The whole 3rd grade class.

Dec 24- CHRISTMAS EVE

It wouldn't be Winter Break without the boys being sick. Cyrus fell asleep like this for a couple of hours. I kept telling him he should go to his bed and he just was happy to sleep on the table chairs. Haha. ok then.

Also Jesse had to work on Christmas Eve. So didn't really have plans with anyone except to visit Jesse that night. We had dinner together and played a few games. One of the other fire fighters had his wife and toddler there. It was nice to meet her and talk with her and play games with her.

While we were there that night Jesse's captain said to Ryker "When we get our next call Do you wanna ride along?"
Ryker was all about it.
No joke, not even 60 seconds after that conversation ended a call came in. We were all chuckling about it. It was a motrocycle accident and Ryker got to be on scene with his Dad. Thankfully is wasn't too bad of a call he just got to wear a vest to show he was part of the gang. They were gone about 30 minutes and were back.

It doesn't always work out to have Jesse home for the Holidays, but we are a Firefighter Family and we make the most of the schedule that comes along with it.

We were going to go see the Lights at Temple Square but Cy still wasn't feeling great. He was cold and just tired. When we got home we got a fire started and watched a movie  all snuggled up in our Christmas jammies.

I took the whole week off for Christmas and I was just loving to have time with them all day everyday. I think about the blessing each one of these boys are to me and I get choked up everytime. They are my whole world! I love you Ryker, Cyrus and Fynnie.

Dec 25- CHRISTMAS

Jesse didn't get home from work until about 9am. The boys were SO PATIENT waiting for him. As soon as he walked in the door I thought that they would go crazy wanting to open gifts. But I was making Crepes for breakfast and they were hungry. So while they ate breakfast Jesse read them the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2.

Then we wee ready to go to town on Christmas gifts. They started on their stockings first.

Murphy got a gigantic bone that he really was very excited about.

DOG PILE!!!! haha

One of the last gifts they opened from "Santa" was a box with construction paper, a stapler and a message with a clue to start their Treasure Hunt. They went on a hunt through the house looking for the next clue and each clue had a gift to go along with it.
The second clue gift was sunscreen and aloe.
The third- Swimsuits for each of them.
The Fourth- Each got a new set of luggage
The 5th - A Miami Beach puzzle
The 6th- Snorkel gear for each of them.
The 7th- A boarding pass for a Family Cruise!

That's right come April time we are going on a Family Cruise to the Caribbean. We are all VERY excited!

By 12:30pm we had to cut our chill time and head to my parents.

We played a few Christmas games and then opened some presents before we had to head off to the next place. Our desired Christmas Day isn't to run around to different family members houses. But I caved this year and tried to please everyone. I will not be doing that next year. My boys are getting older and we just want to have time with them all by ourselves. We are growing out of the run around on Christmas Day Phase. We are ready to embrace the stay at home in your jammies kind of Christmas Day (or run away all together on a vacation haha).

We left my parents house (in Layton) to head back home to pick up Murphy and to get out to Cottonwood Heights. We wanted to go to the Assisted Living Care Center to sing to some people that don't get very many visits around this time of year. But by the time we got there,we didn' have enough time to do all that before Tyson and Tayler had to leave for their next stop.

One of the funniest parts of our night there was our Texas Hold em' White Elephant game. It ended up lasting way longer than we thought. Every time someone lost all their chips then they got to pick out a gift. The next person out could steal that already opened gift or pick a new one. And so on until the final surviving player was left and could steal anything they wanted.

Dec 29
My birthday was not exactly how I would normally like to have celebrated. 1). Jesse left that morning for a 48hr shift. 2). It was Sunday, we had church to attend to. I had a YW lesson and meeting to attend to. 3). I'm extra mom-ing without Jesse around to help get boys dressed for church etc. 4).The boys made my morning/afternoon very "Pleasant" (sarcasm added).

Needless to say I was pretty grumpy half of the day. As the day wound down and the boys realized they should be nicer to their mama her birthday. They did get a little talking to from the father to shape up. Things were looking up. Heidi had also text me and knowing that I was alone on my birthday she offered to make me dinner and play games together. So I took the boys out to her house that night.

I read through several texts and posts and letters from close friends and family members that helped me feel loved that day. It helped me come out of my grumpy attitude and see the good people God has blessed me with. Especially my 3 boys! As much as they can get me feeling grumpy, they truly are the biggest light in my life! They are the reasons to make it to each birthday every year!

NOVEMBER

Nov 2- Last Game of the "Fall" Soccer Season for Cy

It was a mere 27 degrees at this 8:30am game that morning.

But it didn't seem to stop all the boys from have a leaf war.

By the look of these photos you wouldn't think that it was a cold winter feeling.

The boys would gang up on Jesse with the leaf war.

Nov 4

 I was in complete awe over watching Fynn eat this burger. He must have been really hungry that night because he ate THE WHOLE THING!!!!

Nov 5
Tuesday Hiking with my Murphy while Fynn is at preschool for 2 hours.

Nov 12
Yet again another Tuesday Hike with Murphy while Fynn was at school. During this hike I had alot to think and contemplate about. I got home a recorded the following...

"A few thoughts, well several actually...

"FIRST. Tomorrow is Murphy's 6 month birthday! He's been in our family for 4 months now, and yet it feels like he always has been.

"SECOND. For years Jesse and the boys have begged for a dog and I was the one that always said NO WAY! But about a year or so ago, I had my heart touched by a Goldendoodle and it planted something in my heart that I started to long for. I began the search for the right puppy and I think Jesse wondered what the heck happened to me. I had the strong 'baby hungry' feelings whenever I would see families with dogs. So in the end I was the one pushing for a puppy when I originally had no desire for one.

"THIRD. Murphy has been SO GOOD for our family, for our boys and for me. He provides so much love and companionship to us all. I think we all get excited if Murphy takes one of us on as his favorite. He's gonna have 5 favorites because we all love him so much.

"FOURTH. Now that football and soccer season is over, I have my Tuesdays back. Which means while Fynn is at preschool, I have 2 hrs of me time.So getting out in this perfect fall weather to feel the sunshine on my face puts me in a good mood. I love the fact that I can go find solitude int he mountains, and Murphy can still provide safety and companionship.

"FIFTH.Kenny Creek Trail holds a special place in my heart. It's the trail I snowshoed the day after  Harmoni died where I bawled my eyes out in the solitude of the mountains. So every time I go there I think about her and just smile.

"SIXTH. Recently, I have grown an even deeper gratitude for Jesse. He's been able to be my person and express how I am feeling to family members when I'm not able to. Be with me when I'm ugly crying. Helping me laugh about life. Going to the temple with me early on a Saturday morning. Loving me through my not-so-great moments. Fasting for me to have additional spiritual strength. Asking me to gran some dinner with have after I get off work. Pillow talking about the day. Psycho-therapy-ing my childhood with me. Being that person who is CONSTANT in my life! Teaching our boys Come Follow Me Lessons. And much more!"

Fynnie wanted me to play Qwirkle with him. I quickly realized that he has a different version that he prefers to play.

When he's all done he is one happy kid.

Nov 16- Wasatch Peak Academy's Annual Veterans 5K

This is a fun tradition that we have done for several years now. 

And I was really looking forward to it being Murphy's first race. And actually ran the whole 3 miles with me.

Fynn was on his Strider bike. He refuses to learn how to pedal, so part way through the race he gave up pushing it, so Jesse had to carry it for a bit and they ran together until Fynn wanted to ride again.

Jesse was a trooper and all smiles helping Fynn!

Murphy was the first dog to finish. And I actually won first place in the women's.

Ryker impressed me with the pace he held. And honest to goodness he beat me. Only by a little bit though. But I knew one day he'd pass me up but I didn't expect it to be at age 11. He's quite athletic.

Cyrus chose to run this year instead of riding his bike and he ended up running the whole thing as well. He told me afterwards that he wants to bike next year. lol We shall see.

It's just a fun tradition we like to do every year. It's nothing grand, but it's a great way to support the Veterens and be active with my family!

Ryker won First place in the boys category and his friend Tayler won first place in the girls category. They were so proud!

Final family photo and I'm laughing because Cyrus is the one that is always pulling funny faces. And here he is pulling the best one yet. Haha.

Nov 17-

A perfect example of why we can't have nice things in our house. Fynn opened the door to the entertainment center way too far and it snapped right off. Yikes.

Nov 18
Murphy loves the corner of the couch.

Nov 19
This was the month of hiking apparently. And Jesse was able to join me for the first time in a long time.

Nov 22

Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child has been (for the 2nd year in a row) a great way for my boys to think about another child an buy for them a Christmas in a Shoebox!

 

They each handpicked what they wanted in their box for the boy of their age group. And they wrote a sweet note and testimony inside a Book of Mormon!

They'll get mailed off around the world and 3 boys will have something to open in Christmas because of my 3 boys!

Nov 24- The Sunday before Thanksgiving

So my parents were planning on having their Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day. That Sunday morning I made a pan of Paleo brownies that I could eat for dessert that night. I made it before church so they would be totally cooled.

We have church at 11:30am. And at 10:15am we do our Family Come Follow Me Lesson. So it was a bus morning getting boys ready, making breakfast and brownies and having a lesson before going to the church. I also knew that I would have a YW meeting after church.

When I got out of my meeting I came outside and my boys were at the church running around playing with our tenants kids. Since we live right across the street from the church the kids play at the church regularly since our yard is still torn up.

When I saw the boys I asked them to go get Murphy so he could run around outside with them since he was cooped up inside while we were at church. Sundays are hard to get him a walk in the morning. Ryker went and got Murphy who came running across the street to the church to play. Carter had his socks just on the grass so when Murphy came over he snatched up the socks to munch on them and ran off. Which he's just playing a game. The kids are chasing him trying to get the socks back. He dropped one of them and still had one hanging in his mouth. I told the kids if they chase him he'll just keep running away from them. So I slowly start to walk over to Murphy and he's just chomping on the sock and as I'm getting closer I see that the sock seems to disappear. So I hustle over a little bit faster and grab his  mouth and look inside his mouth and sure enough.... the sock was gone.... Murphy had swallowed a large tube sock. What the heck?

And as I am looking in his mouth I notice that his breath smells a little bit like Peanut butter. So I went back inside the house to see what he would have eaten. The boys got home from church and let Murphy wonder the house while they were just outside playing. I then found my pan of brownies half eaten. And I started to freak. I ran outside and told the boys and Murphy to come inside. I was very upset that they could be so careless and not watch Murphy. They know the rules. And in a matter of a few minutes Murphy had eaten a bunch of Chocolate and a SOCK!!!!

I called Jesse to tell him what had happened and wondering what the heck I was supposed to do. He googled some things and he said that if I can get Murphy to vomit within an hour of him eating the chocolate it won't cause any problems. Also I was really worried about that sock blocking things up in his intestines. Could he poop that out? Or is this the end for him?

By this point all the boys were bawling because they were thinking that this WAS the end for Murphy and saying that they killed him.

Jesse text me that Hydrogen Peroxide will cause instant vomiting. But I didn't have any on hand. I had a thought come to my mind to call my YW president to see if she had some on hand. Along with a syringe. I needed a big syringe to shoot the Hydrogen peroxide down his throat. And oh my blessing, she had both. I drove to her house quickly and got back home. I measured out the amount that Jesse calculated that I should give him. And so I shot about 30 ml of hydrogen peroxide down his throat. I felt so bad. But I had to do it.

I put him outside on the deck so that if and when he threw up, it wasn't in the house. Well within minutes, he threw up 3x. And sure enough up comes the sock. We all couldn't believe it. I had to take a picture of it so send to Jesse to prove to him that Murphy had REALLY eaten the sock.

This all happened right before I was supposed to leave for my parents. Murphy isn't welcome at my parents new house because my dad can't handle the "possible mess" Murphy would make. I talked to my mom about what had happened and I sure didn't want to leave him home alone after all that. So I said you get all of us or none of us. So I took Murphy up there to keep an eye on him. I was suppose to keep him outside the entire time, but he didn't want to. So I ended up just sitting in the corner with him on a blanket the majority of the night.

He acted just fine the rest of the night. So so grateful that I was able to help him. I can't imagine what would have happened if I hadn't seen him eat the sock. He could have been a goner. So glad he's still with us.

Nov 25
Grocery Shopping with Fynn and he climbed up on the dash and was being so silly about it.
I asked him "Why are you up there?" and he replied back "I don't know, it's snowing on me."

Nov 26
 Murphy's First Snow!

And LOVES it! He was pouncing around in it like a dear. We were giggling so much watching him.

Fynn definitely likes to create. So when I can help him with that I will. He is so cute watching him paint paper after paper after paper.

And this time of year I love when we have a open wood burning fireplace. It's just so charming.

Nov 27- Light the World with The Savior of the World.

This year for Christmas I decided that we were going to give our parents and siblings a gift from the Light the World giving machine. We took the boys with us when we were picking out what we wanted to donate.
So we donated...
... in Mike and Heidi's name a Pig to a 3rd world country.
...in Roland and Teresa's name a Sheep to a 3rd world country.
...in Tyson and Tayler's name 3 chickens to a 3rd world country.
...in Tyson and Jessica's name 3 chickens to a 3rd world country.
...in Grandma Goodrich's name a pair of glasses.

The boys had a really fun time at the Giving Machines. And I was excited to give these gifts to our family members because this really is what Christmas is all about. We all have everything that we need anyway. So it feels better to me to give to people who are in real need.

Then we walked over to the Conference Center to watch THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD play. One of my clients has been telling me how much she loves it and it has been a tradition in their family to really get the true story of Christmas in her kids hearts. It's for kids 8 and up, so we left Fynn with our friend Jenny.

I was so happy to have a night where I can help my boys to be reminded of what this season is truly about! Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ "himself [came] down amoung the children of men, and [redeemed] his people." Mosiah 15:1

Nov 28-  Thanksgiving Day!

I've been doing GPP workouts for over 8 years. My friend Harmoni showed me the ropes and I've been doing it ever since. And it does my heart so much good to have my husband and my oldest son doing it with me in the annual Thanksgiving workout! (Cy wanted to stay home to take care of Murphy).

It's my favorite way to start out my Thanksgiving day. I certainly feel grateful to have my health and fitness. And certainly grateful for my family.

Since my side of the family did Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before, we were totally free to do whatever we wanted with Jesse's side of the family.

His brothers were actually spending the holiday with their wives, but we did have the late morning/early afternoon with them. We met that afternoon to have lunch and to play games before they headed off to their other dinner destinations. Heidi was so cute and had created a Thanksgiving version of Family Fued and we had soup to eat.

After they headed to their other families home  it was just the 7 of us left. So we went on a walk before we went back to make dinner for ourselves.

Mike and Heidi were tending their friends dog, Buddy. He's the Goldendoodle that I fell in love with over a year ago that got me itching for a dog. And now Murphy and Buddy are really good friends.

We opted for a Pizza dinner since it was just the few of us, instead of the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner. And it was delicious! And a super low key day.

Nov 29

We had a little cleaning session in the toy room. All the Legos were dumped out by "someone". No one would claim who ti was, but I'm pretty sure it was Fynn because he is known for just dumping toys out and leaving them out. So I wanted Fynn to clean them up. He was whining so much about it and the next thing I know he's got the broom and dust pan sweeping up the Legos. Smart kid.

Sometimes Murphy's cuteness is too much to handle.

He's the sweetest and cutest dog.

Nov 30-

Amber and Tyler Seaman have been good friends of ours for many years. And that day Jesse and I got to attend the sealing of their little girl, Indie. Tyler and Amber have been our monthly Sealing Date Night Couple. We have shared many special moments together in the Temple. A few Amber shared with me that there was someone missing from their family. Here they are a few years later and added one in the most special way. Through adoption. They had tried to have a 4th baby on their own and it just wasn't happening. She got the strongest prompting that they needed to adopt and it all worked out so perfectly.

This family is so dear to me. I feel so honored to have been able to be in the temple with them on their special day.

I had never been to a live adoption sealing before either. So it was a very special day all around.

Jesse was scheduled to work. But he was able to get some personal leave to be there. So on my way to the temple I stopped at the Fire Station to pick him up and we got to go together. After the sealing was over I dropped him back off a Station 14. I was so glad that he could be there.

After getting the house all tidy we could set up for Christmas. The boys were waiting so patiently all day long for this to happen.

They are so excited that it's almost TOO MUCH help. lol. They had all the ornaments out faster than I could keep up with.

But they did a great job and we were ready to let the reason for the season begin.

It's dark to see the stockings but I do love our firefighter stockings and our SMITH stocking holders.

"For unto us a child is born,  unto us a son is given: and the goverment shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."
Isaiah 9:6