Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve we went to the Salmon's for a delicious ham dinner and a Nativity reenactment. It was fun for the kids. Mady was a "blue angel" and Austin was Joseph...when he wanted to be. He is so shy and hates being in the spotlight.

Then we came home and let the kids open one present: their new Christmas PJs. I lucked out because I LOVE these kind of pjs and they had all the right sizes, perfect kind on clearance at Old Navy. They were all pretty excited! Mady loves anything when she and Mia are matching.

Mia wondering if anyone would notice if she ate all the cookies for Santa...

Mady was really nervous on Christmas Eve because we had the fire on. She would yell from her bedroom "Dad, turn the fire off so Santa can come." After the kids were sleeping we brought Austin's basketball hoop upstairs and Ryan even played Boggle with me...for the first time in our married lives. He is the best.

We really downplayed Santa this year. We have decided not to make a big deal about him and the only thing Santa brings to our kids are their stockings - all the presents are from Mom and Dad.

I was so happy with Mia's reaction to her sock monkey. She makes this face whenever she sees it and makes monkey noises.

And this was Mady's reaction when we told her we are going to Disneyland in February! She is so excited...until we started talking about going on rides. She's not so sure about that part...

After opening presents we ate THE best Christmas morning french toast casserole. YUM. For sure a tradition from now on. So easy : make it the night before, stick it in the fridge, then stick it in the oven Christmas morning and it is done by the time you finish opening your presents.

All ready for church:

After church we went to the Salmon's for soup and opening presents over there. Like always, the Salmon's spoiled us with candy, fun toys for the kids, a date night for Ry and I, and lots of other fun stuff!

Today is Boxing Day so we went to Ry's parents church where we played basketball and kickball and ate scones and honey butter. It is fun to let the kids run around and the boys play.

The kids sitting on the stage watching all the boys playing bball

Since we didn't do a big family Christmas dinner we cooked it up tonight: steak, raclette, fruit soup, salad, Martinelli's. Yum. I am so stuffed.

Christmas this year was so great.

12 days of Christmas

For Ryan's 12 days of Christmas here is what I did:

Day 1: a carton of his favorite Ben and Jerry's ice cream
Day 2: delivered Jamba Juice to him at work
Day 3: a back rub/head scratch
Day 4: a dozen golf balls
Day 5: breakfast at Communal with Kyle and Rebecca. It was amazing, of course.
Day 6: breakfast in bed
Day 7: box of Dr. Pepper
Day 8: out to dinner with Kyle and Rebecca to Pizzeria 712. Some interesting pizza was tasted, but we found our favorites.
Day 9: a new wedding ring! He told me I wasn't allowed to buy him a ring right now, but my sister in law got me an AMAZING deal for this ring. Like less than $15 amazing. I couldn't pass it up. I love that he is wearing a ring again.

Day 10: a carton of eggnog, which he LOVES!
Day 11: family movie night. The kids have been begging to watch Willow so we popped popcorn and made an orange julius and watched it all together. It was a little intense for them but it was fun to have a family movie night.
Day 12: Jon Schmidt piano music

I loved doing this and might make it a tradition. It was a lot of work, but fun to always be thinking of things/ways to serve him.

homemade christmas

This year I wanted to do more homemade stuff for Christmas. I definitely succeeded on that front, but I think I was a little ambitious in all the things I wanted to make. I got them all done, but it was a lot going on.

For neighbor gifts we usually do braided bread but this year we also delivered homemade chocolates, homemade granola, and homemade sugar cookies when I ran out of bread. And when I ruined the bread, like this batch:


Total loss. Boo hoo.

For the kids I have made:

Matching dress and skirt for Mia and Mady

The doll bed Ryan made and the quilt Tara made
Hooded towels with an A for Austin and an M for Mady. I was completely retarded on Mady's towel, in that I didn't even realize it was a bath SHEET until after I had finished sewing it all. It is going to drown her...but oh well.

The softest sock monkey you will ever feel for Mia. We didn't get much for Mia this year because she could care less, but when I was making a sock monkey for my nephew Graham she was totally in love with it and would make a monkey noise whenever she saw it. I decided she needed one too. It was a really easy project, although because I used the really soft fuzzy socks I had to sew it all by hand. Ryan thinks the pink eyes are totally spooky...I kind of agree.

A crayon roll for Mady to take to church

In addition I also made aprons for sister-in-laws that we had for Christmas, as well as a few little ones for Mady's friends and cousins.

There is nothing like making a homemade gift and having it turn out good but when I'm not happy with the results it can sure be frustrating! I guess I'm learning and hopefully improving :)

date nights

I'm getting so far behind it is not funny.

Monday night Mady and I got to go on a special date to the Nutcracker ballet.

Let me just tell you about this girl and the Nutcracker. She loves it. She wants to check books out at the library about the Nutcracker story. She wants to listen to Nutcracker music all the time and dance in her ballet clothes. She loves watching Nutcracker videos. She knows the story and can recognize all the music.

Ryan and I thought she would love to go. I was a little late finding tickets so the only place nearby I could find that was still doing performances was in Sandy. She absolutely loved it.

Walking to the car after the performance I asked her what her favorite part was. "My favorite part was all of it." She loved the fancy tutus and ballerinas. It was pretty magical!

Tuesday night for Ryan's 12 days of Christmas gift we went out to dinner with our friends who also love good food, Kyle and Rebecca. We tried Pizzeria 712 (my first time) and it was pretty delicious. We decided it is in a pizza class of its own. Our favorite part of the night was trying a dessert, loving it, asking the waiter for the recipe and him giving it to us! How awesome is that.

Wednesday was Austin's birthday! We made him pancakes for breakfast and he opened his presents. We TRIED singing happy birthday but he wasn't too happy about it. Seriously does NOT like attention! After a chill morning we went and had lunch with Ryan. We were going to do dinner and cake just as a family but Grandpa Ross invited Ryan and Austin for a special boys night to the Jazz game...courtside tickets. I was pretty jealous it was a boys night out... Austin was pumped to see the Jazz Bear :) The boys had an awesome night and even chatted it up with Phil Dunphy (Modern Family!!).

Holding the game ball!!

Luckily for us, Ryan's boss told him to "ski as much as possible and stay out of the office as much as possible" this week. That meant yesterday he got to go snowboarding in the morning and hang out with us in the afternoon. And today he is hitting the slopes again, followed by some last minute Christmas shopping.

As for me, I think I am officially ready for Christmas. I had my shopping done awhile ago but I had a lot of homemade projects in the works that I just finished up yesterday. I'm excited for our first Christmas in our own home, just our little family!

salmon family christmas party

Ryan's family was all in town this last weekend so we decided to celebrate our Christmas a little early with them. We all gathered together and ate breakfast for dinner, opened birthday presents for the 3 birthday boys, and then opened our Christmas presents to each other. It was chaotic (as all family events seem to be now that we are getting bigger!) but lots of fun.

by the end of the night Mia was fading quickly on Ryan's shoulder...

which is funny because that is exactly what she did last year at the party!
I made a birthday cake for the birthday boys. I wanted to make a homemade funfetti cake and found a recipe online to try. I wasn't in love with the white cake/frosting combination but the cake looked pretty fun and festive!

Our little birthday boy...

For the cousin gift exchange, Tara wanted to make Mady a doll quilt. Of course we decided she needed a doll bed to go with it (she has been begging for one!) so Ryan built one for pretty cheap. It turned out so adorable. It needs a few more coats of paint and a few pillows and it will be perfect. Although my mattress turned out sadly dwarfish. I may need to attempt a new one...

Sunday Lincoln gave his farewell talk in church and Tara and Gary blessed baby Mason. It was great to see everyone and spend time together.

After rushing off to our church so Ryan could teach his primary class and I could play the piano we went to my parent's to celebrate Austin's birthday with them. They are in Canada for Christmas so we wanted to celebrate before the left. He loved the cars and trains they gave him and carries them with him everywhere.

The funniest part of the night was when we got the cupcakes and candles out to sing Happy Birthday. He said "don't say good job and don't say "Yeah!" Apparently blowing out the candles at the Salmon party was traumatic for him (he didn't want to do it and was really embarrassed when everybody cheered). It was pretty funny. He kept making sure we weren't going to cheer for him before he would blow them out.

up-chuck-e-cheese

Another whirlwind of a week.

Soooo all of the Salmon family has been in town so we have had our Christmas celebrations a little early.


We kicked them off Thursday night with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese. Lucky for us grandpa bought a bajillion tokens to use so all the kids had free run at all the games/rides/crazy whatever they wanted.
I'm going to be honest - - I was a little freaked out by the other people who were roaming chuck-e-cheese so I was trying to keep a close eye on my kids, which was hard to do. Austin ran from ride to ride with Brynn. They would put a token from their little stash in, ride for a minute and then jump off. It was pretty cute.

They loved every minute of it until a man dressed in a Chuck E costume came out. Then they were freaked out. Mady said "you just have to stay low to the ground so he doesn't see you." oh man. Although when we were leaving and I said I didn't want to come back because I was scared of Chuck E Cheese they said, "Mom he is a nice guy. You don't have to be scared."

They each got to choose a prize at the end of the night - Austin (no surprise) chose a sweet stretch car, Mia got a soccer ball, and I tried to convince Mady to choose a little Princess doll but she chose a Chuck E Cheese fan. That is already broken. On the ride home she said, "mom I wish I would have chosen the Princess doll but my heart told me to choose the fan!"

This is a picture of Mady trying Skee Ball. She would throw that ball so
hard and it would usually end up a few lanes over...oh well.

Not my favorite place, but of course the kids love it. We will see how long we can avoid going back...

On the first day of Christmas...

Sunday I stayed home from church feeling sick sick sick. I kept Mia home and , because Ryan didn't want to battle to keep him in nursery, Austin as well. I put Mia in bed for a much-needed nap (she is sick too!) and Austin and I cuddled on the couch. We both ended up falling asleep and basically slept until Ryan came home from church. Wow. I can't remember the last time I took such a long nap. Oh...probably 4 years ago before I had children.

The rest of the week I was very productive: finishing up projects, cleaning, and the usual. I have really been trying to focus on being a better mom. It seems like lately my first response is always negative or "don't do that" "stop" or to be mad. I don't want my kids to think about me as an angry, negative person so I am really focusing on being more loving, kind and gentle in my responses. So far I am definitely seeing improvement - the difference maker? Saying a prayer in the morning.

I really thought I was on the ball for Christmas but somehow I still had to go out shopping this week. It has been crazy awful. Ugh. And note to self? Don't even attempt to get fabric cut at Joann's during the month of December. Mad. House.

On a happy note I am doing the 12 days of Christmas for Ryan. I wanted to do something to surprise him since his Christmas gift is not a surprise (snowboard he bought himself). So far he has gotten Ben and Jerry's ice cream and today, a Jamba Juice delivered by us to him at work. It is so fun...especially involving the kids. Mady totally loves it.

good, bad, and ugly

The good:

My mom and I have been experimenting with making chocolates. So far we have made peanut butter chocolate bars, turtles (chocolate, peanuts, caramel), caramel chocolate bars, peppermint, bark, peanut brittle, and rocky road fudge (marshmallows & peanuts in fudge). Some have turned out better then others but for our first attempts we are happy!

I bought a box of oranges at Costco and I can't stop eating them. Wow.

The bad:

Ryan left his wedding ring on the bleachers of the high school when playing basketball on Monday night. Of COURSE lost and found hasn't found it. I'm not getting my hopes up it will ever turn up.

The ugly:

On Tuesday night Ryan was playing basketball as well and....sprained his ANKLE!! He is limping around in pain, using crutches, and my mom's boot that at least helps him walk. The ugly part is that his foot is all black and blue and swollen. Not fun.

I'm not too fond of basketball right now.

cosmophobia

Saturday morning was the annual BYU Christmas party. Because my parents work there we decided to go see what kind of festivities were going on. Of course the place was packed, but we still had lots of fun. Mady made a Christmas wand, the kids wrote letters to Santa, watched some dance/singing performances, saw Santa from afar, and went fishing for toys. Meanwhile Mia chilled in the stroller.





The kids knew that Cosmo was there and were totally scared. After seeing him from far away and then doing some other things, Mady decided she was going to be brave and wanted to get her picture taken with him. So we stood in line and she and Austin were totally doing fine...until Ryan got right next to him. Then they both started to flip. out. It was hilarious! Ryan wonders why his kids were the only ones scared... After we asked Mady why she was scared and she said she thought Cosmo was going to bite her.



After doing some Christmas shopping at the book store we went and got some lunch and got the rest of Ryan's winter snowboarding gear. He is so excited for Sundance to open up.


Then we hurried off to the temple to go through with Lincoln for the first time. It was a really special session and so fun that all his brothers and sisters were there with him!



Of course I thought it was a great photo op and asked Ryan to take a picture of us. This is what we ended up with:

Self portraits weren't really working, so Ryan's Aunt saved the day and took one for us:


Then off to a BYU Football party, an ugly sweater party (which we did not win!), and then to bed. It was a long day.

Sunday was equally long. Fast Sundays are pretty much brutal around here. Not only do you have 2 starving, grumpy parents but you have 3 tired, grumpy kids. I got to play the organ in church and it was so fun to play again. We had a family party at our house with a few aunts and uncles and my parents and $125 of raclette cheese and creme brulee. Wow it was amazing. And we still have half a wheel of cheese in the fridge that is calling my name "grill me! grill me."