Christmas Jammies!

I forgot to include this in my Christmas post. On Christmas Eve I hide everyone's Christmas jammies in the front room. It's a fun tradition that both of our families did growing up.

Collin found his first thing!

Macey's took a little more effort, but found hers by Daddy's cello case.

Then we had to play "hot" or "cold" with Randy. He was bummed he didn't get footed one piecers like the kids. ;) Maybe next year. This year he got basketball shorts and a thermal top. 

I opened my Christmas jammies early. I can't handle it, jammies are pretty much my favorite thing ever.

So cute! Macey calls those kind of jammies "sleepovers", they are her f-a-v-o-r-i-t-e. Collin is always doing this with Macey. Those are his cuddles (which he calls "tunnels"), he just throws himself in her lap and rolls around while she laughs her head off.

Christmas.

Holy moly, I'm behind. The day after Christmas we left for Logan for a few days and then headed up to Idaho until the 2nd. We've only been home less than a week so I guess that's not bad when I put it into perspective. Oh, and I started school again on Monday so I guess that makes me pretty much amazing for posting Christmas already.

This year I started shopping for Christmas early. I got tons of bargains, so Christmas was actually cheap. I am really going to miss this stage where you can buy your kid literally anything, and they will love it. One of Macey's favorite possessions from Christmas came from the dollar store. Behold, the pink star wand (below).

Randy and I decided since we had so many presents (again, mostly all cheap that I scored on clearance or Black Friday), that Santa should drop the loot off downstairs. When it was all said and done, I'm so glad. All those boxes would not have fit in the living room upstairs!

The before photo.

Collin's pile.

Macey's pile.

About 5 seconds after those pictures were taken, we went upstairs and polished off the cookies that had been left for Santa (except for a few bites) and were asleep in about 10 seconds. It's a tradition that we make Santa Claus cookies that day and leave him some out on a plate with a glass of milk. This year we decided to make Randy's grandma's famous sugar cookies put through a cookie press. And for dinner I decided to start the tradition of making my Mom's famous clam chowder. It was delish. We also make magic reindeer food (glitter and oats) and leave out on our sidewalk for the reindeer to eat. So fun, I love seeing how into it Macey is.

With how excited she was on Christmas Eve, I thought she'd be an early riser this year. So I was surprised when it was actually Collin who woke us up at 7:30! I went into Macey's room and she told me that she was so good and never opened her eyes. HAHA! I think she had been awake for a while but was too scared to open her eyes because Santa would KNOW! :) Her face was priceless when I whispered to her that Santa had come. Ohhh I remember the feeling. Santa does not wrap at our house, mostly because he gives them the presents that you can't wrap, and I love the gasp factor when they see what he brought.

Most of the pictures of them running in is blurry, but I love this because you can kind of see Macey's ecstatic face, and see that of course, Collin went to the barbie car first thing.

Randy quickly guided him to his pile and had him open up a more manly toy.

The after photo. It was a great Christmas, and a great mess! 

Macey made it all worth it when she exclaimed "this is the best Christmas EVER!" :)

I concur. It WAS the best Christmas ever, mostly because we got up at 7:30, had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and then we all took 3 hour naps at 9:30. Oh my Heaven!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I'm a little loco, I guess. I really like decorations, and taking pictures of them. Makes me happy. I actually looked up my post last year of my tree and printed the picture off so I could decorate it the same. Saved me hours.

This year I added in some gems. There is a WalMart right down the road from me that is a goldmine. It gets stocked, but not a lot of people go there to shop. So the after-Christmas clearance was awesome!! I went the 1st week in January (after we get home from all our traveling to visit family) not thinking I would get anything (pout), but boy was I wrong! And since it was so long after, the clearance was up to like 85% or something crazy like that. So I ended up getting a 6' see-through piece of junk tree for my downstairs to put the homemade decorations on for $7, and got Macey a PINK tree for her room for $5, and scored some really, really cheap decorations. I have literally stayed awake at night thinking about how awesome that was, and how I can't wait to decorate for Christmas! And it was everything I thought it would be, and more. Mostly because I have a little girl that was so excited for decoraysh (Macey-talk for decorating). She makes for a fun companion most days.

My tree. Actually this is the exact photo from last year, but it looks the exact same. Muah. Still can't believe we scored that thing for $35. Still loving the colored lights.

 See what I mean about the colored lights? Magical. 

 

Collin's BYU tree.

  Macey's pink tree. She redecorates it everyday.

The banister.

The landing.

This is where Buddy the Elf is usually (safely) watching our kids. If you haven't heard of The Elf on the Shelf, I highly recommend it. 

My buffet. I didn't have this last year, so my decorations are lacking a little here. I plan on hitting the after-Christmas clearance with this in mind. 

My bookshelf, the only safe place for my nativity this year.

My wreath that I made from Dollar Tree balls. It's the wreath that you see on EVERY craft blog in the history of internets. And my candy cane that my Dad made for me (and I painted).

Our Christmas lights. I can't ever get the picture to look right, but we have red flood lights and green lamp lights, and the light by the door is green. I LOVE it! So much easier than hanging lights!

And here is the downstairs tree. It's the tree where all the homemade decorations will go in years to come, but since we don't have a lot right now... it got decorated with my leftovers from the upstairs tree.

Aaaand of course one without the lights on. 

3 years.

Three years ago today, my Mom passed away. Like I said in my 2nd year post, I was hoping for the anniversary to pass me by without feeling much pain, but again, it didn't. I don't think it ever will. This week will always be a very tender time for me, and I'm actually thankful for it. It forces me to sit down and think about my life and my family.... reminisce about the good times, and hard times. This experience has forever changed the Christmas season for me, and for that I'm grateful. I won't lie, it is hard having this aching pain that is more pronounced over the holidays, but it helps to keep things in perspective. I'll never forget how I felt in 2007 while my Mother laid in her bed dying and I stood in a store, dazed by all the hustle and bustle. I remember thinking how worthless it all was, that family is all that matters.

Over the past week I have thought a lot about my Mom, particularly those last few days and how hard they were, but yet so spiritual. At a time where my world was turning upside down, I felt my Savior's love so strongly. I felt that again today when I went to the temple. My siblings got together at my Dad's house for dinner and then made plates of goodies to take around to his neighbors; it's a tradition that they've started since my Mom passed. I was feeling pretty bad that I couldn't be there, but decided the Temple is the perfect place to be on this day. The Spirit was there so strongly, I knew that my Mom was so proud of me. It was a very special experience that I will hold close to my heart. What a great way to honor and remember her, I think that will be my tradition that I carry on.

Not a day goes by when I don't think about her still. I miss her. I miss her phone calls, I miss her laughter, I miss her companionship, I miss watching her be a grandmother and loving every second of it, I miss everything. Even after three years, I still have a hard time when I see a Mom and daughter out shopping or having lunch, or a Grandma out shopping for her grandchildren. Ironically enough, my oldest nephew opened up his mission call today. He's going to Puerto Rico. I couldn't help but think how proud my Mom is of him and his decision, and what she would be doing and saying if she were here. Along with the "missing", it's also been hard watching life go on without her. So much has changed since she's been gone, and that's hard for me. Luckily Macey does have some memories of Grandma Judy and knows her by pictures, but with Collin and any other children I may have I will have to keep the memory of her alive for them. Collin was looking at my wedding album the other day and pointed at a picture of me, Randy and our parents. He pointed at each one and said who it was, and then pointed at my Mom and just stared. That was a very hard pill to swallow and I cried for a good while. He is missing out on an amazing grandma in this life. Because of this, I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. My kids may not have known Grandma Judy in this life, but they sure as heck will know her in the next. ;)

We love you Mom/Grandma! Sure do miss you! Thank you for all the memories that I cherish and all that you taught me. I will forever be grateful for your unwaivering testimony. It has changed my life.

Temple Square and Daddy has a job!

We have an advent calendar for the month of December where we put an activity in the door for each day to do together. One day was "go see the lights at Temple Square and see where Daddy works!" Macey was SO excited all day long, she could hardly contain her excitement! I drove the kids up and Randy was at work waiting for us. We (Macey) decided to check the lights out first, then we'd go back and see where Daddy works. I felt pretty official pulling into the expensive parking lots at the CC (that's what you call it if you're legit), knowing I wasn't going to have to pay a dime. ;)

I was pretty disappointed with the pictures my camera took that night, they're not great. It was so freezing that it had a hard time focusing. And I hadn't the patience to sit and wait for it so I just snapped and kept going. Boo!

After getting the BUS out and getting the kids (and me) all bundled up in the parking garage. Sadly, there are no pictures of me. But Randy was making fun of me that I looked like an Eskimo. Can't have enough layers, Randall!

 I'm pretty sure this one isn't in focus, but this tree won "best tree" this year. By us. It was orange and was AMAZING. And no, you will never see a normal picture of Randy. It just doesn't happen.

This has always been my favorite scene at Temple Square. From humble beginnings...

The water fountains are always fun to go look at. I've always been in awe at this long one.

I know this picture is nothing special, but the flag was pretty breathtaking waving in front of the Church Office Building. 

Of course, the big tree.

Walking back to the CC, the colors are so beautiful!

The CC was actually closed, except for tours. But Randy has his badge so we could go anywhere. ;) When we first walked in the security guard looked at us funny. I felt like Buddy from The Elf after he's gotten kicked out of his Dad's building, and he goes back in to give him a present and sees the guards and puts his head down and starts walking? Yeah, I totally pulled one of those. HAHA. But Randy showed him his badge and it was all good. I even got to take a picture of this BREATHTAKING tree! Look how HUGE this thing is! It was seriously amazing, and so beautiful. Randy works just down the hall from this and watched them put it up.

A blurry picture of Randy's "office". My camera was having a hard time getting used to the heat again! Yay! For Randy having a job that he loves!

This is what happens when I tell Randy, "show me your badge". (If you can't tell, he's swinging it, all seductive like). What a dork. 

Temple Square is one of my very favorite places to go in December, it's so beautiful and the Spirit is there so strongly. What a special place!

Dino Dan.

This happened last week but I just need to document this goodness so I don't forget.

There is a new show on Nickelodeon called Dino Dan, they've been showing previews for it for a while. Well one day it came on and Macey asked me, "is it called Dino Dan or Dino Dam.... cause sometimes I think it's called Dino Dammit."

Luckily I was able to hold it all in while I told her it was called Dino Dan, and maybe don't mention that show to any of her friends, but especially teachers. :)

Again, I'm blaming the Slade potty mouth on that one. It's definitely not Judy. ;)


Since I don't really know who is reading my blog, I thought I'd explain a little so you don't think we are awful parents. Macey is a type of kid that you only have to slip or say something once and it's in her memory forever. Just ask her about Daddy's friend, John. ;)

For your enjoyment.

For everyone's enjoyment. Buy a snuggie. Or two.

They really are that fun.

Ok. So I can't just post that and leave it alone. It's killing me, smalls! Randy bought those two snuggies off of woot.com as a joke, they were $7.99 for the pair and came with reading lights. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I came downstairs one night and saw my manly-man husband watching/cursing the Jazz in that seafoam green SNUGGIE! I. was. dying. I told him he looked like (a feminine) Yoda. He told me he was impressed that I even knew who that was.
Of course I had to tell my sisters about Randy and his snuggie. It became kind of a joke at Thanksgiving.... so when my sister-in-law asked for pictures of us together (for a calendar... take a good look, family! You're looking at the month of October right here!) Randy came up with this idea. Obviously I couldn't say no.

P.S. Randy would like to point out that the pouch can hold a variety of items. A book, phone, remote .... the possibilities are endless.